Anniversary of Walter Monteblanco and and Gay Fallows Monteblanco

 Walter and Gay started the anniversary tango, I made sure to get to Walter immediately after Gay.  Marita muscled Terri out of second place, and Terri followed before the other ladies very quickly cut in. As for Gay, the guys all had the pleasure of dancing with her.  It was wonderful.

Walter brought the fabulous cake, which the Firehouse crowd shortly disposed of.

Walter has been a close friend and supporter since the very beginning at Paramus Firehouse # 4, and Gay came soon after.  When they aren't traveling, they come to Firehouse often.  Walter also teaches private lessons by appointment. 

For four Thursdays in October (2, 9, 16, 23) Fran Chesleigh, our incredible Firehouse Tango resident instructor, will be teaching one all-level milonga class (from 7 to 8:30 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 2nd, 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.

From Susan Berardini

Hi everybody, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. One of the questions beginner Tango dancers ask me all the time is: "How large should my steps be?" If I'm feeling particularly diabolical at that moment, I'll immediately respond: "11.62 inches." This usually produces a blank stare of incomprehension for about one second, followed by a laugh, when they get the joke. (For anybody out there who doesn't get the joke, by the way, what I'm implying by this silliness is that nobody has the ability to consistently pace off steps, which measure exactly 11.62 inches -- or any fixed length for that matter. Not students, not teachers, not performers, nobody.)

Okay, let's talk about why students -- why you -- ask this question in the first place. It comes down to the fact that in social progressive partner dancing -- I'm talking about Tango in this case -- we start right off the bat by being very close to our dance partner. There he or she is, standing directly in front of us -- the embrace makes us feel as if we're practically on top of each other --and all we can think about is that we're definitely going to step on that poor person's feet the minute we start to move. The immediate result of all this is that we know we'd better be very careful -- and our steps should probably be very, very small.

At this point, watching the teacher doesn't help. In fact, this may throw us completely for a loop, because the teacher's steps seem to be huge! I've often heard dance teachers say that the length of your step should be approximately the width of your shoulders. That's interesting, but how do you figure that out? I've also noticed that when demonstrating individual movement in the dance, many dance teachers take what I would call inappropriately large steps. Do they do this to draw attention to the material? Do they do it because they're performers, and they can't help themselves? Do they do it, because that's what their teacher did? (I wish teachers would stop taking such big steps. It would make things a lot less confusing for students.)

Now, let's get back to you. There you are, wrapped in an embrace with your partner, feeling as if your feet are dangerous weapons. Beads of sweat are forming across your forehead. If you're a beginning leader, you know in your heart that if you take steps which are too big, crunch! Ow! If you're a follower, you really don't know how to walk backward effectively yet, so your steps are almost certainly much too small. And this means that your leader is either going to step on you most of the time, or he's going to move outside your feet consciously like a circus clown so that he doesn't take the chance of crippling you for life.

It probably won't help your comfort level much, but let me just say that this is all very normal in the beginning. And after dealing with this torture for an absolute eternity -- probably two or three lessons -- you're going to start learning more. You're going to learn, for example, that when you get lucky enough to dance with more experienced leaders or followers, the problem will just seem to go away. Magically, it will seem, these partners know exactly what the size of their steps need to be in order to accommodate what you're doing. If you happen to be taking tiny steps, their steps will be tiny. If you're bounding along, using giant steps, so will they!

How do they do that? And more importantly, how will you get to a point where you can do it, too? Basically, the answer is that, if you're a leader, you'll eventually learn to infuse your communication to the follower -- your lead -- with a dynamic component it just doesn't contain in the beginning. This more sophisticated way of leading will suggest to her that not only do you want her to take a step -- you want that step to be large, medium-sized, or small. And the good news about this is that it will happen more or less automatically!

If you're a follower, you will actually begin to feel how large or small the leader's steps are going to be by the overall body language he conveys to you through his lead. In the beginning you just can't feel any of this, because you're busy trying to remember the simple fact that your partner's rudimentary lead actually means you're supposed to respond by taking a step. But eventually, you'll be able to gauge the size of each step you take -- all by the dynamic quality of his movement.

If you're brand new to Tango, you probably don't think this will ever happen. But I assure you that it will. In the meantime, just remember to make each step you take exactly 11.62 inches. Right?

Just kidding.

Every Saturday, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Dance Manhattan, Fran and Pat host a special beginner/intermediate practice, geared toward helping you bring 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'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.

 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, Spanish and Italian  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 a link to the Facebook page, where you can hear the music:

September 18th, 1912

JORGE ORTÍZ is born. Singer. As it was a habit of the tango singers, his career passed through various orchestras and his own. With his voice, he reached his highest glory and success when in 1940 he joined Rodolfo Biagi's orchestra. In the three years he remained with him, he recorded about thirty themes. Among them, HUMILIACIÓN, INDIFERENCIA and the one we are listening to here, are the most distinguished.

♫ TODO TE NOMBRA Rodolfo Biagi y Jorge Ortiz (1940)

⊙ CD Nº37 Colección Natucci (40 CD)

 (Note from Sue - Todo te Nombra is one of my favorites.  You can listen to it on Monica's Facebook page.)

 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 Eduardo "El Nene" Masci at PractiMilonguero

Click on cc underneath the screen for English subtitles.

Special guest teachers and performers - Carolina Jaurena & Andres Bravo

Andres & Carolina are one of the best known Tango performing couples and Instructors in the New York City area.

Expect a great Tango performance...

More information about them at http://www.andresycarolina.com/

Class at 7:00pm, social dancing from 8:00pm
Couples, singles and beginners welcome!

Admission $15, including home cooked "delight"

         Location: VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars)

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

                                       For directions click here                            

For more information contact us at:
info@lospitucos.com
and visit our website at
http://lospitucos.com

We look forward to the reopening of Domingo Tango Club after a well-deserved summer break.   This is our favorite New York milonga with our favorite New York DJ, Rich Ariza.

Sunday Evening:

6:30 'till 10:30 PM

hosted by Richard & Eddie

TRIANGULO

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

• Tsypoyra Sartan
• Elena Titova
• Elena Syrett
• Hilda and Rafael
• Ulyses
  
• Debbie Glaser
• Steve Maisch
• steve turi
  
• Eva Roth
  

And of course, without Terri Lopez, we would have to close up shop.

• Eva Roth - Mocha Cake
• Bonny - Guacamole
• Herb & Judy - Peanut Butter Pretzels
• Flo Salierno - Caprese Salad with Charles Moorman's Tomatoes

• Rifky Mackeen
• Fred Meyer
• Jean Shedlock
• Enda Negron
• Camille
  
• Horatio Piccioni
• Francis & Marie
  
• Bob BrilloEdu
• Eduar KrukovskysddfTerri Lopez
• Eduardo Campos