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Digest from 22 Mar 1999
to 23 Mar 1999
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Subject: TANGO-L Digest - 22 Mar 1999 to 23 Mar 1999
There are 9 messages totalling 492 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. New Video Review: Jorge Nel & Laura
2. Michael Espinoza/ Yolanda Rossi and Tango in Las Vegas
3. LAUSANNE-summary: March 20/21 Claudia & Esteban
4. Back from BsAs!
5. Newspaper clipping
6. The state of tango in Heidelberg and elsewhere.
7. Tolerance? (Re: Newspaper Clipping)
8. Tango in Chicago This Weekend (2)
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 09:50:23 -0600
From: Stephen P Brown <Stephen.P.Brown @DAL.FRB.ORG>
Subject: New Video Review: Jorge Nel & Laura
A review of an instructional video by Jorge Nel and Laura has been
added to the webpage, Video Resources for the Tango Dancer. The
webpage is found on the Planet Tango website at
<http://www.hooked.net/~tangoman/revu-1.htm>.
Earlier in the month, a review of three videos by Ricardo and Nicole
was added, and the number of instructional videos currently listed on
the webpage is now 55.
Reviews of new videos by Daniel Trenner & Rebecca Shulman, Esther &
Pablo Pugliese, and Nito & Elba are forthcoming soon.
--Stephen Brown (aka Steve de Tejas)
*** Jorge Nel and Laura: Learn to Dance Argentine Tango
Jorge Nel and Laura are among the pioneers of Argentine tango in
Florida. Their experience in helping to launch a tango community shows
in the clear, careful and practical instruction on this video.
Beginners who master all of the material on the video will be well on
their way to dancing Argentine tango authentically. The instruction
starts with a standard eight-count basic and progresses through four
additional figures. Along the way, Jorge and Laura demonstrate and
explain rhythm, walking and elements for improvisation. As shown in
their demonstration dances, these simple elements can be combined to
create a rich and varied dance. Jorge and Laura dance and demonstrate
with elegant, slow and rhythmic movement, but the video represents a
triumph of content over limited production quality--including some
rather strange split screen effects. Instruction is provided in both
Spanish and English on the same video. Price: $40 including s&h from
Tango Fever Productions, 2021 SW 37 Ave., Miami, FL 33145, (800)
998-3342.
-fin-
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 09:21:57 -0800
From: Hal Waite <halwaite @LVCM.COM>
Subject: Michael Espinoza/ Yolanda Rossi and Tango in Las Vegas
Michael Espinoza and Yolanda Rossi, who are extraordinary dancers, gave
a two-session workshop to the Las Vegas Tango Club on March 21. These
skillful and patient instructors gave an enjoyable and well-received
class and demonstration. Highly recommended. Their website is:
http://www.tangosplash.com
It is surprising that a city the size and vitality of Las Vegas has come
to the tango scene only recently. The president of our new club is Loy
Au who may be reached at:
loyau @hotmail.com
Hal
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 18:25:47 +0100
From: el Suizo <milonguero @CHEERFUL.COM>
Subject: LAUSANNE-summary: March 20/21 Claudia & Esteban
[Lausanne/CH March22 1999 Shawn Koppenhoefer]
This last weekend, Lausanne was proud to host the much-appreciated couple
Claudia Codega et Esteban Moreno http://cYe.html/ (living in nearby Lyon/FR
for the last three months). Although both Claudia and Esteban have been
teaching throughout Europe for many years (I first met them in Belgium at
least 6 years ago... does anyone know their complete history?) they don't
stop evolving! There is quite an evolution in their teaching-style,
demonstration-style, and personal (out-of-class) personalities from when I
saw them last (in Montreal/Canada). Although they don't put much emphasis
on "artistic" discovery, and self-development of style and communication
(like the dutch teachers (e.g., Eric Jorisson
http://www.gotan.ch/el_corte.htm and/or the argentine choreographer Rodrigo
"Joe" Corbata (http://www.gotan.ch/joe.html ), they *do* manage to give
much more than that "just another figure" approach by concentrating on the
corporal relaxation and "fun" of working on tango. Both of them are
certainly excellent dancers and teachers; It was a pleasure to see them
again.
The Friday evening "Tango3" class started off (unfortunately for those
arriving 15minutes early) 40 minutes late because they had to derive a
methodology (and subject-material) appropriate for the heterogeneous group
of 5 couple; They finally settled on teaching a nice figure which was the
object of the lesson. One notation for it can be found on our web-site
listed at the bottom of this email: The man walks the woman towards her
cross, but instead of having her cross, he projects her into a left turn
taking advantage of her trailing-right to make an entrada with his
left-foot; he transforms this into a forward ocho and receives her back on
his right (both Gustavo and Fabien like to do this a lot); Now he leads a
parada towards his left, and when his weight is on his right-foot (and
forward) he turns 180 to return her to her position before the parada; As
he approaches, he makes a saccada with his left leg on her presented right;
In the first variation of this, his saccada provokes a small boleo in her,
the return of which is an entrada (of the woman!) on the now-trailing
left-foot of the man; the man uses the energy of that entrada to turn
around and lead a half-turn finishing in a typical forward-ocho-recovery.
In the second version of this, the boleo is transformed into a back-entrada
of the woman (she still does the entrada but this time she achieves it by
turning backwards).
In the "Vals3" class that followed this, they also taught a figure. They
used the beginning of the figure from Tango3 (the projection) but had the
man continue turning (instead of transforming her left-turn into a received
ocho). As she takes her "backstep" in her turn (Mingo would call this step3
of the turn) he interrupts it; The resulting boleo (of the woman) is used
to allow her to make an entrada (with her right-foot) on the trailing
right-foot of the man (while she was doing a boleo he takes a step-back,
changes feet, walks towards his right and trails his right leg); He uses
the resulting energy to turn towards her and do his own entrada on her
trailing foot (Pablo Veron teaches an interlaced ocho that looks like this
but on the other side) and then leading to a parada on the opposite side
from the figure of Tango3 and a resolution.
Since the above descriptions are not for the faint of heart... you are
directed to the following web-page for the notation (much easier to read):
http://www.gotan.ch/labanotation.html
In both of the 1.5 hour classes the teaching methodology was the same: 1)
they showed the figure 8 or 9 times without stopping, 2) they put on the
music and helped everyone try to figure it out separately, 3) they stopped
the class to explain details for the man *and* the woman (it was nice they
concentrated so much on both partners!). Although the content was
"figure"-oriented, the "message" wasn't the figure, but more the multitude
of interesting possibilities for the woman to use her boleo to make an
entrada into the trailing leg of the man. They stressed the need to be
completely relaxed, to move slowly, to hold the back left shouldblade of
the woman (for the man) and the to close the abrazo (for the woman)
throughout the figure. They insisted (a little bit) on the need for couples
to change partners. The choice of music was mostly Agostino.
No advanced classes were scheduled for Saturday so the next contact was
around 11pm in the middle of the Ball (animation was by the trio "La
Revancha" see http://www.gotan.ch/revancha.html ). They (Claudia and
Esteban... not the trio) danced three improvisations (from compact-disc)
making a successful good-impression on the participants. Most of the people
I talked to were impressed by the clarity of movement, technical mastery of
turning and sandwiching, and physcially very-close positioning provoked by
Esteban's abrazo. Claudia has an ease for taking large confident backsteps
while maintaining a fluidity of movement and without breaking his embrace.
The three dances showed more or less the same style that make the signature
of Claudia and Esteban but lacked some of the more intense and/or
free-spirited playing that characterise their choreographed demonstrations.
I saw two or three video cameras in the crowd so maybe a copy will surface
one day. The other highlight of the evening was the trio of Piano, Violin
and Bandoneon: La Revancha. The music was well-played but it would be
interesting to find the group in its entirety (with the Contrebasse) to see
what they're really capable of (can anyone else report on this). The CD the
pianist offerred me is wonderful (the full quartet is recorded). The
pianist tells me that he feels much more liberated in his own playing when
he doesn't have to "stand-in" for those missing low-frequencies normally
handled by the Contrabasse! Apparently (according the the violinist), all
of their music-scores are self-written by the group by listening to
audio-recordings they find that please them.Besides the demonstration the
public danced (of course!) in the long rectangular space left between the
tables arranged on both sides of the room. Although this configuration
successfully seduces the beginners to cross through the center
(collision-alert!) the more advanced dancers were successful in using the
edges of the floor-space to avoid any problems. Some people learned the
importance of careful thought to the position of the tables in order to
stimulate good dance-flow... corners sticking out into the floor are
dangerous! There was excellent argentine-wine on sale, as well as the
omni-presence of our favorite argentine imported beer "Quilmes" (a sponsor
of the event).
On Sunday we had the pleasure doing another Tango3 course. After working
for a while on the previous-days material we learned another figure
involving two back-ward entradas by the woman. This is alternated with a
soft left-foot entrada by the man (like in step 5 of Mingo's turn) and
finishes by the man guiding a forward-ocho transformed into boleo. Once
again, check the notations listed on our notation page
http://www.gotan.ch/labanotation.html . The trio was back that evening but
in the cellar of a bar (a much nicer ambiance!). The proximity of the
orchestra to the public (and the intimate dance floor: 4-5 couples max!)
made for an electric evening that ended in the wee hours of the morning.
Besides the impact on the music, Claudia and Esteban were also
influenced.... their improvised-demo took on a much more intimate nature,
softer and more caring and tender.
Overall, a wonderful weekend. I am confident that all of Lausanne is
looking forwards to the return of Clauda and Esteban later this year. They
tell me they are leaving for Sweden now, and there are other un-named
projects on the distant horizon (??!).
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
_/_/
Association ALEGRIA - tango argentino
Isabelle y Shawn de Lausanne/Suiza
Avenue de France 29, 1004 Lausanne
tel. +4121 6252935 - fax. +4179 06376454
mailto:alegria @gotan.ch,
http://www.gotan.ch/
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 18:33:50 +0100
From: "Gabriella C. Marino" <gcmarino @IOL.IT>
Subject: Back from BsAs!
Having just returned from a trip to Buenos Aires, I'd like to thank the two
friends of mine who turned it into one of the best experiences ever, Erica
Boaglio and Adrian Aragon. Among a million other things, they took me to the
best milongas, made sure I danced and introduced me to the ways and codes of
tango in BsAs.
Erica and Adrian form one of the best young parejas de tango in Argentina
today. They belong to Miguel Angel Zotto's company Tango x 2 and many of you
will have seen them on tour in the Americas and Europe. After the company's
winter season in BsAs, Erica and Adrian spent Dec 98/Jan 99 in Italy where
they held a series of very successful tango, milonga and vals workshops and
are now preparing to tour Central America with Tango x 2.
My advice to those of you who are planning to travel to the tango capital of
the world (and have no idea of who the best teachers are) is: don't waste
time in group lessons because often the teachers won't care whether you're
learning or not, but invest in a few hours of private coaching with a single
teacher and then attend practicas held by someone your private teacher
recommends, as well as dancing every night at the milongas.
In my opinion you won't find any teachers better than Erica and Adrian, who
genuinely love their work and want to transmit their passion. Although they
are wonderfully skilled stage dancers, in their lessons they focus on tango
milonguero, the only kind that is danced in the milongas of BsAs. After all,
how many of us non-professional dancers will ever use any other style? In
addition to being patient and precise, they are truly warm people who make
everyone feel comfortable AND are also fluent in English and Italian. After
re-learning the tango with them I was able to dance confidently with young
and old milongueros in the best milongas and have a great time. So much for
my fear that no one there would invite me to dance!
Out of choice, Erica and Adrian don't appear in any magazine ads so you must
contact them directly. For more information email me or take a look at Erica
and Adrian's webpage: www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/3843. Please note that
Argentina has just changed its telephone codes so Erica and Adrian's number
is now 005411-46377369. To send a fax, call and then press *51.
This email is simply to show my gratitude.
Gabriella Marino
Parma, Italy
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 15:12:08 -0500
From: Fernandez Eduardo <efernandez @IUCNUS.ORG>
Subject: Re: Newspaper clipping
Did you understood what I wrote? I don't think so. Probably my English is
not god enough but your understanding is far from my intention.
I did response a comment on The White House tango night. The comment was
very negative and patronizing. Due that I was there I have the right to do a
response to that. I am right?
Chauvinist? What are you talking about? What do you think? That Tango is an
universal value? No my friend, tango was created by the Rio de la Plata
people. If you want, you can enjoy dancing it, and this was my point. Do it,
but don't start to say what is right and what is wrong...to us!!!
So, Enjoy BA. Even I have doubts that you can do it with your great
incapacity to understand messages...
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Guy Barbe [SMTP:gbarbe @GETUS.COM]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 1999 3:10 PM
> To:
>
> List
>
> In particular to Eduardo you wrote:
>
> <From your comments we can see that you are new in this thing of
> tango. You>
> <are not Argentinean, nor rise in tango. Even though you are very
> welcome to>
> <dance tango, you can develop your own philosophy on what is tango.
> But don't>
> <patronize us!!!!>
>
> <We, the Argentineans, used to say, "la vida es una milonga" (life is
> a>
> <milonga), well, it seems that life is "many milongas". If you don't
> like our>
> <milonga...organize yours, but let's us enjoy what we do.>
>
> Let me remind you that the list is a forum where people will express
> their opinions, and they are just that OPINIONS not to be degraded.
> If you don't agree say so, and state why you don't. I do take offense
> to your text. It is a very chauvinistic statement which is, in my
> view, far worse than the Clinton's or Prince's of the world doing the
> Tango!!
>
> I am going to Buenos Aires, this Friday and see first hand how the
> Argentineans do dance in their Milongas. I am sure it will be fun and
> look forward to it and meet some of the dancer you named and hopefully
> learn from them what Tango really is.
>
> Unload that big chip and enjoy
>
> Guy
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 14:12:33 -0600
From: Stephen P Brown <Stephen.P.Brown @DAL.FRB.ORG>
Subject: The state of tango in Heidelberg and elsewhere.
Perhaps in a hope to get a glimpse of the future, Tom Stermitz
recently posted a query about the state of tango in cities where the
tango community is substantially older than the four to five years
that characterize tango communities like those in Dallas or Denver.
My general impression is that if a tango community has really grown in
the past 10-15 years, it is also broken into factions. There may be
exceptions, but the tango scenes in San Francisco, Montreal, New York
and Lausanne support my impressions.
Initially, I thought that the growth of a tango community allowed
latent factions to emerge--whether the differences were artistic,
personality conflicts, or a desire of junior members to demonstrate
higher status in the community.
A dancer here in Dallas recently changed my perspective. He told me
that the Dallas tango community did not really grow until after the
first split appeared. Prior to the emergence of the first split, the
community had only one visible perspective. Consequently, potential
dancers were less able to find a teacher, mentor or role model whose
approach suited them. Although the dancers that Susan and I teach may
tend to convince me of that we have a superior approach to dancing and
teaching tango, I recognize that other approaches appeal to students
who might not otherwise be dancing tango.
--Steve de Tejas
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 16:44:06 -0500
From: Fernandez Eduardo <efernandez @IUCNUS.ORG>
Subject: Re: Tolerance? (Re: Newspaper Clipping)
I asked tolerance but this doesn't mean that I let people patronize me.
You should understand the difference.
I like Jazz and I like Swing dance. But I will never go to a Ballroom or a
Club and start to say to local people what to do, what is right and what is
wrong. Got it?
And about feelings. Let me share with you an anecdote that will show why I
am sceptic on your point. Sometimes I use to sing very low the lyrics of
tangos when I dance. Once the lady that I was dancing with ask me about the
lyric that she though was very romantic. It was a song about horses, horse
ride, gambling and a guy how steal money from parents to gambling. She told
me: "this is disgusting!!! Don't tell me more!!!".
What feelings you are talking about? Hers or mine?
Everything have to be contextualized. For people from Rio de la Plata, tango
is more that a charming dance. It's its history, its culture, its poetry.
And all this, is NOT for other people. Nothing wrong with that. But this is
it!!!
Jorge Luis Borges use to say that dance tango is a way of walking. He means
that every culture walk different. Being an anthropologist I saw this in
different continents like Africa, Asia, Latin America and of course,
portenios walk different from other people. Go to the street now and watch
Americans walking at lunch time. They walk different from people in Seville
or in the Arctic. So. Ethnicity, mean that you are part of a particular
cultural complex. Where you where rise, how you were educated, the music
that your parents use to listen, determine many things in you life: your
feelings, your attitude, manners and also, your dancing!
So. Enjoy you dancing and maybe if you make an effort you can learn the
language and sing about horse riding and other things that tango talk about,
and them we should can back to talk about "feelings"...
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brannigan, Mary [SMTP:Mary.Brannigan @WWIRELESS.COM]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 1999 4:10 PM
> To: TANGO-L @MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> Subject: Tolerance? (Re: Newspaper Clipping)
>
> Saludos,
> I must say that I'm very disappointed at the way this latest thread has
> degraded into flaming fellow members. Being a member of this list means
> that you're somebody who is involved in someway with AT. And to be
> involved
> with AT, means that you are a passionate person.
> But, let's not let our passions (about politics, personal philosophy or
> ethnicity)override the respect due to our fellow lovers of AT.
> I find it bitterly ironic to read a page full of flames and at the end,
> see the deliverer demanding more tolerance from the person being flamed.
> And I was particularly dismayed to see the following comment :
>
> >"...we can see that you are new in this thing of Tango. You are not
> Argentinean, nor
> > rise in tango."
>
> While the two not-so-subtle flames above were directed at somebody else,
> the statement in between about "You are not Argentinean", hit a nerve.
>
> Our ethnicity is one of the few things that we as individuals have no
> control over. To take the fact that someone was or was not born in such
> and
> such a place and then attempt to twist that fact into an insult is the
> basest form of discrimination.
> We can't all have the privilege of being born Argentinean (and I say
> this
> with complete respect for the culture and people of Argentina). Just
> because somebody was not born in the homeland of tango however, does not
> mean that he/she does not experience the intensity and passion of the
> dance
> any less than a native.
> All members of this list share one thing in common: a love and
> dedication
> to AT. If nothing else, let this bond be cause enough to garner
> consideration before replying.
>
> My thanks to everyone who took the time to read my 2p worth. And if,
> after reading, you should feel the need to flame, please spare the rest of
> the list, and instead send them to me directly at :
> marybrannigan @hotmail.com.
> -Thank you.
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 21:10:53 EST
From: Fernando Filippelli <ferfilip @E-MAIL.COM>
Subject: Tango in Chicago This Weekend
I will be in Chicago this coming Sat. night and I was wondering if
somebody knows of any milongas happening that night.
Appreciate any info.
Thanks.
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 22:33:25 -0600
From: Joe Grohens <joe @WOLFRAM.COM>
Subject: Re: Tango in Chicago This Weekend
> I will be in Chicago this coming Sat. night and I was wondering if
> somebody knows of any milongas happening that night.
The place to be is Tango Nada Mas. Check out their web site
at www.tangonadamas.com, or if you don't have web access, let me know
and I'll send you more info by email.
Also, they are having Tango workshops next weekend with Leandro and
Andrea, who are excellent teachers.
joe
End of TANGO-L Digest - 22 Mar 1999 to 23 Mar 1999
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