Until recently, Firehouse Tango organized wildly successful yearly trips to Buenos Aires.  Many participants said that it was the best trip of their life.  Some continued to come every year.  Everyone loved it. 

Lately, we've had so many inquiries that we're actually considering resuming the trips.  If you think you might want to join us, just send me an e mail at firehousetango@gmail.com, call us at 201-825-1570, or grab Joe or me at the Thursday milonga.  This is just a preliminary survey, and there is absolutely no obligation, so don't hesitate. We just want to see if there is enough interest to pursue it further. 

 To give you an idea of what it would be like, here is what we included in our previous trips (May be different this time):

What's included?

• 8 nights/ 9 days in Buenos Aires with the friendliest group around
• Stay at the excellent, centrally located Bauen Suites Hotel
• Full breakfast every day
• Transfers to and from hotel (included if traveling with group on American # 255 and #256)
• Private group lessons with excellent local teachers
• Milongas with local hosts (male and female) who are there just to dance with us
• City Tour
• Full day at gaucho ranch with barbeque and show
• Popular Tango show with dinner
• Day at San Telmo Flea Market & enough free time for shopping, exploring the city, visiting museums, taking private lessons, visiting milongas on your own or resting (heaven forbid) 
• You most certainly will want to visit a shoe store (shoes cost about 1/3 of price here) Prices in Buenos Aires are amazingly low & additional costs are minimal
  
• Excellent & inexpensive local teachers highly recommended
  

We haven't worked up the numbers yet, but the cost would probably be about $3,000 per person, including airfare.

Eva Roth's e-mail, in the Reader's Corner of this newsletter, convinced me that this would be a good idea.  Read it for yourself.

As always, we were thrilled to be able to host another Gregoire celebration.  This time it was Francis and Marie's anniversary.  We did it last Thursday, January 23rd (just a little late because of Marie's eye surgery.) 

Marie and Francis have been loyal Firehouse followers for many years and have been to Buenos Aires with us as well.  Moreover, we are very happy to be able to call them our friends.  Francis and Marie started the birthday dance together and then the guys and gals cut in (Joe and I were the first to cut in and everyone else followed. 

Marie and Francis overwhelmed us with even more goodies than usual.  They brought three trays of giant shrimp, chicken wings, a huge and delicious chocolate on chocolate cake, ice cream, and wine. 

 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 and listen to the recording by simply joining Monica Paz PractiMilonguero Facebook page. Below is the post for January 22 and a link to the Facebook page, where you can hear the music:

January 22th, 1945. Date on which Ricardo Tanturi and Enrique Campos recorded the tango ESTA NOCHE AL PASAR. Very danceable as almost all records of this duo. The Tanturi orchestra had the nickname of LOS INDIOS (The Indians). It was the name of a tango in honor of a polo team and which they used to play to start their live performances. But it was never recorded.

Fecha en la que Ricardo Tanturi y Enrique Campos graban el tango ESTA NOCHE AL PASAR. Muy bailable como casi todos los registros de este dúo. La orquesta de Tanturi tenía como apodo LOS INDIOS. Era el nombre de un tango en homenaje a un equipo de polo y que interpretaban para iniciar sus actuaciones en vivo. Sin embargo nunca lo grabó.

 https://www.facebook.com/MPTango

And the following one for her latest interview (She regularly posts interviews that she does with surviving old milongueros) : 

MP Tango Interview

MPTango Presents Ofelia Rosito at PractiMilonguero

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6Yl--ceNcA&feature=youtu.be

Dear Sue and Joe,

I can't thank you enough for the amazing birthday party, surrounded by the nicest milongueros on the planet!
Judy, you are a doll to bring that cake.  Big hugs to all.
Love,
Rose

 I had a great time, as always, with my dear Firehouse family.  I'm still celebrating next week with Ilana, Iden and a friend. 

NOTE: Los Pitucos will be moving to a new location in Franklin Lakes in February

 New Location: VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars)

                                     725 Franklin Avenue (corner of Pulis Avenue)
           Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417

     For directions click here
                 

EMAIL: info@lospitucos.com 

Hi everybody, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. Most of us who are involved in American Ballroom, Latin and Swing dancing today tend to think about dance movement in steps or figures; i.e., continuous multi-step sequences in which a leader guides his follower through a series of elements from beginning to end -- after which he then starts the whole process over by inviting yet another memorized sequence. This is how we approach social dance in this country. If we ask a friend to show us how it's done, he/she shows us a "step." If we take lessons in a more formal setting (a dance school, for example), we learn lots of "steps." Dancing means steps. The more steps we know, the better dancers we are.

Sound familiar?

In Tango, we try not to think this way. Well, in fact, most of us in America really do think exactly this way -- that is, until some pesky teacher comes along and tells us that unlike Ballroom dancing, Tango is a dance which occurs in increments of one step. That's right, the teacher says, one step.

Okay, what does this mean? (We're curious about this different way of thinking about dance, right? We really want to know what makes Tango unique, don't we?)

In Tango, the teacher says, we improvise rather than memorize the steps we invite as leaders. In theory, at least, this means that we make them all up as we go along. Which brings us to the idea of one step -- or maybe we could say one step at a time. In Tango, when I lead my follower to take a step to the side, for example, I don't necessarily have a predetermined game plan about what I want her to do next. I may then invite a back step, a forward step, or maybe an ocho. It might just be a pause. Instead of relying on memorized sequences, I allow my skill as a leader along with my moment-to-moment creativity to guide my choices.

Now let's pause for a little reality check. Let's ask the question: Is this the way all the great milongueros in Argentina dance? Ultimately, I think the answer is: yes and no. Every milonguero has his favorite figuras, which he likes to lead again and again. He may consider these his signature steps. Or he may repeat such figures over and over out of habit, just the way all of us tend to do. But at least part of the time -- maybe even most of the time -- the milonguero most likely improvises. That's what good Tango dancers do.

When I became aware of the profound difference which exists between American social dancing and Tango in what we'll call its purest form -- this idea of moving in small, improvised increments of one step at a time rather than stringing large, memorized sequences together -- I found that in order to accommodate what for me was an entirely new way to dance, I had to significantly overhaul my previous notions about lead and follow in social dance. Next week, I will continue this discussion by attempting to define specifically how I think about and teach lead/follow in Tango. I'll also talk more about how the individual roles of leader and follower virtually define how Tango is danced. In the meantime, I'd love hear what you think about the subject. If you'd like, you can email me at franchesleigh@mac.com.

See you next week.

If you attended Fran and Pat's recent special intensive workshop at Dance Manhattan, "10 Must-Have Tango Moves You Should Know," the DVD of the entire event is ready and waiting for you right now.

Remember the fun you had at Fran and Pat's November workshop? How about learning those 10 great figures from some of the world's premier Tango dancers? We've put it all on a big 2-hour plus DVD that's yours for the asking! If you participated in the workshop, you can pick up the DVD for the very low price of $25. If you weren't able to be there, but you'd like to have access to these unique figures now, you can buy the DVD for $49.95.

Sound good? All you have to do is fill out the attached order form, and send it to us along with a check for your purchase. We'll send out your DVD right away! If you prefer, you can bring cash or check either to the Argentine Consulate (Wednesdays), or to our practica at Dance Manhattan (Saturdays). We'll have copies of the DVD with us, ready to go.

As a reminder of what you experienced at our workshop. here's a listing of the ten individual figures Pat and I taught that day. By the way, we're so pleased with your response to this event that we're already planning an exciting follow-up -- "10 MORE Must-Have Tango Moves You Should Know!" We'll let you know the details as to when and where very soon! In the meantime, if you have any questions, be sure to contact us at franchesleigh@mac.com. And please don't forget to practice, practice, practice!

1.   Osvaldo Zotto's traspie with back ocho

2.   Virulazo's (Jorge Martin Orcaizaguirre) hook

3.   Julio Balmaceda's molinete with enrosque

4.   Pat's favorite adorno sequences

5.   Virulazo's (Jorge Martin Orcaizaguirre) arrastre

6.   Fran Chesleigh's forced cross

7.   Gustavo Naveira's back sacada

8.   Orlando Paiva's double sacada

9.   El Pulpo's (Norberto Esbrez) cross release

10. Osvaldo Zotto's molinete with lapiz and double cross

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

• Tony Mele
  
• Terri Lopez
• Bob Armstead
  
• Steve Maisch
• steve turi
• Bob Brillo
• Debbie Glaser
  
• Barbara Lombardi
• Elena Titova
• Pat Thomas
  

• Heidi Fedor - Chips & Dips
• Francis and Marie - Shrimp, chicken wings, cake, ice cream, wine
  

• Adrienne Burton
• Edna Negron
• Jean Shedlock
  
• Bob Brillo
• Horatio Piccioni
• Marta Bautis
• Francis & Marie
• Eduardo Campos
• Terri Lopez