Celebrations - Valentine's Milonga Next
Thursday, February 12 |
Come With or without your valentine!
Our Valentine's Day Milonga this year will be two days before Valentine's
Day. Don't miss it! Come with or without your valentine - Oh, and try to wear something red. It's sure to be a great evening.
Special Cortinas - Valentine's Love Songs
A cortina (curtain) is a short piece (20-60 seconds) of
non-dance music that is played between tandas at a milonga (tango dance event). The cortina lets the dancers know that the tanda has ended. The partners can then without insult thank each other and return to their own tables, to find a new dance partner at the next tanda. Cortinas are used at many of the milongas in Argentina and Uruguay but are increasingly common elsewhere. - Wikipedia
Next
week's cortinas, as promised, will be love songs as a tribute to Valentine's Day. Let us know if you are celebrating an occasion and would like to request special music for that night's cortinas. We will try very hard to accommodate you.
Special
Gifts
Sydney has bought something red and special for all the ladies for Valentine's Day. I can't wait to get mine.
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
February at Firehouse Tango
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February 12 - Valentine's Day Milonga - See above
February 19 - No celebrations, just great dancing, learning, eating, and greeting old and new friends.
February
26
Judy Saul, Debbie Glaser, and Nathan Amatai celebrate their joint birthdays next Thursday, February 26th For six years in a row, Debbie Glaser and Judy Saul had celebrated together at Firehouse for their joint birthday. Last year, Nathan Amatai added his birthday to the celebration. It worked beautifully. Tangueros, do not miss this chance to tango with all three of these fabulous dancers and awesome
Firehouse friends. For the birthday dance last year, Nathan started with Vicky, Debbie with Tobia and Judy with Jorge. Nathan gets to dance with both of the ladies, but I intend to get to him right after Vicky, Debbie and Judy. It will be awesome. We're so happy that these three are members of our Firehouse family.
Condolences to Tsipoyra Sartan
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We send our condolences to our friend Tsipoyra on the loss of her mother, Shoyshna Sartan.
Terri and I and a bunch of other Firehouse folks have our tickets in hand, and we're looking forward to seeing lots of our friends there.
We'll see you at this performance at Ramapo College. Information is
below. February 27 @ 7:30 pm - 10:00 pmFriday, February 27, Sharp Theater, 7:30 P.M. Preuve d’Amour/Prueba de Amor/Proof of Love-Paris meets Buenos Aires in this culturally immersive evening of theater, dance and music featuring Argentine theatre artist and Fulbright scholar-in-residence Rafael Bianciotto, Zefiro Theatre from Paris, tango artist Sandra Antognazzi, and
acclaimed musician, Oscar Feldman and his band. The evening begins with Zefiro’s American premiere performance of “Preuve D’Amour” adapted from Roberto Arlt’s, “Prueba de Amor,” a philosophical exploration of love set in Buenos Aires of the 1930s. Following intermission, audience members may join the artists on stage or enjoy the authentic “milonga” from their seats. The evening includes a short tango lesson, exhibition dances, Argentine food and wine. Come be transported! Tickets:
$30 Preuve D’Amour and milonga on stage with the artists and refreshments $25 Preuve D’Amour and watching the milonga from your seat $8 Students with valid I.D. Buy Tickets:
Box Office: (201) 684 – 7844
Triangulo - Domingo Tango Next Sunday
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Extend your Valentine's Day celebration. Join us at Domingo Tango Club for live music and dancing. Triangulo is the place to be on Feb. 15
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 Carol Sussman
Hi! Sorry Estelle has/had the Flu. Bert was a great gentleman and I know he reached out to
all of us aspiring tango dancers so we had a chance to dance and practice. She is a great lady, since few wives (other than you) liked the idea of their husbands dancing with other ladies. Carol
Hello everyone, Pat here. Last week, Fran addressed the issue of our pre-conceived ideas about what it’s like to dance. To quote Fran, “that thing we think deep down in our souls is what people do when they dance, what we think we're supposed to do in order to be able to tell ourselves that we are now dancing.” Inasmuch
as this idea can be applied to the whole universe of dance, I wanted to take a few moments to address the issue as it pertains to followers who are learning to dance Tango.
Social Tango is still a lead/follow paradigm and as such, confronts followers and leaders alike with a set of unique challenges that are not found in learning any other ballroom dance. Indeed, both Fran and I have known many ballroom dancers and former ballet dancers,
who think that Tango will be pretty easy for them to learn, and that they will pick it up in 5 minutes. Due to their muscle memory, they immediately impose the style of their prior dance training onto their Tango movements, and soon enough, their idea of how easy it would be to dance Tango gradually becomes a realization that this dance is like no other, and therefore any pre-conceived idea of what ‘we’re supposed to do’ is nowhere in sight.
Learning something completely ‘new’ is somewhat scary to many of us. If we have extensive experience in other dance disciplines, we are reluctant to look like a beginner; we are embarrassed to make mistakes; we realize that this could be a much longer commitment of time than we had imagined or planned for, and this smoldering, serious dance does not quite fit with our fantasy of floating around the ballroom in a dreamy froth of lace and silk. What we find in Tango is that as followers, we
must learn to wait. We must learn to listen with our bodies so that we only move, when our leader invites it. We must learn to stop; we are not always moving, and we cannot think and make decisions on what to do next. Many followers find this ‘helpless’ state hard to adjust to.
Do we really want to put in the time? Everyone knew and loved us as dancers in our ‘other’ world. Why put that aside to learn Tango? Well, of course, there’s
nothing saying you have to learn Tango…but it beckons, through the music, through the folklore, when we watch people who can dance it. Before we know it, our idea of what we think we’re supposed to do when we dance has become an intrigue into the seductive world of Tango. The music gets into our blood, and the dance becomes intoxicating. At that point we have decided to learn Tango, and to let go of our predispositions, allowing the dance take us on a most incredible journey.
Saturdays with Fran and Pat at Pearl Studios
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Please join Fran and Pat for our Saturday Practica at Pearl Studios, 500 8th Avenue (between 35th and 36th Streets; 2-4pm, $10 per person. (Bringing a partner isn't necessary.) Fran and Pat will be 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: News from Monica Paz Happy and thankful:Last night started the projection of #CalendarioMilonguero in parakultural, the milonga in room canning.Thanks to Osvaldo Natucci for his invalorable homework and a Omar Viola and the staff of the milonga received with much enthusiasm.To the milonga!!!
Calendario Milonguero
Birth of AUGUSTO PEDRO BERTO, bandoneon player, composer and director. He was a self-taught musician of rural origin. He later integrates the most advanced elite group of the Old Guard. In 1913 he led a group of bandoneon, piano, violin, guitar and flute musicians and began recording under the name of “Quinteto Criollo”, Creole Quintet for the Atlanta recording Co.
Here sounds one of his most memorable works.♫ DON ESTEBAN. 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) : New MP Tango Interview MPTango Presents Carlos Horacio Funes at PractiMilonguero Click on cc underneath the screen for English subtitles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6X8BC1MX1s&feature=youtu.be
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 my cell phone 201-826-6602. 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.
- Sydney St. James
- Elena Titova
- Steve Maisch
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 - See above - Barbara Lombardi - Popcorn
- George Ngo - Popcorn Chips
And these people brought wine- George Ngo
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Mary
Pagano
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Bob
Brillo
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Dave
Niselson
Bob
Brillo
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Francis &
Marie
Tango in New Jersey and New York
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