Cortina, cabeceo, etc.

So, I am in a traditional milonga where music is played in tandas with cortinas in between. The way I understand it, the purpose of a cortina is for the dancers to leave the dance floor and, when the new tanda starts, using cabeceo, to find partners to dance with if they choose to dance at all.

So, the tanda ends, I  return to my seat and wait for the new tanda to start to see whether or not the music inspires me to dance. In the same time, during the cortina I scan around looking for potential dance partners so that when the tanda does start, if I want to dance at all, I already know where to direct my cabeceo invitation.

So, I try looking around but can not see anyone because there is this couple standing right in front of me during the cortina, engaged in a conversation, ready to dance as soon as the music starts.

Please, pretty please, dear fellow tango dancers, do not stand on the dance floor during the cortina. I do understand your desire to just continue dancing with your current partner, but it is really rude to prevent others from finding dance partners by obstructing their view. If you wish to dance with the same partner as in the just finished tanda, please, step aside and continue your interaction with your partner off the dance floor. Thank you.

Tango and Sumo

Since some time ago I have become a fan of sumo. One of the features of sumo that attracts me to it is the depth to which it is rooted in the Japanese culture. And that makes it similar to tango (need I say "argentine tango"?). Just like in tango, there are traditions and innovations and there are those who are sticklers to the traditions and those who break out of it.

Recently, there was an incident at a sumo event where a traditional procedure (some would call it a rule) was broken and "all hell broke loose". What is interesting about it to me is the comments that can clearly be grouped into the "tradition must be preserved" and "tradition is a living thing and therefore it evolves" groups--just like in tango.

One or many teachers

Some days ago a borderline heated exchange of opinions took place: should a beginning tango student take lessons from just one or from many teachers. My opinion:

It is my deep belief that for a person who wants to learn how to dance tango socially (not for a show or just with a single partner) and is new to tango, the best solution is to attend a substantial seminar for beginners lead by a reputable organization and taught by a single teacher or a group of teachers subscribing to the same philosophy of dancing and teaching and following the same program.

Substantial seminar means to me a seminar over perhaps 30 to 40 hours that focuses on understanding the structure of the dance, understanding and sufficiently commanding the basic technical skills (walk, turn, balance, communication), understanding and appreciating the music, and understanding and participating in and contributing to the culture of a milonga.

When a tango student acquires those fundamental skills, studying with other teachers can be useful and even recommended in order to discover new ideas and perhaps even altogether new approach to learning and dancing tango. But, before the basic set of skills is acquired, one is not yet qualified to study with a different teacher and to be able to pick and choose what works for them or not and why.

Figures or no figures, that is the question

 

Let's face it, the great majority of those who want to learn to dance tango are inspired by what they see on their TVs or computer screens. They see a spectacular performance by a beautiful, often young, couple oozing with passion. They are attracted by a visual and they project emotions onto it. Yet, they know nothing of the true emotions felt by tango dancers because they are seeing a performance, a show.

Then they sign up for tango classes and demand to learn what they saw. Too many tango instructors are eager to offer that to their clientele by teaching them the figures for which they know, or should know, that the students are not capable of executing. The students get frustrated and often leave unsatisfied, mostly with themselves, for not being able to learn to dance tango, they think.

But did they study tango or sequences some would call "tango figures"?

 

I lead a praktika (argentine practice sessions) here in Dubrovnik last evening. I was asked to help dancers practice certain material (figures) taught at a workshop not too long ago by another teacher. I did that with some, as the time permitted, additional technical details needed to execute the said figures. Everyone wanted to dance the figures taught at the workshop since that was what the praktika was supposed to be about and, to my knowledge, few understood why they had hard time with them.

One person, though, stated quite strongly that I should, rather than reviewing another teacher's material, lead or teach my own stuff. If I had done that, I would have, among other things, insisted on practicing walking, keeping balance, pivoting, communicating, listening to the music and dancing it, learning and applying the basic structure of a giro, etc. Maybe out of ignorance, the group wanted to practice the figures and not the technical stuff. Perhaps I should have not acquiesced.

Next time I teach the beginning classes I will not succumb to teaching the figures but will teach elements, techniques, concepts, and ideas that express the feelings, letting the "figures" just happen--or not, but the feelings will be expressed, shared and will persist, which is what tango is about. We dance the Argentine tango not for the spectators but for ourselves.

What is tango?

A friend asked a question some time ago "What is tango?" and I keep thinking about it. Here's what surfaced in my consciousness:

"Tango is a culture captured in poetry, music, dance, dance and socializing events, tango personalities and legends, stories, paintings, theater/TV/radio shows, movies, architecture, climate, food, fashion, almacens, cabarets, dance halls, friendships, courtships, love-making, love-losing, cuisine, sentimiento, language, street noise .... in other words all that makes up life of and around those affected by it. It is almost a self-referencing definition, but it would not be just to take any of those out, and you can probably add some to it. Alas, but you can not really capture it at all since it is a moving target, continuously morfing in multiple directions at once, like wine spilled on the glass-top table, so close yet untouchable and uncontrollable."

Gustavo y Giselle Anne

Yep. There are dancers and teachers and then there are Gustavo Naveira and Giselle Anne. I can not find words to describe the feeling I get when I see them dance. I sense in their dance a mix of love, fun, beauty, respect, honor and all that added to an incredible technique and innovation they both bring to it. Tango world is better with them in it.

Watch them dance Donato: El Adiós.
  

Fuga y Misterio

Astor Piazzolla. When his name is mentioned in the tango universe, varied responses arise. In my world, he was a genius who brought tango music into the world of the classics. I never tire of listening to the many interpretations of his creations.

Perhaps the most intriguing one is "Fuga y Misterio." Not being versed in the ins and outs of classical music I can not discuss its musical value, but as a feeling person who is moved by tango music, I testify to its never dying inspirational power. I can not sit still when it is played.

Here it is interpreted by "Beltango Symphonico" -- a marriage of Beltango quintet from Belgrade, Serbia and Vojvodina Symphony Orchestra out of Novi Sad, Serbia. It is a beauty.

Fuga y Misterio