For four Thursdays in October (3, 10, 17, 24) Fran Chesleigh, our incredible Firehouse Tango resident instructor, will be teaching one all-level milonga class (from 7 to 9 PM) in place of his usual beginner and intermediate classes.  For the best results, please try to come at 7. 

As many of our regulars know, Argentine social dancing includes not only tango, but two other dance forms as well - vals and milonga. Since tango is what we focus on primarily in our weekly classes here at the Firehouse, people are often a bit timid about getting up to dance when a vals or milonga are played. In September, however, all that's going to change. Because starting Thursday, October 3rd, and running for four solid weeks, Pat and Fran will be teaching a month-long series of special classes in milonga. Their goal is to bring everyone from beginners to advanced dancers up to speed on this exciting Argentine dance. They will begin with the absolute basics of the dance, and move quickly through as much material as time and your progress will allow. By the end of October, you'll know what milonga is, how it's danced, and how much great fun it is to dance.

October 3 -

Milonga Month Starts

Sue and Joe will be here - off to Buenos Aires on the 4th

October 10

Milonga Month Continues

A # 1 Backup Team Terri Lopez, Steve Turi, Fran Chesleigh, Pat Altman, Rich Ariza et al

October 17 -

Milonga Month Continues

A # 1 Backup Team Terri Lopez, Steve Turi, Fran Chesleigh, Pat Altman, Rich Ariza et al

October 24 -

Milonga Month Continues

Sue and Joe return from Buenos Aires 

October 31 -

Normal beginner and intermediate tango lesson schedule resumes

Firehouse Tango's 11th Annual Halloween Milonga

Last Thursday, September 26

Birthday of Terri Lopez

Terri, who has become so indispensable that I call her Firehouse friend # 1, celebrated her birthday on Thursday, September 26.  
 

 We invited the Firehouse Tangueros to show our most loyal Firehouse friend EVER just how much we all appreciate her - and they did.  Carl sang a beautiful Happy Birthday, and Rudy started the birthday tango.  Then, an endless stream of Firehouse Tangueros cut in, dancing to Di Sarli's Junto a tu Corazon and Tu el Cielo y Tu.

Joe and Sue brought the delicious cake with Terri's beautiful picture.

  Terri Lopez has been a part of the Firehouse family  since our first days at Paramus Firehouse # 4, and we look forward to many more birthday celebrations with her.  
 

Thanks  from Terri

Thank you my dear Firehouse friends for all of the birthday wishes, gifts,and  flowers.

LOVE TERRI 

Sue and Joe off to Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is our favorite home away from home, and we haven't been there for far too long.  Fortunately, we can leave our baby (That would be Firehouse Tango) worry free because we have incredible friends who are more than willing and able to keep the Firehouse fires burning brightly. 

The logistics - The A Team

Terri Lopez (Wonder(ful) Woman) and Steve Turi (aka Superman) have generously offered to head up our milonga logistics team in addition to their normal invaluable weekly help.  The tasks involved in running Firehouse are monumental, and we are incredibly fortunate to have so many fabulous friends willing to step in whenever needed. 

But What about the Music?

Not to worry.  While we are away, your tangos, milongas and valses will be spun by fabulous guest DJ, Rich Ariza.  I promise you will not be disappointed.

DJ Richard Ariza  October 10 and 17

Richard hosts the delightful Friday afternoon and Sunday evening milongas at Triangulo WWW.TANGONYC.COM.  He has guest DJ'd at many New York and New Jersey milongas, and has done those honors at Firehouse often.  If you haven't been to Triangulo, you don't know what you're missing.  You'll find information below in this newsletter about Rich's Sunday Domingo Club, which reopens after a summer break this Sunday. 

Richard is always adding to his excellent tango collection, and we are very excited about hearing his selections at Firehouse. 

How about the newsletter?

This Firehouse Tango newsletter has been published nearly every week since April, 2003 and thanks to Fran and Pat, the next two weeks will be no exception. 

Among his countless talents, our remarkable instructor, Fran Chesleigh, is a professional writer.  As always when I am out, he and his equally extraordinary assistant, Pat Altman, flawlessly and with a style of their own, take over the task of writing the Firehouse Tango newsletter.  I, with the help of modern technology, then send out their handiwork directly from our apartment in Buenos Aires. 

This awesome duo is usually found at "Fran's Table" in the alcove closest to the DJ table.  They are always happy to answer your Tango questions or show you how to do something you might have missed, so make sure to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to learn from the best.

From Norma Arias

Hi Sue,

Not sure if you're interested in putting this in the newsletter. The Stable Restaurant is having Tito Castro and a Tango Show again.

 http://www.thestablerestaurant.com/tango.html

 See you Thursday.

Love,

Norma

Hi everyone, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. Last week, Pat gave us a detailed and very insightful account of what it's like to lead from her point of view; i.e., from someone who generally dances as a follower. This week, I'm going to talk about what it feels like to follow from the standpoint of someone who is generally a leader.

When I'm teaching a couple in a private lesson, I'll often ask the leader to dance with me so that I can feel how he's leading his follower in a particular movement or series of movements. Here are a few things I notice in most leaders:

1.     Their embraces are either extremely tense and rigid or completely loose and disconnected. Rarely do I encounter a student leader who creates a viable connection which remains comfortable throughout a given sequence of elements.

2.     Some leaders simply don't lead at all. They just stand there, waiting for their follower to read their minds. They may do something with their legs, when asked, for example, to take a step; but they have no idea about what to do with their upper bodies - so they do nothing. In such cases the follower may feel his legs moving, but she has no idea what he wants, so the appropriate response is to do nothing.

3.     Many leaders push with their left arm while pulling with their right -- rather than keeping both arms in a neutral place.

4.     New leaders almost always try to throw their upper bodies forward in order to lead a follower's back step.

5.     As they complete a forward step they end up far too forward on their balance, pushing their follower into another back step which was not intended. (Then, of course, they blame her for taking an extra step!)

6.     Conversely, they lean aggressively away from her, when attempting to lead her forward step, and, at the same time, they pull - often violently - with their right arm, thereby causing her to fall off balance as she ends up in a forward lunge.

7.      When leading side steps, many leaders pull their followers off balance, when moving to the right. They also fail to distinguish side steps from weight changes in place.

8.     They lead forward and backward ochos as lateral shoves rather than two-part movements consisting of a rotation and then a walk.

9.     They lead molinetes as continuous shoves done far too quickly in whatever direction they want her to go with no apparent regard for the difficulty of this complex sequence of interlocking elements.

There are other things leaders do which make the lead/follow connection virtually impossible for the follower to maintain. But the ones I've mentioned above are those which I've experienced most often, when being led by a student in a lesson.

In my opinion, the experience of being led by someone who really doesn't know how to lead can be a real eye opener for the student leader. You get a practical opportunity to feel for yourself what it's like, when you're not being given the information you need to execute the movements appropriately. If this doesn't encourage you to focus on learning how to lead with precision, nothing will.

Special Note:

My two Saturday classes have been cancelled for the next four weeks to accommodate the fact that most Dance Manhattan students are away on their summer vacations. This means that my 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. slots are open for private lessons. If you'd like to take this unique opportunity to schedule a lesson or two during either of these times, see Pat or me, or contact us at the numbers below.

For Firehouse dancers who might enjoy a day in the Big Apple on Saturdays, Fran teaches from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. every week. He offers a beginner class in Milonga & Argentine Waltz at 11:00 a.m. as well as an intermediate class in Tango at noon. From 2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. Fran and Pat host a special beginner/intermediate practice for bringing your skills up to speed. The cost for the practice is $10 per person. (Bringing a partner isn't necessary.) Fran and Pat are always on hand to answer any questions you may have about your dancing, and to help you with figures you're working on. If you want to take Fran's classes, call Dance Manhattan at 212-807-0802 to register. For the practice, all you have to do is arrive with $10 and your dance shoes in hand.

See you every Saturday for a full day of Tango!

The following folks helped set up, break down and clean up before and after the milonga. Without them, there would be no Firehouse Tango.

• Terri Lopez - 
• Tony Mele
  
• steve turi 
• Steve Maisch
• Mike Porro
  
• Tsipoyra Sartan
• Mary Epiphan
  

• Barbara Lombardi
• Mary Pagano
• Dan & Georgina
• Bob Brillo
• Rafael & Hilda
• Jorge Sturam
• Horatio Piccioni
• Edna Negron
• Francis & Marie