Hola from Sue in Buenos Aires
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Even American Airlines could not erase the joy from our intrepid group. Just as we were checking in for our 10 pm flight, American agents were gleefully cancelling it. Being Firehouse folks, we simply moved the party to the Holiday Inn and laughed away the twelve hour delay. Even two days of unprecedented flooding in Bs. As. couldn't stop us. We are having a ball.
It's Friday now, the weather is magnificent, and for the past week we have laughed, danced, taken lessons, eaten, shopped, bonded, and explored this amazing city. We are thrilled beyond belief. (It was Friday when I wrote this, and I was in Buenos Aires Now, it's Tuesday, and five of us are eating and drinking our way around the magnificent wine-producing region of Mendoza. It's 85 degrees and the
place is breathtaking. Eat your heart out.)
You will surely hear more from everyone when we get back.
As for my resolutions, I have not exercised since I got here, but I'm blabbering away in Spanish like a native. Well, not quite,
but I'm happy.
Meanwhile, we are thankful to have our wonderful back-up team keeping the home fires burning while we are away. Thank you all for making this possible.
Great music, and pea soup, too!
What a wonderful night we had at the Firehouse last Thursday! The fabulous Richard Ariza pulled out some of the most danceable music we’ve heard
yet from his great collection – and our Firehouse milongueros were burning up the floor. To make the evening even more memorable, our dear friend Maro put in a rare appearance, and brought with her a huge pot of the most delicious pea soup I’ve ever tasted. We welcomed several newcomers to our party, and greeted lots of old friends as well.
If you have a Thursday free, drop by and join us
for the friendliest milonga in town!
The Turi report
Here’s a big shout out and thank you, thank you, to the Clean as a Whistle Firehouse clean-up team! Anyone can whistle but no one can clean like the Firehouse Team!
The hall was sparkling in no time thanks to our devoted friends who pitched in and made fast work of many tasks.
Accolades to: Elena T. Edna N. Marta B. Mike P. Diane Hilda Steve T. Steve M.
... and a cordial welcome and thanks to new team member: Sean
… and a special mention for Tsipoyra, who was busy
before, during and after our milonga.
Perhaps these folks were inspired by the electric sparks emanating from Terri all evening!
Thanks, too, to all of you for clearing your dishes and glasses. It really makes a big difference in the time and effort it takes to
clear the rooms.
Tango tip of the week Hi everybody, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. Did you know that my students have to force me to teach them the basics of Tango? When I take on a new dancer, the first thing I tell them is, "You don't need to go through all that boring beginner stuff. We're going to cut to the really advanced material right now, so that you can be dancing like the stars
almost immediately." But they always tell me, "No, Fran, I may want the fancy stuff some day; however, right now, please do whatever it takes to teach me how to dance -- because I know that if I try things I'm not ready for, I'll just look like an idiot."
Then, of course, I wake up.
Students
almost always put up a fight, when it comes to learning the basics. I know I did, when I was a student. "Just show me the good stuff now," was my idea. "I'll learn all that technique garbage later."
The problem, of course, is that this strategy just doesn't work. It never did, and it never will. As an example of the wrong way to go about the learning process, I know a couple who have been
dancing Tango for many years. Since they're very well off financially, they decided early on to throw lots of money at a teacher who was happy to provide them with choreography rather than technique. (Yes, it's true: some of us will do anything to pay the rent.) Within a relatively short time, this couple had amassed enough bought-and-paid-for material that they actually began performing at local dance venues. (The chutzpah some of us have, my friends, is staggering.)
Their dancing was -- to put it mildly -- horrible. But they kept on shelling out the loot, and building their repertoire of stage-dance material, and all their friends kept telling them how great they were -- at least, to their faces.
Eventually, something or someone got to this couple, and they finally began to
turn their Tango around. They abruptly dropped the stage dancing, threw out the memorized routines -- yes, they even eliminated the lifts -- and started actually learning how to move with fairly decent technique. Now, after spending enough money to buy their own island, they seem to be back to square one and on the right track. Good for them!
Most of us take a similar -- if not quite as costly
-- road to learning Tango. We're impressed by something we see on stage or on YouTube, and we try to find a way to learn that particular thing, because we want to be able to look like those people. If our path is blocked by a teacher who tells us we need to learn how to dance first, we set out to find another teacher. If we're really unfortunate -- as was the couple I described above -- we find someone who's willing to take our money, and keep feeding us junk food dancing until we choke on it.
If we're lucky and can only find teachers who have integrity, we either get dragged kicking and screaming into learning the basics (before we embark upon our performance career) -- or we take up something easier like brain surgery instead.
Tango is a difficult dance to learn. In fact, any kind of social dance is tough -- if you really want to learn how to dance rather than simply memorize a
bunch of prefabricated dance steps. Alex Trepp, a fine dance teacher whom I had the good fortune to know many years ago, told me about the way his dance school, the John Philips Studio, used to approach the process. "We had 10-week courses for everything," Alex said. "At the end of every course, the student had to dance with the teacher in order to demonstrate that they had really learned the material with good technique. If they passed, they were able to move on to the next level. If not, they
had to take that particular 10-week course again. Some students ended up taking any given course three or four times. But they learned."
All I can say about that is, "Wow!" And thank you, Alex Trepp, for being a role model to all of us teachers who are trying our best to do the right thing!
What
are your feelings about all this? Would you be willing to make that kind of commitment to your Tango? If so, I know at least one teacher who can't wait to have you as a student.
Just give me a call.
Saturdays with Fran and Pat at Dance Manhattan
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.
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Good morning Sue. Hope all is well. In spite of the weather and Starlight tomorrow, we had an energetic crowd for the beginner and intermediate classes. The music was great. There was a great deal of energy. All the food went. Steve as usual was my right
arm, we work well together. We left everything clean. I have to say that we had so many people helping without even asking, I thought it funny when I saw Sean rolling out the cart to the kitchen filled with disposables and things to wash, I tried to take it from him and he said absolutely not, he was fine in doing that, I thought that was great. I hope the weather is better and am sure that you guys are having a good time. Miss
you.
November at Firehouse Tango
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November 6 and 13 No celebrations November 6th and 13th, just lessons, dancing, food, and socializing with some of the nicest folks around.
Sue and Joe in Buenos Aires, Ace backup team takes over.
November 20 - Celebrate Sue and Joe's 26th anniversary with us
Joe and I have been married for twenty-six years, and I can't think of a better way to mark this event than to share a celebratory tango with
our dear Firehouse friends - the more of them the better. Please join us on Thursday, November 20th for this joyful event. What woman of my age - indeed any age - would not be excited about a long line of tangueros waiting just to dance with her? Joe is equally excited to tango with the ladies.
November 27th - Thanksgiving day - no
Firehouse Milonga
Firehouse Tango will be closed on Thanksgiving Day: Thursday, November 27th. We hope you'll enjoy the day with your family, as we all will - and, of course, we'll look forward to seeing you on the following Thursday evening, December 4th for Fran's one day vals lesson.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thursday, November 13 No celebrations. Just great music by Rich Ariza and wonderful treatment by Terri, Steve, Fran, Pat and the ace Firehouse backup team.
If heaven is anything like celebrating one's birthday at Firehouse Tango, it has a lot to recommend it. Frankly, I'd rather be at Firehouse. Thank you lovely tangueras, for a birthday memory I shall cherish. Con mucho amore,
Steve Turi
I keep saying I do not want to celebrate any more birthdays, but how many men will line up to dance with me, if not for the traditional tributes on birthdays.....oh well, you know that is not really true because our tanqueros dance with all of the ladies...
Terri Lopez
We welcome readers' contributions about Argentine Tango in general and Firehouse Tango in particular. Send your thoughts to firehousetango@gmail.com We welcome readers' contributions about Argentine Tango in general and Firehouse Tango in particular. Send your thoughts to firehousetango@gmail.comFrom Tom Rodgers (tomcrodgers@optimum.net)
Tom Rodgers Milonga Holidays special 6:30pm - 12am
Sunday Dec 7th
Beginner Tango class6:30pm Intermediate Tango class7:30pm & Milonga Start at 8:30pm -12am DJ Jon
Performance by
Amy & Jon Tariq
On Sunday December 7, 2014. Amy & Jon Tariq will be coming to my ( Tom Rodgers) home (573 Pines Lake Dr., Wayne, NJ) to start the holiday season with a tango event.
Jon & Amy will start the eveningat 6:30 by giving an hour introductory tango lesson followed by an hour intermediate tango lesson. The Milonga will start at 8:30 and go until 12:00, with & Amy & Jon giving a tango and waltz show at 10:00.
During the Milonga it will
be "pot luck" for light food and beverages, so bring such to share with your friends and friends to be. To preserve my floors, especially my dance floor, everyone will be asked when they arrive, to change from street shoes into dance shoes or wear their socks.
You should first drop off passengers and "pot luck" items at my house. To park, please use the Pines Lake Elementary School which is a few houses up the hill from my house. The local police have said that is not a
problem and that Street parking is not allowed.
Please be mindful that this is a private house party by invitation only and RSVP's are required. You can bring guests, but they must be included in your RSVP. RSVP's should be made as soon as possible, but can be made or revised thru Sat Dec 6 to both Jon and Tom
When using your GPS please be aware that some GPS services at the end of the
trip will try to have you use a street that is no longer a thru street to my home, so if you are directed to "TURN ONTO TULIP" do not do that, but instead turn onto Vale and then make a right on to Pines Lake Drive and proceed to my home."
Hi everybody, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. The other day, I was pointing out to one of my student leaders that I thought he was trying to move his follower much too quickly through her molinete (You remember, don't you? That's the grapevine-like sequence often used in Tango, when the
follower moves around the leader). His response was: "I had to lead her that fast so she'd keep up with the music." "Do you think that at her current level of skill she actually has the ability to move that fast?" "I don't know. I never thought about it. Everyone
tells me that it's the music that counts. She's just supposed to make it work, right?" Wrong. Or at least it's wrong in my opinion. I've been studying Argentine Tango since 1986, and teaching it for 21 years. One thing that virtually all my teachers from Argentina would do (I'm sure most of them still do this right now) is that when they'd
walk into a room to teach a class or a private lesson, they would invariably turn on the music immediately. "There is no Tango without the music," they would say. "Moving to the music is the most important thing." Hmm. I agree completely -- once you've been dancing
Tango for, let's say, thirty years or so. But if you can't walk, can't balance, can't lead, can't follow, and generally don't know which way is up ... moving to the music in Tango can be a bit of a problem. So when I walk into a room to teach a class or private lesson, I do not automatically turn on the music -- especially when I'm working with beginners (these are people who've been dancing Tango for less than
maybe 10 years). For people like this, moving to the music -- as important as it will become in the future -- is, generally speaking, impossible. Rather than bore you with the details of my personal pedagogical approach to teaching Tango, I'm now going to hope that some of you agree with my assessment of the situation, and I'll quickly segue back to my student leader who was racing his partner around in a
molinete she couldn't possibly handle. "Martin (that's not his real name)," I said, "when leading her in molinete, what's important right now is her level of comfort, not the music. "But --" "Her level of comfort, Martin (still not his real name).
Moving to the music comes later." Heresy, right? Okay, so Martin humored me, and reluctantly tried to lead Melissa (not her real name either) more slowly -- without the music playing. At first, she couldn't stop herself from racing. Then, when she calmed down a little, her molinete started to feel comfortable and
balanced. "Gee, that feels good," she exclaimed. "Yeah," countered Martin, "but the music goes faster!" "Give it another few years, Martin," I suggested. "It'll get better." Grumble, grumble ...
(That's Martin, waiting for me to leave the room so he can start racing her around again). I'm here, leaders; I'm on my knees: I'm begging you to slow those molinetes down. Give it a shot. Try one whole day without whirlwind grapevines. I guarantee you that everybody will be happier. Especially me.
Saturdays with Fran and Pat at Dance Manhattan |
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.
View Monica Paz' terrific tango Facebook posts - my pick from
this week is below |
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: Calendario Milonguero
November 7th, 1872
Calendario Milonguero
LORENZO LOGATTI is born in Italy. Clarinetist and composer. He studied music in Buenos
Aires and completed his training in Italy. When he returned to Argentina he became a member of the orchestra of the Teatro Colón and of others that were playing operas and classical music. During the summer, that activity was suspended and it was replaced by tango operas; for one of them Lorenzo wrote this tango.
♫ EL IRRESISTIBLE. Juan D’Arienzo (1936)
Here is the Facebook link to see
Monica's tango calendar: 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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBECqsZMnl0&feature=youtu.be
Our cancellation policy - We STILL rarely cancel
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Same cancellation policy while we are in Buenos Aires.
We rarely cancel!
We want to remind everyone that if the
weather looks really bad, we will leave messages on our web site www.firehousetango.com and phone 201-825-1570. You can also reach us on our cell phone 201-826-6602 (Sue) and 201-913-8504 (Joe). Feel free to leave a message on any of these lines. We cancel only when absolutely necessary (only about seven or eight times in all these years - including, unfortunately, the first scheduled milonga of 2014), but please check whenever you're not sure. If there isn't any message, we're
on.
During Hurricane Sandy, when we had only cell phone service, I was able to leave a message on my cell, so I guess that the best number to call is 201-826-6602.
The following folks helped set up, break down and clean up before and after the milonga. Without them, there would be no Firehouse Tango.
See Steve's list above
And of course, without Terri Lopez, we would have to close
up shop.
A reminder that Firehouse Tango does not supply wine - Your fellow tangueros bring it. Therefore, if you drink it, please make sure to bring a bottle every so often.The folks below brought food and wine this week - Eva Roth - A delicious
cake
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Maro - Huge pot of delicious split pea
soup
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Judy & Herb - Tin of
Candy
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Bonny - Chips &
Guacamole
And these people brought wine- Mary
Pagano
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Bob
Brillo
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Liz
Contreras
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Ken
Berard
Tango in New Jersey and New York
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