96  Tango in LA

Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 22:45:14 -0700
From: "Larry E. Carroll" <larrydla@JUNO.COM>
Subject: Tango in LA

Hi, Maria. Sorry it took so long to answer you. I'm so obsessively
working on a novel that I take a steno notebook with me almost
everywhere I go - even to dances! When the DJ plays music that
doesn't speak to me, I often take out the notebook. And there's
something about the music and the half-shadowed decorated surround and
the happiness of the people around me that stimulates creativity. But
don't worry, when/if you move here and we dance, I'll be dancing with
you, not some book!

Los Angeles is a large, spread-out city, so you may end driving up to
an hour to your favorite milongas, of which there are about a dozen.
Hope you've got a car you enjoy driving!

The population is varied, with a large Latin population, who also come
to tango dances. That should make you feel more at home. There are a
fair number of people with an Asian background, too. Some blacks are
tango fanatics. We get a fair number of people from other countries
here on business or pleasure. This includes Argentines as well, not
to mention the large number of Argentine-Americans resident here. The
age range is also all the way across the board, including a few teens.
Socioeconomic status is varied, including some at the quite high end.
This being the entertainment - or at least movie - capital of the
world, it's not rare for show business people to come to milongas. I
can think of a couple of movie directors, several actors and
actresses, writers, a couple of animation artists, and so on.

We're getting more and more Argentine teachers who include LA on their
tours. Because of that and the longevity of tango in LA you'll see
people doing all styles of tango and milonga. And I'm happy to say
that our DJs play a fair amount of tango vals, which I especially
like. The music here seems to be getting better, or at least more
varied, every year. One DJ even has a 30s night (every 3rd week)
where he plays more old-style recordings and everyone is encouraged to
wear elegant evening wear from the 1930s, a very creative idea.

The increasing size has one effect that you see in a more extreme way
in Buenos Aires, which is probably the city with the largest number of
tango dancers. There is an increasing tendency of cliques to form
that have little or nothing to do with each other. Some cliques
crystallize around a particular person or style of dance or geography.
Other break up along age lines. Increasingly the younger dancers
avoid dancing with anyone outside their age cohort, a natural tendency
since they tend to be more focused on finding dates.

Dressing up? It varies a lot. It used to be that almost everyone
here dressed formally for tango, including some very sexy outfits on
the women. You can still indulge your taste for fancy dress, but
there is now more variety. Especially many of the younger dancers
dress to differentiate themselves from the old fogeys, with backward
caps, shaved or very short hair, tee-shirts, baggy jeans, and tennis
shoes.

Quality of the dancers? I suspect the AVERAGE quality is less than
that in Denver or other smaller cities. The more popular a dance
scene gets the more casual dancers you get. This includes people who
never take lessons, who pick up tango from watching and just doing it
- or come to milongas and don't dance at all, just socialize. You can
see this in the extreme in Buenos Aires, where tango is more popular
than in any other part of the world. But you also have a larger
ABSOLUTE quantity of good to terrific dancers.

I think that answers most of your questions. See you when you get
here!

Larry de Los Angeles
https://home.att.net/~larrydla

Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 07:49:40 -0700
From: Michael Ditkoff <tangomaniac@JUNO.COM>
Subject: Re: Tango in LA

Since you decided to gancho me for my message about the New York subway
system to Tango-L instead of A, I expect in the name of fairness, you're
going to gancho Larry Carroll for the message below, which deals with Los
Angeles, not being sent to Tango-A as well. If not, tell me why.

Michael

On Wed, 18 Jul 2001 22:45:14 -0700 "Larry E. Carroll" <larrydla@JUNO.COM>
writes:

> Hi, Maria. Sorry it took so long to answer you. I'm so obsessively
> working on a novel that I take a steno notebook with me almost
> everywhere I go - even to dances! When the DJ plays music that
> doesn't speak to me, I often take out the notebook. And there's
> something about the music and the half-shadowed decorated surround
> and
> the happiness of the people around me that stimulates creativity.
> But
> don't worry, when/if you move here and we dance, I'll be dancing
> with
> you, not some book!
>
> Los Angeles is a large, spread-out city, so you may end driving up
> to
> an hour to your favorite milongas, of which there are about a dozen.
> Hope you've got a car you enjoy driving!
>
> The population is varied, with a large Latin population, who also
> come
> to tango dances. That should make you feel more at home. There are
> a
> fair number of people with an Asian background, too. Some blacks
> are
> tango fanatics. We get a fair number of people from other countries
> here on business or pleasure. This includes Argentines as well, not
> to mention the large number of Argentine-Americans resident here.
> The
> age range is also all the way across the board, including a few
> teens.
> Socioeconomic status is varied, including some at the quite high
> end.
> This being the entertainment - or at least movie - capital of the
> world, it's not rare for show business people to come to milongas.
> I
> can think of a couple of movie directors, several actors and
> actresses, writers, a couple of animation artists, and so on.
>
> We're getting more and more Argentine teachers who include LA on
> their
> tours. Because of that and the longevity of tango in LA you'll see
> people doing all styles of tango and milonga. And I'm happy to say
> that our DJs play a fair amount of tango vals, which I especially
> like. The music here seems to be getting better, or at least more
> varied, every year. One DJ even has a 30s night (every 3rd week)
> where he plays more old-style recordings and everyone is encouraged
> to
> wear elegant evening wear from the 1930s, a very creative idea.
>
> The increasing size has one effect that you see in a more extreme
> way
> in Buenos Aires, which is probably the city with the largest number
> of
> tango dancers. There is an increasing tendency of cliques to form
> that have little or nothing to do with each other. Some cliques
> crystallize around a particular person or style of dance or
> geography.
> Other break up along age lines. Increasingly the younger dancers
> avoid dancing with anyone outside their age cohort, a natural
> tendency
> since they tend to be more focused on finding dates.
>
> Dressing up? It varies a lot. It used to be that almost everyone
> here dressed formally for tango, including some very sexy outfits on
> the women. You can still indulge your taste for fancy dress, but
> there is now more variety. Especially many of the younger dancers
> dress to differentiate themselves from the old fogeys, with backward
> caps, shaved or very short hair, tee-shirts, baggy jeans, and tennis
> shoes.
>
> Quality of the dancers? I suspect the AVERAGE quality is less than
> that in Denver or other smaller cities. The more popular a dance
> scene gets the more casual dancers you get. This includes people
> who
> never take lessons, who pick up tango from watching and just doing
> it
> - or come to milongas and don't dance at all, just socialize. You
> can
> see this in the extreme in Buenos Aires, where tango is more popular
> than in any other part of the world. But you also have a larger
> ABSOLUTE quantity of good to terrific dancers.
>
> I think that answers most of your questions. See you when you get
> here!
>
> Larry de Los Angeles
> https://home.att.net/~larrydla
>

Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 08:00:50 -0700
From: Michael Ditkoff <tangomaniac@JUNO.COM>
Subject: Re: Tango in LA

My apologies to the list. I SHOULDN'T have sent this message to the list
but to the moderators. I wasn't careful with my reply button.

Michael



On Thu, 19 Jul 2001 07:49:40 -0700 Michael Ditkoff <tangomaniac@JUNO.COM>
writes:

> Since you decided to gancho me for my message about the New York
> subway
> system to Tango-L instead of A, I expect in the name of fairness,
> you're
> going to gancho Larry Carroll for the message below, which deals
> with Los
> Angeles, not being sent to Tango-A as well. If not, tell me why.
>
> Michael
>

Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 00:14:04 -0700
From: Tom Stermitz <Stermitz@RAGTIME.ORG>
Subject: Tango In LA...Better all the time!

I had the pleasure of hitting LA last weekend for tango.

Getting out to the West Coast about twice per year for family, I can
report that LA tango is improving steadily. I had felt from my
earliest visits that the style was predominantly slow, walking salon
with somewhat of an excess of fancy figures and boleos. (Sometimes it
was a LOT of excess).

During my last several visits I have noticed that people are starting
to focus more on tango as a social dance. The dancers are more intent
on their partners and into the music. There is more rhythm & drive of
the 1930s music. The parties have a good social energy.

It isn't like you see a lot of milonguero style or traspie milonga,
but you certainly see more of both, then you did a couple years ago.
Linda Valentiono's Milonga on Friday had mostly close-embrace tango,
and some traspie milonga, due no doubt to the fact that she is now
teaching close-embrace, and is presenting Nestor Ray for a month of
classes. The class I saw by Nestor was specifically on the traspie
milonga.

The general improvement in LA may be due to several factors.
- The memory of the big stage shows has faded,
- Those who continue with tango have matured and moved to a more social style
- The local teaching has moved toward social and close-embrace styles

I like to think that the close embrace tango has this seductive
nature that sooner or later sucks all fanatic tango dancers into its
embrace.


The other factor, may be that the milongas have shifted around.

It is interesting that things don't remain the same forever. Even if
a particular milonga seems to be religiously on the calendar,
sometimes change is good. Stir the pot up and let it gel again in a
different mold.

Probably there are politics everywhere, and change is disconcerting
to people who have a particular milonga on their schedule, but
"stirring the pot" every once in a while, lets people change around
and make new friends.


I'd like to thank Linda Valentino for being a gracious host (and
letting the guy from out of town mix the music), and the local ladies
for being so willing to dance...once I figured out the programing
function on the CD player. (Also Bibi from Chicago, who is ever the
live-wire).
--
Tom Stermitz
2612 Clermont St
Denver, CO 80207
home: 303-388-2560
cell: 303-725-5963