3041  Rio tango Trip Part I

Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2004 06:03:58 -0800
From: Stella <smling@MSN.COM>
Subject: Fw: Rio tango Trip Part I

----- Original Message -----

Sent: Monday, December 13, 2004 5:02 AM
Subject: Misc: Rio tango Trip Part I


Rio Tango Trip with Paulo Araujo - "Bem Legal" (Very Cool)

November 4-13, 2004



From the air Rio presents a spectacular sight, azure waters ringed by a
circlet of uninhabited rocks, the city with its skyscrapers pocketed off
into distinct zones by the necklace of verdant mountains, the dazzlingly
white stretches of beach, and the favela shantytowns clinging to the sides
of the mountains. It is truly one of the most beautiful cities to fly over
with sensational contrasts of mountain, ocean, dwellings, jungle, waterfalls
and islands. Almost at once my heart began singing and I felt like I was a
character in one of the old crime movies where the handsome huckster
villain-hero with his illegal millions says to his bella dama "We'll escape
to Rio honey."

Yes, there is an air of uninhibited, totally unrepentant, and
unselfconscious sin about the city, from the gorgeous transvestites and
prostitutes who parade openly on Copacabana Beach and in Lapa (the nightlife
section of town) nearly unclothed, to the fact that no one stops for red
lights (the traffic kind) while driving at night.

But it is also a great city for tango. We started our classes with Paulo
who was warm and encouraging and made time to talk to everyone individually
in the group. During our week there we had several group classes at Cafe
Xango, his studio in Botafogo and 14 hours of semi-private classes. The
classes were amazing, as all his classes are. We learned his basic tenets
but also had time for a lot of private correction which is impossible in the
large classes. We particularly concentrated on slowing down our movements
and analyzing them, so that we could correct bad, habitual patterns. We
became very aware of where our weight and balance were located, and the
specifics of where each step needed to begin. Depending on where the weight
and balance are of the follower (feet together, unweighted foot forward or
behind, or weight in between both feet), a different step can be led from
each position. His studio is the top two stories of an unmarked building
at 172 rua da Passagem, and has a lovely view of Pao de Azucar (Sugarloaf
Mountain). It turned out that bus 119 ran directly from our hotel in
Ipanema to the Rio Sul shopping center, a 2 reale ride (2.75 reales = $1 US
currently). This bus runs every 5-10 minutes. From the shopping center it
was only a few blocks to walk to his studio, and this became our daily
routine.

Paulo has wonderful teachers who share his studio. Andre and Alice are a
young and enthusiastic couple who help teach the tango classes while Paulo
is away traveling and teaching 8 months out of the year. Andre has a
background in contemporary dance as well and Alice is a personal trainer and
conducts stretching classes and can recommend massage therapists if you need
one. They took us samba dancing to an old traditional and very famous
"gafeira" one night called Estudantina in the center of town. This gafeira
was an old wooden structure with no air-conditioning. It was a warm night,
like summer (the temperatures in Rio are at least 10 degrees warmer than
Buenos Aires for the same time of year) and people were sweating like mad.
The live music at this particular night was mostly blues and jazz. The
samba and forro that they danced had a particular lilting quality with a lot
of up and down and circular movement that we are not used to in tango.
There is a lot of pelvis to pelvis contact. People are laughing and
friendly and drinking their delicious Brazilian beer, not the serious,
introspective expressions that you are used to seeing in tango.

We went to a tango milonga almost every night and got used to meeting the
same tango addicts over and over again. There are numerous tango teachers
in Rio. Luckily most of the milongas were fairly near our area, because Rio
is quite spread out due to the interspersed mountains. Folks were friendly
and it was quite common for women to ask the men to dance without the
censure that often happens in a BA milonga. "Cabeceo" was used, but often
the men simply walked over to the table. We were invited to private tango
parties and celebrations. People gave us their phone numbers and offered
rides. The tango itself was not at as high a level in Buenos Aires, but
each of us still had some very good dances, enough to tire out our feet.

"Where can I Tango in <city>?" requests should now be directed to
Tango-A rather than to Tango-L. Use a "?" at the end, and specify the
regional keyword from this list: SA NA-E NA-C NA-E EU-W EU-E AASP MISC
E.g., Subject: NA-W: Tango in Sacremento CA between 20-28 November?