dchester
07-27-2009, 02:35 PM
Well, I'm back from my vacation in Buenos Aires. There were 10 of us in the group that went with us (actually some of them are still there this week). The main purpose was to attend some classes that were setup at DNI for us. My wife also suggested that we celebrate our 26th wedding aniversary there, (even though it was actually a week or so earlier than the trip). That gave us an excuse to get a suite at the Marriott for the week and really spoil ourselves. Of course, we also took in some Milongas, and did our part to help the economy in Buenos Aires (my wife bought everything, except new shoes).
Observations and differences:
The dance floors are much smaller in Buenos Aires than back here (in New England), with The Odd Tuesday Milonga in Boston being the one exception to that.
There is typically lots more seating (and tables) than back here.
There were three observable lanes/lines at the milongas, but typically only two back home (unless there is a really large floor).
The moves used are a subset of what we typically do back home. Possibly, that's a reason why the floorcraft is better there (although they certainly had their bozos as well).
People talk longer in between songs (especially the tangos), then what we do back home.
They also have early and late milongas there. Some start at around 5 or 6 and last until around midnight, while others start around 10 or 11 and last until 5.
The closest thing to alternative music that I heard, was a Pugliese tanda, and a lot less people danced to it, than other tangos (which nice, since I had more room).
Here is what I saw people doing during tangos (and vals):
walking (one or two very short steps, at a time).
turns/giros
ochos
ocho cortada
low (AKA social) boleos
pasadas (done low)
a few did calesitas
some limited single axis turns
and of course, pauses
It's a more sedate version of tango, than what we typically see most people do back home. This explained a few things for me.
What I did not see: Leg wraps, ganchos, volcadas, or anything in open embrace. (Actually, I was doing some leg wraps, until a friend (Argentine) pointed out to me that they were not appropriate for here. I later learned that leg wraps were fine at the nuevo places, but not at the more traditional milongas.)
Milonga (the dance), on the other hand, seemed to be more playful than what is done back home. There was lots of left arm movement by some of the leaders. A lot more ochos were used by some. Less people danced to the milongas, thus there was more room to play around. The people looked very happy during the milongas.
Also, about once an hour there was often a non tango tanda (swing, or latin). Their swing looked a lot like disco in the 70's (and was danced to various genres of rock music), while the latin tanda that I remembered, has one salsa, a merengue, and something else that I didn't recognize. People did whatever they felt like to any of the songs, but I didn't really see anyone doing anything that would pass for salsa around here.
Some other assorted thoughts:
DNI tango's classes were very good. The instruction, technique, and feedback on how to lead various things, was very helpful to me. They have a good system for teaching. Instead of us dancing with each other, we danced with their assistants (other good dancers, and some of them were teachers). The assistants did rotate amongst us, which enabled us to get a lot of credible feedback. They also didn't hesitate to ask the official teachers (Dana Frigoli & Pablo Villarraza in the first class, and Cristian Duarte & Carolina Lafata in the second class) to come over and give advice. They worked us hard, but it was fun. They were able to accomodate my questions about how to make some things smaller, and doing them in close embrace. The classes took up a lot of time though, as we spent 4 hours a day (2 - two hour sessions, with an hour break in between).
The Argentines that I talked to, didn't categorize tango the same way that we do back home. Here, we tend to have three general categories (or styles): Milonguero, Salon, and Nuevo. The people I talked to, either had one category (tango), or just two (salon & Nuevo/Fantasia). No one I talked to, considered milonguero to be a style, like is it considered here. Also, for the Argentines that had the two categories, where they drew the line for salon vs nuevo, was different from where it would be in the US. Some things that are considered part of salon in the US, appeared to be considered nuevo (even if done in close embrace).
It's became pretty clear that here, that our social dancing (back home) is influenced more by performances, than what occurs in Buenos Aires (of course we tend to have more dance space, so it's more easily acccomodated). To be clear, I don't have an issue with how we do things here in the US, but am just pointing out some differences. As a friend of mine in Argentina (Gustavo Benzecry Saba) said, it is good to study all forms of tango (although his clear preference is very similiar to what Jantango says (it is about the connection, not the steps)).
All in all, my wife and I had a great time and will return. I was pleased that I was able to do OK at the milongas I attended (Castel - Riobamba345, Salon Canning, El Beso, and DNI held an impromptu one for us on Friday night). The Cabeceo worked fine, and people did dance with me. Next time, we'll try to spend two weeks there instead of just one, do more milongas and spend less time in classes (maybe just do some privates), and actually meet up with Jantango instead of just talking to her on the phone (she was very nice to talk to, BTW).
Oh, I also want to eat more empanadas and media lunas.
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Observations and differences:
The dance floors are much smaller in Buenos Aires than back here (in New England), with The Odd Tuesday Milonga in Boston being the one exception to that.
There is typically lots more seating (and tables) than back here.
There were three observable lanes/lines at the milongas, but typically only two back home (unless there is a really large floor).
The moves used are a subset of what we typically do back home. Possibly, that's a reason why the floorcraft is better there (although they certainly had their bozos as well).
People talk longer in between songs (especially the tangos), then what we do back home.
They also have early and late milongas there. Some start at around 5 or 6 and last until around midnight, while others start around 10 or 11 and last until 5.
The closest thing to alternative music that I heard, was a Pugliese tanda, and a lot less people danced to it, than other tangos (which nice, since I had more room).
Here is what I saw people doing during tangos (and vals):
walking (one or two very short steps, at a time).
turns/giros
ochos
ocho cortada
low (AKA social) boleos
pasadas (done low)
a few did calesitas
some limited single axis turns
and of course, pauses
It's a more sedate version of tango, than what we typically see most people do back home. This explained a few things for me.
What I did not see: Leg wraps, ganchos, volcadas, or anything in open embrace. (Actually, I was doing some leg wraps, until a friend (Argentine) pointed out to me that they were not appropriate for here. I later learned that leg wraps were fine at the nuevo places, but not at the more traditional milongas.)
Milonga (the dance), on the other hand, seemed to be more playful than what is done back home. There was lots of left arm movement by some of the leaders. A lot more ochos were used by some. Less people danced to the milongas, thus there was more room to play around. The people looked very happy during the milongas.
Also, about once an hour there was often a non tango tanda (swing, or latin). Their swing looked a lot like disco in the 70's (and was danced to various genres of rock music), while the latin tanda that I remembered, has one salsa, a merengue, and something else that I didn't recognize. People did whatever they felt like to any of the songs, but I didn't really see anyone doing anything that would pass for salsa around here.
Some other assorted thoughts:
DNI tango's classes were very good. The instruction, technique, and feedback on how to lead various things, was very helpful to me. They have a good system for teaching. Instead of us dancing with each other, we danced with their assistants (other good dancers, and some of them were teachers). The assistants did rotate amongst us, which enabled us to get a lot of credible feedback. They also didn't hesitate to ask the official teachers (Dana Frigoli & Pablo Villarraza in the first class, and Cristian Duarte & Carolina Lafata in the second class) to come over and give advice. They worked us hard, but it was fun. They were able to accomodate my questions about how to make some things smaller, and doing them in close embrace. The classes took up a lot of time though, as we spent 4 hours a day (2 - two hour sessions, with an hour break in between).
The Argentines that I talked to, didn't categorize tango the same way that we do back home. Here, we tend to have three general categories (or styles): Milonguero, Salon, and Nuevo. The people I talked to, either had one category (tango), or just two (salon & Nuevo/Fantasia). No one I talked to, considered milonguero to be a style, like is it considered here. Also, for the Argentines that had the two categories, where they drew the line for salon vs nuevo, was different from where it would be in the US. Some things that are considered part of salon in the US, appeared to be considered nuevo (even if done in close embrace).
It's became pretty clear that here, that our social dancing (back home) is influenced more by performances, than what occurs in Buenos Aires (of course we tend to have more dance space, so it's more easily acccomodated). To be clear, I don't have an issue with how we do things here in the US, but am just pointing out some differences. As a friend of mine in Argentina (Gustavo Benzecry Saba) said, it is good to study all forms of tango (although his clear preference is very similiar to what Jantango says (it is about the connection, not the steps)).
All in all, my wife and I had a great time and will return. I was pleased that I was able to do OK at the milongas I attended (Castel - Riobamba345, Salon Canning, El Beso, and DNI held an impromptu one for us on Friday night). The Cabeceo worked fine, and people did dance with me. Next time, we'll try to spend two weeks there instead of just one, do more milongas and spend less time in classes (maybe just do some privates), and actually meet up with Jantango instead of just talking to her on the phone (she was very nice to talk to, BTW).
Oh, I also want to eat more empanadas and media lunas.
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