Bikes in Buenos Aires

It is striking how much pro-bicycle change has happened in the past two years. I was amazed to see a bike lane on CORRIENTES! Wow!

Areas in downtown have bike lights and green boxes, just like in Portland:

This one is on Suipacha, at Diagonal Norte.

I talked to a few of the taxi drivers. The general view is that one must get accustomed to the idea, but that it is snarling traffic because of street size. For example, on a two-lane, one-way street with parking, no other changes were made. Cars are still trying to fit into two lanes, and people are still parking their cars on one side. No adjustments have been made, except to drive closer together and closer to parked cars. Eek! Eventually, I think some streets will either lose parking or be reduced to single lanes, but it is not clear to anyone if the government of the city has considered this carefully.

I saw a lot more bikers than ever before (and a lot of motorcycles in the bike lane). I also saw one crazy rollerblader going down the middle of Corrientes, in between the cars. That guy must have a death wish!

We really shouldn't go back to the shoestore . . .

Street fairs: San Telmo, Recoleta, and the non-existent Plaza Italia fair

After seventeen years in Eugene, I feel pretty much "done" with Saturday Market artesanal fair and street fairs in general. However, on a sunny day, wandering around the city by perusing blocks and blocks of street vendors is a nice way to spend some time.

San Telmo

Our first Sunday was sunny and warm: perfect for going to the street fair.The fair is a combination of artesanal objects for sale (clothing, jewelry, art), antiques, tourist gear (magnets, Tshirts, tango CDs)  and made-in-China things sold by Bolivians.

I didn't end up buying anything, but Gayle had a lot of fun with artwork. In fact, we had an epic search for a bank machine, as the only one I knew in the area (at Plaza de Mayo) was down for repairs. Even the sellers had no idea where to go for money, as they didn't live in the area. In the end, we identified several in walking distance of the fair with help from Gayle's iPhone; got money; and made several artists happy.

My favorite was Oscar Divito, from whom Gayle bought a beautiful painting (acrylic on canvas). Check out his work on his link. Warmhearted, gracious, nice person AND art. He is usually at Defensa and Alsina (a bit towards the Casa Rosada from Alsina).

This street fair is huge compared to ten years ago: it used to stretch a few blocks in all directions from Plaza Dorrego at Defensa and Humberto Primo. Now, it starts at Defensa where it meets the Plaza de Mayo in front of the Casa Rosada (the equivalent of the White House, but it's pink), and continues all the way to Plaza Dorrego. Wow!

Recoleta

Recoleta street fair is at Plaza Francia: it's not actually on a street. Instead, booths are set on winding paths starting in front of Recoleta Cemetary and stretching down the hill. This fair reminds me a lot of Saturday Market in Portland and Eugene: there were Brazilian drummers, a smell of pot, hippie girls, etc.

The offerings are similar to Saturday Market, too. I saw a LOT of crocheted tops, leather handbags, ceramic mugs and jewelry. However, there were some very beautiful handcrafts. The most beautiful were the handcrafted marionettes, which I would have bought to take home if I had had any money left by that time; after the bank search the weekend before, I didn't want to repeat the forced march around the neighborhood.

Sublime Cueros had a nice selection of leather boxes and knickknacks. They also very fun jewelry boxes shaped like mini chests of drawers in bright colors. Pretty! There were many other leather workers as well.

Plaza Italia

Ten years ago, Plaza Italia had a big street fair. I hadn't checked it out for ten years, so we hopped in a taxi and went across town to check it out. The other street fairs have decimated the population of this fair. Can you call something a street fair when there are only ten booths, and only five are populated? Very disappointing.

There is a street fair here, but it is only used books. If you are interested in used books, you could probably spend all afternoon wandering through the booths. It strikes me as much smaller than the book fair along the Seine in Paris, and it is not nearly as picturesque. However, if you want used books, there they are. Personally, I would choose to hit the used bookstores around the Corrientes and Callao area.

My friend Alejandro from college recommended a huge bookstore, El Ateneo for my buying pleasure, but as I found out about it Saturday night, and it was closed Sunday, and Monday was a holiday, I don't think I'm going to make it over there today :-(

Thanksgiving 2011: The best night I've ever had in Bs As

Ok, that was the best night of dancing I've ever had in Buenos Aires, perhaps in my entire life in tango!!!  And at Niño Bien (Humberto 1, 1462)! We arrived at the beginning, right at 10:30. We didn't get good seats, but it didn't matter! Oh, dear, too many exclamation points, but that's how I feel: the good dancers finally found me! For Thanksgiving, I am thankful that people made up this awesome dance and spread it around the world.

I danced with a man with whom I had a great tanda of Pugliese the night before, plus a DiSarli set last night. I have no idea what we danced tonight, but we danced even better together. Then another guy in a suit grabbed me. He had only danced nine years, but nine years in Buenos Aires is like dog years are to human years. Then two younger guys who had been intently watching me asked me to dance over the course of the next few tandas, and they were great! I think I've forgoteen another good dancer who helped make my night.

It's not that I didn't have mediocre tandas: I did boy scout tandas with a few foreigners and one Argentine man. However, they didn't get in the way of the really good sets. No one was horrible; even the foreigners for the most part were musical, if beginners. Also, having led in Niño Bien myself, I know how crazy it gets to navigate between the old guard being pushy and the foreigners being clueless. I think that the fact that even this milonga is less crowded, made it danceable all night, whereas it used to become impossible for about an hour in the middle of the evening.

What made tonight memorable was musicality. All the good tandas were led with very few complex steps, but with high affinity for the music and intimate knowledge of the songs. One guy complimented me, saying that it was unusual for a woman to know the music (he apologized and said people, but I think he meant that people who don't lead don't listen to the music sometimes). The old milongueros called out "Esa!" when I nailed an ending right in front of a bunch of them (YES!).

It's almost 4 am and I need to go to sleep because I have a massage at 10 am, but I'm so jazzed up that I don't know if I can sleep. Happy, happy, happy.

Milongas: finishing out the first week

Things are different this year in Buenos Aires. The high inflation rate has made everyone tighten their belt a bit, especially the elderly. A few men who I danced with last year have told me this year that they no longer go out nightly. They now go out two or three times a week instead. The difference is obvious in some of the milongas that had been preserves of the older guys. There are more women per male dancer than before. There is a higher percentage of foreigners than before. Also, there are simply gaps in the ranks: empty tables at places that never had empty tables.

Monday

Monday at "Maipu" (La Nacional, Alsina 1465) was packed full, more than any other milonga so far. I have been used to all milongas looking like this. The organizers said that tons of tourists are here right now, making it difficult to seat everyone. We were seated way in the back because we got there late, but one of the organizers, Dany, took a liking to me and made sure that some guys headed our way. Over the course of the night, we got to dance more and more, and ended up dancing continously by the end of the evening. Still, the ratio of foreigners to locals was high, especially later in the evening.

The organizer took a picture of me posing with one of his friends. He told the guy that he was going to cut that part of the picture out and keep the part with me in it. His friend told him that the camera was going to break and other stuff like that. I like it when the guys get silly together.

Tuesday

Tuesday at El Beso (Riobamba 416) was a workout in terms of cabeceo. Again, we were put in the last row, with two rows of women in front of us; mostly foreigners. Luckily a few guys we knew already saw us, and came to get us to dance, because the male:female ratio was off. I think it is due to the higher cost of going dancing because the bar area was almost empty, and it used to be where all the guys stood who could not get tables; it used to be standing room only.

A little old Argentine guy got stuck back in the corner, and spent a lot of time mumbling about "how dare they do that to me, when they put the young guys up in front?" but the waiter told me he knew the guy couldn't dance. Ouch! Does that mean he thought WE couldn't dance? I'll show him.

I had a really special tanda with a guy called Eugenio. I had danced with him Saturday night. He is not an advanced dancer by any means, but has a really good sense of rhythm, nice musicality--and awful floorcraft. He asked me if I had a husband, and I told him I had a son and a boyfriend; and asked him the same questions. He said he had two grown children, but that his wife had passed away after 35 years of marriage. He told me that was ten years ago, and then pulled out his phone and showed me her picture: the wallpaper on his phone. I tried to tell him how lucky he was to have had the love of his life married to him for that long, and he answered, "Lucky? Lucky? She died!!" The next song of the set was really emotional, and so was our dance. It felt completely different from the other songs in the tanda. I almost burst into tears myself, and I could tell he was struggling. Wow.

I had seen a guy from California walk in, and had avoided a cabeceo because we didn't do well on the dance floor the night before. However, when the rock 'n roll set came on, he was standing up, bouncing around, so I figured he could dance that. Yes! We did a good swing, and then an awesome salsa. It felt good to cut loose a bit and shake it! Much as I love tango, I don't think I could ever abandon my other dancing because it gives me other things that tango does not.

Just before we left, Gayle had changed her shoes, and I was walking over to change my shoes, when a few guys gave us grief about leaving before the end of the milonga. After all, we hadn't even looked at them! I told them we'd been sitting there all night, and they hadn't invited us to dance. "That's not our fault! It's the woman's fault! You didn't look at us at all!" True: I hadn't seen them at all. He handed my shoes to Gayle and dragged me out on the dance floor for a tanda. Strange, but fun.

Wednesday

Wednesday at "Mi Refugio" (La Nacional, Alsina 1465), there were a quarter of the people who went last year. Last year, this was our favorite night at La Nacional. This time, we had danced with all the men who were not in partners by midnight and were on to repeating ourselves, but we waited for the exhibition. Most of the men left before the exhibition, too, leaving only the young kids (mostly beginners) at one table, some tourists, couples, and maybe six available men.

The woman next to me danced one dance the whole night, and I never saw her friend get up from the table. Gayle and I danced most of the time, but that included accepting a cabeceo from the not-very-good Argentine boy after he stalked me for part of a tanda; it's hard to say no when all the women around you are poking you, saying, "He's looking at YOU."

Our amusement for the evening was a young German girl who was seated with us. While I was dancing, she announced to Gayle that it was hard to find a teacher because she was "a very good dancer!" She preferred the awful dancer to good dancers, but sat most of the night because she was not a very good dancer. Young, yes. Skinny, yes. Beautiful, yes. Good dancer? Not yet.

Day Five and Six: Shopping!

Monday was an orgy of shopping. First, we went to Tango 8 (Lavalle 3101 near the Abasto). I think we tried on 10% of the store!

Tango 8 does not organize by size at all. Much of the tango clothing available here is "one size fits all" and the assumption is that stretchy fabric will accommodate to your body. Most of the clothes were divided into skirts, dresses, tops--but that was it. There was one section of plus sizes that was not there in 2010. I found that many of the clothes "fit" for here in Buenos Aires, but would be considered revealing in the United States. Also, I've learned to look at how great silver snakeskin lycra looks on me--and not to buy it.

The service is almost non-existent, despite the fact that we went early and had the shop to ourselves most of the time. in fact, the salesgirls stood at the counter and watched from a distance while we waded through all the clothes.

We made an appointment at Asignatura Pendiente (Corrientes y Junin). They no longer have a shop, but instead have a showroom where they can concentrate on clients one at a time. I don't think that made it more efficient for us, since we ending up trying on a LOT more clothes that way. We both found some nice clothes, and they are well-made and pretty. At the end, we spent an hour trying to see if my credit card had gone through because their machine acted up, and they couldn't get any technical support to address the problem. In the end, we left with the understanding that, if it had not gone through, they would call me and I would pay them in cash. A very frustrating experience, but I can't think of any business at home that would have trusted a complete stranger to give them email and check back later on $150 of clothing. Nice folks.

Neotango (Sarmiento 1938), visit #2 (or is it #3?). I went to buy shoes for my sweetie and amused the salesman by trying them on because we wear almost the same size. In the end, I bought two sizes and I'll sell the other pair. Same as the their shoes for women, I think these are well-made. The cost is the same, and I'm sure these take a lot more leather; perhaps the difference is in time to make the fancy strappy shoes?

Shoe repair (Sarmiento 1882): How convenient that the shoe repair place is a block from Neotango! We can buy shoes, drop them at the shoe repair to put suede on the bottoms, and go out for coffee, all in one block!

Euro Records (Lavalle 2039, piso 1) is also the home of the Buenos Aires Tango Club, a non-profit dedicated to the preservation and diffusion of traditional tango music. I got a tip from a British dancer who had been there when I told him that I couldn't locate Donato and Lomuto CDs in the stores. WOW! The music historian who runs it knows so much about the music, the orchestras, the history of each disc. His helper runs the computer side of things and also speaks English. I hadn't meant to buy any discs, but I bought five or six: Lomuto, Donato, Rodio, Buzon . . . I had to stop. If you are going to buy music, check this place out. They are open 12-6 Monday-Friday. It has a poorly marked door with a buzzer, and all you can see is a security door and stairs, but you are in the right place.

For my foodies (you know who you are!)

Friday night, we ate at La Americana (Bartolome Mitre y Callao), an empanada and pizza place. Arriving around 1 am, the place was PACKED with noisy friends and family groups. I ordered one of my favorites (veggie) Pascualina tart. Traditionally eaten during Lent (thus the name), this swiss chard and egg wrapped in pastry, has been a favorite of mine since my first day in Buenos Aires in 1999, when my friend Silvana made this for dinner. Gayle had a Gallego de atun, a tuna, tomatoes and onion pie. We both had a glass of wine and finished off dinner with a flan mixto, my favorite dessert of all time: flan custard covered with whipped cream and dulce de leche. That might explain why it is 2 am and I am still awake: sugar! Dinner tonight was more reasonable than last night: 80 pesos for two people, or around $10 each.

This restaurant would work for vegetarians if they eat eggs and cheese. There were many pizzas available without meat, and some empanadas as well. One empanada was a veggie medley, but I was set on the Pascualina tart, so I didn't try it.

Saturday lunch, we ate at Punta Cuore, 2000 Rivadavia (Rivadavia y Ayacucho). Gayle liked this one the best so far. I had grilled fish with steamed veggies (carrots, zucchini, winter squash and baby potatoes): 33 pesos. She had a big Caprese salad (tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil with black olives): 35 pesos. Trapiche malbec cost the same as the house red, so she ordered that: 16 pesos. With bottled water, 120 pesos for 2 people, plus tip. Nice service, nice and quiet, nearby . . . we will be back!

Sunday lunch, we went to the San Telmo street fair and ate at The Puerto Rico Cafe, Alsina 416, in San Telmo. They have a little tango show there in the afternoons which we did not stay for (free, I think they said). We had broccoli and mushroom tart, and ham/cheese tart, and coffee. The broccoli was amazingly good. The coffee was also really good.

After dancing Sunday night, we tried to go to La Espanol (Alsina y Rincon) in Congreso, but it was closing for the night at 12:30!! I had never noticed that a lot of places close early on Sundays before. Ten years ago, I used to go to La Espanol a lot because it was one of the few places my boyfriend could afford (Argentine men don't usually like women to pay for dates). It is the place where he and his friends dared me to eat various meat things, and afterwards told me what body part I was eating. Ugh.

SO, we wandered over to Cafe de los Angelitos (Av. Rivadavia 2100 (esq. Rincón). The kitchen was closed, but we were able to order a tostado mixto (toasted ham and cheese), a small bottle of wine and mineral water. The waiter told us about the tango show that happens every evening and gave us cards with reservation information on them. 80 pesos including tip.

I have abandoned my attempt to remain gluten-free in Buenos Aires, and I am enjoying the pastries!

Day three: Shopping, dancing and cab drivers

Shopping

Today we wandered over to Zival's (Corrientes y Callao). I wanted "Noche de Cabaret" with Varela's orchestra, which I found on a nice double CD. Gayle wanted Donato's "El Gato" milonga, which was not there. The guy at the information counter said, "It's not our fault we don't have it! If it isn't produced, it's not available." I already had the Donato CD that was there, and so did Gayle. No Lomuto at all :-(  We agreed today was not the day to browse in the store: we will save that for a rainy day when we have nothing to do.

We dropped our shoes off at the shoe repair to get cromo (suede) on the soles on two pair a piece. I have some plain and some with cromo, so if I go somewhere where the floor is sticky, I take leather soles, and for slippery floors, cromo. We will get them back by Tuesday, which is way better than the place I found last year that took a week. I forgot to photograph them before they were dropped off, but I promise to do that ASAP Tuesday.

Grr...I wrote six more paragraphs, and the internet went down when I pressed save.  Grr.

I bought practice shoes at Fabio Shoes for leading. My old men's ballroom shoes have finally worn through the leather after about fifteen years of use. These have a Cuban-style heel, but a bit higher than a man's Cuban heel. I am not sure if I like them; I may sell them. I am so used to using men's shoes for leading, that these seem a little frivolous!

Dancing

Tonight we went to Cachirulo, but in a new location. Last year, it was a short shot down Corrientes to get to Maipu. Now, it's a twenty-minute taxi ride (30 pesos) to the Villa Malcom Sports Club (Cordoba 5064). Since it was pouring rain, we abandoned our walk to the subte and grabbed a taxi.

When we arrived, the ration of men to women was perhaps 1:15 or 1:20, and it did not improve much. We were seated in the second row and on the end, where it was almost impossible to see the men for cabeceo. Given those odds, it's probably a miracle that we each danced six or seven tandas. There were a lot of women who we never saw get on the dance floor, and who left early, only to be replaced with more women.

The level of dancing was higher than at Nino Bien or Entre Tango y Tango. It wasn't that there were better dancers per se, because a lot of the same guys were at Friday and Saturday dances. However, there were fewer lower-level dancers, both male and female, so the entire room looked good dancing (apart from some scary dresses, but that's another story). The musicality was more evident because the whole room moved better together. A few guys crashed in the middle, but most danced competently in two rows around the outside.

When we left, a guy teased us about leaving early. Gayle decided to give him a hard time back, and made me tell him she had waited all night to dance with him. He promised to dance with us tomorrow, as we are going to the same place. Then, a salsa came on, and I danced in my street shoes right there in the back of the room with him. I needed that! I often play hooky from tango in Bs As and go salsa dancing one night while I'm here (Azucar Club is good).

Cab drivers in Bs As

I am fond of cab drivers here in Buenos Aires. I don't know if they are as well-spoken and educated in other places because I usually walk places or take the bus when I'm out of Portland. Here, get them talking, and watch them go!

On the way to the dance, we got a cab driver who talked about the traffic and how it's changed in the past ten years. On the way back, we hit a gold mine of economic information. It's amazing how commenting on the weather, or the traffic, or the temperature morphs into an interesting discussion.

On the way home, the cabbie sat in front of our destination for about five minutes, still talking about the past twenty years in Argentina. I tried valiantly to keep up the translation for Gayle while listening and converting it to English in my head. Here are the salient points for thought:

• Because of recent events in Argentine history, Argentines are realists. They don't live in a bubble that is going to explode and make them face reality, as he feels folks do in Europe and the USA.
• Since so many bad things happened to individuals in Argentina during the dictatorships, everyone knows that you need to work in solidarity with friends and family and other Argentines to fight for rights. He feels that Americans are concerned only with themselves, and can't work together like this because we haven't experienced enough crisis for us to mature yet.
• With the hyperinflation in the 1980s of 300-400% per month, the current 10-15% is nothing. He said they can get through this with no problem because everyone remembers how much worse it was before.
• He told us about how money was not circulating at all at one point, and people went to fairs and bartered goods in order to eat. He said only six people had work on his block, and each would get a different product and share, in order to survive.
• In 2008, the government took steps to inject money into the local economy. He feels that they have been "immunized" to withstand the current global slide, and suggested that if Argentina took a leadership role, we could reduce the global crisis.

I find this impressive, as an "immature" American who does not know statistics for my own country's economic state during my lifetime. It's time to get educated!

Day Two: Shoes!

Thanks for all the comments on FB about what you all want to hear. I've made a list. Alisan gets first dibs because we went shoe shopping. Between the two of us, we bought seven pairs of shoes today.

Neotango (Sarmiento 1938) is near where we are staying, so we went there first. In 2010, they didn't have any shoes that fit me the whole time I was here, so I tried on a bunch and bought two pair (the pewter ones to replace the same ones I had already), and turquoise, which was NOT on my list, but fit perfectly. Last year, shoes cost about 420 pesos a pair. This year? 590 pesos a pair. Oy!

What a clusteryouknowwhat! There were a dozen people all trying to buy shoes at the same time, but then it cleared out and we had the salesman to ourselves. They were helpful and friendly (not the case in 2010). I'm going back before I leave to buy at least one more pair.

Artesanal (Anchorena 537) near the Abasto, appeared to have fewer shoes than last year, but they said they had merely rearranged the shop. I only found one pair that fit with the heel I prefer: black patent leather with polkadots on the front. I'm not a polkadot girl, but when things fit this well, I go shopping for outfits after I get the shoes! There, Gayle found a pair on sale for 380 pesos, but my new models cost me 620 pesos for the pair; I forget if that was the cash discount or not.

The saleslady remembered me and my quest for shoes for wide feet last year; it's nice to be recognized, even if it's for fat feet.

So, shoes are around $130/pair, instead of $110/pair like last year. Sigh. Perhaps I will buy fewer pair than I had intended.

We are going to photograph our shoes tomorrow, and post them with another round on shopping, so stay tuned! I danced my lesson in my new pewter shoes, and went to the milonga in the turquoise ones. I am going to buy more shoes!!!!!

Day Two: Dancing

Another day spent with: "Come on, Ely! You used to know this!" and gentle scolding about not taking enough time to practice. It's nice when your teachers want you to become a better person as well as a better dancer ("Take time for yourself!"), so I am not complaining. I know that, by the time I leave, my dance will be better than ever before; but it's hard to do the tune-up part sometimes.

The focus today: finding just the right amount of stretch in the body while keeping the knees softer, so that all my pivots land on balance and don't ever lean toward the leader or move away. This is harder than it sounds, but I could feel the rightness of what they said, even though it took an hour and a half to really nail it. When I went to the milonga in the evening, I managed to dance correctly for about four tandas before I could no longer feel what was right. After that, it came and went for the rest of the evening.

I don't think it's cheating to go to the same place two nights in a row, especially when different folks inhabit the space. We went back to the Centro Cultural Leonesa (Humberto 1, 1462) for the late afternoon to evening milonga. Arriving at 8 PM, we missed the opportunity to sit across from most of the guys, and got put in a corner. However, as the guys had to walk past our corner if they wanted to get to the rest of the room, we were in a good space compared to where most tourists were stuck. I only sat out one tanda for the evening. After a lesson and 4.5 hours of dancing, my feet are tired, but I did all that in brand new shoes (more on that next post), so no complaints there.

Tonight made up for last night: mostly great dances, with the only not great dances being with folks from the USA and Europe. Another goal of mine: make North Americans dance musically!!! It was SO frustrating to feel more competent dancing than many of the old milongueros, but off the music. I prefer dancing the milongueros 4-5 steps, but really, really on the music.

My best musical tanda tonight was with a guy who kept grinning and saying, "Fun!" in between songs (kind of a goofball). However, we had danced one set before, and he told me he wanted to dance again. The music started, and I looked up, accepted his cabeceo from a distance far enough away that I could have said no, and got up to dance. It was Varela! I only started listening to Varela in the past few months (thanks, Vadym!), and I LOVED this tanda!

1. 1. Fueron Tres Años
2. Noche De Cabaret
3. Y Todavía Te Quiero
4. Y Te Parece Todavia

This made me feel wonderful because I knew what the orchestra was, and the old milonguero had no idea. Also, I played a set of Varela this summer when I was Djing, and I played two of these, so I really nailed the musicality for those. I had an amazingly musical set with an OK dancer who got into the energy/feeling of what I was feeling: wow again! I went up to the DJ when I left, and asked what he had played in the Varela set, because I had never heard #2 in the set. I think I like this better than Pugliese right now. I am going to buy some albums!

I missed out on chacarera because I forgot they played it at this milonga, and so did not set up a partner for it. However, I got a partner for part of the tropical set, and merengued my little heart out. I wish we played sets of salsa/cumbia/merengue and "rock 'n roll" (swing) at our milongas. Hmm.

A lovely evening out dancing!

Day One, Round Five

People kept asking me if I was excited about going to Buenos Aires, and I kept saying, "Not really." I had so much else going on in my life, plus the added tasks to get ready to be gone for a few weeks, that I really only got excited when I walked out the door of the airport into warm, humid sunshine, and thought, "I'm home!" I felt that way the first time I came here, and I still feel that way.

Luis picked us up at the airport and sang us tangos all the way into the city.  Then he said, "Your turn!" and I ended up singing some opera because I don't know any tangos by heart.  HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE??? OK, new goal: learn a few tangos to sing. If some middle-aged guy can do it, so can I!

Call home, unpack, nap #1.

Landed at 10 am, and in the studio dancing by 5 PM. After an hour and a half lesson, I once again feel that I'm never going to get good at this dance. This happens every time, but I don't usually have a lesson the first day, so in a way, the "maybe I should quit teaching this dance and become something else" moment is good to get over right away. I have new things to think about that Oscar and Georgina assure me I used to know, but must have forgotten. Luckily, I am a kinesthetic learner, so by the end of the lesson, I could feel what I was doing wrong and correct it most of the time.

Main problem today (because you KNOW it's going to change each day): I need to turn my feet out just a teensy bit more, and suddenly, my turns work better. Also, I've gotten lazy with having the precise amount of flexion needed at the knees to keep my hips aligned, and I am supposed to be able to lift my abdominals even more at all times, while breathing and fixing my feet, knees and hips. A note to my students: I told you they were going to work on my basics, didn't I?

After that, nap #2.

We headed out and had dinner at Café Victoria: Entre Ríos 114, Congreso. Gayle had a chicken breast with steamed vegetables (squash, carrots, zucchini, etc.). I had tortilla espanol, which I love, and a portion of faina, a gluten-free, garbanzo-based flatbread, and a glass of wine. Prices have shot up in the past 1.5 years, with that kind of meal costing almost double what it did in 2010: 100 pesos this time, compared to about 50-60 pesos in 2010. Inflation here is insane at the moment.

Nino Bien, Humberto 1 (Humberto Primo) 1462, is an old mainstay of a milonga. There were fewer people than in 2010, but still a nice crowd. I saw a lot of familiar faces from before, and we both had some nice tandas. It was Luis' birthday; he's been the maitre d' there since I don't know when, but I remember him in 1999 when he wore jeans, not a suit like now. The entrance cost was 20 pesos in 2010, and is now 30 pesos: another example of price jumps.

My feet and legs are still swollen from the flight, despite getting some exercise and some rest. We agreed to leave early (1 am), grabbed a taxi home despite being teased at the door about going home early by a guy who looked familiar and was just arriving.

That's all until tomorrow, folks. Oh, I mean today, don't I? Time to call my nene (my kiddo) and say goodnight.

Fall special! $80 for 10 weeks of class, starts week of October 10th

Chacarera class coming up for Buenos Aires night at Norse Hall!

Because I came to tango from a folkdance background, I have always loved chacarera. Julio Gordillo taught me: he traded me hours of English lessons for hours of folkloric dance. I couldn't find a clear video of him dancing chacarera, but there's a fuzzy one below. I've attended evenings of folkdancing in Buenos Aires, as well dancing sets of chacarera at milongas. Recently, I've reviewed with Oscar and Georgina, so I've included their video below as well.

There are chacarera dobles and simples. The simples have 6- or 8-count forms. I think the 8-count form is easier to learn, so that's what I always teach. We will leave the other forms for another time. Those of you who are coming to chacarera class on September 8th at Norse Hall at 7:30-8:30, spend a few minutes going over this order, and it will help stick it in your head for the class!

Chacarera simple (8 count)

• avance y retroceso (advanced and retreat): 4 sets of "1-2-3" movement in a diamond shape CCW
• giro: 4 sets of "1-2-3"  in small CCW circle that meets your partner in the middle and keeps going back to own side
• vuelta entera: 8 "1-2-3"s of CCW trade places with your partner to the other side of the dance, and come back
• zapateo y zarandeo: 8 "1-2-3"s of what I tend to call "the stampy bits" for the guys and flourishes for the women (key: If you say "Talega de pan" over and over, it gives you the right beat for the moves for the guys)
• vuelta entera: same as above
• zapateo y zarandeo: same as above
• media vuelta: 4 "1-2-3"s to change places with partner CCW
• giro con coronacion: 4 "1-2-3"s to do a small giro and end in the center, facing partner

 A couple versions to watch and get ready for Buenos Aires night:

Oscar Mandagaran & Georgina Vargas dance social chacarera

Julio Gordillo dancing chacarera (a bit fuzzy, sorry!)

Crazy things to dream about while doing the zapateos!

OK, that's enough to get you excited, I hope!

Beginner's mind practica

I forgot to take pictures! I will try to remember this week.

The first two weeks of Beginner's Mind Practica went well, to judge from the thank you emails I've received. We had about a dozen people the first week, and about twenty the second week, which I think is a good turnout for a new venue. What I saw/heard happening was just what I had hoped would happen: info sharing, but controlled by the learners.

The main reason I started this practica was to provide a friendly, safe space to practice, without unsolicited advice. I saw beginners asking questions of the more advanced dancers, and receiving respectful responses. I had one beginner ask me for feedback, and another ask me not to say anything. I LIKE it when people figure out how they want to learn and then follow that plan!

My deep thanks to the advanced dancers who came and gave an hour to their tango community: the emails I received showed that the new folks don't remember your names, but can describe each of you minutely and are thankful for your presence and dancing expertise.

New classes starting July 14th/18th and NEW PRACTICA!

It seems that we need more practicas where new dancers can practice and get help IF WANTED.  I have hear nothing but good things about Alex's noon practica, but constant complaints about what is happening at other practicas (for the most part, not due to the organizers).

Many of my female students don't go to practicas because they don't get to dance with advanced dancers unless they put up with extreme critiques.  Instead, they go to milongas where the dancers can't "teach" to them.  They don't take time to practice because of this situation.  Many of my male students are frustrated that women don't go to practicas (but see the reason above!)  Most of the dancers I teach are aware of the need for practice time.  However, they are tired of "helpful" more advanced followers who won't just let them practice in peace.

Scott Forbes told me how terrifying it was to start dancing at milongas. Because I taught dance before learning tango, I never had that experience.  In Buenos Aires, I just took up the gauntlet, jumped in, and learned to lead.  It truly never occurred to me that dancing at a milonga was a stressful experience.

SO . . . Suba and I are going to organize a practica for people who have danced for up to two years or so.  We will invite more advanced dancers who promise to ONLY give feedback when asked (including us). No pressure, no criticism, but help available on request from nice people!  We will invite more advanced dancers (community service anyone?) to come dance and hang out.

Video of last week's advanced class

OK, here it goes! This is Oscar and Georgina's "Milonguero turn with amague variation" that they taught me and that is also on their DVD set.

Follower technique for the amague variation:

Download MOV02768

Leader technique for the turn, and then for the amague variation:

Download MOV02769

And here is the noteboard for the combination:

Thanks for being patient, everybody!  If the movies don't work, let me know (it let me play them).  I'll gussy up the process once I get used to doing this :-)   Thanks Rich for the camera work!

Single axis turns: the basics and some combos

I've been so busy studying anatomy that I've had little time to blog, BUT I realized that I haven't put any notes down for single axis turns for a LONG time. Here's the short version of what we did tonight in class.

The basics

Single axis turns are turns in which the leader and the follower are (as much as is possible) sharing an axis while spinning on one foot in place, and then exiting.

A single axis turn can be done:

• in a right or left turn;
• with either the leader's right or left foot;
• and through any step of the follower's turn.

Of course, not all single axis turns are created equal, and some are harder to do than others. However, I've found that each leader finds different single axis turns to be easier. I myself mastered the one my teacher thought would be hardest for me before the "easy" one! I should say that my main teacher for these has been Luciana Valle (thanks, Luciana!), but that I also studied them with Chicho and with Gustavo. I was taught them in open embrace, but I do them and teach them in the V-shaped, close embrace that I usually use to dance.

The order we did so far:

• left turn, step through follower's open step with left foot (or right).
• left turn, step through follower's front cross step  with left foot (or right).
• left turn, step through follower's back cross step with left foot (right is dangerous here).

Secrets to make single axis turns easy

The list I wrote on the board for leaders:

• Step AROUND/BEHIND the follower's front foot (whichever concept puts you in the right place).
• Step forward HEEL-TOE, allowing both people's feet to continuing rotating, in order to land better on balance and not catch feet.
• "Pink Panther" timing: da-DUMP! The follower's foot hits the ground, and then you step around/behind a split second after they start the weight transfer. This allows you an escape hatch if the partner lands off balance, so that you can bail on the turn, OR help them regain balance. It also allows you to "ride" the momentum of the follower, instead of working harder ;-)
• Don't go for 360^o instead of technique: a 180^o is fine (heck, a quarter turn is fine). When you and your partner are aligned correctly, you will find that you turn a lot more, even without much effort.
• There should be a moment at the end of the turn where there is a feeling of suspension before the exit: don't fall into an exit, use that suspension and enjoy it! It's like a wave gathering and then breaking.
• Exit with the follower's easiest exit (usually back or forward) and arrange yourself as needed. If you need to change feet for stability, then do it, but ONLY to exit. For example, on the follower's back cross step version of this turn, I sometimes lead this in parallel, then transfer weight to exit in crossed system.

The list is shorter for followers:

• Don't panic.
• Stay aligned (you were joking about "butt out" and all of you did better after that).
• Did I mention don't panic?
• Do the best turn you can do, with excellent technique on each step, and you will be on balance, ready for anything.

Combinations from single axis turns plus the boleos we've been doing

1. Left turn, back boleo in the turn, rebound to front cross step, and do the single axis turn in that step, to the left, with either foot stepping around/behind follower. Exit follower stepping back for easiest exit.

2. Right turn, pivot follower as if to ocho, and lead front boleo, unwind into left turn, and do the single axis turn in that back cross step with the left foot. Exit follower stepping forward for safest results.

New classes starting!

The next session of classes starts 3/31 and 4/4 @ the Om Studio, 14 NE 10th Ave. in Portland:

• Beginners: 6 PM Thursdays (3/31)
• Intermediate: 7 PM Thursdays (3/31)
• Advanced intermediate: 8 PM Thursdays (3/31)
• Advanced: 8 PM Mondays (4/4)

The cost is $60/6 weeks, or $12 drop in per person.

Tango Fundamentals

The 6 PM class is a class for beginners, or anyone who would like their dance to look more like Buenos Aires style tango. We work on technique for walking, turning, changing directions, pausing (adornos, too), as well as a few other basic steps, depending on the speed the class works at. My classes are a bit different than run-of-the-mill tango classes: we play games with music, energy, balance, etc., that allow you to gain an understanding of tango very quickly. I encourage correct body alignment and use of the body structurally to find your tango. I also think that improvisation, energy and fun should be a part of every person's tango, right from the first class.  If you need survival skills for the dance floor, this is the right level for you!

Creating the Magic

The 7 PM class is a class for continuing to develop an elegant, strong dance. I introduce new figures gradually, focusing on traditional, close embrace movement that can immediately be transferred from class to the dance floor. Again, balance, breath, embrace and musicality are ways to approach new movement, not just "fancy parts" to add in after the step is memorized :-)  When you walk out of class, you will be able to use what you learn right away on the dance floor. 

Taking it to the next level

The 8 PM class is focuses on musicality, improvisation, elegance--making the dance your own.  Often, we work on similar moves to the 7 PM class, but add details that challenge a more advanced dancer.  Musically, I alternate six weeks of moves that work well in vals/tango with moves that work well in milonga/tango (yes, many are good for all three :-)). If you already know moves, but want to look/feel better on the dance floor, this would be a great class for you.

Tango Alchemy

The Monday night advanced class is for dancers who have either already taken my other three levels, or who have reached an advanced level already and would like to polish their technique, learn new figures to enhance the dance, and build musicality. If you are not sure that you have a high-enough level for this class, please bring a partner along so that you can work at a slower pace, if needed. :-) This is a "one-room-schoolhouse" kind of class, with a wide range of dancers.  You should have three years or more experience for this class.

Classes are NOT just for people learning to lead!

Dance classes are not just "for the guys" or for folks who want to lead. In every class, I devote part of the class to technique for following. As my teacher Georgina Vargas says, "You have no excuse for looking bad on the dance floor, no matter how poorly you are being led." Please come to the appropriate level of class for your skill level; if you have danced for a while, but have not worked on styling with me, I request that you attend a lower level for at least a few weeks and learn the basics of the technique, or take a few private lessons before jumping in to do advanced moves.

See you in class!

Weighing in on the cabeceo

I have strong feelings about the cabeceo: I LOVE THE CABECEO! I always teach it in my beginning classes, and make my private students practice it. As a cultural anthropologist, I can't imagine teaching people to do a dance without also teaching the appropriate cultural rules that go with the dance.

When I first encountered the cabeceo in Argentina, it took me a while to feel comfortable with it. I am quite shy with people I don't know (yes, I know I hide it well, but there it is), so the experience of making eye contact for a seemingly long time made me feel uncomfortable. I forced myself to look at stranger's faces, willing them to invite me to dance.

At first, I danced with anyone who was willing to look at me. As I got to know the other dancers, I found there were folks I did not want to dance with; and I could avoid them politely by not looking at them. Having been trained as a nice North American girl, I have difficulty refusing a dance partner who walks up and asks me to dance. Cabeceo gave me a sense of control over partner-picking that I never experienced in North America.

This is not to say that the cabeceo is fool-proof. This past February in Buenos Aires, I enjoyed going to La Nacional on Wednesday nights, as well as the Centro Leonese (Nino Bien) on Friday evenings: women were seated on one side, men on the other. We all had our glasses on to see, but you could see almost all the potential dance partners and angle for a cabeceo better. At one point, a guy smiled at our table, and all six women (sitting three deep) pointed to themselves and mouthed, "Yo?" He made an apologetic gesture, pointed at the one he wanted, and she got up to dance. The other five laughed and readjusted to look for another partner. That sounds chaotic, but I prefer that to being accosted by someone I've tried to avoid by not looking at their face all evening!

With patience, the cabeceo becomes easy to use and provides a lot of control for both partners to choose a dance couple for a tanda.

Someone on the listserve mentioned that it was inappropriate for a woman to cabeceo another woman. I don't think I agree with that. I wouldn't cabeceo another woman in Buenos Aires at a traditional dance, but I would at a gay milonga, where the rules are more relaxed.  With women who are my friends, we use the cabeceo. In Portland, I rarely use the cabeceo women (or men) who I don't already know.

As a teacher, I have always felt that I need to be the model forcorrect behavior in the community. Because I know beginners get better much faster if more experienced dancers dance with them, I have always interpreted that as needing to dance with anyone who asks me (short of those whose grip hurts my body). However, perhaps I will do more good as a model of correct cabeceo! Remember, if I don't have my glasses on, I might not have ignored you: I may have just not seen you looking! Try again!

Classes start this week, with continuing drop-in

Please note that the Intermediate/Advanced class will be at 8 PM on MONDAY in a new location (the studio double-booked us).  4315 NE Garfield Ave. will be the location for the Monday class.  All other group classes are at the Om Studio.

Come join us!