From street to stage

A street dancer creates rather than copies and improvises with the music without rehearsal or choreography.  A street dancer dances in the moment and derives inspiration from the music.

Ricardo Vidort talked about tango as a street dance that was practiced on the corner or in the park between boys who knew nothing about dance technique.  There were no dance teachers when they were learning tango in the 1930s and 40s. Feeling was their only technique.  They developed their own personal styles.  They were creating their styles in those days that we see today in the milongas of Buenos Aires.

Today we can find all types of dances being taught in studios.  Street dancing (hip hop, funk, etc.) originated in the streets of the ghettos just like tango did in Buenos Aires.  Contemporary street dance is so popular today that it is taught in dance academies and certified teacher training programs.  Professional instruction washes out all the creativity of a pure form.

Tango originated a street dance.  Boys practiced together in order to dance well enough to invite girls at the dances.  Tango was danced in its purest form.  Watch the milongueros viejos in the milongas, and what you’ll see is pure feeling and simplicity.  They created their personal styles at an early age and then danced every night of the week in the downtown confiterias, cabarets and salons.

Today, the younger generation of dancers is studying tango, perfecting their technique and preparing choreographies to perform for exhibition and stage.  They are trained, but they lack the essence of tango.  They practice choreography hours each day for performance.  their goal is technical perfection, but they have no feeling.

What will the milongas be like when all the milongueros viejos are gone?

Ricardo Vidort lives on through his words

Today would have been his 90th birthday.  He’s still with us in our hearts.

These are Ricardo’s words a few months before his passing in May 2006.

Life is a beautiful thing if you know how to live it. We all try to live it, but we (milongueros) live in a different way for what we feel.

You move with the grace that the music gives you, to dance the way you want to. We put that movement in several steps, and from those steps we can make 500 or more. Put feeling — that’s the secret of the tango. So you move and you hold the woman with strength but softly. She feels safe inside, and she feels that you are taking care of her. In that moment the priority is the music and the woman. I don’t care about the people. I dance before 3,000 people, and I dance for two. For me, it’s the same. I dance for my partner. I don’t dance for them. The feeling is unique like fingerprints. Nobody can teach you feeling. I can see it in your movements, and I correct that. I don’t correct what I want you to do, I correct what you feel in a better way so it’s your way, your feeling, your thoughts.

Tango has a way, we call it close embrace. It’s very difficult for a woman, especially a foreign woman, to understand that a guy is going to put you here (on his chest). We bring our energy together in a close embrace, and our bodies enjoy the music. We try to move together, one helps the other to be in the music, one helps the other to do short steps, because we don’t need long steps. We need to walk like we walk on the street but with feeling.

You can copy my steps, but you can’t copy what I feel. If I were to dance now, and I danced this tango, I wouldn’t dance the same way as in the video, because today it’s another feeling. And that’s what people need to understand. You can love ten people in your life, with passion or whatever, but it will be different with each one. That’s the secret of life.

Most of those who dance tango are crazy for the steps and figures — I want to be a better dancer than he is.  No, be better than he is showing who you are. See me work and afterwards you tell me how much you are going to pay me because I give 100% and I enjoy it.

There are thousands who dance tango, but there are very few who dance tango with feeling. We are no more than 30 or 40 milongueros, so when we die, nobody will remember us.

Who is the best dancer? The one who shows he knows a lot or the one who tries to give you his heart, his feeling. I believe the latter, so I do that. A lot of people asked me to dance on stage in lots of places. I never wanted to do it because I would have to change my style. I have to dance what people want to see. No, what you want to see is what I’m going to give you, not what you ask for. I can give you love because you love me. I can give you love if I feel it. If not, it isn’t love. That is what I feel.

It isn’t true you need to learn special steps, that you need to go to a ballet studio to do exercises, no. You need to feel that your body is enjoying it so the body doesn’t stop. You can enjoy it five or six hours. You see people in Buenos Aires of 78 years who seem 25 years younger when they dance.

When I began to dance outside of my house, I was 14, but I already danced. Big guys, 23 or 24, took me along because if not they wouldn’t let me enter.

I feel that the most beautiful thing that you can do for someone is to serve them because it’s the only way you feel your worth. We are part of something that is like music. It’s like we are part of a mechanism — it works only if you put your own self. If you don’t put your own self, you’re out. So put your own self to continue because you’re going to learn something new every day. I wake up happy every day in my life. Why? Because I’m alive.

You need to die to be part of what you’re going to leave in energy to the world because we all are energy. So we need to leave the best.

The woman in both photos is Jill Barrett of London, who organized classes and taught with Ricardo.

From street to stage

A street dancer creates rather than copies and improvises with the music without rehearsal or choreography.  A street dancer dances in the moment and derives inspiration from the music.

Ricardo Vidort talked about tango as a street dance that was practiced on the corner or in the park between boys who knew nothing about dance technique.  There were no dance teachers when they were learning tango in the 1930s and 40s. Feeling was their only technique.  They developed their own personal styles.  They were creating their styles in those days that we see today in the milongas of Buenos Aires.

Today we can find all types of dances being taught in studios.  Street dancing (hip hop, funk, etc.) originated in the streets of the ghettos just like tango did in Buenos Aires.  Contemporary street dance is so popular today that it is taught in dance academies and certified teacher training programs.  Professional instruction washes out all the creativity of a pure form.

Tango originated a street dance.  Boys practiced together to dance well enough to invite girls at the dances.  Tango was danced in its purest form.  Watch the milongueros viejos in the milongas, and what you’ll see is pure feeling and simplicity.  They created their personal styles at an early age and then danced every night of the week in the downtown confiterias, cabarets and salons.

Today, the younger generation of dancers is studying tango, perfecting their technique and preparing choreographies to perform for exhibition and stage.  They are trained, but they lack the essence of tango.  They practice choreography hours each day for performance.  Their goal is technical perfection, but they have no feeling.

What will the milongas be like when all the milongueros viejos are gone?

His last interview

These are Ricardo’s words a few months before his passing in May 2006.

Life is a beautiful thing if you know how to live it. We all try to live it, but we (milongueros) live in a different way for what we feel.

You move with the grace that the music gives you, to dance the way you want to. We put that movement in several steps, and from those steps we can make 500 or more. Put feeling — that’s the secret of the tango. So you move and you hold the woman with strength but softly. She feels safe inside, and she feels that you are taking care of her. In that moment the priority is the music and the woman. I don’t care about the people. I dance before 3,000 people, and I dance for two. For me, it’s the same. I dance for my partner. I don’t dance for them. The feeling is unique like fingerprints. Nobody can teach you feeling. I can see it in your movements, and I correct that. I don’t correct what I want you to do, I correct what you feel in a better way so it’s your way, your feeling, your thoughts.

Tango has a way, we call it close embrace. It’s very difficult for a woman, especially a foreign woman, to understand that a guy is going to put you here (on his chest). We bring our energy together in a close embrace, and our bodies enjoy the music. We try to move together, one helps the other to be in the music, one helps the other to do short steps, because we don’t need long steps. We need to walk like we walk on the street but with feeling.

You can copy my steps, but you can’t copy what I feel. If I were to dance now, and I danced this tango, I wouldn’t dance the same way as in the video, because today it’s another feeling. And that’s what people need to understand. You can love ten people in your life, with passion or whatever, but it will be different with each one. That’s the secret of life.

Most of those who dance tango are crazy for the steps and figures — I want to be a better dancer than he is.  No, be better than he is showing who you are. See me work and afterwards you tell me how much you are going to pay me because I give 100% and I enjoy it.

There are thousands who dance tango, but there are very few who dance tango with feeling. We are no more than 30 or 40 milongueros, so when we die, nobody will remember us.

Who is the best dancer? The one who shows he knows a lot or the one who tries to give you his heart, his feeling. I believe the latter, so I do that. A lot of people asked me to dance on stage in lots of places. I never wanted to do it because I would have to change my style. I have to dance what people want to see. No, what you want to see is what I’m going to give you, not what you ask for. I can give you love because you love me. I can give you love if I feel it. If not, it isn’t love. That is what I feel.

It isn’t true you need to learn special steps, that you need to go to a ballet studio to do exercises, no. You need to feel that your body is enjoying it so the body doesn’t stop. You can enjoy it five or six hours. You see people in Buenos Aires of 78 years who seem 25 years younger when they dance.

When I began to dance outside of my house, I was 14, but I already danced. Big guys, 23 or 24, took me along because if not they wouldn’t let me enter.

I feel that the most beautiful thing that you can do for someone is to serve them because it’s the only way you feel your worth. We are part of something that is like music. It’s like we are part of a mechanism — it works only if you put your own self. If you don’t put your own self, you’re out. So put your own self to continue because you’re going to learn something new every day. I wake up happy every day in my life. Why? Because I’m alive.

You need to die to be part of what you’re going to leave in energy to the world because we all are energy. So we need to leave the best.

Copy My Style

It’s very common to see Argentines wearing shirts with statements in English.  The other day I saw a woman wearing a shirt with these words: COPY MY STYLE. 

I thought about those words as they relate to tango.  I recall what Ricardo Vidort always told his students: you can copy my steps, but you can’t copy what I feel.  All the milongueros developed personal styles.

Dancers with international experience have a tremendous influence in tango today.  Their students place them on pedestals, admiring and copying them.  

These Argentine trend setters are famous thanks to the internet and YouTube where their names are household words and fans study their videos.  They have adopted something distinctive that seems modern and creative.  That appeals to the younger generation of dancers who are consumers of whatever is new and fun.  They are examples to many dancers who don’t question whether they have good technique or just the latest gimmick.  Fashion trends are bought as the latest style from Buenos Aires.

One popular fashion trend is a new technique for women.  Men seem to stay with what has worked for decades.  Women are fashion conscious and want to keep up with the latest trends.  This video gives examples.   All three women have won a championship title in Buenos Aires; the first two examples show the vogue in tango, and the third combines beauty, simplicity and elegance that will always be in style.

From street to stage

 A street dancer creates rather than copies and improvises with the music without rehearsal or choreography.  A street dancer dances in the moment and derives inspiration from the music.

Ricardo Vidort talked about tango as a street dance that was practiced on the corner or in the park between boys who knew nothing about dance technique.  There were no dance teachers when they were learning tango in the 1930s and 40s. Feeling was their only technique.  They developed their own personal styles.  They were creating their styles in those days that we see today in the milongas of Buenos Aires.

Today we can find all types of dances being taught in studios.  Street dancing (hip hop, funk, etc.) originated in the streets of the ghettos just like tango did in Buenos Aires.  Contemporary street dance is so popular today that it is taught in dance academies and certified teacher training programs.  Professional instruction washes out all the creativity of a pure form.

Tango originated a street dance.  Boys practiced together in order to dance well enough to invite girls at the dances.  Tango was danced in its purest form.  Watch the milongueros viejos in the milongas, and what you’ll see is pure feeling and simplicity.  They created their personal styles at an early age and then danced every night of the week in the downtown confiterias, cabarets and salons.

Today, the younger generation of dancers is studying tango, perfecting their technique and preparing choreographies to perform for exhibition and stage.  They are trained, but they lack the essence of tango.  They practice choreography hours each day for performance.  their goal is technical perfection, but they have no feeling.  

What will the milongas be like when all the milongueros viejos are gone?

Simplicity

I was browsing YouTube videos last night when I came across this one.  It was uploaded although the person had doubts as to whether or not it was tango.  It’s tango all right.  And it is being danced by a milonguero–Luis Ferraris.

Tango has been marketed for years as a flashy performance dance that requires technical abilities that the average adult will never achieve.  In that way, tango requires years of study. Dancers all want to look like their teachers which will never happen.  Those who want to progress as social dancers are doomed from the start when they study with stage performers who teach choreography, sequences, and tricks not appropriate for the social floor.  It is no wonder that milongas are hazardous. 

Tango is simple, but it is not seen or accepted that way.  What makes it seem complicated to so many is the richness of the music that is unfamiliar.  Beginning to learn steps of tango without a love for the music is futile.  The basis for dancing is knowing music first, then recognizing the orchestras and their distinct styles recorded in the 1930s and 40s.  Tango is not old music, it is classic.  Dancing tango to any other music doesn’t work–it is only convenient and an excuse not to understand tango.   We dance tango when the music is tango (composed and arranged for dancing).

The video shows the simplicity of tango, that tango is an embrace and walking with the music.   Tango is made complicated by those who teach it.  It doesn’t take years of classes, only a few lessons.  Ricardo Vidort gave his students eight lessons and sent them on their way to find their own tango.  He didn’t want to clone versions of himself in years of classes.  He knew that each person had to find their own tango and the music would help them do that.  He gave them what they needed to begin their journey.

Back to basics

There are some misconceptions about learning to dance tango:

1. You will never completely learn it and could spend years on one step.
2. It is a difficult dance and requires years of study to dance well.
3. It is best to study with a variety of teachers because one can always get something from every class.

Learning tango is approached by many as a dance to master, no matter how long it takes.  Those who become obsessed take classes with every teacher they can find (whether or not they are qualified to teach), attend marathon weekends of seminars and milongas, and work tirelessly on perfecting every detail of their dance until it no longer resembles tango.  They look to the so-called experts for criticism on how they can improve.  A simple social dance has become a world-wide market for anyone with the guts to hang out a shingle and call themselves a tango teacher.

What does “completely learn it” mean?  Learn all the steps ever created and master them?  Why spend years working on one step?  Who says it’s not good enough the way you did it a year ago?  How can someone judge a feeling?  There is a collective mindset that is brainwashing everybody into believing that it takes years to complete enough training to be worthy to dance it.

I taught social dance classes for ten years.  At the end of eight classes, the students had enough basics to go out and dance.  People have busy lives with work, family, and other obligations.  They learn to dance for pleasure and to enjoy the company of other dancers.  Those in my classes didn’t have to continue with more classes in order to dance socially and enjoy themselves.   Why isn’t it the same for tango?

Tango has been labeled as a “difficult” dance.  It is really very simple.  One needs to learn to walk with the music.  Understanding the music takes years, but dancers rarely dedicate themselves to the music first.  They go to classes where they are expected to memorize steps and then try to fit them to music they never heard.  This is what makes tango difficult.  If those who wanted to learn to dance were told they had to listen to recordings of Troilo, D’Arienzo, Di Sarli, and Calo for eight hours a day, seven days a week, in one year they would be ready to learn the basics of tango and dance after eight classes.  We can’t dance to music we don’t know.  Music that is foreign to us requires time to understand.

Ricardo Vidort once told me that he taught everything he knew in eight classes.   Then he told his students he had no more to teach them. They had to go practice on their own and develop their own style.  They didn’t need more classes.  He was right.  Those who stay in classes for years want approval from the teacher and won’t practice on their own. 

People who have taken years of lessons with many teachers eventually return to basic classes.  Imagine all the hours spent in classes to improve one’s level of dance only go back to the beginning.  I suppose many finally realize that all those advanced technique classes were not what they needed.  They forgot most of it, and in the end knew that one needs only a few steps to improvise tango.  

Those who place themselves at an “advanced” level continue to attend classes.   Perhaps they like showing how easy everything is for them and justify participation because they always learn something new.  That’s life. We learn something new every day and hopefully continue learning throughout our lives.  There should be a point, no matter what we are learning, when we gain more from self-study and practice.  That’s certainly true in tango.

1. Learn the basics, practice on your own, and then go dance.
2. Tango is simple.  Love the music first, and your tango will come out of you.
3. Leave class before you become obsessed with collecting steps.  Then develop your own style.

Tangobob has posted his thoughts on Back to basics.

Do women need to be men in tango?

Women learning the man’s role in tango is an ongoing debate.  What began as a street dance practiced between men in Buenos Aires has women taking the lead in ballrooms around the world. 

Traditionally, tango is a social dance between a man and a woman.  The dance venues in Buenos Aires hold to this tradition with only two exceptions in recent years.  Rarely will one see two women dancing together in a traditional salon in Buenos Aires.  Recently, I saw this occur in Lo de Celia Tango Club.  It was Wednesday evening when a smaller number of dancers are in attendance.  The couple seated next to me were watching someone on the dance floor.  I quickly realized they noticed two women dancing a milonga.  I had never seen this in the nine years I have danced in Celia’s place.  It appeared that a newcomer had decided she didn’t have anymore patience to wait for an invitation to dance, so she went to the table of a woman and invited her to dance milonga.  The woman didn’t dance the man’s role very well.  There they were on the floor while everyone watched in amazement.  The hostess passed by my table, so I commented that I had never seen this before.  When their second dance ended, the security guard was speaking to the newcomer (an Argentine) that Lo de Celia Tango Club is a traditional place where women dance tango with men.  Both women returned to their tables.  I was a little surprised that men were inviting this newcomer to dance after she demonstrated her disrespect for tradition.

Later in the ladies’ room,  I met the woman invited to dance by the newcomer.  I asked her how this came about.   She explained that she simply didn’t know what to say or do when the woman approached her table.  She knew the woman from another milonga.  She wasn’t comfortable dancing with her because she only dances tango with men.  She felt relief that the security guard intervened.  The situation was over quickly and quietly.  It was certainly noticed by everyone in the room.

Today more women are teaching tango and therefore learning the man’s role.  The late Ricardo Vidort said that when a woman learns to dance tango as a man, she no longer dances as a woman. 

Tango isn’t a dance between leaders and followers–it is a dance between a man and a woman, a blending of the masculine and feminine energies.