1466  One year of tango dancing

Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2003 15:09:14 -0400
From: Sergio <cachafaz@ADELPHIA.NET>
Subject: One year of tango dancing

>"Pretty much everyone here has

been dancing it for a year or more, we already know how to do it. We might
be taking lessons to learn how to do it better, but we can easily recognize
Argentine Tango and tell it apart from International Tango, or other
varieties."

I remember, a few years ago I was at a workshop in downtown Buenos Aires,
the teachers were an old milonguero Pedro Monteleone and his beautiful
daughter Marcela.
They are well known in Europe, mostly in Italy where they teach tango
regularly.

During a conversation I mentioned to him: - I am used to dance to certain
orchestras such as Carlos Di Sarli or Osvaldo Pugliese. I feel comfortable
with them, get good feeling of the music and the beat and can make a good
artistic expression dancing, but there are other orchestras that I find
difficult to feel and to interpret.

He asked - For how long have you been dancing? - Four years - was my answer.

He said - To be able to feel and make a good interpretation of all the
different orchestras you need at least seven years of regular dancing.

I thought that he was kidding me. I continued to listen to different
orchestras and to try to make a reasonable interpretation of the music with
my dancing. It was about three years later that I felt comfortable dancing
to all of them.

It took seven years, exactly as the old tango master said. I know now that
he was not kidding me.

One year of dancing is very little to understand the complexity of the music
and the dance. Tango is like wine it takes time to mature.
Argentineans usually ask you - For how long have you been dancing? - in
order to get an idea of your degree of knowledge and skill.

Those that are persistent will have fun during their journey, usually
uphill. Finally they will reach the top of the mountain to see the other
side of Argentine Tango. It should be fun and a continuous discovery. A
beautiful trip and a wonderful experience.
Tango has a big and generous heart that embraces us all.