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 changes. 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.

At appropriate times during the year, we take a look back at some Firehouse Tango highlights.  We sincerely thank all of you who have been with us from the start, the newcomers, and everyone in between.  Every one of you contributes to making us who we are.
 

03/20/2003     Argentine Tango instructors Carlos and Rosa announce they are leaving for Paris and ask if we would like to continue Pasional, their weekly milonga at Paramus firehouse # 4.
 

03/27/2003        Sal and Laura Zullo host first session of Tango Co-op while Sue, Joe and Eva are in Buenos Aires.

04/1/2003         Sue Dallon publishes first weekly newsletter.

04/17/2003      Fran Chesleigh teaches first lesson as guest instructor.

06/12/2003      Tango Co-op members vote to change name to Firehouse Tango.

07/20/2003      Fran has accident - recommends Jak Karako as replacement.

07/29/2003      CJ Puotinen publishes interview of Fran Chesleigh, first of a series of Firehouse Tango instructor interviews.

09/4/2003      Jak Karako teaches first lesson as guest instructor.

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02/3/2004         Goodbye party for Jak

02/10/2004      Fran is welcomed back as permanent instructor.

03/16/2004      First Firehouse Tango trip to Buenos Aires. Fran Chesleigh and    Pat Altman run milonga and buffet and write newsletter.  They call it the Cat's Away Milonga, and it becomes an annual tradition.

04/20/2004      Firehousetango.com web site is launched.

04/29/2004      Firehouse Tango outgrows firehouse and  moves to Maywood Knights of Columbus Hall.

05/6/2004      Firehouse Tango celebrates first anniversary in new home with live  music by Hector Del Curto trio.  The anniversary celebration will become an annual event.

06/17/2004      Fran's half-hour basic tango class is expanded to full hour.

07/2004        Fran adds one hour intermediate lesson and teaches from 7 to 9 pm   every week

08/30/2004      First Firehouse Tango on the Hudson picnic milonga.  These will  continue as an annual tradition.

06/15/2006   First Fran Chesleigh Tango Tip published in Firehouse Tango newsletter

09/2006        Firehouse Tango's first Milonga Month.  Fran Chesleigh teaches a     two hour milonga lesson for entire month.  This becomes yearly tradition. 

05/31/2008      Monica Paz from Buenos Aires visits Firehouse Tango and gives   first Saturday workshop.  She will continue to visit Firehouse on her yearly trips to the U.S.

02/31/2009   New Year's Eve is Thursday night, and Firehouse Tango has New Year's Eve Milonga

03/2011        Rich Ariza, Hector Scotti and Felix Pacheco join Firehouse as guest DJ's while Joe recuperates.  Sue then takes over and when Joe returns, they begin to alternate weeks.   

12/23/2011    Norma, Terri and Marion suggest a Christmas/Hanukkah party inviting everyone who wants to bring a dish.  It's a resounding success, and we decide to continue the tradition every year.  It's so much fun that we add a new year's party, as well.

1/5/2012    Firehouse Tango starts its tenth year with Fran Chesleigh's Argentine  Vals lessons.  This, too, becomes an annual tradition.

05/23/2013    Firehouse Tango celebrates its tenth anniversary with lots of original friends starting the anniversary dance and new friends joining in.

We extend our sympathy to Tibor on the death of his father.  For those who would like to send cards, his address is:

Tibor and Regina Csokasi
316 Richard Ct
Pomona, NY 10970

Many thanks to Elena Titova for filling in at the door while Tibor was out.

Our Halloween party features:

• Belly dance performance by Belly-Tangueras Marion Miller and Brenda Gaines
• Door prizes
• Parade of the Firehouse Tan-ghost and Tan-goblins
• Awards for best couple, most creative, funniest and sexiest costumes
• Tango lessons by Fran Chesleigh and Pat Altman
• Buffet dinner
• Milonga

Join us  Thursday, October 30th for our twelfth annual Firehouse Halloween Milonga (regular lessons from 7:00 to 8:30.) If you don't have a costume, don't let it keep you away, but come, dance and cheer for your friends. Costumed or not, expect a great evening. In addition to awards for the most creative, best couple, funniest and sexiest costumes, we've got some great door prizes (costume not required to be eligible.) 

Of course, also included in the low price of only $15 are basic and intermediate tango lessons taught by Fran Chesleigh; a buffet dinner; and dancing and socializing with the fabulous Firehouse tangueros.  We're also planning to celebrat Diane Huber's birthday

Hi everybody, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. Ladies, when was the last time one of your partners stopped during the middle of a dance, and explained what he wanted you to do -- rather than using his leading skills to make it happen? And when such an incident occurred, did you respond why doing what he said?

Let's look at a typical interaction between a leader and follower: He makes a series of movements -- this is almost always a complicated figure he either picked up during a "hot-shot" workshop, or maybe something he recently scored from YouTube. You know he expects you to respond in some way, but you just can't figure out what that response is supposed to be. He looks at you with frustration (and maybe a touch of impatience) on his face. He describes what he expected you to do with a sentence that starts with the words "You were supposed to ...."

At this moment, big, brightly colored red flags should be exploding in your mind. You know -- you know -- that you should tell him, "I didn't feel a lead for the movement you wanted me to make." But instead, you bite the bullet, and just do what he wants.

The implication -- the thing that's hanging in the air during a scenario like this -- is that you just can't follow. It's your problem. And when you actually do what he describes, you're falling right down the rabbit hole.

Bad.

Okay, we're going to look at what happened in the scenario above from a few different points of view. We'll start by opening Door Number One: He really is a highly skilled leader. He led a step or figure you should have been able to follow. But because your following skills are just not adequate, you blew it. This, of course, is what you're supposed to be thinking. But the thing is, it's almost NEVER THE CASE!!!! It turns out that -- major surprise -- most men don't put in the time or effort necessary to become good leaders. It feels too hard. So they opt for memorizing figures. And then they expect their followers to be mind readers. To make things worse, followers actually buy into this nonsense over and over again, because most women seem to have this deep-seated feeling that everything wrong must be their fault. Who told you this? Anyway, don't get me started.

Moving on to Door Number Two: You're a great follower; he just can't lead. "All I need," you keep telling your friends, "is a good leader, and I can do anything!" Well, maybe, but as much as we might wish he'd do what it takes to become a better leader, his lack of adequate leading skills may not be the root of the problem here.

Which leads us to Door Number Three. The thing he's trying to lead just isn't leadable. That's right. There are lots of figures and sequences floating around the Tango world today, which nobody can lead, and nobody can follow -- unless, of course, they make a prior agreement: "When I do this, you do that." Long-time dance partners often have a long list of such figures in their repertoire. When they execute such material, it works great. But when you try it, it doesn't seem to work at all.

The same thing is true of performers. Professional entertainers spend a great deal of time coming up with figures, which are designed to impress audiences. Sometimes, such figures are lead/follow; sometimes they're not. When these performers decide to teach one of their "special" figures during a workshop, they will often demonstrate the leader's part, then the follower's response -- without ever really talking about lead/follow. As long as you're repeating the figure over and over during the workshop, everything seems to be working just fine. But later, when you try the same figure with someone who wasn't at the workshop, it just falls apart.

Even though I earn my living as a dance teacher, I don't always know right off the bat whether a given figure can be led/followed or not. In such cases, what I do is spring the figure on a few of my more skilled students or dance partners -- without explaining in advance anything at all about it. If my lead feels right to me, and if the figure works with most of my followers, I may then choose to add it to my teaching/dancing repertoire. If it doesn't work, I discard it.

You can try this method yourself. When you're dancing with a partner you know well, particularly someone who follows well, attempt the figure or sequence in question without giving her any prior indication of what you're going to do. If it doesn't quite work, try it again later -- or maybe with another trusted partner. The moment you feel like saying, "You're supposed to ...," keep that thought to yourself, and recognize that the figure probably isn't leadable. If you'd like a second opinion, ask Pat or me. We'll be happy to help.

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:

October 6th, 1971

ÁNGEL MAFFIA dies. Bandoneonist and composer. The brother of the great Pedro Maffia. He remained for several years in Madrid and Paris where he worked as an actor. When he came back he played in a few second rank orchestras. Carlos Gardel recorded a beautiful theme written by him: SUEÑO QUERIDO. Another wonderful theme, composed by the figure we are honoring, is the one we are listening to here.

♫ LA MADRUGADA. Juan D'Arienzo y Alberto Echagüe (1944)

⊙ CD Nº14 Colección Natucci (40 CD) +info

 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.

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
• Hilda and Rafael (- We're thrilled to have them back - Look for Rafael's book next Thursday)
  
• Steve Maisch
• steve turi
  
• Sydney St. James

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

• Sydney       Cheese
• Mary           Buns
• Bonny         Guacamole and Chips
  

• Horatio Piccioni
• George Ngo
  
• Bob BrilloEdu
• Eduar KrukovskysddfTerri Lopez
• Eduardo Campos
• Sydney
• Edna