Next Thursday March 19 - Maribel Soto birthday and St. Patrick's celebration
Maribel started coming to Firehouse recently, but nobody loves it as much as she does. Even though she's a terrific dancer,
naturally, she's a little nervous about doing it, so all of you Firehouse tangueros need to make her feel really comfortable.
St. Patrick's Day food and music (See below for information.)
Last Thursday, March 12th - Birthday of Carl Remmes
Carl is in incredible dancer and
Firehouse friend who has been coming for years. This was a great opportunity for a fabulous celebratory dance with him. Carl is also a beautiful singer, and I actually summoned up the nerve to ask him to start his own birthday song last year. It was easier, but just as wonderful this year.
Cris started the dance, and I was the first
to cut in. After that, so many tangueras lined up that I had to play three valses to give them all a chance. Carl was VERY happy.
Carl brought a fabulous babka and a delicious apple pie. Cris, not to be outdone, brought a magnificent strawberry whipped cream cake. Georgina added a home made arroz con leche (rice pudding) to the awesome dessert table. What a feast
we all had!
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
St. Patrick's at Firehouse - Thursday, March 19th
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To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, I plan to make corned beef and cabbage with potatoes for next Thursday, March 19th. I'm also going to try to find some Irish cortinas for that night's playlist.
If anyone would like to contribute another Irish goodie (appetizer, dessert, main dish), let me know. We would be thrilled to have any and all of them.
My Resolutions for February - How did I do?
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Here were my resolutions for 2015. Once again, I didn't do very well this month.
My Resolutions for 2015
- Improve my español and continue my Duolingo streak (more about
that next month)
- Take a group to Buenos Aires (I will try very hard to make it as wonderful as last year's, but that's a tall order.)
- Exercise six days a week - I'm afraid to let this one go. It's like Weight Watchers. If I don't share it, I will stop doing it.
Wish me luck!
I gave up Duolingo in January and planned to start again right away. My failure in February blew that to pieces. Well, I'll try again in March.
We're planning another trip to Buenos Aires at the beginning of November. We've already received lots of interest, and it should be great fun.
I stopped exercising when Joe got sick in
December. I planned to resume in February, but that was thwarted by my trip to San Francisco. We will see about March.
I'll try harder next month.
Parking at Firehouse Tango - do not park within 50 feet of a stop sign
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There is plenty of close, legal parking on the local streets right around the Knights' Hall. Please do not block anyone in the parking lot; do not park in the four car private driveway across from the Knights Hall; don't park within 50 feet of a stop sign (a ticket was issued for this just last week),
and don't block any of our neighbors' driveways.
Most importantly, do not block the side door. It is a fire exit and must be left vacant for access to the outside in case of fire. People have been ticketed for illegal parking, so please be careful.
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 Nathan Amitai (I apologize for spelling Nathan's name incorrectly last week.)
Hi Sue,
Thank you for the celebration last night.
We did enjoy it and it was fun.
See you soon again, Nathan
March 5 - Regrettably, Cancelled because of inclement weather
March 12 –
Carl Remmes birthday
Carl is a terrific dancer and a great guy, and we are thrilled to be able to celebrate his birthday at Firehouse. We invite all of the Firehouse tangueras to join the birthday dance.
March 19 - Maribel Soto birthday and St. Patrick's celebration
Maribel started coming to Firehouse recently, but nobody loves it as much as she does. Even though she's a terrific dancer, naturally, she's a little nervous about doing it, so all of you Firehouse tangueros need to make her feel really comfortable.
St. Patrick's Day food and music (See above for information.)
March
26
No celebrations, just great dancing, learning, eating, and greeting old and new friends.
Los Pitucos Milonga - Franklin Lakes, Next Sat. March 21
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A little bit of Buenos Aires in Franklin Lakes, NJ
Next Milonga - Saturday, March 21st, 2015 Special guest instructor - Alicia Cruzado Alicia Cruzado is an authentic master of salon
tango, experienced as a dancer, teacher, choreographer and artistic director. More information on her site - http://www.aliciatango.com/ Alicia's lesson at 7:00pm Social starting at 8:00pm Couples, singles and beginners welcome! Admission $15, including home cooked "delight" Location: VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) 725 Franklin Avenue (corner of Pulis Avenue) Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417 For directions click here
Domingo Tango at Triangulo this Sunday
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DOMINGO TANGO CLUB'S WINTER FINALE
SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2015: 630-1030PM WITH DJ MASTER RICHARD
ARIZA HOSTS RICHARD ARIZA & EDDIE SANABRIA LIGHT REFRESHMENTS $10
TRIANGULO 135 West 20th Street, Suite 301New York, NY 10011(212)
633-6445 Hi everyone, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. I recently got a very excited call from a Tango student whom I've been acquainted with for many years, but who had never taken lessons from me. Here's the gist of our conversation:
"I think I've just figured out that when you dance Tango, you have to know about leading and following to
make the dance work!"
"Uh huh," I responded.
"Didn't you used to talk about stuff like that?"
"Yes, I did, and I do -- all the time."
"But it's really important."
"I agree."
"So, why didn't anyone tell me about this stuff before?"
Aaaaaaarrrrrrgggghhhhhh!!!!
(I didn't say that to the
student. I just thought it.)
Deep breaths, Fran, calm ... calm ....
What I then tried to convey to that student -- as I will now try to once again convey to you -- is that, yes, the skill of lead/follow is not only important, but absolutely crucial, to your ability to dance Tango -- I don't mean to dance Tango well, I mean to dance Tango at all!
The problem is that beginning students generally have
little or no interest in learning this skill. What they want -- you already know this, of course – is -- Tango steps! Lots of them, one after another, keep them coming, the more elaborate, the better. And for financial considerations, most teachers are more than happy to assist students in this folly.
I felt the same way, when I started trying to learn how to dance Tango. I saw dancers executing those incredible, otherworldly movements, and I said to myself: "I want to
do that, and I want it now."
The teacher says, "Okay, let's start with learning how to lead and follow."
I say, you say, we all say, "Later with that, Jack. Just show me the steps."
We do.
And then, maybe years later, after accumulating step and after complicated step, adornment after adornment, heartache after heartache over the constant feeling that Tango is such a difficult dance to
learn, one or two of us may enjoy the miraculously good fortune to notice a tiny voice in our ear that whispers, "Learn to lead, learn to follow, and things will go better."
That's what happened to the student who called me recently. After beating his head against the wall for years and years, he feels that now he's finally ready to put his (by now) encyclopedic vocabulary of steps aside for the time being, and actually learn how to
dance.
Between you and me, I was nothing short of thrilled by his decision. Watching this student over the years, I've always thought that he had the potential to be a very good social Tango dancer. What had been holding him back, I felt, was his relentless insistence on steps over lead/follow. I mentioned all this to him, and explained, furthermore, that I believed lead/follow skills fall into the category of very advanced Tango technique -- rather
than something, which basic-level students can grasp properly.
His reply to this was: "Yeah, but I really should have learned this stuff, when I first started to dance Tango."
True, except that nobody does.
And then he said: "So how can I get this lead/follow thing over with fast? I don't have a lot of time to waste, you know. I want to get back to dancing."
My response, not expressed, was a very
deep sigh.
Saturdays with Fran and Pat at Dardo Galletto Studios
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Please join Fran and Pat for our Saturday Practica at Dardo Galletto Studios, 151 West 46th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues; 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: Calendario Milonguero March 8th, 1909
Calendario Milonguero
Born in the city of Rosario of ALBERTO ECHAGÜE (Juan de Dios Osvaldo Rodríguez Bonfanti) singer. He hadn’t a voice of excellence but more important was that he performed as the
vocalist of Juan D’Arienzo. In the early ’30s he sang with Angel D’Agostino. With D’Arienzo he played in three different periods until 1975. Let’s listen to the first tango that he recorded.
♫ INDIFERENCIA Juan D’Arienzo y Alberto Echagüe (1938) ⊙ CD Nº34 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) : 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 |
Even though we had to cancel once this year, we still 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 either of these lines.
We cancel only when absolutely necessary (only about eight or nine times in all these years - including, unfortunately, the first scheduled milonga of March, 2015), 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.
- Elena Titova
- Tsipoyra Sartan
- Barbara L.
- Sydney St. James
- Walter Milani (So good to have him back)
- Mike Porro
- Cris Grapa
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
- Bill Krukovsky - Irish Soda Bread & Butter
- Dan & Georgina - Arroz con leche
And these people brought wine- Mary
Pagano
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Walter
Milani
-
Bill
Krukovsky
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George
Ngo
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Dan &
Georgina
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Edna
Negron
-
Horatio
Piccioni
-
Eduardo
Campus
Tango in New Jersey and New York
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