664  Appreciation of Aurora Lubiz & Jorge Firpo

Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2002 10:07:08 -0400
From: Daniel Saindon <gardien@TANGO.MONTREAL.QC.CA>
Subject: Appreciation of Aurora Lubiz & Jorge Firpo

Good morning listeros

At what age do tango performers reach their peak ?

I saw Aurora Lubiz and Jorge Firpo last night
at the Academy (of montreal),
and come to realize looking at their dance
that they had reached their peak.
(How old is Jorge Firpo? Fifty-ish??)
Their appearance on the front publicity of the world tango festival
of Bs As this October 2002 among a list of
other Great Masters does not seem to be
a matter of chance. See:

https://www.worldtangofestival.com.ar/ingles/homeingles.html

Of course, Aurora Lubiz is as good as she
has ever been, I first saw them about 6 years ago.
But it is Jorge Firpo who came hypercharged with
conviction to the dance floor last night (and the
preceding night at StudioTango), I never saw him
quite like this before.

While I was watching them I was thinking about
the posting brought by Bob Ramsey-Turner
to this List on 24-02-2002. (excerpt below:
gato-garza-elephanto-aguila) and internally thought
about adding some nuances to the posting
that I may publish sometimes in the future.

Last night, what I saw such was a clear cut demonstration
of all the progressions from genesis to genesis
of each step of the tango walk, that no other
Art form could rival or match.

Of course there were other elements that made their
performance so uplifting, such as being able to do
steps (almost) nobody else could do in a combination
that (almost) nobody else thought about.

What was special to Jorge & Aurora is the integration of
a variety of approaches brought into their choreographies.
You come to appreciate how the tango walk works
when all of a sudden he avoids it! OR the integration
of the sensuous lags in their steps that is also so particular
to Argentine tango music OR their equal ease dancing
milongas (they were friends of Pepito) to dancing tangos from
Pugliese and D`Arrienzo. ( and I would love to see their
canyengue because Palermo regularly came to their
practicas in Bs As.)

Jorge & Aurora are in Montreal for a few more days.
Perharps they will show themselves at the Tangueria
tonight AND they are scheduled to appear for a major
demonstration of their talent tomorrow at the Tango Libre
(which is sold out - lucky are people holding tickets).

Finally, tomorrow Saturday, in the Montreal Gazette will
appear an article that is written by Victor Svoboda
(long time tango reporter) along with photographs of
the Firpos. If we are lucky this article will appear
on their web site at

https://www.canada.com/montreal/

Best regards

Daniel Saindon
gardien@tango.montreal.qc.ca

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Excerpt from this posting of 24-02-2002
titled "Drilled for Oil"

"Cuatro animales! Cuatro, cuatro
animales!". He had obviously thought it over, and
prepared a lesson plan to help me. "Uno...Gato!", he
started the step, "Dos! Garza!". I finally figured
out he meant stork, or crane... "Todo pesado, un
pie!". "Tres...ELEFANTO!!". The foot comes
down. "Cuatro, (raising and lifting his torso)
Aguila! Aguila!".

I've been practicing it, and it actually makes a lot
of sense. Begin the step, smooth like a stalking cat,
with a slight pause in the middle, heels together, one
leg raised slightly like a crane, the weight quiet and
totally on one foot, then forward off the back leg to
finish, caressing into the floor softly, but pressing
down like an elephant. This is the hard part, and
I've worked on it constantly since I've been here.
You're supposed to lengthen and stretch the leg as the
foot meets the floor, and let the hip relax a little,
in effect pressing into the floor without raising the
upper body when the foot lands. This causes a very
light bump that your partner can feel through the
chest. (Osvaldo Natucci has actually rolled up his
pants leg to show me how his leg stretches and
straightens when his foot lands). The chest and
ribcage are up, up forward and light, like an eagle
the entire time. If that young guy made this up
himself I think he's really smart. He thought a lot
about it and he's a great teacher. Natucci also drew
me a picture of footprints, with a dark area showing
me exactly where the pressure should be when the foot
hits the floor. (End Quote)

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