Dancing Soul

Shoe repair in the Portland/Vancouver area

 

After trying several repair places in my neighborhood, I found that many places would not repair my stiletto heels because they "didn't have that size heel tip" available. Could I bring one with me? How frustrating!

Luckily, several of my students have found repair shops with more intelligent repair folks. I have not tried all of them yet, but so far, so good!

 

Vancouver area:

Corner Cobbler Shoe Repair, 608 Devine Rd., Vancouver

(360) 693-0921

Hours: M-F 9-6 and Sat. 9-3

 

SW Portland area:

Hillsdale Shoe Repair, 6311 SW Capitol Hwy., Portland, OR

(503) 344-3153

Hours: Tues.-Fri. 10-6 and Sat 10-4

 

NE Portland area:

JD's Shoe Repair, 728 N. Alberta St., Portland, OR

(503) 287-7078

Hours: Tues.-Sat. 10-6

 

I will be back to posting more regularly, about the Portland community and about anatomy, posture and all my favorite topics, as soon as I get my taxes squared away!

 

The interlaced embrace: energy and connection

Coming back from Buenos Aires to dance in the USA is always difficult. It's not the level of technique: in some cases, that is comparable with the dancers in Argentina. Why are dancers here different? One Argentine teacher told me that he was glad HE didn't have to teach North Americans tango every day: "They don't like touching each other!"

To me, it's not the physical touching that is lacking, but the emotional connection. Most dancers I dance with in Buenos Aires are more open. I can feel their energy open up to me, rather than block my energy. It is rare to feel that with dancers I don't know in the USA, and sometimes even with folks I know well.

I think this might be true for North America, rather than only for dancing tango. Dancing last night (West Coast Swing), I could feel my partners going through the motions, but not DANCING with me. One man kept putting my hands on his body and gyrating, but never connected in energy: it was a solo act! In fact, I was struck by the connection that was established with one dancer from Los Angeles (Latino), because all the other dancers--with the exception of my sweetie--did not connect.

There is a social component in what I experience as the connection in Buenos Aires. There, I have discussions about relationships, work, politics, love--in between dances in a tanda. In some cases, we started up conversations from the year before and continued them! When the dancing is REALLY good, we tend to talk about how good the dancing and connection feels, and often discuss the orchestra or the singer and how that is working to our advantage in the tanda. I don't experience that very much in the USA, except with established friends; and then we shy away from deep conversations, as if that would interfere with the dancing.

Is it more accepted to open to another person emotionally outside of white American culture (most of the dancers here would fit in that category). The Argentines I spoke with certainly think so, but there are cultural sterotypes about North Americans there, so perhaps that is not a valid observation.

What I try to accomplish in my teaching tango, is to establish a deep, interlaced embrace that allows for movement for both people, and allows for maximum balance and comfort. I think that aids in allowing emotional and energetic connection. That is one reason I've moved away from the square, stuck-to-your-sternum embrace I was taught years ago: if I am struggling for balance, how can I relax enough to allow a real connection to happen? When your body relaxes, your center relaxes, and you can allow energy flow to form a unified couple. It will take a bit more work to get our North American comfort zones small enough to let vulnerability in enough to really connect with others.

What do you think will help us open up to our partners and let our vulnerability out to play?

 

Food for thought: how can we improve the tango dance experience in our communities?

My last two nights of dancing in Buenos Aires are not happening: I caught a cold, and stayed home last night and tonight. I decided it was more important to try to get well than to squeeze more dance time out of my visit; especially as I don't like to give colds to other people!

Most people take vacations to relax. I usually come home from Buenos Aires more exhausted than when I left. Perhaps this time, I will be ready to jump back into life.

I always come home with a list of things that I want to change about my teaching, about my practica, and about the Portland tango community. As I have a young son, I don't travel much in the U.S. tango community, so I don't know whether these problems exist in other communities or not.

 

1.  Guys, let's dance with the women who aren't getting dances!

Maybe they are shy, or new, or lack the confidence to really accept a cabeceo (or don't know how to cabeceo!). What I've noticed this time in Buenos Aires that I never noticed before: There are nice guys here who dance with people who have been sitting down a long time. They are good dancers, but more importantly, they are GENTLEMEN. These guys don't just dance with their favorites, and they don't peacock around, showing off. They quietly make the milonga experience better, just by being nice. We could use more of this in our community.

 

2.  Ladies, let's accept at least one cabeceo from someone below our dance level every time we go dancing.

Although the foreigners I met were obsessed with getting good dances, the Argentine women with whom I sat, danced with their friends, no matter what level they were, and they had a lot more fun. I would like to see more of this friendliness towards the men in Portland, rather than the snooty attitude that occurs when women try to demonstrate how good they are by rejecting lower-level male dancers.

 

3. Let's get to know each other as people!

There was less of a feeling of competition between women when I sat at tables of Argentine women. Instead of trying to intercept cabeceos (and yes, I sat at a table of competitive foreigners who would lean in front of others to cut off their view of the men), Argentine women chatted with me. They directed my attention to better dancers with whom I might like to dance, and my best tanda of the entire visit came out of my table partner digging me in the ribs and saying, "Hey! Look! That guy who is a really good dancer, is looking at you! Look at him!!" I am happy to see that the women in my community are starting to meet outside of tango, and to make friendships, so that there is more camaraderie at the milongas. This is a good start.

 

4.  Let's introduce new people to our friends and ask our friends to dance with them!

As a teacher, I feel this is part of my duty to my students, but shouldn't everyone try to expand the feeling of community by including the new people more? That person might not dance well now, but maybe they will in the future. Or, perhaps they will never dance well, but they are a wonderful person who we want to stay in our community. Or, perhaps that person will become your best friend! Someone recently told me about a very difficult time in their live, when coworkers were unsupportive, but their tango community reached out to them. 

 

I guess my main point is: let's spread that tango love! We have a choice as to how we act, so let's start the New Year with a resolution to be better community members!

 

La Feria de Mataderos

Today I went to the Feria de Mataderos with a friend (thanks, Sarah!). Like the other artesanal fairs, this has a bunch of imported, Chinese cheapo stuff around the edges, handmade things at the heart of the fair, and various other amusements.

The fair is open from Easter until Christmas, more or less. As next week is the last week for this year, it appeared that some of the folks had already stopped coming. Sarah was looking for certain booths that were not there.

We found a booth selling tango shoes at VERY reasonable prices. The vendor said that her prices will have to go up next year, but they were much cheaper than in the store. She and her husband make all the shoes: nice leather and well-sewn!

I found goat's milk dulce de leche for my son, who does not eat cow dairy! I also bought artesanal pan dulce as a gift for my hosts and whole wheat bread for myself. Add a few pretty trinkets for presents (as they are surprises, I am not putting them in here), and choripan, and that was pretty much it for the day.

The folk dancing hadn't started yet when we left, but the music stage was set up and they were singing and playing music. It was too hot to dance anyway: 33 degrees Celsius. I got burnt to a crisp: one of the guys in the milonga tonight said I had white circles where my glasses had protected my face!

By the way, if I hadn't had Sarah along, it would have been hard to see the fair from where the bus stopped. However, if you look for the big fountain, that helps. I am not sure if it was amusing or alarming to see a fountain that had signs posted: High voltage! with people swimming in it! The fountain is that industrial, mini-nuclear-reactor-looking thing in the foreground.

La Gran Milonga Nacional 2012

I took my dance class today, spent two hours doing a photo shoot, and then ate a LOT of home-cooked meat and a glass of wine: no milonga tonight!

However, instead of a milonga review, I have the first of the videos from the Gran Milonga Nacional ready! I danced with Santiago Asencio, another student of my teachers, Oscar Mandagaran and Georgina Vargas. Considering this is the first time we ever danced with each other (or met, for that matter), we did pretty well on a plywood stage where pivoting was difficult!

 

Stay tuned (someday) for the video that was taken of me dancing with Oscar!

 

Tomorrow, I am thinking of visiting the Feria de Mataderos with a friend. I promise lots of pictures if the weather is good and we go!

 

A few more milongas: branching out

El Maipu (La Casa de Galicia, San Jose 224, 1st floor)

Although I always go to Mondays at La Nacional, I had not been to Lucy and Dany's other milonga before. I had planned to go to Plaza Bohemia like last Friday, but I decided to experiment because I was given a discount coupon for this milonga last Monday at La Nacional. That means that I don't know the the actual price for this milonga. I paid 20 pesos (water cost 12 pesos).

My friends had told me that, even though the milonga supposedly starts at 6 PM, when they went at 6:30 PM, there was no one there. I went at 7 PM, and it was not very full. I stayed until 10 PM, and it never filled up all the way, but gradually improved in possible choices of partners. This would be a good place for intermediate dancers to get out on the dance floor (or brave beginners), at least early in the evening, because there was plenty of room to dance, with a lot of space between couples.

The level is pretty good, although not quite as good as La Nacional. You can see several of the regulars dancing in this YouTube video, which also gives you a sense of the space available.

I didn't dance with anyone amazing, but I didn't have any bad dances--except one. Someone asked me to dance, and then, part-way through the tanda, he wanted my arm hanging around his neck. I finished that dance with him, deciding to say "Gracias" after it; he was spared by the cortina. Luckily, I had some decent tandas after that that got me out of my foul mood.

Here is the lovely Lucy; Dany was busy with something, but I promised I'll take their picture together on Monday.

 

Flor de Monserrat (Aires Tangueros, Av. Rivadavia 1392)

As Flor de Monserrat is only a few blocks from El Maipu, I showed up at 10 PM, when the milonga supposedly started. There was a class going on, and the guy at the door said the milonga starts at 10:30 PM. I went out to eat and came back around 11 PM.

Usually, I don't go to two milongas in the same night, but I had told a milonguero that I'd be at the first milonga he was going to, and I didn't go; so I decided to go to the second milonga he attends, at least for a little bit. This milonga costs 30 pesos. No waiter came by, so I never ordered water, as I was stuffed from dinner.

Without a reservation, I was socked in the corner where I could barely see across the (too dark) dance floor. I wasn't too worried, as I was already tired from a class, three hours of dancing, and too much food.

The level of folks I have danced with this visit reached a new low here. A man from Brazil dragged me around the dance floor mercilessly. Thank goodness the tanda was short and we started one dance into it: I was waiting for that third dance to be over in order to be polite. Hmm, I sound much less charitable than usual today. I think I reached the end of my patience with people who think they are good, but are not. I am always happy to dance with beginners who know they are beginners.

I danced with more people who ran into each other here than anywhere else so far. The floor here is very narrow, with room for one lane of dancers, and a middle space occupied by the less-skilled-at-navigation dancers. There is almost no way to avoid collisions if more than one leader on the dance floor does not navigate well (there were about three). I found it easy to navigate when I led here a few days ago, but I learned to lead at Torquato Tasso, where the milongueros tried to push me off the dance floor because I was a female leading. This is NOT a good milonga for beginners, and it is too dark to cabeceo easily.

Here is a video that shows the size of the space.

I danced a technically interesting tanda of Pugliese with the guy who taught the class before the milonga (I don't know his name), and two nice tandas of valses with guys who had a medium level of technique, but nice groove with the music.

I left around 12:45 to call my son before bedtime. People were still coming in, although the milonga ends at 2 am.

 

My vote so far

So far, although I love La Nacional, I vote for Sala Siranush/Siranoush (depends on which guide to tango you look at) BECAUSE I had my absolute most wonderful tanda so far this year there. Best compliment so far this year: "You dance as if you were born here in Palermo!" also belonged to that tanda.

La Nacional, you get another chance Monday!

 

 

 

Out and about

The weather today was so perfect that it's almost impossible to remember how awful it was yesterday. It's sunny, with medium temperatures, low humidity, a bit of a breeze: is this the same city??

Neotango visit #2

I bought another pair of shoes and dropped them off at the shoe repair I used last year, in order to compare quality of work with the other place I used this year. The shoes will be ready tomorrow: beautiful, black suede with cut-out details in the heels. Neotango strikes gold again!

By the way, those of you who don't like high, high heels, rejoice! Apparently, there is less of a demand for 9 cm heels (the high ones like I wear) because people have trouble dancing well in them. There is now more of a demand for 8.5 cm heels and lower heels. I must have looked alarmed, because I was assured that they would keep making the high ones for those of us who like them.

Really, the salespeople there are some of the nicest I have met! I am not sure how to spell Ariel's name, but he is the one who usually helps me.

Cheap clothes

Summer here can be a lot hotter than you think it will be. Although prices everywhere are higher than before, there are still some bargains around. One place I like to go for capris and summer T-shirts is Basicos Buenos Aires (Av. Rivadavia 2297). You can't try things on, as it's mostly a wholesale place where you can buy retail at a slightly higher price. It's all synthetic, but I use capris from that store at least every other day when I teach and it's warm. I bought a pair of capris for 50 pesos, and a sleeveless top for 30 pesos. At official prices, that's not too bad, and at "alternative market" prices, it's quite a deal.

 

Books in English

I go to Rincon 9 (new location, Junin 44) because they have a great selection of children's books in Spanish, and I am still clinging to the hope that my son will not lose all his Spanish now that he is in English-language school. However, Rincon 9 has an excellent selection of books in English as well. I don't know if they speak English there; I should have asked.

 

Nice person who rents rooms

I danced with a very nice man today at El Maipu who rents rooms in San Telmo. He has lived in San Telmo for 40 years! I have not seen his place, but I have heard of it from several people. Unlike a lot of people who are dancing in order to get students or provide other services, he didn't tell me about it until after we had discussed a bunch of other things.

 

The best ice cream I have had so far

I went back to Victoria Cafe (Av. Entre Rios 114, on the corner of Hipolito Yrigoyen, across the street from the Congreso building. We ate there quite a bit last year, so I went to see how it was this year. The waiter, Sergio, remembered me and asked after my friend; I took his picture for her.

I ordered the special of the day (58 pesos), an amazing lasagna with spinach, sweet peppers, mushrooms, ham and some unidentified "meat" with "Parisian sauce" that came with homemade ice cream for dessert. I chose lemon, as it's my favorite flavor: WOW! I didn't remember artesanal ice cream from the year before, and the waiter told me that they had only begun making it a few months ago. Yummy, yummy, yummy! I just wish there had been less lasagna: I couldn't finish my ice cream!

I am walking everywhere this year, but I don't think I'm losing weight.

 

 

 

Tango en la calle: dancing on the Avenida de Mayo

Last Saturday night was one I don't think I will ever forget: I got to dance to three live tango orchestras, on the Avenida de Mayo! There was a man filming who films at the milongas. What he told us was that he likes to put up videos to show HOW to dance at the milongas. His video of us dancing will be up on his webpage in a few weeks. This five-minute  Aires de Milonga is a montage of things that were happening the night of the open-air milonga, along Avenida de Mayo. At 4:07, there is ONE second of me dancing :-)

A plug for Carlos Neuman, the videographer: this guy really loves tango, and he really wants folks to dance well. Also, since he regularly films in the milongas, he has some good footage for those of you who have not been here and want to see what it is "really" like. I don't usually take my camera along with me, and I usually just dance, so I am not very helpful in this category; he is.

There were 8000 square meters of dance space along the Avenida, according to the news (sorry if you don't speak Spanish). There were people everywhere, strolling, sitting and listening to music, dancing in flipflops, eating . . . I have never seen an area as stuffed with humans as the areas around the stages.

There was a pride and an energy surrounding the event that I have not felt before here. Dancers were discussing it days before. When I bought shoes, the saleswoman was talking with a guy buying shoes about their plans to dance. The tango world buzzed with excitement, and the the news coverage also had a tone that I usual hear reserved for futbol games!

 

 

Strikes, accidents and floods affect even tango-crazed tourists

Strikes and demonstrations

There was another rolling strike scheduled for today, so each subte line was supposed to be closed for three hours. On Sunday, I took the subte without paying because no one was at the ticket windows, and all the "emergency" gates were open for free access. Monday, there was a strike as well.

In addition to that, there are demonstrations going on for all sorts of things. I have been reading the papers, but I am not 100% up on everything going on in the judicial system re: free speech. A very impassioned woman at the milonga was telling me that a big demonstration had been cancelled for today, as the judges had decided to postpone a deadline for rights for two months.

On the way home from the milonga tonight, there was a gathering of youth on Avenida Callao near Congreso, that seemed to consist of large banners that I couldn't read (draped the wrong way); loud drums; beer-swigging young people; and shouting young people. Something about solidarity.

 

The toxic cloud

This morning, the news reported that a toxic pesticide from a Chinese ship at the port had burned, creating a toxic cloud of gas, headed for Buenos Aires. Since it was going to rain, we assumed that it would still probably be safe to go out. However, when I headed out for lunch, they sent us out of the subway and closed the doors. The downpour started at about the same time, and every taxi in sight was taken. After walking about six blocks and getting soaked, I finally found a taxi. Because of the traffic, it took forever to go just twenty or so blocks.

Later, the news reported that it was NOT a pesticide, that it was relatively not dangerous, and people should stop panicking. Frankly, I don't know which story to believe. My skin felt prickly when I was out, but that might just have been all the chemicals in the air here, added to the rain.

 

Flooding in Belgrano

We had over 111 millimeters of rain today in an hour (I was unfortunately outside for part of that), and Belgrano flooded. The news had pictures of people wading across streets, with police helping old ladies cling to lines stretched across the street, so that they were not swept away. There were videos of cars being swept down the street. I also saw footage of a guy canoeing down a street.

Even here, where there was no flooding, the streets were so full that it was impossible to avoid getting soaked at least to the knees when buses and cars went past, or from puddles that were too big to jump. I took a towel with me to the milonga to dry off enough to put my dance shoes on.

 

Low attendance at Lujos (El Beso, Riobamba and Corrientes)

I assumed that a lot of people would stay home because of the awful weather and consequently awful traffic; I was right. This footage shows a night with a LOT more people at the dance (this is what you normally see at El Beso).

Today, the milonga started at six. Since last week, I went later and had to sit in the second row, I went around 6:45ish. There were a total of eight people there, plus the wait staff. Even one of the organizers hadn't made it there yet, so the flustered person helping to seat me asked me what seat I wanted: that must be a first.

Eventually, the milonga filled up a bit. I danced until 10:15. At that point, I had danced with almost every guy in the place at least once. Interestingly, the rain seemed to have kept the male tourists away! I danced with Manuel, who is Spanish but lives here, and another guy who didn't look familiar, but who spoke Spanish. However, until about 10, I didn't see any foreign men come in (there were a few women who were obviously not Argentine).

I've noticed that, each year I come here, I go dancing earlier. Yes, I'm getting older. Yes, I like to call my son before his bedtime. Yes, I am happy to dance for three or four hours, instead of the whole night. However, I think this year there are more good afternoon dances AND since I get to dance pretty much every tanda, I get tired faster than the years when I sat out more.

Rejoicing that the rain had stopped at least for a while, I walked home, detouring to La Americana for my favorite tarta pascualina.

 

Milongas: Flor de Milonga and La Milonguita

Tuesday: Flor de Milonga (Aires Tangueros, Rivadavia 1392)

This was a new milonga for me. La Flaca Lucia and her partner, Gerry (an Irish guy) run this milonga.They are very friendly, comfortable folks. It was nice to be greeted with, "I saw you dance last night at La Nacional. You are good!"

The dance space is quite small, with barely room for the row of tables for "singles" on one side, but more room on the other side. Most people ordered food, and looked like they enjoyed it, so this would be a good place to eat and dance. I had already eaten, so I can't give a food review/prices.

This was the first day this milonga started at 7 PM, rather than at 10 PM. I decided to go early because it was free until 8 PM: probably a mistake. It was almost completely tourists (Lucia's students) for a while. Most of them were good enough dancers to be enjoyable. Only one was "Boy Scout" duty, but we should all do our community duty, right? Paybacks for all those milongueros who have danced with me in the past.

Things picked up when no one wanted to dance milonga, and the Italian woman next to me started bouncing around to the milonga. I invited her to dance, and she assumed she had to lead! We switched lead and follow, and had a BLAST! I hate to say it, but she was the best leader I've danced with who was a foreigner, and she was better than a lot of the Argentine men, as well. We did a vals set later. The nice thing was that this milonga is very relaxed, and the guys still danced with us. Later, I was told that one of the gay-friendly milongas happens at this place, so the regular milonga rules are relaxed here in terms of gender.

The evening continued to improve. I danced with one Argentine guy who was turned out to be a stage dancer: nice and dynamic, with fancier moves, but still paying attention to navigation and safety. When his friend showed up, he watched me and then pounced for the next tanda. Both of them danced well, and I did two tandas with each of them. It was the first time this trip that I could use all the turn technique and adorno technique I've been working on with Oscar and Georgina.

I had just changed my shoes to go home when they did the chacarera set, but I danced anyway.

 

Wednesday: La Milonguita (Sala Siranoush, Armenia 1353)

Sala Siranoush is part of a large structure with several buildings, which you reach by a gate at the street. You pay for the milonga right at the entrance (35 pesos), and there is a security guard as well.

The dance hall is beautiful, large, and air-conditioned. The room was not very full when I arrived at about 7:45, but by 8:30, it was pretty full. When I left around 11 PM, it was just starting to thin out a bit. On the whole, there was a good feeling in the room, with tables of men and tables of women alternating around the dance floor. It was pretty much impossible for me to even see the folks at the other end, but I dance all but two tandas; one of them was a choice not to dance because the music was a bit strange.

Although I have danced many times at La Viruta across the street, this was a new venue for me: two new places in two nights! This was the first time I went dancing where I had to take a taxi home. It cost 40 pesos, but it was worth it!

I had the best tanda of my visit so far. I think he said his name was Horacio. Two of the three women at my table went home, and the other woman said, "Quick! That guy across the room is looking at you! He is REALLY good!" And he was. Wow! There was feeling in every step. There was no "get used to each other" part of the first dance: it just worked immediately. We were in the zone. After the first dance ended, we just grinned stupidly at each other for a moment before starting to talk. Lovely, lovely, lovely!