1535  Reality check - Buenos Aires

Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2003 13:51:47 EDT
From: Charles Roques <Crrtango@AOL.COM>
Subject: Reality check - Buenos Aires

Greetings,

I just returned from about two weeks in Buenos Aires and read a few of Rick's
postings while I was there and his most recent one now that I'm back.

Although the negative things he posted are true, one would be well advised to
take this reality into account. It doesn't have to be a sour-grapes
experience or one that frustrates and enrages you especially if you are with someone
like your girlfriend or boyfriend. But one of the main reasons this may happen
unfortunately, is the quality of our dancing.

For the most part Americans are not only taught tango that is never danced
there, meaning mostly stage moves instead of how to dance close and navigate
crowded floors, but also they are taught by other Americans who leave out the
cultural element and over-romanticize the dance. The mlongueros dance every
night all their lives and of course are very good but there is also a reason why
Nino Bien or Lo de Celia have condom machines in the men's rooms. Don't forget
that in the early days of tango women were still scarce and even in the
bordellos there were so many male customers that the prostitute could actually
choose her customer, often based on his dancing skills before their encounter. So
tango and seduction are not that far apart and probably won't ever be,
something that is totally lost in the fantasy world of stage and performance moves
that everyone here is so obsessed with learning. It can be a rude awakening to
encounter it, mostly for the males going there hoping to impress or even just
dance with the women there. If they don't like your dancing (and they do watch)
then you are wasting your time hoping to catch their eye. And even if you are
good but a stranger they still might not. But that is also why the "cabeceo"
or head nod to the one you want to dance with saves you the embarrassment of
rejection. And I saw plenty of Argentine men not get a response as well. I sat
in Lo de Celia last Sat night for two hours until I got acknowledged but after
that I danced with others who had then seen me dance. Many Americans go down
there thinking they will slip right into the culture but instead stand out like
sore thumbs with their stage tango or else because they don't really know how
to dance in a crowded room. And sitting there watching some old guy pressing
your girlfriend tightly to him and maneuvering her flawlessly, never touching
anyone else on the crowded floor,.. well that's a little too much for the male
ego to take sometimes.

But it is also a reality that not all Argentines are comfortable with either.
A portena I met and danced with and saw a couple of times at milongas
confessed to jealousy about me dancing with others and also said that should I ever
find a really good woman, leave the tango world behind and avoid the heartache
and jealousies.

Another big mistake is people going down there after only six months or a
year of tango.
Sorry folks, but you just won't know enough, especially the men, so you're
asking for disappointment. Although there are plenty of places like some
afternoon milongas where beginning people are dancing and if you do your research you
can find them, don't expect to go to Salon Canning or El Beso on a busy night
and dance the night away. Women may fare better because they can still be
lead by a good dancer but spending all that money to go there and not dance can
be crushing.

Oddly enough one night to avoid in a lot of milongas is Saturday night
because that is "matrimonio" night or couples night so you won't see many singles or
get much opportunity to dance although that will be good if you are with your
significant other, but then why go to Buenos Aires to dance with the same
person you usually dance with?

I didn't want to post my impressions (which were positive) because of the
possible length but if anyone would like to read them or think they would be
helpful I will do it personally.

BTW, unless Rick was being sarcastic, porteno and bailarin don't mean "wolf"
and "caribou" respectively, they just mean "someone from Bueno Aires" and
"dancer."

Cheers,
Charles Roques

Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2006 18:11:39 -0700
From: "Trini y Sean (PATangoS)" <patangos@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Reality Check

Here are a few reality checks that guide my teaching.

#1. It is usually at least a year or two into tango
before a student will to go to Buenos Aires. In
reality, most dancers will not go to Buenos Aires.
Therefore, I am more concerned with beginners feeling
comfortable dancing with a)my other students, b)the
local community, c)the regional community, d)B.A.
portenios, then e)the rest of the world. I just try
to make sure that those in "a" aspire to dance like
those in "d".

#2. Men need to know few vocabulary, whereas, women
need to know lots of movement. If a man only wants to
walk and do rock-steps all night at a milonga, thats
fine. Women need to know much more. However,
presenting all that the women need to know in a
beginning class series would just intimidate the men.
So I choose simple vocabulary for the men that still
gives women a wide range of motion. For example, in
walking to the cross, it is socially more important
for her to do the movement than it is for him to know
how to lead it. So we work more on different ways of
her crossing then we work on his walking her to the
cross. Again, for her it is about movement, not
vocabulary. Like Tine and Lois, I do not teach a
forward ocho in the first 6 weeks since any decent
leader should be able to invite a beginner to do that.
The front ocho comes in the second 6 weeks.

#3. The molinete is a natural sequence. Have you
ever noticed that if a complete novice has just
stepped back on her right foot, she will tend to go
back-side-forward (the molinete) if the man simply
opens to his left? In class, we tell the men to just
look around their shoulder and do step-step-step (in
place) as she goes back-side forward. Voila! It just
needs a small adjustment to change it to
back-side-front cross. I don't worry about the
woman's pivot initially since it takes time for women
to develop good spinal quality. Lately, we have been
teaching the molinete in week 2 or 3. And I let them
open up if they want to. Refinements come in
intermediate classes.


Regarding beginning classes...

It's interesting to see what others teach. I prefer
to do 6 or 8 week classes (90 minutes) for novices.
Week 1 is all musicality, connection, walking,
rock-step (forward & back), invitations/answering, and
a simple change of front. The rest of the 6 weeks
includes back ochos, change of fronts (right & left),
the ocho cortado, right-turns with variations, and
more musicality. The order of it changes according to
the needs of the students. In an 8 week class, I add
vals, transitioning and maybe boleos. In a full 12
week session, we add boleos, front ochos, milonga
traspie, more transitioning and musicality.

Trini de Pittsburgh


PATangoS - Pittsburgh Argentine Tango Society
Our Mission: To make Argentine Tango Pittsburgh's most popular social dance.
https://www.pitt.edu/~mcph/PATangoWeb.htm