Tango Evolution:  Argentine Tango Dance Classes & Lessons in Atlanta, Georgia

"The secret of tango is in this moment of improvisation that happens between step and step. It is to make the impossible thing possible: to dance silence. This is essential to learn in tango dance, the real dance, that of the silence, of following the melody." Carlos Gavito

Chicho & Juana: Two Great Performances
11/24/2008 at 8:00 PM

Here are two videos of Chicho & Juana in two amazing performances. In the first one, I love how they flow with the music... In the begining, they are more punctual and stecatto but then there is one part where the piano just seems to flow very smoothly and they match the music with their moves.

I also loved the double gancho at the 3:15 mark. I have not see that one before. Chicho is always on the edge and coming up with new ideas.

In this next video, what I love is the musicality. I have heard that Chicho used to be a drummer. If so then it makes sense if you watch his feet. He uses them to accent the beats.... watch the section starting at 1:35 to see what I mean.. watch how hard he puts his feet down. Actually guys, we can pick our feet up a little more than the women can. They have to be ready with their feet on the ground so that they can change weight with us... so for the women notice that Juana keeps her feet caressing the floor at most times unless she is embellishing or doing a boleo... but notice how quickly she gets her feet back on the floor. On this same subject, watch the ganchos starting at 2:55 and watch how she embellishes but then gets her feet back to the floor so that he can lead something else. He does these delicate weight changes and if she were to keep her feet up in the air after embellishing then he would have to lead a step to get the weight changes that he needs. So, followers don’t leave your feet in the air unless he freezes his energy to keep them there. If his energy keeps moving then get them back to the floor. A great example of the energy freezing is the end of the song... he lead a circular boleo and freezes (stops all of his energy) so she freezes with her foot in the air... this could take place at other times during the dance... she leaves her foot up not because she knows it is the end of the song but because he freezes.

Ok.. final comments on this performance... I love the tiny back volcadas with small drags at 3:50.. not everything has to be big to be cool.

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Beautiful Performance by Sebastian and Mariana
11/19/2008 at 11:14 AM

Music Video Code by Tango Port

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Tango for the Visually Impaired
11/12/2008 at 1:58 PM

WOW.... this blew me away. This video is very inspiring. We think learning tango is hard, imagine learning it if you are blind. This is just wonderful and I would love to do something like this one day.

 

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Two Tango Performances by Oscar Mandagaran and Georgina Vargas
11/12/2008 at 1:31 PM

This couple just emailed me about sponsoring them in a trip to Atlanta to teach and perform. I am not sure we are ready to start bringing in teachers yet, but I did enjoy these two performances and wanted to share them:

 

 

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Wonderful Milonga by Sebastian & Mariana
09/29/2008 at 3:06 PM

What a great job to a very fast milonga. Notice the steps at the 1:01 mark. We were working on this in class two weeks ago. Stepping outside partner and then both changing weight together and steping back and both changing weight and then forward again. We were doing it to tango, but this is the same thing in milonga and then he pauses on the forward step for emphasis.

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Tango Dancer Omar Vega Dies
09/23/2008 at 2:15 PM

I never got to meet him but he was a popular dancer and teacher from Buenos Aires. Horacio seemed to know him well and there have been many posts about him on the Tango Lists. No one knows the cause of his death but it could be Asthma related. He was in his late 40s.

Below are some videos of him dancing. He seems like he had his own style and had lots of fun while dancing.

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Controversy
08/12/2008 at 4:55 PM

Tango dancers seem to love controversy. I used to enjoy it more, but now I pretty much just find it very tiring and boring. The main controversial topics in tango seem to be traditional vs alternative music, open vs close embrace, teaching on the social dance floor.

I think these topics pop up in most all tango communities from time to time. They seem to lie dormant for some time and then they pop up again all of a sudden. Some of these have poped up recently in Atlanta and so I created the fake set of classes listed below:

How to successfully teach on the social dance floor
How to suppress your personal style and dance like everyone else
The disadvantages of traditional tango music
Why the connection is so much stronger in an open embrace

Here are my true feelings on these topics:

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Why the connection is so much stronger in an open embrace
08/12/2008 at 4:54 PM

I really love this one. It is such BS. It is possible to have a wonderful connection with your partner in either open or close embrace. They are just simply different. Not better. Not Worse. Different. In close embrace you have a strong physical connection in the upper body. This feels very good. In open embrace you have a physical connection at the close side of the embrace (leader’s right and followers left). You also have a visual connection. You can see your partner and feel them. You can even take moments and look into one another’s eyes and there is some really possibilities for visual communication between partners. You can see her smile if you lead something in a way that she likes or vice versa. Alternatively in close embrace you can hear the follower verbally react to a move that she likes and sometimes you can even feel a smile if her face is on your shoulder or cheek. Again, I don’t believe either is superior as far as connection goes. I love both.

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The disadvantages of traditional tango music
08/12/2008 at 4:53 PM

This one really irks me. I hate the fact that people see me as an alternative DJ. I love traditional tango music and listen to it all day long. I probably listen to and DJ about 80% traditional and 20% Tango fusion. BUT, if you play even one alternative set then during a milonga then you are branded as an alternative DJ. That really pisses me off. Right now my favorite orchestra is Lucio Demare and I also love Troilo, Calo, D’Arienzo, D’Agostino, etc. I have spent years collecting Tango music according to iTunes I have over 5 days of tango music on my computer and that does not cover the nearly 100 Tango Vinyl LPS that I have not gotten around to encoding yet.

This might surprise people also… I don’t like alternative milongas. I find it really boring to dance to alternative music for more than 10 or 15 minutes. Then I want some good traditional tango. I love dancing to a great alternative tango or electronic tango, but it also depends on who I am dancing with. Most dancers do not have the vocabulary to dance to alternative music and it can be torture.

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How to suppress your personal style and dance like everyone else
08/12/2008 at 4:50 PM

It seems that some people are very obsessed with how it is done in Buenos Aires and having everyone dance a very similar style. There are many many styles of tango. People often ask me if I dance Nuevo Style. I quickly correct them. I dance Clint Style. I don’t acknowledge Nuevo, Milonguero, etc… There is only Tango. I might employ new concepts but these new concepts are no different than sacadas or calisitas or ochos. At one point these were all new concepts. Did the guy that first lead an ocho dance Nuevo tango? I don’t think so. These terms and labels are destructive and lead to prejudices and misunderstandings.

Now, often I think that people think of technique as style. For instance, I like to dance close embrace but I do not like women to be really heavy. This has nothing to do with the physical weight of the women, but rather how much of their weight they apply to me. There are some teachers that want the women to apply a lot of weight and some that don’t want any at all. I am in between. There is a saying that the milongueros in Buenos Aires use that refers to pushing refrigerators around the floor. This refers to women that apply too much weight on the leader. This is one of my biggest complaints with followers that start learning close embrace first. It can be very difficult to dance well if a woman is leaning on you and applying too much pressure. It is hard to stay with the music if you first have to push a woman off of you and then take a step. Followers should move with you and against you. You should not have to push them around the dance floor. I am not into pushing women around. I had rather dance with them.

At the same Time I don’t want them to be constantly pulling away from me or not feel that they are there with me in the moment. I want a slight amount of pressure or compression between us and that compression is variable depending on what is being lead. If we are standing still and I suddenly disappeared she might stumble forward just a touch but she should not fall forward and hit the floor. Also, another test for this is if you are standing still with a close embrace and the leader slowly stands perfectly straight then the woman should be able to match that movement and stand up perfectly straight without stress or stumbling forward. You should be able to keep your feet solidly on the floor and move in and out of a close embrace comfortably without moving your feet.

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How to successfully teach on the social dance floor
08/12/2008 at 4:49 PM

Personally, I do not like seeing people teach on the social dance floor. I do not do it myself even when asked. Sometimes I will be dancing and will do something that the follower might not understand and they might ask me to show it to them. If I feel that they have the vocabulary to do it and just did not catch it the first time then my response is to usually try it again and to try and lead it much more clearly the second time. If I feel that they just don’t have the vocabulary to perform that move then I just say, "Don’t worry about it. I did not lead it clearly." Which is not untrue. Someone else very well might be able to lead that move clearly enough for them to get it. If it needs a brief explanation I might try to work that in during the pause between songs or during the cortina.

BUT again I would only do that if asked by the follower. I would not ever try to instruct anyone on anything if it was not solicited by them, period. I never volunteer feedback or comments unless specifically asked by that person. I just dance with them and dance at their level and enjoy myself. The dance does not have to be perfect to have a very nice time. True instruction is for classes, practicas and private lessons, NOT MILONGAS. Also, I find this very rude behaviour. These people have teachers and have CHOSEN of their own free will to accept instruction from their teachers. Who am I to try and force my teaching onto them? If they wish to learn from me then they can attend my classes or ask about private lessons and many do.

Some things I would recommend not doing on the social floor:

1. Don’t hold up the line of dance trying something new and then try to explain to the follower this new pattern you just learned. If you can’t lead it then drop it. Patterns are BS and useless in tango. I hate patterns. I think it is lazy teaching, promotes back leading and promotes steps over musicality. People who only learn patterns are generally bad leaders. If you are in a class that is focused on a particular pattern then realize that you are not there to learn that pattern but rather to learn the parts of the pattern. You should be learning the pieces and techniques involved in the pattern not the pattern itself.

2. Don’t hunt out the pretty young new girls and dance with them for 30 minutes trying to teach them how to dance tango. Again, they are new and they are probably going to classes and learning at their speed. If you are not capable of dancing with a new dancer and giving them a solid dance then don’t ask them to dance and go back to class yourself and learn how to dance at any level with any follow. This is the fastest way to run new dancers off is for them to feel trapped by some creepy old guy at their first or second milonga. AND YES they will pretend like they appreciate your comments and help and then go put on their shoes leave and never come back.

3. Don’t block the line of dance standing still or moving at a snails pace whispering instructions in your partner’s ear trying to teach her on the social floor.

So when is teaching acceptable in a social situation (my opinion obviously):

First and foremost, you and your partner are friends and it is solicited by them. Then it should be only a minor concept or technique, nothing that would not take a moment or two to explain and demonstrate. This could be done between songs or during a cortina. Prefereably behind the tables or if their is another room or lobby area, etc. Not on the social floor. Now I must say that I really don’t even do any of this. I really limit any instruction in a social setting to philosophical discussions rather than experimentation.

 

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Tango Therapy
08/05/2008 at 6:20 PM

I have posted on this subject before but this is a new online report about the 1st Conference on Tango Therapy. This is an area where real research is being done and showing very promising results with patients with Alzheimers, Parkinson's Disease and depression. Studies have compared patients taking Tango lessons, Tai Chi lessons and American Waltz and shown that the Tango lessons were more productive.

I think there are reasons for this. In Tango, there are no patterns, so it really causes concentration and deliberate action. You are also doing it with a partner so you feel support and pay more attention to what you are doing since another person is affected by your movement.

Click here to listen to the online report.

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Chico on the BBC
07/30/2008 at 2:29 AM

It looks like this is part of a BBC documentary. This clip features Chicho Frumboli and shows him dancings at "La Confiteria Ideal" in Buenos Aires. Many people think of Chicho as a performance artist, but he is a wonderful social dancer as these clips show. You don't have to be boring in order to be a good social dancer.

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Adrian & Amanda Costa
06/24/2008 at 1:01 AM

One of the best milonga performances that I have ever seen. They look like they are just having so much fun. Notice how Milonga does not always have to be danced fast, at the 45 sec mark he slows it down and then speeds it back up again. It builds tension and it is fun. This also illustrates the idea of  using stacatto (short or abrupt) and legato (smooth) steps.

At the 50 second mark he is mixing these two ideas. He is stepping stacatto and collecting legato.

At the 1:11 mark, one thing that he is doing is what we call the "invisible lead" he is very slightly leading her to take side steps and change weight while he is doing something completely different. In tango, you can lead the woman to do something that you are not doing yourself AND those things can be super tiny. It might not look like you are leading them but you are... in other words it is not a pattern. He can lead those weight changes without doing them himself.

I also love the mordidas (bites) or sandwichitos at the end.

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Edie & Mason and Lena & Clint perform at Tango by the Lake IV
06/16/2008 at 2:15 AM

Here is our performance from Tango by the Lake in Columbia, SC on February 16, 2008. We've had the idea of interacting with one another during a performance for sometime and were very happy with the results.

The song is "Villurca" by Yira.

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