Just a moment

London life, a dash of tango and a spoon full of sounds 
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tango

 

Closed and open embrace

I really love the playfulness of this song and this couple. 

And this illustrate the tension in neotango between closed and open embrace. When you see them at first there is a lot of energy and torsion building up between them. When they open up their embrace, the dance becomes more fluid and the joyous stream of the music is more clearly embodied.
This is Alejandro y Marisol dancing to "Araca la cana".

Filed under  //   dance video   tango  

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London Tango Dancing: The London Milonga & Practica Map: Last Updated January 2009

The London Milonga & Practica Map: Last Updated January 2009


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The London Milonga & Practica Map: Where you can go to dance in London.

Key:

Red pin = Milonga (M)

Blue pin = Practica (P)

Green pin = Outdoor Milonga (O)

It is best to double check with the organiser or on their site, to see if the milonga or practica is running on the date you're planning to go. A Taste of Tango, whilst it endeavours to provide accurate information, cannot be held responsible for the content of external sites, any changes of venue, information or frustrated dancers!

Please do not contact Jenney to ask for information that is already on the map, if you want to find out whether a milonga/practica is running on a particular date, contact the organiser directly. You can also find a version of the map with reviews here. If you would like to add your milonga or practica to the map, please read this and then contact Jenney Surelia.

I've tried to make this information as interactive as possible, by allowing a search for what day of the week you would like to dance, see the navigation bar below the torso image. You can also now submit your own review of the milonga/practica by adding a comment, feel free to post your feedback on Tango in London.

Enjoy!

For the folks looking to dance tango in London, this is a great map showing you most milongas and practicas in the capital of the UK. This was compiled by Jenney Surelia and her tango blog is very good too. Check it out at: http://tangothoughts.typepad.co.uk

Filed under  //   dancing   maps   tango  

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Tango legs

I won't deny that french people have a bit of a bias for beautiful legs, but I find these ankles mesmerising. There is a simple joy in Tango, it's not all gravitas and burning passion. Thank you Javier Rodrigues  and Geraldine Rojas.

Filed under  //   dance video   tango  

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Out of a movie set

Upstairs from a serene milonga, a couple practice in a wonderfully grand old place in central London.

Filed under  //   dancing   tango  

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Walking with a friend in the dark is better...

...than walking alone in the light.

This is a quote by Helen Keller and somehow I think it speaks of Tango. Looking forward to Alejandro y Marisol dancing in London in March.

Filed under  //   dance video   tango  

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Character

Lunfardo is in my opinion a magical language. There is hardened spanish colors married to italian melodies and every so often a word appears with french tones. Because I do not quite understand let alone speak this argentinian dialect, each word, each sentence hides a surprise to me. I feel a little bit like an explorer trying to unravel the mysteries of meaning and the new world metaphors layered in the letters... 

FANFARRON (Tango)

Lidia Borda (Entre Suenos), Letra de Enrique Cadícamo, Musica de Luis Nicolás Visca


Son macanas, pura uva, tus decires bullangueros
que venís a darte corte si te manyo el pedigreé,
vos te hacés el bacanazo y te faltan los aperos
y te creés que nadie sabe lo que sos y lo que hacés.
Que tirás la guita al aire, que tenés cuarenta minas
en el barrio del asfalto donde hay luces y hay "toven",
que por pura fantasía te dopás con cocaina
y que de puro aburrido te paseás en Citroen.

II

¡Fanfarrón!,
en la mersa de los guapos
no arrimás ni por equivocación,
¡charlatan!,
vos vivís únicamante,
porque es muy buena la gente
y hay en el mundo un lugar.
No sabes,
que hasta el loro del vecino
aprendió a gritarte ¡fanfarrón!
¡che cartón!
que vivís dándote corte,
muñequito de resorte,
ya verás que papelón.

Por tu culpa se hizo reo tu hermanito, ¡quién diría!
y por vos piantó tu hermana del suburbio querendón,
a quien vas a hacerle el cuento, si sos pura fullería,
por adentro solo sombras, por afuera relumbrón.
Está bien que los engrupás a los giles de hace rato
pero a mi que se tu foja, no me vas a trabajar,
che bacán, hacete a un lado, solamente sos un gato
que te da por las grandezas que jamás has de alcanzar.

  
(download)

Filed under  //   letras   tango  

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Notes on Astillero

How best to spend a grim and soggy Monday night? Let me try to answer that by remembering the intimate concert of Astillero in La Negracha.

Tables and chair were laid, 50 odd people in there at best. 7 guys, classic sexteto with a singer, all in black like old school rockers from Argentina, pick up their instrument and deliver some distilled honesty. The musicians were all so lovely, passionate and humble: no concert can survive apathy.

Tango de ruptura. I am not sure what it means but I know what I felt. Music and references showed tremendous respect for the 40s, for Caro, for Pugliese and then for Piazzola. But the music was theirs, the words were not dusty, the energy was from this century. The arrangements were ingenuous and fun. Who said Tango was depressing? I can always feel a certain peculiar brand of joy even when the themes are woven around passionate love and death. Astillero, I cannot wait the day when I will see you in your natural habitat in Bs.As.!

Listen, digest and enjoy, un abrazo!

Filed under  //   concert   tango  

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A gentleman

If I would have lived in tango as a child, I probably would have said: "when I grow up I want to be like Carlos Gavito". His a way of delicately, tenderly illuminating the feet of his partner: frenadas y sacadas ever appear so delicious. I can try to put more words on this but somehow I think it is almost lacking respect when so much is being said on the floor...

I was always told that silence is the most important word in a jazz improvisation. In my mind Gavito is a master of silence.

"...casi fuimos enemigos por decirme la verdad." :)


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Wooden floors

Early signs of this love affair can be found in layers of memories. The engravings on the tiny school tables where i learnt how to write, les liés et les déliés - Building tree grottos, houses and forts from Auvergne in France, to New Jersey and any other childhood holidays in between - carving tiny boats out of bark, cutlings and leaves for miniature regattas - Admiring the curves, texture and life of the family tiny hazle statue, les cheveux fuyants - the smell of tall maritime pine trees on the road to Arcachon...

Now tango has bestowed upon me the love of wooden floors. Sure I used to always have an eye for the warm colors of the 'parquets' in the elegant Haussmann flats in Paris. But tango has sublimed all this: now I get to draw invisible lines on the wood :)

Share your wooden memories!

Filed under  //   memories   tango  

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Légèreté et élégance


This is the tango that I long for and aspire to. These are the feelings that truly resonates with me. There is utmost tenderness in the embrace, there is grace and balanced energy in their walk. The musicality and emotions expressed by the dancers is incredibly touching. I love this video! 

The music of Francisco Canaro has this crackling flavour of decades gone, quand les hommes portaient le chapeau. The arrangement of this song is superb: the violins delicately blowing melancholia to the wind, the piano driving the paseo. I always picture the streets of Paris when the deep sound of the wind comes into the melody.

My favourite part starts at 1.33 on the clock: for a moment the dance becomes a hug, a tender and chaste hug, which flows and open into dance again. I would like to think that a true and connected embrace could and should always move seamlessly from hug to dance and back again. What do you think?

Merci Ezequiel y Eugenia, merci mille fois.

Un abrazo a todos.

Filed under  //   dance video   tango  

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