Microwavable Culture of Learning

I know very well that you know very well that BAD TANGO is ubiquitous now these days. The tanguero-bloggers have always discussed these things.

Even so, these adverts/messages make me FURIOUS. The microwavable culture - bung it in the oven for 2 mins and you can cook anything - sort of attitude is just NOT acceptable when it comes to learning. Nobody can "master" anything in 1 lesson and all of these polluters of Argentine Tango (and other dances too) are trying to give the impression to people that one lesson is enough to acquire steps and display competence.

Anyone who thinks they can go straight into an advance class without having done at the very least 3 years of Argentine Tango should be __________. (I will leave this last word up to the imagination of the reader.)

See this e-mail below, addressed to subscribers of a latin bar that holds latin dance classes every night.

It makes me sick and these people should be thrashed into pieces by Alejandra Hobert's lethal voleos (with ice-pick stilettos)!!!!!! Then they'll learn the true consequence of "kicks & flicks".


Hi Everyone,

Just a very quick reminder that it’s hot and steamy Argentine Tango tonight at ******** (I've omitted the name) . We’ve got a great set of moves that we’ll be taking a look at that will produce a fabulous-looking addition to your portfolio.

No experience necessary, we always start with the basic 8 and add a different move each week. A partner would be useful, but not necessary.

Starts 8:00pm – 8:30pm with kicks and flicks for those who want to include that extra something in their dance followed at 8:30pm – 9:30pm with the general class session. 9:30pm – 10:15pm practice (practica), followed by candle-lit social dance (milonga) until midnight. £4.50 pp for one class, £8 pp for both.

Bailar

This is a quotation from the great (and late) maestro Jose "El Turco" Brahemcha. One of the wisest things I have read in ages...

BAILAR NO ES HACER UNA FIGURA TRAS OTRA... EL BAILE ES LO QUE HACEMOS ENTRE FIGURA Y FIGURA...

To dance is not to make figure after figure... The dance is what we do in between figures...

Music in la cancha

Yesterday I went to see River Plate playing against Godoy Cruz, from Mendoza. I really don't want to get into football banter, but River play really badly and need to get real to get to their deserved status. Anyway, the way how I got dragged into this game was unexpected. A friend from work phoned me when I was CD shopping in Florida "Vamos ver River", "When", I asked,. "En 1 hora!"... So, there you go, I had to get to the other side of Buenos Aires and hope the bus didn't crash.
My post, really, begins in the bus journey. The bus was full of River supporters, fully armed with drums, djambes and lots of chants. And they were singing their hearts out, while in the bus. One thing that I noticed was that throughout their chants, the drummer did exquisite changes in rhythm. Time, half-time, contra-time (transpié), back to time, pause and again... After a few weeks of classes with the Disparis I got a bit neurotic about rhythm of tracks so this was a complete revelation to me.
And it maybe explains why Argentines get tango so quickly. A lot of things that people in the UK have to really make an effort to understand (or even hear) is second nature to Argentines. A teacher of mine (not from UK) told me she didn't like to teach in the UK because she had the notion that people "didn't get it". They wanted perfect technique, fancy steps and sequences but never endured to really understand what they supposedly were dancing, the rhythm, the music, the dance beyond the need to show the rest of the people in the milonga how good one is.

damned tourists

I am sick of hearing "oh, tourists are a curse, oh tourists spoil the tango in Buenos Aires".

For a start, not all tourists are the same. I have been in Buenos Aires for some time now and I have been hit in dancefloor by Argentines more than I hit someone else. So don't come around telling that tourists are a curse.

Tango won't finish without tourism, it won't be spoiled by tourism, but tango, to flourish, needs tourism (please, if you are going to refute this sentence do it with arguments, not just the same old line "you're a tourist, what do you know about it"). I was speaking with someone that works in tourism for the last 30 years and was told that salóns like Canning had little over 15 people when the economic recession and swine flu attacked together.

The other day I went to have a class with the great Jorge Dispari and Marita "La Turca". There were 5 of us in the whole class. 4 of us were tourists, the other was a great friend of the family and goes to classes everyday. This is not Pablo and Dana or Frumboli's class, this is the most traditional of teachers who refuses to teach figures and only teaches walking. 4 "tourists" versus 1 local. And I find that the ratio, though not so steep, is always like this, even in milongas. Yesterday in Sunderland there were at least 50 "tourists" in a milonga with 200 people. I was only hit once in the milonga. Strangely enough, it was an old milonguero (who promptly apologised!). A good milonga, definitely yes. Would it survive without tourists (definitely yes). Would it be the same, no, it would lose quite a lot.

Respect tourists, they help tango flourish.

dreaming of tango

I'm working in a hospital in Buenos Aires. Everytime there is a ward round we go to the intensive care unit to check how our patients are doing. On the way out, in a bay almost hidden by a corridor I always listen to fuzzy sounds of tango. The other day I ventured to see who was there. I saw a man, in his 70s, intubated and sound asleep, a small radio tuned into 92.5FM pouring tango and nothing else. I asked the nurse who this man was. She told me that he had been in coma for some time now and that his family had brought him the little radio so that he would be listening tango while he was sleeping. They said that if he was listening to tango, he would probably be dancing all the time in his dreams.

The kiss of the witch

Yesterday was a sunny day and we spent it walking in the posh gardens of Plaza Italia, Botanics and so on. We also paid a visit to club eros. Don't get fooled by the name, it's a exquisite tavern with serves nice food at unbelievable cheap prices (considering we're in Buenos Aires poshest zone) and which has a football ring attached to it. After that (and a failed attempt to go to the Jardin Japonés) we set home to get ready for the night. In the middle we bumped into a demonstration of thousands of people near Avenida de Mayo and almost got mob-crushed in the subte. Enough?

We then set off to Los Dispari classes. Today's class was musicality and Jorge was adamant that we should pay respect to the people who wrote the track, the same respect that the interpreter's had when they performed it. I'm not so sure that music interpretation must be that strict but it was a jewel to learn even more about phrasing, how to discover double times when they are not so obvious and then to pause. The whole class without a figure. I loved it!
Then, La milonga de la Bruja, en Tanguería El Beso. We got there late, and busy as the day had been we did not have time to reserve a table. Big mistake. We were put waiting in a queue between the dancefloor and the bar, getting angry looks from people who were sat down and wasting wonderful tandas of my favourite artists. The organiser told us we didn't have a table and I thought, why did you let us in? Finally a table was free and we could sit down. And what was turning out to be a disaster night became a heaven of tango, if we discount the two stabs of heel I had within one tango. I had wonderful tandas, trying to dodge out from people dancing against the line of dance, tables and rushed waiters with full trays. It may sound not that good but it was one of the best times I have had since I arrived in here.
One word for the floor ar El Beso - the best ever.

El Pial (La Baldosa)

Yesterday I went to La Baldosa and had to ditch my favourite ever singer performing live, Podestá, in Canning. Why am I bothering to write about La Baldosa? Number 1, it's a really nice place, with a good dancefloor and enough tables to sit everybody. 2, It has a genuine feeling to it. There are tourists, for sure, but you see less of those who take 5 minutes to do the 400 giros in the same place, stalling the ronda. 3, the DJing was excellent. He played one of my favourite Canaro tracks which I have only found played once, in Nijmegen - S.O.S. 4th, Sexteto milonguero, what a band! Not one that will copy cat great maestros but one that will make their own style using the general tracks. Ever since El Arranque, a breathe of fresh air!

I love cabeceo

Incidentally, I have been having discussions about cabeceo with a couple of friends on facebook. Yesterday made me love this even more.

I live in San Telmo at the moment. In the first week of my tenancy I went mainly to milongas in Palermo. But I am not here (just) doing tourism, I am working and I have to wake up early (very early) in the morning. So, finishing at 4am in the morning to wake up at 7am is not an option, or at least one I should be doing as many times as I did in the first week. So this week I decided to go to San Telmo's milongas and yesterday, wednesday, I went to Maldita milonga, literally 3 minutes from my door, in Peru 571.

Got there a bit late and Orchesta Típica El Afronte were on full steam playing on stage. Wow, what a sound! I looked for a place to seat, there weren't many left but there was a few chairs near the DJ. I sat and thought how was I going to ask to dance. The room was pretty dark and the place around the tables was pitch black. Tried to cabeceo for half an hour, obviously it didn't work. Then got my energy together and went to ask a lady on the table across "No estoy bailando" she answered to my request. I then magically got the looks from a tanguera near the bar and cabaceoed her to a set of milonga tandas, too bad she couldn't dance milonga... Then again to cabeceo for a lengthy tanda and no success. Went over to ask another follower to which she replied "Perdon, solo bailo con mi pareja!". At this point we had cabeceo 1- inviting directly 0. I then went near the stage and stared at a person who I saw dancing with more than one person... Success, double success as she was also a nice dancer. The night finished with yet another let down, a miserable "estoy cansada" after a direct invitation. Final result cabeceo 2 - direct invitation -0.

During the night I saw a few women refusing dances to men that gather their courage and went over to ask for a dance. They weren't bad leaders as I saw them dancing with other people. And my point is, cabeceo avoids all this crap of being refused in front of eveyone else.

I'm not sure if I am going to Maldita milonga (or for that sake, Bendita milonga) again... I found the space very awkward to get social dances... I left the venue as frustrated as I ever got since I arrived. Not good for karma. Not good.

The future of tango

Yesterday I was paying for my shopping in the supermarket when the cashier turned to me and said, "el precio está errado". I didn't get what he was saying at the beginning but I then found out that since they had printed the price on the label the table prices had gone up. I didn't bother to argue over half a peso but it shows what many are fearing. With an estimated inflation of 35% in the end of the year (meat is 24% more expensive now than 4 months ago), prices change every week. What does this have to do with tango?

Tango as we know it, a growing world-wide ever present dance, is relatively new. It was in the nineties that the first tango schools started outside Argentina but mainly it was in the 21st century that the boom, well... Boomed!

Buenos Aires (BsAs) has always welcomed this sudden growth. Even the most traditionally fanatics (and anti tango globalisation) welcome the pesos of the tango tourists. Hypocrite but the money tastes good. So, the last ten years saw an unprecedented growth in tourists flying to BsAs in expensivc flights but rebating those costs in cheap classes, milongas and steaks. All in all, by the end of the two weeks, the trip wasn't all that expensive, because life in Argentina evened out the price of the prohibitive flights...

What's happening now is that prices are getting out of control. The average price for a milonga is AR$20 (about £4 or $6) and although it may sound cheap to you, two years ago the average price would be AR$5. Many locals can't afford to go regularly to milongas anymore, let alone having classes. So, many milongas in BsAs are turning into collection of tourists who ventured into the tango mecca. This makes that promise of floors with nice rondas, no clashes and fantastic dances become a bit of a scam. Some floors here are worse than Europe or States.

I was recently talking with a few milongueros (the true ones) and they told me that they could not see BsAs holding on to its status for very long. Maestros are lured away for most of the year to Europe and USA where they earn fortunes (I heard some "stars" charge £2000 for a performance) and the old milongueros run away from tourists like the devil from the cross. Tourists dance with tourists, just like at home... So what's the point? Good level of dancing? You're starting to get that in Europe and, I believe, the States, as well as South Korea, China, Taiwan and so on... Will those start to be more attractive than a transatlantic flight to the mecca? Some people I know don't bother with BsAs anymore. Maybe more will follow. I think we are in a turning moment, BsAs will never be the same.

My Canning injection

Monday, a mere 12 hours after I arrived in BsAs, I spent no less than 7 hours in Canning, mixed between classes with Javier and Andrea and milonga Parakultural. On tuesday another 7 hours of Canning. This is actually more time than I spent sleeping since I arrived, mind you.

Canning is a very special place. Huge room with a square dancefloor, nice soundsystem, nice people and usually, nice DJs...

The classes with Javier and Andrea were very nice. They focused on the essentials, as I like, and they seased the opportunity to make some people "wake up and smell the coffee". Tango is very nice and complicated, addictive and self fulfilling but one shan't forget that tango is a dance from Buenos Aires and that it makes most sense in the spirit of Buenos Aires. I think JyA were not very bothered with styles (neo, salon, fantasia) but rather with the attitude. They were blunt and I think they may have offended some people. I am used to surgeons' comments so I am immune to offensive comments...

The milongas were both busy, bustling and with a lot of good dancers. I started with a few cringy dances (I hadn't danced in such a crowded floor since El Corte in November) but they gradually got better and by the end of tuesday some people were asking me for repeat tandas... I saw a lot of tourists and less locals than I would have wished for. Entries to the milongas have sky-rocketted recently and with entrances of 20 pesos (£4) the locals can't afford it, especially when the future looks grim - the inflation rate in Argentina for this year is predicted to be 35%!

The performance by Javier and Andrea was very good. Apart from a number where they tried to go a bit over the top, the dancing was clean, fluid and sharp. So sharp that Andrea stabbed herself in the shin at the end of the last dance and walked off with a blood stained leg...

By the end of the second day Canning was like a dreamy place where tango happened. And it is all that and more.

The flight from hell

To be honest, it all started with a bad feeling to it. Right in the beginning of the journey, things started to going bad. And it didn't get any better when I got to London to know that they were doing services in the Picadilly line, the one that goes to Heathrow. Having gone into a centra line train which broke down half the way through the course was also not good. And definitely, realising that the train I was on was going to every single terminal in Heathrow but mine felt a bit like persecution. Or so I thought.
In the airport, it all went suspiciously well. Too well. I got a row of 3 seats just for myself and could stretch my legs throuhgout the whole flight. Sweet.
Got to São Paulo. This is São Paulo international, the second biggest city in the world. Surely the 200m of corridor with one coffee shop and a half-open pub aren't all I have to pleasure myself with for the next 10 hours. Where is the bookshop, the WHS Smith equivalent, the ice cream shop? Not here. I have to endure 10 hours of Listening to some Brazilian women asking if I want international phone cards...
Then my flight got delayed. 3 hours. When I got to the airplane I could not believe it. I was tired, dirty and irritable. Longing for a bed.
On my arrival to Ezeiza things got better. My suitcases were waiting for me on the conveyor belt and my transport to town was waiting for me. Omar Boggio, father of the tango DJ Damian Boggio. Highly recommended, a jewel of a person.
While we were drinving from the airporto to San Telmo something happened. And this was when All these familiar names from tango music, Boedo, Corrientes, 9 de Julio, Villa Urquiza, Mataderos, Villa Crespo, Rawson... It was like it all was making sense, the lyrics now were clearer...
Got home went to bed. Tomorrow surely would be another day.