Thursday, August 2nd - Birthday of Ceferino

See above

August 16th - Nameday of Maria Zampetoulas

Firehouse friend, Maria, had so much fun last year celebrating her nameday at Firehouse that she decided to do it again.   The more of you who join in her nameday tango, the happier she will be.  So, to all of you Firehouse tangueros, let's make it wonderful for her.

Thursday, August 23rd and 30th

No special celebrations.  Just great dancing and socializing with the friendliest crowd around.

Hi everyone, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. Last week, I offered my recollections about the beginnings what is called Tango Nuevo, “Neo Tango,” “Alternative Tango,” or just plain “Alt.” As I’m sure you know by now, Tango Nuevo is both a style of music, and a way of dancing. Some people love it other hate it. In this Tango Tip I’ll tell you what I think.

As I mentioned last week, when event promoters were first exposed to Tango Nuevo in the milongas and practicas, it was commonplace for them to eject practitioners of the new way of dancing from their events, vehemently demanding that they never return. However, as time went on and Nuevo Tango actually began to gain in popularity (almost exclusively among younger people) — promoters attempted to at least sequester them from other dancers by designating special rooms for them to dance in. Eventually though, this tactic proved unworkable for a variety of reasons, and Nuevo dancers were reluctantly assimilated into the mainstream.

As things stand today, the Tango world — particularly here in the United States — has been turned on its head. Various forms of Tango Nuevo have literally taken our dance scene by storm, relegating what is now somewhat snidely dismissed as “Traditional” or “Retro” Tango to secondary status. There remain some venues, which retain their “traditional” identity (such as Firehouse Tango), but these are slowly facing redundancy as more and more young people pour into milongas and practicas throughout the Tango community.

Can anything be done about this? Should anything be done? This is the burning question.

My own feeling is that any form of dancing is better than no dancing. I believe people have every right to decide what they like, how they want to behave, and what they want to do with their time. In other words, I subscribe to the age-old notion of “live and let live.” Who am I, who are any of us, to tell others what they can and can’t do?

That said, I would add a significant qualifier to this position, which is: “As long as it doesn’t impinge on or interfere with the rights of other people to live their lives.”

Traditional Tango — which adheres to the long-standing values of the epoca de oro or “Golden Age” of social dancing in Argentina— focuses on the intimate relationship between two partners as they move around a predictable line of dance, always being meticulously respectful of other people in the space through the consensual insistence on what we usually call “floor craft.” In my opinion, this is a paradigm of the Social Contract, which must exist between people, if they are to live together.  It seems to me that Traditional Tango is, in fact, the very definition of “live and let live.”

On the other hand, Tango Nuevo is precisely the opposite. I don’t for a minute question that this way of dancing can be exciting to do. Its highly complex, often gymnastic movements and balances are extremely difficult to execute — and therefore very rewarding to pull off successfully between two well-practiced partners. Of course, I wouldn’t characterize it as “intimate.” On the contrary, by its nature, Tango Nuevo is absolutely exhibitionistic. Its pleasures derive primarily from the accolades and wonderment of an external audience. (Would people really choose to do this stuff, if nobody ever got to see it? Come on, tell the truth ….)

The big difficulty with Tango Nuevo, however, is not its external vs. internal nature. It is the perceived danger so many of its movements cause other people in the room to feel at any given moment. A nuevo couple might assert with great confidence, “Don’t worry, we know what we’re doing, we’ve practiced these moves a thousand times.” But such assurances of safety will have no calming effect on a couple nearby, who feel they’re being assailed by a barrage of flying legs, acrobatic off-axis lurches, and floor-hogging sequences. “Live and let live” just doesn’t apply here; the Social Contract falls right to pieces.

On a purely personal note: When I was first exposed to Tango in 1986 by attending the Broadway show, Tango Argentino, I was utterly overwhelmed by what I thought was the most beautiful expression of partner dancing I had ever seen. I just could not wait to learn how these figures and sequences were done. I knew immediately that I would spare no expense or effort — I simply could not wait to actually dance Tango. If what I had witnessed those many years ago had not been Traditional Tango, but rather anything even close to Tango Nuevo, I can say with absolute certainty that I would have just stuck with my first love, the Mambo.

I sincerely want people who are captivated by Tango Nuevo to gorge themselves on its sumptuous enticements during every waking moment of their lives. I just don’t want to be anywhere near them, when they do. If that means we need to occupy different rooms, I’m all for it. If it means different planets, even better.

Thanks for listening.

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 8^th and Ninth Avenues), 2^nd 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!

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

 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.

• ​​​​​​Nina Grynyk - Sandwiches
  
• Henry Kim - Cookies
  
• Mary Pagano - Chips
  
• Barbara Lombardi - Popcorn
  
• Caferino - Birthday Cake
  
• Flo Salierno - Caprese Salad with Charles Tomatoes
  
• Ingrid Jacob - Peach Cake