December 26  New Year's

We will repeat the entire wonderful holiday milonga process on December 26th for New Year's.

The New Year's milonga will feature:

•  Fabulous door prizes
• An extra half hour for dancing
  
• Special food
• Festive atmosphere with decorated hall
• Dress up for the holidays
• Holiday cortinas

As always, our $15 milonga admission charge will include beginner (7 - 8) and intermediate (8 - 9) lessons taught by Fran Chesleigh; a buffet dinner; and dancing and socializing with some of the nicest folks around.

Bring a dish to our New Year's Milonga

 This is what we have so far:

• Sue Dallon        Roast pork in gravy, lasagna  and sweet potato souffle
• Terri Lopez        Arroz con Pollo
  
• Mike and Debbie - salad
• Judy Assisi       Dried fruit compote with Grand Marnier
• Rose Whitehill    Variety of bagel crisps with dips
• Eva Roth            Lamb stew
  
• Judy and John Wynne   Banana nut chocolate bread
• Faye and Lou    Fresh pineapple

If you would like to contribute something for the  New Year's milonga, please let me know.  You can send an e mail to firehousetango@gmail.com  or tell Tibor at the front desk.  It can be an appetizer, main dish, or dessert.  It doesn't even have to be home made.

Last Thursday, December 19 - Cris Grapa birthday

What a wonderful birthday celebration for our dear Cris Grapa!  What a beautiful dancer!  She started with Carl and then the Firehouse tangueros rushed to cut in.

After the dance, we shared her delicious chocolate cake brought by Mona.  It was a perfect evening.

Our dear Firehouse friend Jan Folmsbee has left us for the warm Florida winter.  Jan, we will miss your bubbly personality and your delicious food.  We hope you come back very quickly. 

 Every day, our dear friend and teacher in Buenos Aires posts a historical tango fact of the day. These interesting and informative tidbits always include English and Spanish information and a relevant recording.  You can see all of them by simply joining Monica Paz PractiMilonguero Facebook page. Below is the post for December 11 and a link to the Facebook page.

 
14 DE DICIEMBRE DE 1900

Calendario Milonguero

December 14, 1900: Birth of JUAN D' ARIENZO, violinist and conductor. He was a great musician and the orchestra he founded in 1935, fascinated young people. It's massive sound, intense and festive, contrasted with the slow pace and the martial style people used to dance in those times. In 40 years he recorded almost 1000 musical pieces. And it took some time to give birth to a social phenomenon: an entire city danced!

Here is a link to her Facebook account

 https://www.facebook.com/MPTango

And the following one for her latest interview (She regularly posts interviews that she does with surviving old milongueros) : http://youtu.be/EUjsOreThMc

Hi, Sue,

I'm surprised to hear there was sweet potato casserole left over last week.  I thought I ate all of it!!!  (It was delicious.)

I'll see you next Thursday.

Note from Sue - I guess you did like my sweet potatoes.  Make sure to enjoy them again next Thursday.

 See the beginning of this newsletter for details of our holiday milonga, next Thursday, December 26.

 A little bit of Buenos Aires in Caldwell, NJ



 You are invited to join our monthly event on  Saturday, December 21st, 2013
Guided Practica from 7:00pm, social dancing from 8:00pm till 11:00pm
Admission $15, including home cooked "delight"

Location:  Dancesport4YOU
                       31 Westville Avenue
                      Caldwell, NJ 07006
                                                 (formerly, Women's Club Of Caldwell)

For more information contact us at: info@lospitucos.com and visit our new website (still under construction) at http://lospitucos.com

For information about Tango in the New York metro area visit http://newyorktango.com

Also, please sign up for the Yahoo group NewYorkTango by sending email to
newyorktango-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

This Yahoo group is a place for Tangueros in the New York/New Jersey area to communicate with each other and get announcements about virtually all the local Tango events
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About us

Los Pitucos is a Monthly event which is held on the Third Saturday of the month...

We have been bringing the finest Tango events and music to New Jersey since 2009

 

Tango with us every Third Saturday @ Milonga Los Pitucos

Hi everybody, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. How do your feet connect to the floor, when you dance Tango? One of the special techniques that makes Tango different from American/European progressive ballroom dancing is the manner in which Tango dancers' feet address the floor. The unique way in which Tango dancers move through space -- and the way they come to rest -- has a defining effect on how they look (aesthetics) as well as how they achieve optimum balance at the end of every step they take (functionality).

When we walk down the street, most of us plod along more or less unconsciously, not aware of the physical impact our movements are having against the surface we're walking on. If we're on a marble or wood floor, for example, and wearing shoes with leather bottoms, we can hear ourselves clattering along as we take each step.

This changes -- or should change -- when we dance Tango. I have often heard teachers suggesting that Tango dancers look "like cats sneaking along the floor." This seems to me to be an excellent metaphor for what we actually do during Tango movement. With each step we take, we address the floor as carefully and quietly as possible, actually trying to put as little weight on the surface as we can. One teacher of mine suggested treating the floor as if it were rice paper that we had to attempt not to disturb in any way as we moved. When we address the floor in this way, our individual steps become far more controlled and elegant -- which gives us the characteristic look of Tango. Furthermore, by taking such complete physical control over our steps, we tend to achieve far more accurate balance at the end of each movement -- which is a crucial component of high-level Tango movement.

Of course, the way of moving/balancing that I'm describing here calls for major skill development over a long period of time. Most beginning Tango students are appropriately focused on so many preliminary dance skills that they simply aren't ready to concentrate on such an undertaking. Nonetheless, the time will come -- perhaps the time is now -- for you to consider taking up the challenge of improving the functional and aesthetic integrity of your individual Tango movements.

This will eventually enable you to achieve a whole new level of Tango dance excellence.

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's son Joe
  
• Terri Lopez
• Elena Syrett
  
• Steve Maisch
• steve turi
• Bob Brillo
• Debbie Glaser

• Barbara Lombardi
• Mary Pagano
• Dan & Georgina & Guests
• Carl Schaefer
• George Ngo
• Tom Rodgers
• Bill Krukovsky
• Fred Meyer
• Bob Brillo
• Eduardo Campos
• Terri Lopez