Oh, what a night it was at our favorite place to dance on Thursdays. That's right, it was Firehouse Tango at the KofC in Maywood, and the joint was jumpin! We enjoyed our second week of "milonga in October," which now has two more weeks to go. Terri Lopez and her able-bodied assistants ran a ship-shape operation that kept things humming like clockwork throughout the evening. Set up and breakdown never went better, thanks to our dedicated and generous Firehouse volunteers (more about that courtesy of Steve Turi a bit further down). And we even had some fabulous food surprises, thanks to John, who brought several bagfuls of delectable Italian pastries; to Elena, who served up a delicious crumb cake for dessert; and to Jan, who gave us her scrumptious tomato and mozzarella salad. (By the way, we forgot to mention Jan's awesome chili from last week, so we're remedying that oversight right now.) Oh, and the music! Our music was brought to us by the great - I mean GREAT - Richard Ariza who never fails to delight us with his absolutely wonderful music for dancing, for listening, and for enjoying.

Were you there with us last week? If not, drop by and join in the fun next week!

Tango tip of the week

Hi everyone, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. A question students invariably ask me within the first hour of taking Tango lessons is: How big should the steps be? I usually answer with a straight face that it's 13.45 inches. This usually gets a laugh, and humorously sets up the idea that there isn't really a good answer for this very important question.

But what is the answer? How big should the steps be?

The real answer is that it depends on what your partner is doing during the dance. If both partners are relative beginners, the steps will probably be somewhat small - in part, at least, because neither partner wants to take the chance of stepping on the other partner. Once the couple has been dancing together for a while, both partners will start getting used to the movements of the other person, and the steps will begin to stretch out a bit. Side steps will be the easiest to gauge, since both people are moving laterally. (It's very obvious when one person steps very small, and the other very big.) With forward and back steps it will take a little more time to adjust to one another, but eventually most people manage to figure out a workable compromise that makes dancing more comfortable.

The fun starts when the partners have been dancing for, let's say, a year or more together. By this time, the leader has learned that he has a choice with any given steps or series of steps to move small, medium or large, depending on what he wants the dance to feel like to his partner. At the same time, she is learning to respond to the energy of his movements in the moment. If he gives her minimal energy, she takes a small step. For medium energy she responds with a medium-sized step. A high-energy lead produces a longer, more robust movement. As to the length of the steps, by this time both partners have "gotten used" to one another, and their steps together have begun to feel quite natural.

Of course, everything changes when people change partners. The learning process more or less starts again with the two people getting used to someone else. With time and practice, however, such changes of partner become easier to manage.

The best advice I can offer here is to pay close attention to your partner's movements - whether you're the leader or the follower. Try to stay in front of one another in steps to the side, and with forward or backward steps, recognize that you'll have to continually compromise the length of your steps in order to accommodate what your partner is doing.

And remember: if all else fails, you can always fall back to 11.45 inches. Who knows? Maybe that's a good idea after all.

Just kidding.

Saturdays with Fran and Pat at Dance Manhattan

Fran teaches at Dance Manhattan from 11:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. every Saturday. 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 material you're working on. If you want to take Fran's classes, call Dance Manhattan at 212-807-0802 to register. If you'd like a private lesson, call Fran directly at 212-662-7692 or email him at franchesleigh@mac.com. 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 Turi report

Another glorious night of tango was ably and swiftly wrapped up by our crackerjack clean up team.

Richard Ariza's fabulous music must have inspired the gang and all was put away and clean in no time. Thanks and a "Well Done!" to: Terri, Tsipora, Daniel, Georgina, Barbara, Bob B., Mike P., Steve M., Debbie G., Tony Mele, Mary E., Steve - and Elena S., and Maro, who also earned team badges this week. Thank you all for all you do!

--Steve Turi

Message from Sue

In spite of doing my absolute best to dance with every milonguero in every milonga in this fabulous capital of tango, Joe and I desperately miss our dear Firehouse friends and our unbeatable Firehouse home. 

Omitted last week (from Sue)

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. 

Richard Ariza's Domingo Tango Club

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 October, 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 were 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

No celebrations this month

Calling all Tan-ghosts and Tan-goblins - Halloween Milonga   Next Thursday October 31st - Come costumed or not to Firehouse Eleventh Annual Halloween Milonga

Our Halloween party features:

• Belly dance performance by Belly-Tangueras Debbie Glaser and Brenda Gaines
• Door prizes
• Parade of the Firehouse Tan-ghost and Tan-goblins
• Awards for best couple, most creative, funniest and sexiest costumes
• Additional half hour of dancing
• Tango lessons by Fran Chesleigh and Pat Altman
• Buffet dinner
• Milonga

Join us  Thursday, October 31st for our eleventh annual Firehouse Halloween Milonga (regular lessons from 7:00 to 9:00.) If you don't have a costume, don't let it keep you away, but come, dance and cheer for your friends. Costumed or not, expect a great evening. In addition to awards for the most creative, best couple, funniest and sexiest costumes, we've got some great door prizes (costume not required to be eligible.) 

Of course, also included in the low price of only $15 are basic and intermediate tango lessons taught by Fran Chesleigh; a buffet dinner; and dancing and socializing with the fabulous Firehouse tangueros.

From Mike Porro

Would you please post in your notes to dancers that we'll be hosting as Tango Loco IV on November 30th at Grand Ballroom another After Thanksgiving Milonga & Auction to raise money for our local food banks.  We raised $2,370 last year and decided that this would be a great tradition to continue.  We'll fill in the particulars over the next several weeks, but want to get a SAVE THE DATE notice out now in order to avoid conflicts with other activities that could be scheduled on this date.

Many thanks! and best wishes for your trip to Buenos Aires.

From Elena Syrett

Susan, Joe,

 Have a most wonderful trip!!!!!

Enjoy yourselves. 

We want to remind everyone that if the weather looks really bad, we will leave messages on our web site www.firehousetango.com and phone 201-825-1570. You can also reach us on our cell phone 201-826-6602 (Sue) and 201-913-8504 (Joe). Feel free to leave a message on any of these lines. We cancel only when absolutely necessary (only about six seven times in all these years), but please check whenever you're not sure. If there isn't any message, we're on.

During Hurricane Sandy, when we had only cell phone service, I was able to leave a message on my cell, so I guess that the best number to call is 201-826-6602. 

• Barbara Lombardi
• Flo Salierno
• Fred Meyer
• Bill Krukovsky
• George Ngo
• Dan & Georgina
• Enrique Zuniga
• Jack Block
• Edna Negron
• Bob Brillo
• Rafael & Hilda
• Mike Porro
• Horatio Piccioni