Food and tango! Yummy!

Last sunday I went to Aveiro, a town in Portugal dubbed the Portuguese Venice. It's not nearly as grand as Venice but it has it's share of canals and the funny little boats, moliceiros, which were used to harvest a kind of seaweed that was used for medical purposes.
I went to meet fellow tangologuers RuiySandra, they had organised a dinner at a tapas place, spoke to the owner and asked if they could have an informal milonga. "Fine", he said, "fine", we said.
First, the food. We had tapas, a mix of Portuguese and Spanish ones and drank sangria. It was all very good until someone had to start dancing - we were all quite heavy. But on the other hand it was easy. The atmosphere was very informal between everyone who came around, and the first ones started dancing (it had to be me!) everyone danced the whole night away to a variety of different styles that went through all the tango eras. The service was also very nice and prompt.
I love informal milongas. Especially when they come with good food. Food, drink, tango and friends, sounds good to me!

Berón OR colouring outside the lines

If you are into tango you have to know Raul Berón. No, he is not the fella that gave that workshop in your town a year ago, he is someone that you encounter pretty much any milonga you go. And you know what? I'm pretty sure you have danced with him.
So, by this time, whether you are very confused or you know that Raúl Berón was one of the golden age finest voices. His sweet tenor voice always trembled with emotion and laced with the music perfectly.
Some people have told me that they don't like him because he didn't sing on time with the instruments. But I think he does it on purpose, like those people that colour outside the lines on purpose. His voice prolongs and antecipates the instruments and their emotions, and involves them in a silky flow that just makes Raúl Berón one of the most beautiful voices tango has ever heard.

Here it is a demonstration of Berón's beautiful voice!
Update - check also the same track played by orquesta El Arranque, with Ariel Ardit

Milonga de la Luz - lessons we should learn (I)

Milonga de la Luz was a milonga that tried to address what tango dancers really wanted. The best way that the organisers found to do this (I know some of them read this blog) was to organise a questionnaire. The Edinburgh tango community responded and the results were very interesting. In this post I'm going to address what people value in their partners.
According to this survey most people valued the sensitivity and responsiveness of the partner. Tangueros also valued posture, embrace and musicality. On the other hand repertoire of steps and physical attractiveness were poorly regarded. Interestingly, physical attractiveness was not what tangueros sought but physical appearance (grooming) was rated quite highly! That means that you don't have to be beautiful to thrive in your tango community but you have to be clean!
So, if you're reading this, don't be frustrated if you don't know many "routines" (the word gives me shivers). Work on your embrace and posture, try to understand the music and the connection with your partner and don't forget to use a deodorant and make an effort to shave. You'll be the one to dance with!

Stalking Julio and Corina

La Planchadora was a blogger who sadly became inactive. We both shared many interests as she seemed to write what went in my head. One of those interests was Julio Balmaceda and Corina de la Rosa. She had a series of posts "stalking" their videos and I intend to continue the stalking.
Here Julio and Corina just send me to maniac depressive mood. It's not a choreography, they're just taking as it goes. I see it, is SO simple, I get euphoric, I try it, I can't do it, I get depressed. It may happen the same to you if you try it but, hey, better die knowing what's going around than live in ignorance!

Tango cliques

You've seen it, you've been there. The little groups of people that dance only with each other and with nobody else, worse than a facebook group that only accepts members after the owner's approval. To this one, you have to be invited!

There are two types of cliques in tango.

The beginner clique, which is made exclusively of people from the same class that dance together because they're too scared of dancing with someone who they have not seen in class or because they can only dance with people that can return a similar mistake as the one they have just done.

The advanced clique, which is made of people that have reach such a high status that they can't see anything when they look down. That is also called tango snobbism.

But, I kind of was part of a clique! I didn't really think about it but a few years ago I would dance in milongas with the same people milonga after milonga. I really enjoyed dancing with these people and by the time I danced with them, there was little time to dance with anybody else! And some of them would take offense if I didn't invite them to dance! Is there a difference between dancing with people you like and being part of a clique? Yes, on the former you look forward to dance with other people on the later you avoid anyone that does not have the golden membership card.

The true is that, cliques are kind of uncool. It gives the image to other people that you can't be bothered to get out of your comfort zone, whether it is because you don't want to look bad when dancing with a beginner (if you are an advanced dancer) or because you don't want to look bad when next to an advanced (if you are a beginner). The whole thing about levels in tango is that more advanced people should help less advanced, that's how tango during the golden generation exploded and that's how we should keep it. A tanda in a milonga can make a hell of a difference!

PS - if you liked this post you may want to check our Johanna's post on the same subject, it's worth reading!

Changing partners

When I teach, I make sure that everyone swaps partners and make also sure that people that came with their partner get to pair up every two or three exercises. I am very often asked why do we have to swap partners.
Unlike most ballroom dances, which are aimed for competitions and choregraphies, tango is improvisational. As such, it is important that one man can dance with any woman. It's important that he can make her understand his energy but, even more important, that HE understands how HER energy will receive his marks. If I dance with 100 women I will find that to do a single step I have to do it 100 times differently. All of this because in tango we're all different (sorry for those of you who copycat your idols! The true must hurt!) and we all have different energies that we have to understand.
Furthermore, dancing always with the same person will allow for accommodation and loss of that capacity to adapt to your partner.

A nice surprise

When at home, I am always in a bit of a tango holiday. There is no tango in my hometown and because I have so many non-tango friends at home, it makes it difficult to drive 40 miles to the nearest tango place. But yesterday was different. Someone was organising a milonga in the beautiful little town of Viana do Castelo . I thought my partner and I were going to be the only people there and I did warn her about the possibility that she could get stuck with me the whole evening. She said it wouldn't be such a terrible thing. I was glad about it! ;oD
It seems that many people thought they would be the only people in the milonga but they still made their way there. The result was over 50 people willing to dance! Because Viana is not far from the Spanish border there were lots of Gallician (inhabitants of Gallicia, a region of Spain) tangueros.
The floor, probably, was the best floor I have ever put my old shoes on! The bar was spacy, square and had a back door to the long strip of beach that bathes the shores of Viana do Castelo. I am anticipating the summer afternoon milongas - a morning on the beach, a nice meal and tango!
The music was very nice with a careful selection by DJ gatomilonguero . The last tanda was an interesting selection of 3 La Cumparsitas that sounded so different that they might as well be 3 different ones.
If you're around the area you definitely want to check out this milonga! For more info go to gato milongueiro's agenda