14-12-04 Francis and Marie Gregoire Anniversary at Firehouse Tango Next Thursday, December 4

Published: Fri, 12/05/14

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December 4, 2014 Newsletter
Superheroes save the day
It wasn't the first time that I had to call on Terri and Steve at the VERY LAST minute.  As always, our superhero team flew into action, and the evening went off without a hitch.  We are incredibly lucky to have such remarkable friends.

Thanks also to Tsipoyra, who took over as Terri's right-hand-assistant, and to all of you who pitched in to help (The list of helpers, compiled and sent by Steve, is in its usual position at the bottom of this e mail).   
 

        

Celebrations



Next Thursday, December 11 - Birthdays of Elena Titova and Veronica D.


                Veronica

Veronica, my Spanish teacher, is a native of Buenos Aires and loves Argentine Tango. She misses her Thursday nights at Firehouse only when her very busy schedule interferes. 

Last year, Veronica  made sure that I wrote down her birthday because she was so excited about celebrating with us.  We are delighted to do so, and we urge all tangueros to join her birthday tango.  You definitely should not miss dancing with this awesome tanguera. 

                Elena

Elena joined us about two years ago, and she has quickly become a great Firehouse friend.  Check out her smile, which lights up the room.  She has become invaluable: cleaning, setting up, and taking over for Tibor whenever he's not around.  We're so happy to be able to celebrate her birthday at Firehouse on December 11.

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



Holiday Milonga Thursday December 18 - We welcome your contributions of appetizers, main dishes or desserts
 

According to my calculations, Christmas and New Year's Days will not fall on Thursday again until 2025.  However, this year, unfortunately, Firehouse Tango will be closed for the last Thursday of 2014 and the first of 2015. 

Firehouse Tango will celebrate the  holidays on Thursday, December 18th, our last milonga of 2014.  

As always, expect wonderful friends, door prizes, food, and dancing; but dress for a party both weeks.  holiday cortinas and the decorated hall will set the mood, and we'll give you an extra half hour to celebrate.  Keep your eyes open for the yearly visit from Santa on the 22nd.


As always, our $15 admission charge will also include beginner (7 - 7:30) and intermediate (7:30 - 8:30) lessons taught by Fran Chesleigh and buffet dinner.

Bring a dish to the Holiday Milonga on December 18

Here are the contributions so far for our holiday milonga.  Please let us know if you would like to bring something:

  • Sue Dallon - Brisket with potatoes, carrots, string beans
  • Terri Lopez - Arroz con pollo

 If you would like to make something for the Christmas/Hanukah/New Years milonga, please let me know.  It doesn't even have to be home made.

Optonline.com e mails dropping fast
           
 Every week, optonline.com and optonline.net e mails bounce and eventually drop off my list.  Sometimes, they just as mysteriously reappear.  I've talked to Optimum countless times, and they have yet to fix the problem.  I've concluded that Optimum is right up there with American Airlines for bad customer service.  My  apologies go to all of you for this inconvenience.  May I suggest Gmail?




No Firehouse Tango  Thursday, December 25, Christmas Day


Firehouse Tango will be closed on Christmas Day: Thursday, December 25th.  We hope you'll enjoy the day with your family, as we all will - and, of course, we won't see you on Thursday, January 1st either.  we look forward to welcoming you back on Thursday, January 8, 2015. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

December at Firehouse Tango


December 11 - Birthdays of Veronica D. and Elena Titova

                See Celebrations above



December 18 - Anniversary of Francis and Marie Gregoire and holiday party

 

Francis and Marie             

Francis and Marie Gregoire have been coming to Firehouse for many years and have been to Buenos Aires with us three times (including just now, as Marie corrected me last week), and we are honored to be able to celebrate their anniversary on December 18th..  Francis will start the birthday tango with Marie and then we lucky ladies will begin cutting in. The guys will cut in with Marie.  It will be delightful.   Oh, and we are looking forward to the mountain of huge and luscious shrimp and delicious chocolate cake that Francis and Marie bring.  They are sure to be fabulous, as always.  


See Reader's Corner for note from Cris Grapa.


Holiday Milonga

See holiday milonga information above


December 25 - Merry Christmas - No Firehouse Tango
My resolutions through November
 
My resolutions for 2014
1.      Keep improving my español and study Spanish every day
2.     Keep visiting Buenos Aires
3.     Shorten this newsletter (or at least try)
4.    Exercise every day when I'm at home and try to continue when I'm on the road

How did I do?

 Buenos Aires
Our group trip in November was awesome.  Everyone wants to know when we're going again.  We'll see about next year.  It will certainly be hard to top this one. 

Spanish
My Spanish improved greatly after my immersion in Argentina.  Let's see if I can keep it up.

To my Spanish speaking amigos: Please keep "hablando espanol conmigo" no matter how much I might resist.

Newsletter - Not short, but hopefully interesting

Exercise
Forget November.  However, I'm back to 20 minutes every morning, which will most likely continue easily until my next vacation. 

Reader's Corner
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.com

From Cris Grapa

Hi Sue,I am sorry but, it seems I forget how crazy my life really is these days and, how things get during the month of December... with all my other family and friends Birthdays on top of the Holiday celebrations... my Birthday just turns into a blur. I really want to enjoy it a bit and, move it to January when I'll be better able to savor in peace. Please let me know what's a convenient alternative for you during mid to late January or beyond and, thank you for understanding.Hope you had a good Thanksgiving and that I'll see you in some fortuitous way during this Holiday season anyhow.Hugs and kisses for a good month and New Year ahead.Cris.

Note from Sue - We certainly understand.  Cris' celebration has been rescheduled for Thursday, January 15, 2015. 



From Brian and Jennie Nash - Nash Dancenter - Randolph NJ

Hello Sue,Here is all of the information. If you have any questions or need anything else from us please ask!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

10-12 Emery Ave, Randolph, NJ 07869 • 973-328-7979info@nashdancenter.comwww.nashdancenter.comArgentine Tango with Guest Teacher from NYC Dragan Ranitovic @ Nash DancenterSunday, December 7th & 21st (First and third Sunday of every month)Tango Workshop 3:30-5:00pm(Intermediate/
Advanced)$25 Per Person/$45 Per CoupleIncludes Pre-party class and MilongaMilonga 6:00-9:00pmComplimentary Pre-party Class(Open Level)5:15-6:00pm$15 Per Person/$25 Per CoupleDJ Dragan Traditional & Alternative Mix*Private lessons available ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Lastly we also have an 8 week workshop Monday nights from 7-8:30pm. It started November 3rd but we will let you know when the next class will begin.                                    Thank you again,                                    Brian & Jennie
Tango Tip of the week

Hi everybody, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. Today, I'd like to share with you what for me was a truly "eureka" moment -- one which enabled me to begin dancing Tango more like people do in Argentina -- and which I hope might be useful to you in your own dancing, whether you're a leader or a follower.

In order to fully explain what I'm talking about here, we'll need to begin with a little history. (Now, come on, don't start yawning; I promise to keep it short.)

In the late nineteenth century in Argentina, Tango was a newly evolving social dance. There is evidence that it originated from various influences in its distant past. However, what is important to us right now is that this unique dance form was being further refined primarily by working-class men in the social clubs where they met regularly after their day's work. In this environment, men who were skilled at the intricacies of Tango often introduced neophytes to the dance by actually having these newcomers serve as followers. Once a man had built a solid foundation by learning how to follow, he was eventually  "promoted" to the role of leader, and then had to prove his skill as such before being deemed ready for the dancehall.

For the most part, women -- at least "respectable" women -- were largely not involved in this process. Instead, they were leading sheltered lives, surrounded by protective relatives who inevitably felt a moral obligation to keep them quite separated from these rough-and-tumble males -- no doubt in order to preserve their innocence and virtue.

One of the few venues in which a man stood even the slimmest chance of being able to meet and interact with one of these highly protected women was la milonga -- the social dance. Here, a man had to go through an arduous ritual of being introduced to a woman by first being approved by her parents, her duenna, her brothers and sisters, her cousins once removed ... you name it. And when the highly scrutinized couple finally found themselves together on the dance floor at long last, it became instantly obvious that she had absolutely no idea how to dance Tango.

The man's job, therefore, was to bring the skill he had developed in the social clubs to bear in order to show her what to do, right then and there on the dance floor! Not by telling her, "This is what you're supposed to do," but by gently and expertly guiding her through every single movement of the dance, and allowing her to finish one thing before inviting another. At the same time, the woman was well aware that, because she had no idea what was going to happen from one step to the next, her role was to follow each step that was led, and then wait for the next lead -- rather than attempting to outguess what her partner might want from moment to moment.

Thus, we have here the birth of a very specific social dancing skill set: he leads, she follows -- one step at a time. This tradition was quite different from the prevailing European convention of the time -- in which steps were demonstrated by a "dance master," and then memorized by a couple for more or less instant application on the dance floor. (Our own American ballroom dance tradition has largely maintained this manner of learning how to dance. Men on one side of the room, women on the other; here are the steps; take a partner, you're ready to dance -- that'll be 100 bucks, please.)

Sound familiar?

This was the tradition I grew up in -- the powerful belief system that, in fact, formed the basis for my entire professional dance experience: Learning to dance equals memorizing figures and applying technique -- period! Then, suddenly in 1986, I was slowly dragged kicking and screaming toward the possibility of another way. For me, it began when I started to realize the import of what my Argentine-born teachers had been saying, "There are no steps in Tango." What they meant by this somewhat cryptic declaration, of course, was that there are no memorized steps in social Tango, that the Argentine tradition is rooted in moment-to-moment improvisation.

What? You make it up as you go along? Someone please wake me up. My Arthur Murray and Fred Astaire teachers are apoplectic. My students think I've been lying to them all these years. Life as I know it is over! Get me an aspirin!

Anyway, this was my "eureka" moment: he leads, she follows -- one step at a time.

If you take Tango lessons with me right now, you know that we spend a lot of time trying to learn the dance through this unique, lead/follow perspective. I don't go so far as to tell you that there are no memorized steps in this very complex dance. You and I both know that there are lots of them -- particularly if you want to pursue a stage career. But my ongoing focus is to convince you that as a social dancer, memorized figures should be addressed some time in the distant future. The important thing right now is for you to learn how to dance -- how to lead and how to follow -- just like those folks in the social clubs and milongas of Buenos Aires.

If you're a leader, I'd be very pleased to see you try to approach each dance as an opportunity to gently and slowly guide your follower through every individual step, waiting for her to balance at the end of each movement before proceeding to the next. If you're a follower, I believe that it would change your dance completely, if you could start thinking of each step you're led to take as an opportunity to bring yourself comfortably into balance at its completion -- without attempting or being forced to take one or more additional steps on your own.

As the song says, asi se baila el tango. This is how Tango is danced. Once you get this more authentic way of approaching Tango into your system, I'm confident -- well, at least hopeful -- that, like me, you just won't want to dance any other way.

Saturdays with Fran and Pat at Pearl Studios

Since 2002, Fran and Pat have been holding a Tango practica at Dance Manhattan every Saturday from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. This Saturday will be our last event at Dance Manhattan, because, as many of you know, Dance Manhattan is closing its doors. Starting November 29th, our Practica will be at Pearl Studios, 500 8th Avenue (between 35th and 36th Streets. It will still be from 2-4pm and the cost for will remain $10 per person. (Bringing a partner isn't necessary.) Fran and Pat will be on hand as always 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 26th, 1888

Calendario Milonguero
FRANCISCO CANARO is born in Uruguay. A character that expanded the tango. He introduced the singer and the bass into the orchestra. He took tango abroad, to the theater, to the radio, to the movies and to television. He recorded about 4,000 themes. He composed many works. He did not wish to adapt to the decade of the 40’s. Here goes an exclusive jewel of his orchestra.
♫ POEMA. Francisco Canaro y Roberto Maida (1935)

Poema is one of my all-time favorites.


⊙ CD Nº32 Colección Natucci (40 CDs) +info



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 


New Years Eve Milonga with Mike Porro

 

Ring in 2015 with Argentine Tango

TANGO LOCO VI

New Years Milonga

To Simply Enjoy Dance & Friendship

at

Grand Ballroom

Authentic Argentine Tango Music provided by

DJ Al Ko

8:00 PM – 1:00 AM

December 31, 2014

Light Nibbles

BYOW

Champagne at Midnight

$30 before 12/15

$35 12/16 – 12/30

$40 at the door (if space is available)

Mail checks payable to “Tango Loco” to:

Michael Porro

180 Old Tappan Rd. Bldg 5, Old Tappan, NJ 07675

Grand Ballroom Dance Studio

Midland Park Shopping Center (around the back)

85 Godwin Ave, Midland Park, NJ 07432

For additional information call 201-768-0218 or email: porro@erols.com

TANGO LOCO MILONGA is a spontaneous event that arises when the spirit moves us and

we have the opportunity to host extraordinary teachers of dance for our tango community.

On this night, our extraordinary teachers are you!


Our cancellation policy - We STILL rarely cancel



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.



 

A final thank you

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


  • Tsipoyra Sartan
  • Georgina
  • Ferdinand (Ferdie)
  • Hilda
  • Rafael
  • Steve M
  • Elena T
  • Tsipoyra
  • Elena S
  • Jessie
  • Mike P
  • Barbara

 

And of course, without Terri Lopez and Steve Turi, 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 - Chocolate Cake
    • Bonny - Guacamole & Chips

    And these people brought wine
    • George Ngo
    • Rifky Mackeen
    • Jack Messing
    • Edna Negron
    • Dan & Georgina
    • Horatio Piccioni
    • Jesse Barton
    • Cathy Doherty
    • Fancis & Marie
    Tango in New Jersey and New York