"MEXICO LINDO...  

          Y TANGUERO"

By Orlando  Budini

         
"La milonga del Parque Mexico"        Photo courtesy Maja Wallengren        

When I finally got there, after a short stop at a cafe for a good cappuccino that Carlos (seminar photographer, student and my personal driver) invited me to and of course, I could not refuse. Tango fans and volunteers at the park were cleaning up the floor to make it smooth and easy for all the dancers waiting for the music to start. Maja Wallengren, an international free lance journalist based in Mexico who is also an excellent dancer and the founder-president of "Tango Association of Mexico", welcomed me with a sweet smile on her face. Maja, as well as Gonzalo before, was seduced by el Tango... and by Gonzalo! Now both of them share their lives and destiny with the same love and dedication as they share their Tango. She was wearing an impressive and "bien tanguero" tango-dress and was of course, ready to start "La Milonga del Parque" This milonga was started in the spring of 2001 by a group of friends reunited under the Tango Association and it was called (of course) "The friends milonga". Is held every Sunday, will not be postponed because of the bad weather and the masters will lead the way every week to invite all the Mexican Tangueros from Distrito Federal that love Tango to dance and to have a good time in the park. People dance if they know how and they try it if they do not or watching the dancer's "ochos" and "cortadas" with a great deal of envy in their eyes asking themselves why they did not learn to dance like this before. Neighbors living in all the apartments surrounding the park get out on their balconies to listen to the music and to applaud the expertise of the couples, couples that dance tango as well as any Mexican dance ... or even better!
I danced with Maja after the presentations as an introduction to start the milonga while Gonzalo was DJ’ing the party, after the applauses, nice diplomas and congratulations were given to the students attending the Seminar, there were also speeches of course, everybody was happy, more applauses... after that a couple of Tangueros Mexicanos made me sentimental (I don‘t usually get that way easily) when they presented me, as the teacher of the seminar, a nice certificate too! Many of my old friends were there enjoying the evening. I was surprised when I saw Sylvia seated at one of the park bank-sides, Sylvia is a friend and a wonderful tanguera. I had not seen her since I was at the milongas of “Club Espanol" in Buenos Aires. At hers side, another tango lover, Nailea Norwing, a movie star, international model and an old friend said hello to me with a kiss and introduced me her lovely daughter. I missed of course Jesus Bernal from Guadalajara, who I forgive, as his wife Isabel is busy bring a "little tanguero" to this world. I also missed my old milonguero friend Paco Romero or "Paco el milonguero" as everyone calls him. He did leave me, one of his tango reflections: "To dance Tango is my passion".... "because Tango makes me feel higher, makes feel stronger and makes me feel full of hope and life!" 
Once again on this visit to Mexico City in my way of sharing my Tango with others, Tango had shared with me its friends and admirers, reminding me one more time the real meaning of friendship, that incredible strong invisible friendship that an old and simple music called TANGO is able to generate among all of those that dance it and love it!
There are only three places in the world that I know of with "outdoor milongas" or milongas danced in an big open space like a park. One is in Paris, the Quais of Seine at Square Tino Rossi, the other one is in Buenos Aires, Plaza Dorrego and Palermo and the third one is in Mexico City... So if you happen to be in Mexico City on a Sunday... No matter if it rains, if it's cold or hot Maja and Gonzalo will be waiting for you at "The friends milonga" or "La milonga de Parque Mexico. 
                                      "Hasta el proximo Tango ! . . .  Orlando  
P S. . .
I' m now in the process of gathering information to write an article may be a book about "Las Minas del Tango en USA".("The Women of El Tango  in USA") If you or anyone you know has made and/or is today doing something relevant for Argentine Tango in the USA, please send all the information or history in tango to: orlandobudini@yahoo.com 
The rules are easy: 
a) Have been involved in tango for 5 years or over introducing, teaching, organizing, dancing, reporting or spreading Tango in USA.) 
b) Whatever they have done must have to have made a significant difference in the cultural asimilacion of the authentic original dance from Argentina in the USA. 
c) Suggested candidates must live permanently in USA and be known and recognized.
All information will be confidential until its publication. References about myself can be found in www.metatango.com or www.lavidatango.com

Contact Orlando Budini at orlandobudini@yahoo.com 
Visit his web site http://metatango.com/index.html

Hola Tangueros,

What a treat, Glover Gill and Tosca! Tosca, the name of a musical group who I had often been told of but never actually heard a single note of their music. Often heard other people mention Tosca in a legendary way it always made me wonder did they even exit or is this just another tango myth? It was rumored they did some sound track work in a big Hollywood movie. 
Boy the rumors legends are made of…..BUT GUESS WHAT? There is such a group they played in Houston, Texas the weekend of February 12  for a Valentines Milonga at the Continental Club and they created music, such dance inspiring music. The kind of music that makes grown men cry, when no one is looking, the kind that make women swoon, music that alters your breathing, causes your heart to race, your pupils to dilate. The kind that says this is my addiction, that kind that make people throw out all their sense of responsibility as they move to the music that permeates the entire hall. 

Dancers hold each other just a little closer, just a little tighter, and just a little longer and they linger in each others arms for a few seconds more after the last note struck has dissipated. Have to go now I have something in my eye.
Asta Luego,

 
All Photo's by R. Montejano   
Contact Roy via email ........... r.montejano@grandecom.net

a tango moment . . . “Duval at the Ideal” by Gwendolyn Diaz Note the interior of the salon . . . Buenos Aires is a magical place. One night last summer, I took a girlfriend who was visiting from the U.S. to the Confiteria Ideal, a salon where you can dance tango almost any time and any day of the week. She wanted to see how the ‘real’ people danced, rather than the acrobatic performers of the big shows. When we arrived, I noticed an unusual hustle and bustle. There were a lot of people there; the waitress were not the usual older men, but rather young girls dressed in black and white. There were tall blonde Americans hanging around the edges of the dance floor with professional cameras and lights, not at all the usual patrons. We sat at a table near the entrance as couples began to crowd the floor dancing a tango by Pugliese. All of a sudden, the camera men rushed passed us toward the entrance and then began to walk backwards aiming the cameras toward the stairway that led to the entrance. As they made way for the incoming group, I saw Robert Duval stroll in, with his beautiful Argentine partner behind him and a cadre of tango dancers, like Garafolo and others with Italian faces that I have seen in the movies. Duval was wearing tan slacks and an ivory sweater. They sat at a table next to the dance floor and that was that. No announcement, no big deal. Everyone knew he was there, but did not make an issue of it. The porteño is proud and would rather not acknowledge being impressed. Then Duval got up to dance. Gwendolyn and tanguero having fun . . . There were other couples on the floor and an old tanguero asked me to dance with him and kept steering me toward Duvall who was on the floor with his partner. By then we had found out that the cameras were there because 60 Minutes was taping a segment on Duvall and his passion for the tango. The highlight of the evening was when Duval asked a little school girl, perhaps his partner’s niece? to dance with him. It was an endearing scene, the imposing older movie star carefully leading the little schoolgirl into ochos she could barely manage because of the size difference. But even then, the regular milongueros kept on dancing as if they were just one more couple finding bliss at the rhythm of the dos por cuatro. Another personality was there that night, Charlie Rose of PBS. As I left the salon later that night, I asked Rose what he thought of the tango and he responded: “I only wish I had two lives to live, one here and one back in the U. S.” That, in a nut shell, is how I feel. One woman split between to lives, one north and another south. What keeps me whole are my husband and daughter. Both now are tango aficionados. So perhaps I can bring back some of the Buenos Aires magic to my life here in San Antonio.                                                                            Gwendolyn Díaz