Firehouse Tango celebrated the  holidays Thursday, December 13th.  

As expected, the hall was filled with happy people dancing the night away.  We had door prizes, food, and dancing; and everyone came dressed for a party.  Holiday cortinas and the decorated hall set the mood, and many folks stayed to celebrate for an extra half hour.   Santa showed up right on time and proved to be jolly as ever. He came all the way from Colorado just to welcome his Firehouse friends.

Awesome Holiday Dinner by Firehouse friends

The Food

Our Firehouse friends brought loads of delicious food.   My mom taught me that making food for people meant that you loved them.  How true!.  Happy Holidays to all of you.

• Sue Dallon - Brisket with potatoes, carrots, string beans, Turkey, lasagna,  appetizers
• Mike Porro - Salad - Oh, no! Mike forgot the salad.  How can that be?  He will never live this down.
• Flo Salierno - Delicious chocolate roll
• Brigitte and Sandor Szarka - Pear Torte 

  December 13 is a holiday in Sweden. That is the time we celebrate St. Lucia, a saint from Italy. She brings the light to Sweden, where it is very dark at this time of the year. :). This is wonderful, as we need all the light we can get this time of year. 

• Barbara Lombardi - Popcorn
• Lynne Tracey - Popcorn
• Georgina Blitzer - Ensalada Rusa
• Ingrid Jacob - Almond Bread
• John Sullivan - Cookies
• Flo Salierno - Dessert
• Nina Turkey peirogies
• Donna and Eduardo - Shrimp 
• Francis and Marie - Oxtails
• Steve Maisch - Home baked bread with butter and jam

The special visitor

Thanks to Rafael for inviting and arranging for our visit from Santa.  He did a great job.  Rafael also did a fantastic job carving my turkey.  

The Door prizes

Congratulations to the many winners of our fabulous door prizes.  

Hi everybody, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. Picking up where we left off last week, we’re going to continue our discussion of the “invitation/response cycle for lead/follow.” You’ll remember that we defined this cycle as consisting of four distinct phases:

1.      I invite an action.

2.      The follower responds to my invitation by executing the action.

3.      I monitor her response.

4.      I become the follower as I accompany her action.

Today, we turn to the third element of the cycle: “I monitor her response.”

What this means, very basically, is that the leader observes his partner’s reaction to the invitation he has just given her in order to make certain that she is actually in the process of executing the movement he has asked for. You may be thinking, “Well, of course, it goes without saying that she’s going to do what I asked.” But any skilled leader knows from experience that this isn’t necessarily the case. For example: If the lead is not quite as clear as it should be, or if the follower is distracted in the moment — she may either not react at all, or possibly do something else entirely.

For reasons such as these, monitoring her response is an absolutely crucial part of the invitation/response cycle. “Yes, she’s doing exactly what I asked for, and we can continue with my improvisation,” or, “Oops, she isn’t responding in the way I planned with my invitation, and I now have to somehow deal with the problem in communication.”

Let me stress here that this whole discussion applies specifically to the social dance, and the unique combination of skills, which make improvised movement possible. On the other hand, within the sphere of choreography — the world occupied by performers — such considerations don’t have any relevance whatever. What this boils down to is that if your teacher’s orientation is tango fantasia; i.e., performance, rather than social dance, the idea of an invitation/response cycle will almost certainly have very little meaning. If what you want is lots of fancy steps and sequences, this is fine. However, if your goal is to learn how to dance, you may eventually have to consider looking for another teacher.

Now, you can download Fran and Pat’s exclusive Tango Workshop Video Collection to your computer or handheld device.

If you’ve ever attended one of our Tango Workshops, you know just how much fun they are, how much solid information they offer, and how important each one can be to your progress as a social Tango dancer!

·      Starting now, you can access any technique, any figure from any or all of these great Workshops anytime, anywhere – all at a single click.

·      You can call up your favorite Tango moves whenever and wherever you want to see them.

·      All you have to do is to download Fran and Pat’s Workshop Videos to you PC or handheld device, and you’re good to go.

Check out our Web site to find out more about our exclusive Tango Workshop Video Collection. It’s quick; it’s easy; it’s priceless!

Download Now: www.franchesleigh.com/videos

QUESTIONS? Send Fran an email https://www.franchesleigh.com/contact/

           A little bit of Buenos Aires in Oakland, NJ 

Please join us for another great Milonga on

Saturday, December 15th, 2018 

This month special guest instructors are

Carolina Jaurena And Juan Alessandrini

Tango skirts for the ladies as well as hand made dance
shoes for men and women will be available for sale!

        Workshop starts At 7:00pm

Milonga at 8:00pm

Plus performance, raffle, Chacarera and more

Milonga Los Pitucos is the first and only Milonga to offer gourmet refreshments, prepared fresh,
by our chef "El Tordo".  

Chef Tordo takes pride in creating a home made dish

 for every event -

Couples, singles and beginners welcome! No partner necessary. 
Bring a friend and enjoy great music, floor, "delight"(dish) and of course friends!

Admission $15, including the workshop and home cooked "delight"    

                                                                                                                                                                       Location:

THE AMERICAN LEGION

65 Oak Street 
                  Oakland, NJ 07436                 

For directions click here

Los Pitucos Milonga brings the best of Argentine Tango to Northern New Jersey.

                                       Experience the finest of Buenos Aires at our Saturday night Milonga at the American Legion.

Los Pitucos is a Monthly event which is held on the Third Saturdayof the month...

                                        Find yourself engulfed in the spirit of Buenos Aires, circa 1940.  Mingle with other delightful Tango dancers.

                                        Allow the romance of the period music to move you.

                                        Your evening's hosts "El Tordo" and "El Zurdo" are dedicated to an authentic and enjoyable Tango

                                       experience.  Our DJ (and instructor) El Tordo, incorporates composers from the

                                       "Golden Age of Tango" to replicate the best of the Milongas of Buenos Aires.

                                      Milonga Los Pitucos is the first and only Milonga to offer gourmet refreshments, prepared fresh,
 

                                      by our chef "El Tordo".  Chef Tordo takes pride in creating a home made dish for every event.

                                      We have been bringing the finest Tango events and music to New Jersey since 2009.

                                        ● Beginners Welcome... no partner necessary.

                                        ●  BYOB

                                        ● Munchies & Finger food (Feel free to bring a dish to share...)

                                        ● The evenings "delight" is made fresh before the Milonga by chef "El Tordo"

Facebook Members: Please join Los Pitucos Milonga group by clicking here