863  finguers to palm and "Franeleo"

Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 12:02:13 -0500
From: Sergio <cachafaz@ADELPHIA.NET>
Subject: finguers to palm and "Franeleo"

Jonathan Thornton says:

"Some of my best dances were with a partner who in close embrace let her
legs touch mine (unless she was doing a back ocho, ocho cortada, etc).
When I took a step her leg moved as one with mine. After dancing with her
and then going to dance with a partner who danced "correctly" I felt a
lonesomeness in my legs."

"So, I think along the lines of what Frank said, Sergio. And also because
I've seen different teachers teach different rules so that following one
teacher's rule would break the rule of the other. Artist use rules, and
breaking them is one good use of them."

Jonathan brings up two very interesting subjects that are related.

I think that most of us accept the fact that tango is improvised and it is
danced for feeling and communication.
We also know that the way we dance is a reflection of our personality. We
dance the way we are in real life. This causes that we all dance in a
different way.
With few elements such as two eyes, two ears, one mouth, one chin, etc.
billions of different faces are created. The same way with some few elements
many ways of dancing tango are created.

There are many ways to dance and many different ways to teach.

When we talk about teaching we should remember that people stopped dancing
tango for at least a couple of generations.
By 1950 most young people in Argentina and the rest of the world ceased to
dance tango and preferred to dance free style or to North American rhythms.
A small group of milongueros never ceased to dance. The music created during
this period was oriented not to dancing but to listening.

When interest in tango as a dance reappeared in the 80ies. we found that
there were a few milongueros from the old school left. A small group that
had continued to dance as it was done during the golden era of tango: the
40ies.
These small group instructed an equally small sector of the younger
generation.

I am talking about people like Jorge Martin Orcizaguirre (Virulazo)
(1926-1990), Jose Vazquez (Lampazo), Juan Copes,
Pepito Avellaneda, Carlos Alberto Estevez (Petroleo), Antonio Todaro, Nito y
Elba, Rodolfo Cieri, Puppy Costello, Mingo Pugliese, Osvaldo and Miguel
Zotto, Jorge Firpo, Carlos and Alicia, Gustavo Naveira, and many others.
All these teachers reflect the Classical Salon Tango in their teaching and
dancing. Even when they show their personalities in the way they dance all
of them follow a similar technique. A similar interpretation of the music
and the dance.
Accepting that anyone may dance as he/she pleases I think that one should
try to remain faithful to the authentic dance that has been evolving for the
last 120 years. The dance as shown by Antonio Todaro on stage that caused a
revival of tango after 1983. None of these teachers contradict each other
they are all in total agreement with respect to dance and technique.

When it comes to Milonguero style I would like to mention Tete and Susana
Miller as representing this dancing modality.

Finally touching of the legs: this was present in the original way of
dancing tango, a period when dancers did not separate searching for sexual
excitement from real dancing. It was Petroleo that created many of the
modern elements of tango dance such as turns, change of front, boleos,
etc.that removed the sexual component of tango developing it as pure and
elegant dance form.

This touching of the legs in Argentinean slang is referred as "Franeleo" or
"Fratacheo" meaning among other things : to get sexually excited by the
contact and handling of the bodies. I certainly do not imply that Jonathan
had this in mind when he discussed his particular experience. I am sure that
many people still enjoy this form of dancing, I confess, I am also guilty, I
have done many times in my twenties uhm...? and perhaps later as well, but I
tried to dance in the center of the room so nobody could see me. :)

What about you? any "Franeleo" experience you would like to share with us?
:). As I remember it could happen not only at the dancing hall but also on
crowded subways, trains and buses. It is certainly healthy and makes
commuting time seem to be much shorter. :) :)

Un abrazo.

Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 19:08:00 +0000
From: Brian Taylor <briantaylor990@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Franeleo

Once I asked an Argentinean beautiful girl that had lived in The States for
a few years what was that she missed the most from Argentina.

She told me somewhat serious, somewhat laughing that among other things she
missed that electricity that exists in the air between women and men, some
sort of innocent flirting, the attention that men devote to women and
also...those commuting trips on crowded trains where most likely something
interesting ? could happen. Now I know what she was talking about!