Tango Classes!

My Tango classes have begun. Actually, my first free class, (part of my registration fee to the Language school) was my first Monday in Buenos Aires. This past Monday I started the classes I am paying for and had a class Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. My teacher is Guadalupe Garcia, a young, vivacious woman who is a very good dancer and an excellent teacher. Last Friday she had invited Philip and I, her two students on that first Monday, to be her guests at a Tango Show in which she was dancing. It was a "History of Tango on the Radio" in Buenos Aires. There were 8 dancers (4 couples) and 4 Cantare (singers) and a Tango orchestra composed of two bandaneon (accordions), a pianist, a violin, a bass, and another instrument which I am forgetting at this time. It was an excellent show. Phillip and I joked that is was sponsored by AARP of Buenos Aires, because when we arrived at the Theater there was a long line of elderly patrons waiting to enter and more getting off a large tour bus. Upon entering the theater almost all the seats were occupied by older portenos (residents of Buenos Aires). We were clearly the youngest people in the audience. They loved the show, I am sure because it brought back many memories. I loved the show as a tourist, because it gave me a taste of Tango through the years.

Anyway, Guadalupe has been teaching Philip and I the basic steps of Tango, which begins with the idea that you are basically walking to music. Then you start adding "box" type steps in sixes and eights. And then it becomes more complicated from there. The first night she was working with just the two of us, so all she had to do was teach us the man's steps and she would alternate dancing with us as a partner and let us each practice alone the other time. Then this past Monday a new student showed up, Eve, from Paris, France, and so we had two men, two women but at the same time she had to now take time to show Eve the woman's step and then show us the man's steps. On Tuesday, Guadalupe was not well, so she sent a friend, Emiliano, to teach. He was excellent as well and gave us a different perspective, emphasizing different aspects of the Tango. Tonight Guadalupe returned, but Eve was not there and this time Guadalupe did have Philip and I dance together, one taking the man's role and the other the woman's role. (That was not fun, but it was instructive and actually helpful to get a feel for what the woman is experiencing.) But mostly she alternated again between the two of us.

The Tango is a very intimate dance, as almost all dancing is. It is a simple dance in some respects, but very, very complicated in truth. That is, you can learn to dance the basics quickly and simply, but there are so many options and the longer you dance it and the more you study it the more you learn and the more variations on the basics you can add. I think I will take some more private lessons next week with Guadalupe and then when Dianne joins me in October, maybe we will take some lessons with her as well. Argentinians take their Tango very seriously and there are milongas (dance halls for Tango) each open for dancing on different nights for different hours. Many of them don't start until 10 - 11 p.m. and go until 3, 4 or 5 in the morning. Tango is definitely something one must experience in Buenos Aires if you are to taste the full scope of life here.