1476  Encounter with Alberto Luis Ayala and Teresa Leonor Funes

Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2003 20:59:21 -0300
From: Janis Kenyon <jantango@FEEDBACK.NET.AR>
Subject: Encounter with Alberto Luis Ayala and Teresa Leonor Funes

Tangueros and tangueras from Brisbane and Canberra, Australia, Ireland and
the United States arrived this week in Buenos Aires. They joined us today
for the first Encounter with a Milonguero in El Abrojito Restaurant, once a
well-known place for tango singers. The walls are filled with photos of
tango singers and musicians.

Beto and Teresa shared how they began to dance tango and some interesting
experiences. Beto grew up in this same neighborhood and used to rent a
different suit every Saturday from the drycleaning shop on the corner of
Independencia and Matheu for one peso. The suit was cleaned and the
customers were never the wiser that their suits had been rented out. Beto
was only a teenager at the time and couldn't afford a wardrobe of suits. It
was important that a young man was well-dressed to dance tango in those
days. He went to dance in the afternoon in San Souci (on Corrientes near
Carlos Pelligrini) before he was old enough to enter (minimum age 18), but
no one would dance with him. In Club Huracan, he went to Sunday dances
where the girls sat near the wall and the boys stood in the middle of the
floor. From there he looked at one girl for four consecutive Sundays, but
she would always look away. Finally, he invited her to dance, she accepted
with a nod, and then he indicated with his hand that he wouldn't dance with
her.

Teresa told her strict father that she was going to the cinema with her
teenage friends, but they really were going to dance tango. After dancing
until 8:00, she would then go to buy a program at the cinema to present to
her father.

After conversation, Beto and Teresa gave us a demonstration of tango and
vals, and then danced with the participants. We had lunch and sang happy
birthday to Beto, who turned 62 yesterday. Beto and Teresa have been
married for 32 years and still go dancing every Saturday afternoon together.

Pichi de Buenos Aires
www.totango.net/milongueros.html