Photography::Bandoneones

La Fuerca Orquestra Tipica...streetside in San Telmo/Buenos Aires...near Plaza Dorrego...April 2007. I noticed these two bandoneonistos at a live performance by Roberto Alvarez' Color Tango at the Buenos Aires Tango Club. They were sitting at the foot of the stage...arms crossed on the stage...chins resting on their arms...watching Roberto intently...idol being worshipped...

Tango::Fandango de Tango - The Last Tango in Austin - Sunday

place holder...please check back!

Neophyte Drama

The Librarian

Followers bitching and whining about not me dancing with them…the guilt trip approach in lieu of cabeceo

Opera Glasses

Why I don’t don’t dance with really beautiful women...

More bad DJ’ing to start the evening out..."elevator" tango (music)...(not just me...everyone that I know was complaining)...but then Alex Krebs takes over at 11:30pm...and the dancing begins...

Tango::Fandango de Tango - Milonga #4 - The Performances

Fabian Salas y Carolina del Rivero
These two are so sensually connected it's unbelievable to me...I think they are two of the most "natural" dancers...very natural, smooth movement...yet technically advanced at the same time...I think they and their style is under-rated...I like Carolina's new look - with bangs - "Goth Tango"???

Julio Balmaceda y Corina de la Rosa
Fantastic as always...starting out with a milonga as their first dance was refreshing...one of the top five couples in the world if you ask me...top three?

Guillermo Merlo y Fernanda Ghi
Too dramatic and showy...too much Vegas...for my taste...

Diego di Falco y Carolina Zokalski
My personal favorites...dancing what I see as "achievable" tango...nothing too fancy, rich and sweet...

Nito y Elba Garcia
Beautiful estilo milonguero...huge applause and standing ovations...our elders were definitely respected...

Alex Krebs y Luciana Valle
I'm not crazy about their style - not much to say...the "token" gringos/nuevos of the festival...

Pablo Pugliese y Noel Strazza
I loved their barefoot "collision" of modern dance and Argentine Tango...others did not...

I should have written more when it was fresher in my mind. I know I had more to say, but have lost it, forever. The emcee, Ricardo, had them all switch partners for the last dance or two. That was fun to watch! The event was great - great performances across the board!!!

Tango:: Shot down, strafed and napalm'd

After I got shot down on an invite last night, my tango friend Roberto was telling me a buddy of his used to say "I got shot down AND strafed". Meaning that a woman turned me down for a dance - tired, feet hurt, leaving, etc. [Shot Down] Shortly thereafter she was up dancing with another guy. [Strafed] I'm adding "napalm'd" to the saying - she danced with another, and another and another, and was still dancing when I left at 3am. [Napalm'd]

Ouch.

Shot Down::Crash & Burn


Strafed::


Napalm'd:: (possibly politically and socially incorrect given the bad memories of Vietnam...?)

Tango:: Onions

Ladies (and gentlemen)... please don't eat onions or garlic or otherwise consume odiferous stuff in the hours before a milonga...preferably 24 hours before a milonga...

thank you...

Tango:: Follower Elbow Erections

Ladies, that right arm, that right elbow, remember to relax...

Not flaccid...not erect...definitely not rigidly stiff...relaxed but not loose...

My arm gets tired in a high villa urquiza style to counter that elbow contraction...

Plus, it can't be comfortable for you, and it's not aesthetically pleasing to see those elbows jutting out...

I do my best to relax my followers...holding them close so they can feel my relaxation...exhaling...changing the position of my arm as a subtle signal...and usually they relax

I find this to be an "all too common" problem...

Tango::Fandango de Tango - Milonga #4 - Saturday

Saturday's milonga was the "main event" - 9pm to 5am - with performances by the maestros/teachers. Stephen Brown of Dallas DJ'd - so the music was great. I don't get the salsa and rock tandas early in the evening - I think that's a personal issue for me, so I will quit bitching about it.

The tango music was great - so the dance floor was full. The organizers were expecting roughly 400 people to attend. I would guess there were 200 on the dance floor at the peak of the evening - just before and just after the performances. This was what I would call a mildly crowded floor (not supercrowded). This would ordinarily not be a problem except that I think more than fifty percent of the leaders were beginners. As such, there were more than usual floorcraft and navigation characters - basiceighters - assbackwardsdancers - yahoos - generalidiots - generalidiotsteachingonthefloor.

I was a (male) tango whore - I suppose the correct term might be Tango Gigolo. I felt like a whore - or at least a promiscuous bitch - whoring around from woman to woman - follower to follower. I did my civic duty here and there - but mostly danced with some very nice followers who I wanted to dance with. Nice dances, nice connections. Here is the cast of characters...

Classy Dallas Brunette (shoulda danced with her more...)
Tucson Goddess
La Mariposa de Phoenix
Tall but Needy
Ottoman Empress
The Astronaut-ess
Lithuanian Lolita (pleading the 5th here..)
Ms. Tango Crush (sweet...sweet dances...sweet woman...very sweet)

There were a few more, but I can't remember them now. And even more I wanted to ask, but there just wasn't time. I wussed out at 3am - pulled a disappearing act - and disappeared. My lower back was bothering me again.

Classic cabeceo is impossible in these large ballrooms - so it happens in the walking around - to get water - to reconnoiter the other side of the room - whatever. A smile here, eye contact there, an occasional "hi". I need to learn to be more focused - quality vs. quantity you know. But, I wanted to dance with as many women as possible to get over my "not asking" issues. Plus, when the music is that good - you just HAVE to dance, you know? Sitting through beautiful music is agony.

I had a little ripple in the fabric of this blog early Sunday morning. I almost just quit posting all together - feeling like this is just drivel - of no real benefit to anyone - not really interesting reading - just me bitching about this and that - that I could spend my time better on other things - that there are so many more important things going on in this world.

I don't know...we shall see...

Tango:: Fandango de Tango - Day Three - Friday

THE DJ’ing SUCKS ::
Last night’s (Friday) milonga was scheduled from 9:00pm until 3:00am. At around midnight, I estimated about 200-250 dancers in attendance. At 12:40am at least 50% of them had left – possibly more. Everyone was complaining about the DJ’ing. I can’t recall the guy’s name, and I wouldn’t go so far as to name him here – but he was all over the map.

Just like Thursday night, there was a Nuevo/Alt-Tango tanda played at around 11pm. Then another salsa tanda played shortly thereafter – just like Thursday. I was sitting and chatting with LP, a woman who splits her time between Austin and BsAs, and mentioned this to her – that I couldn’t believe it. She was out of the room when it happened – but she was just as amazed as I was – and immediately told her male friend about it – in a “you won’t believe this” tone.

This guy broke every codigo in the book - he played three song tandas, four song tandas, played danceable cortinas, mixed the format playing vals just after milonga (as my buddy R noted), after sticking to a fairly defined T-T-V-T-T-M format. He played a lot of what I call “off” orchestras – perhaps more modern stuff like Las Solistas, Sexteto Arranque or something – stuff most people had never heard and was borderline danceable. Mixing orchestras within a tanda. Throwing in a Nuevo/Alt song to start a tanda, then switching to Traditional. Talk about mass confusion. There was an undertone in the room of “let’s see what he’s going to play now”. And it showed. People simply left. On a Friday night – a six hour milonga scheduled until 3am –at 2am there were twelve couples on the dance floor. I left at 2:30.

If a man/leader wants to dance a vals tanda with a particular follower – what is he (or she) to do when the format is like a tsunami just hit? What’s a man to do?

TALK OF REVOLUTION ::
Everyone who knows me – and knows my DJ’ing – was grumbling about the other guy – and talking revolt – that they wanted me to take over – asking if I had my computer and stuff with me. I said, yes, that every good DJ comes prepared to take over if the DJ has a heart attack (God forbid) or an Immodium AD moment. I joked that I could tap into his system with my wireless rig – and discreetly take over the evening from a table the corner – and he could still sit there and take all the credit – and thereby save face. A joke of course. It could never happen – a DJ replacement in the middle of a milonga – the problem would have to be very serious indeed. It would be similar to switching dancers in the middle of a tanda – a really, really big no-no.

I suppose it might be time for me to starting thinking about festival DJ'ing...or at least taking some steps in that direction.

ALEX’S BIG SCREWUP ::
Perfect segue to Alex’s big screw up of the night. BIG. In the three song and four song tanda confusion – I thank you’d a very good follower from Dallas after the third song. The beginning of the fourth song – not being Trad – sounded like a cortina to me. I walked her back to her table – and she promptly walked over to another table/guy – and walked back out on the dance floor to dance the fourth song. She was within her rights to do this – it was my screw up – but when I realized what had just happened, I was terribly embarrassed. I tried to get to her again to apologize and explain – but couldn’t find an opportunity. Tonight. I will do it tonight.

THE MILONGA IS “VERY GOOD” ::
Given the sucky DJ’ing, the evening was overall, very good. I wouldn’t say it was a bad milonga because of it – it was actually a “very good” milonga if you ask me. A buddy of mine used to say “even bad sex is good sex”. If the DJ’ing is “off”, the end result – dancing tango and socializing – good dances and not-so-good dances – is most definitely – “a good thing”. Remember Martha Stewart’s (probably trademarked) thing she would say at the end of a segment topic? She would always say “It’s a good thing!” in her most excited Martha Stewart tone/timbre. Now, how the F did I get from bad DJ’ing, to good tango, to Martha frickin’ Stewart?

THE FLOOR SUCKS ::
I forgot to mention in my prior posts that the floor sucks. A “Homemade” system (versus manufactured) sheets of varnished maple plywood laid on a 2x4 grid foundation. The plywood is great – the foundation is great – the problem is the seams – some as large as ½” – and not all are level or plane out smoothly. Women (and men) are catching their heels. Not a huge problem – but a top notch dance floor system would make the experience that much better.

IDIOTS AND JOKERS ::
My last bitch, I promise. There were some idiots dancing the basic eight count last night, back step and all, over and over again. There then there were the jokers dancing backwards against the line of dance. And the guys who dance right up behind you - tailgaters. And the three lanes weren't working well last night - loose to non-existent. The floor was clearing well during cortinas - very well - only one or two couples remaining on the floor - probably from more experienced dancers showing up.

MY “STUFF” ::
In the past, at milongas, I have a bad habit of dancing primarily with women I have danced with before. Usually, I would dance with one or two of what a buddy and I call (tongue deeply in cheek) “strange women”. Not that they are “strange”, but just that they are strangers to us.

In Austin, they are all (almost) strangers. This is nice to get me out of my comfort zone and asking more women to dance – more variety. It was nice to be cabeceo’d by women for a change – being the new guy. When a woman is somewhat overt about wanting to dance with me – especially if she smiles or even says hi – that is a huge signal for me. An open door so to speak. But, my preference is to only dance with women I have seen actually dancing on the floor. I need to know how tall they are – and their general level of dancing before I will approach them.

I still have issues (personal/internal) with reverting to the basics with new women – especially on a crowded floor. I don’t feel comfortable stepping out (pun intended) into more advanced stuff until I feel a really good connection. I try little baby steps towards more “stuff” - advanced changes of direction, volcadas on the close side - to test a follower’s range. If she doesn’t get something, generally I back off to the basics. Sometimes, depending on the follower and the floor, I will try it again to give her the benefit of the doubt. The goal is to gradually build upon vocabulary with a particular follower – and keep her safe – and having fun.

My “basics” are a vocabulary of five or six things (not all in one dance), with some variation – like a couple of different variations on the ocho cortado. I have been focusing on enriching my walk recently. Sometimes I am tempted to dance an entire dance with only the walk and the embrace and the connection. This is based on Jaimes Freidgen’s teachings that the old milongueros “do” only 5 things in a dance to any one song – any more gets confusing and “busy”. And that if you do them very, very well, you can get by on only three.

THE DANCES ::
They were good dances overall for me last night – a few very good – good connections – a few “okay” – not so good connections. I find that if the connection is good, it doesn’t matter if the tango is not so good. I would rather have “lesser” tango and better connection, than “greater” tango and lesser connection. I think.

A woman from the Pacific Northwest – who I first assumed to be an experienced dancer – danced a milonga tanda with me. She had said earlier in the evening that she didn’t like milonga and didn’t really get it. I told her that everything would be okay, and that I would help her “get it”. She did just fine – very well in fact - although superfast traspie was out of the question – as it is with most followers. Stopping after the first song, she admitted to me that she was only a beginner, and said something complimentary about me and the dance. She was blushing. Blushing from the dance I think. That’s a first for me. Especially for dancing a milonga.

There were half a dozen others – I danced more than I usually do. But there were still five or six women that I wanted to dance with, but couldn’t. I didn't get to dance with the future French Astronaut [double PhD's in plasma & particle physics] or the cancer researcher. At one point, I walked up to one woman to ask her to dance, and she got snatched up, as did number two, and then number three, right before my eyes. You snooze...you lose.

ALEX'S BIG SCREWUP #2 ::
I went up to ask a friend to dance but she said her feet hurt and she was resting. I then turned to another friend sitting next to her and asked her. She began to rib me about that – “going down the line” (which I never do) as she called it. She danced with me anyway – and punished me with a lazy and heavy follow. I will make sure to never make that mistake again. Numbers 1, 2 and 3 need to be in different parts of the room – never sitting next to each other or even at adjacent tables. I think I knew this (but not doing much asking in the past) – I need to be more cognizant of it from now on. I also noticed that Friend 1 was up dancing with another lead – ouch. It’s a good thing that I know her and that she didn’t mean anything by it – otherwise it might hurt a little more.

I could go on, but this post is too long already. I will try to digest everything and post significant topics in the future.

Overall, it was fun – very fun. Some dancing, some socializing, good dances, okay dances. Comme il faut…

Tonight I Can Write

2:55am

I have two books of poetry by Pablo Neruda on my night stand. I read from them rarely, but they are always with me, just in case.

One of my favorite poems is number XX, number 20 in the book "Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair". It is titled "Tonight I Can Write".

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

Write for example, "The night is starry
and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance."

The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.

Through nights like this one I held her in my arms.
I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.

She loved me, sometimes I loved her too.
How could one not have loved her great still eyes.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.

To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
And the verse falls to the sould like dew to the pasture.

What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
The night is starry and she is not with me.

This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

My sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer.
My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.

The same night whitening the same trees.
We, of that time, are no longer the same.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but how I loved her.
My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.

Anothers. She will be another's. As she was before my kisses.
Her voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes.

I no longer lover her, that's certain, but maybe I love her.
Love is so short, forgetting is so long.

Because through the nights like this one I held her in my arms
my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer
and these the last verses that I write for her.

By Pablo Neruda

Tango::Fandango de Tango - Julio Balmaceda

By the way, the system says I posted my "Day 2" (the prior post) at 1:28am, it was actually 2:28...

It's not every day you get the opportunity to watch Julio Balmaceda (and another partner, not Corina) dance socially. A memory from last night came to me this morning - just now - so I have to write about it.

It's a technique thing I guess...a "cool move" memory... he stepped out on the close side in crossed feet (his left stepping to her left side) and did a very quick counter-clockwise pivot such that the follower's left leg "popped" (via a back volcada or back cross - backwards entry into the cross) into the cross...very cool...I will have to experiment with that one at the next practica...

Julio has a very nice, very unique style - very "turny" - and I noticed he almost never "just walks"...it was fun to watch he and Fabian Salas dance socially - Fabian dancing a more nuevo-esque style...

Sorry that I don't have anything more philosophical to offer...I think I remain under "the disastrous effects of 'work' on the human capacity of reflection" ... a nice post I found on the blog "Le Chemin du Tango" ...

Tango::Fandango de Tango [Austin] - Day Two Thursday

Short and sweet because it's late. Very nice milonga tonight...110 or 120 folks...great DJ'ing by Phyliss & Darryl of Dallas...much higher level of dancing tonight versus last night...good line of dance/ronda....good use of lanes...still lots of unled boleos...some dangerous high back boleos...some "big hair" tango out of Dallas...really good leaders....really good followers...a few folks from PHX...a few from ATL...one or two from DEN & ASE...nice to watch and dance alongside Julio/Corina/Fabian/Carolina/Pablo/Luciana et al...

During the cortinas tonight, the floor cleared almost entirely - versus Wednesday night where the floor only cleared about 30-40%. It makes me think that first milonga as almost viewed more as a practica or practi-longa by the participants.

Very nice night...some nice dances for me with one particular follower....not great connections with a couple of others...

Jennifer Bratt & Laura Pellegrino were both there...I tried to get up the nerve to ask them to dance (one or both)...but I just couldn't do it...perhaps tomorrow night...

Deep Tango Thoughts::Tango Fantasies Revisited

My earlier post has not seen many comments - not as many as I would have liked...so I am re-posting it...http://alextangofuego.blogspot.com/2007/11/deep-tango-thoughtstango-fantasies.html

What is your tango fantasy?

Please click on the links above - to leave your commnets on the original post...Thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving! I give thanks today that I am alive, healthy, spending quality time with my loved ones today and dancing tango tonight.

Tango::Fandango de Tango Festival - Day 1 Wed

The 9th Annual Fandango de Tango Festival [Austin, Texas] started yesterday. The maestros/teachers are Fabian Salas y Carolina del Rivero, Julio Balmaceda y Corina de la Rosa, Guillermo Merlo y Fernanda Ghi, Diego di Falco y Carolina Zokalski, Nito y Elba Garcia, Alex Krebs y Luciana Valle, Pablo Pugliese y Noel Strazza.

I will very likely not be taking any classes. There is no "a al carte" pricing - classes are only available in one day blocks of three. The other irritation is that the class topics are not announced until the start time of the first class of the day. So, I would have to show up at the hotel [I'm staying with family in Austin.] each day, take a look at the class topics for the day, and decide if these are classes I would like to take, not knowing what the classes are for the next two or three days. Funky scenario. Anyway, I've already taken workshops with all of the "headliners" except for Alex & Pablo. I have enough new material rolling around in my head just from my recent Buenos Aires intensivo with Gustavo y Giselle to last me for the rest of my tango life.

It would have been nice to do the full festival pass, as I usually do, but it's just not in the cards for me this time.

So, I met a friend who is in town for the festival for dinner last night. We went to a really good little Mexican restaurant near the hotel. We talked mostly about the Paso Fino horse breed - he had been to a breeder earlier in the day.

The milonga was held in the same ballrooms the classes were. Four smaller ballrooms -open up the dividers and the milonga is then held in the resulting large ballroom. Except that there are three separate dance floors - two smaller ones on the ends, and a large one in the middle. The small ones have round tables set up on them. The main dance floor has tables set up along one edge. This makes the main dance floor about 30 or 40 feet by 60 feet. Because the classes ran late - the milonga started late. There was a large crowd hanging out in the hotel bar - eating, drinking and socializing. It seemed like we were there for an hour or forty-five minutes.

I didn't take my boots off - on purpose. My lower back has been bothering me the past three days - I wanted to take it easy - not dance - save my back for the "big nights" and just observe for a while and collect "intel" on potential followers.

And what did I observe, you might ask? I would say there were 60-80 dancers in the room. There were only one or two followers who caught my eye. There were only one or two couples dancing at the advanced level (or actually beginning advanced). In general, the level of dancing across the entire room was somewhat "low". Not what I am used to seeing in Denver, or even at the Atlanta Festival. But this only the first night. More dancers will be coming in the next three nights.

Several couples were obviously trying to work out class material on the floor. One couple even appeared to be arguing in the far corner. Others were less obvious about it, but at least they were doing in the context of "the dance". Most were enjoying the evening it seemed, with minor hiccups in getting used to new partners. The room was about 50-50 in terms of open/salon vs. close/milonguero styles.

There was a couple that reminded me of "trailer trash tango"...really tacky ornate "stirrup" type (thanks for Francis R for the correct word!) fishnet stockings...really tacky overtly floral dress...Wrangler jeans on the guy...but they were having fun, so who cares, right? She was throwing front and back boleos all over the place - none were led. There appeared to be lots and lots of unled follower embellishments going on - not a good sign.

The floor only cleared about 50% during the cortinas - not a good sign for the single leader. The cortina - at least leaving the dance floor during the cortina - was designed - in my view - to 'mix it up" and enable cabeceo, enable partner changing for the next tanda. If the leaders are hogging the best followers, and don't allow them to step off the dance floor and get "cabeceo'd", then it's what I would call, at best, "not good".

The music was good - thank GOD! The cortina song was a little namby pamby. And short! Now that I think of it, it was only five, maybe ten seconds long - not long enough to clear the floor, do a little cabeceo, and get back on the floor. When I DJ, my cortinas are at least 25 to 30 seconds - sometimes longer. Short cortinas are for practicas.

I'm guessing the vast majority this first night, the night before Thanksgiving Day, are local Austin folks, and other Texas folks from Houston, San Antone, Dallas - and a few out of towners. There were a few from Atlanta there.

The best followers were dancing with their husbands - hopefully that will change tonight - if not, I will have to become a usurper - and ignore the lamentations of the husbands. No, that's not my style, but I will have to figure out a polite way to accomplish the separation. Sadly, there's no real opportunity for cabeceo.

One last thought...I got a "ballroomy" feel for some reason...a feeling that a lot of the dancers were converts from ballroom...just an energy thing...strange...

Then there was the salsa tanda...one hour into the milonga...salsa? I like a little salsa with my chips, just as much as the next guy, but this is supposed to be a TANGO festival, isn't it?

The salsa tanda is when I got up and left...just before midnight.

Addendum::Beginning followers...."knees together"...stepping and looking like you have been horseback riding all day...not a good thing...