Celebrations - (Sad ones) |
Goodbye to Rafael and Hilda I cannot believe that our dear friends Rafael and Hilda are leaving us and moving to Colorado. The good news is that they will be coming back often to visit their daughter and to dance with us at Firehouse Tango. We'll say goodbye by dancing with each of them.
Sue back - Thanks to All for running Firehouse in my absence |
After a wonderful time at Herb's family reunion in South Hampton, I'm back to
the world's friendliest (and I think the best) milonga. As always, I loved my vacation, but I'm very happy to return to my dear friends at home (Though I will be out again next Thursday - c'est la vie)
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, and cleaned up. I am very aware that my trip 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, and Fran Chesleigh 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 we are 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, the past two weeks were 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 didn't have the foresight to take my computer, so our wonderful Tibor did the work for me.
The awesome duo (Fran and Pat)
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.
The music DJ Rich Ariza
This is a great opportunity to dance to the tangos, milongas, and valses of Rich Ariza. Rich ran his wonderful Friday afternoon milonga until Triangulo closed this year. He has been our guest DJ at Firehouse and is very much in demand all over the NY metropolitan area.
Rich 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 Firehouse. Thursday, July 12 - Saying goodbye to Rafael and Hilda
See top of newsletter - Celebrations Thursdays, July 19 and 26
No special celebrations. Just great dancing and socializing with the friendliest crowd around.
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 Last week, I played patriotic music for cortinas. Next week, I'm not sure. After that, who
knows?
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. From Elena Syrett
Dear Sue, Terri and all the FH family
Huge thanks to everyone for my Birthday celebration at FH last Thursday! I am elated (still) and very appreciative of all the tangueros and tangueres who did SO much to
make it a memorable event for me, to Rafael and Filippo who started and finished the dance and to all the tangueros who danced with me honoring this wonderful tradition of having a celebratory (birthday) dance. My thanks too to all the tangueros who dance with me throughout the year, which really means almost everyone(!):I love you all.
My thanks to all those who took pictures and videos Bill, Henry, Ross, Tsiporyan which thrilled me to
bits.
And of course last but not least to the FH millonga family without which all this would not have happened...!
Elena Hi everybody, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. During our last three Tango Tips, we’ve been discussing how large or small social Tango steps should be. Last week, we talked about forward movement, using a special technique, which I refer to as “step-and-slide.” Today, I’d like to
describe how this technique works in taking backward steps.
Nota bene: Backward steps are somewhat different for leaders and followers. For this reason, I’ll address how each of the partners uses the technique.
The leader’s backward
movement technique
We’ll start with the leader. Let’s assume he initiates the movement with his right foot. As with moving forward or to the side, he moves backward with his upper body and his leg at the same time — but without tilting his body backward as he goes. He gently slides the toe of his foot backward along the floor until he reaches the end of his “natural” extension. Then,
he continues to move his upper body backward, sliding his foot another two to three inches before finally allowing himself to commit the weight of his foot to the floor. Having committed his weight, he then closes his left foot to his right very slowly, ultimately bringing himself into quiet balance.
This brings us to the conclusion of the leader’s backward step.
The follower’s backward movement technique
Now, we’ll discuss how the follower uses the “step-and-slide” technique during the backward step. As with the leader, let’s assume that she initiates the movement with her right foot. As a follower, she receives the lead to move backward by first extending her leg
back, and then continuing by bringing her body over the leg — rather than moving both her leg and body at the same time. As she reaches the end of her “natural” extension — and now begins to move her body over the leg — she slides her foot another two to three inches backward before finally allowing herself to commit the weight of her foot to the floor. Having committed her weight, she then closes her left foot to her right very slowly, ultimately bringing herself into quite
balance.
This represents the conclusion of the follower’s backward step. As with learning to move forward or to the side, it’s important to practice this alone before attempting it with a partner. If possible, try to practice this movement at least 500 times — preferably under the expert guidance
of your teacher. I can’t stress enough that trying this on your own (without your teacher’s help) can easily result in the formation of seriously bad habits, which, as mentioned earlier, can be very difficult to break.
Next week, we’ll talk about using the “step-and-slide” technique as we combine the forward and backward steps in moving together.
Put Fran and Pat on your Monday Calendar with our streamlined Summer Class Schedule
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Recognizing that people have lots of things they want to do during the summer, we’ve responded to your needs with our
special Summer Schedule! We’ve now combined our two Tango classes into one for Mondays, and the same for our American Social Dance classes, which will now move to Monday as well.
Bottom line: Monday is now your night to enjoy a fun-filled evening of dance with us at our New York teaching location, Studios 353, 353 West 48th Street (between 8th and Ninth Avenues), 2nd floor, in Manhattan. Tango starts at 7:30 p.m., followed immediately by American Social Dance at 8:30 pm. There’s always plenty of room for parking during these early evening hours, so come join us, and get ready to have a
ball!
Fran and Pat’s Guided Saturday Practica at Dardo Galletto
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- Still The Best Music!
- Still The Friendliest!
- Still The Longest-Running!
- Still The BEST Practica!
Fran and Pat are on hand to answer any questions you have, and help you with material you’re working on. No partner required, all levels. Dardo Galletto Studios, 151 West 46th Street, 11th floor, (bet. 6th & 7th Aves) www.franchesleigh.com
Would you like a private lesson? Visit our website at www.franchesleigh.com,
call us directly at 212-662-7692, or email us at franchesleigh@mac.com Join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/franchesleighllc
Our cancelation policy - We STILL rarely cancel
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Even though we had to cancel twice this year because of blizzards, 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 my cell phone 201-826-6602. Feel
free to leave a message.
We cancel only when absolutely necessary (still only about ten times in all these years, 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.
I want to point out that Terri Lopez is more than a helper who I call Wonder Woman and who takes my place when I am out. Terri is our CEO and has as much, if not more, responsibility and authority than I
do.
Let me make it clear: Firehouse Tango would not exist without her. Thanks to everyone who helped and who brought food and goodies. This is 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.
Last week, we forgot to mention that Elena Syrett took on the task of washing all the dirty dishes. This is something I usually do, and I know it's a messy job, so thanks, Elena.
The folks below brought food and wine this week
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- Henry Kim - Choco Pies
- Barbara Lombardi - Popcorn
- Eva Roth - Tortelline Caprese
And these people brought wine - Barbara Lombardi
- Mary Pagano
- George Ngo
- Bill Auer
- Carl Schaefer
- Walter Milani
- Bob Brillo
- Eduardo Campos
Tango in New Jersey and New York |
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