Her name is Adriana Dure. I think I have a crush on her feet. So smooth, so simple, so sharp, so…. !!! - And her handsome leader is Claudio Strang.

I leave three weeks from today. THREE WEEKS!

And I am not even ready. I haven’t even thought about the getting ready part! I just keep thinking it’s so far away. I need to get all of my things in order. I need to pack (that will wait until the last few days before I go - hey, last time, I had JUST moved from Italy and only had three days before going to Argentina, and I managed to successfully pack)… I need to clean up my things and store them. I need to find a subletter!! My cousin needs a new place from what I hear and I might see if I can strike a deal with him, as he’d like it here and it would give him a good base from which to look at apartments, etc. I have to bug my landlord about the exact rules on subletting so I can play by the book. I’ve been trying to get an answer for a week now, and she is waiting to hear from the owners/management company on what exactly my options are. Man, I need to know now!  It’s allowed but I need to know the formalities.

I just realized that since I no longer have an amor waiting for me en el Sur, I have to contact the agency where I got my apartment in BsAs and organize airport pick-up. I get there on a Saturday morning. I already see myself taking a good long nap and then getting up to go dancing. Because I’m like that.

What else… I have no idea. I have to clean my room. This cold really knocked me on my ass and so I have clothes piled up that haven’t been folded, towels & sheets to go in the wash. I need to vacuum.

My roommate knitted me a scarf and left it outside my bedroom door last night. Isn’t that sweet? I’m so touched. I have three more weeks in which to wear it.

AND THEN I’M GOING TO BUENOS AIRES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tonight is the really nice once-a-month milonga at the Century Ballroom. If you are in Seattle and read this and have not gone to that milonga, please go. It’s really great. And you can drink Chandon.

Oh, last night I met a nice older man at the practica (I was feeling better so decided to go dancing). I had never seen him before. The girl that organizes the practica told me that he had just moved back to Seattle after a long time away, and that he had learned tango in Buenos Aires. Cool! She suggested that I talk to him.

So I sat down with him, and he was very nice. If I remember our conversation correctly, he has never seen Tango outside of Buenos Aires. So he was a little culture-shocked at how people were dancing - certainly not in a bad way, just in a “hmmmm this is really different!” way. He enjoyed himself, and plans to come to more milongas. We danced, and while he said a few times that he was very nervous, it was nice, and I thought it was cool to see that he had that embrace and that walk. He definitely learned in Buenos Aires. I looked in the mirror as we were passing it, and it looked like I was dancing with an old milonguero. Too cool! A preview for what is to come. It turns out that he misses it so much and likes it so much that he’s about to go back down to Buenos Aires for a couple of months, and plans to keep learning. We compared notes on milongas, we like a lot of the same ones, so it will be fun if I run into him down there. It’s always nice to welcome newcomers to the Seattle scene - and this one was certainly unique!

Judith had this posted on her blog, and I couldn’t resist giving it a mention here. It’s a tad dramatic, but Monica Bellucci is gorgeous, no? She’s from Città di Castello, which is not too far from Perugia, where I lived.

After further investigation I found that it’s from a short interactive film called HeartTango, directed by Gabriele Muccino - and it is advertising lingerie for Intimissimi.

[youtube=[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6j6uOyvBp0]

The question is, if I buy one of their bras, will it make me dance tango like that?

Julio and Corina. There is nothing like them.

[youtube=[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=cuu8VFVVvA4]

(LuganoTango - lacasadeltango.ch - has other videos posted here.)

A couple of weeks ago I performed with (up and coming DJ) Anton at a beautiful restaurant called Mixturas. I didn’t mention it on here before for various reasons, but I’m ready to post about it. I do have to say we had a lot of fun and my goodness the food was fabulous. I’m a big foodie and wish to talk about what I ate that night before talking about anything else. One thing I ordered was called quinotto, which is quinoa prepared like risotto. h-e-a-v-e-n. I found a recipe which you can try (here for Spanish, here for English).

It was nice to finally have a chance to perform and share my love of tango with others in the community. I’ll never be a Forever Tango star (nor do I want to be), but I do like to exhibit when I have a chance - I’ve been a belly dancer, I’ve acted in numerous plays, sang back-up in a band… I love the arts and I love sharing with people. When I see a performance of something nice, it lifts my spirits. I enjoy being the one on the other side, hoping I can lift other people’s spirits too. I’ve shied away from talking about performance on this blog in the past, but after some internal work to reassure myself that I have nothing to be ashamed of, I’ve decided that I do really want to share some experiences here. It’s part of me, right? Right.
Anyway - I’ve been at this for a few years now and have watched people perform here and there, wishing I had a partner of my own with whom I could perform. I did have the chance to dance several times with my friend Gregory at the Buenos Aires Grill a couple of years ago (truly cherishable, unforgettable experiences), (and by the way he still dances there so go see him), and I enjoyed the concept of dancing in a restaurant.

Mixturas is special - the first and third Wednesday of each month, a fabulous, elegant woman named Patty hosts a milonga with performances at the beginning. It’s not directly in Seattle, rather it’s in Kirkland, so it seems like Seattle people don’t go a lot due to not wanting to travel - but really once you get across the bridge it’s pretty close and well worth it. Terrific restaurant with a wonderful wine list, and a gracious hostess. Is there much more you can ask for?

When we arrived at Mixturas that night, it was a real treat to see some of my family there to watch me. My stepmother, aunt and grandmother, with some family friends. I was pleasantly surprised, and their presence added something special to the evening. And finally my grandmother could see what I’ve been up to with this Tango.

The biggest treat however, was seeing some people from Seattle’s milongas who I never see at Mixturas. They said they wanted to support me - and really, it felt so good to have them there. These are people who have watched me grow the past (almost) 5 years, and seeing them that night made me feel like I had real friends in these people. It took away any nerves immediately. What a great community.

Anton and I started with D’Agostino’s Cafe Dominguez, powerful and poetic, each measure telling part of a story. It makes me feel sassy at some points and soft and emotional at others. Later we danced to Soñar y Nada Mas (De Angelis), and Patty and Greg danced a couple of numbers as well, alternating with us which was really nice, and we all ended together with guess what - La Cumparsita.

I can’t really tell you exactly what Anton and I did, as the moment we embraced I disappeared into “that world” and danced my heart out. It was just a nice experience, particularly that I was able to relax and not let the fact that people were watching distract me from being myself in the dance. If anything, our connection intensified. I hope it was the same for him.

So there you have it. I like performing. I like it because I like sharing what’s in my soul with other people. As I’ve said before, I enjoy watching a nice exhibition of something - it’s uplifting and inspiring to see dancers (or painters or singers or athletes or whatever) do something they love to do. It means a lot that they open their hearts and let us peer into their worlds. I want to do the same for the people around me. Tango makes me feel so - y’know, and I want to share that. I want others to have a moment of feeling “that way” too. It’s nice.

Tango Pilgrim over at his new blog posted an link to someone else’s article that I’ve seen before and always wanted to comment on. You can find that by clicking here. I love what Javier Rodrguez says about ingredients for your personal perfect martini. It fits with me tremendously.

People ask me, “So are you going to take XYZ’s workshop? What about ABC? And LMNOP is coming to town, aren’t you taking all of them?”, and I also get, “Hey, let’s go take (insert local teacher)’s class, they have interesting technique for followers!”

Basta! No…I am not going to take all of those classes. I like XYZ and won’t miss it, but the others I do not want to attend. And while Seattle has some fantastic teachers, I don’t want to study with them, partially because after Eva and Patricio…well, I think I got spoiled.
Anyway, I get funny looks, I get “Well you should always take classes and improve your technique!”

Ay yi yi. Okay, look. YES it is good to take lessons, seek to be your best, etc.

But… these people obviously don’t have an idea of how long I’ve been at this and how happy I am right now…

Why am I not obsessed with taking every damn class under the sun with as many teachers as I can find and “improving” my “follower’s technique”? The answer is simple.

I have found myself in Tango. I have finally found who I am, where I am, what I want to be. I have found the perfect way to stir the ingredients of my own personal martini. I love the way I dance, because it feels like me. I’m myself in the dance. I’m myself.

Why would I want to try learn another woman’s style when after (almost) five years, I have found MY own personal style?

I do like to take lessons and I know my weak points and with the right guidance I try to work on them, but the thought of taking lessons from various people whose dancing doesn’t do anything for me, whose philosophies don’t coincide with mine, just for the sake of taking more lessons from more people, makes me cringe at the money I would spend on something that is useless for me. It would be like putting tabasco sauce in my martini. Ew. Sure there is always something to be learned from just about everyone, but why the hell should I have to? I don’t want ketchup or tabasco sauce in my martini!

I AM HAPPY with where I am in Tango. I am at the point where I feel JOY when I dance! I go to milongas and connect with very nice leaders and I come away with a smile on my face, feeling content because I got to be myself and he got to be himself and somehow we met in the middle and made something really nice.

I never, ever walk away from a milonga thinking “Hey that was a great volcada, maybe I should work on it in a lesson”…No no no! Instead I leave the milonga thinking, “I had such a wonderful time and these people are a joy to dance with.” Steps? pffffft! I’m a sucker for fabulous footwork, but still - give me a good chesty embrace and I’m happy.

Get it? I have found my happy place, I have found my martini, and I want to sip it and savor it right now. Some day I might decide that I don’t like a particular ingredient, and I may decide to try something new just to see how it is. That can be a joyful experience too. But for now, I dance TINA’s Tango and nobody else’s. I appreciate all that I have learned at this point.

I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had much time to think about what I will write here next, so while I get back to my translating I will leave you with this lovely clip of Ney Melo and Jennifer Bratt dancing to the beautiful tango “En La Buena y En La Mala” at last years Capri Tango Festival.

[youtube=[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=diRBTaRPIF8]

I don’t think I’ve ever told the story of how I got myself into this world of Tango.

It was seven years ago. I had never really seen any Argentine Tango or given it much thought. I had gone to see the Carlos Saura film, and while it gave me goosebumps, it wasn’t what “got” me.

It was the summer of 2000. I was with some friends at a funky cafe/home decor shop in Seattle, for some summer cocktails in the courtyard, under the sun. To get to the cafe section of this establishment, one had to walk through the home decor shop, and so I did - noticing that the floor had been cleared and there was a woman and several couples. It looked like she was instructing them in something, though we passed through the shop so quickly that I didn’t get a chance to focus.

My friends and I were laughing and catching up in the summer sun, when something caught my attention. An eery sound that cried love, history, pain, excitement, sensuality - so many things in one note. It was the sound of a bandoneon. I had never really focused on that instrument before but this day, it got my attention. It had something to say.  I wanted to know what was going on and I wanted to hear the music more clearly. I excused myself from the table and went into the store to take a look. What I saw touched me.

The couples I had seen earlier were there…embracing, walking in a circle. The embrace was tender, close. Some of the women had their eyes closed. The woman was just outside the circle, talking to someone and watching the dancers with a nurturing air. I could hear the music now - to this day I can’t remember what it was - and that spooky, story-telling bandoneon was ever present - as were many other instruments…this was a whole orchestra coming out of the stereo speakers. I was amazed.

I could not tear my eyes away from the dancing couples. I was in awe at how they seemed so in tune with the music, and with each other. The way their feet seemed to step at the same time, the way their embrace would never break. I had never seen such a thing in person before.  I remember thinking, “Hmmm… I think this must be Tango.”

I smiled, and returned to my friends, sitting down with a sigh. “Did you see that?” I asked them. “Isn’t it so sensual? So passionate?” One of them responded that yes it was indeed. The rest of them got up and went down to the shop to see what I was talking about. They came back to me with funny looks on their faces, and one of them said, “You think that is sensual and passionate? It’s boring! Lambada, now there is something passionate!” (I’m not lying. They really said that. Fools.)

I shook my head and thought to myself, “They don’t get it.” Over the course of the evening the music would seep through the door and tap me on the shoulder, to make sure I didn’t forget it. I didn’t.

For the next year and a half, life went on. I moved to Switzerland for almost a year, traveled a bit, came back, spent time trying to figure things out for myself. I didn’t dance Tango yet, but that music never left my memory. Anytime I found myself in a situation where I could listen to Tango, I would. A friend had a few CDs in his collection, and I would sit and listen to them with my eyes closed, wanting to weep and smile at the same time. There was something about that rythm that just got me. It beat in time with my heart (or maybe my heart beat in time with it). But I never gave thought to taking lessons. It never occurred to me that it was possible.

In February of 2003, I was at work, and the new loan officer came and sat with me to eat lunch. His name was Gregory. We chatted for a while, and he mentioned dancing. “What kind of dancing do you do?” I asked casually. “Tango” was his response. I think I gasped and then sighed and said something like “Ooooooooooh I LOVE Tango! I have always wanted to learn!” And I had found my connection to the world of Tango.

He had a party soon after that, and I went. Of course there was Tango. I was enthralled and intimidated. A nice guy named Christopher was very sweet to dance with me. I can’t remember if he invited me or if his date had asked him to dance with me. Either way, it was a great experience. I didn’t know what to do, but it was rather nice being in a guys arms and not really having to worry about that. I learned that it was painless.

The real learning of Tango started with a lesson of sorts in Gregory’s house before going to a milonga. I learned about connection, walking - well, okay I’ll be honest. He tried to teach me about connection and walking and I tried to learn but spent a lot of the time thinking, ‘Huh?’ I knew what he was talking about but was too nervous to take it in.

Off to my first milonga - the no longer existent restaurant, Fernando’s Hideaway. I did not know how to react to all of this. There were many people. Dancing. Really nicely. What the hell was I doing here.

It took half a bottle of wine (Guelbenzu Azul if I remember correctly) before I would get up and dance. And you know? I was nervous but we danced a few times and really, in the end it was fine. (It was Gregory. Of course it was fine.) My leader took care of me and the music took care of me. There was nothing to worry about. Except stepping on his foot. But I more or less got the walking part. This was awesome. I was dancing to that music!! 

That night he introduced me to a lovely Argentine couple, Eva and Patricio, who would be my teachers for the next few years. They took me under their wing. A friendship was formed. History was made (well, in my life anyway).

Looking back, I’m glad I plunged myself headfirst into dancing at milongas.  I think it did a lot for my perception of Tango.  I am also thankful that I started when I did, as it meant that I was fortunate enough to have Eva and Patricio in my life.  They are one of the most amazing couples - on and off the dance floor - that I have ever met.  Seattle had it really good when they were here.  I think we all miss them.

This coming February will be my 5th tango anniversary. And I will be in Buenos Aires for the second time. I’m tickled pink.

This is in response to an anonymous person who criticized a Buenos Aires local for not having advanced dance technique and not having spent all his/her spare time and money on classes.

When you go to Buenos Aires, it’s important to remember that you are a guest in their city.

It’s important to remember that the people of Argentina have different life experiences behind them, a different culture, a different history, and different personal situations.

It’s important to remember that Argentina recently had an economic crisis.

It’s important to remember that Argentines live and think in pesos. They don’t have the luxury of dividing the price by 3 in their head to figure out the American dollar equivalent. The price in pesos is just that: the price in pesos. And it’s not cheap. Because they earn pesos. The cost of living is high for them. Some are luckier than others, but you should take a look at the mortgage rates down there and then look at their average salary and you’ll see what I mean.

We North Americans/Europeans/whatever are fortunate enough to have computers at home with high-speed internet connections, enabling us to watch youtube as much as we want, trying to gleen what we can from the likes of Tete, Julio & Corina, El Flaco Dany, and others.

We have the fortune to be able to find ways to afford lessons, festivals, trips to Buenos Aires, countless pairs of tango shoes.

The Argentines we do meet who visit our local communities to teach workshops are extraordinary dancers who set a particular example of Tango, and give us an idea of what it should be like.

It raises our expectations tremendously, and makes us forget that the rest of the tangueros in Buenos Aires are regular people with families, jobs, normal lives, who just like to go out dancing.

Julio Balmaceda comes to town, teaches a workshop, blows our minds, and we innocently come away thinking that this is how all Argentines dance. (….not to mention a lot of us also mistakenly think that all Argentines dance Tango at all, which is simply not true. Only a small part of the population dances Tango. To some, Tango is still looked down upon a little bit. It wasn’t always considered a classy, elegant dance, you know.)

So we go to milongas in Buenos Aires, expecting all the taxi drivers to just “know” where Nino Bien is… expecting all of the Argentines to dance just like Julio. But the thing is, they don’t. Only Julio dances like Julio. Just like only I dance like me, and only you dance like you.

The rest of the porteños in the milongas are people who don’t always have the extra money to pay for private lessons every week. Or perhaps they don’t feel the need because technique isn’t necessarily their main goal. A lot of times they are people who learn in the milongas and have a deep “something” inside for Tango that is hard for us to understand consciously … they are what we call milongueros.

Sure, some of them do want to challenge themselves and sign up for lessons here and there, but what I witnessed when I was in Buenos Aires and took a class with Geraldine Rojas and her husband Ezequiel, was that most of the students were foreigners. I found out that they really don’t get a lot of locals.

Next time you are lucky enough to have a lesson with one of the Tango greats down there, try to be sensitive and remember that not everybody in Buenos Aires is able spend their money on lessons with expensive teachers.

Why do I have a preference for dancing with the men of Buenos Aires? It’s not because they know fancy steps that they learned from a well-known teacher, and it’s not because they lead perfect turns. It’s because they dance WITH ME. They’re not dancing with me to see how well I follow, to test me, to show off, to see if I’m good enough - they are dancing with me to dance with me. They find me, they find where I am in the music, they somehow magically understand where my center of gravity is and take good care of me on the dance floor. This, my friends, does NOT come from countless private lessons with (insert hot shot teacher here). In my opinion, it comes from something else.

Try to consider these things before criticizing a porteño who doesn’t have “perfect technique”.

Glad I got that off my chest.

**Note: I know of two particular guys in Seattle who read this blog and I don’t want you two to worry - you both are lovely to dance with and connect beautifully. Ok? Ok.**

Shut up and let the guy dance.  Sheesh. 

[youtube=[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=9tAUGkBpUtY]