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Thursday, December 7, 2023
Wednesday, November 15, 2023
Saturday, November 11, 2023
40th Anniversary of "Tango Argentino" Tango Show in Paris - Clarin Magazine
November 3, 2023
See original article for photos, audio, and translation...
En los primeros días de noviembre de 1983 un avión de las Líneas Aéreas del Estado transportaba desde Buenos Aires hacia París un cohete Exocet que iba a ser reparado en Francia. También viajaban como únicos pasajeros un conjunto de bailarines, músicos de tango y el actor Jorge Luz, invitados al Festival de Otoño parisino. Era un grupo muy peculiar, como se verá más adelante, que difícilmente podía imaginar cómo sería recibido el espectáculo que llevaban: el tango porteño, sobre todo bajo su forma bailada, era aquí una especie casi en extinción y aún más en Europa. Mucho menos sospechaban estos artistas que no tenían pasaje de regreso; el dinero que el director Claudio Segovia había reunido para el viaje apenas pudo afrontar los primeros gastos.
El proyecto de Tango Argentino no había despertado ningún interés en las personas de distintos cargos a las que Segovia acudía en Buenos Aires desde hacía tiempo. Por otra parte, unos días antes de partir hacia París, los amigos del director que habían visto un ensayo general le hicieron, con las mejores intenciones, los peores pronósticos; en los comentarios, ya a la salida y después de los tibios aplausos, apareció una verdadera preocupación por la suerte del espectáculo: “¿Vas a llevar a París algo tan de otros tiempos, con artistas maduros y algunos excedidos de peso?”. “¿Y con Goyeneche, que ya no tiene voz?”. Alguien dijo con un poco de condescendencia: “El gordo (por Virulazo) baila bien”.
Pocas veces se ha visto un desmentido más absoluto a señales tan sombrías. Tango Argentino no solo resultó un éxito colosal desde el mismo día de su estreno parisino; no solo se prolongó en sucesivas giras internacionales a lo largo de una década; su efecto fue aún más poderoso: el tango volvió a florecer en innumerables pistas de baile como danza social, en Buenos Aires y en el planeta entero.
El estreno de Tango Argentino ocurrió el 11 de noviembre en el Teatro de Châtelet de la ciudad de París; pasaron cuarenta años desde entonces, un período de tiempo inapreciable para mirarlo en perspectiva con la ayuda de su creador.
Claudio Segovia, cuya discreción y reserva lo han alejado del conocimiento masivo en su propio país, pasó mucho tiempo en el exterior; pero desde hace años vive en Buenos Aires, en un piso alto del edificio Kavanagh desde donde se domina un extenso paisaje de la ciudad en 360°. La máxima austeridad reina en este lugar luminosamente blanco donde no hay ni un comedor ni una sala convencionales. Segovia prefiere hablar de “espacio” y no de casa: “Quise despojarlo de casi todo. Es eso: un espacio”.
La vista omnipresente de las torres de Puerto Madero contrasta con la evocación del Buenos Aires que Segovia recuerda y con el tranquilo barrio de Núñez donde creció. Su infancia estuvo coloreada por los vívidos relatos de su padre, que contaba de una manera muy expresiva los lugares que recorría como viajante y las obras de teatro que veía: “Mis padres eran muy teatreros ambos, aunque mi madre también amaba la ópera y nos hablaba de los grandes cantantes que había escuchado. Y yo, desde pequeño, construía maquetas en papel y cartulina; pero sólo del espacio teatral vacío, todavía sin ningún objeto”.
Cuando tenía veinte años viajó a París con una beca del gobierno francés que le permitió recorrer Europa, ir a teatros, museos y exposiciones: “Un viejo sueño cumplido: mis padres me veían siempre dibujando y pensaron que podría llegar a ser artista, que podría ingresar a Bellas Artes y al terminar, viajar a Europa. Curioso, ¿no? Sobre todo en esa época, cuando los padres aspiraban a un hijo médico o abogado”.
Su formación como escenógrafo y vestuarista en la Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes le dio una base sólida para emprender una carrera prontamente exitosa. Hacia fines del 73 vivía entre Europa y Buenos Aires y empezaba a pensar en un trabajo más total, que reuniera en sus manos todas las partes de una obra: “Quería unir lo que llevaba en mí después de tantos años de trabajo; las funciones de un escenógrafo están muy ligadas al trabajo del director, que va a moverse dentro del dispositivo escénico”.
El primer espectáculo de su autoría fue Flamenco puro(1980) en el que Segovia tuvo por primera vez como estrecho colaborador a Héctor Orezzolli; luego siguieron Tango Argentino, Black and Blue (1985), Noche tropical(1992, estrenada poco después de la muerte de Orezzolli) y Brasil brasileiro (2005). Todos ellos se nutrieron de culturas populares y todos fueron extremadamente exitosos.
Cuenta Segovia: “Había conocido al director Jorge Lavelli cuando montó en el Teatro San Martín Yvonne, princesa de Borgoña de Gombrowicz. Lavelli buscaba un escenógrafo y le recomendaron que me llamara. Quedamos amigos y cuando coincidíamos en Buenos Aires íbamos a las milongas o a escuchar al Polaco Goyeneche”.
–Había ya pocas milongas en aquella época.
–Pocas. Pero quedaban grandes milongueros: Petróleo, el Pibe del Abasto, Gerardo Portalea, el Pibe Palermo. Alguna de esas noches le comenté a Lavelli mi idea sobre un espectáculo de tango. Tiempo después, Michel Guy, que dirigía el Festival de Otoño, le pidió a Lavelli que le recomendara algo diferente a todo lo que se veía en París. “Claudio Segovia tiene un proyecto así”, le dijo Lavelli. Guy me conocía como escenógrafo por mis trabajos en Francia, pero no como director.
–¿Entonces?
–Le hicimos llegar un video hecho para la televisión española con los artistas de Flamenco puro. Esto lo decidió. Aun así, hacían falta los fondos para producirlo y aparecieron nuevos problemas: un empresario en Francia se había mostrado dispuesto a dar el dinero; cuando fui a cobrar sus cheques ni siquiera existía el banco. El estreno de Tango Argentino en París fue la culminación de más de diez años de gestación y también de muchas adversidades. Mi proyecto no interesaba a nadie en Buenos Aires pero mientras tanto Tango Argentino iba tomando forma en mí.
–¿Cuándo había comenzado a pensarlo?
–Principios de la década del 70. Mi primera idea fue hacer una revista de tango; es decir, encararlo como un fenómeno teatral; no antropológico ni étnico, aunque sí bien arraigado en la experiencia real de sus intérpretes. Fíjese, el coreógrafo George Balanchine creó una obra sobre valses vieneses pero para bailarines clásicos. Los artistas de los espectáculos que hice solo o con Héctor, eran los verdaderos protagonistas de su propia historia. Y la calidad de los espectáculos era la que se le da a una ópera; pero con nada, realmente con nada.
–¿Cuando dice “nada” a qué se refiere?
–A mostrar lo más simple, aquello que no es aparatoso sino que se dirige directamente a la emoción.
–Volviendo a la época cercana al estreno, ¿cómo logró reunir el dinero para montar Tango Argentino?
–Estaba desesperado. El compromiso con el Festival de Otoño, si lo rompía, implicaba pagar una multa muy alta. Volví a Buenos Aires y hablé con mucha gente. Un funcionario llegó a decirme que no tenían un peso para dar, pero aunque lo hubiera no sería para este espectáculo. Mi madre me dio todo lo que había cobrado del seguro de vida de mi padre y así pude hacer el vestuario, comprar los zapatos, las pelucas, confeccionar el telón. Recibí una pequeña suma de la Embajada argentina en París y, después de unos trámites complicados aquí, nos dieron un avión de LADE.
–¿Un avión de mercaderías?
–Sí. Nos acomodaron unos asientos y llegamos a París sin haber dormido: fue una fiesta continua. La gente del Festival nos llevó a recorrer París. Para muchos era su primer viaje.
–¿Tenían previsiones para el estreno en el Châtelet?
–Se habían vendido 250 entradas. Un desastre. Estábamos en el escenario para el primer ensayo cuando Michel Guy me propuso hacer ese día una primera presentación para la crítica. “Imposible” –le contesto–. “Estamos por empezar un ensayo, sin vestuario ni luces”. Guy descorre un poco el telón y me muestra la sala colmada de periodistas y fotógrafos. Resolvimos todo rápidamente: maquillaron a cantante y actriz Jovita Luna, se preparó la orquesta y los bailarines se vistieron para hacer la escena final. Desde la cabina de luces íbamos dando órdenes frenéticas a los técnicos. No podíamos perder un instante; fue algo salvaje.
–Decía que entre los cantantes eligió a Jovita Luna para esa presentación imprevista.
–Yo sabía que Jovita era el colmo de la expresión, la interioridad y el dominio escénico. Hubo aplausos estruendosos y cuando aparecieron los bailarines, una apoteosis. Esa noche no dormí y a la madrugada salí a comprar los diarios: notas enormes en Le Monde, en Libération, en Le Matin. Durante la mañana se agotaron las entradas para el estreno y para todas las funciones que siguieron. Se veía a gente en medio de la nieve con cartelitos “queremos entradas; pagamos cualquier precio”. La misma noche del estreno nos llegaron contratos para hacer un mes de funciones en París en 1984 y para una gira por Francia e Italia; una invitación de la Bienal de Venecia y una propuesta de Nueva York. En una sola noche se produjo lo que había llevado diez años en madurar.
–¿Cómo surgió su colaboración con Orezzolli?
–Necesitaba a alguien que se ocupara en Buenos Aires de un espectáculo mío. Cuando volví, me emocioné con lo que Héctor había hecho y le propuse que fuera mi asistente en Europa. Éramos muy diferentes y también muy afines. Luego vi que podía ser mucho más que un asistente. Incorporaba lo que yo proponía de una manera muy natural y era muy inteligente y muy formado.
–¿De qué manera fue armando el elenco?
–La primera persona con la que hablé fue Juan Carlos Copes, en 1974. Más tarde con Astor Piazzolla; yo había trabajado mucho con él, pero Astor quería que se hiciera todo rápidamente y eso era imposible. Se lo propuse también a Tita Merello y me dijo que no; tenía esas reacciones un poco bruscas y después lo lamentó. Luego nos hicimos grandes amigos.
–¿Y el resto del elenco?
–Nunca llamé a una audición. Todo lo que hice fue por admiración hacia los artistas con los que trabajé. En el caso de Tango Argentino, eran emisarios de una cultura, de una forma de ser auténticamente porteña.
Segovia y Orezzolli acuñaron el término reo-chic para describir al elenco de bailarines: un origen popular y una gran clase como artistas. Todos provenían de la pista de baile de la milonga pero todos tenían algún tipo de experiencia escénica. “Tango Argentino –recuerda Segovia– dio lugar a cosas inconcebibles. Imagínese: Peter Stein –director de teatro alemán y un gran intelectual–comiendo en un café en Venecia junto con Virulazo y Elvira. Stein hablaba sobre el rol de la pareja humana… y ¡Virulazo! ¡Había que ver los cabarés de mala muerte en los que había bailado con Elvira! Pero su arte era el mismo”.
Vale la pena contar una anécdota de Virulazo –que con su baile había provocado la admiración de Martha Graham y de Mijail Barishnikov–: se hace un asado en Los Ángeles para agasajar al elenco de Tango Argentino y hay una buena cantidad de invitados famosos. Una rubia un poco imperativa le pide a Virulazo que la invite a bailar un tango. Concluye la pieza, se separan. Le pregunta Virulazo al actor Anthony Quinn: “Y esta petisa, ¿quién es?”. Era Madonna.
La lista de espectadores célebres que vieron Tango Argentino es apabullante; no basta con mencionar a Frank Sinatra, Andy Warhol, Martha Graham, Kirk Douglas, Lady D, Margot Fonteyn, Mijail Barishnikov, Rudolf Nureyev, Elton John, Pina Bausch, Barbra Streissand, Dustin Hoffman, Paloma Picasso; no basta porque quedan demasiados otros nombres notables afuera.
Y lo cierto es que todo tipo de público salía de los teatros bailando o tratando de bailar tango. En Nueva York las mujeres iban al teatro con vestidos negros y bijouterie. Los hombres, engominados.
Los elogios de la crítica internacional podrían dar forma a un libro. Aquí citamos apenas dos de los más connotados críticos internacionales de danza: “No lloren más por la Argentina, simplemente corran, corran al City Center donde únicamente por esta semana podrán regodear sus ojos, sus corazones y sus mentes con Tango Argentino (…), uno de los más vivificantes y elegantes espectáculos de música y danza que Nueva York –o cualquier otro lugar– hayan visto. En cuanto a mí, salí del teatro con el ardiente deseo de ir a Buenos Aires y aprender a bailar tango. No necesariamente en ese orden”. Firma Clive Barnes para el New York Post.
“Segovia y Orezzolli (…) quizás sean únicos en su género: toman la esencia de la vitalidad de una forma artística aun cuando la tradición que la sostiene agoniza”. Por Arlene Croce para The New Yorker.
“A lo largo de mi vida –dice hoy Segovia– viajé mucho, me mudé de casas, ciudades y países. Pero siempre volví aquí, y el amor tan profundo que siento por Buenos Aires fructificó en Tango Argentino. ¿Sabe?, me gusta citar esta frase de Macedonio Fernández: ‘Lo único que no tuvimos que consultar con Europa es el tango’”.
BÁSICO
Claudio Segovia
Buenos Aires, 1933. Director.
Director, escenógrafo, figurinista, productor. Estudió en las Escuelas de Artes Visuales Manuel Belgrano, en la Prilidiano Pueyrredón y la Ernesto de la Cárcova. Trabajó como escenógrafo y figurinista en teatro, ópera, ballet y music hall en la Argentina, Brasil, Francia, España, EE.UU., Inglaterra y Japón, entre otros. Es el creador del espectáculo Tango Argentino junto a Héctor Orezzoli, que alcanzó fama mundial durante dos décadas y provocó el renacimiento del tango como género y danza global. En una línea de trabajo similar, sobre ritmos musicales y bailes insertos profundamente en la cultura popular, Segovia y Orezzolli crearon Black and Blue, por el que obtuvieron un Premio Tony, Flamenco Puro y Noche Tropical. Segovia también creó y dirigió Brasil Brasileiro y Maipo siempre Maipo.
Sobre la firma
Monday, November 6, 2023
Alejandro Bettinotti Tango Documentary [English subtitles]
From Wikipedia:
Alejandro Bettinotti (July 10, 19622 - May 23, 2022)3 was an Argentine documentary filmmaker, singer-songwriter, composer and pianist.
Biography[edit]
With a thirty-year trajectory in music, he came merging tango, rock and popular music, taking his particular style to hundreds of places in Argentina and the world.
Always with independent and self-managed productions, he edited twelve studio albums, three documentaries and a book.
In 2003, he was summoned, indicated as an innovator within the genre to the Argentina Festival Again, in the city of Barcelona, in Spain, and then toured to the south of that country.
In 2009 he made the script and produced the documentary Entrañas del asfalto, a deep look at the origin of tango and its current contrast with the new forms of the genre.
In 2013, he published his first book Tangos a la deriva, which includes an album as a soloist, poems and texts. In 2014 he presented the book at the International Book Fair and at the Casa Carlos Gardel Museum.
Between 2010 and 2015 he made live presentations at several National Universities in Argentina and abroad such as Greece, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico, (these presentations in Colombia, Greece and Ecuador were declared of Cultural Interest by the Argentine Foreign Ministry, the Argentine National Institute of Music, the Argentine Embassy in Greece and the Argentine Consulate in Guayaquil, Ecuador). Through his artistic work, he generated different debates with the communities of each region. As a result of these meetings, the Documentaries were made: Che, who are you? and University Tours.
He took his particular style to hundreds of places in Argentina, Latin America and the World.
In Argentina, among other stages, he performed at La Trastienda, La Feria Internacional del Libro Buenos Aires, Teatro ND Ateneo, Casa Museo Carlos Gardel, Café Tortoni, Torquato Tasso, Club del Vino, Bar Tuñón, Festival de Tango Independiente Buenos Aires, Café Notorious, Teatro Bauen, Centro Cultural Cooperación.
In the 80s he put together the group Barrio Negro, in the 90s the rock band Señores Monos, in the two thousand the tango duo Bettinotti-Fernández and then his solo career.
He was indicated as one of the exponents of the "hidden tango" current, in the essay that bears that title by the researcher Silvana Boggiano, which deals with a musical current as opposed to the "official tango".4
Discography[edit]
- 1994 - Gentlemen Monkeys - Already in the police car the unbalanced does not show regret
- 2004 - Bettinotti Fernández - Los Porteños de Gardel5
- 2006 - Bettinotti Fernández - Tangolpeados6
- 2007 - Bettinotti Fernández - Rezongando Rezongar6
- 2008 - Bettinotti Fernández - Man dies of man6
- 2009 - Bettinotti Fernández - Let's kill the TV6
- 2010 - Bettinotti Fernández - Fumigying us6
- 2011 - Bettinotti Fernández - Live at the Nd Ateneo 2009
- 2012 - "Bettinotti Fernández - Esquifuzos"
- 2013 - Alejandro Bettinotti - Drifting Tangos
- 2015 - Alejandro Bettinotti - Riddles
- 2016 - Alejandro Bettinotti - Part of the art
- 2018 - Alejandro Bettinotti - Weapons of peace
DVD[edit]
- 2010 - Bettinotti Fernández - DVD of the Live Recital at the Teatro Nd Ateneo 2009
Documentary[edit]
- 2009 - Entrañas del Asfalto, documentary about the work of Bettinotti-Fernández, directed by Héctor Rivero.7
-2015 - Che: Who are you? (A journey of art through University lands)
-2017 - University Tour Ecuador
References[edit]
- ^ Bettinotti - Fernández present their new album (broken link available in the Internet Archive; see the history, the first version and the last). 11/3/2011 genteba.com.ar
- ^ Pablo Montagna (May 24, 2022). "Alejandro Bettinotti (10/7/1962 - 23/5/2022)" Twitter. Accessed on May 24, 2022.
- ^ "Alejandro Bettinotti, author of a work that fuses tango, rock and urban poetry, died." www.ambito.com. Accessed on May 24, 2022.
- ^ Essay addresses "the hidden tango" by the official culture 10/1/2011, Télam
- ^ Tangos between Gardel and Tangalanga 10/19/2004, Diario Clarín
- ↑ a b c d e Interview at biendeabajo.com
- ^ The irreverent guard 6/11/2009, Diario La Nación.
External links[edit]
Monday, October 30, 2023
Thursday, October 26, 2023
Master’s Thesis in Musicology - Universities van Amsterdam
| What is the importance of touch in social partner dancing? How do partner dancers perceive touch, and how does it fit in with their other senses? How do dancers use touch to understand themselves, the music, and their world? This essay is based on ethnographic research conducted in four partner dance scenes in Amsterdam—tango, salsa, Lindy hop, and kizomba—including interviews with 21 experienced dancers and observations of 12 social dance parties. The social dance party is analyzed as a space which both puts constraints on the dance improvisation that occurs there, as well as offers possibilities for experimentation and the development of new techniques. The leader-follower relationship is also analyzed, with particular focus on how dancers conceptualize this relationship and how touch functions within it. Finally, the essay proposes that dancers train their sensory engagement and their boundaries, just as they train their movement, in order to control their affective experiences in the dance space. Drawing from the diverse perspectives offered by the interviewed dancers on topics such as musicality, safety, and appropriate touch, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the sensory and social dimensions of partner dance, giving insights into the ways in which dancing bodies engage with other bodies and the world. |
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Tuesday, October 24, 2023
Martha Graham Quote
According to Agnes de Mille about Martha Graham:
"The greatest thing [Graham] ever said to me was in 1943 after the opening of Oklahoma!, when I suddenly had unexpected, flamboyant success for a work I thought was only fairly good, after years of neglect for work I thought was fine. I was bewildered and worried that my entire scale of values was untrustworthy. I talked to Martha. I remember the conversation well. It was in a Schrafft's restaurant over a soda. I confessed that I had a burning desire to be excellent, but no faith that I could be.
Martha said to me, very quietly: "There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open ... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others."
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"The greatest thing [Graham] ever said to me was in 1943 after the opening of Oklahoma!, when I suddenly had unexpected, flamboyant success for a work I thought was only fairly good, after years of neglect for work I thought was fine. I was bewildered and worried that my entire scale of values was untrustworthy. I talked to Martha. I remember the conversation well. It was in a Schrafft's restaurant over a soda. I confessed that I had a burning desire to be excellent, but no faith that I could be.
Martha said to me, very quietly: "There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open ... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others."
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Sunday, October 15, 2023
Saturday, September 30, 2023
Wednesday, September 27, 2023
TangoDanza.de 2021 Article about Giselle Anne, Diana Cruz (& Gustavo Naveira)
English translation:
Tango Danza: German Magazine for Tango Argentino
No.1: 2021 - Jan Feb March
(PHOTO)
Giselle Anne and Diana Cruz - even the clothes make a statement
Photo: Marie-Dominique Verdier
The woman's view:
Giselle Anne and her lessons from the perspective of the follower's role
by Maike Christen
English translation: Diana Cruz & Giselle Anne
Giselle Anne is a brilliant analyst of the tango dance and a broad-minded woman: In her latest project with Diana Cruz, she shows how we can consistently analyze and convey tango dance for both roles from the side of the follower. The result is an exciting lesson that turns the view of the dance upside down.
The tango world was still in order at that time. At least almost. In a tranquil setting, nestled against a mountain range, in the summer of 2019, the town will get a little out of hand: In a bright, unadorned hall with a mirror front, two women in suits are standing amid a crowd: one in white, one in black, both with the jackets open flashing belly buttons, high heeled shoes. "Mamita," whispers one and whistles through his teeth. Such sexy things. Even the clothes make a statement. What follows in this lesson is a firework of explanations of the Tango Dance -from the woman's point of view, from the point of view of the follower, as Giselle Anne & Diana Cruz say.
Women and men try out what the two propose - sometimes in one role, sometimes in the other: What are the basics of the giro? What is a back ocho? And what is a boleo? But this time it's not about what the leader has to do. The focus is on the other side: how can we structurally analyze the steps and figures that the follower dances? Which information does the follower need for her dance? Which not? Where does she put her steps in relation to the leader? And why?
Gustavo Naveira and Donato Juarez remain on the sidelines, a little overwhelmed by the unusual situation in which they are not the center of attention. Donato has at least one task: he puts on the music for the lesson while Gustavo struggles to find an attitude.
The Grammar of Tango
"Tango Study from the view of the Woman's Role" is the title of the series of classes by Giselle Anne and Diana Cruz. And it seems so new, so unusual, that this title needs a longer explanation in the advertisement: it says that it is not a women's technique class, nor is it a class where women learn how to lead or learn ornaments, nor is it an exclusively women's class.
What is it then?
Giselle laughs, "The title again says: We explain the tango from the follower's perspective," she explains, "What does the follower need to follow? What information do I need to get from the leader? And from the leader's side, what information do I need to give the follower? And which is not necessary?" And she continues:
"Often, the follower expects "a lead" that the leader is not responsible for, because it is predetermined by the structure of Tango - or because it is something the follower needs to know herself.
In short, it is about the underlying grammar of the Argentine tango, which is equally important for both roles.
The basis for this is the Código de Marcha. This 'code of walking' describes first of all how the follower moves around the axis of the leader: front cross - open step - backcross - open step - front cross. This sequence of steps is usually called 'molinete'. She cannot choose the sequence of steps, and neither can the leader - he can only actively interact and/or interrupt this code.
It is precisely this sequence of steps that is retained if, for example, the leader walks constantly along the open side of the embrace; in which case she sets her front cross locked and her hips remain aligned frontally to the leader - as in the so-called 'base'.
According to Giselle Anne, the eternal controversy in the tango community as to whether the woman's locked front cross is led or not does not arise: the locked front cross is part of the code, part of the grammar, and the follower carries it out without additional information from the leader.
"Throughout the Tango dance, this 'code of walking' is continuously present," explains Giselle, "this is what is special about tango -no other dance has this code as base." Each step of the follower is part of a turn (front - open - back - open - front - open - etc.) around the leader as the center, whether actually turned or walked in a line, either to the right or left around him. Of course, in tango one can also simply walk 'in a line', in front of each other and with a constant sequence of open steps; however, according to Giselle Anne, this is not exactly the most typical basic step of Tango.
Making the dance more fluid and precise
"So, there is a basis that doesn't need to be led and from which we can dance," says Giselle Anne. “This frees incredibly! And it has an effect on many levels: It makes the dance more fluid, more precise, faster, and more coordinated”.
"But of course," Giselle continues, "for anyone who doesn't understand the structure of tango, every single step has to be led. And of course you can dance anything you like. No one should think that we are 'against' leading! We only limit it to what is necessary," she says, and it is obvious how important it is to her that everything is understood correctly. "In tango, new things will continue to appear again and again, new figures will be invented -and all of this is led, and all of this is leadable," she explains, "but the big difference is that when we understand the structure, it becomes clear to us that many things no longer need to be led. And we work from this basis".
If the leader knows what the rules are for the role of the follower, if he knows where she is in the code, then he can continue to operate within the situation and either let her continue the code or interrupt it - whereupon the code resumes again. On the other hand, the follower does not have to think about where the journey is going with each step, but can relax and concentrate on the performance of her steps, which enhance the movement and the dance of both of them. To be able to explore tango dance from the perspective of the follower and thus to teach both roles - that is new. And it allows a fresh look at that which appears to be familiar.
Tango is not a mystery
By knowing this structure, we as followers will expect less from the leader. I am not saying that we dance alone, but then we know what the parameters are that we are following. The tango is not a mystery, everything is delimited -even if at the same time the new creations and the combinations of steps are infinite. But there is a basic structure. When we know this, when we understand it, everything becomes easier and requires less effort."
Giselle thinks. Clarifies. Argues. Explains. Repeats. Passionate and effervescent, as if she hadn't already expressed her point of view hundreds of times. With the fresh enthusiasm of a discoverer, she keeps her listeners coming back for more.
"The problem is that it is not understood what the function of the follower in the dance is. Since I don't have to lead, 'I don't have to do anything', it seems. In fact, if I understand the dance, understand its structure, I have to do a lot, many things that the leader does not lead and that contribute to the functioning and success of the dance. It is a mistake to think that the follower does nothing but a little embellishment to shine with - the embellishment is the least of the problems."-.
PHOTO
One of the most important teacher couples in the history of Tango Argentino: Gustavo Naveira & Giselle Anne
Photo: Marie-Dominique Verdier
The Pope and the Empress
This lesson from the perspective of the follower also throws a spotlight on the work of one of the most important teacher couples in the history of Argentine tango: Gustavo Naveira & Giselle Anne. He, the tango pope, in the searching for the tango structure from the very beginning. She, the show dancer who has toured with legendary productions such as Tango Argentina and Tango Pasion. "That's how everyone sees it", interjects Giselle. "He, the analyst, me the show dancer. But since we started working together, we have analyzed everything together." Today, the tango pope is faced with a tango empress, clever and witty, broad-minded and sharp-witted.
Giselle Anne and Gustavo Naveira have been a team since 1996. A quarter of a century in which the two of them have repeatedly taught the structure of Argentine tango (and, as a key element of it, the Código de
Marcha) in countless workshops and their famous 'Seminarios' all over the world. In concepts that they developed together - and with analyses that they worked out together - especially in their packed weekly seminars, in which they viewed, combined and exchanged thematically all elements, figures and movements.
At that time it was a novelty to deal so deeply, so tangibly and intensively with a single topic and to bring light to it from all sides. Like in 2004, when the two of them spent a week in the magnificent hall of the Club Español in Buenos Aires, examining all the possibilities of changes of direction, explaining them, packaging them in sequences and everyone in the room asked themselves: Why has no one ever made it so clear to us before?
We haven't invented anything; we've just discovered it.
"We are only now really understanding how everything is connected," says Giselle Anne. "The understanding of the structure has evolved over these years. We didn't invent it, we just discovered it. We tried to understand what happens when dancing tango and how it works."
In these 25 years of discovering together, the two have always developed new energy. "We are just starting," says Gustavo Naveira each time with complete conviction and again the following year.
In the bright hall from the beginning of our story, in a faceless low-rise building on the edge of the Rocky Mountains, in the small college town of Boulder, Giselle and Gustavo stand in the midst of their students and discuss a figure they have just shown. "In my opinion ... ", Giselle says, puts her arms to her hips, laughs and explains her point of view. "Aha," Gustavo mumbles thoughtfully, crosses his arms, tilts his head, touches his chin and comes up with a counter-argument after her explanation. Sometimes one grants the other the advantage of his point of view, another time it's the other way round and a third time they both show their respective versions of a step and explain the reasons for it..
Always playful and always full of humor.
But why are these classes not consistently taught half the time from the follower's point of view?
"In the classes with Gustavo we focus on the mechanism in the couple. And there is a big, a very big need to talk about the role of the leader," Giselle explains, "because the leader has to understand the step." She adds: "It's a widespread misconception to assume that the follower simply follows. But in fact, even if the follower doesn't understand the step," and Giselle laughs again, "even then the step will - more or less - work. In class, you run out of time, so I can only partially explain the structure from the follower's point of view. Furthermore, it seems that the teacher-follower is expected to speak mainly of the small embellishment or of the best performance of the movement. But these are minor details compared to the structure. Actually, the follower has to learn a lot more to improve the dance. This is something very substantial that has to be discussed in-depth and independently"
The Tango Vision of Two Masters
The idea of opening up a space for tango from a woman's point of view arose from this necessity - and in conversations with Diana Cruz, who had started dancing tango with her former partner Nick Jones. Since Giselle and Gustavo first came to Boulder in 2007 and Diana attended one of their 'seminars', she has absorbed their system. "When it comes to tango and its structure, Diana shares our vision," says Giselle, "that's why we understand each other so well."
Without the tango vision of Giselle Anne and Gustavo Naveira, Tango Study from the View of the Woman's Role would be unthinkable. The Código de Marcha forms the basis for their vision of tango - from which they explain all the other elements.
Naveira-Anne pass on their insights in their Programa Progresivo, a unique teaching concept that accompanies tango dancers from the very beginning, gradually decoding and explaining the dance to them. The two developed this program when they finally settled in Boulder in 2009 after years of traveling the globe. Since opening their Boulder Tango Studio in 2013, they have been teaching their Program there, witnessing the development and progress of their students. In the Progressive Program, too, the focus is on women's movement. From the very first lesson, the leader is encouraged to perceive what the follower is doing. Because actually, as Giselle and Gustavo keep repeating, the tango is - to put it bluntly - mainly about the question: Where is the woman? In which position of the code is she? And: In which direction does she continue around the leader: left or right?
The Tango in the Diaspora
In this small town in the middle of the USA on the edge of the prairie, where people are close to nature and jog sportingly through the high mountains, here in the diaspora - and this always seems peculiar - beats a great heart of the tango. From there, the “Progressive Program” is spreading far and wide through their teacher training, which is also one of Naveira-Anne's projects: it is already being taught in New York, Taiwan and Hamburg.
And - even more curious - in these strange times of a Pandemic, this distant little town is coming very close to us. "You just have to understand the technicality" says Giselle, and this time she means computer technology and not the Tango Technique. "I've stopped trying to do my classes the way I used to do, my in presence classes," she says cheerfully. "I have developed a new technique class, an hour without a break, where I show the movements and explaining at the same time, and the participants all join this new way of training straight away - it goes very well!".
Giselle and Diana also had to give Tango Study from the View of the Woman's' Role via Zoom this year. "And yes", says Giselle, "it makes a huge difference". "In last year's classes, there were constant changes of partners, lots of exercises, always with a different partner. Now the focus in our classes is more on theory, on understanding the structure, and not so much on the practical side, on doing and feeling."
Where do we go from here? "At first, we thought the online course would last two, three months. Then we thought it would all be over by the end of the year. And now? Well, a few things are possible again in the 'in-person" classes, but in Tango, how could we do it, following a social distancing protocol? In Tango we have to embrace!"
This is a time to start new projects, she thinks. And she is looking forward to resume what it has been postpone: the workshops in Europe, hopefully in the summer of 2021, including Berlin, where she’s been invited to teach with Gustavo Naveira and with Diana Cruz.
More info:
cruzial-a.com
Maike Christen often enjoys writing about her second hometown, Buenos Aires. She has been an enthusiastic follower of Giselle Anne and Gustavo Naveira ever since she attended their seminar there in 2004.
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