Juan Lencina Bailarin Natural :: Los Milongueros Interviews

From Juan Tango's YouTube channel:

Click on CC for English subtitles. Argentine tango dancer tells what it feels like to dance the tango. Juan Lencina is a very charismatic tango dancer and storyteller who promotes milongas in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Monday and Thursday nights Juan Lencina and Daniel Rezk are the organizers of the milongas Derecho Viejo and La Cachila at Club Gricel. The reason that Juan's story is important is because the older dancers that experienced firsthand the tango craze of the 40s and early 50s are disappearing and their presence in the milongas cannot be replaced or underestimated.

Juancito began to dance for the natural reason, to meet girls. The milongas of the 40s and 50s didn't have older dancers like the milongas today, they only had young dancers. His neighbor Finito became a very famous dancer and has been called the best dancer of his generation. Juan enjoys seeing dancers from other countries come to Buenos Aires to dance each year and to watch them improve as a result of their contact with the Argentine dancers.
Juan became a tango maestro as a logical consequence from his experience learning and teaching in the practicas with his friends. He had a long career as a tango professor and taught in all of the best places in Buenos Aires. When he began to organize milongas in the 1990s he began to meet young dancer that were also interested in becoming tango maestros and it occurred to him that like everything in life you have to help the next generation become successful, so Juan gave these young professors the opportunity to teach in his milongas. He was invited to go to France and teach in 2008 and really enjoyed the experience.

Juan never had a desire to compete in contests. He feels that competitive dancing lacks the heart and soul of tango. He feels that every dancer should incorporate their own personality and uniqueness into their personal dance style. He appears to be singing the lyrics to the songs he dances to, but he doesn't actually use his voice. He feels that you shouldn't talk or whistle or sing while you dance. Juan definitely has his own personal style and you will never see anyone dance like he does.

To learn more about Tango in Buenos Aires go to: http://lamilongadel126.blogspot.com.ar/