$5 specials on May 21st, and new classes starting

It's that time again! $5 classes for a night of fun at the Om Studio, 14 NE 10th. Check us out on Facebook: I try to post the topics for each week's classes on our page.

7 PM Body Dynamics

This class is more like a traditional technique dance class than a tango class. We start with tango-specific stretches. Then, we do drills and exercises to polish fundamentals (front, side, back steps; pivots, etc.). Finally, we spend the rest of class on specific moves, often linked to what I will be teaching that week in either the advanced class (8 PM Mondays) or the 8 PM Thursday class (mostly intermediate dancers).

Come check it out! Wear something that allows you to lie down on the floor. Not a flexible person? This class is for you! I can always modify exercises to fit your needs.

8 PM Chacarera

Back by popular demand! This fun Argentine folk dance is easy to pick in terms of survival skills: which direction to head, which figure comes next, how not to crash, etc. If we have time, we will also work on the men's zapateo fancy footwork and the women's zarandeo of flirty, beautiful patterns.

Thursday nights start a new dance session on May 24th. Top 10 Tango moves is at 7 PM, and Next 10 Tango Moves is at 8 PM. The summer classes will be for 10 weeks for $80 (I assume folks will miss a few weeks for vacation). Summer special: take Top 10 AND Next 10 for 10 weeks simultaneously for $125! This special is only for the summer.

Monday nights will restart June 4th, as Graciela Gonzalez will be here Memorial Day Monday. 7 PM will be Body Dynamics, and 8 PM will be the Advanced level of tango for people with either three years of experience, or teacher's permission. The price is $60/6 weeks, or both classes for $90.

Ganchos and leg wraps 101

The big picture: a gancho is a hooking of one partner's leg around the other person's leg, and then releasing it. This can be done by the leader or the follower.

Technique pointers: Leaders

• Create a tall, skinny window for the gancho.
• Only use your chest rotation to lead a gancho: keep your hips anchored, or you will fall over!
• The leader's arms help contain the follower: don't use them to push the follower into a gancho.
• Correct foot placement is tricky, but makes the difference between almost doing a gancho, and leading a beautiful gancho.
• It is OK to pause to ensure correct placement before completing a gancho: it's not about force or momentum as much as placement and timing.

Technique pointers: Followers

• Keep your leg loose/relaxed, from the hip joint down.
• Did I mention keeping your leg loose?
• When doing a gancho/leg wrap, make sure to maintain your axis. Although some ganchos can be done off-axis, this is rare, and not a part of Ganchos 101; let's save that for about Ganchos 301!
• Don't help the leader do the gancho: let it be led! Leading a gancho is a issue of timing, not force, and the leader needs practice to fine-tune it.

Ganchos from overturned back ochos

When I studied these ganchos in Chicho's teacher training class, back in 1999 or 2000, he told us, "Always make the follower come to you, rather than going to the follower." This is expecially true for the gancho from an overturned back cross: if the follower moves even a bit too far away, or does not pivot well, it is impossible to do this step. If the follower is rotated around you so that your bodies are touching, this step is easy.

1. Set up the step. I prefer to use a side step into a back cross, rather than a big giro to wind up, because many followers assume the back step will be fast, and tend to rush the step, making it smaller and too far away.
2. DO NOT PLACE YOUR FOOT UNTIL THE FOLLOWER'S FOOT IS IN PLACE! Preparing early will simply move the follower further away. Wait until the follower's back foot has touched the floor, and then adjust your body and leg to get in position for the gancho. You can always slow the follower down :-)
3. Make sure the leader's hips anchor facing the follower's step BEFORE the gancho. This way after the gancho, the leader is ready to receive the released leg and be in charge of the next step.
4. Wrap your instep and ankle as much around the instep/ankle of the follower as possible. You want to find the follower's axis so that you can ensure keeping the follower on balance during the gancho. We are not going to tackle any off-axis ganchos in this round.
5. Gently rotate your chest with the follower's leg, to make it wrap around your thigh and unwrap. Remember, this is like a rebound: the follower's leg does not grab the leader and hold on!

Followers:

1. This move will not work unless you have a pristine overturned back gancho. Think "butt towards leader" as you rotate, in order to remain as close to the leader's axis as possible. This will make the actual gancho easier for both of you.
2. Do not auto-gancho: wait for the lead. If you don't get a good lead, don't do a gancho!
3. If the leader leans into your space, let your leg release across your other leg (an amague), rather than risk falling over.
4. Let the entire leg stay loose. Think floppy. My first teacher, Daniel Trenner, once told me: "You are going to have to get messy before you get elegant" because I was not letting my leader use my leg. Face it, followers: you are not leading the step :-)
5. Focus on your basic steps, not on the free leg. Roll through your heel on the back step. Arrive on axis. Work your axis, not your free leg.

This move is also fun using the leader's other leg (i.e., the right leg when turning the follower to the leader's left). In this variation, the leader needs to keep the same timing, but pivot to face 180 degrees away from the follower to accept the gancho through the BACK of the leader's thigh (the outside of the thigh in my thought process, as opposed to the inside of the thigh for same side/same leg version).

Ganchos from a rebound/rock step

These appear to be the most used type of gancho in Portland. I prefer the other versions I taught in this class, but these can be a nice thing to do, too.

1. Lead into a front parada and front pasada. I suggest using the same kind of setup I listed above, with the leader's instep wrapped around the follower's axis like a grapevine up a pole. If you use a different kind of parada, you will need to adjust the leader's foot in order to get a good gancho.
2. When the follower has COMPLETELY put weight on the front step after the front pasada, lead a back rebound.
3. Because the leader's leg is in the way, this creates the gancho, rather than a back-to-side step.
4. Remember: tall, skinny window! Do not squat to lead this move!

This move can be done to both sides, using either leg of the leader to create different effects.

Leader ganchos

There are a ton of leader ganchos, most of which are used in stage dancing or open embrace. A few are also possible in close embrace, as long as you dance in the V embrace I prefer, with a rolling point of connection, rather than a static point.

We only did one leader gancho in Ganchos 101:

1. Walk the follower to the cross, BUT leader does not change weight onto the right foot; stay on the left!
2. Make the follower walk forward with the right (make sure the cruzada gets untangled!), and the leader steps back with the right. Try to make the follower step almost against the inside of your left thigh. Stay close!
3. Take another step RLOD (leader's left, follower's left), but don't let the follower complete the step. Use your embrace to put the follower into a bit of a lunge. Do NOT lower your own body, or the gancho will be difficult!
4. Standing on your left leg, pivot your body until your right leg can gancho through the follower's lunge (the leader turns away slightly from the follower).
5. Return to regular position and exit, perhaps to the cross.

Remember that a gancho is NEVER about getting your ankle up, or you will kick your partner in tender places. The knee drops down and the leg swings gently as a whole, not just from the knee. You could theoretically kick your partner in the lower back here if you are flexible enough; but most of us are not.

Leg wraps

As this is Ganchos 101, we only did one leg wrap. To me, a leg wrap is a gancho that then travels somewhere to make the hook unwind. The easiest one (in my opinion as a follower) is led from the circular ocho cortado.

1. Lead the first part of the ocho cortado. I cannot stress enough times that the circular ocho cortado does not rotate in the first three steps of the move!! Yes, some folks teach it that way, but this works much more easily for the follower, so stay in a linear formation.
2. In the second rebound of the ocho cortado, lead the follower to do the regular rebound and close in the X EXCEPT that the leader's leg will be in the way, creating the leg wrap.
3. As the follower does the second rebound, the leader places the right leg in against the follower's right leg, with ankle and knee relaxed: you are trying to get as close to the follower's axis as possible, on the inside surface of the follower's leg. Do not stop the follower's rebound!
4. Stay in place while leading the follower to cross. This should wrap the follower's left leg around the leader's right leg. Immediately, the leader should complete changing weight onto the right leg in place, which should release the follower's leg, allowing both dancers to have the left leg free for walking to the cross in crossed system (my favorite ending to this as a follower).

Having said that, many of you leaders have told me you are having trouble getting the follower to do this. I've watched you on the dance floor, and here are the main two problems:

1. The followers have their hips IN rather than OUT in the correct alignment. This sends their leg behind them, even in the regular ocho cortado. They are used to being cued, "Hey, this is an ocho cortado!" and then auto-leading themselves. Give them a chance to get used to the correct lead :-)
2. The leaders are stopping, not doing a rebound to get into the leg wrap. This makes the followers tighten down the hips, knees and ankles. This does not result in a relaxed leg wrap. Make sure you are leading at least the follower (and hopefully yourself) into a rebound step.

Other little notes

As many of you noted, ganchos and leg wraps are easiest with someone about your own size. If your follower is a lot taller, go for the leg wraps. If they are a lot shorter, go for the ganchos.

I am going to leave the crazy double gancho for both people out of this entry, as no one in class is ready for it (sorry, my bad!). Let's focus on more social dance floor types of ganchos. Go practice!

Arrastres and barridas: Drags 101

I have always used the words arrastre (drag) and barrida (sweep) to mean a move where it APPEARS that the dancer is being moved by dragging the dancer's foot from one place to another, BUT which is actually led by the movement of the leader's torso. I emailed my teachers, and they said there is no difference. Whew! Why do we argue about these things online, anyway?

Technique pointers for drags

In terms of technique, what is important in a drag?

•  The leg being dragged, or doing the dragging, has no weight on it, but it is on the floor. 
• The free leg is free and relaxed from the hip joint. I think of the leg as being heavy, in order not to tense it.
• The feet of the partners are connected, but without tenseness or rigidity.
• It is important to set the move so that the partners stay the same distance away from each other, unless you are doing the drag for a specific move that opens/closes the space. For Drags 101, we will aim to keep the same distance.
• In order to convince the follower to actually follow you, you may need to slow down and/or completely stop at the point at which the drag begins, in order to learn the correct position and movement. BOTH dancers should be on axis and on balance at this point, whether pausing or not. I am in favor of slow motion for drags, personally. I like to work the steps, rather than fit as many as possible into one dance.

When in Rome . . .

The most popular drags in Portland are those done from the follower's back cross step (usually in a left turn); dragging the follower's right foot with the leader's right foot, and then leading a stepover. There are tons of variations that few people use, but which are relatively simple in concept:

1. You can do the same move using the leader's left foot, for a completely different look.
2. You can do the same move with the leader's foot in front of the follower's foot, so it looks as if the follower is leading the drag.
3. You can do the move to the other side, using either foot; and either side of the follower's foot.
4. OK, that is 8 versions of the same thing: pick one and work on it!

A nice variation on this drag

Oscar and Georgina do a nice variation on this drag. They lead it up to the pasada, BUT:

• instead of leading the pasada, use the chest and marca to rotate the follower to take another back step!
• do the drag again (or twice more), THEN lead the pasada.

I like this because it is elegant, and asks more of the follower and leader than just automatically finishing the most familiar pattern.

Another kind of drag

I like to drag the follower's side step into the front step, and then lead a pasada (stepover). The same possibilities are available as in the above drag, but the easiest version is to use the foot away from the direction of movement, along the outside of the follower's foot (think "behind the foot").

Because dancers are less used to this drag make sure you slow the follower down so that you can catch the foot. It is not any harder than the drags above, except for the fact that it is unexpected. Remember how hard it was in class to do variations that were CLOSE to what all the followers already knew? When leading these, be clear! When following, make sure you relax your legs, rather than tensing because you don't know what is coming up.

Drag to a forced cross step

I taught this step in my advanced class a few months ago. It is more complex than the other drags because you must change the follower's weight before finishing the step, but it's still fun.

1. Set up the follower's front cross step (easier in the left turn).
2. Drag the "back" foot (follower's right) in UNDER the follower, so that you are forcing a cross step: the follower will end in the same shape as the cruzada, but will have arrived there by the back foot coming in.
3. Change the follower's weight to the right foot by SLIGHTLY moving away from the follower.
4. Unwind the follower, using the chest and the marca of the hand, so that the follower has both feet free (not crossed).
5. Nice exit: just walk out.

 Drags where the follower is the center of the motion

 I first saw this style of drag when I went to Argentina for the first time back in 1999. El Indio was doing a street show almost outside my window in San Telmo, and each week, I watched him do the same routine, more or less. One of my favorite moves--I was a relatively new tango dancer, and I liked ALL the fancy moves!--was this style of drag. This drag reminds me a the calesita because the follower has to be convinced to stay on one foot while rotating.

1. Lead the follower to a back parada.
2. Step over/around the follower with your free foot.
3. Drag the follower's foot, creating a rotation of the follower.
4. Exit or repeat.

This can be done so that the foot is "trapped" between the leader's leg and foot, or with a more open style, depending on which foot the leader uses for the parada and drag. It is easier to drag with the foot near the follower, but more in El Indio's style to use the foot away from the follower, trapping it.

This is just scratching the surface of drags, but it's a good beginning. Go practice! Here are some nice examples, some of which we learned/are learning in class:  Oscar and Georgina doing barridas and llevadas

New Monday class sessions start April 9th at the Om

Body Dynamics, 7 PM Mondays

Body Dynamics is my hardcore tango technique class. We do stretches that I learned from Georgina Vargas that are specific to tango. Then, we do drills to improve footwork, balance, pivoting, contrabody use, adornos, etc. After that, we work on a particular step, picking it apart and finding all the pertinent details--and then we work some more! The first session I offered this class, it was almost completely female in attendance, but last week, we reached a new record: more men than women! After all, everyone wants to dance a dynamic tango, don't they?

The most rewarding part of teaching this class, is to see my students rapidly improve in both flexibility and technique. One student told me that he had recently danced for two hours without pain. Before taking the class for the past five weeks, he had considered stopping dancing because of pain levels. Another student told me that, suddenly, much more advanced dancers have been inviting her to dance. Another student, on his second six-week session, is now able to do almost all the stretches without modifications; he no longer needs to sit on pillows to make up for lack of hamstring stretch. Each week, I look around and feel amazed at the quick progress I see around me.

Why am I teaching a tango class where people lie on the floor and stretch? When I went to Buenos Aires in November, Georgina Vargas convinced me to try her stretches. I was skeptical, and I wanted to get on with my tango lessons, but I have found that Georgina's ideas are usually right, so I got down to work. On the nights that I stretched before dancing, I had about 1.5 hours more of good technique out on the dance floor, compared to the nights I didn't stretch. That was too much of a different to ignore; as usual, Georgie was right! When I stretched before my private lesson, I got a lot more work done in less time because my body was ready for it. I decided to teach her stretches and drills in a separate class, incorporating my anatomy studies and other dance training in as well.

Topics for the next session

This next session, we will work on dancing at various speeds, as well as dancing different sizes of steps. Milonga requires you to move very efficiently in small spaces, with very little time to make those steps look elegant. How you you ornament in milonga? How do you dance well in small steps, without losing your style? Come find out.

I often find that by studying opposites, we arrive at a better understanding of both things. Therefore, the other focus this session will be on taking BIG steps. How do you dance in close embrace (or open) in a lithe, sensual, elastic manner? Training your body to dance well with big steps also allows you to have better technique with regular steps, while encouraging your to develop better muscular strength and control.

I promise, promise, promise that we will include adornos, large and small; for leaders and followers. This past session, I had hoped to get to them, but all the great work we did on off- and on-axis moves/preparation took up all the time.

Om Movement Studio is located at 14 NE 10th Ave., between Burnside and Couch. It is one block from Norse Hall, and right off the bus line. There is limited bike parking. Class is $60/6 weeks, or $12 drop in. If taken in conjunction with the 8 PM Advanced class, the price is both classes for $90.

Take it to the next level: Advanced class at 8 PM

I started this class in order to share the technique of Oscar Mandagaran and Georgina Vargas with the Portland community, but it has expanded to include other bits of technique I've studied as well since 1995 when I started dancing tango.

After you've danced tango for a while, you are ready to really dig in and deepen your understanding of the dance. You want all that hard work to show in an elastic, powerful, panther-like way. In this class, I encourage you to bite off chunks of new vocabulary, new technique, new ways of moving--and meld it into your own style. I hope that, when class is over, each week you will have something new to take to the dance floor with you; something that makes your dance have an edge.

The main focus definitely is body-based technique. My motto is, "No pain, no pain." Tango is not supposed to be painful! The technique I teach works on finding balance and movement efficiently, so that energy is available for moving dynamically. Feet shouldn't hurt; backs should not feel tight; the body should feel balanced and supple to dance your best. There are many styles of tango, but I have chosen the one that I believe is best for the body AND the most elegant because of that.

Topics for this session

This past session, we have worked on shared-axis turns, colgadas and volcadas. Although we will come back to that work, this next session will have a different focus: advanced work in milonga and vals. I have been teaching milonga and vals classes in my lower-level classes, but it's been a while since we've tackled them in the advanced class.

Each week, we'll work on a combination that challenges technique and musicality; we will make sure we can do it in the line-of-dance, and then we'll pick it apart and modify it with each dancer's own dance vocabulary and style. In other words, I'd like everyone to walk out of this class with a better understanding of both dances, but with their own way of dancing.

This class will build on the technique work of the 7 PM class, and I urge you to consider taking both classes to get the most out of your own technique. However, it is not a prerequisite, and I know some of you are adverse to stretching :-)

Class is $60/6 weeks, or $90/both 7 and 8 PM classes. Drop in is $12/class. Om Movement Studio is located at 14 NE 10th Ave., between Burnside and Couch. It is one block from Norse Hall, and right off the bus line. There is limited bike parking.

New Monday night sessions start 2/27

Both the Body Dynamics class and the Advanced class start new sessions the Monday after Valentango. There is NO CLASS 2/20: we are all too tired to learn after a festival :-)

7 PM: Body Dynamics

This class focuses on learning stellar technique to add more ENERGY and feeling into your dance. My style is body-based, working towards efficient use of the core to reduce wear and tear on the rest of the body. In each session, we look at how the body is built to move, and then work on using it the right way in tango.

This session, we will be preparing the body to move off-axis for colgadas, volcadas, etc. We will focus on using the core, the stretch of the body and leg strength (protecting the back), and also on freeing up a leg to combine boleos, etc., with these moves.

Also, we will work on being able to dance beautifully in small spaces.  Dancing small is hard to do with power and energy, but it is possible!

Designed for intermediate and advanced dancers, or beginners with dance background.

8 PM: Advanced class

Come challenge yourself!  Make your dance flow better; add sensuousness, balance, connection, musicality, adornos--take it to the next level! 

This session, the advanced class will focus on appropriate-for-the-social-dance-floor colgadas, volcadas, single axis turns, and playing with the axis. Each week, we will do a new combination, concentrating on dynamics, musicality and connection.

For dancers with at least three years tango experience, or instructor's permission. No partner necessary. You may work with a partner you bring to class, or trade partners.

$60/6 week session for one class. Special: sign up for both for $90! Drop in is $12/class.

Celebrating Black History Month: The Roots of Tango

In honor of Black History Month, one of the parents at my son's school has been sending out emails about famous inventors and innovators who were African-American. I didn't know that Lewis and Clark's French translator was a slave named York. I didn't know that the first doctor to operate successfully on the human heart was African-American.  I didn't know that the imaging X-ray spectrometer was invented by a Black man named George Alcorn. Wow! Why do we only get taught about Rosa Parks and M.L. King, Jr.?

Tango's African roots often are ignored or downplayed in the same way. When I was researching my thesis on tango, only a few people even mentioned tango's non-European roots at all. I would like to include several summaries of work that I have not heard many tango dancers discuss. All of this information is from the articles noted below (not my own work!). I have left the citations in, so that you can follow up for yourself if this interests you. I will try to put more of these up for Black History Month.

Andrews, George Reid.  1980.  The Afro-Argentines of Buenos Aires, 1800-1900.  Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press.

According to Andrews (1980), the milonga and the tango are elements of Argentine culture that demonstrate the contribution of African culture to Argentine culture (Andrews: 219).  The Afro-Argentines had a small presence in Argentina compared to other former slave-holding territories in the New World because the main products of Argentine (cattle and grain) required less manpower to produce than the cotton, sugar, and other products of other slave-holding areas.  However, the Afro-Argentine presence was much stronger than documented in Argentine official history.  In Argentina, class is stressed rather than race (Andrews: 215).  Thus, there has been an emphasis on tango developing in the lower classes, but the contributions of Afro-Argentines to this process has been significantly downplayed (Andrews:165).  

After the end of slavery, the African-Argentines worked mostly as manual laborers (dock workers, laundry women, construction workers) and crafts people (Andrews: 178).  With the immigration boom from  Europe in the mid-1800s came a decline in jobs available to Afro-Argentines because the immigrants would work for less money (Andrews 181-83).  Afro-Argentines switched over to the service sector, government jobs, and entertainment (Andrews: 184).  Relatively large percentages of musicians, dancers in the academias de baile, etc., were Afro-Argentine.  Therefore, they had a strong effect on the music and dance of Buenos Aires, and were key in the development of milonga and tango (Andrews: 184).

Both the new immigrants and the Afro-Argentines lived in the poorer areas of Buenos Aires.  There was a high rate of Italian-Afro-Argentine intermarriage, especially in La Boca (Andrews: 217).  The immigrants and the Afro-Argentines also mixed in the academias de baile.  In the 1870s, some dance hall owners sought to segregate dance space, but the liberal white press made such a commotion that the owners were forced to bow to public pressure and continue holding dances where black and white Argentines danced together (Andrews: 196-97).  This social mixing of cultures and races shows both in the people and the dances of those neighborhoods.

As Africans were brought to Argentina continuously until the end of slavery in 1807, African culture was continually influencing the Afro-Argentine community and culture.  The Afro-Argentine community was divided into social organizations that claimed connections to specific tribes and areas of Africa.  By the 1760s, the different nations were holding public dances, called candombes (Andrews: 157). 

The whites were aware that the candombes were occasions at which the Africans performed their national dances, calling up memories of their homeland and recreating, even if only for an afternoon, a simulacrum of African society in the New World. (Andrews: 162). These dances were banned in 1822, and reinstated in the 1840s and 1850s (Andrews: 160).  So many dances were hosted that the black press scolded the Afro-Argentine community for the amount of time and money spent on "frivolous" activities (Andrews: 189).

Until 1850, there were enough Africans to maintain separate dance traditions within these organizations.  Gradually, the traditions merged into a single Afro-Argentine dance form, the candombe (Andrews: 163).  Candombe "borrowed elements from a number of African dances" (Andrews: 163).  The dance consisted of four parts that featured lines of dancers (men and women) approaching each other, couple dancing (male/female), and exuberant solo dancing (Andrews: 163-64).  As late as the 1880s, there is documentation of candombe being danced (Andrews: 164). 

In the 1860s and 1870s, young Afro-Argentines "abandoned the candombe in favor of such imports as the waltz, schottishe, and mazurka" (Andrews: 195).  In reality, the music that was played for these dances still retained African elements.   However, these dances brought the dance embrace (man and woman touching) into the African mixture that already existed, and led to the development of the milonga.

The milonga grew out of the intermixing of the Afro-Argentines, the working class creoles, and the European immigrants in the academias de baile, or dance halls, of the working class neighborhoods in Buenos Aires (Andrews: 166).  These dance halls provided a social focus for poor neighborhoods where the various ethnic groups met to drink, gamble, and dance (Andrews: 166).  The milonga was a dance that the poor whites did to imitate and/or mock the candombe of the blacks (Andrews: 166).  However, the main elements of the dance were Afro-Argentine.  In 1883, a writer noted that "[milonga] has the same rhythm and movement as the drums of the candombe" (Andrews: 166).

As the tango developed out of milonga, its African roots are firmly established.  The first tango is said to have been written by an Afro-Argentine accordionist in 1896 (Andrews: 165).  The tango is a slower, smoother version of the milonga.

When the couple locks bodies tightly together and sways back and forth, we are seeing the lineal descendant of the first stage of the candombe, in which the swaying is interrupted by the bringing together of the bodies for the ombligada [touching of the navels].  Or when the partners move rapidly across the floor, first the male leaning back at a sharp angle, then the female, it clearly derives from the third stage of [candombe].  The steps of the tango form a kinetic memory of the candombe.  (Andrews: 166-67)

Monday night class announcement

7 PM Mondays: BODY DYNAMICS
I am offering a new class, starting Monday, January 9th. The class will focus on learning stellar technique to add more ENERGY and feeling into your dance. A lot of us are looking for a way to take our dance up a notch so that we enjoy it more, and I have designed this class to help you achieve that goal. Although a lot of the material I bring to the class comes from my teachers, Oscar Mandagaran and Georgina Vargas, you can apply it to any style of tango and get more pizzazz.

This session, we are working on anything that turns or pivots, for both leader and follower technique. Make your turns purr, your boleos sizzle, and your pivots snap, followers! Leaders: get those hips in gear for enrosques, quebradas, preparations for drags and sacadas, etc. Designed for intermediate and advanced dancers, or beginners with dance background.

Bring clothes that allow you to move, stretch on the floor, etc. We will do a quick warmup at the beginning of class, move on to drills and exercises, and end with putting it into the dance. You may bring a partner and work only with them, or come and switch around, switch roles, whatever works for you.

Class starts 1/9. 6 week session for $60, or $12 drop in.
Special for January-February: sign up for this session, and get the 8 PM advanced session for 1/2 price!

8 PM Mondays: ELIZABETH'S ADVANCED CLASS
This class covers topics that the dancers choose on the first day of the session, combined with work from Oscar and Georgina Mandagaran's technique. Each week, we will focus on 1-2 combinations of steps. We will learn/review any steps that dancers need, and then play with putting the steps together in different ways. We also work on how to make the combination work best with varied music (tango, vals, milonga). For dancers with at least three years tango experience, or instructor's permission. You may work with a partner you bring to class, or trade partners.

Class starts 1/9. 6 week session for $60, or $12 drop in.

Next classes start next week (and yes, there is class this week!)

Thursday classes start again on January 5th:

6 PM Beginner's Mind Practica:
Our practica is friendly, with no feedback unless you want it. If you are a beginner, I can introduce to other folks, answer questions, dance with you, etc. If you are not a beginner, I invite you to either come practice for yourself, or come and dance with beginners to give back to the community. Remember how nice some people were when you started? Be one of those nice I-dance-with-beginner types ;-) The practica is by donation.

7 PM Top Ten Moves:
Ten fundamental moves in ten weeks. In Argentina, many people only know this many (or fewer!) moves, but they do them REALLY well. This class is for beginners to learn the basics AND for more advanced dancers to polish those moves and build musicality and navigational skills (for the followers, this is the time to practice making each step exquisite). This is also a perfect opportunity if you already know one role, and want to learn the other. $80 for 10 weeks, or $12 drop in.

8 PM Musicality and the Next Ten Moves:
This session, we will focus moves that are sweet in both tango and vals (since we just did milonga last session). This class is for intermediates and advanced intermediate dancers. For each new move, we will put it into the dance, connect it to what you already know, and make it work on the dance floor. For followers, we will practice adornos (ornaments) and ways to make feet beautiful. Musically, we will work on putting moves together to make you partner drop at your feet with the beauty of your dance :-) $80 for 10 weeks, or $12 drop in.

There will also be Monday classes, which will be a six-week session; more to follow!

Bits and pieces that haven't fit in anywhere

Good massage place

Marta Rey does reflexology, massage, facials, moxibustion, etc., and has those strange but very nice Korean massage beds that roll your spine for you. I tried it once, and Gayle is back getting everything loosened up for the flight home. Both of us really liked how our backs and feet felt afterwards. Marta speaks some English. You can reach her to set up a time (you will need 2.5-3 hours for the whole works) at 4951-6755; 4953-7223; or 15-4061-3232. All numbers that start with 15- are mobile numbers. The other two are her work phone and her home phone; I am not sure which, but try the first one first. She is at Rivadavia 1966, 3rd floor, Apt. A (in Congreso). We got a deal for being friends of friends, so I am not sure of the price, but I think it's around 120ish pesos. Tipping is nice.

Good pedicure and hair place

Claudio Zappulla, Ayacucho 57 (also in Congreso) was hopping when we went in to schedule pedicures: we had to wait two days! Some friends get their hair done here, too, and vouch for the stylists. I don't know if they speak English, but the pedicure person did not. They aren't afraid to remove callus here. If you haven't had a pedicure outside the USA, don't panic when they start shaving callus off (last year, at another place, the girl broke open a disposable razor and used a blade from it; at this place, at least they have the right tools!). The little sander-like tool made everything supersmooth, but I'm very ticklish, so it was a bit of a torture for me. However, my feet felt GREAT afterwards. I think it was 75 pesos for the most thorough pedicure I've ever had. Telephone: 4953-6584.

Nice leather products

We wandered into a few leather stores, as my handbag started to disintegrate a week into our stay (it's "Ecoleather" aka vinyl). Camila Cueros, Lavalle 741, had pushy salespeople, but very good quality leather. The prices seemed high to me because I don't buy leather in the USA, but Gayle assured me that the prices were really good deals, compared to prices at home.

Good ice cream

Cadore Gelato Artigianale, Av. Corrientes 1695. I already mentioned this place last year, but I went back. I REALLY like their gelato!

Shoe repair

I think I already said this, but I'll put it here, too. Sarmiento 1882, half a block away from Neotango Shoes. They can get stuff done fast: they put croma on Gayle's shoes between yesterday afternoon and 9 am today. Fast, good service and repair.

My new favorite clothing store for tango: Tango-Imagin

Tango-Imagen Anchorena 606, tel,. 4864-3847, email: jazmin.tangoimagen@gmail.com, is next to Tango 8, and I hadn't seen it before. However, the nice ladies at Susana Artesanal steered us that way after we couldn't find what we wanted at their store. What a nice place (both). At Tango-Imagen, three people do the cutting and sewing and selling, so they know the fabrics, they know what they have, and they can take special orders. They have a mix of performance stuff, going out to dance clothing, and practice clothing.

The man who helped us makes most of the pants they sell, but he was able to look at how one outfit fit Gayle and suggest another one because the fabric was stretchier. It only came in one size fits all, but that stretchier one was perfect, and she bought it. Pretty designs, nice fabrics--how can you lose? Check them out! Buy their clothing!

Favorite seafood restaurant

La Gran Taberna, Combate de los Pozos 95 (esq. Hipolito Yrigoyen), has things from quite cheap to very expensive. We went on the less expensive side, and stuffed ourselves. What I really like about this place: the waiter took our order, and then said, "Look, that's too much food for the two of you. What if you share one order of the fish, along with your salad and sauted asparagus?" Where else would they suggest you order less of the most expensive part of your meal? Also, we ordered two glasses of wine, and the waiter brought us a bottle: he said that, if we shared a third glass of wine, it would be the same price as the whole bottle. Now that is service! We helped the waiters with their English homework, too. They have a second door on Combate de los Pozos that is their take-out service. Yum! Reservations: 4951-7586.

Slightly cheaper, nice place

Puenta Cuore Restaurant, Rivadavia and Ayacucho (in Congreso), had nice salads. I had an excellent merluza (fish) and steamed veggie meal. Gayle had yummy pasta. The restaurant is on a corner, and it was fun to people watch. The waiter was attentive.

Vegetarian possibilities

There are a lot more vegetables in restaurants than ten years ago. Also, I found three vegetarian restaurants in the area between Lavalle and Corrientes; between Callao and Junin. I didn't try any of them. Sorry, Geofrey! I know you wanted more information.

Gluten and life in Bs As

If you don't eat gluten, eating out is almost impossible if you are also a vegetarian. I opted for eating more meat than usual, and went off my gluten-free lifestyle. Thank goodness I'm not allergic! Many people said they had heard that some people can't eat gluten, but I didn't meet anyone who said they were gluten-intolerant or allergic to gluten. They don't eat in restaurants here, I bet!

Miscellaneous thoughts

1. Song I don't have that I wish I had bought: Di Sarli's Volver a Sonar. At least that's what the DJ Sunday at Canning wrote down for me. Hey, I still have a few hours!

2.  Our taxi driver one night would need to change his name to emigrate to the USA: on the placard showing his license, etc., it claimed that his last name was Moron. I kid you not.

3.  I think American milongas would be better if we kept the idea of a set or two of something different, interpersed during the evening. I love having a chacarera set and a set of "tropical" (cumbia, salsa, merengue) during the evening to relax my body, take a break from concentrating, and enjoy the other dances that I love. I would accept a set of "rock 'n roll" as long as it wasn't all Dixieland jazz (a bit overplayed here) or Elvis (don't get me wrong: I love him, but too much is too much).

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!

Rude people on the dance floor

When annoying men try to teach on the dance floor (and yes, I know women do this too), I have found I have a limit to my politeness.  When one French man informed me that I had anticipated a step, I said nothing, but when he REPEATED it at the end of the tanda: "You anticipated one step."  One step in the tanda!!  I am afraid I told him that it was rude to criticize on the dance floor, and that I had not said anything about his mistakes, but rather, had fixed them. Grrr.

The other rude man--as opposed to those who are trying to be helpful--was at Nino Bien.  An awful Argentine dancer hauled me around the floor, and then suggested I go to La Viruta to learn that style of dance.  It was obvious he didn't care whether I was enjoying the dance, and he didn't bother try to adjust at all: he just pulled me in tighter and higher, until I could barely keep my feet on the floor.  I smiled at him and told him that good technique works with everyone, and walked away. Grrr.

I have taught dance for 25 years, and I would never dream of saying things like that to another dancer while dancing socially!!! Shame on them.

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!