Things were sizzling hot last Thursday as we danced our way through week 3 of our four-week Milonga month at the Firehouse. Richard Ariza's music was better than ever (how he keeps topping himself, I just don't know!), Terri's set-up and serve crew treated us all like royalty, and Steve's breakdown gang put the icing on the cake at the end of a truly fabulous evening. As always, we hosted our regular group of stalwarts, and very happily introduced the Firehouse to quite a few newcomers. Next week, we'll be finishing up our Milonga series with a look at ochos and traspie, and we'll be delighted to welcome Joe and Sue Dallon back from their recent two-week trip to Buenos Aires. Do you think they had a great time? We can't wait to hear all the stories!

Fran and Pat's Milonga DVD series now available

If you haven't gotten your copies of Fran and Pat's Milonga DVDs, make sure you pick them up soon. This is a series of four DVDs, which cover everything we've done during our four weeks of Milonga at the Firehouse, along with lots of steps we didn't have time to work on. The series costs $100, and is packed with information about Milonga right from the basics all the way to some very challenging advanced material. People who already have these DVDs think they're great (thank you very much!), and we think you will, too. Be sure to add them to your collection.

Tango tip of the week

Hi everybody, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. If you've been in my classes, you've heard me say that Tango is a dance which consists of movement and stillness. To put it another way, when we dance Tango, we do a lot of starting and stopping.

What does this mean? Why is it important to understand?

If you have a sense of the American progressive social dance tradition as exemplified in, let's say, Foxtrot or Peabody, you're aware that when we dance either of these quintessential American styles (among others), we start moving with the music, and the structure of our dance basically consists of stringing steps and/or sequences together one after another in combinations that occur to us in the moment.

Most importantly, we don't stop moving until the song is over.

In Tango -- at least in the classic form of Tango as personified in the "Golden Age" tradition -- the kind of movement I described above doesn't necessarily happen. Instead, people tend to take a few steps, stop, take a few more steps, stop again, maybe throw in a learned sequence or two, come to another stop ... the idea of continuous movement just isn't part of what they do. (Of course, I'm talking here about people whom I consider to be among the "better" dancers in Argentina. To be sure, there are lots of folks even in Buenos Aires who plod along from step to step in the same way we often see unsophisticated dance students doing in this country.)

To be able to dance in the Argentine way, both leaders and followers who come from what I'll refer to as the "American tradition" have to learn right from the beginning that being able to stop after any given step or sequence is an essential skill. In Argentina, the tradition of movement and stillness is so ingrained among even the most basic-level dancers that people seem to take it for granted as the appropriate way to dance. Here in America, however, it literally goes against our prevalent tradition of dance movement. If an American student simply learns to walk continuously -- as is often the case in dance classes -- this tends to strongly reinforce the inappropriate habit of movement inertia -- of not stopping.

In my own view, nothing is more important for the beginning student than to discover, first, that being able to stop voluntarily after any given step is important, and, second, how to make this skill a priority in their learning process. If you have not yet had the opportunity to explore this crucial Tango skill, now is definitely the time to start. Getting better at this single aspect of skill development will greatly enhance your balance, improve your ability to respond creatively to music, and make you a far more sophisticated dancer of Tango.

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

Smooth is the word for this evening's clean up operations. Richard Ariza's wonderful tandas had everyone moving in a groove and the mood carried through in the well-practiced clean up team. This included Tony Mele (ask Terri about him), Wonder Woman (Terri), Tsipoyra, the invaluable Steve Maisch, Hilda and Rafael (both this week and last), the energetic Jesse B., with assists from Elena S., Mary E., Steve T., and a welcome new team member, Marina. Thanks to our team and to each of you who help so much by disposing of your finished dishes, napkins, glasses, etc. Muchas gracias!

--Steve Turi

The Terri report

Hi Sue:    Another great night, needless to say, great energy, music and dancers.

Richard's music was out of the park

--Terri Lopez

Milonga Los Pitucos - this Saturday - Octobeer (Note from Sue - I was about to correct the spelling, but then decided that it might have been intentional - Felix has been known to be a joker, after all) 19, 2013

 ...a monthly Tango event in Caldwell, NJ

See below in this newsletter for details

      7PM - Free Lesson (This month Andres Bravo & Carolina Jaurena will not be teaching)

    8PM - Tango 'til 11PM

  This month, Andres and Carolina will not be teaching.

  Our Best wishes to Carolina and the new baby!