199  Tango in Tokyo

Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001 14:32:49 +0900
From: astrid <astrid@RUBY.PLALA.OR.JP>
Subject: Tango in Tokyo

Last night we had our another "Gala"-Milonga in Tokyo, meaning one of the
teachers renting a beautiful hall big enough for 350 people (we fill it up
half or so, after all, we need space to dance), 5 hours of music, three
professional couples performing two pieces each, and food and drink. The
consul from the Argentine embassy giving a speech. It is THE event in the
Tokyo tango world.

Now, I have been to the first ever milonga like this in Tokyo in October
'99, and what I have noticed in development is this:
The first few events, the dance floor was empty for the first hour, because
nobody had the sangfroid to go out there and dance in front of all these
people. The dance teachers went out with the best partners and started the
dance. Then it was very crowded, everybody hugely enthousiastic, especially
after watching the performances right in front them, but there was lots of
bumping, and many people who could not dance very well. When our and the
Argentine economy went down even further, they used Japanese professionals
for the show instead of people visiting from BA.
This time, 2 years later after the beginnning of this event, I got there 30
min after start, and the dance floor was full. Within no time I was asked to
dance by all kinds of young men, and it was fun to dance with everyone of
them. I realised what great contribution Gustavo had made to our community
in the meantime. There was no bumping at all on the dance floor. I got
kicked once in the whole evening, and that was by an Argentine friend.
The show dancers were one couple from Chile, who live in Kyoto, and two
Japanese couples from Tokyo, who I have seen before. Last time Kazumi had
trained one of her students into doing a show with her, and they did a lot
of showey moves but it did not look very impressive. The other ones looked
good but very ballroomy. This time, a year later, they were both as good as
any Argentine couple I have seen there and really exciting !
Toward the end of the evening Gustavo silenced the music, and called out by
microphone: "Los Argentinos, por favor !" All the Argentines entered the
center of the dance floor, and danced a chacarera for us ! Some of us joined
in, the drumming in the music heating up our blood, then we danced salsa for
a while. They even played some rock'n roll, which my partner did not
appreciate, and it's been the first time in life that I danced tango steps
to "See you later, Alligator". It works too, let me tell you! ; )
At the end of this event we always join hands in a huge double or triple
circle around the dance floor and dance to Latin music, making trains, play,
laugh, and just let the rest of our energy go up in total exuberance.
The whole level in Tokyo has gone up. With the growth of the tango scene,
lots of new young dancers now (the original tango scene consisted of people
who loved tango in their youth, and they are over 60 on average, with young
women mixed in), and many of them have learned to dance well too.
When I go to Roppongi, I sometimes meet tourists from Europe or America, and
they always tell me of their surprise at the high technical level of the
dancers in Japan.
This spring I have had the pleasure to take lessons with Nito Garcia, Jorge
Torres, Julio Balmaceda and Corinna de la Rosa, and Gustavo Saenz.
Now I have reservations for classes with Jorge Torres, Carlos Gavito and
Fabian Salas ! They are all coming here.
Sometimes I get inquiries from Tango-L where to dance in Japan, or how to
meet me and other tango friends. If you are interested, for this, please
check our e-group, it has the event calendar, descriptions, adresses, chat:
I feel like Tokyo has become quite presentable !

Astrid