Last week at Firehouse Tango by Fran Chesleigh |
Were you with us last Thursday?
If you were, you know we had an absolutely fabulous evening of great food, great music, and great dancing! With Sue Dallon away for the week, our DJ was none other than our good friend, DJ Johnny Tablada, who offered up a menu of
wonderful Tangos, Milongass and Vals, not to mention his favorite cortinas. Sue will be back next week, and we hope you’ll join us, too.
The Turi Report
Almost as if by magic … the trappings of a wonderful evening of Firehouse Tango were swept away, put away and cleaned thanks to the mystical powers
of:
Steve M Elena S Nina Tsipoyra And Terri
Thank you all for all you do.
-- Steve T
Tango Tip of the
Week
Hi everybody, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. One of the most persistent complaints I hear from my female students is that many — if not most — of their partners seem to have what virtually amounts to an obsession for running them around the dance floor non-stop right from the moment the music starts until the moment it stops. Quite a few of these followers tell me that not only do they never have the opportunity to bring themselves into any
kind of reasonable balance during a dance, but they often actually fear for their safety.
One of the first things I teach my basic-level students is that Tango is not a dance of continuous movement, but rather of movement and stillness. Sometimes we’re in motion; sometimes we’re at rest. In principle at least, modern Argentine Tango (post 1930s) incorporates starting and stopping as an essential
skill.
A major component of that skill is what I refer to as “transitions.” A transition occurs whenever dancers move from one step to the next. Each transition involves a lead and a response. If the lead is given during a period of the follower’s stillness, a good follower should have no difficulty in responding appropriately. However, if the invitation occurs while she is in motion, the leader is challenged to invite the next movement at precisely the right moment in
order to effect a viable transition from step one to step two.
What does the phrase “precisely the right moment” mean? This is not easy to pinpoint, since each transition presents both leader and follower with its own special conditions. For example: As indicated above, a transition from a stop to the next movement is perhaps the easiest to execute, since the follower begins in balance, and proceeds from this neutral position to effecting the movement. Similarly, a
transition from a weight change in place to a traveling step would in most cases be relatively easy. However, when the follower is being asked to travel forward, backward or to the side from another traveling movement — particularly if step two moves in the opposite direction from step one, or perhaps involve a rotation — this transition can be quite difficult, and require a precise lead given at the exact moment when she comes into balance from the first
step.
It is crucial for someone who wants to become a skilled leader to study the subject of transitions in great depth. (We might refer to this study as advanced lead/follow.) As a result of such concentrated study, the leader thereby becomes acutely aware of the effect any given lead has on the follower — and thereby becomes trained to act accordingly in the dance situation.
Among other benefits, serious, focused training in
dealing effectively with lead/follow transitions automatically eliminates the possibility of a leader insensitively racing his follower around the floor, putting her health and comfort level at risk. To any teacher, however, the glaringly conspicuous obstacle to providing such training is that the average dance student is under the illusion that social dance is — or should be — a kind of benign pastime that is somehow easy to learn. This, of course, is by no means
true.
If you want to become a skilled social Tango dancer, I challenge you to work closely with your teacher in mastering lead/follow “transitions.” Otherwise, you’re going to continue to be faced with the almost insurmountable dilemma I know so many of you have right now:
How will I ever learn how to dance
Tango?
Fran and Pat’s Guided Saturday Practica at Dardo Galletto
The longest-running and friendliest practica in NYC! Come join our happy group of social tango dancers, whose sole purpose is to enjoy dancing and to practice what they’re learning. Everyone dances! Essential Tango
Therapy! Pat and I will be on hand to answer any questions you may have, and help you with material you’re working on. Plus you get a new “must-have” move each week! No partner required, all levels. Dardo Galletto Studios, 151 West 46 th Street, 11 th floor, (bet. 6 th & 7 th Aves) www.franchesleigh.com
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 I'm waiting for more suggestions for cortinas. Let me know if you have some favorite non tango music, and I will
try to play it.
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 From Myles Kelleher
Dear Sue,
I'd like to thank you again for the wonderful tango experience last night and tell you how impressed I was by the entire
Firehouse operation. Furthermore, I loved our vals tanda!
The primary criterion I use in deciding to attend or return to a milonga is the music. I prefer all traditional Golden Age, and your playlist did not disappoint. There were many great tandas. Even the single alternative tanda was in the Buenos Aires tradition.
Over the years, I periodically checked the Firehouse newsletter and noted with interest your
claim to be a friendly place, if not the friendliest milonga around. Turns out, I found, that to be quite true! Many people greeted me. Not a single tanguera turned down my request to dance with the new guy.
In particular, Terri come over to me several times. Despite the incredible food offerings, I don't much eat at milongas. Also, I wait to hear the music before deciding to dance, so Terri may have been concerned that I was not having
a good time. Would you do me a favor and give her my thanks and a hug?
Now, to be honest, my trip took even longer than I expected. So I can't say I'll return with great frequency. But I certainly do look forward to returning to Firehouse again.
Abrazos, Myles
Sue,
One more thing:
Would you kindly extend my heartfelt
thanks to Monica and Johnny? I thoroughly enjoyed their performance..
This is an extraordinary thing for me to say. To the dismay of most of my tango friends, I ordinarily dislike tango performances at milongas with a passion. They tend to be great athletic feats with little relation to social tango and, should be on stage. Just my opinion.
By contrast, Monica and Johnny danced incredibly beautifully and improvised it all.
This is the way I would dance at a milonga If only I were that good. If only. But it is something to aspire to and therefore an inspiring experience.
Myles
Note from Sue - Myles, I loved welcoming you to Firehouse, and I hope, despite the distance, that you visit us often. I, also, loved our wonderful tanda, and I look forward to more of the same. I passed along the hugs and thanks to Terri
and the compliments to Monica and Johnny. Tango Tip of the Week
Hi everybody, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. One of the moments I find truly satisfying in teaching Tango is when a student looks at me, and says the words: "I get it."
If I'm working with the student at a foundational level, this may happen when he/she begins to
consciously recognize how to initialize a movement in the appropriate way. It may occur, when he/she finally understands how to allow an individual movement to unfold from beginning to end in its own time without the impulse to rush. It may manifest itself in the student's ability to achieve balance at the end of a given movement, and to do so with consistency.
If the student is more advanced, the "I get it" moment may take place when he/she is able to successfully navigate the
elements of a sequence we're working on with a newly discovered level of proficiency. For leaders this may involve the ability to determine precisely when the lead for any individual element within the sequence gives way to the lead for the next -- without confusing, without rushing, and without abandoning his partner as the figure progresses. For followers, it may entail being able to execute an adornment of choice at precisely the right moment with skill and
confidence.
As a teacher, I can always tell right away, when a student has replaced abstract understanding with interior kinetic awareness -- when he/she has reached a moment of epiphany in his/her learning process. I can literally see it in the way he/she moves. But my own realization of this "aha" moment is irrelevant. What is important is when the studentfeels the change in his/her own body.
In learning Tango, each of us ultimately
discovers the dance for ourselves. No matter how adept our teachers might be in pointing the way, it is only when we're finally able to say, "I get it," that we've successfully put ourselves on the path to creating our own Tango.
Fran and Pat’s Guided Saturday Practica at Dardo Galletto
Fran and Pat’s Guided Saturday Practica at Dardo Galletto
The longest-running and friendliest practica in NYC! Come join
our happy group of social tango dancers, whose sole purpose is to enjoy dancing and to practice what they’re learning. Everyone dances! Essential Tango Therapy! Pat and I will be on hand to answer any questions you may have, and help you with material you’re working on. Plus you get a new “must-have” move each week! No partner required, all levels. Dardo Galletto Studios, 151 West 46th Street, 11th floor, (bet. 6th &
7th Aves) www.franchesleigh.com
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 atfranchesleigh@mac.com Join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/franchesleighllc
June at Simply Social
Dancing
Latin Night at La Havana
59 110 Moonachie Ave, Moonachie NJ
Tuesday, June
27th 7:00 to 10:00
pm
Mostly Salsa and Argentine Tango... some Bachata, Merengue, Rumba, & Cha
Cha. An Argentine Tango lesson to start (for all level
dancers).
$20.00 cover includes 2 house drinks or 1 drink & 1 Latin Night
appetizer
For reservations and
directions: Biagio's Restaurant for Dinner &
Dance 299 Paramus Rd, Paramus NJ
A mix of music for all types of partner dancing.
$35.00 for dinner and dancing
(includes tip) / Cash bar For this event, reservations are very important. It allows our host to prepare the room and enough food!
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Our cancelation policy - We STILL rarely cancel
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Even though we had to cancel once this year because of a blizzard, 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 (only about eight or nine times in all these years - including, unfortunately, the Thursday that I was in Florida, 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.
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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