TangoGelato

File this under "tango in culture", or "tango in capitalism"...just heard it on NPR...

Argentine entrepreneurs in San Francisco...in the "artisan foods" genre...

http://www.tangogelato.com/

Mundial de Tango Salon - Baile de Campeones 2010 - Sebastián Ariel Jiménez y María Inés Bogado Winners

You guys know how I feel about El Tango as a competitive sport aka dance sport. So, I post this with some level of blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda in my heart. Whatever.

Sebastián Ariel Jiménez y María Inés Bogado are the winners, numero uno, from the Tango Salon finals held last night in Buenos Aires.



Here is the tally of all the results (and the names of the jurors/judges):

MUNDIAL | WORLDCUP 2010 TANGO SALÓN

GANADORES | WINNERS
1º: Sebastian Ariel Jimenez y Maria Ines Bogado | Argentina
2º: Diego Ezquiel Perez y Maria Soledad Cantarini | Argentina
3º: Cristian Andres Lopez y Naoko Tsutsumizaki | Japon
4º: Ariel Manzanares y Daniela Sol Cerquides | Argentina
5º: Frank Carlos Obregon Delci y Jenny Carolina Gil Alvarez | Venezuela

JURADO: Eduardo Arquimbau, Julio Balmaceda, Pablo Inza,
Javier Rodríguez, Ana María Schapira, Oscar Velázquez,
Nene Masci y Julio Duplaá.

The Bottomless Pit of a Tango Lead and the Path of EI2T2

Actually, I wish that I had come up with this concept, but since I'm not a follower, and not a lead who follows, that would be hard to do.

Irene over at Irene and Man Yung's Tango Blog came up with the concept of a lead that is full of holes - bottomless ones. Notice I didn't say "a lead who". Let's not make this personal. As a leader, I think I can say we have all been there - where the bottom drops out of our lead. A black hole of tango. Tango Not. A tango-naut thirty thousand feet deep in the blackness of the Mariana Trench. A tango knot, infinitely twisting in on itself, never to be untied.

I think what Irene and Man Yung are trying to say is that there is a difference between dancers who think they are "skilled", or worse "know" they are skilled (when they actually aren't) and those who are on the path of eternal improvement in their tango.

The ones who "think/know" they are skilled are the "Tango Dancers of High Repute" that Irene refers to. I would edit that to be "Tango Dancers of High Self-Repute".

Those on the EI2T2 Path (Eternal Improvement In Their Tango) (grin), recognize that sometimes their lead sucks - "a great big sucking noise" in the words of the infamous Ross Perot. Makes me wonder if Mr. Perot has, or will ever dance tango...? What a visual! But I digress.

Those on the path recognize the voids, the holes, the nothingness in their lead. They are painfully aware of those moments - generally few, but profoundly deafening and reverberating in the mind of said leader. Those on the path seek to fill those holes, and fill the deafening void with something. "Something". Perhaps even silence.

Fill a void with silence!? Wow. Now there's a concept. Filling the void of a lead with silence. Dancing the silence as el maestro Gavito said. I think that was him. I love it when a blog comes together.

Dance the silence. Master the nothingness in your lead. It's called "The Pause".

That's my two cents. Even if those two cents are down over there at the end of this other path of digression.

And dont' forget to check out Irene & Man Yung's post on "SKILL".

Thanks to Elizabeth and Mari both for saying something about this Irene and Man Yung post in their own blogs. It's funny and pertinent and poignant enough to spread the word and spread the post.

Skill and nothingness. Skill v. nothingness? Hmm. I love it when my brain ponders. When it comes to "skill", personally, I think I'd rather master the nothingness in my lead. With a five gallon bucket full of silence. The "less is more" minimalist approach.

Flor de Montserrat y no comment

Well, one little comment - here are eight different milonga performances to Biagi's "Flor de Montserrat"...

















Make that 9...



10...

El Ultimo Bandoneón

Marina Gayotos makes a living playing the bandoneon on buses and at various pick-up gigs. When she auditions for the tango master Rodolfo Mederos, he informs her that though she has talent, her bandoneon is too far gone to play. But if she can find a better bandoneon, she can play in his tango orchestra. This leads Marina to go on a quest for another instrument, one that takes her to instrument makers, dancers and an array of memorable characters from the tango world, all while searching for "the last bandoneón."

Thanks go to Steve @ Tejas Tango for the find - although I had seen a few people sharing the link on Facebook this past week as well.

Here is the link to view the full length film - 80 minutes long.

Note that apparently the film can't be viewed from within Argentina - I'm not sure about other countries.

You can also buy it on Amazon.com and possibly other sources.

The film was produced in 2005 and released in 2006.