231 Waking Life
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 15:19:06 -0500
From: Chris Humphrey <humphrey@MAIL.UTEXAS.EDU>
Subject: Waking Life
Just wanted to alert you to a new movie ("Waking Life") being released on
October 19. It's not about tango, but it has tango in it (tangueros from
Austin, Texas) and the soundtrack is by Tosca (Austin based nuevo tango
orchestra). You can enjoy the preview at
https://www.thousand-words.com/pro/wakinghigh.html. If this piques your
interest, you can check out additional snippets at
https://www.wakinglife.com.
I had the privilege of dancing in this film and I've had a chance to see it
in its entirety. The tango sequence is late in the story; but less than
five minutes into it, I didn't even care whether our scene had ended up on
the cutting room floor because the overall quality of the film is so
incredible that I was completely absorbed. It gave me ideas to ponder and
digest for weeks after I saw it.
The soundtrack was supposed to have been released last week, but the company
producing it is in the area of New York that has been closed for rescue and
clean-up. I urge you to give it a listen once it is released.
I hope you'll be able to see and enjoy this movie.
Chris Humphrey
Bailas como sos (you dance who you are)
--- Nito Garcia, Argentine Tango Master
Austin Tango Connection
https://www.austin360.com/community/groups/Austintango
512.480.9899
Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2001 19:13:54 EST
From: Kathleen T Butera <kathybutera@JUNO.COM>
Subject: NA-E: Waking Life
Dear listeros:
I hadn't heard any mention on the list of this relatively new film,
"Waking Life", by Richard Linklater. So imagine my surprise to discover
the film score being comprised of mostly original tango music composed by
Grover Gill and performed by the Tosca Tango Orchestra.There is also a
scene of some tango dancing of the "milonga, not show" variety by three
couples.
The film itself is one of the most imaginative settings of intellectual
and metaphysical themes that I have seen in a very long time.
The more I thought about the choice of tango for the score, the more I
realized it was probably not a happy accident, or not ONLY the personal
preference of the director, but related essentially to the theme of the
film. I was wondering if any tangueros have seen the film, and thought as
I did how apt the choice was. And I wonder if anyone shares my notion
that tango is indeed a dream, we dream in increments of about three
minutes, which suspend our "waking life" and recur often.
Certainly Rudolfo Dinzel has explore the tango/dream as search; Piazzolla
(and others afterward) have plumbed the dreamlike stretching of tonality
and rhythm. The lyrics of most tangos recount mostly lost dreams and some
dreams to be, the dreams that inspire the nostalgia of the original tango
composers from the early days of Buenos Aires.Having lived in Buenos
Aires and attended milongas every night, I have seen men and women (I
among them) bring their dreams to the clubs and onto the floor. I am
curious now to hear from contemporary tangueros on this idea of the
tango/dream.
