Firehouse Tango will celebrate all the  holidays on Thursday, December 13th.  

As usual, expect wonderful friends, door prizes, food, and dancing; but dress for a party.  Holiday cortinas and the decorated hall will set the mood, and we'll give you an extra half hour to celebrate.  Keep your eyes open for the yearly visit from Santa.  I heard that he will travel all the way from Colorado to join us.  

As always, our $15 admission charge will also include beginner (7 - 7:30) and intermediate (7:30 - 8:30) lessons taught by Fran Chesleigh and buffet dinner.

Bring a dish to the Holiday Milonga on December 13th

Here are the contributions so far for our holiday milonga.  Please let us know if you would like to bring something:

• Sue Dallon - Brisket with potatoes, carrots, string beans, Turkey
• Mike Porro and Debbie Kim - Their traditional huge and delicious salad

 If you would like to make something for the Christmas/Hanukah/New Years milonga, please let me know.  It doesn't even have to be home made.

Sue off to Maryland and Florida 

I'll be spending Christmas with my family in Maryland and then flying down to Florida to spend New Years with my sweetie.  Fortunately, I can leave my baby (That would be Firehouse Tango) worry free because I have incredible friends who are more than willing and able to keep the Firehouse fires burning brightly. Please support our wonderful back-up team. 

The logistics - The A Team

Terri Lopez (Wonder(ful) Woman - see above for proof) and Steve Turi (aka Superman) have generously offered to head up our milonga logistics team in addition to their normal invaluable weekly help.  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. 

But What about the Music? 

Not to worry.  While we are away, your tangos, milongas and valses will be spun by  guest DJ, Al Ko, who has been our Firehouse friend since the days at Firehouse # 4 in Paramus.  Al has DJ'd in many places, including Stardust Dance Studios and all of the Tango Loco Milongas.  You will love his music.

How about the newsletter?

This Firehouse Tango newsletter has been published nearly every week since March, 2002 and thanks to Fran and Pat, the next two weeks will be 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 will send his handiwork out when I return.

Hi everybody, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. In our last Tip, we began a discussion of what I often call the “lead/follow mechanism” — the complex skill set which determines how the leader and follower interact in order to produce a step. As you’ve heard me say many times in the past, this is in my opinion the essential foundation for dancing social Tango with a fundamental degree of skill and competence. Once this skill set has been learned (and maintained), the student will tend to have very little difficulty in assimilating more advanced Tango skills. Conversely, if the lead/follow foundation is not learned properly, dancing social Tango with a partner will always be quite uncomfortable — and taking on advanced material will always be elusive, if not virtually impossible.

As stated last week, based on a series of discussions I had some years ago with the renowned Tango dancer/teacher Carlos Gavito, I have decided to change the way I describe the lead/follow skill set from “the lead/follow mechanism” to “the invitation/response cycle.”  As mentioned last week, I do this because I think this alternative terminology more accurately reflects what actually occurs between the leader and follower during the dance.

As Carlos said to me on many occasions: “I invite her [the follower] to take an action. She responds. I monitor her response; I become the follower as I accompany her action.” This expression of the lead/follow mechanism — or invitation/response cycle as I will henceforth refer to this skill set — can be characterized as 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, I want to address the first of these elements; i.e., “I invite an action.”

To begin with, when I teach, I like to break any individual step in social Tango down into three consecutive components:

1.      Defining the action through the application of the lead/follow mechanism

2.      Executing the action by the follower (accompanied by the leader)

3.      Balancing at the end of the step

In this first component of the step, we have the initial phase of the invitation/response cycle; i.e., “I invite an action.” It is within this phase that the act of designating what the leader wants the follow to do occurs. Using special body language (which we’ve talked about many times in the past), the leader issues a specific invitation; e.g., “I would like you to execute a back step.” This phase of the invitation/response cycle is interdependent; i.e., the leader and follower employ physical connection in order to effect the two-way communication. The leader does not in any way insist. Rather, he uses body language to gently — and precisely — make a definite proposal. For her part, the follower receives the proposal, and — in keeping with her role in the dance — accepts this invitation by preparing to take action.

In reality, of course, this first phase of the invitation/response cycle occurs within no more than a split second. From here, the partners move into phase two of the cycle; i.e., “the follower responds to the leader’s invitation by executing the action.” This is what we’ll talk about next week.

In the meantime, if you’re a leader, try to start thinking about each lead as an invitation rather than a demand (meaning please don’t push, shove, or carry your partner into the step you want her to execute). If you’re a follower, start recognizing that a lead is a gentle call to action — one that you should certainly accept in accordance with your role as follower — but not an action, which you should compulsively rush to execute. A competent leader will know that you need a little time to respond, and will always make every effort to give you that time.

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