My Tango Diaries

"In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing when you look at the sky of night." –Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince Our tango community has lost one of its mothers. Margaret, and her husband Vance, were two of the first people I met in tango. Engaging and supportive - they both helped spread the 'gospel of tango' here in Austin and nearly everywhere they travelled. I had no idea at the time, almost a year and a half ago, how much they had done to support and expand this group. If you've ever traveled here for the Austin Spring Tango Festival, then you probably saw them - welcoming everyone, checking and double-checking details, and dancing when time permitted. Margaret was a graceful and very gentle soul. She had a gift for bringing people together. She had a soothing presence in stressful situations (an essential skill when organizing events like tango festivals). And no

By request, a transcript from a talk during Gavito's San Francisco tour, 1996. Courtesy of Alberto Paz, Planet-Tango . The video embedding is disabled, but if you click on the picture it will take you to the Youtube page. Also, since there were a few places/words that were hard for me to make out, if anyone has corrections or suggestions for the transcript please email me at infinitetango(at)gmail.com. "And I have to talk about that. Might be boring for you again, but sorry. . . But I have to say that. "Not too long ago I read on the Internet some note about/regarding someone here in the Bay area saying, which (that) I say, and the others say (in conception?), 'because the history in tango say[s] . . . ' , 'because Borges say[s] . . .' , 'and because Cortazar . . ' "I don't know. I don't know who. "'because the tango blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah . . .' "Listen guys, I'm a milonguero. A dancer. A poet. I

I was about to give up on being able to find shoes locally, and yet hearing/reading everyone's reviews about trying to obtain shoes mail-order from Argentina was pretty disheartening as well - but thanks to Monica at Esquina Tango , I finally found a pair of shoes that fit perfectly! And they're Flabellas which are not especially popular, but about the only shoes that I've been able to find that fit me very well. Sort of. The problem is consistency. Comme il Fauts don't fit the shape of my feet, but they don't fit in consistently the same way . At least that's reassuring. I tried on 6 pair of the same size, similarly styled Flabellas, and only 1 pair fit. I've found the same problem with other brands that I've tried at festivals - even when styles are nearly identical, the same brand in the same size can fit quite differently. Very frustrating. And people have told me that getting "made to measure" shoes from several companies in Argentina aren

. . . courtesy of Books.Google.com Some texts are complete, others aren't - but there's a wealth of good reading to be had! "The Wicked Waltz and Other Scandalous Dances" by Mark Knowles (2009) Contemporary Readings in Social Problems By Anna Leon-Guerrero, Kristine M. Zentgraf (2008) Tango and the political economy of passion By Marta Savigliano (1996) Tango: The Art History of Love By Robert Farris Thompson (2006) The tango in the United States: a history By Carlos G. Groppa (2004) The living age, Volume 279 By Robert S. Littell (1913) The Rotarian Mar 2000 From tejano to tango: Latin American popular music By Walter Aaron Clark (2002) The Temptation to Tango: Journeys of Intimacy and Desire By Larry M. Sawyer, Irene D. Thomas (2005) Tango Lover's Guide to Buenos Aires: Insights and Recommendations By Romero Migdalia Romero (2010) National rhythms, African roots: the deep history of Latin American popular ... By John Charles Chasteen (2004) Yoga Journ

I've been trying to broaden my tango (technique) world. At the recommendation of friends and teachers online and off, I have been filling my tango tool box with musical embellishments, improving my technique for my boleos (high and low), sacadas, leg wraps, ganchos, and volcadas. I'm learning to give the energy I receive from my leader back, rather than almost absorbing it (or so it was explained to me) - so it feels a little like keeping the energy in the loop. I feel more elastic in my technique - though I'm sure there has to be a better way of describing it. At the milongas, I follow what I'm led, when there's room, including high boleos without my usual consternation. I've asked for help from teachers, watched videos, practiced, practiced, practiced. One of the most revealing experiences I had at the last milonga was when I felt my partner "hear" a high boleo in the music. That's awkward isn't it - "I felt my partner hear " but h

Part II of Un Tal Gavito Vol 3 Review Remarks on Waiting, Beauty and Simplicity Gavito and Duran's comments continue, as they describe the beauty of simplified, slowed down movements and how emotion is expressed in the absence of a movement, rather than in a multitude of movements. After Gavito's remarks about intention and moving from the heart in the dance, Marcela added her own comments about the intimate conversation going on at all times, with all parts of the body, between the two dancers. One example she takes issue with is the woman looking like she is "shining her shoes" on the man's pant leg, before the step over after the man's "sandwich". Marcela stresses almost more the caress of her own leg, "the sensuality is in the closing of the legs, with the ankle and knees touching." In the video, embedded in the previous post, you can see the beginning of the sandwich ("el sanguchito") and Gavito's movements, in which he v

More from Un Tal Gavito, DVD Volume 3. I like this at least as much as the first DVD, but I think that both volumes are essential. What I liked so much about this portion is after they do their initial demonstration dance (shown in the video above), the scene changes to Gavito and Duran sitting at a small table, with Gavito smoking as usual, and they discuss the dance, the intimacy and intention of it. Gavito: This last dance was a dance of intentions, a dance of a silent language, of movements that don't exist.... It's a way of moving from the heart... This is for me, like trying to describe music, which is an abstract thing. It's extremely difficult to express, difficult to evoke, and I think, like I said in another conversation, if music is abstract, I think poetry gets at this, and there are some beautiful tango lyrics that say this poetically, so when we dance I think we're like painters that paint with the music. We paint on the floor, with small brush strokes, w