BUENOUS AIRES AND TANGO

TANGO HISTORY AND MODERN BUENOUS AIRES
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After driving in an open truck for 63 blocks “de punta a punta” (all the way) through the old, loved and most “tanguera Avenue” of Buenos Aires, the famous calle Corrientes, EL MONUMENTO AL TANGO named “Virulazo” (Virulazo was a one of the first and greatest dancers and teachers of el tango) by their creators, was settled at its last destination: one of the squares in Puerto Madero located at “Avenida de los Italianos” and Azucena Villaflor Streets, right in front of the emblematic Rio de La Plata at the Buenos Aires’s harbor. This is, no doubt about it, the right place to honor and to remember all those immigrants that got to that harbor many years ago and became a very important part of the Tango’s history and beginning. The sentimental and emblematic caravan was escorted block by block for musicians, poets, composers, dancers and all kind of admirers and personalities representatives of the 2 X 4. Three of the most authentic legends of El Tango: Leopoldo Federico, Horacio Ferrer and Ben Molar were leading the crowd. It could not be in any other way… finally and after more than a hundred years of existence making the history of this city, the Music of El Tango would have its very well deserved physical respect and recognition….. Its own monument!

El Tango in the City of Buenos Aires, its place of birth and grow has been represented trough the years in many different forms and in very emblematic places. Barrios and famous streets, City squares and corners shows today all kind of works of arts and testimonials dedicated to remember and to honor its more greatest Maestros and Composers:

One of the most representative “paseos” that pay respect to the great Masters of Tango is, and everyone in he tango’s world knows it, “Caminito” in La Boca neighborhood. Visited by thousands of tourist and tango funs from all over the planet, this place was the inspiration for Juan de Dios Filiberto to create the music of one of his most famous tangos: “Caminito“. The statue of Coria Penaloza, the creator of the tango’ words, close to the statues of Filiberto and Gabino complete this Buenos Aires attraction. Later on don Benito Quinquela Martin, another of “La Boca” most beloved sons painted “Caminito” in its masters pieces… and immortalized this colorful, authentic and representative “Paseo del Tango“ !

Another piece of the tango history is “El Abasto” where Carlos Gardel starts singing when he was a boy, and today “Pasaje Carlos Gardel” a short street, shows a full size bronze statue of “El Zorzal Criollo” smiling like a king and wearing his famous tuxedo. Enrique Santos Discepolo another one of those unforgettable Masters has also been immortalized in a “pasaje” and a “plazoleta” (little square) that connects calle Corrientes with Rio Bamba Street. “Discepolin” like his friends used to call him, has been remembered in “Parque Chacabuco” one of the most representatives barrios of Buenos Aires. The singer Roberto Goyeneche has his own square and statue at “Saavedra” neighborhood, its place of birth…. And the late Master of Mastes don Osvaldo Pugliese, one of the most important chapters in the tango history has also been remembered with a statue at “Villa Crespo” neighborhood, his place of bird also, in calle Corrientes and Drago but…. believe it or not… up to this very important moment of its life Buenos Aires and el Tango did not have a monument dedicated to its MUSIC ! That music that not only is a proved and a sound success all over the world, but also represent the vivid personality and the closest and most authentic definition of “El Porteno” (the men of the harbor) with all of its daily hopes, problems and dreams!

The monument to its music is a very suggestive and abstract work of art, and was built in stainless steel, weighs 2 tons, is 3 and half meters tall and is supposed to resemble the life, soul and spirit of the 2 X 4. Taking the shape of a giant Bandoneon, the main and most representative musical instrument of El Tango, this piece involves in itself and get elevated in a visible projection of rhythm and movement. According to its creator Ms Estela Trevino the piece is an abstract work of art (To abstract for me) that represent the tango’s spirit with its music, its dancers, its singers and all its poetry. Mss Trevino won a contest organized and started by “El Comite Pro-monumento al Tango”. During 6 long years this Committee worked in the project without any City or Government financing and was able to get the money and the necessary founding to erect the “Tango’s Monument of Buenos Aires“. After that more than 300 local artists, poets, musicians, funs and all kind of volunteers worked “for free” in over 15 exhibitions and festivals organized by the committee during that period of time (6 years). With this revenues plus money collected from different private Argentinean companies and organizations, they were able to get together the amount $ 350.000 (Argentinean pesos) to pay for the work of art and them… was donated to the city !

This incredible project started and was initiated by Ruben Reale, a reporter specialist in Tango when in the year 2002 He knowledge that EL TANGO came out to be the first one after a worldwide survey “To establish how and for what Argentina were identified in other parts of the world”. Then, according to this reporter: -“I asked myself: How could be possible than this beautiful Music, that represent us and identified us all over the world, does not have its own Monument in Buenos Aires, its place of bird? After this an “urban Art Contest” with the intervention of 71 different proposals, was organized in order to start this sensational project. The winners came out to be Mi ss Estela Trevino and hers son Alejandro Coria. Alejandro said at that time -“We had to represent in only one piece, the music, the poetry, the dance and the singing of El Tango… but without going to the usual “farolito” or the usual “couple of dancers“, and the final result was an abstract figure that take us to “El Bandoneon” because of the shape and the movement of the steel”-

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Tango Gold Routine

Tango Gold Routine/composition

Long side 1

Link to DC short wall; Chase with link ending; Progressive link
Reverse turn with closed ending; Contra check
Back corte ending DC long wall

Short side 1

progressive link ending DC; closed prominade
drop oversway to prominade DW
fall away 5 step ending DC long wall
progressive link; reverse turn open ending link
progressive link ending DW short side

chase repeat

For more Routines visit
http://www.danceway.com/ballroom.html
http://www.danceway.com/r.html

PRACTICA IN DOWN TOWN VANCOUVER

SUNDAY EVENING EVENT
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:Sunday Practica at El Centro – Join us for a POTLUCK at 6:30 p.m., the practica starts at 7:30 p.m. (422 Richards Street, 2nd floor). Included in the weekend package or $8/$5 students. $50/10 visit passes also available.

MONDAY PRACTICA IN VANCOUVER

TANGO PRACTICA
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Come practice, experiment, and develop your dance. This practica promotes a diversity of styles and an exchange of ideas in an informal, accessible and creative environment. A place to move, think and be inspired.


Monday Nights 8 - 10pm
$5

2474 Prince Edward St, Vancouver map

PRACTICA IN DOWN TOWN VANCOUVER

El Centro Practica
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WhenSun Jun 28 7:30pm – Sun Jun 28 11pm (Weekly at 7:30pm on Sunday)
20090628T193000/20090628T230000Weekly at 7:30pm on Sunday
RRULE:FREQ=WEEKLY;BYDAY=SU;WKST=SU20090405T193000
Wheremap422 Richards, Vancouver

Created ByEL CENTRO Argentine Tango Dancing
DescriptionEveryone is welcome at Francis and Emiko's open practica. All levels and styles. No partner required. Traditional music. Refreshments served.

$8 drop-in
$50 for 10 visits (no expiry, non-transferable)
$5 drop-in for students (with student I.D.).

For information: 604-685-0034

Tango moments

An often asked question is: Why do you do tango? There are several answers to the question, depending on the person, but in North America and other non Latin American cultures, the answer is probably that something is missing in the culture - the emotional warmness from physical contact with others. We innately seek this contact in our lives, and so tango fulfills us. Ultimately, we are all looking for a feeling from dancing. That feeling nourishes our spirit, and really is essential to all of us. Tango is very special and unique. Other dances may allow you to have a partner in your arms, but the feeling is not quite the same.  Of course, the feeling we get from tango may not always be a blissful one, however, on a given night, with a given partner, a special connection may be formed where one (or both) of the couple is transported and the divine manifests itself through the dance. It's called the Tango Moment, and dancers live for it. Some, so much that they will keep coming to dance, even though the connection with many of their partners is not giving them this tango moment. The tango moment is fleeting, and elusive. 

So how do we achieve a tango moment? How do we give someone else the experience that they desire? In this dance, ones personality comes forth whether they know it or not. We all transmit information to one another at a subconscious level, and in tango, people become even more sensitive to these transmissions. So perhaps the best suggestion to improving your connection to someone, is to improve your self outlook, but also to embody compassion and feeling for your partner. Years ago, I talked with Argentine master teacher Alicia Pons through a friend who translated. We talked about the feeling of the tango. I was new to dancing, and here was a woman who had been dancing for literally decades, with the best milongueros of Buenos Aires, imparting some details. I told her that I played an instrument, and that to me, tango was much like music, it could be done mechanically, but great music was always played with feeling. She replied 'Yes!! It is this way with all great arts, and tango is the same.' Earlier, we had danced. I was a neophyte and hardly able to do her justice, but it was an opportunity to dance with someone special, so I asked, and even though the form was probably not good, the spirit of much feeling was transmitted. Near the end of our conversation, my friend and translator parted with us to return to the dance floor. Alicia's english was very limited, as was my spanish. But, she said 'remember,' and then switched to Spanish: 'Tango es en el corazon.' Tango is in the heart. 'Aqi' she said, and tapped her chest. Si Senhora, I replied. Tango es en el corazon. Then, she offered the kindest praise that a Milonguera could. I will never forget Alicia, for her grace and compassion both on and off the dance floor, and, because, she was one of my first 'Tango moments.'

TANGO WAYS

M I L O N G A
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Dancing in a milonga is a little bit like driving on a highway. There are lanes: usually two, an inner lane and an outer lane. You can't move from one to the other without looking first to make sure that you can do so safely. Generally it is preferable to be in the outermost lane, because then you have one less side to have collisions on.

The middle of the room is a definite no-go area. Dancing there is tantamount to taking a stroll on the middle of a highway median. It causes potential danger to yourself and your partner and everyone around you. There is really no excuse for moving back and forth across lanes or cutting across the room.

There is a simple truism that eludes too many of our tango friends: Tango is not a race: there is no finish line. Therefore, there is no reason to overtake. You can dance as fast or slow as you want and take as big steps as you want, but we all need to move around the dance floor at relatively the same speed. Patience! We have available to us a number of techniques to slow ourselves down when the pair in front of us is not advancing quickly: Make a big step and then pause. Or turn and turn and turn, always moving forward a little bit with each turn. Or take backsteps, but of course never taking a big backstep against the line of dance. There's nothing wrong with covering miles and miles doing little circles behind the person in front of us, waiting for them to move on. And of course there's the simple rockstep, easy-peasy and fun to play with musically. Being patient gives you a chance to be creative in response to your environment (a beautiful thing), rather than show off your imagination by dancing as though you were in a vacuum (not lovely at all).

By the same token, you may have learned some very expensive figures, but you should at all costs avoid doing stationary figures on a crowded floor. Learn to make them move incrementally. Keep them advancing! After all, we don't just dance with our partner, we dance with the entire room.

When you start dancing in the middle of a song, you'll discover that your colleagues have already established a ronda, the revolving circle of dancers that you have to join. You don't do this by plonking yourself smack-dab in one of the lanes, having a wee chat with your partner, and then launching off. This will make people pile up behind you or, worse, overtake you, probably hitting someone else in another lane. Your own bad habits might not get your partner hurt, but they're likely to cause someone else to have a collision.

Zigzagging is a big no-no, as is cutting across the room. In Buenos Aires, no matter how elegant or musical you are, if you cut the floor like a jigsaw you are considered a jerk.

1. There is no reason in a salon to overtake. Overtaking is bad form.

2. You can't stop the flow of traffic for more than a few seconds. Otherwise, the leader behind you will be forced to overtake you, switch lanes, and risk hurting someone else.

3. Stay in your lane! If you move diagonally to the line of dance, you're asking to get hit. Or, by moving suddenly in front of someone else, you may cause them to get hurt. Just because your partner doesn't get hurt doesn't mean that the two couples behind you won't bump because of your sloppy floorcraft.

4. New York has a bad reputation for floorcraft. We all have a responsibility to change this. Our partners' achilles tendons will appreciate this.

5. Exercise extreme caution when leading and executing boleos. People can really get hurt. If you are led to do a high boleo, you have the option to keep it low. If you lead a high boleo, you must be certain that you will not hit anyone.

PRACTICA IN DOWN TOWN VANCOUVER

Sunday Practica at EL CENTRO
Every SUNDAY, 7:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. at Academie Duello, 422 Richards Street, 2nd Floor (at W. Hastings St., Downtown). Yerba mate and snacks always served. $8 drop-in, $50 for 10 visits (no expiry, non-transferable), $5 students.

ELCENTRO MILONGA IN DOWN TOWN

EL CENTRO Milonga
Saturday, July 11, 2009 (second Saturday of the month)
9:30 to 1:30 a.m.
at Academie Duello, 422 Richards Street, 2nd Floor
(at W. Hastings St., Downtown), $10/$7 students.

very close to Waterfront Station Skytrain/Sea Bus/Transit

TANGO LYRICS

C I E G O
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Version en castellano English translation
Sumando mentira tras mentira,
infamia tras infamia,
mataste mi querer..,
Me diste el horrible desencanto
de haber querido tanto
lo que no pudo ser...
Ni siquiera te guardo encono;
no te desprecio ni te perdono.
Dejaste tan sólo en mi existencia
la misma indiferencia
que vos tuviste ayer.

Ciego, estaba ciego en mi delirio...
Ciego, porque ese amor era un martirio
Y ahora que cayó
la venda de mis ojos
me asqueo al recordar
tus lindos labios rojos...
Ciego, bendita sea mi ceguera
si al fin
saltó la venda y vi que eras
una vulgar muñeca de cartón!...

Comprendo, tal vez un poco tarde,
mis celos de cobarde,
mi angustia y mi temor...
Pensaba que cuando te perdiera
la vida misma diera
en aras de mi amor...
Porque veo que no me muero,
que estoy contento...que no te quiero!...
Y en medio de tanta indiferencia
la luz de la experiencia
me alumbra el corazón.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

Adding lie after lie,
infamy after infamy,
you killed my love...
You caused me the horrible disillusion
of having loved so much
what it couldn't be...
I don't even have rancor;
I don't despise you nor I forgive you.
You only left in my existence
the same indifference
that you had yesterday.

Blind, I was blind in my delirium...
Blind, because that love was a martyrdom.
And now that the blindfold
fell off my eyes
it disgusts me to remember
your pretty red lips...
Blind, blessed be my blindness
if at the end
the blindfold fell and I saw you were
a vulgar cardboard doll...

I understand, perhaps a little late
my coward's jealousy,
my anguish and my fear...
I thought that when I'd loose you
my own life I'd give
for the sake of my love...
Because I see that I'm not dying,
that I am happy... that I don't love you...!
And in the midst of so much indifference
the light of the experience
illuminates my heart.

CONTACT:
CANADA2010@IN.COM