Terri, who has become so indispensable that I say in all seriousness that Firehouse Tango could not exist without her, celebrated her birthday on Thursday, September 25th.  
 

 We invited the Firehouse Tangueros to show our most loyal Firehouse friend EVER just how much we all appreciate her - and they did. Our dear friend Roberto, from Starlight,  started the birthday tango.  Then, an endless stream of Firehouse Tangueros cut in, dancing to Di Sarli's Junto a tu Corazon and Tu el Cielo y Tu (twice.) 

Terri's son Tony surprised his mom with a birthday visit. Tony was amazed to see how many guys wanted nothing more than to dance with his mother.  

Joe and Sue brought the delicious cake with Terri's beautiful picture.

  Terri Lopez has been a part of the Firehouse family  since our first days at Paramus Firehouse # 4, and we look forward to many more birthday celebrations with her.  
 

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.

October 2 -
 

• Milonga Month Starts (See above for details)

• Divorce/Hustle celebration for Sydney St. James (See above for details)

• Jewish New Year feast (See above for details)
  

October 9
 

Milonga Month Continues

October 16 -
 

Milonga Month Continues

October 23 -
 

Milonga Month Continues

October 30 -
 

Normal beginner and intermediate tango lesson schedule resumes
 

Firehouse Tango's 12th Annual Halloween Milonga (Details next week)

Hi Sue......thanks for the bitchy remarks regarding my dancing with Walter at their anniversary celebration on Thurs.FWI....I did not "muscle" Terri out of my way.I ALWAYS dance with Walter after Gay except of course when you "muscle " me out of your way!!!!!!!!!

 Marita

Note from Sue - Marita says that all is fair in love and tango.  I told her that I would let the rest of the folks decide who is right here. Any comments?  Here is my commentary from last week:

" 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."

From Susan Berardini

Hi everybody, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. Today, I want to talk about RIGHT and WRONG, and the ongoing QUEST FOR CERTAINTY in Tango. That's right, pretty big stuff (which is why I used all capital letters, in case you're wondering). As students of the dance, you have no doubt been intensely focused on these huge ideas from your first lesson until now. And right now - in this Tango Tip -- all the answers you've been tirelessly and relentlessly searching for will be revealed at last!

Let's start with your quest for certainty. Okay, you decide you want to learn Tango. Tapping into your vast reserve of wisdom, you also decide that maybe a few passes at YouTube might not be quite enough to do the job. So far, you're way ahead of the game! What you need is a teacher. Pretty much any one of us will do, of course, because we all know everything, right?

This, it turns out, is your first mistake in judgement. As it happens, we don't all know everything. Don't tell anyone I let that secret out, but it's true. So the question remains: Do some of us know everything, while others are in reality no more than cheap charlatans, posing insidiously as gurus?

Well, no.

In fact -- take a deep breath -- not only do none of us know everything, but your quest for certainty is a fool's errand -- because there simply is no certainty! Notice that I'VE SWITCHED FROM CAPITAL LETTERS to italics to make my point. A great many of the things some of us tell you as absolute truth are, in fact, either highly debatable, or little more than wishful thinking on our part. That's right. Every really good teacher knows this. And now so do you.

So what about RIGHT and WRONG? There has to be a way of dancing Tango which we could point to and say, "this is the right way." And another way, which we could say is the wrong way. What about that?

To answer this question, I recommend that you take a trip to Buenos Aires. There's an airplane waiting right now to fly you there. When you arrive, go immediately to any afternoon or evening milonga. Then just sit and watch.

Will you find any two couples who dance the same way? I'll bet you won't. Social dancers in Argentina all seem to find their own unique ways to interpret Tango. And a lot of the things they do just don't conform to what you've heard from us teachers. Are these people RIGHT? And are your teachers WRONG? Nope. To tell the truth, there is no right, and there is no wrong. (Here I go again with the italics.)

Okay, if there's NO CERTAINTY, and if there's no RIGHT or WRONG, what do you do about learning how to dance Tango? That's a very good question. I have been trying to find the answer to that one since I started exploring this incredibly complex dance almost thirty years ago. Over time, I've managed to find some things that seem to work pretty well for me, things that have been passed down to me by dancers and teachers from Argentina, from America, from Europe -- wherever I can find information which seems to make sense. When I teach, I try to pass such ideas along to my own students -- to you -- not as absolute truths, but as guidelines for your own process of finding your way in this unique dance.

This, I think, is the best a teacher can do: Open a few doors for you to walk through with the help of your own innate curiosity, courage, patience, and humility. As you travel the path, you will come across teachers along the way who will try to convince you that they have all the answers you're looking for -- there are lots of these people around.  When this happens, my suggestion to you is to run immediately in the other direction.

As for certainty, as for right and wrong, just keep studying and dancing Tango. Eventually you'll figure a few things out for yourself. And when you do, I would love it if you'd share them with me.

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 24th, 1969

RODOLFO BIAGI dies. Pianist, conductor and composer. He was a precocious child, already at fifteen he became a member of the orchestra of Juan Maglio Pacho. From 1935 he contributed to the rhythmic style of Juan D'Arienzo. His orchestra had an unmistakable personality. As author he composed the tangos GÓLGOTA, INDIFERENCIA and the beautiful milonga we are listening to now.

♫ CAMPO AFUERA Rodoldo Biagi y Teófilo Ibañez (1939)

⊙ CD Nº2 Colección Natucci (40 CD)

 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.

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
• Debbie Glaser
• Steve Maisch
• steve turi
  
• Eva Roth
• Sydney St. James
• Joe Renteria (All the way from Los Angeles)
  

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

• Eva Roth - Lamb/Chicken with Tomatoes & Vegetables

• Rifky Mackeen
• Bill Krukovsky
• Enrique Zuniga
• Horatio Piccioni
• Francis & Marie
  
• Bob BrilloEdu
• Eduar KrukovskysddfTerri Lopez
• Eduardo Campos