Firehouse Tango History and Time Line |
At appropriate times during the year, we take a look back at some Firehouse Tango highlights. We sincerely thank all of you who have been with us from the start, the newcomers, and everyone in between. Every one of you contributes to making us who we are.
03/20/2003 Argentine Tango instructors Carlos and Rosa announce they are leaving for Paris and ask if we would like to continue Pasional, their weekly milonga at Paramus firehouse # 4.
03/27/2003 Sal and Laura Zullo host first session of Tango Co-op while Sue, Joe and Eva are in Buenos Aires.
04/1/2003 Sue Dallon publishes first weekly newsletter.
04/17/2003 Fran Chesleigh teaches first lesson as guest instructor.
06/12/2003 Tango Co-op members vote to change name to Firehouse Tango.
07/20/2003 Fran has accident - recommends Jak Karako as replacement.
07/29/2003 CJ Puotinen publishes interview of Fran Chesleigh, first of a series of Firehouse Tango instructor interviews.
09/4/2003 Jak Karako teaches first lesson as guest instructor.
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02/3/2004 Goodbye party for Jak
02/10/2004 Fran is welcomed back as permanent instructor.
03/16/2004 First Firehouse Tango trip to Buenos Aires. Fran Chesleigh and Pat Altman run milonga and buffet and write newsletter. They call it the Cat's Away Milonga, and it becomes an annual tradition.
04/20/2004 Firehousetango.com web site is launched.
04/29/2004 Firehouse Tango outgrows firehouse and moves to Maywood Knights of Columbus Hall.
05/6/2004 Firehouse Tango celebrates first anniversary in new home with live music by Hector Del Curto trio. The anniversary celebration will become an annual event.
06/17/2004 Fran's half-hour basic tango class is expanded to full hour.
07/2004 Fran adds one hour intermediate lesson and teaches from 7 to 9 pm every week
08/30/2004 First Firehouse Tango on the Hudson picnic milonga. These will continue as an annual tradition.
06/15/2006 First Fran Chesleigh Tango Tip published in Firehouse Tango newsletter
09/2006 Firehouse Tango's first Milonga Month. Fran Chesleigh teaches a two hour milonga lesson for entire month. This becomes yearly tradition.
05/31/2008 Monica Paz from Buenos Aires visits Firehouse Tango and gives first Saturday workshop. She will continue to visit Firehouse on her yearly trips to the U.S.
02/31/2009 New Year's Eve is Thursday night, and Firehouse Tango has New Year's Eve Milonga
03/2011 Rich Ariza, Hector Scotti and Felix Pacheco join Firehouse as guest DJ's while Joe recuperates. Sue then takes over and when Joe returns, they begin to alternate weeks.
12/23/2011 Norma, Terri and Marion suggest a Christmas/Hanukkah party inviting everyone who wants to bring a dish. It's a resounding success, and we decide to continue the tradition every year. It's so much fun that we add a new year's party, as well.
1/5/2012 Firehouse Tango starts its tenth year with Fran Chesleigh's Argentine Vals lessons. This, too, becomes an annual tradition.
05/23/2013 Firehouse Tango celebrates its tenth anniversary with lots of original friends starting the anniversary dance and new friends joining in.
09/12/2013 A night to Remember. Lightning, thunder, floods, and no electricity could not keep the Firehouse folks from dancing the night away by flashlight, proving once again that we are, indeed, a very special place.
12/26/2014 Good-bye to Joe Dallon, co-founder of Firehouse Tango. His spirit dances on.
5/2018 Firehouse Tango celebrates its fifteenth anniversary
THANKS TO EVERYONE - WE COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU
In 2018, Firehouse Tango continued its tradition of being the best place to dance Tango every week in New Jersey and the ONLY place to be on Thursday nights.
Though many of you thank us, the truth is that it's you, our dear Firehouse friends, who generate our success. So at the beginning of the New Year, I want to thank you all for helping and for bringing wine, food, and goodies. Mostly, thank you for coming every week, for the pleasure of your company, and for all of those wonderful tangos.
I wish you all a year filled with good health, love and friendship and as the song says, "If you have the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance."
Thanks for Running Firehouse in my absence
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After a wonderful time in sunny-hot Florida, I'm back to the world's friendliest (and I think the best) milonga (and what would I do without the fabulous Terri, Steve, Fran, and Pat?).
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 a few times in the next few months - 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 (and a shout-out to Tsipoyra), 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 easily sent it out when I returned.
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 Al Ko
While I was away, your tangos, milongas and valses were spun by fabulous guest DJ, Al Ko. By all indications, the music was fantastic. In addition to playing at Firehouse, Al has DJ'd for Tango Loco I through X and for years at Starlight Dance Center. He's been a Firehouse friend since the beginning, and we are delighted to have him in our Firehouse
Family.
January at Firehouse Tango Celebrations -
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Birthday of Estelle Stanger - Open invitation for any Thursday
(No dancing just cake and singing) Our dear Firehouse Tango friend, who doesn't dance, but we just love her visits, and we especially love to celebrate with her. Estelle hasn't felt up to traveling, but she has an open invitation for any Thursday that she can make it to New Jersey.
January 24 - Birthday of Rose Whitehill
Rose has been a Firehouse friend since the old days at Paramus Firehouse # 4. She comes when her busy schedule allows, and she will celebrate her birthday with us on January 24. She is a wonderful dancer, so all you tangueros should make sure not to miss the birthday dance.
January 3, 10, 17, and 31 - No planned celebrations - just great dancing, socializing, eating and learning with the fabulous Firehouse 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 Last week, I played Cortinas for The Captain and Tenille. We honored Captain Daryl Dragon,who died this week. Next week is Big Band. 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
Hi everybody, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. In teaching our class at the Argentine Consulate this week, I happened to mention in passing that even though I’ve been dancing Tango for well over 30 years, I’m still immersed in the ongoing process of learning. Yes, learning, and proud to admit it!
One of the students shook her head in disbelief. “How can you say that you’re still learning. Aren’t you supposed to know everything there is to know about Tango by now?”
The answer, of course, is a definite no. One of the really important things I’ve discovered over the years is that the act of teaching is actually the best learning experience in the world. Every time I engage in trying to communicate to students the complex processes involved in the lead/follow collaboration, I automatically come away from the interaction with insights I didn’t have before. Every time I address a student’s question about some difficult
or possibly controversial aspect of Tango, I open my own door (often very wide!) to a better understanding of whatever it is I’m talking about.
Teaching, I’ve come to realize, is learning. The more I teach, the more I learn.
This can sometimes be a difficult concept for students to grasp. I remember vividly my own early years as a student. I had no doubt in my mind that every teacher I encountered possessed a bottomless reservoir of unassailable certainty about dance, which I could never even begin to achieve.
As I slowly progressed in my own learning process over the years, however, I began to notice that many teachers — particularly the ones who professed to have all the answers — really didn’t know very much at all. They seemed to spend a lot of time protecting a small fortress of very limited knowledge — rather than engaging with their students in the mutual quest to develop real understanding and insight about the art of Tango.
The mutual quest.
I don’t know everything there is to know about Tango. But trust me when I say that I do know a lot. My personal goal for this year is to convey to you everything — I mean, everything — I’ve learned about Tango over the past 33 years. When Pat and I teach a class, we’re committed to offering you the best possible information you can get. What we ask you in return is to join us in this mutual quest to master the art of social
Tango.
Pat and I welcome you to 2019. Let’s work together to make this our most successful year ever!
Our cancelation policy - We STILL rarely cancel
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Even though we had to cancel once last year because of a blizzard and once this year for the same reason, 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 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.
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 -
- Barbara Lombardi - Popcorn
- Bob Brillo - Cookies
- Ingrid Jacob - Peach Cake
- Francis and Marie - Yummy traditional new years soup, canolis, grapes, desserts
And these people brought wine
- Barbara Lombardi
- Bill Auer
- John Sullivan
- Nancy Gerardi
- Bob Brillo
- Francis & Marie
SIMPLY SOCIAL DANCING” EVENTS & CLASSES
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SATURDAY AFTERNOONS WOMEN’S CLASSES
2:00 - 4:00 Dec. 15th
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______ EVENTS COMING IN JANUARY______
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