Photo Credit: Matias Baglietto/Reuters @ https://www.ft.com/content/5fbef231-4e3d-4750-9f20-53d131571cdc I put on my mask. The cool dollop of Purell soothes my anxious hands. Her eyes crease above her mask, a gesture that signals that she is ready to dance. I walk toward her in the middle of my living room, lift my left arm, and invite her palm … Continue reading Tango is More Than the Embrace
The Touch Chronicles
Day 21 It has been 21 days since I have touched someone. For most people, touch has taken on a whole new meaning. Seven days ago, an Amazon box arrived at my doorstep, and this pretty much sums up the incident: Picking up the Amazon box, putting down the Amazon box, walking into the house … Continue reading The Touch Chronicles
Day 12 Without Touch
Last night my best friend and I FaceTimed, tried to do a women's tango technique class in our living room, which basically sounded like this for an hour: Me: Can you see my feet? Her: How about now?Me: No, turn the other way.Her: How about now? We made the class work, joking often about climbing … Continue reading Day 12 Without Touch
My Tango Life Cancelled
My Tango Life Cancelled: March 11, 2020 One by one, milongas, practicas, festivals, tango classes, and seminars cancelled worldwide. My facebook notifications screen looked similar to an airline terminal monitor during a snow storm, one cancellation after the next. Sadly, I had to do the same and postpone indefinitely our weekly milonga, which had debuted … Continue reading My Tango Life Cancelled
I’m Sorry, but Stop Apologizing!
In tango in the States, men have apologized to me during practicas or milongas; however, their threshold for what constitutes an offense is much higher. For instance, a leader may have just learned a new complex sequence or technique and wishes to experiment with it and often apologizes when it is not executed fluidly or effortlessly. Women, on the other hand, often apologize for nearly every instance of instability, which could be the result of the leader's actions, which may be due to the congestion on the floor, which may be due to a bunch of out-of-towners overly excited about the first D'Arienzo tanda of the night. What women identify as an offense or fault of theirs may actually have nothing to do with them.
¡Qué vachaché!
For Discépolo, someone like Jesus or other spiritual moralists are on the same social rung of a much larger ladder that separates the poor from the privileged. Money is God. And to live a purposeful life, we must serve the dollar and offer penance to the debt collector. Nearly 100 years have passed since these prescient words were written. They continue to be relevant in the world that we live in today, where we dance against the clock, eyes shut, not knowing what to do.
Between Heaven and Hell is Tango
Yesterday in my tango class, my maestra Paola Tacchetti took one hand to her chest and the other to her pelvis and stated that the old milongueros would find heaven in their hearts and hell down below. She stated that the more we can proudly separate these two worlds, the closer we are to discovering … Continue reading Between Heaven and Hell is Tango
6 Things Good Dancers and Writers Typically Do
In tango, it’s the difference between dancing the tango of Chicho Frumboli or Moira Castellano or dancing the tango burrowed deep in our body where the sorrow of yesteryear surfaces and follows each shallow breath.
Critical Response Process: How to Get the Feedback You Need as a Writer and Dancer
In tango, questions from our dancer partners are almost never neutral. “Why did you step there? Why didn’t you bend your knee? Why didn’t you boleo?” Lerman writes, “When defensiveness starts, learning stops” (qtd. in McCarroll 245). When two peers are involved, it is inevitable for egos to clash or for one person to feel demoralized.
Dancing to Lunfardo
Argentine tango is not only famous for its affectionate embrace and sensual synchronization between dancers and the music, tango is also celebrated for its poetry by lyricists such as Homero Manzi and Celedonio Flores. https://youtu.be/pwsuIQ4GIi8 Lyrics by Celedonio Flores Tangos are written in Spanish, yet many famous songs have examples of Lunfardo, a unique … Continue reading Dancing to Lunfardo
The Learning Curve 