The Tango-L mailing list archive
Digest from 15 May 1999
to 16 May 1999
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Date: Sun, 16 May 1999 03:00:01 -0400
Sender: Discussion of Any Aspect of the Argentine Tango <TANGO-L @MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
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Subject: TANGO-L Digest - 15 May 1999 to 16 May 1999
There are 4 messages totalling 174 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Tango at " LA NACIONAL"
2. Daniela & Armando in Europe!!
3. Tango in Winnipeg?
4. Re[2]: Rotating Partners: a different view
Date: Sat, 15 May 1999 15:11:40 -0500
From: Diego Fraidenraich <fraidd01 @MCRCR6.MED.NYU.EDU>
Subject: Tango at " LA NACIONAL"
Dear Tango list:
This past Thursday my wife and I went to a recent milonga in New York
City, partly because our master teacher in B.A. (Puppy) was giving a
lesson and also because I was told by a friend of mine that the place
and atmosphere were pretty much reminiscent to what we were used to
experience in the regular milongas in B.A. such as Gricel, El Akarense,
Sutherland, etc.
To experience Puppy teaching us again made me feel very happy, since I
wasn't ready to meet exactly the same person as I knew five years ago.
No change at all! All right, all right, probably three more grey hairs.
Since the students in the class were at different levels, he decided to
start from the basic routine and exercises for the pivot and balance and
after 90 min of full steam class he ended with an intricated (and
probably a little fancy) move. He was very clever in the sense that he
covered all type of levels to make people feel pleased. One skill that
made me regain my admiration for him is the fact that in a blink he was
able to pick what we were doing right or wrong, actually more wrong than
right :( . Puppy is really a gifted person. He is very demanding and
perfectionist with his students, but also he lets us know our defects in
a sweet way :). The translator did a very good job as well since she
managed to censor some funny but not-extemely-pleasing comments from the
master's portenio milonguero spanish style. Puppy will be again this
coming Thursday (May 20) at "La Nacional" teaching at the intermediate
level from 8 to 9:30pm.
The room that is set for the milonga shortly afterwards is extremely
cozy, with tables all around the dance floor, dim ilumination, a very
good D.J. that cleverly chooses which group of tunes (tanda) to play at
a certain moment, appropiately separated from another set of rithms like
milonga or waltz (vals) by the "cortina". The organizers -Coco, Leni
and Juan- are very friendly and nice. Juan was stopping by every table
and offered a complimentary mate (the famous argentinean herbal infusion
the we use to swallow by sucking through a metal straw) to all people.
And for ladies: at the end Coco handed a rose to each woman that bravely
decided to share that lovely night dancing. On the whole, it seemed to
me to be back in a regular milonga in B.A.
And yes, I will make the effort again, I will come back home from work
earlier this coming Thursday, I will brush my work-related stress off
my body for an evening, I will leave my baby with the babysitter
overnight, and I will embrace my wife in a lovely trip to Buenos Aires
(sorry, to "La Nacional") and pull out of the trunk old memories while
learning with our first teacher.
The flyer says:
Tango La Nacional.
239 West 14th St.
(212)929-7873
Every Thursday
Learn to tango 7.00 to 8.30PM. Dance 8.30....
"Coco, Leni y Juan, gran tango gran..."
For May 20th (this Thursday) Puppy will give a class at the intermediate
level from 8.00 to 9.30 pm. Do not miss it if you happen to be
somewhere 5,000 miles near NYC! Moon inhabitants are a little far.
(I have no commercial interest.....................................)
___________________________________________________
Diego Fraidenraich
Department of Microbiology
New York University School of Medicine
550 First Ave, MSB252. New York, NY 10016
Telephone: 212-263-5331
Fax: 212-263-8276
Date: Sat, 15 May 1999 18:36:15 EDT
From: Daniela Arcuri <DATango @AOL.COM>
Subject: Daniela & Armando in Europe!!
Queridos tangueros del todo el mundo!!
We are happy to
announce our trip to Europe in the month of July 1999!!.
We will by doing the "Valencia Festival of Tango" and others cityes near
you!!,
more details in the future.
Thank you!! we see you at the dance floor!! ...
Daniela & Armando.
To contact Daniela & Armando, please reply to DATango @aol.com
Check our web at www.tangopuro.com
Date: Sat, 15 May 1999 22:52:24 -0400
From: MaryAnn Henderson <mhenders @GBC.GBROWNC.ON.CA>
Subject: Tango in Winnipeg?
Hi!
I'm planning to be in Winnipeg from around May 22 to about May 27 or 28.
Would love to hear of any tango activity there during that time. Thanks.
Mary Ann from Toronto
Date: Sat, 15 May 1999 21:19:20 -0700
From: Ted Crowley <ted @DANCER.NET>
Subject: Re[2]: Rotating Partners: a different view
For a moment I thought I was in an argument (what, an argument on the
list? Never. Impossible) when Stephen (Steve de Tejas) replied to my
response to his post with:
> Ted's response ignores the simple question of why beginners are attending
> an advanced class. Previous discussions on this list suggested that one of
> the most egotistical things
<snip>
But then I realized he was just being accurate: my response DID ignore the
issue of beginners attending an advanced class, which was the whole focus of
his post. My response veered off into a different subject: that many Tangoers
who have partners to bring with them avoid rotating in workshops, and how that
hurts other dancers who have none. By "other dancers" I DIDN'T mean beginners
at advanced classes: I meant dancers at the correct level for the workshop.
And I mis-spoke when I said it was "advanced dancers" who stuck with their
partners at workshops, and the result was that us singles end up dancing with
"beginners". My experience is more accurately that many Tangoers who have a
partner don't rotate in group classes (whether they are advanced or another
level), and that the result is that singles are either paired with a random
partner for a long time or the whole workshop (not necessarily a beginner,
but sometimes a poor match, like my 6'4" with a 4'11" partner), or else are
partnerless for much or most of the time.
I agree 100% with Stephen, that beginers should not attend advanced level
classes, and when too large percent of those present are at too low a level,
it spoils the class for the advanced ones. And I guess I can understand why
some advanced couples, faced with that unexpected and disappointing special
situation, might decide to withdraw from the rotation for that one workshop.
That explains Stephen and Susan, but what about all those other couples...?
And it seems Stephen agrees with my support of rotating, as he responds:
> I am quite happy to rotate in an advanced class when there is a reasonable
> probability that the other students are advanced by some measure other than
> their own inflated egos.
> Susan and I frequently attend beginning and intermediate classes, and when we
> do, we willingly accept the rotations requested by the instructors, and we
> learn from doing so.
Stephen may have assumed from my complaints that I was one of the "inflated
ego" beginners he talks of above. Actually that's backwards: at a recent
intermediate/advanced workshop the teacher commented to me that "people at
your level don't normally attend workshops". But I don't consider myself
advanced, just intermediate and sometimes I wonder about that. It's only
here on the internet that I brag so shamelessly. In person I'm just a shy,
timid, mild-mannered...
Ted (de Krypton)
End of TANGO-L Digest - 15 May 1999 to 16 May 1999
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