Last week - Sue out - A Team takes over - Notes from Fran, Pat, Steve and Terri |
From Fran Chesleigh
Firehouse packed to the rafters on
Thursday!
Last Thursday evening, a huge crowd of tangueros joined us for an absolute blowout event! Lots of old friends were there to dance the night away, and we greeted quite a few newcomers as well. With Sue Dallon away at her granddaughter’s graduation, our hosts for the evening, Terri Lopez and Steve Turi, kept us all very happy and well entertained. We celebrated Marta’s birthday with a long line of well-wishing milongueros,
who kept her very busy. And we were treated to the incredible music of the great Richard Ariza. All in all, it was a blast! If you were there, you know exactly what I’m talking about. If not, stop by next week, and find out.
The Turi report Many thanks and praise to our wonderful Firehouse helpers who once again cleaned, schlepped and did a thousand tasks to leave our dance home sparkling and ready for more
festivities. Namely they are: Steve M Shawn Hilda Rafael Jessie Barbara Elena T and Tsipoyra Thank you gals and guys! -- Steve
Turi
Tango Tip of the Week
Hi everybody, Pat here with your Tango Tip of the Week. Last week, Fran gave us a look at some long-standing Tango customs and traditions in Argentina. Today, we’re going to discuss the same ideas from a woman’s point of view.
Who are you? You are a 40-something single
female who has been learning to dance Tango for approximately 2 years. Tango is definitely taking over your life and you have saved for 6 months so that you can join a small group of women who are organizing a trip to Buenos Aires. You have planned your clothing several times, and are taking some new tango shoes that you have ordered online. You’ve worn them once and they make you feel quite different to the way you felt in your old ballroom shoes. You try to imagine what it will be like to
actually dance with a real “milonguero.” The fantasy fills almost every waking moment as you wait for the date of your departure.
In Buenos Aires The day arrives; you meet your group and get on the plane. You now have roughly 11 hours overnight flying straight as a die south, crossing the equator and on to the magic that you know awaits. You can’t sleep, and the flight seems endless. Morning comes and you are
walking with your group through the airport to your transportation for the 45-minute ride to your hotel in an area called Recoleta. The hotel is small and quaint; the area bustling and decent.
So far, so good.
The Codigos (Codes) Your group meets in the hotel lounge to discuss plans for the evening – the milonga at El Beso has been chosen as your first stop. Certain traditions that are observed at milongas in Buenos Aires are discussed. Many of them apply to the leader, but the ones you have heard most about are that
women sit on one side, men sit on the other. A man asks a woman to dance using el cabeceo – catching her eye from a relative distance and nodding. She nods back, if she accepts his invitation. They both arise together and walk towards one another, meeting on the dance floor.
Second Thoughts? El cabeceo has been the one code of Tango that you have been worried about. If the milonga is crowded, how can you
see who might be catching your eye? What if you mistake a nod to be for you, and it’s for the women next to you? (How embarrassing!) What if no one nods at you? What if everyone on the other side of the room is a blur …. (don’t forget your glasses.) Here you are about to go to your first milonga in Buenos Aires, fulfilling your dream, and all you can think of are the worst
possibilities!
Time to go to El Beso That’s enough – your group is preparing to leave the hotel. You’ve got your new shoes in their special bag, plus a few personal items. No valuables or money. A short cab ride, and your group enters a building. You are directed upstairs to where the milonga is about to be held. The lighting is dim, the décor old-fashioned. As you
climb the stairs, you feel transported into another world. You can hear the tango music. You can’t go back now. In a few more steps, you will be there.
To be continued…
Saturdays with Fran and Pat at Dardo Galletto Studios
Please join us for our Saturday Practica at Dardo Galletto Studios, 151 West 46th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues),
11th floor; 2-4pm, $10 per person. (Bringing a partner isn't necessary.) Pat and I will both be on hand to answer any questions you may have about your dancing, and to help you with material you're working on. Plus you get a new “must-have” tango move each week! If you’d like a private lesson, you can visit our website at www.franchesleigh.com, call Fran directly at 212-662-7692, or email him at franchesleigh@mac.com Join us on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/franchesleighllc
From Terri
Lopez
An extragravanza tonight with DJ Richard and celebrating the birhtday of Marta. The dancing with this beautiful lady, could not have been better. The milongueros lined up to dance with her to a tango and a milonga.
The cakes, the empanadas brought by Eduardo, the Mileanesa from Eva, the flans from Hilda, the grapes from George, the beautiful dessert from
Flo, and all the goodies brought from our loyal Milongueros only added to an exciting night of dancing and socializing.
We have to thank the hands on people who are always ready willing and able to help, which include tonight to Steve Maisch , Shawn, Hilda, Rafael Jessie, Barbara , Elena and Taspora.
From
Sue
I'm thrilled to be back
Boston is lovely, and my granddaughter's graduation weekend was spectacular. Still, I am very happy to return to my dear friends at
home. Thanks, thanks, and more thanks to the Firehouse Tangueros Huge helpings of gratitude go to all of you who brought food and drinks; set up; cleaned up; and kept the Firehouse fires burning brightly while we were gone. I am very aware that my trips would be impossible without an enormous amount of help from the folks back home. The logistics - The Superhero
Team Special thanks to Terri Lopez, Steve Turi, Fran Chesleigh, and Pat Altman for making the whole shebang such a great success. Terri, with Steve's help, planned; ran operations; and coordinated setup and cleanup (and that's not all.) Fran and Pat executed the lessons to perfection. These folks fielded the problems and glitches that seem to arise every week. The tasks involved in running Firehouse are monumental, and I am incredibly
fortunate to have so many fabulous friends willing to step in whenever needed. The newsletter This Firehouse Tango newsletter has been published nearly every week since March, 2002 and thanks to Fran and Pat, last week was no exception. Among his countless talents, our remarkable instructor, Fran Chesleigh, is a professional writer. As always when I am out, he and his equally extraordinary assistant, Pat Altman,
flawlessly and with a style of their own, take over the task of writing the Firehouse Tango newsletter. I, helped by the aforementioned modern technology, then send out their handiwork directly from wherever I happen to be. This awesome duo is usually found at "Fran's Table" in the alcove closest to the DJ table. They are always happy to answer your Tango questions or show you how to do something you might have missed, so make sure to take advantage of this
wonderful opportunity to learn from the best. Superman Steve Turi was Clean-up Editor. and Terri Lopez was Other Stuff Editor. The music - DJ Richard Ariza Aren't we fortunate to have such a wonderful DJ in our Firehouse Family? I heard the music was marvelous. What a pity I couldn't have been there! Once again, Fran's tribute to Richard was over the top. Knowing Fran, I can tell
you that he doesn't throw his praise around lightly. Here's some more information about Richard: he hosts the delightful Friday afternoon milongas at Triangulo WWW.TANGONYC.COM. He has guest-DJ'd at many New York and New Jersey milongas, and we've had the pleasure of his company - not to mention DJ expertise -
quite often at the Firehouse. If you haven't been to Triangulo, you don't know what you're missing. You'll find information below in this newsletter about Rich's Friday afternoons at Triangulo.. Last Thursday, May 5th
Marta Bautis - Birthday
Marta Bautis has been around
tango for a long time. She is a terrific dancer, she loves dancing at Firehouse, and you can find her there most Thursday nights. Marta will pick the lucky guy to start the birthday tango and one after another, the Firehouse Tangueros will love cutting in.
Last year, Marta made a fabulous coconut dusted, peach filled cake, and Hilda made two flans. I'm sure that this year will be equally wonderful.
Marta is an Argentinean filmmaker who began her career as a
photojournalist and has worked throughout Latin America. She is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work has been screened at numerous national and international film festivals. She is also a faculty member at the School of Contemporary Arts, Ramapo College of New Jersey and founder of Tiempo Azul Productions.
Sue out - A Team takes over - Rich Ariza DJ - Thursday, May
5th
See below
Thursday, May 12th
No birthdays, only great dancing, socializing and eating with your Firehouse Tango friends. Oh, and I'm (Sue) back and looking forward to being welcomed by lots of
tangueros.
Thursday, May 19th
Gay Fallows Monteblanco Birthday
Gay returns to Firehouse in between extensive world travels with her husband and
our dear friend, Walter. We are thrilled to have her whenever we can. Gay has been a Firehouse friend for years, and we are always happy to celebrate with her. Walter will start the birthday dance, and then all of the Firehouse milongueros will join in.
Walter, as usual, will bring a fabulously delicious cake that will all but disappear and bottles of champagne will, as
well.
Thursday, May 26th
No birthdays, only great dancing, socializing and eating with your Firehouse Tango friends.
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
Singer for Walter's birthday
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Two weeks ago, we celebrated Walter Monteblanco's birthday. His friend Consuelo brought a wonderful singer to Firehouse as a birthday gift. We all danced to her songs. The singer's name is
Alexandra Corsino. She is Dominican and sings merengue, salsa, bachata, boleros, and tango.
I will play Django Reinhart (Suggested by Debbie) themed cortinas next week.
I'm waiting for more suggestions for cortinas. I plan to play Queen (suggested by Adrienne) the week after. Your input is always welcome. My cortina library is expanding rapidly.
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
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. 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 Saturdays with Fran and Pat at Dardo Galletto
Studios
View Monica Paz' terrific tango Facebook posts - my pick from
this week is below - Link to New Interview for February, 2016 |
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 27th, 1901
Calendario Milonguero
Birth of ENRIQUE SANTOS DISCÉPOLO. Poet, composer, playwright and actor. Son of a Neapolitan musician. He was educated under the guard of his elder and only brother, Armando, a distinguished playwright. Enrique soon became a great tango artist. He writes the lyrics and gives the melody he imagines, to someone else to be written.
This is the case of the theme we are now listening to, although it was almost never sung.
♫ MELODIA PORTEÑA. Juan D’Arienzo (1937) ⊙ CD Nº40 Colección Natucci (40 CDs) +info
Below is a link to Monica's interview with Juan Carlos Pontorielo from February 8, 2011. He passed away recently. How wonderful to have this video history and othes like it that Monica has preserved! Un bello recuerdo
Juan Carlos Pontorielo Q.E. P.D.
https://youtu.be/CiEib0rZ92Q
Our cancelation policy - We STILL rarely cancel
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Even though we had to cancel once last 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 on my
cell phone 201-826-6602. Feel free to leave a message if I don't answer.
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.
See above
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 -
And these people brought wine
Tango in New Jersey and New York |
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