La Vida Tango E-zine

Hola everyone...

It has been a while since I have written you. In November we were very fortunate. Our friend from Austin, Kay Kennedy, offered to have a Milonga on our behalf to raise funds for our Posada Milonga on Dec. 16, 2006. The theme was “El Dia de Los Muertos” (All Saints, All Souls Day) – We had a great time! We built a Dia De los Muertos Altar and we shared with our Austin Tangueros el Dia de Los Muertos special bread at midnight.

Alter with bread and sugar skulls.

It was a total success – there were between 35 and 40 tangueros from Austin who accompanied us during the event. Kay’s home was beautifully decorated with many gorgeous flowers. Her marvelous floor was brilliant and perfect for Tango dancing.

Jodi and Zoli of Austin.

The evening was full of life, magic, happiness, love, dreams and our souls dancing the Tango. The night vibrated with all of us. Kay, again, I want to tell you how grateful I am for hosting this Milonga for us, it was an unforgettable, friendly and successful evening.

Our hostess Kay Kennedy...

Now, B, Margie and I are getting ready to go to Houston on 11/11/06 –
we plan to attend the Café Tango to promote our Posada Milonga, which is getting closer and closer.
By the way, do you already have your tickets for the Posada Milonga? Please contact any of us for tickets.
Nos vemos en la proxima milonga. Norma

Hola Tangueros,

Just got time to sit and think about the recent Fandango de Tango held in
Austin, Texas during the thanksgiving holiday season that is put on every year
by Ricardo Mocada of “Learn to dance Studios”. The event had some amazing
performances by some of the best Argentine dance instructors from around the world; Neto and Elba Garcia, Fabian Salas with Carolina Del Rivero, Guillermo
Merlo with Fernanda Ghi, Alex Kribs with Luciana Valle and Pablo Pugliese with
Noel Strazza. Watching them perform made one want to cry either from sheer joy of the sight of their fantastic dancing or from the disappointment of knowing
one may never achieve that level of expertise; well one can always try.

Recently in San Antonio there was a concert put on by Camerata San Antonio titled “Tango! Tango! Tango! Piazzolla and the Tango Revolution” it of course featured music composed by Piazzolla. Now, I don’t know Piazzolla from Elvis but after having been involved in the tango scene for a few years I have heard the name before and his music. If someone were to ask me ‘Who composed that tango song?’ my safe bet would be to answer ‘Piazzolla?’ and I would have a 33 percent chance of being right. Why? Well according to a close loved one there are only three major composers of Argentine tango music that are referred to as the three pillars of that genre.

Musicians:
Violin, Annie Chalex Boyle.
Viola, Emily Watkins. Cello, Kenneth Freudigman. Piano, Kristin Roach

Anyway back to the concert, the reason I first heard about it was because one of our local female tango dancers, Kathleen
Robertson, who by the way is an excellent dancer, was asked to perform a few tango dances to the music as it was performed by the musicians. At first I thought oh great a concert… how fun… well when the musicians come on and started to play they slowly started to get my attention by the time intermission came I felt WOW… WOW… that was great… the compositions were fantastic, the performances of the musicians was phenomenal, the dancing by Kathleen was exquisite put them all together and what you had was an experience to remember as you sit in your rocking chair in your old age reminiscing about great past experiences.

Kathleen Robertson and Tim Buell

Now, I remember thinking
during intermission that if this concert was over right now it would have been well worth the price of admission. Luckily it wasn’t; there was much more to come. I left the concert when it ended but the nuances of that experience have remained with me to this day.

*all photos by Angela Avila

Dear Maleva,

I have gotten in trouble repeatedly for enjoying Tango when my girlfriend has looked on - perhaps having her get up and leave the Milonga all together. I too have felt turmoil to see my girlfriend zone-out with another man - particularly if he looks Brazilian or Italian or whatever...I know dark Mediterranean men are her weakness. I see other people experiencing heartbreaks from tango as well. So I am now turned off of Tango for the moment for these reasons....and I suspect that many 'happy couples' decide that their Tango days are over for the sake of not wanting to upset their mate. I was wondering how you handle this issue with your significant other.

Dear Reader,

Relationships are always tricky, and doubly so when tango is involved. If you have a Significant Other (SO) and you dance tango, realize that it is probably going to be the source of arguments at some point and think about how to resolve them. Possible sore spots: You spend too much time dancing (if your SO doesn't dance), you spend too much time dancing (even if your SO does dance!), you dance too much with so-and-so, you danced too close with so-and-so or looked like you enjoyed it too much, you don't dance as well together as a couple as you do with other people, you don't dance enough at milongas with your SO....the list goes on.
You don't need to give tango up to have a happy relationship. Every relationship is different but I think there are a couple of general rules to abide by.
As a man, you need to be especially sensitive at the milongas and make sure that your girlfriend 'has as much fun' as you do, e.g. gets as many dances. If you dance with other women all night, and your girlfriend sits all night, she is going to be good and mad by the time you go home. I know I would be. If she's sitting a lot, look after her and ask her to dance yourself. Ladies can't ask for dances as easily as men can, plus there are usually more good followers in a room than good leaders - so even if your girlfriend IS asked, she may just be getting knocked around. I think that if you go to milongas together it is nice if you take care of your lady in this way. Maybe you don't want to take responsibility for someone else's good time, in which case perhaps you should not go to milongas together. Some couples don't, but I don't think that's an ideal situation either.
As for how to handle it when your partner is dancing a seemingly seductive dance with someone whom you know they would find attractive - Simply, don't watch. They may look like they are in love, but they really are just dancing. Everyone should be allowed to go into the trance with another man or woman for a tanda. Try not to let it bother you if you see your SO having this intimate feeling with other people. Connecting in this way to other human beings is the reason you both dance in the first place. Now, if it carries on for more than 4 or 5 songs - well, that's another story...
Do not ever be overly critical of your SO's dancing ability, and if you can't help but criticize then do not under any circumstances practice together or take privates together. 95% of the couple I teach privates to blame each other, criticize each other, or get snippy in general, so much so that I've considered having everyone sign an agreement beforehand saying that they are not allowed to talk to each other during the lesson! They would also not be allowed to point out to me what the other person is doing wrong - I can always see for myself who is doing what wrong. I know couples who say that practicing together is the only thing that causes fights in their otherwise long and blissful marriages. In tango relationships the best policy is if you cant say anything nice, don't say anything at all. People are extremely sensitive about their dancing ability and criticizing your partner will destroy his or her desire and confidence to dance with you. In fact, look for things you can compliment him or her on!
Sometimes even harder than avoiding fights while practicing with your SO is watching him or her practice with another partner. It's hard to see your boyfriend or girlfriend spend a lot of time with and become close to someone else, and maybe you feel like they like dancing with that other person better. If your SO practices with someone else, try to understand that again, it's just dancing and just because you SO likes to dance with another partner doesn't mean they don't like dancing with you or don't want to be with you. I think that you may have a problem however if you don't like dancing together at all. Tango is about chemistry and if you don't have it on the dance floor, I can't imagine having it off.
Anyway, these are the common problems I've seen, I'm sure there are others. I think they can all be dealt with fairly easily if your relationship is strong and you are sensitive to how your significant other is feel.

column courtesy of Jennifer Bratt http://www.close-embrace.com/

Needing a holiday gift for a tango lover . . . here is quick and easy shopping for
tango art !

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LaVidaTango
E-zine

email b@lavidatango.com

Mission
Statementt:
Our mission is to provide a virtual home where all tangueros, from beginners to advanced, can access the rich culture of tango
and the many and varied resources available to them. Remain inclusive and impartial with regard to styles, theories or organizations.
Strive to help individuals raise their level and understanding of the dance. Inspire tango lovers to have fun and enjoy their tango.

Our Advice:
VAYA PRONTO A UNA MILONGA !

Views expressed by reporters or contributors are not always the views of the publisher or staff. La Vida tango is happy to give equal space to all points of contention.

Have something to contribute or say?
Contact the Publisher

Revised
January 12, 2007

December 16, 2006
La Vida Tango E-zine
Presents the 4thAnnual
Posada Milonga
A traditional Posada Celebration to
accent the season.
7pm at the Granada Ballroom
San Antonio TX
Exhibition tango . . .
Jairelbhi and George Furlong of Dallas TX
Susana Collins and Ron Jones of Houston TX
Disc Jockey George Furlong

Visit
http: www.lavidatango.com/pm.htm
for ticket info and directions
or email b@lavidatanog.com

Tango Music Interview . . .
I recently had the pleasure of hearing a new tango cd "Tango Legends", comprised of classic classy tangos. Vayo Raimondo's sensual voice with the compliment of a beautiful bandoneon interpretation transported me to a tango wonderland. Vayo graciously granted me the opportunity to do an interview and I would like to share it with you . . .

Thank you for your interest and for your sensitivity about our music. It is satisfying for me to address your questions but I must take the liberty to elaborate on the Tango subject.

I find it gratifying that our music has helped to create a mood and an emotional experience for you.

Best regards,
Vayo

Question 1. How do you explain this passion for tango in countries with cultures so different from Argentine culture?

First, I wish to clarify that Tango is exclusively “urban”, so it results from the culture of a city or a region of cities with shared societal characteristics. Of course, Buenos Aires is and has been the center of gravity of the tango culture, and to a slightly lesser extent, Montevideo. Both cities have an interactive history and an identical ethnic background provided primarily by the Spanish and Italian immigrants. While the creators of a popular art are individuals, their formation results from the culture that defines their identities. Buenos Aires and Montevideo were and are so close in their dialectic and value systems that musicians from both shores of the River Plate have interacted without a particular distinction of national origin. While Montevideans have made extraordinary contributions to the common music and also call it their own, Buenos Aires has had a greater impact due to its size, five times larger than Montevideo. Also smaller cities in the region such as Rosario and La Plata became part of the tango history and development. It is for this reason that tango belongs to the River Plate region, and preeminently to Buenos Aires. The impact of the Broadway show “Tango Argentino” generated a deserved recognition for the elegant music of the River Plate and its performers were Argentines, some of them (the incomparable milongueros) pioneers of the popular art form. Given the greater cultural affinity among the cities named above, as distinct from distant provinces in Argentina, it would be more appropriate to speak of the River Plate Tango rather that of Argentine Tango.

Given the above clarification, the success of tango in other cultures is typical of highly developed and refined music that expresses universal concepts. While Tangos are thematically rich, they also offer a vast range of interpretational possibilities, and lend themselves to unlimited improvisations such as jazz. Tango reached its highest mark during the Golden Era (mid thirties through mid forties). During this period trained musicians poured their talent into the most articulate and expressive forms of their own native music. The classic tangos of that era became a “complete art form” given that all possibilities of the genre were explored and developed. Later works, aside from a handful of notable exceptions, became imaginative and satisfying repetitions of the completed classic genre. The extraordinary appeal of the classic tangos in other cultures comes from the unreachable mystique of imagined poetic mannerisms only possible for the River Plate natives who have been formed under the spell of their own music.

Question 2. What is your vision for the future of Tango in general?

I view Classic Tangos as a “completed experience” in music, a genre that will retain its cultural and stylistic identity. New interpretations of old tangos, the playing of defining recordings and primarily dance will sustain and build interest in Tango. However, the new musical directions of this genre must adopt other forms while keeping a related intention with the old. The future will bring us more of the same and this is good. But I believe that the “new” tango will be more of a listening experience. Some pioneers have taken adventurous and necessary steps, by a fusion of tango with jazz and classical forms. In my own experience, I see that the development of the popular art form needs to break with the structural forms and constraints of the past.

Question 3. Since the Uruguayan Tango is more like the classic tango, will it have to evolve too?

There is no Uruguayan Tango as distinct from the River Plate Tango. Our album “Tango Legends” is a collection of classic tangos, but in a previous release and for our next cd we have also created our own new tangos, some closer to tradition and others exploring the boundless possibilities of music. The evolution of Tangos is as necessary as the growth of all the arts.

Question 4. Have you in the past and are you thinking of touring the US?

In the past I performed in the US at milongas and workshops with different musicians, but not with my group. Our last tour of Norway with my own music in theatrical presentations brought together my gifted musicians, my singing and prominent ballet dancers. While there are some difficulties in gathering my dispersed group of musicians, we meet regularly and we would enjoy taking our show on a US theater tour.

Vayo Raimondo - vocalist, Toto Damario - bandoneon
Mario Nunez - guitar, Miguel Pose - double bass

I look forward to a U.S. tour of Vayo and his group and will inform everyone when that occurs. Perhaps you could use them for your next milonga!

I understand they have been playing cuts from the album on KUNM 89.9 FM, Public Radio for northern and central New Mexico.

Learn more about Vayo and his music and order the cd at http://www.vayoraimondo.com/

Enjoy life and the dance . . . B

Norma Valdes, Orlando Budini, Elena Pankey, Roy Montejano, Jennifer Bratt, Robert Osbourne and myself, along with everyone else who has contributed to LVT
this year, want to wish ya'll the best holiday season ever...
Thank you for reading and interacting with us, it has been our pleasure to do a little each month to enlarge and hopefully encourage your tango life.
We will be back with another edition of LVT
the first Sunday in February 2007.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, B Clifford

BASIC FOR ALL DANCERS

By Elena Pankey

Tango Argentino is a creative, improvisational dance. It is great fun and pleasure when both partners know the correct techniques and share the same level of energy, skills and understanding of the music.

One very well known professional gentleman once said, that a women in tango should have the control of a Cadillac: with a light touch of partner’s “steering wheel,” (his hands or upper body), she should move.

People who learned some improper techniques or did not practice together often enough could face some problems. So, these rules could be applied to any dance and help people to have more joy during the dance.

Several big challenges on the dance floor

1. Try to avoid the effect of “a cooked potato”

Stretch up your ribs and back, and suck your tummy in.

Keep your energy high, moving you into the dance.

Don’t collapse your frame.

2. Watch out for a “wet spaghetti syndrome” for both partners:

It is difficult to dance (follower or leader) together as a team, when

either of you has lifeless arms, soft shoulders, or a body lacking in energy

3. Resistance in the hand’s palm:

When a leader pushes (not squeezes) a follower, her hand should respond with the same amount of energy. She needs to read what is in the tango embrace, what the leader is trying to say, and respond with the appropriate movements.

4. Try not to lead/teach/talk:

Modern women are strong, and most of them like to lead. However, in tango, as well as in life, there cannot be two leaders. Learn men’s part, and dance as a leader, if you want to lead. If you want to be a follower, do whatever your partner asks, even though it might be wrong . . .

If it does not feel good, you don’t need to dance with him anymore.

5. Don’t anticipate his movements:

It is always rewarding to make your partner feel good, and dance with him

wherever HE is taking you. Followers need to create movements based on the messages leaders send. This is the fun of dancing. If you still feel that nobody is good enough for you -- stop going to Milongas.

6. Don’t break the frame

Your posture should be upright and you need to develop your strong core.

One of the characteristics of Tango Argentino is to keep your rib cage closer to your partner, but not your hips.

www.TangoCaminito.com TangoCaminitoSchool@Yahoo.com

Tango Fashion News . . .

Mimi Pinzon by Viviana Laguzzi presented the Summer Tango Show Collection last month in her fashion show in Curitiva Brasil with the special participation by Marcos Cayres y Neuza Abbes from from Rio de Janeiro. To enjoy more, click to www.mimipinzon.com

Tango à la Parisienne

a Tango Story by
Robert Osbourne

To Read Part One Click here Part Two Click here

Part Three . . .

As Isabelle refills my glass, I see, reflected in the mirror behind the bar, men and women raise their glasses for one more coup de champagne before joining the others on the tango dance floor. But behind the flame rising from the women’s bejeweled fingers and in the blue plume rising from the red glow of the men’s cigars, there is a hot cauldron of simmering emotion: jalousie, desire, anger, envy and hate.…ready, like a swift blade drawn from a high booted heel, to flash into scalding incandescence. How do I know this? I see it in my own eyes as I gaze into the mirror behind the bar.

Jealousy, pride, envy? These are just incidental ripples in a vast, tempest-driven sea of churning torment when you’re in love. Really in love! I’m not talking about the prissy-ass love you read about in The Reader’s Digest. I’m talking Wurthering Heights, Heathclif-Kathy, ego blowing, blood-tide ripping love; capsizing, bottom-of-the-sea drowning, agonizing love that hovers on madness.

Madness? Insanity? I've long passed that stage. The word love is no longer capable of describing my feelings for Natasha. Robert, you are adrift on the shores of insanity, I tell the guy staring at me in the barroom mirror. How, how did you let this happen?

WHITE SPACE

Noontime, and, in La Place de l’Opéra, the immortal gods of music, standing tall on their marble pedestals, look down on the time-worn, stone pathways leading to the rear entrance of l’Opéra Garnier. Suddenly, the stage door bursts open, and the beautiful dancers of The Paris Corp de Ballet fly joyously through the portal, like a flock of bright, slew footed geese. Lithe of foot and barely earthbound, their hair trailing in the wind, their movements so graceful, so natural, so free, so full of life and joie de vivre, they prance, they hop, they skip, they leap exuberantly down the pink marble stairs and onto la Rue Scribe where they pause at the traffic light.

The dull ach they feel in their leg muscles is welcome reward for their grueling morning workout. Their nimble feet, not yet under control, assume la deusieume position out of habit and cannot resist spinning a pirouette or leaping a petit pas de chat on the street corner, to the astonishment and smiling appreciation of passerby’s strolling la Rue Scribe.

My friend, Dimitri, the stout jovial Russian who dances like a Cossack, is with me today. We’ve fallen into the habit of meeting once a week for lunch. From our table on la terrasse du Café de la Paix, we have an excellent view of the stage door at the back of l’Opéra Garnier. I may be the only person in Paris who knows about the stage door across the street and the noontime flight of the beautiful ballerinas.

As they wait for the light to turn green, they smile and laugh and talk of tonight’s performance on the great stage of l’Opéra Garnier. Their eyes sparkle with the unbridled optimism of youth and their love of the dance and a destiny of rainbows without rain. Their long necks stretch high above their bare shoulders in graceful swanlike curves. "And look at their arms," I tell Demitri. "They are emaciated and thin, like willow branches."

Their tiny muscles seem hardly strong enough to lift a glass of champagne. But those fragile willow branches rise and fall, bend and twist deliciously on currents of sweet music, like the gaudy wings of a showoff butterfly or a naughty night-winged bat.

Our table on la terrasse du Café de la Paix is draped with a soft, white linen cloth that falls over our knees. A vase of roses rises from the center of the table and is surrounded by an assortment of delicate silver containers, holding sugar and spices….something you would never see in the student restaurants in le Quartier Latin; they’d be gone in a flash. A bottle of chilled Russian vodka is also sitting on the table. I’ve grown to appreciate good vodka…one of the benefits of my association with my Russian friend, but I haven’t reached his level of expertise in putting it away neat, à la Russe. Dimitri’s glass is suspended midway between the tabletop and his gaping mouth, while he contemplates le corps de ballet waiting to cross the street.

Séduisant! Séducteur
! These are good French words that would fit this stout, jovial Russian sitting next to me. ‘But Séducteur brings to mind sexual attributes, often pejorative in English. But in French these words point to attributes that are complimentary and charming. For Demitri is a charming man. His words are honest words, without duplicity or malice; he’s relaxed and at ease in all situations and any sort of company; he is trustworthy, and with his disarmingly natural manner he inspires trust. He’s squat, and he waddles when he walks; but it’s really amazing: his walk has a pleasing rhythm and a paradoxical touch of athleticism, strong and graceful.

The traffic light turns green on la rue Scribe. The dancers step off the curb, like ballerinas stepping out of an Impressionist masterpiece: laughing, hopping, skipping, heads tilted this way and that. From early morning, the young ballerinas, their bodies bent over the bars in agonizing contortions, submit to the uncompromising tyranny of the white haired ballet master, whose long, silver headed cane strikes the rough wooden planks with a THUNK, THUNK that makes even the hardiest ballerina cringe. After hours striving to meet his unforgiving drive for perfection---*perfection, perfection, mes enfants, et s’il vous plait, pas de larmes, tears will not make you better dancers"---the cage has opened and les oiseaux set free for an hour.

"Demitri, have you ever seen such beautiful legs?" I ask the Russian, as the traffic light on la rue Scribe turns green and the dancers of the Corps de Ballet start across the street.

"Yes, they have marvelous legs, but they all have the same look---the look of the long distance runner. They are too lean, too slim. Those subtle muscles that perform impossible, stratospheric leaps are too well concealed. All the excess fat we love so much has been burned away by hours of masochistic exercises. But when a ballerina expresses her art, nothing is lovelier.

"If you've been to California, Demitri, you know our beach girls have sexier legs, with just enough fat in the right places."

"Ah, Robert, you are a connoisseur of legs. I never cease to be amazed at the scope of your competence. Is there no limit?" Demitri has a way of putting me down, while making me smile.

The girls of le Ballet de Paris have only an hour to grab something to eat. They dart across la rue Scribe. Although the light is green, they do not have the right of way over traffic turning the corner. But they are nimble. They dodge and skip around the cars and motos, none of which bother to slow for them.

"Look! Demetri. Two of the girls are coming this way. They’re coming here for lunch. What good fortune."

The waiter appears with our food, and Demitri pours himself another vodka while the waiter opens a bottle of Bordeaux and pours a couple of centiliters into the glass next to my plate. I've never been comfortable with the obligatory, French wine ritual. At one time I tried just telling the waiter "je vous fais confience" (I give you my confidence). But this didn’t go over too well, so I go through the usual routine and hold the glass to my nose, inhale deeply, wet my tongue and roll my eyes. "Oui," I tell the waiter, who seems satisfied.

I see someone approaching our table. It's one of the girls from le Corp de Ballet. She looks very young. She has pale rose cheeks, and through the soft folds of her pale yellow frock, her marvelous dancer’s body proclaims a delightful, unconsciously graceful charm. She has a delicate oval face that smiles down on Dimitri.

"Demitrivanovich," the ballerina calls out. Demitri rises, and she kisses him warmly on his plump cheeks. The hands of the young ballerina dance and gesture happily as she speaks to Demetri in Russian. Her eyes, bright and animated, also speak a happy language as words rush from her smiling lips. They talk excitedly, and then I see Demitri gesture towards me. The young ballerina turns her head and smiles, and I rise from my chair. "Robert," Demitri says in English, "Please, meet Natasha Nakarova, my beautiful young niece from Moscow." I reach out and close my hand around the ballerina’s long, delicate fingers and feel a warm, scintillating current, like electricity, pass from her palm to mine. It travels up my arm and invades my brain, so that moisture comes to my eyes. And I really don’t know why.

(to be continued) email: robert_o@lavidatango.com

Hot Happenings around Texas . . .