Tango Surveys

As long as I've been dancing tango (nine years), people have been taking tango polls and surveys. Why, in case you haven't noticed, there's even one here on my Blog!

But Clay from Portland, Oregon, has organized the grandaddy of them all in his elaborate Survey on Beginning Tango Instruction. Some of the terminology might not be familiar to everybody (cross walk system, molinete, etc.), but there's lots of space to write in your opinion and you can read the results immediately of more than 400 fellow pollsters.

Granted, these kinds of things tend to appeal to the nerd in all of us, but it can be a very useful tool for teachers who want to improve their teaching methods, and for beginning students to know what is valuable to look for in their first classes.

Clay then writes an occasional post about the results on his Blog.

One thing that really shocked me was the low emphasis placed on Musicality by many dancers!!

He plans to conduct other tango surveys in the future, so if you're interested in how Tango America views learning this complicated, inexplicable, mystical and mysterious dance, stay tuned.

Milonga Chiqué

Miss Tango in Her Eyes wrote a nice review of CHIQUE after the second milonga in its new home at Casa Galicia (San Jose y Alsina).

It was nice to see her there, and I agree with her accessment. Chiqué is a warm, cozy milonga with a family feel--maybe because the organizer, Julio, works it with his family. It's a smaller space, too, than the ornate Club Espanol, but the music of DJ Dany is still the best in Buenos Aires, the floor is beautiful wood parquet, and the good dancers are there.

I miss the bar, though. Of course you can still order whatever you want to drink from the friendly waitresses, Pato y Monica, but there is no formal bar to display the glittery bottles and platters of empanadas.

But Casa Galicia has a balcony, which is a real plus for the smokers on a break from dancing.

There are several ceiling fans, but Julio plans to put in air conditioning soon.

We wish Julio all the best of luck with the new Chiqué, and hope to see you all there whenever you are in Buenos Aires on a Thursday afternoon.

argentine tango

TANGO PELIGROSO?

For a week now I have been freaking out (well, more than usual, that is.)
Last Monday my barrio of Boedo had a black out. Nothing new. Thank goodness I wasn´t in the elevator at the time, always a claustrophobic fear. But at the same moment my computer died! When I first arrived in Buenos Aires more than three years ago, I bought the best and most expensive surge protector I could get to protect my most valuable possession. If I have to jump off my balcony in case of fire, Phoebe the Cat and my Macintosh iBook come with. My whole life is in there. My brain is in there.

This is not the greatest country to have a Mac.

To make a long story short, there was no way out but to leave it at the MacStation in Recoleta for a week of diagnostics and only trust and pray that the memory isn´t toast.

So that´s why I haven´t been posting (for those of you who are keeping track.)
But I wanted to tell you about a really great read for dancers and non-dancers alike, MAMBO PELIGROSO by Patricia Chao (Harper, 2005). I had prepared to illustrate my post with a picture of the cover, but I can´t seem to do it here in the cybercafe. UPDATE: Here's the pic and my MAC is working again.

Even if you know nothing about the New York mambo scene, you will enjoy the fast-paced plot and interesting characters. If you are a tango dancer, you´ll recognize the same gossipy intrigues found on dance floors everywhere, with the plus of international political shenanigans.

The story is told from the point of view of the three main characters and takes us from New York to Miami to Cuba. Sure there´s sex, but it´s quality and not sleazy (unlike that piece of trash masquerading as a memoir, Kiss and Tango, which I hate to even mention in case another person will read it and think that´s the true scoop of Buenos Aires tango. Yuck.)

The Cuban scenes are a little sketchy, but the dancing is really real; the author was a professional mambo dancer and it shows.

A perfect beach or airplane book for those of you approaching summertime, but also for a great rainy day--if you´re not out dancing!