3587  The tape, Gavito, Apilado.

Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2005 21:38:19 +0000
From: Sergio Vandekier <sergiovandekier990@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: The tape, Gavito, Apilado.

Oleh says:

"This is how most people dance at most downtown milongas in
Buenos Aires. I
call this style milonguero. Someone might call it grilled cheese on a stick.
It does not matter really. This is also prevalent style at major milongas in
Villa Urquiza (Sin Rumbo, Sunderland (one of my favorite milongas in BsAs)
and Imagen). There could be other milongas in Villa Urquiza where people
dance mostly in open embrace. It is fine as well. "

People dance milonguero style at "El Beso". You can see how the ladies
execute back ochos crossing the legs one behind the other without shifting
the hips, this is done in order not to lose contact at the chest level. El
beso is a very crowded milonga, mostly on Saturdays. People go dancing as
couples on Saturdays, El Beso is one of the very few places were singles go
to dance on that particular day of the week. It was here on a Saturday ,
last March where I saw El Turco doing his filigree on the floor .

Sin Rumbo and Sunderland in Villa Urquiza are places very well known all
over the world because , people here dance Traditional Salon Tango. You will
see that the posture of the dancers is like the one shown by Rick in his
pictures. There could be special events at either club, then people
(outsiders) come from all over. On those occasions the style could be
different.

As to use a "generic name" for "close embrace tango" I think that it could
be useful, I proposed:

"Close embrace". Milonguero, is a poor name because it causes a lot of
confusion as it could mean many different things.

Igor says: "The best known example of a dancer dancing in Apilado style is
Gavito."

There is a figure in Traditional Salon Tango called "El Puente". It is a
figure where the couple leans one against the other forming a "Bridge or a
tent". Gavito uses that figure a lot in his dancing.

The Tapes "Un Tal Gavito" vol III, shows this figure in detail. The
translator found a name "pile up"
"tent" but actually most dancers will call this figure "El Puente" (The
Bridge).

Other than that figure Gavito dances Traditional Salon Tango in close, open
embrace but most frequently with an elastic embrace. He dances very close
at times. I do not think that we could say that Gavito is an example of
"Apilado". By the way when I first met Susana Miller in the early 90s. (I
think that it was in Boston) she was teaching her style with a lot of
leaning. I believe I still have pictures of her in that position. I should
know as I took a few private lessons in her style then.

Best regards to everybody, Sergio.