Irene and Man Yung's Tango Blog

Surprise!

2012-02-12T15:28:00.002-05:00

Our favourite waiter came to our table as we were paying the bill after another spectacular meal today.

"So long, this is going to be my last day!" he said.

We looked at him in horror.

And it gets worse. "By the way, I think the chef is quitting too."

Now, where are we going to eat?

The older we get, the less we appreciate surprises. Not that we particularly liked surprises when we were younger. Back then, we were just healthier and less likely to get heart attacks when surprises were unleashed. So Mom, if you are reading this - the "Secret Santa" reindeer sweater three sizes too big that I received (when everyone else got Cabbage Patch kids and Mr. Men colouring sets) was not the "surprise" I really wanted to experience.

Generally, we suspect that the ratio of "good surprise" to "horrible surprise" is about 1:100, despite all good (or not) intentions of the "surprise-giver". Yet, people persist in promoting their surprises to us like, as the Cantonese expression says, "It's your lucky day! Here's advantage for you!" How about this thought: Saying something is a "Surprise!" is like extravagant gift wrapping - the item lying inside all those bows and sparkly paper is more likely to be a cheap Dollarama bath set that would give you hives - than a brand new Corvette.

So...please, no more surprises in Tango! We don't want to go to our favourite traditional milonga and find that the orderly, pleasant and considerate regulars have been replaced by hyperactive Nuevoists hell bent on flipping all the drinks off the tables with their high kicks. We don't want to settle into a dreamy tanda of Di Sarli with Duran only to find that track 3 and 4 of the tanda are Canyengues, or a contemporary "interpretation" of Di Sarli. We don't want to look forward to a pleasant night of dancing only to find that the floor is covered in plastic and pivoting on it would wrench the ligaments right out of your knees (yes, that has happened too in Toronto).

And most of all... we don't want surprise DJs, or surprise performances! TELL US if you are going to have such-and-such a DJ, we have heard most of the DJs in town and some of their music gives us headaches. Ditto "surprise" performances by dancers we don't want to watch - we don't care if they have been regular attendees of your milonga or if they have selflessly devoted themselves to the promotion of Toronto Tango for decades - all the good words in the world would not justify your taking away our right to choose whether to watch crap, or not watch crap (and have to wash out our eyes afterwards). If you are going to invite the Crazy Chicken Lady or the Hokey Pokey dancers (or even Fabio) to perform, we think we have the right to know first! We have to drive an hour downtown to a milonga, look for a parking spot for another fifteen minutes, pay for parking, and then walk ten minutes to the venue in subzero temperatures - the last thing we want is an unpleasant "surprise" sprung on us at the last minute to ruin our entire weekend. We could have avoided it all and had a better evening at home, you know!*

* "Hey, just received an email from tonight's milonga organizer! Thank God, ___________________ [very good Toronto Tango instructors and performers] are going to perform tonight. Why didn't they say so earlier? All that hinting before about "Surprise!" by the organizer was putting us off - NOW, knowing who is going to perform, we can go to tonight's milonga. If we didn't receive this email - and given the dismal "surprise performer!" track record of this milonga, I shudder to think the last performance we saw there - we would really have stayed at home!"**

** "Please God, we hope that the organizer has abandoned all "Surprises!" and there will, truly, be no surprises tonight!"

Performances in January - Martha and Manolo and Osvaldo and Coca

2012-02-05T15:28:00.000-05:00

Here are some wonderful performances by our teachers Martha and Manolo in Gricel in January - their very distinctive and musical Milonga and Canyengue. Watch them bring down the house!:

We're glad to see that Martha's leg is much better - she had a slip and fall back in October just before we visited them and has luckily recovered fully. As for Manolo - he's turning 80 this year! Look, he has the speed and footwork (and the corriditas) to match any twenty year old tanguero.

Another lovely surprise we got from Youtube is this video of our teachers Osvaldo and Coca performing at a benefit held at La Baldosa at the end of January:

Does anyone know the name of this tango and the orchestra? We tried calling Osvaldo and Coca today to ask them but they didn't pick up the phone (perhaps they are having their siesta?) By the way, from the weather report and the telephone conversations we've had with Martha and Manolo and other friends in Buenos Aires, it's really sweltering hot in Buenos Aires so yes, probably a siesta in the afternoon is a good idea!

Here's Osvaldo and Coca in a recent interview with Junando Milonga - wearing their summer clothes, with the background noise of all the whirring fans. There's four parts, but all in Spanish:

We haven't had a chance to watch all the parts of this interview yet (it's going to take some time, my Spanish isn't that great!). Wishing we were in sunny hot Buenos Aires instead of here in wintery Toronto!

How would you know that you have kicked too high during a milonga?

2012-01-29T18:06:00.000-05:00

...When your kick has walloped into one of the tables on the side of the dance floor and overturned all the drinks thereon causing torrents of beverage to cascade all over the tablecloth and onto the floor...yes siree, you have indeed kicked too high and probably too hard during a milonga.*

* And you should stop. Kicking. IMMEDIATELY. **

** And perhaps even quit. Dancing. New Tango.***

*** Or maybe you should keep a running tally: How many inanimate objects or PEOPLE have you kicked while dancing this year? Have you broken the record for the previous year? If you have - Congratulations!

Newbies

2012-01-22T17:24:00.001-05:00

Two Choices: Spread your wings and fly, OR, Crash and burn

Late one night at a recent milonga, I was quietly minding my own business when out of the corner of my eye, I spot somebody making a beeline for my table.

Uh-oh. Beelines are always trouble. Anyone who wants to seek you out from their table twenty feet away even though you are trying to stay off the radar is determined and has a purpose. It could be an intrepid tanguero who wants to ask me to dance without the cabeceo [not again!] - or worse.

It's worse.

"HI THERE! My name is __________________!" A cheery hand is offered. I take it and shake it. "What's YOUR name?"

"My name is Irene, nice to meet you," I reply.

"Wow! I haven't seen you before, is it YOUR first time here?"

Au contraire - I think it's YOUR first time here. "We come here all the time - we're regulars."

I don't think she cares - she is aching to tell me a little bit more about herself. "I usually go to _________________ [The place with the worst level of Tango in Toronto]. I have been dancing Tango at __________________ for a few months already. I haven't seen you there before!"

As if everyone who dances Tango in Toronto should go there. I try not to frown. "We don't go to ________________________."

"Why not?"

"We used to go there but we don't anymore." I make a gesture of my fists bumping into each other. "Too many collisions."

"What do you mean?"

Do I really have to explain? "The dancers there have no control."

Her eyebrows twitch upwards. What, dancing at _________________ is not the best thing since sliced bread? The newbie is surprised at my candidness but is still undeterred - as I said, she wants something. "I see that your husband dances non-stop and he asks all the ladies to dance [Oh, I get it - you want to dance with Man Yung then. No beating about the bush for you!]. You know, the other men - they sit and sit and they don't ask anyone to dance!"

"Maybe those men have low energy levels. I have low energy levels myself - that's why I'm sitting off in a corner and not dancing [hint, hint, leave me alone]." I change the topic. "So, who are you taking classes with?"

"I used to take classes with __________________. Do you know them?"

I nod but I don't express any opinion. I consider it rude to volunteer any opinion about another person's tango instructor no matter how bad they are unless that person sincerely and explicitly requests it. It's none of my business and I'm sure she wouldn't want to hear about it.

"Now I'm taking classes with ____________________!" She certainly looks happy about it.
It's my turn to have my eyebrows twitch upward. "Do you know him as well?"

"Oh dear - I mean, oh, really." Don't share, Irene, don't share. The person she was referring to was at that very moment terrorizing the dance floor by tailgating other couples, charging around bow-leggedly and flinging his unfortunate dance partner left and right with huge dips and boleos thrown in to spice up the mix. Man Yung and I are not the only dancers to grimace whenever this guy shows up at a milonga - we are all thinking "There goes our last chance for a tranquil, orderly dance floor tonight!"

Nevertheless, I'm not about to criticize her instructor to her face. And I'm definitely not about to offer my husband up as a sacrificial tanguero - I'm sure her instructor would be upset and think that we are trying to make him look bad to his student by showing her the difference! Man Yung has unknowingly danced with students of substandard instructors before (he can't stand the ladies sitting for a long time without dancing) - and the said substandard instructors end up feeling so threatened, they immediately take their student for a mad, frenzied spin right afterwards to demonstrate to their student with their triple enganche/colgada/boleo combination that they are indeed better dancers than Man Yung. As if.

I want to be helpful but I've been in Tango long enough to know that no-one - not even a newbie - really wants good advice, they just want you to nod and smile and validate (or even envy!) their pitiable choices. I keep my rigid smiley expression. I did have one last thing to say though.

"I hope you enjoy Tango and stick with it. Toronto Tango has a lot to offer. You could go to different milongas and try different classes [I genuinely hope that you do - otherwise you are wasting your time]. Have fun! [What else can I say?]"

When Man Yung came back to the table after the tanda, I tell him about the whole disturbing conversation. You'd think that, in this day and age with Youtube and examples of good dancing everywhere, that Tango dancers - especially someone so obviously intelligent, articulate and forward (I'd say even aggressive) as that poor lady - would do their research beforehand and pick an instructor who at least looks competent. For god's sake, even if you know zilch about Tango - and Lady, you have been dancing for almost HALF A YEAR! - why on earth would you pick an instructor who looks and dances like a circus clown act, instead of an instructor who looks and dances like a human being? It sure boggles MY mind.

* Man Yung adds: "We ourselves have been dancing for eight years - we can say that we are going in a direction that we are satisfied and quite happy with and we have been very lucky with our choice of Tango instructors. But there are still many things that we can learn to improve our dancing and understanding of Tango. We won't bill ourselves as experts by any means and we don't consider ourselves qualified to give advice this way or that. But there's one thing - when a person new to Tango enters into Tango for the first time, they should have an idea based on their personality and level of aesthetic appreciation as to "What kind of Tango do I want to dance? Do I want to dance the flashy tricky Tango for Stage to show myself off or do I want to dance a calm, social Tango-for-enjoyment?" There's nothing wrong with dancing Stage Tango and I'm all for people taking classes with talented Stage Tango instructors to learn how to do this - and even to perform, in the correct context of THE STAGE. There are some wonderful Stage Tango dancers and teachers in Toronto who look great and dance amazing - and moreover, they tell their students the difference between movements suitable for the stage and movements suitable for a social dance setting. What irks me are those so-called instructors who are neither here nor there - they look awkward, even horrible when they dance, they make no distinction between "Stage" and "Social" Tango, and they will dance dangerously and without respect to any other dancer on the dance floor because 1) they don't know, or don't care about the difference, and 2) they WANT TO DRAW ATTENTION TO THEMSELVES ANYWAY IN WHATEVER METHOD POSSIBLE. They don't have the talent to really make it on the Stage but they have to do something to impress potential students - everyone on the dance floor will just have to make way! I feel sorry for their students - but yet their students have to be responsible for their own choices, especially if they have been taking classes with these reckless teachers for more than a few weeks. You have eyes and you could see what's going on around you and even perhaps on Youtube and you know that you are learning from someone who is not up to par. Wake up! Irene, you are right in telling the lady to go out there and try dancing in different milongas and trying different classes - knowledge is power." **

** Wait a moment, didn't I just write a post called "Ignorance is Bliss"?

Ignorance is bliss

2012-01-16T00:51:00.004-05:00

We have been dancing Tango for EIGHT YEARS!

We can hardly imagine what life was like without Tango. How did we pass the time without milongas, practicas, classes, workshops, local, national and international Tango extravaganzas, and yearly (or bi-annual) visits to Buenos Aires? And what about 24/7 Tango music on the stereo, hours of surfing Tango websites, Tango blogs, Tango Youtube and Tango Facebook? We haven't even started considering the dozens, no, hundreds of times we have watched "The Tango Lesson" and Cosmotango 2004 and 2005!

We have only vague memories of what life was like way back when. Vacations in Paris - Ice cream at Berthillon. Long weekend road trips in the fall. Visits to exciting art exhibitions in town and across the border. Dinner with friends at least twice a week. Movie nights. Shopping!

And now - "Hurry up and finish your sandwich - we have a milonga to rush to!"

"Why, to think of it, life was kind of blissful back then..." said Man Yung, dreamily.

Yes indeed, life was blissful - and in more ways than one! Not only did we have a lot more time on our hands, we were definitely a great deal less disillusioned. I don't know about everybody else, but Tango has been a constant process of bubble bursting. What we wouldn't give to turn back the clock, to that time of precious innocence and ignorance...

All we can do is lament - and write sadly about

IRENE AND MAN YUNG'S THE THINGS THAT WE THOUGHT WERE, BUT WERE NOT REALLY

December, 2003.

We take our first Tango class.

Man Yung was so looking forward to learning a dance in which he would have to wear a see-thru fishnet shirt unbuttoned to his crotch and skintight shiny satin pants. And all I wanted to do was to chomp down lasciviously on some rose stems while sporting a sequiny, fringe-y red and black ensemble.

We were headed for disappointment. I think Man Yung was confusing Tango with Salsa. I think I must have been confusing Tango...with Tango!

January, 2004.

Our first milonga.

What, we have to pay extra to get into the post-class milonga? Our instructor never told us that!

What, you can actually go the wrong direction on the dance floor? Our instructor never told us that!

February, 2004.

We just finished our first set of ten classes.

We ask our instructor, "How long will it be before we learn how to Tango?"

Our instructor snickers and struts off without replying.

March, 2004.

We attend our first international Tango event (in Paris!)

We have been taking lots of classes (we thought)! We were very diligent students. We must be ready to dance at the fancy milonga.

But we can't even complete a ronda on the dance floor. It's crowded and bumpy. We keep on trying to do a salida. The other dancers snarl at us. We try furtively for one tango... and return to our seats at the end of it shaken, disturbed, and lucky to escape with our lives.

May - June, 2004.

Some random chinese guy in the milonga introduces himself to Man Yung and starts dissing our instructor. He claims to be an instructor at the Jolly Happy Tango Association and tells Man Yung he was invited to teach classes "somewhere in the West". "You take classes with ____________? Pfffft!" he says.

We take a pre-milonga class with another local instructor. She asks us who our "regular" instructor was and upon hearing the name, rolls her eyes and makes a "tsk-tsk" noise.

We thought that these were isolated and specific incidents of disapproval. But no. It's universal. No matter who you are learning with and when, everyone will not agree with your choice and would be quite convinced someone else (probably themselves) would teach you better and faster.

October, 2004.

Man Yung has finally learned 10 steps (and remembers them)! "Now I can finally go all the way around the dance floor when I dance!" he said, hopefully.

November, 2004.

We take a workshop with yet another local instructor. It cost $35.00 (per person). The instructor has no clue as to what she is teaching. She asks, "What would you like to learn today?"

As if any of us newbies had any idea. The instructor spends 75% of the workshop talking "embrace theory" and showing us books written in Spanish that may or may not have anything to do with Tango. The other 25% was also bullshit.

December, 2004.

Our first Tango Christmas Extravaganza. We were so excited. We even dressed up.

It was crowded. It was cold (a big draft blew in whenever someone opened the front door of the restaurant). The main course was tough, dry and tasteless. We were seated with people we didn't know and there were lots of awkward silences. The performances were not very good. There were too many rambling speeches.

Only half an hour was allotted to actual dancing at the end of the evening. The floor was sticky and it was impossible to pivot on it.

January, 2005.

We attend a "Practica". Our instructor has decided that it is time we learned how to dance "Milonga". He plays a milonga. "Dance faster! Dance faster!" he says.

I don't have to tell you that is not quite the way to learn how to dance the milonga.

February, 2005.

Our videotape of Pepito Avellaneda's "Asi se baila la milonga" arrives.

"Oh, that's how you dance the milonga!" exclaims Man Yung.

March, 2005.

Our videotape of Daniel Lapadula's "Tango Estilo del Centro" arrives.

"Oh, so you could dance Tango musically and enjoyably without being young, extra bendy with the ability to do superhuman underwear flashing flying leaps and Can-Can kicks!"

It was a revelation of the grandest, most earth-shaking sort. Thanks, Daniel!*

* Conversely, Osvaldo Zotto and Mora Godoy's "Asi se baila Tango" and Juan Carlos Copes' instructional tapes were not quite as helpful. Maybe because we are not intelligent enough to make sense of the material in a social dance setting.

June, 2005.

Our first milonga at a local Tango festival.

A tanda of milonga plays. We take to the dance floor.

A fellow Tango student couple (we had been taking classes with the same instructor - and they have been taking classes for much longer than us) spots us. They haven't seen us in class for a while. The man says to his wife in disbelief, "Look, they're going to dance milonga! I've got to see this!"

We dance milonga. I think they were disappointed that we didn't fall flat on our faces.

And we never encounter our fellow Tango student couple in class or in the milongas again. They must have thought we bribed our instructor to get him to teach us how to dance milonga (No, we got everything from Pepito Avellaneda!)

December, 2005.

Our second Christmas Tango Extravaganza. We were still excited - but a little wary.

It wasn't as crowded, but there wasn't enough food. I think I managed to grab an empanada and a roll, and that was it. The organizers rationed out bottles of water like it was London during the Blitz, so there wasn't enough to drink either. The performances were so-so. They kept on interrupting the dancing with rambling speeches.

At least it wasn't cold.

"Remind me never to go to any of these Christmas Tango Extravaganzas ever again!" said Man Yung.*

* Ditto - Tango Extravaganzas in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009.... even Extravaganzas held in Buenos Aires! "When will we ever learn?" asks Man Yung.

February, 2006.

A local Toronto instructor appeared at the door of the popular weekend milonga and peered in.

"I say," he said loudly. "There's no-one good enough here to dance with me!"* He turned up his nose and left.

All of us swivel our heads to look into his direction and some of us ladies were even quite angry at this affront. Unfortunately, what he said could be somewhat true and pushing insolent Tangueros down the stairs is illegal.

* I would say that now, the opposite is true. The arrogant instructor is now not good enough - for any lady to dance with him!

April, 2006.

We take 52 hours of classes with Martha and Manolo when they stayed in Toronto for an entire month. We learned Tango Salon, Canyengue, Milonga and Milonga Fantasia. When Martha and Manolo hugged us, they really meant it. When Martha and Manolo told us that they loved us, they really meant it. Our dancing improved and our perspective and insight into the dance deepened so much we will never have to look back again.

And yet, when we enthusiastically recommended Martha and Manolo's classes to a local tanguero, we were dismissed quite out of hand.

"I'm not interested in learning Tango Salon of the fifties," he said.*

Our expressions of incredulity can be found here.

* Funnily enough, the said local tanguero's tango level has remained up to now...firmly the same as his level in 2006! It must take a lot of intelligence, perseverence and skill to stay stuck in the same rut for this long!

June, 2006

We (and millions of Tango dancers all around the world) discover...Youtube!

Well, Youtube had been around since 2005 but there weren't that many good Tango videos until around mid-2006.

We got our first glimpse of Jorge Dispari and Maria Carmen. Javier and Geraldine.

I became a monkey-see, monkey-do rabid adornista. Fun and fabulous! And I wasn't the only one - because everyone can copy what they see in a video!

...And for evermore, you will get people running around telling other people, "You don't have to take classes/sign up for workshops/go to Buenos Aires, you can learn everything by watching Tango videos on Youtube! I did!"

...And for evermore, high-kicking show-tango instructors masquerading as social tango instructors who were relying on the lack of information about authentic social tango in the pre-Youtube days can't go around saying, "If you want to learn how to dance Tango socially, you only need to take classes with me!" Because one quick look on Youtube would prove otherwise.

November, 2006.

Comme Il Fauts come to Toronto!

I realize that the tango shoes I was wearing before were not only uncomfortable...they were ridiculous.

March, 2007.

We take our first trip to Buenos Aires - to attend Martha and Manolo's Camicando festival! We learned a lot and made friends with many warm, welcoming and wonderful Argentinians.

A lot of things we were warned about Buenos Aires turned out to be fiction.

We met and took classes with Alberto Dassieu. He improved my following TONS.

I paraphrase his advice: "Quit going faster than your partner and stop doing all those gratuitous adornments!"

My days as a rabid adornista were fun while they lasted.

I danced with Osvaldo Cartery for the first time!

Nothing else would ever compare to that experience. For all you out there who claim that dancing with ____________ or ______________ or _______________ is Tango Heaven on Earth, I tell you this:
Ladies, I've danced with ________________ and _________________ and _______________, and it was no way near Tango Heaven on Earth. Dancing with Osvaldo Cartery is Tango Heaven on Earth.* Period.

* Dear Man Yung: Don't be jealous! You have received a lot of advice from Osvaldo. I assure you, don't waste all that good advice and dancing with you too, one day, will be Tango Heaven on Earth! (In your dreams!)

April, 2008.

Irene and Man Yung start writing their blog, aptly named "Irene and Man Yung's Tango Blog", in which they recount their day-to-day journey further and further away from oblivious innocence. You may wish to start at the beginning here. Or you may not.

January, 2012.

We go to the milonga. We look around us.

New Tango is Dead. Toronto Tangueras follow beautifully - if they adorn, it is with subtlety and musicality. Toronto Tangueros are following the line of dance - and perhaps, they are not tailgating, or barging into other dancers with their eyes closed. There are isolated pockets of Tango insanity, but for the most part, the Hokey-Pokey dancers and the Crazy Chicken Ladies have vapourized into thin air. Fabio is nowhere to be seen.

The World (of Tango) is a better place.

How I long for the days gone by. Man Yung also feels nostalgic.* The fun we had, galloping around dancing milonga like it was "Tango, but faster." The great anticipation before every Tango Extravaganza. Our toe-pinching, bunion-inducing tango shoes were treasured because those were the only tango shoes we had. The pre-Youtube mystery of what "Good" Tango should look like - anybody could be fooled by an idiot with confidence and a well-written resumé. "Bumper-car" dancing was not only normal, it was desirable!

Now we are just jaded. We don't dance every tanda. We don't even go to every milonga! Tango Extravaganzas - we skip them entirely!

We might have been a lot more naive back then...but we have to admit: "Tango used to be a lot more fun!"

Osvaldo and Coca at Salon Canning - January 6, 2012

2012-01-08T15:34:00.003-05:00

Here's a very recent video of Osvaldo and Coca, dancing to Orquesta Tipica Victor's "Carillion de la Merced":

...Wonderful, magical as always. Now that's a WALK!

[AND MORE! Here's their first performance on the same night: to Di Sarli's "Anselmo Acuna":

Myriam Pincen and Walter - Exhibition at Maipu 444

2012-01-06T00:26:00.000-05:00

Myriam just posted this lovely nostalgic video of her exhibition with a sadly departed milonguero Walter on Facebook:

Myriam is beautiful always - from her flowing white summer dress, her subtle footwork, her elegant walk, her passionate embrace...and what a musical dancer Walter is! Thanks Myriam for this wonderful video! (And Man Yung says, "Oh Myriam you are always my Goddess of Tango!)

How much space does a close embrace dancer need?

2011-12-30T00:19:00.000-05:00

...Lots, apparently.

We were dancing merrily along one night at one of Toronto's popular milongas when I realized that instead of flowing with the music, Man Yung was screeching to a halt every 30 seconds. At first I thought it was some fancy new jerky Tango Nuevo movement he had stolen from Youtube (Ha! As if!) However, after about two tandas filled with unpleasant stops and starts, I realized it wasn't a step...it was traffic.

"Is someone getting into your way?" I asked Man Yung.

"Yes, it's the same guy - look out, he is stepping back this-a-way again!" We swerved to evade.

When we finally got off the dance floor, we got a chance to take a good look. The guy was dancing close embrace. In fact, he and his partner were clamped together for dear life. He wasn't even slinging his partner around dangerously in the slightest. And yet, everyone on the dance floor was mysteriously giving the guy a wide berth...

"Wow, the other dancers are giving this guy a good seven meter radius clearance! There's thirty of them all huddled up in one corner trying to complete the ronda while trying to avoid getting close to him. He must have some magical power or something, because I can't see him do any voleos, ganchos - not even half a giro. I'm also positive that it's nothing to do with strange smells - I can't smell anything and my nose isn't stuffed up. Could he have bribed the the other people to give him a circle of safety?" I offered helpfully.

Man Yung rolled his eyes because once again, Irene has failed to understand. "You don't have to stick out an appendage to be a threat on the dance floor. It is evident that he dances close embrace in the most boring way possible - but instead of getting in the way with a leg, a foot, an elbow or a knee, he uses his whole body to disrupt the dance floor. Look at him switch from inside to outside, outside to inside, left to right, right to left, forward to backwards, backwards to forwards - north, south, east, west and all points in between! It is well nigh impossible to predict which way he will be going, even with a sophisticated computer algorithm. In fact, I'm pretty sure that he doesn't know which way he will be bouncing into either...as he is clearly dancing with his eyes closed."*

* Oh, so that's how he does it! And I thought he was just being inconsiderate.

It's not only close embrace Tangueros with their eyes closed -

low-density housing in suburbia also takes up lots of space.

Adela Galeazzi and Ricardo Suarez - Milonga Vieja Milonga at Centro Region Leonesa

2011-12-23T16:16:00.000-05:00

A lovely video of Adela performing a milonga traspie with Ricardo Suarez at Centro Region Leonesa - on the occasion of Ricardo's birthday!

We are mesmerized by Ricardo's musicality, Adela's soft, relaxed footwork...and Adela's flowing white skirt!

"Flowing skirts and dresses look the best on dancing ladies," said Man Yung. "The fabric twirls around and enhances the movement of the dance. This skirt looks gorgeous on Adela when she is dancing milonga! The skirt is very classic, makes the figure look great, and moves so well."

Then Man Yung started to reminisce excitedly about skirts and kept on talking about "bubbles" patterns ("Not checkered, not stripes!") and even drew me a picture!

A quick Google search and I finally found out what he meant was the vintage 50's polka dot circle skirts:

"Imagine walking into Sin Rumbo, with its black and white tile floors, wearing one of these beautiful polka dot skirts - all eyes will be on you! And you must dance to Di Sarli, not Pugliese! All milongueros will be asking you to dance because you remind them of the good old days. However, one thing you have to be careful about - your tanguero partner can't wear a hat. If the tanguero is wearing a hat, it would look like he is trying too hard. Can you imagine Portalea in Sin Rumbo dancing with a hat on? No way!"

Mean Girls

2011-12-18T20:01:00.000-05:00

Make no mistake...some truly mean girls in Tango make this clique of croquet club-wielding, back-stabbing popular girls named "Heather" look like a bunch of wimps

Recently, we welcomed back to town a dear Tango friend whom we haven't seen in about six years. We are so happy to see her in the milongas! We have been reminiscing about the past, when we were young and carefree, taking our first baby steps in Tango. Those were the days - we went adventurously to all the milongas, stayed up until 4 a.m. in some of them (and got parking tickets when we parked our cars where we shouldn't park), and danced with all sorts of Tangueros - good, bad and ugly. Oh, the fun we had!

Our beautiful Tanguera friend learned how to tango when she lived in Buenos Aires. She was an amazing dancer back then, and still an amazing dancer now - just a little rusty from not dancing at all for six years. It only took a few dances to bring her back up to speed (she's a natural at Tango) - and of course, my Toronto milonguera friend and I made sure to inform her about the Creeps, the Monkeys, the Road Ragers, the Tangueros that you shouldn't ever, for the sake of your own sanity and bodily integrity, be "Nice" to...

"Oh my God!" our Tanguera friend said suddenly at midnight at the milonga last night.

Was it her curfew? Was she going to do a Cinderella and turn into a pumpkin?

"I really don't want to dance with that guy and I'm afraid he's going to ask me to dance! Should I just get going?" She was ready to leap out of her shoes and dash to the door, and the night was still young!
She had been away from Tango too long and has forgotten about "The Power of NO". We, as her friends, gently reminded her.

What's that I'm hearing? Little tiny voices of dissent? "Oh Irene, you're so mean! It's one thing to say "No" yourself... but to encourage this barbaric behaviour in others as well! You are meaner than the mean girls in "Mean Girls" and "Heathers" combined!"

In Tango, "No" is nothing to do with being "Mean". We all have the right to say "No" when we dance the Tango - if anyone tells you otherwise, they are either wrong or they are not dancing Argentine Tango. When we dance the Tango, we give it our All. It's never a matter of "It's only twelve minutes, how bad could it be?", because when we give our All, even a step together encompasses eternity - and imagine spending eternity with someone you want to kick out the window. When we dance with someone we don't want to spend even a second with, we as dancers cannot give our "All", and that is a betrayal of both ourselves and the dance. Some people may argue that "It's not right" to "humiliate" potential dance partners by refusing them - well, the Argentines invented the "Cabeceo" for a reason. Don't want to be humiliated when you are rejected in public? Then stop coming right up to the table to ask for dances and learn how to "cabecear" instead!

I'll tell you what's truly mean in Tango - and it's not "The ladies who say No". It's "The ladies who hoard their men and won't let them dance with anyone else"!

One reason why our friend did not dance the Tango during all these years away from Toronto was precisely because of this problem. She moved to a city with a large and vibrant Tango community - milongas and events every night of the week. She even attended some of these milongas - but sat uninvited all night everywhere she went.

It wasn't that people were attending the milongas were all in couples and there were no available men to dance. There were lots of men. Unfortunately, they happen to be in little cliques with very possessive and jealous women - if their men dared ask anyone outside their circle to dance, they'd get the "evil eye"! And these weren't men who were old and tired and only had one or two more dances left in them - they were ones that could dance all night. Their "clique friends" would rather have them sit than let them dance with the other women in the milonga.

We used to get a bit of that in Toronto too. No so much cliques (although we have them too), but women who would scratch the eyes out of their partners if they even dared look in another direction. One woman became so famous for her jealous rages - other women would turn her husband down when he went to ask them for a dance just to avoid triggering her nuclear meltdown.

A friend of mine used to dance quite happily with one particular Toronto Tanguero - one of those "dance all night" types - that is, until he hooked up with a dance partner who decided otherwise. He abruptly stopped dancing with my friend. One night we found out why.

Toronto Tanguero, pleading with his partner: "Could I dance with _________ tonight? I haven't danced with her for ages!"

Dramatic response from his dance partner (and not even wife, or girlfriend!), Ms. Hoard: "Excuse me? I want to dance." She stood up and blocked his way. My friend and I looked at each other incredulously - we were sitting next to Ms. Hoard and her partner and of course we overheard everything!*

* Ms. Hoard and her dance partner has long since split up, but Ms. Hoard has not ceased her exhibitions of meanness - she's the one still kicking up her pointy four inch stiletto heels in high kicks and boleos in crowded milongas, jeopardizing of the safety of the Tangueros and Tangueras around her. Has she hurt anyone? Of course she has! Does this stop her? Of course not!

Luckily in Toronto the above is the exception and not the rule - our Tangueras are warm-hearted and generous and are quite happy to let their partners (husbands, boyfriends, dance partners) dance with others if they so wish. This generosity is one of things that builds the community - and not the misguided notion that one should never say "No" when asked to dance.

The Mountain

2011-12-12T23:30:00.001-05:00

I chose to use this famous painting of "The Mountain" by Balthus as an illustration for this post because I like it and not for any particular or other reason. Or maybe... ok, imagine what it would look like if the whole Balthus mountain landscape was bathed in fog. Pretty scary, huh? Or perhaps it was scarier without the fog? You decide!

Back when Man Yung was young and energetic, many many many many (did I say many?) years ago, he liked to go on hiking trips with his friends on the mountain trails of Hong Kong.*

* For such a small place, Hong Kong is surprisingly hilly/mountainous.

Once, during one of their hiking excursions, a thick, dense (creepy? alienesque?) fog descended all over the mountain. The hikers could hardly see more than two steps ahead of them.

No-one panicked. They continued slowly and cautiously on their way, stepping carefully on the visible tracks of the trail. They were making their way off the mountain when they encountered a group of Boy Scouts.

The Boy Scouts were decked out in their shiny, neat uniforms and were extremely organized and regimental. No doubt they were prepared for puny little contingencies like a tiny dab of fog! They were adamant about being quite helpful too. They sent their leader to talk to Man Yung to see if he and his hikers needed their "assistance".

"Looks like you are in a spot of trouble here," said Scout Leader to Man Yung. Scout Leader may or may not have stood with his hands on his hips and legs wide apart, superhero-style [I wasn't there, I'm just guessing]. "We can help you poor lost folk make it back to civilization - as you can see (he pointed proudly at his uniform) we are experts at survival skills and wilderness navigation."

Man Yung replied, "Thank you very much - we'll be perfectly all right. We have a compass and we know the way."

Scout Leader cocked his eyebrow and looked at Man Yung. "You may have a compass - but do you have a [TA-DAAAA! he presented with a flourish] MAP? Because WE have a map."

Man Yung cocked his eyebrow and looked at Scout Leader. "You may have a MAP - but do you have a compass?"

"What would we need a compass for? Our map is very detailed and precise and it's all that we need," sniffed Scout Leader.

"OK, you can try using your map when you can't even see your hand in front of your face for the fog. At least with a compass we know which direction we are going in. Hong Kong isn't so big - so long we are going in the right direction, we will end up in Chuen Wan in half an hour!"**

** Yes, Hong Kong is that small.

Whilst Man Yung and his group of hikers were able to make it off the mountain safe and sound in time for dinner with the use of their compass - the Scouts persisted stubbornly with their map. Alas, the map was rendered useless as the Scouts could not see any of the landmarks around them and furthermore didn't know which direction they were facing due to the fog. They eventually got lost and were were devoured mercilessly by a flock of ravenous, Scout-eating squirrels.

STUDY QUESTIONS:

1. Where is the compas? Would you be able to find it if I draw you a map?

2. Ha ha - I doubt you will be able to find it with a map - or even a GPS (and remember, you have to keep on paying for map updates with GPS). Maybe you will get it eventually...but you will have to be going in the right direction. Unfortunately, the ten-tiered, densely structured, meticulously planned, academically accredited, dance-school affiliated, 100 hour Tango course you are taking will only teach you how to dance around and around yourself in circles with a lot of skill. Whether you will finally reach your destination - Tango - is doubtful. I wish you the best of luck - and watch out for the carnivorous squirrels.

Alberto Dassieu and La Flaca Lucia perform to "Sin Rumbo Fijo" at Flor de Milonga

2011-12-09T00:30:00.000-05:00

Just found this gem on Youtube - Alberto performing a vals with La Flaca Lucia at the milonga run by La Flaca Lucia and Gerry in San Telmo, "Flor de Milonga":

Good stuff! It's always a pleasure to watch the Maestro dance vals - with the lovely and talented La Flaca Lucia, no less. By the caption on the video, looks like Alberto is teaching a series of vals seminars there.

You can read more about our experiences at the very bohemian Flor de Milonga here.

Pains and Gains

2011-12-03T15:48:00.001-05:00

The Karate school I went to had Jiu-Jitsu classes offered by a guest instructor every Wednesday. They had an independent grading system, so no matter what your rank was in Karate, you had to earn your belt separately for Jiu-Jitsu. Nevertheless, skills in self-defense were seen as desirable for advancement in Karate, so my Karate friend and I decided to try the class out.

The class was notorious for being tough - they really beat themselves up in there. Luckily, although we were both newbies (yellow belts!) we were not wimps. We could take a couple of bumps and knocks and over-zealous joint locks. In fact, we were proud to be able to endure some pretty rough treatment - a badge of honour, if you will.

After a few weeks of this class, we noticed something strange. All of the Jiu-Jitsu sensei's most dedicated students would have red duct tape stuck all over their uniforms. We asked a senpai why.

"That tape is to show where you have been injured. Your practice opponent will know to take it easy on your shoulder, for example, if you have taped yourself there."

Hmmmmm....something's not quite right here.

In Jiu-Jitsu class this means: Really, Really injured

Alarm bells should have gone off but we were young and stupid. It didn't take long before I was put out of commission - a badly twisted elbow from a careless and violent takedown. My friend, being quite stubborn, lasted a few months more - but she too, ended up with a nasty injury. Better stick to Karate, we both concluded.*

* Not that Karate is necessarily better - in martial arts, it all depends on whether the Sensei does his or her utmost in ensuring that safety of the student is prioritized over the desire to be or look "tough".

Looking back to that time in my life twenty years ago, there were some pretty dumb things we did for the sake of being "good" in the martial arts. My friends and I were not training to be bouncers or prize-fighters, we were studying in our real lives to be teachers or doctors or lawyers or engineers - why should we subject ourselves to that kind of treatment that could give us permanent injury? One black belt was a real firecracker at the age of 20 in the Philippines - but by 50, he could hardly walk and needed extensive surgery on both knees. Another venerable old black belt moved so slowly they nicknamed him "The Mountain" - you'd think it was because he was calm and all, but in fact, he was just hurting all over.

Luckily we had good Sensei who knew that some of the macho, "I am man enough to take it" stuff out there in the martial arts world was bullshit. He always told us this: "No matter what your interests are, or what you want to learn, make sure you don't injure yourself while doing it!"

So why are we hurting ourselves dancing Tango?

When we first started Tango, one of my first questions to my potential "Tango Sensei" on the phone was - what kind of shoes should I wear?

The answer: "Oh, whatever."

Even I knew then that the answer should not be "Whatever" - it should be "Shoes that have smooth soles, to ensure there is no traction when you pivot." However, that "Whatever" was much in vogue in Toronto at that time - thus quite a number of trendy-uns wearing running shoes to dance. Luckily, it's not that common anymore.

Alas, Man Yung didn't catch on too quickly - he wore loafers which had horizontal grids running across the bottom for the first eight months. "Wow, my knees are sore!" he'd say after every class. He thought it was because of the exertion. In fact, it was the damn shoes.

He finally bought real, Buenos Aires, custom-fit Tango shoes from our Tango Sensei. They arrived...way too tight. Should they be this uncomfortable? we asked our Tango Guru. "You want them to be tight - they'll stretch out," was the response.

One night after the milonga (and crazy non-stop dancing by Man Yung), we arrived home tired but happy. Man Yung took off his shoes and walked across the carpet. I casually looked over his direction - and saw ominous red stains following in his direction.

"What's that? Hey, Man Yung, wait a minute...it's BLOOD! Stop moving! You are ruining the carpet!" I attacked the stains frantically with a wet paper towel - thank God for Stainguard.

It was the chafing from the too-tight shoes.

"Ha ha! That's just ridiculous!" you say - but self-abuse in the name of Tango could happen to you too.

One lovely Toronto Tanguera we know used to take classes with a toppity-top traveling Tango Professional some decades ago. He was REALLY STRONG and his trademark was making his partner do REALLY FAST OCHOS. "Faster! Faster!" he would urge. The poor Toronto Tanguera cracked a bone in her wrist from being "led" (shoved? hurtled?) by this genius. Yet another ancient Toronto Tanguera was just too nice, she didn't say no to the nascent "Nuevo" instructor when he asked her to dance. We all jumped in our skins when we heard the loud "thud" - he really defied death when she didn't break her neck from being tripped and dropped. And last but not least, one Toronto Instructor plotted his triumphant return to Tango for months - but when he appeared at his first milonga in many moons, his over-enthusiastic back sacadas* landed another unsuspecting Toronto Tanguera flat on her back on the floor.

* Funny how many professionals think that big, dangerous movements in a crowded spaces means - "I'm a really great dancer! Look at me! Look at me!"

We've mentioned some of the wild Tangueros and their hapless Tanguera victims - however, the Tangueras sometimes have to share in the responsibility too. Some are taught to dance "heavy" (which is not a synonym for "grounded", despite what most think) so their partners can really notice that they exist (and also so they could "slow the man down", if necessary). Watch out for dislocated necks and shoulders wherever they go. Others have decided to embrace the "frantic embellishment" movement - slashing their glittering stiletto heels rapidly to-and-fro in the Tango version of the Knife Game. It's one problem when they gore the people around them, and another problem... when they stab themselves in the toes.** Good luck to the poor gentlemen risking injury for a dance with these talented Tangueras.

** I, too, was a rabid adornista: "Been there, done that," said Irene.

And heck, just ask your local Tango Professional. How many of them have injured themselves jumping, lifting and spinning, or dancing with heavy ladies and crazed gentleman? Is it eight out of ten, or ten out of ten? Ouch, ouch, ouch!

"I had no idea that Tango could be so dangerous!" said Man Yung. "In Buenos Aires you can see all manner of old folk dancing Tango and they all look intact!"

It should be common sense - don't injure yourself dancing the Tango! I don't think that "No Pain, No Gain" should be the rule here. But still many subject themselves to injury - and for what? OK, so you really dying to go pro - but how about the rest of us who consider Tango just a pastime? Don't tell me that people are sacrificing life and limb for a shot of Tango Glory!*** At this rate and in this fashion, looks like lots of us will be dancing Tango in our old age with red duct tape all over our bodies....hmmmm, I guess it's a more, ahem, interesting fashion statement than fringes, sequins and fishnet stockings.

*** What Glory is that, exactly? Tango Championship? Worldwide Tango Fame and Fortune? Better stick to your day job!

Adela Galeazzi and Rino Biondi - Homenaje al Roberto Firpo at El Pial, 11/13/11

2011-11-23T09:49:00.001-05:00

We only got to see Adela and Elba once at Leonesa during our recent trip to Buenos Aires in October (poor Man Yung starts to cry) but never fear! Through the magic of internet, we get to experience more of Adela's exquisite dancing even though we are thousands of miles away in cold, dreary Toronto.

Adela just emailed us some videos of her performances with Rino Biondi at El Pial on November 13, 2011. They danced a milonga and a canyengue in honour of the orchestra of Roberto Firpo - in these videos we can admire again Rino's musical, very milonguero style of dancing and Adela's effortless, cat-like grace and rapid footwork. We have bumped into Rino at La Baldosa and La Nacional countless times over the past couple of years - a gentleman and a great guy. We've seen photos of him at his classes in the magazines and he is surrounded by a big crowd of happy students.

One thing that Rino and Adela have in common is the fact that they dance EVERY TANDA. From the moment they step into the milonga to the moment they leave, they are dancing with all their milonguero and milonguera friends. We've heard of dancers of certain currently trendy styles deliberately "Not Dancing" at milongas in order to conform some imaginary standard of authenticity or exclusivity. I guess that's ok if you really don't want to dance, and the music doesn't move you (Come on! Are you really that jaded that 99% of Tango music doesn't make you want to move your feet? Why are you dancing Tango then?), or you are totally tired, but don't refrain from dancing just because you think it will make you look cool and superior! Watching Rino and Adela in action at the milongas is forever a delight. No putting on airs or sitting in the sidelines for them - if they can dance, THEY WILL DANCE.

I think this could be said of so many of the dancers we have met during our travels - Myriam Pincen, Susy Tilbe, Roberto Segarra, Osvaldo and Coca (yes, they would dance everything if Osvaldo's health was better), Elba Biscay, Marta Fama, Graciela Cano, Clely, Tete....and so many dancers we don't know the names of. They love Tango, they belong to Tango, they would dance Tango all the time if they could. Watching the milongueros and milongueras dance you can feel how the compas moves them, what a beautiful and passionate thing it is for them (and anyone) to dance the Tango.

Enjoy!

Adela and Rino dance to Firpo's "El Esquinazo"

Adela and Rino dance to Firpo's "La Eterna Milonga"

Opinion

2011-11-18T19:12:00.001-05:00

Marc Chagall - "Double Portrait with Wine Glass" 1917

"Hey Man Yung, we better not stay too late at the milonga tonight - let's go to the Marc Chagall exhibition at the AGO tomorrow morning!" I said over lunch.

I think Man Yung heard "not too late" and "milonga" and that may have turned him right off. He grunted. "Where are we going tomorrow?"

Don't be misled by Man Yung's response. For those out there who think that Man Yung is only a Chinese-speaking, Tango-Dancing, Soup-making, Kung-Fu practicing old person - let me explain. Man Yung appreciates art more than I do - and I'm no slouch either! One of his first loves was Rembrandt - and then, focusing on more realism, he starting studying the works of Jacques-Louis David. Degas opened another vista for him - viewing his paintings gives Man Yung a feeling of "moving tranquility" - and he started to appreciate the post-impressionists as well, such as Gauguin, Cezanne and Van Gogh ("Except that looking at Van Gogh's brushstrokes drives me crazy!" says Man Yung). The first time Man Yung saw a painting by Modigliani, it was like being struck by lightning. It's too bad that Modigliani died so young though - his style never really evolved very much, but his art will always hold a very special place in Man Yung's heart.

But Man Yung's absolute favourite artist is Picasso. He is known for breaking down in tears in front of certain paintings by Picasso - which I find quite amusing. Man Yung didn't want to like Picasso - it seemed to him that every boor out there with no real feeling or interest towards art would say they liked Picasso or Van Gogh just because their artworks are renowned for being the most expensive at auctions. But there's a reason why Picasso's works fetch the prices that they fetch - it's because his work is really and truly "genius".

Unfortunately, Man Yung hasn't paid that much attention to Chagall. But I know how to get his attention. "Did you know that Picasso thought very highly of Chagall's works? In fact, he said - 'When Matisse dies, Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what colour really is.'"

Man Yung's ears perk up. "Whose opinion was that again?"

"It was Picasso's opinion. That's PABLO PICASSO."

I think we are going to the AGO tomorrow after all!

******************************************************************************

Which brings me to the following:

1. Alberto Dassieu was teaching a group class in __________________ (somewhere not in Buenos Aires - are you surprised? But luckily, not in Toronto either). The class was filled with gringos who were either very beginner, or very beginner AND trying to show off their "show/nuevo moves" so that the visiting maestro would be impressed at their intrinsic "tango-athleticism".

Now, Alberto is a very gentle teacher. When it came time for Alberto to instruct one of the worst offenders - ahem, most enthusiastic practitioners of "show/nuevo tango athleticism", Alberto had just a few, kind words of advice.

Mr. Show Tango snarled sarcastically. "Oh, is that your opinion?" he said. And he continued whirling and high kicking around in class like the Tasmanian Devil.

Now, why did Mr. Show Tango take Alberto's class when he was not prepared to listen to Alberto's opinion?

2. We were taking group classes with Osvaldo and Coca at El Tacuari last year. A tall, skinny, young, attractive blond gringo couple dressed entirely in blinding bright white was taking the class with us.

Osvaldo and Coca were teaching us how to move in the context of a milonga. "This is something you can do when there's too many people around you and you can't go forward." Osvaldo grabbed a couple of us and made us stand around pretending to be a crowd so that he could demonstrate how the step worked.

Mr. and Ms. Beautiful turned up their noses. Instead of doing the "boring, stupid, simple, old-timey step" - they proceeded to execute high velocity whirligigs.

Didn't they know they were taking a class that had nothing to do with twirling at high speeds and knocking onlookers over using centrifugal force?

3. "Ah, Irene - I see that you are perplexed," said Man Yung. "There is a very simple explanation why you will find, all over the world, scenarios like the ones you described above."

You bet that I am puzzled. "You'd think that these people paid good money for the classes in order to learn something from real Maestros. But why are they persistently doing their own thing instead of listening to expert opinion?"

"Don't be naive - they aren't taking the class to learn. They are taking the class with the hope that the Maestro - whom they have no real interest in learning from - will see them (and who can avoid it - especially when they are kicking and spinning like that and wearing radiant, eye-piercing white!), admire them, and give them copious compliments to validate their Tango existence. Anytime you get within a twenty meter radius of a visiting Tango Maestro, there is good chance you will encounter this kind of behavior - no matter whether you are in a class, at a milonga, or even in the middle of the street!"

I sighed. "No wonder milongas here become like nuthouses when Maestros visit. Remind me to avoid going to the milonga when any of them come to town."*

* When I said "Avoid" and "Milonga" - Man Yung immediately said, "NOOOOOOO!!!! Not 'Avoid'! We go anyway but 'Just be careful not to get kicked.'"

More of the magnificent Myriam Pincen - El Maipu at La Nacional, 10/10/11

2011-11-14T19:43:00.000-05:00

People partied until late at Dorita's milonga at Club Oeste on Sunday because Monday was a public holiday. As for Monday, it was quiet all day - everything was closed except for restaurants... and milongas!

While at Club Oeste, we made plans to meet with Osvaldo and Coca and Myriam to meet at El Maipu at La Nacional. Lucy and Dany used to host their very milonguero milonguero milonga at Plaza Bohemia, Maipu 444 until that venue closed down. But no worries! Now they repeat their success on Monday nights at La Nacional.

With Osvaldo and Coca and Myriam Pincen at El Maipu (La Nacional)

Myriam is such a great, kind person and a good sport, she didn't mind at all that Man Yung is a crazy dancer (see post on Club Oeste for examples of said craziness) and even danced with Man Yung again at El Maipu!

Here they are dancing a tanda of Laurenz:

A Toronto Tanguero who is enjoying all these videos of the milongueras asked us, "What is it like dancing with Myriam Pincen?"

I want to dance like Myriam one day! She is a wonderful dancer, her footwork and adornments are perfect and subtle, she is musical, she follows EVERYTHING. She is a real, living Goddess of Tango - but she is more than that. Would you be able to find anyone with even half her talent who is so warm, welcoming and humble? I think it would be very difficult.

And what's more, Myriam finishes each tango with a beautiful, bright smile!

Here's more of Myriam - in a delicious pink flowing dress (where does she get all her fabulous, colourful, striking dresses? I seem to be stuck with my Lululemon and Tilleys) AND smiling throughout, performing at Cachirulo with Juan Carlos Pontorielo:

Customer Service

2011-11-10T23:55:00.001-05:00

We went out for chinese food with our “Scarborough” (meaning “non-Tango”) friends tonight. We go out with these friends at least once a week - just to hang out, to catch up, to eat (of course), and catch the current Hong Kong mini-series on the flat panel tv hanging on the wall of the restaurant. It’s a very casual and relaxed get-together.

As usual, we ordered lots of food - roasted squab with pepper salt, double lobster in garlic and Maggi sauce, dried mandarin peel flavoured steamed eel slices, soy sauce fried beef noodles, jellyfish strips with wine-marinated duck tongue, crispy fried chicken, and, as an afterthought, stir-fried clams in black bean sauce.

Everything was delicious...except the clams were off.

The head chef came over to chat and find out what we thought of the food. “It was very tasty,” said Man Yung. “I especially loved the crispy fried chicken. It’s such a simple dish - but it’s hard to find a place which serves it the way it’s supposed to be, with the skin crispy and juicy, and the meat tender and flavourful. I don’t know how many times I’ve had chicken that was dry on the outside, and even more dry on the inside!”

“The only secret is to make it fresh everyday,” said the chef. “Many restaurants don’t - they make all the chickens for the week in one go. It can’t taste too good by day three!”

“Just one thing was not good,” said Man Yung - “Your clams were off.”

“Oh, is that right?” said the chef.

He immediately rushed into the kitchen, grabbed a meat cleaver, and chased us out of the restaurant.

Savoury ingredients...expert cooking...immaculate presentation - but alas, the clams were "off"

Nah, I’m kidding. The chef thanked us for letting him know. “Please inform me if there is anything wrong with the food. You’ve got to let me know, because otherwise, if something is wrong, we will continue serving the problem dish and we wouldn’t have a clue that our customers are upset at the food. We’d rather fix the problem than lose our customers!”

We weren't charged for the clams and we got a 10% discount. That is one good, responsible chef - we’ll be going back to eat at his restaurant for sure!

*************************************************************************************

While the above is a very nice story, it is about customer service in restaurants. It does not apply to Tango.

It is inappropriate to tell your dance partner before, during, or after dancing with them at a milonga that their dancing is “off” - in any way, shape or form. Such words should not come out of your mouth; nor should you hint same with subtle (or non-subtle) body language.

No rolling of the eyes. No sighs or snorts of contempt. No pushing or shoving into place. No slapping of limbs. No body shimmies or arm jitters to loosen less than ideal grips. No hanging onto your partner’s neck - and no pretending to be a metal anvil or a war elephant to slow your partner down. No advice (except when expressly solicited by your partner - and only when you are off the pista and out of everyone’s way). And, NO TEACHING ON THE DANCE FLOOR.

When you dance with someone, they are not a restaurant where the customer is always right. In fact, you can throw the whole concept of customer service out of the window.

I’m sorry, you should have known better than dance with the whirling dervish nutcase in the first place - weren’t you paying attention to all the dancers while you were waiting for the cabeceo? Don’t forget, it is your right - in fact, your DUTY for the good of all tango-kind - to say no. It not your place, whether you are an amateur, an advanced, or a pro, to “correct” anyone’s problems - unless that person has paid to take your class and both of you are in the classroom.

Your only recourse is the following: Never eat at the same restaurant again. Or, if encountering particularly repugnant, urgent horribleness (e.g. you found cockroaches practicing synchronized swimming in your soup, or strange hairs sprouting from your entree) - you can say “Thank you very much” and stop it right there before the dinner (I mean, the tanda) is over. It is, in fact, totally appropriate to leave before the next gag-inducing course is served.

Skill 2

2011-11-06T09:51:00.002-05:00

Man Yung snorted in disgust. "Is it me, or have all the videos of tango on the 2xTango channel gone downhill lately?"

I looked up from my Anthropologie/Lululemon websurfing to look at what Man Yung was looking at on his iPad. It was my turn to snort. "I don't think it's 2xTango's fault - this is the only stuff they could videotape in Buenos Aires these days."

"What was that all about? I don't think they did anything for three minutes...except poses!"

"In fact, I lost count of the number of times he dipped her. She better wash her hair when she gets home - you don't know what's been tracked onto the dance floor with the explosion of doggie-doo on the streets this spring."

Don't try this at home, kiddies - this kind of tango takes a lot of skill,

And yes, apparently you are not a real tango dancer unless you do a lot of leg-lifting, Rockettes style!

I had better things to do than to watch this kind of "Tango-Voguing", but I had one more thing to add. "Man Yung, do you know who the guy is? He's the guy that you really admired for a while, the one who danced with Natacha Poberaj in Zotto's show!* You know, that guy!"

Man Yung thought a little bit, and it dawned on him. "What, that guy???!?"

Yes, it was that guy.

"What happened???!?"

This is a question that we have to ask quite often when it comes to Tango.

* By the way, THAT was choreography as well - but choreography that actually had something to do with the Tango that is danced rather than someone's fantasy about Tango.

Susy Tilbe dances Vals with Man Yung at Boedo Tango, October 13, 2011

2011-11-01T23:08:00.000-04:00

We hang out with Roberto and Olga and Susy Tilbe at Lo de Celia

We had already made plans to meet with the fabulous Susy Tilbe of Milonguisimo before we had even landed in Buenos Aires.

"You are arriving on Wednesday? Let's meet up at Lo de Celia - I'll reserve a table and see you there!"

Luckily we did not miss our connection in Lima so we were able to make it to meet Susy, Roberto and Olga, the very first night we arrived.

Hanging out with Susy is so much fun. She is a beautiful person, inside and out, and, of course, a divine dancer. She still performs on stage with Milonguisimo, which is where we met her first, the very first milonga (Glorias Argentinas) on the very first night of our very first trip to Buenos Aires. And Susy is the very first milonguera that Man Yung ever danced with - which makes her Man Yung's first... Tango Love!

"Olé!!!!" exclaims Susy, imitating the motion of a matador swishing away a cape and narrowly missing a charging bull just in the nick of time - no, she will not marry Man Yung, despite repeated marriage proposals (Sorry, dear, better luck next time!)

Susy's life is filled with dancing, work, family, performing in Milonguisimo and in the theatre - it's hard to keep up with her energy! With Susy's busy schedule and our own busy schedule, we thought it would be impossible to arrange another time at the milonga with Susy. We talked on the phone several times, resigned to the fact that perhaps we will be able to meet only the next time we are in Buenos Aires. But fate has a way of intervening...

"Oh my god, there's Susy!!!" We had arrived during the last hour of Boedo Tango, and Susy spots us at the same time that we see her. We didn't think we'd see her there - we had gone there to say hello to Haydee Ester Malagrino, Oscar Hector's sister, who had telephoned us to let us know that she'd be there. Imagine our surprise and joy at seeing Susy! She didn't expect to be at Boedo Tango either, but Oscar Hector had called her there at the last minute that night for a rehearsal for Milonguisimo. Susy was dancing when we arrived, but once the tango was finished we rushed on the dance floor and hugged and kissed like crazy people.

Only a few minutes left and the night will be over - Susy danced a tanda of vals with Man Yung. If you can distill joy and put it in dance, this will be it:

Oh my god, Man Yung, stop it already with those enganches on unsuspecting milongueras! (said Irene)

We are happy to see Susy, happy to be dancing with Susy, happy to be dancing, happy that we are in Buenos Aires and once again together with dearest friends.

We are also happy Oscar Hector is unstoppable - despite the sad closure of Glorias Argentinas, here he is again, as determined and as dynamic as ever in his new milongas(!) - Boedo on Thursday and Friday nights, and Salon Rodriguez on Sunday nights. We understand that he will be opening yet another milonga with Clely on another night - my goodness!

Susy Tilbe, Oscar Hector and the two of us at Boedo Tango. How come when we get people to take photos of us, they always manage to cut off someone's feet or toes? And look, they cut off the top of the Boedo Tango sign too!

All the best to Oscar Hector, the mighty force in the promotion of Tango! We wish you every success in your milongas and in your wonderful show Milonguisimo. And we know you'll be reading this, Susy - Susy, we love you! (And Man Yung proposes marriage, "Te Quiero Mucho!", even if the answer is still no!)

Irene and Man Yung perform to "Secreto" and "La Tapera" at La Yumba de Dorita Milonga - Club Oeste 10/09/11

2011-10-19T22:11:00.004-04:00

It's not the first time that Osvaldo has asked us this. Osvaldo is kind of proud of us. "Hey, in Toronto - aren't all the people there looking at your dancing?"

We turn and look at him oddly, and then blink in disbelief. "Look at us? Of course not!"

"Why not?" Osvaldo slaps the table and gestures to the dance floor. "Look how everyone here is watching you dance!"

Coca nods and adds, "Everyone everywhere we go are asking about you!"

Every milonga we go to in Buenos Aires, people are staring at us and giving us nods and thumbs up of approval. Osvaldo and Coca must think we are joking when we say we don't stir up any interest in our home town. How do we explain to them, "In Toronto, they aren't looking for the same things as what the Porteños are looking for when they watch someone dance Tango"? And what are the words in Spanish for "Trendy Labels" and "Resumé?" It seems to us publicity and self-promotion (and extravagant, attention grabbing movements and tricks) is what it takes to attract attention on dance floors outside of Buenos Aires - irrespective of the quality of dancing.

When we dance, we dance what we are - we don't try to be bigger, or more interesting, or more perfect. We have our love for each other. We have our love for our teachers and our friends. We have have our love for Tango. We want to dance the Tango that the Porteños feel with their heart and soul - not a "tango" that is engineered for entertainment of people who couldn't tell the difference.

After dancing at Milonga J. L. at La Nacional on Saturday, we called Osvaldo and Coca at midday on Sunday to find out where they wanted to go. Coca picked up the phone. "Myriam called us back - let's go together to La Yumba de Dorita tonight!"

It was the Sunday night before the holiday Monday, so the venerable Club Oeste was packed to the rafters with locals - not a single tourist (except us) to be seen. We have wanted to visit this ancient club for a long time, but have not yet had the opportunity. This is where Nina Balbuena teaches her popular class on Friday nights, and where our friend Ruben Dario Lopez went to dance at the age of 18.

Osvaldo and Coca and Myriam Pincen (Yay Myriam! What a phenomenal milonguera!) had already arrived when we showed up:

Myriam Pincen, Osvaldo and Coca and the two of us at La Yumba de Dorita (Club Oeste)

There were so many people that we had to clamber over chairs and tables to get to the dance floor. Despite the crowd, the dancing on the floor was orderly and calm and everyone who wanted to dance could get out there and enjoy themselves:

The dance floor at La Yumba de Dorita (Club Oeste). Can you spot Man Yung? He is dancing with Graciela Cano, who won the third Metropolitan Championship in Buenos Aires with her husband Pedro Vujovich.

"What was it you wanted to dance to yesterday?" Osvaldo asked me. We had wanted to dance to "Secreto" (for Jessie and Dorian out there in Vancouver! Hola!) but Osvaldo chose "El Adios" instead. Might as well face the music - Osvaldo and Coca and the organizer Dorita wanted us to perform - and not just a tango, but a vals as well. So we did:

Irene and Man Yung perform to Orquesta Tipica Victor's "Secreto" at La Yumba de Dorita (Club Oeste). This is the second time that we have danced to "Secreto" - the first was when we filmed the video of ourselves at our weekly practice for Jessie and Dorian, who generously emailed us the music.

Irene and Man Yung perform to Edgardo Donato's vals "La Tapera" at La Yumba de Dorita (Club Oeste)

Osvaldo and Coca were as proud of us as they are always - and wonderful Myriam had words of praise and encouragement for us. "Many couples I have seen dancing dance like two people," Myriam said, using her hand gestures to emphasize what she was describing. She closed her hands together and intertwined her fingers. "When I look at you dancing - I see one person."

Why do we dance Tango? We want to become one - with our partners, with the music, with the universe. Osvaldo and Coca showed us the way to the infinite. They also performed that night, to their favourite - "El Adios":

Osvaldo and Coca perform to Edgardo Donato's "El Adios" at La Yumba de Dorita (Club Oeste)

Man Yung had been looking forward to another opportunity dance with Myriam Pincen ever since our previous trip in April. No-one in the world can dance like Myriam Pincen - no-one! And how beautiful she is! Here is the video of Myriam dancing Pugliese* with Man Yung:

* "Oh my God!" said Man Yung. I think he is embarrassed. "I can't believe that I started doing back sacadas and enganches with Myriam Pincen when I was dancing Pugliese! What the hell was I thinking??!?"

"Don't worry, I don't think Myriam minded that you were temporarily possessed. So long you danced honestly what you felt the music was telling you to dance, it's ok." I patted his back reassuringly. Heh heh....I'm not going to tell him that yes, he was CRAZY to start doing all those moves with a top milonguera and ha ha! She isn't going to dance with him ever again! (Just joking)

And here's another video of Myriam dancing with Man Yung - Fresedo this time (the Tango happens to be "Tigre Viejo"):

Myriam Pincen dancing Fresedo's "Tigre Viejo" with Man Yung at La Yumba de Dorita (Club Oeste). Osvaldo and Coca take to the floor too!

Can we describe how Myriam Pincen dances? Can we describe her footwork, her musicality, her embrace, her emotion? THERE ARE NO WORDS. She is magnificent. She is a GODDESS. Check out her videos on Youtube (especially her performances with Ricardo Vidort, they are classic) and also her interview with Practimilonguero. This is a lady who IS Tango.

I love it when Osvaldo dances something other than Tango - his musicality is so innate, he can dance to any music. Here is Osvaldo dancing Cumbia with lovely, awesome Myriam:

So there you have it - another glittering night in Buenos Aires. We danced that night like any other night - those who know us can see that we danced in our exhibition as we always dance in the milonga. We do not "walk" finer or do "special" moves, or bedazzle with tricks just because we are performing and wanted to gain applause. Anyone with two legs and two arms can do what we do. But that was enough - because we danced as ourselves for ourselves and for the people we love. Nothing more, nothing less. In the end, that's what the Porteños want to see when they want to see us dance - and they embraced us as warmly as we embraced them.

Lai Lai

2011-10-15T15:03:00.001-04:00

Lai Lai Chinese Restaurant (Arribeños 2168) in Belgrano - Buenos Aires Chinatown

When Jessie and Dorian from Vancouver visited Toronto a few weeks ago, they recommended that we try Lai Lai in Belgrano for some authentic chinese food during our trip - just in case we felt in any way homesick. With a sunny warm Saturday morning free of any planned activities, we decided to make the long trek there from Santa Fe and Callao.

"Take the bus, it goes right there!" said Juan José, the friendly shoe shine guy on the corner. Since we are adamantly not locals (you can even say blatantly touristy), we decided to take a taxi instead.

Even though it was the weekend, it was traffic all the way. Lots of time to look at the streetscape of Santa Fe and Cabilde as we passed - and to ogle at lovers making out in bus shelters:

The trip to the heart of Chinatown at Mendoza and Arribeños cost 40 pesos. It was just before noon, so Lai Lai and many of the other restaurants (like Todo Contento, another chinese restaurant we had tried before on previous trips) were still closed. We took some time to walk around to re-acquaint ourselves with Buenos Aires Chinatown. We haven't been here since 2008.

The last couple of times we were here we were on tight schedules - classes during the day or Camicando workshops with Martha and Manolo meant that visiting Chinatown had to be hit and run. We got our instant noodles from the chinese supermarket, and then left! When we discovered that we could get the same cup noodles at the Carréfour near our hotel (and in better, more Argentinian flavours, like Cheese and Tomato and Chicken) we didn't need to go to Chinatown anymore. This time we could enjoy more of Chinatown.

It's pretty busy - there's lots of Chinese people but also lots of Argentinians, and every store and restaurant has some Argentinian staff. We saw help wanted posters on the windows - asking for applicants with DNI. When we were at Todo Contento, the boss there told us there is now a requirement for all stores to hire a certain number of locals, so you will find Argentinian (as opposed to Chinese or Chinese-Argentinian) sales clerks, waiters and chefs everywhere you go in Chinatown. This is completely different than the situation in Toronto Chinatown, where Chinese stores and restaurants have 100% staff of chinese ethnicity.

We didn't see this the last time we were here:

Gates of Chinatown

The big election is next weekend so the supporters and campaigners are out in force everywhere we turn. Martha told me that people over 70 don't have the vote (!!?!) and so I think that's why the people giving out flyers didn't hand any to our elderly taxi driver when we stopped at the traffic lights on the way to Chinatown. We also didn't get any flyers because with our Tilley hats and other dorky accoutrements, we look like we are from outer space - and I don't think space invaders get to vote in Argentina either.

After a leisurely walk around the block it was time for lunch at Lai Lai. Lai Lai means "Come Come" in Chinese - and Man Yung explains that one of the two most important hotels in Taipei, Taiwan (in his day) was called Lai Lai Fan Tien, with Fan meaning "Cooked Rice" and "Tien" meaning "Lodgings". The most common word for "Hotel" in Chinese is "Zhou Tien" which means "Alcoholic Beverage Lodgings" which, strangely enough in the olden days of Man Yung's youth, meant much more basic lodgings several levels below "Cooked Rice Lodgings". As for why it could be that a place where you can eat cooked rice meant a luxurious 5-star hotel while a place where you could drink alcohol meant a 2 to 3 star hotel, I don't know and I welcome any coherent explanations as to same.

Lai Lai was starting to get busy when we went in. Apart from another table of regulars, we were the only chinese - the rest were Argentinians. They like Lai Lai chinese food!

Ambience at Lai Lai - the wall trim has postcards of colourful scenery from all over Taiwan

We ordered Rice Noodles (Ho Fan) with Beef, Fried Onion with Beef (we figured that Beef in Buenos Aires is a failsafe choice), and Hot and Sour soup. The soup came first - it looked authentic and tasted great with strong peppery and vinegary flavour.

The proprietress came over to talk to Man Yung (people love to start a conversation with Man Yung wherever we go). She's been living in Argentina for 28 years! She was part of the immigration wave out of Taiwan in the early 80's. Man Yung explained to me that people were starting to make money in Taiwan starting late 70's and early 80's due to the manufacturing and technology boom. Since the Taiwanese still feared invasion from mainland China, they took their money and immigrated to many different places in the world. Many immigrated to Panama (Taiwan had close political, technology and trade connections with Panama because of the Panama Canal works) but others went to other parts of Central and South America too, including Argentina.

"There were only about 3000 Chinese in Chinatown when I arrived," said the proprietress, "Most were Taiwanese with 20% Cantonese. Now there are more and more immigrants from Mainland China, mostly from Fujian province." Toronto is also experiencing more immigrants from China and Fujian province in particular - enormously resourceful people. Man Yung knows of many Chinese who made their way first to places in South America - and then bought a plane ticket to the States or Canada. Some would destroy their identification and passports en route, arrive in Canada and declare refugee status. Both Man Yung and the proprietress agreed that it was very daring - the Taiwanese and Hong Kongers usually went by the regular route and applied for immigration!

The rest of our food arrived:

Rice Noodles (Ho Fan) with Beef and Fried Onion with Beef at Lai Lai

Now, we ordered Rice Noodles (Ho Fan) as an experiment. It is only in places with a large population of Chinese people that you can get the best Ho Fan - it has to be made fresh daily and delivered each day in order to have a supple but soft bite. This is fine for places like Toronto with its own Ho Fan and Chinese noodle factories - but places a little further like Hamilton or Ottawa you may find it impossible to find good Ho Fan. In fact, freshness is so important, Man Yung tries not to order Ho Fan at a restaurant any time after 8:30 p.m. because this means the Ho Fan has been sitting in the kitchen fridge all day and would have become stiff and hard. The Ho Fan used by Lai Lai tastes good, but it has a springy texture which usually means it was made from reconstituted dried rice noodles rather than the freshly made kind we have in Toronto. "I've been to Toronto too," said the proprietress - "The Chinese food here can't compare to what you have in Toronto! We simply can't get the same kind of ingredients." The beef at Lai Lai, however, is of the finest quality - not like some of the beef you can find in Chinese restaurants in Toronto, which have been "tenderized" to death with baking soda and such.

"We tried to keep all our dishes authentic here in this restaurant," said the proprietress. "Some of the other Chinese Restaurants cater to the people here and offer a mix of Argentinian and Chinese, but we stick to tradition." We asked the proprietress to recommend the signature dish of the restaurant - and she told us to try the "Three Cups of Wine chicken":

Three Cups of Wine Chicken at Lai Lai

Man Yung loved the tasty whole garlic cloves in this casserole! We better not bump into any milongueras tonight.

So there you have it! A day in Buenos Aires without food from La Madeleine. If you get a chance to visit Chinatown, we recommend that you try Lai Lai for some authentic Taiwanese style cuisine.

* Some other interesting things we found in Chinatown: A huge RAT running into a store of imported Chinese knick knacks! It was so big I thought it was a dog. And the people shopping in the store who saw the rat running in didn't even blink or jump when the rat leaped over their feet. And in the Taiwanese Cultural Centre, there was a notice for... Tango Lessons. A chica called Emi, apparently the 'Only Taiwanese to receive certification from the University of Tango in Buenos Aires' is teaching Tango there 'for improvement of health', with a practica following the class. Too bad she is teaching on Tuesdays, we missed it. Darn.

Scarves!

2011-10-14T14:38:00.002-04:00

Window display at Gypsy at Callao and Santa Fe

One thing we love about Buenos Aires is the shopping. Yes, prices have gone up a lot - but shopping or window shopping is such a pleasure because there is so much variety. It's not like Toronto at all, where one usually shops at the mall where there's only the standard chain stores and very little in the way of quirky boutiques.

Perhaps it's because spring has just arrived and the weather is still variable, or perhaps the Porteñas are just fashionable, but everywhere we go, the women are wearing the most incredible scarves. We've seen thick knitted scarves, smooth shiny pashminas, colourful silk squares, skinny abstract cotton ties, shawls with tassels or bobbles at the edges... Even the most subtle neutral outfit comes to life with a shot of whimsy or colour. Our heads are constantly swiveling around just to catch a glimpse at the beautiful scarves that the Porteñas are wearing on the street.

Where do they get these scarves? Well the answer is easy - everywhere! You have scarves at stores specializing in accessories. You have scarves as accents for outfits on mannequins in shop windows. You have street vendors hanging their wares on small billboards along the street. We even found a cluster of wholesalers (who also sell retail, but in most of the stores except one or two you must make a minimum purchase of about 150 pesos to 200 pesos) on Lavalle north of Riobamba selling the same scarves for 80% to 70% less than the price in the boutiques.

Of course, I can't help myself! The selection is wonderful, the prices more than reasonable - every time we go out I end up with something fabulous. Here's just a small sample:

The prices of what I have here range from 5 pesos (!) to about 120 pesos. I don't think you could even buy two pairs of Comme Il Fauts (they cost around 590 pesos now) and certainly not a single Hermés carré with the total amount I spent on scarves this trip.

How to wear them? In this regard, the Porteñas don't have many different ways - perhaps the scarves are so pretty all you need is to tie them in a simple way that shows off the pattern and colour. The most common way we've seen involves folding a square scarf in a triangle, with the point of the triangle pointing down in the front - and the ends criss crossed at the back of the neck and the ends brought to the front. This is mostly used when the scarf has bobbles or tassels on the edges, and it's a very fun, casual look. When the scarf is oblong and long, we've seen it looped around the neck once, or tied in a knot with the ends hanging down in front.

I think the Porteñas are giving the Parisiennes a run for their money when it comes to accessorizing with scarves! For more ways to tie your scarf, take a look at the knotting cards on Hermés website here for an abundance of ideas.

How to make your scarf unnoticeable 101: Hide it under your jacket whilst wearing pink crocs, a Tilley Hat, and your backpack slung in front like it was a baby. Yes, you too can look like this in Buenos Aires and not get robbed (probably because people who see you on the street will be afraid of you!) By the way I am wearing Odille's Sailboat Skirt - sort of adds to the sartorial terror, don't you think?

Irene and Man Yung perform to "El Adios" at J.L. Milonga - La Nacional 10/08/11

2011-10-09T09:33:00.003-04:00

I know, I know...at the rate that we are posting our videos and experiences in Buenos Aires, you shouldn't be seeing this until 2025. But since we have been receiving complaints about our incredible non-speediness (we have to take time out to do laundry sometimes) we thought we better post this one, pronto!

The DJ very kindly filmed this for us. We deliberately arranged for the video to be taken from his perspective so that we can look like ants and any moments in our performance that may induce nausea will be reduced to a minimum (Just kidding).

We found out we had to perform about 10 minutes before we had to and it was a very nice surprise. Many thanks to the organizer Juan Lencino and the M.C. for giving us this opportunity at their wonderful hit Saturday night milonga at La Nacional and to the very enthusiastic crowd who was not too disappointed that we danced like dumpy middle-aged chinese people from Toronto and didn't jump, spin or otherwise dazzle in the recently popular styles of Tango Stage or Tango Salon now winning championships worldwide. Oh well, we could only dream:

No, we didn't choose to dance to "El Adios"! Osvaldo is sick of us dragging our feet whenever he tells us we are performing so he said, "Goddamit, you are going to dance to El Adios!" [Sorry Jessie and Dorian, we wanted to dance to "El Secreto" but we didn't have a chance to say anything!]

Many thanks too to the lovely and reknowned milongueras Marta Fama and Clely who were at the milonga for dancing three tandas each with Man Yung. He couldn't sleep all night because he was so happy after dancing with them and the other beautiful and wonderful milongueras at J. L. Milonga!

Glorias Argentinas is no more

2011-10-07T08:12:00.000-04:00

I had some bad news.

Martha looked like she didn't understand what I said. "Yes, Glorias is still on Saturday," she said.

I explained to her I had already spoken to Oscar Hector and Haydee today. Martha's eyes widened with shock and disbelief.

Manolo sensed something was up and leaned over to ask Martha what was wrong. Martha repeated what I told her. Manolo, too, needed a few seconds for the information to sink in.

"Glorias is closed," Martha said again. "Glorias Argentinas is no more."

Manolo shook his head sadly. "Oscar Hector has run the milonga there for thirty-five, forty years. It was only yesterday when I danced there with Oscar Hector's mother."

After Martha and Manolo's practica, we took a taxi back to the hotel, and then walked to La Madeleine. The rain had changed to light drizzle, but the wind was getting stronger.

La Cumparsita echoed through the grand hall of Glorias Argentinas for the last time just two weeks ago. A dispute with the landlord over rent. "It's like everyone we knew there, everyone who we have seen and danced with...has just died," I said.

"How could they let that happen? It's not just a milonga. It's not just a piece of tango history. It's Glorias Argentinas! The "Glory" of Argentina. They cannot let it fade away like that."

I had to reassure Man Yung. "Well, the Saturday milonga is gone but the club itself is still there. I think there is a milonga on another night - not run by Oscar Hector, mind you."

Man Yung was silent for a while. "It will never be the same again," he finally said. Sighing, he picked up his wine glass. "I guess the glass is half full. We can say that we had the opportunity to share and experience the last, twilight years of Glorias and be part of its spirit, its history - before it closed its doors."

It was the very first milonga we had ever gone to in Buenos Aires, on the very first night we arrived. Man Yung danced with his first milonguera there - I danced with my first milonguero. Man Yung won his first lucky draw. Through video, it was on the pista of Glorias Argentinas that we first saw Manolo dance. And then there were the other memories - performing there, crashing Elba's birthday party, dancing candombe with Carlos Anzuate, giggling hysterically with Chiche, joining the lively joyous crowd in chacarera...

"I propose a toast," said Man Yung. "To Glorias Argentinas, that is no more."

There was only a drop left in my wine glass. I raised it to my lips.

"And another toast," said Man Yung. "To Glorias Argentinas - to its glorious past."

I thought I had finished the wine, but there was half a drop left. I drank it down.

"And my final toast," said Man Yung. "To Glorias Argentinas - and the day that the tango will be finished for us too."

For surely that day will come...for all of us.

Neighbourhood

2011-10-06T14:05:00.001-04:00

Perfect Buenos Aires spring morning - sunny, but not too hot. We pass by the hotel reception desk. The hotel clerks turns to say hello, and their face light up with big smiles when they see us. In the breakfast room, we hug and kiss our friend Juan in charge of all the food, who is also very happy to see us again.

We wave hello to the sales clerks in the boutique next to the hotel. On the corner, the ancient grizzled shoe shine guy Juan Jose gives us big hugs and his toothless grin goes from ear to ear.

Across the street and to La Madeleine. We shake everyone's hand and hug the manager. "Tango again?" he asks as he shows us to our table. On the way back to the hotel, we chat with Nicolas the street florist about his shipment of jasmines.

The mood must be infectious. On the street, we pass by a concierge of a fancy apartment building - Man Yung has only danced at one milonga, but already his waistline is shrinking and he has to adjust his belt or his pants will fall down. The concierge smiles at us when we catch him looking - "It's ok, I don't mind!"

We are waiting to cross the street. In front of us are two beautiful portenas loaded with shopping bags, talking excitedly. "Muchas compras," I say as they smile and look at us with our silly Tilley hats on. "Si," says one. She adds, "You like Buenos Aires?"

"Yes - muy lindo!" we replied, nodding, happy.

You could talk about traveling to Paris, Barcelona, New York, Tokyo, or Hong Kong... but I think that for us, there's no other place we'd rather than be than our beloved Buenos Aires.

"Secreto"?...or not a "Secreto"

2011-10-05T10:02:00.001-04:00

We've arrived in Buenos Aires! How excited we are! If we were four years younger and had more energy we'd be rushing around town already. Since we are no longer young or energetic, once we arrived we just went to sleep.*

* Man Yung wanted to say "bed" instead just to be ambiguous, but who are we kidding?

We're going to be too busy to post anything interesting [what, have we ever posted anything interesting? Again, we must be pulling someone's leg] so we are just going to post videos of US, like how the tv channels in the U.K. used to post a video of a girl sitting smiling for hours and hours (and they made her actually sit still all that time, instead of using a loop or a freeze frame - the sadists!) just because they didn't have any programming to fill in the dead space (at least that's what I remember happening when I was four - or was I hallucinating?).

So with a big hug to Jessie and Dorian in Vancouver (the nicest people ever - we had a lovely time with them when they came to Toronto), here's a video of us during our last practice at Mad for Dance studios - dancing to a track that Jessie emailed to me right away after she returned to Vancouver, just because I mentioned we didn't have it!

Irene and Man Yung dancing to Orquesta Tipica Victor's "Secreto" - Avert your eyes!

Dear Jessie and Dorian, we know that posting this video on our blog as a way to thank you for sending us the music is probably not a good idea. You may have been expecting instead a meal at a fancy restaurant, or perhaps a nice gift, but alas, we must confess we are cheapskates! The only consolation you may have is this: at least this is not REGIFT (because we are kind of famous for that too).

** The big white tension bandage around my knee is not a fashion statement. It is because I twisted my knee. Man Yung would like to say "while romping athletically at home, wink wink" but I will not mislead you, it is a month long TANGO INJURY. Just a little "New Tango" (Man Yung, stop it already with the volcadas and colgadas!) will do that to an old person - time will make little hunched over milonguero-style dancers out of everyone, I guarantee it!

Some videos of us dancing from our last visit to Buenos Aires (April 10, 2011)

2011-10-02T11:28:00.004-04:00

Man Yung was reading our blog yesterday when he realized - we're taking forever to write what happened in 2009! "You have been so distracted and there has been so many diversions [Come on, could anyone resist writing about such enthralling topics such as Donkey Kong, Aural Indigestion and Weiners? - Irene], I'm predicting that people won't get to read about what happened in 2011 until... 2025!"

Uh oh....that means that the one or two faithful readers of this blog (okay, four or five) will never get to watch the amazing video footage we took on our most recent trip. In fact, by 2025, I'd think most Tangueros and Tangueras will have actually abandoned Tango out of sheer frustration for other more exciting pastimes such as pole dancing, camel racing, backgammon - or even the polka. There's already not much reason now for anyone to watch any of our videos - by then there will be absolutely no reason!

So, for no good reason whatsoever except to pollute El Mundo de Tango en el Internet with more tango videos that nobody wants to watch (remember the times not that long ago when every new Tango video on Youtube would get 100,000+ views? Now it's jackpot time if anybody gets 10+ views), we present to you:

Irene and Man Yung's vacation videos from the the second time they went to Pinar de Rocha, April 10, 2011 (yawn)

We never dreamed that we would go to Pinar de Rocha again. It was FAR. It was a little too close to Fuerte Apache. And could we withstand Alberto and Paulina laughing at us again for traveling to and hanging out at all these out of the way milongas de barrio with no car ride back? Unfortunately (or fortunately) we were presented with the opportunity to go there again - when we bumped into the Pinar de Rocha's organizer at Salon Canning when we were there with Osvaldo and Coca. The organizer asked Osvaldo and Coca to go the following Sunday... and so we went again with them. At least we were guaranteed a ride there and back!

When we got there, we met Julio Cesar Cordi again. He is the DJ at the milonga at Pinar de Rocha. We had been worried about him - he had major heart surgery since the last time we saw him. We were glad to see him, looking well and rested. He invited me to dance just as the milonga began - here we are dancing to Donato's La Tablada:

We had a special treat that night - Jorge Garcia and Susana Soar, Osvaldo and Coca's friends, came to join us! Apart from being great maestros and dancers, they are also great fun. They would be sedately eating their salad - and then some music that they liked would start playing. Then they would abruptly stop eating, look up at each other - and rush off to the dance floor! It was like a scene from a movie - too bad we didn't film these moments (and the moment when Osvaldo danced rock n' roll with Susana! Although that was only half a song because Osvaldo gets out of breath easily, it was CLASSIC, wish you were all there to see it).

We'll cut to the chase - of course Osvaldo and Coca ambushed us again by making us perform. We had all sorts of ideas as to what we would like to dance to, and Osvaldo kept on going to Julio to ask him whether he had the track... but he didn't have anything we or Osvaldo asked for! Osvaldo finally gave up. "Play whatever, " he said, and we didn't know which "whatever" until we were herded onto the dance floor and music started to play. We ended up dancing to D'Arienzo's "Lilian":

What's interesting about the video is not our dancing. We always dance like that no matter where we are, "performance" notwithstanding (we are only social dancers, not jumping spinning sequin-bedecked stage artistes) - and besides, you have been warned about the health hazards of watching us dance! No, what's interesting is the gentleman sitting with his girlfriend on the other side of the room. His body language says: "No way, I'm not going to clap for these strange little chinese people. I'M NOT GOING TO CLAP! GODDAMMIT I WILL NOT CLAP (even though other people are clapping)!... Darn, I started clapping, but it's in the wrong place and I had to stop half-way because I feel silly... Oh heck, who am I kidding - I'll clap, these little chinese people are doing ok."*

*Man Yung would like to point out that this gentleman knows Osvaldo and Coca - he was in the car that had just parked when we arrived, and he and his girlfriend were kind of excited to see them. I would like to point out that everyone knows Osvaldo and Coca, it's not that unusual!

Then the organizer asked everyone whether they'd like to see us dance milonga - so we did:

I don't know whether we did well or not as it was totally unexpected and improvised (I hardly ever dance milonga at the milonga because I am usually too tired to move that fast), but everybody was smiling at us and seemed very happy. In fact, after we performed, at least TWO ladies came over, without cabeceo, to ask Man Yung to dance!

Man Yung also got to dance with Coca again:

And I (and this is the exciting part) - got to dance with Jorge Garcia! Yippee!

The second milonga in this video is exactly the same one I just performed to with Man Yung! Of course Jorge Garcia is much better (sorry Man Yung!)

I wish I was wearing higher heels - I have a sneaking suspicion the 3 inch heels make me look kind of stumpy. If only I had feet like a ballerina and the posture of a marsh-wading Great White Stork!

"I think it is time you faced the truth, Irene," said Man Yung. "No matter what shoes you wear, you will still dance like a little old lady."

Oh well, I won't mind - so long the little old lady is Carmencita Calderon!

* Man Yung says: I hope that our readers will not have to wash out their eyes after watching all these videos of us dancing.

** I say: No need to hope - I BET that our readers will have to wash out their eyes after watching all these videos of us dancing.

A shoe on top of your head

2011-09-26T19:21:00.004-04:00

....or a bowl

Over the weekend, Man Yung told me about one of the Zen stories in the history of Buddhism that kind of bothered him. It went something like this:

***********************************************************************

"Some monks in a monastery in China a long long time ago started to keep a cat as a pet. Under the teachings and rules of Buddhism, monks are not supposed to keep pets, but they kept this a secret from the abbot.

Since the cat was friendly and SO CUTE!!! [at least, that's what I'd say], some other monks started to care for and play with the cat as well. This caused a rift in the monastery - the first group of monks claimed that the cat was theirs, and the second group of monk denied that and said no, the cat was theirs.

Word of this disagreement reached the ears of the Abbot. The Abbot asked the arguing monks to be brought before him - and they came, ashamed for breaking the rules, but asking the question - who does the cat belong to?

"Let me resolve this for you," said the Abbot. "Whoever can come up with the most convincing argument under Buddhism that they are entitled to the cat will keep the cat. If you cannot come up with a good reason, the cat must be killed."

Neither faction could come up with a good reason (under Buddhism). So the Abbot ordered the cat to be put to death.

The Head Disciple of the Abbot was away from the monastery when all this hoopla occurred. When he came back, the Abbot told him what happened and asked him what he thought.

After hearing the story, the Head Disciple took off his shoes, put them on his head, and walked off.

"Ah!" said the Abbot, nodding his head in agreement. "If Head Disciple had been here, the dispute would have been resolved quite amicably, and I would not have to put the cat to death!"

*********************************************************************

After hearing the story, I was completely outraged.

"What a crock of $#%@!!!!, " I said. "I know what I'd be saying to the Abbot - I'd say: Goddamn your rules and regulations! I'll give you a good reason why Mr. Kitty is coming with me. If you so much as harm a hair on my cat's head, I guarantee that I will hack you into little pieces and serve you up as freshly steamed meat buns!"

"This proves that you have not yet attained enlightenment, and that you don't understand the story" said Man Yung quite sagely. "Let me break it down for you!"

1. Under Buddhism, monks are not supposed to keep any pets, or have any attachment to any material or earthly thing;

2. Under Buddhism, monks are supposed to be serene and not supposed to fight or argue over anything - let alone pets;

3. Therefore it is impossible to make any argument under Buddhism as to the ownership of the cat (or as to any other thing);

4. Moreover, under Buddhism, it is a sin to kill any living creature - the "killing" referred to by the Abbot can only be a spiritual action to destroy one's attachments to material or earthly things, and not to the action of killing a material or earthly thing;

5. Accordingly, the correct response to all of this is to put your shoe on your head, i.e. an absurd response to something completely absurd; And Lastly:

6. This is only a story and none of it happened (i.e. Come on, Irene! Did you really think they'd take Mr. Kitty to the back of the building and make a soup out of him? By the way the monks aren't supposed to eat meat. And what would they feed the cat in the first place? They can't kill anything so they can't feed the cat meat anyway)

"So you see, Irene, the whole tale revolves around absurdity - the story can only be a story as it fails several levels of logic in its right context. Kind of like the visiting (or is it now local?) Tango professional who thinks he's dancing and teaching Tango. He is apparently unaware that the general consensus among Toronto Tangueros and Tangueras is that he is not really doing either - but merely dancing with himself!"

"Oh, I get it now!!!!!!"*

* HUh!!?

Handkerchiefs

2011-09-18T17:59:00.002-04:00

Man Yung is one of those rare old birds who still carries a handkerchief in his pocket wherever he goes. Hmmm...perhaps rare only in North America - because many of the milongueros in Buenos Aires still use handkerchiefs! Come to think of it, hankies are not just quaint, they are quite handy - to mop sweat from your brow, to soak up unexpected spills from your alcoholic beverage, to wipe the doggie doo off the shoe of your dance partner (yes, it has happened - haven't written about that yet!) - and of course, to dab away the tears from the eyes of ladies whose hearts you have just broken*. A rumpled kleenex just doesn't have the same kind of "je ne sais quoi".

* But please, not all at once - and not all with the same hankie before washing!

After I stumbled across a tutorial on how to make rolled hem handkerchiefs at The Purl Bee's website - I became an even rarer bird than men who carry hankies. I became a person who makes hankies by hand. And here they are!

My handmade handkerchiefs for Man Yung - he used my new linen Anthropologie Odille "Sailboat Skirt" as a backdrop. I love that skirt - I don't care that it is mid-September, I'm wearing it to Tango!

I made these five rolled hem handkerchiefs from 100% cotton "fat quarters" - scraps of cloth originally for quilting, measuring 18" x 22". I trimmed off the extra 4" and was left with a square of 18" x 18" - perfect for a larger size handkerchief. Just a bit of trivia for you: the famous Hermés scarves sport hand rolled hems so fine, they roll the hems towards the front of the scarf so you can admire the handiwork as well as the print.

Here's another photo showing some of the hand sewn rolled hems. I'm much more of a knitter than a sewer so my sewing isn't perfect (actually, it's terrible). I'm quite proud I managed to make these!

Some men would be afraid of this particular selection of fabrics - but not Man Yung! He will use and wear whatever pattern in whatever colour that strikes his fancy. In fact, Man Yung's sartorial choices are more intrepid than the ones made by most women!

I can't wait to use this rolled hem technique to make some extra fancy scarves and handkerchiefs from Liberty of London Tana Lawn - 100% cotton fabric that is so smooth and light, it looks and feels like silk. Can you take me to The Workroom next weekend, Man Yung?

Lastly: I, too, have a Hankie/Tango story: The first time I danced with Osvaldo Cartery, he put his hankie in his left hand to shield my hand from his sweaty palms. Or was it to shield his hand from my sweaty, grimy paws? In any case, what a considerate gentleman! (and here's the video to prove it):

Forgive the shaky beginning of the video - Man Yung was really confused by the camera. And look - both Osvaldo and I were a lot skinnier back then! We took this at El Arranque - we were there post-Camicando 2007 with Martha and Manolo and Osvaldo and Coca. Afterwards we all went to a tenedor libre, and then a walk down Lavalle where Osvaldo grooved to reggae music and they handed Manolo flyers - to see a Tango Show!

Buenos Aires 2009 - Tuesday, March 3, 2009

2011-09-10T10:34:00.003-04:00

Saraza - beginning of the milonga

Tuesday March 3, 2009

Dear V,

More Camicando. More classes. Unfortunately, the big egos in some of our fellow students continue their rampage.

The second floor in Salon Victorial is divided into small, interlinked and doorless rooms - there's not enough space to have all the students in one room so we kind of branch off to practice wherever there is space. There was a couple hogging the larger central vestibule next to the stairs. Since there was more than enough space for twenty couples (and better ventilation - yes, it is hot again) we started practicing in the vestibule. This apparently annoyed the couple who was already there.

They stopped practicing to glare at us. "Can't you FOLLOW THE LINE OF DANCE?" they said.

We looked around to ascertain the "ronda" they were so adamantly insistent upon. It was as we thought - the place was empty except for the four of us and the sound of crickets chirping. Wow, they invoked the "Gods of Codigo" even though it was not remotely a milonga. What do you think? I'm thinking that what they really wanted to say was "Get out of our territory, we are taking the "Master Classes" and therefore we are more important than you!" So true: we are indeed so low on the hierarchy of tango importance, we haven't even made it to the bottom rung of the ladder. We left them to their little kingdom.

When classes ended for the day, we went back to Santa Fe and Callao and shopped for paper to print our emails on. We are too embarrassed to ask for more paper from the front desk. Then it was back to the hotel for a shower, and then to Saraza in Caballito. We were running a little late so we flagged down the first taxi that came down the road.

It happened not to be a radio taxi, so I engaged the taxi driver in conversation all the way to the milonga. We talked about everything - the taxi driver even told us about his daughter, who was graduating from medical school (he pointed out the school as we passed it on the way). He was very proud of her. We talked about the weather in Canada, the profusion of chinese supermarkets all over the city ("You really like Buenos Aires? Then you should move here, and open a chinese supermarket!" he suggested helpfully), whether or not Buenos Aires is getting more dangerous (yes, he said, because of all the drugs from Mexico). When we got to the inner barrio streets we were still chatting away and trying to find Saraza together. In fact we were talking so much that the driver didn't pay attention to the road and almost crashed at the intersection!

Saraza is held in a Club de Barrio called Club Telégrafo y Crisol Unidos. Apart from the dance hall there's also a kickboxing/martial arts/fitness gym - for guys only, apparently. You can peer into the gym from the windows facing the cobblestoned street. To get to the milonga itself you have to walk down a very long corridor painted in white. We were there early, before the milonga patrons had arrived - because we wanted to take class with Osvaldo and Coca.

They were already there - we kissed and hugged each other hello, but their attention was focused the class which, including us, had eight people. There was a young argentinian couple (dressed in baggy clothing), a few singles, and one of Osvaldo and Coca's friends from Saturday night. It was still daylight outside, and the light filtered though into the room from the open air courtyard - all the french doors had been flung open to let the breeze come through. Osvaldo and Coca had brought a little portable stereo and played music from a CD that had their favourite performance and class music.

Osvaldo taught two or three simple and very short steps - all based on the walk. You'd be surprised how difficult it is to get it right, even among "advanced" learners in the class. Osvaldo's style is deceptively simple - it all looks like walking, but the fact that some people can find it difficult just shows how little of walking people have learned from their other teachers! After a bit of practice and lots of coaching, Osvaldo and Coca made each couple demonstrate the steps they taught to make sure they had got it. Man Yung got a lot from the class.

After the class we sat at Osvaldo and Coca's table at the back of the hall near the kitchen - people were starting to come in, and Osvaldo and Coca ordered Matambre. They asked what we wanted to order - and we said we weren't hungry, we had a huge meal before class. "What did you eat?" asked Osvaldo. We explained we had noodles...that came in a cup. Osvaldo rolled his eyes. Osvaldo and Coca's friends came - we all sat squished together at the long table.

By the way, we didn't have to pay the milonga entrada - it turned out that this was the exact same milonga we got free passes to from the milonga organizer Ricardo who came over to us when we were at Milonga del Centenario the previous Thursday! What a coincidence!

The milonga may have been free but we weren't feeling up to enjoying the evening. The music was ok. Lots of locals, cabeceo-ing each other from across the room. When we danced the people stared. An older, very animated lady with reddish brown hair and dressed like a gypsy came to congratulate us on our dancing - we pointed at Osvaldo and Coca and told her they were our teachers. She didn't know who Osvaldo and Coca were. She started to talk excitedly about folklore and we stood there nodding politely.

The standard of dancing at Saraza was very "barrio" (see Glorias Argentinas), but on the whole quite musical. It's the outsiders who look out of place. The young "nuevo" couple who took the class had a lot of skill, but the figures and the adornments they were trying to exert all over the music drained the musicality out of their dancing. There was also a guy with a big handlebar moustache, dancing (actually, it was more like shuffling) in fuzzy fringed suede moccasins while leaning back awkwardly. He was just as bad a leader as his partner was bad as a follower, but nevertheless she proudly put in every clumsy, ugly adornment from the women's technique classes and youtube videos that she could muster.

But they were no way as distasteful visually (and I'm sorry to say it) as the "CANYENGUE!" couple who showed up. Camicando alumni, unfortunately.

Canyengue really trains your ear for the music and looks pretty great when danced in a musical, subtle way. However, when danced to ALL the music (that means non-Canyengue music as well as Canyengue music - for some overzealous Canyengue aficionados, the whole Mundo de Tango is one big Canyengue party) with costume changes, uncontrolled enthusiasm and too much stamping of the feet (Man Yung compares it to roach-stomping) - it looks really, really embarrassing. We had seen the lovely couple before - drawing the spotlight on themselves time and time again at all the other Camicando events. It didn't look so bad when there were droves of other Canyengue couples around them (there is safety in numbers, I guess) - at Saraza, they stood out. We watched them prance about splendiferously - and why not, the man had a Canyengue "hat and neckerchief" thing going on while the woman did her share of roach crushing in open-toed, flat-soled, gladiator-style flip-flops. It was quite a show, especially with her booty exaggeratedly protruding in Canyengue embrace - her panty lines clearly visible under her diaphanous, transparent, white linen harem pants.

They saw us! We were hoping that they would not. They leisurely stomped and jerked over to the table, still in full Canyengue embrace - no, not to say hello. "Ha ha ha ha!" said the lady, looking at Osvaldo and Coca and then looking at us. "Lookie who's here! Taking classes with Osvaldo and Coca, heh?" She gave us a sly wink.

We predicted that this Auntie Number 8 in the see-through harem pants will lose no time and tell Martha and Manolo at the first opportunity that she had "caught" us taking classes (and hanging out) with Osvaldo and Coca. Good thing we told them beforehand.*

* Not like there is anything wrong with hanging with Osvaldo and Coca! In fact, Osvaldo and Coca taught classes at the first Camicando we ever went to in 2007. But from the way that the "CANYENGUE!" couple acted, it was like they had caught us red-handed in some kind of Canyengue Sacrilege!

It was all very tiring. We were ready to leave at 11 p.m. - and not because we had contravened any of the ten commandments of Canyengue. We let Osvaldo know that we wanted to go - and he got Ricardo, the organizer, to call us a remise. The remise came pretty quickly. "Have a good trip!" said Coca, cheerily (did she mean back to the hotel? or back to Canada?). Osvaldo came outside with us to make sure we got into the right car. Herding Chinese people (or is it Japanese? Korean?) is like herding cats.

When we got back to the hotel, Man Yung realized with a shock that in the rush, he had left his big red Crocs at Saraza. Sigh. It was quite an ordeal for me to try to explain to Ricardo on the phone what it was that we left at the milonga. Despite all our efforts at explaining (Ricardo probably got all the women sitting against the wall to stand up so he could look under the table), Ricardo couldn't find them.* Man Yung was inconsolable.

* That was because Man Yung didn't actually leave his big red Crocs at Saraza. He never brought to to the milonga - he left them at the hotel!

Can you blame me for not being hungry when we popped over to La Madeleine for late-night snack!

Irene

Exclusive

2011-09-04T16:25:00.001-04:00

End of the evening at one of Toronto's lively weekend milongas. There I was, minding my own business (and playing Siege Hero) while waiting for Man Yung to finish dancing one last tanda with one of the lovely single Toronto Tangueras, when local friendly Tanguero comes walking all the way over from the other end of the room to ask me to dance. Again.

I thought I was looking intently at my iPhone screen - I'm pretty sure that I didn't look up. Not even once. In fifteen minutes. To cabeceo ANYBODY. But here comes the hopeful invite anyway.

The answer: No.

"Come on, Irene," pleaded the aforesaid "friendly" Tanguero, "It'll be fun!"

You don't have to have psychic powers to predict my response with 100% accuracy - STILL NO.

The regretful incident is over, but the question still lingers in my mind...Fun? For whom exactly?

When Man Yung and I first decided to take tango classes, the only goal we had in mind was to have something fun to do together on the weekends. And eight years later, it still holds true - tango is most fun when we dance together.

We have observed that many tangueros and tangueras like to dance with other people - often even more than with their own partner! They may even sit apart at the milonga to advertise their availability. There's nothing wrong with that - the social aspect is deeply ingrained in tango culture. I'm glad that the option of dancing with different people makes dancers of Tango happy - I'm sure that we all love our own partners to bits but sometimes a break is nice!

For those who like to dance with other people - I respect your choice. I would also like Toronto tangueros to respect my choice - which is not to dance with anybody but Man Yung. I like it that way. And if I change my mind, I will stop playing "Angry Birds" immediately and set my gaze like laser-guided missiles in your direction.*

* Ha ha! NOT! Not even if you are George Clooney. Or Alain Delon. Or even Fabio. Be totally jealous - for me, Man Yung is da bomb!

Everyone says "Yes!" to Fabio! (Except Irene)

Buenos Aires 2009, Part 9 - Monday, March 2, 2009

2011-08-28T10:33:00.003-04:00

Monday March 2, 2009

Dear V,

The first day of the Camicando festival! We had attended both the 2007 and 2008 editions… and now it’s already Camicando 2009. Can’t say we are too enthusiastic though – we love spending time with Martha and Manolo, but we must be getting old because taking the festival classes make us feel so tired! Maybe it’s the hectic milonga schedule we have during the night as well. We were pretty exhausted from the previous night, and instead of getting up for breakfast we just stayed in our room and tried to get as much sleep as possible.

Not a promising start at all to the day – one step outside and we could feel how muggy and hot it was. We went to withdraw cash (650 peso limit!) and then we went to a modern looking restaurant half a block from the hotel called El Callao just for a change.

El Callao has a very clean, angular décor – all straight lines. The building itself is independent, set back from the street with a wide granite tiled plaza in front. Looks like a place where "executives" go to eat... The inside of the restaurant is quite impressive with its dark mahogany furniture and white tablecloths, but get this – not enough air conditioning. We were sweating while eating. The food itself was another disappointment – we ordered from the Executive set menu (told you - it's for "Executives"), and found the beef too dry and over-cooked. And you thought that the Argentinians couldn't go wrong with their beef. Nevertheless, the décor was nice, the service excellent. We had a very pleasant and cheerful waitress. The restaurant had a notice saying it won't take credit. Man Yung said to her - "I don't have any cash, only a credit card - I think you have to call the cops because we can't pay!" Oh, what a big flirt.

After this “meh” lunch (won’t be going back there again) we went back to the hotel to call Osvaldo to verify whether he would be teaching at Saraza. Yes, it indeed is true… so there was an extra item to squeeze in on Tuesday night.

This year’s Camicando isn't at La Nacional – apparently a few weeks before the event, the roof caved in and the venue was off limits until it could be fixed. Kind of scary! Camicando had to scramble for an alternative venue. They eventually found another place in San Telmo – the Salon Victorial.

Salon Victorial is located on one of the narrow streets in San Telmo – a stately and narrow house with the typical Buenos Aires turn-of-the-century architecture, stone steps, red tiled floors. A very impressive and nostalgic looking building. Once we walked in, we discovered it’s fatal flaw – no air conditioning. The weather was not cooperative either, it was so humid and hot.

There’s a restaurant I think on the first floor (it was all dark and empty when we peered in) – the festival was held upstairs. We saw Roxina (Martha and Manolo's direct student and one of the Camicando instructors) first on the steps, and her newlywed husband J. J has accompanied Roxina to Camicando every year since we started attending the festival (and perhaps even before), and he helps with the organization as well as some of the translation. We congratulated them on their marriage. Roxina looks more and more beautiful every year, I think it is the happiness of being in love!

Not much more to say about classes – Martha and Manolo are great, as usual. They give a lot of individual attention to all their students. We always try to slack off and take it easy but they will not let any of their students stop practicing! This year they have a new category call “Master Classes” – and you can see many international couples flocking to those at the festival. Anyone who has danced for more than a week in tango thinks they are a master already, ha ha!

It was really hot at Salon Victorial – sorry, but that is the truth. Sweat poured down our heads (instant shower!) even when we were standing still. We went to Canyengue (sticky hot close embrace) class first and Milonga (you can dance open, but you have to move faster) class second – neither of which made us feel any cooler.

It was nice to see familiar faces and not so familiar faces at the festival, partaking of the “Camicando Inferno”. There was E, an argentinian girl who has moved to the States – she brought her girlfriend, thus introducing a little of “La Marshall” to the canyengue scene. There was the very friendly couple from Chile we have seen every year, who we keep on trying to exchanging emails with… and with whom we never seem to connect through email. We never end up receiving any of their emails, even though they insisted they had sent them. No, we didn't go and delete them on purpose. I think our gmail has been screening everyone in tango (or is it just Canyengue?) and rejecting all the emails.

I have mentioned about every one thinking they are a “Master” – not only that, but everyone really wants to be a “Teacher”. There was a tall guy with sunken eyes and a shock of white hair at the festival – when the couple from Chile asked us a question about a step that Martha and Manolo was teaching, he stormed over and started "teaching" the Chilean couple before we had a chance to open our mouths to answer them. The Chilean couple still didn’t get it – now, should you blame the students or the teacher? Tango is filled with such “volunteer” instructors – any given night in the milonga they are blocking the line of dance with their instructive demonstrations and spur-of-the-moment lectures.

There’s a name in Chinese that we give to gossipy chinese women who believe they are better than you, can't refrain from letting you know that fact, AND they can’t seem to mind their own business – let’s term it the “Auntie #8 syndrome”. I actually have a couple of these Aunties in my extended family, rubbing everyone around them the wrong way. Well, guess what, there was one such lady at the festival! We must be magnets for such thing (or perhaps she gravitates towards other Chinese people so she could speak conspiratorially and patronizingly with us in Chinese) because she made a bee-line for us.

“So, who are Martha and Manolo? Are they any good?” she asked.

(Then why on earth are you taking their classes? At their festival?) “They have been our teachers since 2006. They are excellent teachers,” we replied.

She wasn’t interested in our reply. “You know, I came with a partner who speaks Spanish. We are from New York. New York tango is at a really high level. My partner is a really great dancer. He could give you pointers. ”

Like it was any of our business. We kind of shuffled over to get away from her (but that didn't stop her from coming over to us all the time and dropping more "words of wisdom" and hints about the greatness of her tango community, her tango partner - and by association, her own tango greatness)

Break time. The trouble with being in a historic building is that there are historic issues with the historical relics inhabiting the historic space. I had to go to the washroom which was located down a dark and creepy unlit corridor in a creepy back room with garish fluorescent lighting. Tried flushing - big mistake - the handle flew off and the flushing failed to occur. That toilet needs an exorcism, AND there was no soap (not that much of a surprise in Buenos Aires). Anyway.

We took advantage of the break to take some photos:

No, I guarantee no haunting here at Salon Victorial...especially not in the washrooms!

Ghostly images appearing on the walls of the Salon Victorial (just kidding - the Salon is kind of a Bohemian Art Gallery as well as Camicando central)

"Don't jump!" we yelled. Ha ha, just a photo we took of the shirtless man in the building across the road from the Salon Victorial. Look at the gorgeous wrought iron balcony - typical of buildings in the San Telmo area.

The colectivo running through the streets of San Telmo

With Martha and Manolo in one of the practice rooms. "You can't make us practice more now, Manolo," we said, "We are on break!"

Salon Victorial has a little open air space in the middle of the building. During the break, many of us headed over there for some fresh air. We bought a beer for Martha and talked a little with her. We let her know that we were going to take Osvaldo and Coca’s classes on Tuesday night. She was ok with it. “Tell Osvaldo and Coca that Martha and Manolo send their love”, she said.

After classes, we headed back to the hotel – we were sopping wet from sweating and really needed a shower and a change of clothes. We were hardly in the hotel room for a few minutes when we were headed back out again - this time to Centro Region Leonesa. Guess who we saw there? It was Oscar Casas, looking down and waving at us from the second floor balcony! "I figured that it was the time of year again when you guys will make it down to Buenos Aires!" he said.

Inside the dance hall we said hello to Maryann as well, who looked stunning as always (and where does she get all those really gorgeous dresses?), sitting in the front row doing the cabeceo and dancing every tanda. As for us - we danced a little bit but didn't have fun. [I have here in my notes that Man Yung danced with "Josephine". Who is Josephine? Man Yung has at least one girlfriend in every milonga, even in Buenos Aires, and I can't keep track of them all - Irene] The sound system got on our nerves - the music blaring out was loud but thin and tinny. We were hungry - we ordered empanadas, but they weren't good because they were too mushy.

After about an hour Man Yung and I looked at each other and decided to leave and see what else was on. The Tango Map listed a place called "Milongueando" which wasn't too far from Leonesa, so we said bye to Oscar (Oscar was sitting with Ricardo Viqueira and his son next to the bar) and headed out.

Milongueando was only a few blocks away, but unfortunately, it wasn't a milonga - it was a practica. The venue was a "professional" tango school place (with spiffy modern renovation) and you could see into the school dance floor through the glass storefront. Some beginners in jeans were inside, practicing their ochos awkwardly in sneakers. We didn't even go in - but our taxi had already left. We saw another taxi down the street about 20 metres away, and tried to flag it, but it didn't come over right away. When it finally did, we asked the driver what he was doing, and the reply: counting money.

There wasn't much other choice - we decided to head to Gricel. The area around Gricel looked kind of sleazy, looked like it was a bar on the outside, with lots of people lining up to get in. When we finally got in, we saw that the place was packed - sardine style. Tables were placed edge to edge and you could hardly get up out of your chair without knocking over something.

The dance floor itself was overflowing - and dangerous. All sorts of tango styles converged in that area and it was a free for all as everyone tried to stake their territory with all their pointy appendages on any available space. There was air conditioning - but apparently only from one air conditioning unit in the corner of the dance floor near the entrance. Man Yung saw another of his tango girlfriends (actually, M from Montreal who took just one class at the Camicando festival) and danced with her a couple of tandas. Man Yung also almost thumped a guy who kept on bumping into us - the guy backed off when he realized we were for real.

Guess who we saw there? Osvaldo and Coca! They arrived after we did and sat by the table near the entrance (the one that Man Yung refused because everyone coming in would be disturbing you and trying to squeeze past - the organizer had to reseat us nearer to the bar because Man Yung was giving him the evil eye). Osvaldo and Coca were just as surprised to see us as we were to see them [And neither of us were stalking the other! We always end up bumping into each other at milongas even though we have no plans to meet]. Juan Esquivel came later and sat with them - he was also surprised to see us again so soon. He reminded us to see Milonguisimo, and let us know that we were dancing well. Not that you could tell with all the shenanigans on the dance floor blocking the view (perhaps Juan was just being nice!).

So our Monday night at the milongas was a bit of a bust. We were back in the hotel by 2:30 a.m. "Next time we are in Buenos Aires on a Monday, remind me to just stay all night in the hotel!" said Man Yung.

Winner!

2011-08-21T13:38:00.024-04:00

Man Yung usually doesn't ask this particular Toronto Tanguera to dance, but one night a couple of weeks ago, due to the severe Tanguero shortage, he did.

Whilst dancing, they had the following merry conversation.

"Haven't seen you here very often, and haven't seen you at [insert name of local weekend traditional milonga] either lately," said Man Yung. "And by the way, where's your partner?"

"Oh, he doesn't like to go to [local weekend traditional milonga]. He likes to go to [local weekend alternative milonga] much more. All the ladies there, including the DJ and the organizer, have come to the consensus that my partner is THE BEST DANCER IN TORONTO." She emphasized this declaration with a set of brilliant, rapid-fire auto-adornments.

Man Yung was duly impressed. "Wow, congratulations!"*

* "No, no, Irene!" said Man Yung after reading this post - "Stop twisting around everything I tell you! She didn't say it that way. She was just complaining about how her partner likes to go to all these other places because he is much more popular with the ladies. In fact, I think it must be partially your fault that the tangueros don't show up where you show up - you can't say no to all the people who ask you to dance all the time! If all the tangueras are as picky as you, all the tangueros will have to try a lot harder and inadvertently elevate the standard of tango in Toronto - that's no way to build a tango community!"

Osvaldo and Coca - 55 years of milonga and Emerald Wedding Anniversary at Porteño y Bailarin

2011-08-19T09:41:00.000-04:00

This just in on Youtube: Osvaldo and Coca performing to "Carillon de la Merced" at Porteño y Bailarin on the occasion of their Emerald Anniversary - to overwhelming and warm applause:

We are always so delighted when new videos of Osvaldo and Coca appear on Youtube - then we can call them and tell them about it! You can call our communication methods a primitive form of Skype, heh. It's hard to fanthom what 55 years together is like - we ourselves have been hanging out (on?) together for 18 years* but there's a long way to go to reach 55! Will we be able to dance even half as well as Osvaldo and Coca when we reach our Emerald Anniversary?

Here's a compilation of all of the performances in tribute to Osvaldo and Coca on the same night:

What an exciting night! We just realized, and it's kind of unbelievable, but we actually shared the stage once with Jorge Garcia and Susana Soar at La Baldosa and Daniel Nacchuchio and Cristina Sosa at Circulo Apolo. Beautiful Buenos Aires, when will we see you and embrace all our dear friends again?

* Man Yung asks: "Why, Irene, do you like mentioning that we are together 18 years all the time? It doesn't matter the number of years so long we are together now!" Ha ha Man Yung! You sound romantic but I know what's up...You always wink and tell people that it is "Time to change partners!" When Osvaldo and Coca got interviewed with Practimilonguero, didn't Osvaldo say he wouldn't mind if Coca ran off with a rich man the next day? I'm thinking - maybe we can find Man Yung a rich lady (after all, people are willing to pay in U.S. dollars to dance with Man Yung) and then he can share some of the riches with me so I could go and buy Lululemon's entire fall collection! Win-win!

Donkey Kong

2011-08-14T16:36:00.002-04:00

Ah...the Gorilla. King of all Primates. Lord of the Jungle. Did you know we share 95% of the same DNA with these powerful great apes? I have been in total admiration of the mighty Gorilla ever since my high school teacher took us on a field trip to see "Gorillas in the Mist", starring the beautiful and enchanting Sigourney Weaver (who also coincidentally starred in another of my favourite movies, "Ghostbusters"). Yes, I am not ashamed to say that I, too have submitted school essays entitled, "When I grow up... I want to be a Gorilla".

Strangely, the Gorilla has been evolving very rapidly over the last few decades. Is it global warming, genetically engineered food, or reduction in natural gorilla habitat due to the greedy land developers acting in cohorts with corrupt chinese officials? Whatever the cause, King Kong (or Donkey Kong) is no longer content to wildly swat at swooping combat planes from the top of the Empire State Building, or throw colourful wooden barrels at intrepid jumping Italian plumbers. No, indeed.

Nowadays, you see Gorillas learning to stand and walk on their own hind feet:

Go, go Ambam! You have a better walk than most Campeonato contestants!

Yet other clever Gorillas are learning to participate in rampant consumerism. Watch this bunch open their x'mas presents:

Sorry, no iPad - the only thing in the box was a handful of peas.

Yet others are expanding their music talents - by learning to play the Keyboard. And the Drums. Soon the Gorilla Boy-Bands will be scaling the charts as rapidly a big monkey climbing a skyscraper:

Koko - not only the undisputed Gorilla sign language queen - but also Mozart of the Animal World

Unknown Gorilla tops even Koko - plays the drums just like Phil Collins!

While selling Cadbury chocolates!

And then, there's the crazy Breakdancing Gorilla of the Calgary Zoo:

Has better body to feet coordination than most Tangueros

Gorillas have evolved so far, they have even gained insight into the fact of their mortality. It is a sad but eventual reality for all us living creatures - but before this, only we as humans were aware of it. With the crossing of this last frontier, there is really very little to differentiate what is human, and what is monkey:

Scientists teaching a Gorilla (and a handful of rabbits) that it will die

With the foregoing advancements in Gorilla evolution, it was only a matter of time before Gorillas will learn how to dance tango - and dance it even better than us humble humanfolk! After all, Gorillas have longer limbs, better strength and stamina, more acute hearing...These talented animals are naturals for the physically demanding art of the Nuevo, with its death-defying acrobatic spins and drops, incomprehensible musical cacophonies, and American-football style tackles into crowds of bodies on the busy Toronto Tango pista. And they don't even need to learn how to lead - flinging their flimsy human partners across the room is as easy as lifting a finger. New Tango is dead? Bah, humbug! Not with the Nuevo Gorillas holding the fort (and teaching classes most weekdays at your local tango extravaganza).

*****************************************************************************

"OWWWWWW!!!!" said Man Yung. He just got collided into, asteroid-to-earth style, right in the middle of a tanda of milonga. He whipped his head around and caught sight of the hulking tanguero who had barreled into him - and who continued to spin merrily along, oblivious to the collision and still pushing, pulling and shoving his modern tanguera Fay Wray like she was a ragdoll in a tango dress (and leggings).

"That guy didn't even have the courtesy to stop and say sorry!" said Man Yung, exasperated.

I rolled my eyes. Surely Man Yung is not so naive, having been marinated in Toronto Tango for as long as he has?"

"Of course he isn't going to say sorry. He's an instructor - so he expects the crowd to part for him like Moses in front of the Red Sea. In addition, he isn't like you and me - he's a Gorilla in a t-shirt. Everyone knows that while Gorillas have mastered sign language, they haven't gotten to the part where they teach them how to apologize for bumping into people on the dance floor.*"

* Apparently, they have also failed to get to the part where they teach the Gorilla how to navigate on a crowded dance floor. Or lead. Or dance to the music. Or to teach others how to navigate, lead, dance to the music, etc.

Aural Indigestion

2011-08-12T21:06:00.002-04:00

The beginning and middle of the week for Man Yung is like a desert. When will we be able to make it to the next milonga? And when we finally get a chance to dance - it is really cathartic for Man Yung. The sullen, irritable moodiness he has been sporting all week disappears. Man Yung is happy, he is smiling...and he might even take me shopping at Lululemon...

Imagine this then: we go out dancing for the first time in the week, and afterwards, instead of being happy - Man Yung feels even worse than before! "I had been looking forward to dancing all week, Irene," said Man Yung. "But right now, it doesn't feel like I have danced. In fact, it feels like indigestion!"

Usually Man Yung would blame his milonga induced stomach upset on me for not following well - but now I've gotten so good he couldn't blame me anymore!

I pat Man Yung reassuringly. "Sweetie, you feel horrible because the music was particularly vile tonight!"

There's not a lot that would keep Man Yung away from a milonga. We've kept on going to places that are too hot. Too cold. Floor too sticky. Ambiance lacking. We've even continued to attend milongas where the flapping, squawking dancers have obviously escaped the insane asylum.

But there is one thing that will stop us attending a milonga. It's called "Bad Music". And there's a lot of it going around, as it goes hand-in-hand with the other ubiquitous scourge of tango - the "Clever DJ" syndrome. Whenever the music starts to go downhill, Man Yung and I will look at each other, shake our heads slowly, and say "Look, there goes another DJ trying to be to be too clever for his own good."

Why do some gringo DJs always feel this overwhelming drive to be "Clever"? Why do they have to choose music that has to be unusual, or obscure - just to show off the size of their music collection and/or musical knowledge and confound their dancers? Why can't they just play music that is beautiful, popular - and that makes people want to dance?

Once, a local DJ announced that he was open to all comments and suggestions. He actually repeated this on an habitual basis - the main thing, he said, was to make the dancers happy. He even pushed for our opinion several times.

At last, we couldn't bear it anymore. We actually told him what we thought - in a rather long email in fact, analyzing his playlist song by song and pointing out exactly what went wrong.

Was he mad? We were expecting a long-winded rebuttal - but it never came. Curious. It took him more than a week to get back to us - and when he did, it was a stock response thanking us for taking the time to email him with our thoughts.

Well, the music actually continued along the same track as before. More or less the same tandas in more or less the same order. The same kind of rhythmic music from rhythmic minded orquestras in every tanda. The same orchestra in two or more tandas in a row. Strange, brassy sounding versions of milongas with tempos that sped up and slowed down with the singing - that no-one could dance to. Jarring modern versions of the classics.

Then, the DJ started playing weird things - and coming up to me with a grin to ask if I knew what they were. Like anyone did. I shrugged my shoulders and laughed politely the first couple of times this happened. But after a couple of weeks of these quizzes, I realized that the DJ was deliberately playing obscure music so that he could "stump" me and show off that he was better than me!

So the next time he played his enigmatic gems and came over with his quiz, I told him right off. Of course I didn't know what he was playing - no-one plays this kind of music in the milongas of Buenos Aires! He was playing late late D'Arienzo, D'Agostino with any singer but Vargas, stuff from the 70's... might as well throw in some Cacho Castaña or Susana Rinaldi, or even some Carlos Gardel!

Mr. DJ: Don't think that you are good because you play something that people can't recognize and that no other sane DJ would play. That is the worst trap that DJs could fall into - the other trap being laziness and unwillingness to change tandas from week to week. Vileness in tango music playlist reaches its zenith when the DJ couldn't be bothered to change the tandas he plays - and compounds the problem by playing strange undanceable stuff* alongside it, just to prove he is clever and not sleeping on the job.

* Don't be mistaken though, that weird stuff is undanceable for us - if we can dance to violin concertos, The Beatles, and the sound of crickets chirping, we can dance to anything. But just "anything" DOES NOT A GOOD MILONGA DANCE EXPERIENCE MAKE.

The best DJs in the most popular traditional milongas in Buenos Aires are quite content to play the classics, day after day, year after year. They play music not to prove their superiority - they are there to make their dancers dance and have the sweetest, most wonderful time possible in their milongas. They love the dancers with their music - and that's why we love them back. No need to pack the Pepto-Bismol!

Osvaldo and Coca at Milongueando 2011

2011-08-12T09:37:00.001-04:00

Osvaldo and Coca, wonderful as always - performing at the opening milonga of this year's Milongueando festival:

Do we even need words? The proof is in the dancing. They are once and forever champions of tango (and those who dispute it or want to character assassinate are only insanely jealous).

Buenos Aires 2009, Part 8 - Sunday, March 1, 2009

2011-08-08T23:56:00.001-04:00

Dear V,

Here's the account of Sunday. Can you tell that I am very behind in my reports?

***************************************************
Sunday March 1, 2009

We didn’t go to bed until at least 5 a.m. but despite being so tired, I didn’t sleep well at all. I was coughing badly all night - perhaps from riding in T's (Osvaldo and Coca's friend) car with the windows rolled down while swerving all over the highway (plus all tht the yelling and gesturing). It got pretty nippy and there was even some light drizzle blowing in - not a good thing if you already have a weakened immune system! I think I was coughing and sleeping at the same time for some part of night. In any case, I got up all bleary eyed for the hotel breakfast anyway. Afterwards we popped by the pharmacy next to the hotel to get the cough syrup - because coughing like that was just terrible. Luckily the pharmacy opened on the weekend - but not the entire store. You had to ring a bell and then the sole person working in there would come to the little window and take your order. I gave him the prescription - and said I wanted the cough syrup but not the other thing. It cost 45 pesos - more than the antibiotics which cost around 29 with the 40% discount at the German Hospital.

We had talked about going to La Boca or the fair in Palermo but frankly, I was just too tired. We spent all day in the hotel - Man Yung watching sports (turn on the tv any time of the day and there's soccer - hey it's Argentina and they are soccer-mad) and I was writing everything that happened on Thursday and Friday - all 20 pages of it. I hope you enjoyed it, because that was a lot of work!

We called N (that expatriate tango blogger we got to know on the internet - still haven't seen her yet even though we had talked on the phone a couple of times) to ask her how the concert was on Saturday. She was so excited - it was the Café de los Maestros and it was a free event. It was a good concert - but she got the time wrong and missed half of it. She was very upset. I told N about our experiences in Sunderland and who we were sitting with (we still can't believe it!)

We have been admirers of Blas Catrenau's dancing since we saw a video of him dancing with his partner Graciela Lopez on Rick McGarrey's website. His dancing is amazingly milonguero-milonguero - direct, strong, rhythmic, and all his own. He was the first winner of the metropolitan tango competition in Buenos Aires. Funny how the first winners of the competitions - Blas, Osvaldo and Coca, Pedro and Graciela - were all so original, so exciting and eye-opening - and now all you get are variations on Fabian Peralta and nothing else?

Blas Catrenau dancing his unique style of tango with Graciela Lopez at La Milonguita

Blas is one of the dancers on our (very short) list who we really wanted take classes with. Checking the listings, we confirmed that he was teaching at La Milonguita, the milonga that's run by him and his partner in life, Graciela Lopez. Blas’s class started at 6:30 p.m. We took a taxi there - it’s in Belgrano.

Heat and humidity continued to blanket the city. We passed by a fountain on the way and there was a young lady splashing and shrieking in the middle of the fountain, clad only in a black bikini. We pointed this out to the taxi driver as something interesting - he said no, no, that was illegal and the police would arrest her! We had to go a bit of a roundabout way to get to Centro Montanes where La Milonguita was held - we had to cross some kind of bridge and there was only one route over the bridge or something. When we spotted the bridge Man Yung and I said “Ah, the bridge!” in Chinese and the driver said yes, it’s the bridge. I told the driver that it was very good, he understands Chinese!

Classes hadn’t started when we reached La Milonguita. The entrada lady hadn’t even set up yet. I didn’t bring my good camera so we took some photos of the street outside using my phone. There’s no image stabilizer so the images were quite blurry - not that there was anything particularly picturesque to see outside, since the building is located on a quiet street inside a residential area. While we were outside, the sky started to become overcast again. In fact, the weather has not been good since last night - there was a lot of dry lightning when we left Sunderland, and it rained most of the day on Sunday. It was just perfect because we were planning to stay in anyway. When we had to leave the hotel for Blas’ class before La Milonguita, the rain finally stopped. The timing was great.

We were the first to pay - 40 pesos for both of us for the milonga including the class. Graciela was busy setting up the tables and directing the staff to prepare the hall for the milonga. We were directed to put our stuff in one corner while the tablecloths were being placed on the tables. The hall is pretty nice, and quite elegant, with a granite floor. There’s stage at the end facing the door - and that was where the DJ set up. A lady with curly hair put up gracefully came over to say hello, her name was Adriana and she was the instructor. I had thought that Blas was the instructor, so I was disappointed to find that she and another gentleman in a light blue suit were teaching. Oh well.

Well, turns out that Blas supervises the class while his two direct students taught. They made both men and women do a series of walking exercises - Adriana walks very elegantly, I must say! I, unfortunately, looked super dopey with my practice dance sneakers and flowery flared skirt (don't try this fashion no-no at home!). Also, I don’t pivot quite as nicely (I think I lack the required bum and ankle rotation - maybe I even walk like a hog wrestler) when doing “women’s technique”. The male assistant teacher lead the guys to do the same exercises.

Then we were paired together and we had to do some exercises together. Blas looked at us and corrected my non-pivot and where I was looking while in the embrace - that's because I’m not usually looking at anything, it helps me concentrate on the lead, and he wants me to look at Man Yung’s chest.

When we started to dance a little, that was when Blas started to become perplexed. We kind of look all wrong, but there was something.... Blas made further corrections. He thought I was hanging my head on Man Yung’s shoulder and our hand positions annoyed him (Man Yung's left arm goes forward too much!) - he corrected that to match his own standard and style - and corrected Man Yung on not waiting for me to embrace him first (because Man Yung is usually - “hit the road while running”). However, when Blas embraced me to demonstrate his style, his attitude completely changed. Something was up with these Chinese people - they look funny, but they could dance! I'm not making this up, you know us - seriously, Blas no longer treated us like we were a couple of the usual beginner gringos. He started paying a lot of personal attention to us, he basically felt that he had to “take over” from his assistants with regards to us. He showed Man Yung many things using me as a demo - and was gleeful when I followed EVERYTHING he led. When other people were told to switch partners (and the assistants gave like a whole lecture telling people they MUST switch partners) - Blas pointed at us and told us to keep on going and practice together.

Well, it became kind of a semi-private class with Blas. His assistant teachers were intrigued because on the surface we are so geeky looking and awkward. I was on antibiotics but I was still coughing, and while the teachers were talking about something I was coughing so badly I had to hide behind Man Yung. An older, blond, elegantly dressed French lady who was taking class lent me her cardigan to wear - I didn’t want to wear it at all but had to because she was being kind.

At the end of the class they played milonga music and Blas got to “demonstrate” some milonga with me to Man Yung. Blas has a very good lead and many fancy steps. When we finished dancing he had a huge smile on his face and we were laughing together. Man Yung got a lot from the class - even if Blas didn't give us all his personal attention, we could see the class taught by his assistants was very structured, and good for basics and musicality.

When we arrived at La Milonguita, there was an older american gentleman waiting outside for his partner, and we talked a little. He said La Milonguita is a great milonga. After the class he said “Wow, look at the difference between before you took the class and after - Blas is a really good teacher!” - well, heh, after the class we might have listened to some of Blas’s advice about head and arm position, but all the rest was already there. It’s surprising how little non-porteños can actually see (we found this to be true at Camicando too, but that’ll come later) by looking at others dancing. You can even read florid and wordy analyses over the internet by gringos dissecting what is "good" in such an such a video or performance - but do they really understand what the porteños consider to be good tango? From the reactions of the porteños we have encountered on this trip and on previous trips, we know that we are headed in the right direction.

We had originally planned to have dinner at the restaurant next to the hall - we had nice paella there with Alberto and Paulina last year - but the milonga was starting and Man Yung was anxious about getting a table. Graciela told us that we could eat at the milonga - and gave us a table right next to the stage away from the dance floor, because the other tables were reserved. Unfortunately, the menu for the milonga was limited and the food in fact was prepared in a different kitchen from the one for the restaurant in the same building. I had a Matambre with Russian salad and Man Yung had this stew - “Cazuela” - and bread (this was because the waitress recommended it). I was hungry, even though I am suspicious about cold foods like “Russian salad” - so I ate it anyway and crossed my fingers.

While we were eating Blas deliberately came over to sit with us to find out who we were. He told us we were dancing well, “muy sauve“. We replied we needed to learn more and were thankful and appreciative of his corrections. Blas countered by saying that yes, we all needed to learn more but at some point you dance your own style. He asked us how we knew him (I asked him if he was Señor Blas when we saw him) and I told him we came with Alberto last year. We asked him for a business card to call him to arrange for private classes - he didn’t move to give us one but said “later”. I told Blas we would love to have the opportunity to have a private class with him, but we would have to schedule it after the Camicando festival with Martha and Manolo. Blas kind of had this “face” when we said “Canyengue”. However, he replied, “They are muy buena gente (good people)”.

The milonga started. The large table next to us had a group of people including a Chinese-looking lady in a yellow jersey like material dress (it was shapeless, thin and cheap), people in t-shirts and shorts with shopping bags and shoe bags etc. For some reason (because they seemed to be comfortable at the milonga and the table seemed to be a “regular” table for them) Man Yung thought they were “locals”! I had to convince him that no self-respecting Argentine would go to a milonga like that - they were definitely tourists. They were dancing with their shorts and jeans and casual clothes, for god’s sake!

The milonga was packed, but there were many poor dancers. Man Yung pointed out to me that there were a group of Blas’ students - you can tell by their hand positions and the fact that they were dancing rather well. There was a grey faced hollowed eyed “milonguero” at the centre of the line of tables next to the kitchen door. There was also that huge fat guy with his corner table (for some reason he looks like a “Walter” to me) - he must be 400 pounds - that we saw at La Milonguita last year. Otherwise the tourist quotient was rather high. The floor was chaos - bumper car ride. It was really hard to keep our concentration with all these collisions. Man Yung asked the French lady to dance, she was sitting nearby - and while he was dancing with her Blas’ teaching assistant asked me to dance - but it was the last song of the tanda. Blas’s student dances a bit too rigidly, like he is afraid of doing something incorrectly. Blas is confident so he is not afraid to have his whole body express the dance and move with the music - but his student has not yet got the tango in him the same way. I think he was dancing with me to find out what was going on - why was Blas so concerned about us?

We had to share a table with a couple of middle aged tourists from ____________. Talk about two joyless, sour faced people! They didn’t talk to us, they didn’t really even talk to each other. The pretty blond waitress, who was nice and jokey with us (and who Man Yung kept on asking to dance when she asked if there was anything else we wanted - she said “no, no, no! I don’t know how to dance!") was totally different with them, because they only ordered one water to share and they never smiled or tried to be pleasant. She was professional but almost at the point of being rude to them - I don’t blame her.

Every single tanda at La Milonguita they fidgeted with the lights. It was lights on, lights off, lights partly on, lights partly off - if I had epilepsy I would be having an epileptic fit from all those flashing light changes. I think they were making some kind of “mood lighting” - but when people were dancing crazy they would dance anyway regardless of “mood”. And there were defects in the music as well. One Donato track had been spliced and lengthened. There was one track that skipped. They played some odd music at the end too - and turned out all the lights completely. It was so dark that it was good that so many women had “glow in the dark tans” - why is it with all these ladies in Buenos Aires with skinny x-ray bodies and flabby crepey skin and unnatural tans? It is so unattractive, but tanning parlors must be making brisk business with this lot.

We didn’t leave until right at the end of the night. My throat was still sore because the antibiotics hadn’t started to work, but we stayed right until the end anyway - I would have preferred to leave earlier, especially since Camicando started the next day. Anyway, we still had a good time dancing. At the door, Blas said goodbye - and gave Man Yung a “look” (hard to describe here, but Man Yung gets a lot of these looks from the porteños who think he is a cheeky dancer) and then gave him a huge hug. He never gave us his business card - he decided that he shouldn’t interfere with us, we have some people behind us that he doesn’t know about and the best thing to do is to keep distance, although he respects us as dancers.

We got the coat check lady to call us a cab - good thing too because the lightning came back and it started to rain buckets. We actually got a cab and not a remise - and I asked the young taxi driver whether there was a flood, because it rained pretty heavily. He said no, it was normal for the rain to be this heavy, but it would be over quickly. By the time we reached the hotel it was torrential and the streets were like rivers. We had thought about eating out - but that was not going to be a good idea with the weather. We just had our instant noodles and went to sleep.

Buenos Aires 2009 Part 7 - Saturday, February 28, 2009

2011-08-01T18:50:00.001-04:00

Dear V,

Are you ready for your trip yet? Less than a week and you will be here! You must be scrambling for last minute stuff.

*******************************************************************

Saturday February 28, 2009

(this is the one in which we walk 40 blocks)

Saturday started off as a nice cool(ish) sunny day. Since we had no plans except to go to Sunderland at night, we decided to take a walk along Callao all the way to Alvear Palace Hotel. It’s like the Buenos Aires Ritz - and it’s located on Av. Alvear, famous for its haute couture and designer boutiques.

We went at a comfortable slow pace, looking at the shops along the way (including one with fashion jewellery and accessories - really nice colorful designs, but too expensive compared to the necklaces we got at the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa). Some of the stores were closed, I guess they only opened on weekdays. The area is really nice to walk in - none of the hustle and bustle of the main streets downtown, nice "Parisian Belle Epoque" architecture, polite people (with money but not flashy). We passed by the Christian Dior store we bought a lot of Man Yung’s polos from last year - the quality is just not as good as Lacoste, but in any case they didn’t have sales on polos. It was only one little block always from Alvear.

Most of the designer stores were closed on Alvear too. There was an entire family subtly begging at the corner of Callao and Alvear - a man with his wife and children, and the strange thing was that they were dressed respectably. You wouldn't think that the man in the suit with his wife and children were begging except for their odd position on the sidewalk, stiff, awkward, body language and sullen, silent stares. Man Yung thought it seemed kind of harsh for the man to parade his entire family like this as part of his panhandling enterprise.

We went into Alvear Palace - it has a shopping concourse filled with antiques, expensive gaucho souvenirs and knick-knacks - but no air conditioning, so we didn’t stay and look. The hotel was grand, but not anything we haven’t seen in say, Chateau Frontenac or Royal York downtown. Man Yung said that it didn’t make sense for us to have tea or sit down for a bite to eat there - which was my original plan. Why spend money on these frivolities when you can have a huge delicious meal at La Madeleine, where they would appreciate your tips and give you great service?

There was Louis Vuitton next to Alvear but too bad, it was closed so I can’t get a bunch of designer handbags so I’ll look like any other designer handbag crazy chica on the TTC - so sad. But there’s one thing we’ve noticed in Bs As - not even the rich people carry handbags with big designer logos. Even the bags on display at LV didn’t show obvious logos. That’s maybe where the Argentinians are ahead of a lot of “fashionable” people in Canada and Hong Kong - they don’t need to show the labels in order to boost their self-esteem.

We passed a park right at the edge of the fair with huge trees with sprawling roots and took some photos. Some sinister looking people in green canvas vests were pretending to be Red Cross volunteers and trying to get people to give them “donations”. We ignored them and walked on.

Tree in the park at the end of Alvear. There's a lot of these kinds of trees in Buenos Aires - all along the Av. 9 de Julio, Plaza San Martin, etc., etc. I think they are called Ombú.

At one end of Alvear past LV is the fair we have gone to every year - a tourist attraction filled with tourist souvenirs and kitschy artsy items. Every year we’ve walked through it I have felt sweltering hot - but this year was much better and a little cooler, even though my throat was killing me. We used to pick up some souvenirs here for people, but this year we just didn’t (because you will be in Buenos Aires soon anyway ;-)) We took a little stroll through the fair, and watched a live acoustic band play something that sounded a lot like elevator music in the performance area next to a grassy lawn.

View of the stalls at the Recoleta Fair (also known as Feria de Plaza Francia)

Anywhere there is grass and open space in Buenos Aires, you may see Porteños sitting and lying down, basking in the sun. Here we are catching an open-air concert. I have a displeased look on my face that says "I'm bloody hot, and the sun is in my eyes."

You may not be able to tell by this photo...but these guys are playing "Muzak"

Under the canopies of all the stalls it can be sweltering hot.

Walking past the stalls, we couldn’t find again the vendor who looked like the spitting image of "El Indio" who was teaching baby tango steps to a blond turista last year. But we finally went into the “Buenos Aires Design” mall at the edge of the Plaza Francia - it’s in all the tourist attraction guides as some kind of cutting edge interior design furniture place. But we didn’t see much evidence of that - only a lot of tourist restaurants (they had American style food, Japanese food, Italian food, “Authentic” parillada, and of course, the Hard Rock Café) and a lot of tourists. It's a nice modern mall, open to the outside with patios, and it would have been nice to sit under an umbrella in the sun and having a beer, except the prices were tourist prices. There was only one furniture store that I could see - with a huge white and silver round garden bed with a canopy. Man Yung said “Let’s get it!” and I said “Sure! We can pack it and take it with us on the plane!” (like it would fit in our tiny condo. Our cats would love it though).

We walked a little around the area, past a young asian looking woman with two clever white terriers - the old one was too tired to play but the young one was excited about playing “fetch” with a ball while still on a leash. A few steps ahead and we encountered some streets that looked exactly like Parisian streets - leafy and grand - so much so that I swear they even smelled like them (like old stone and damp). The only thing that was not Parisian about this area was the great number of tangled wires overhead.

Streets in Recoleta. It's like you are in Paris! Except there are so many wires overhead it looks like someone was playing cat's cradle with the electricity grid.

On this same street is a empanada place called "El Sanjuanino". The décor is rustic Argentinian and the expository and poetic writings in the menu hails all manner of its “authentic-ness”. Could we have possibly stumbled upon the most “authentic” empanada places in the world? ;-) The walls were decorated with photos of the owners posed with famous people who we couldn’t recognize - but that's because we are gawking, camera-toting Norteamericano tourists. You too can feel like a gaucho on the pampas eating here - the tables were greasy and Man Yung put his hand on something gross ;-). The empanadas were 5 pesos each - 3 if you take out. We decided we’ll just eat something here and had 2 empanadas each with some water.

El Sanjuanino - you know you are walking into history when it is covered with a thin coat of decades old cow grease...better not lean on the table, Man Yung!

The empanadas were very big, pretty good (but not the best that we've tasted, despite the "authentic-ness" - but perhaps authentic empanadas are not supposed to be the tastiest) and although the menu said they contained olives, only EVERY SECOND ONE CONTAINED an olive. How they managed to do this I don’t know. The olive was very authentic in itself - it still contained the pit.

A handsome, young, clean shaven male tourist (yes, Man Yung, I remember these kinds of things!) sat at the next table, studiously reading. He seemed to speak Spanish to the waiter with much facility, and we watched him order some strange, adventurous and "authentic" stuff from the menu that were not empanadas. When we leaving, I asked him in Spanish what the hell it was that he was eating. He replied haltingly (with not as much facility as I had previously thought, and with a little bit of a gringo accent) that “It’s some kind of soup, with some stuff in it…”

We walked back to the hotel. My sore throat was not any better after the walk in the hot sun so we decided to go to the Farmacity that we passed along the way to get some Listerine. Back at the hotel I tried gargling with it - and I felt even worse. I decided to call my travel insurance and see if they could recommend a doctor.

They couldn’t, but they assured me that my case was covered by travel insurance and they started a claim file for me. I had to submit receipts when I got home. They usually took care of which doctor and did direct billing - but only in the States. Here they didn’t know who we could contact, so I called the hotel front desk and Ricardo (the gentleman that checked us in) told us to go to the German Hospital about 7 blocks away. We went to the lobby and Ricardo was eating, and when we spoke to him to confirm about the hospital we noticed he still had a big crumb on his lip.

We took the taxi there - the taxi driver knew where it was with me having to repeat the intersection. I had trouble saying the intersection name - Arenales was easy, but how to pronounce “Puerreydon” (or whatever that was)? It was really not that far away.

The hospital is in a big grey building - the emergency is at the side and not the front. Or rather “the emergency where they overcharge foreigners is at the side and not the front”. I was afraid that I would be in for a long wait just like in Toronto - however, that was totally not the case. They have everything set up efficiently - the front desk directed you to a specialist based on your case, you then lined up at a cashier a few steps away (where the two male cashiers sat behind glass booths), gave your personal details and passport information, paid your 150 peso consultation fee, got your receipt, and you would be told to wait in the adjacent waiting area for your name to be called. The waiting area was empty with two rows of seats on the side and a flat screen tv playing the current soccer match. I sat down for about 30 seconds and the specialist (I looked at the receipt and it was some kind of OOORRINGGSHHOAAAOSSEEGNINNTHA specialist - well, not exactly this, but a really long unpronounceable and scary looking title nonetheless that I can’t even recall how it’s spelt - called me into the examination room.

The doctor was a very nice, pretty young lady who seemed to want to greet me and say goodbye with a kiss, but I felt that was too bizarre and remained stiffly and awkwardly unreceptive - hey, to think about it, just like some of the "North Eurozone" tourists we meet at the milonga. They must do things different here because the last time I checked, my family doctor doesn’t give out free kisses ;-). It didn’t seem that we could conduct the examination in English, so we spoke in Spanish. Luckily I studied some medical vocabulary just before coming to Bs As - I was preparing to discuss illness with the old maestros because these days they have all sorts of ailments (see Osvaldo last year - we could talk about the progress of his health, but this year he had recovered and was quite ok) but surprise, all that studying became useful for me!

So, the doctor posed all the regular questions - how do you feel, what hurts, any mucus, any swollen lymph nodes etc... A quick visual examination revealed inflammation of the throat. Then the doctor brought out a big black suitcase with some kind of machine in it and said “How about I take a look using this ______” My Spanish was not so good as to know what it was (are you surprised?) Well, I wasn’t going to say no - and then this big long black tube was produced which was inserted into my nostril down into my throat through my nasal passages. I think I must be superhuman not to 1) sneeze, 2) gag, 3) sneeze and gag at the same time. I didn’t even do one or a combination of the above when she told me to swallow and to make the “ahhhh” noise when the tube was still in there (ewwww). It must be some optical tube. After that nasty and intrusive experience, we concluded that yes, I indeed had an infected throat and she wrote some prescriptions and told me to bring a “radiograph” to the cashier again. I asked her if what I had was serious or contagious and the answer to that was “no”. I have to say though, the doctor was very kind and nice.

Well, there was a reason why she was kind and nice. That was because the “radiograph” COST 720 PESOS!!!!!!! Man Yung and I were in shock. Hurray for travel medical insurance - I ended up paying by credit card because we certainly didn’t have so much cash. Man Yung told the cashier that he should have got rid of his wife ;-).

We got our prescription filled at the hospital - yes, the services were expensive but the medicine was 40% off. After we submitted the prescription note, we were directed to the cashier again - we had seen the “chico” at the cash so many times he was now like family. I thought that I had to go back to the pharmacy to get the medicine - but no, if they are charging 720 for a “radiograph” they do things efficiently - they sent the antibiotics in a cylindrical container through an air pressure delivery system. It was amazing. But they could only fill part of my prescription - they had the antibiotics but not the cough syrup, I had to get that somewhere else.

Although the sticker shock was awful, I felt much better with the knowledge that I was not going to die (at least not yet) or spread some potential fatal disease to the tango masters. We still had some free time so we walked back to the hotel from the hospital (we probably also didn’t want to take a taxi because we felt so much poorer after paying the doctor).   Santa Fe was busy and filled with people - you have to be cautious but not as much as on Corrientes - it is also greener with its trees and not so dry and polluted. Trees make a big difference wherever you go. We looked at restaurants along the way - there are some really nice ones - and popped into an accessories shop to buy some packages of girly cartoony stationery for Osvaldo and Coca’s grandchildren.

I took some medicine when we got back to the hotel, and then we went out to eat. We wanted to try another restaurant that was opposite La Madeleine on the other side of the street - on previous trips Man Yung had always wanted to try other restaurants, and we had looked at the menu of this other restaurant when we passed by many times.

Apart from two women and the waiters there was no-one in the restaurant. The waiter directed us into one of the deep leather booths and gave us a menu, then disappeared. It wasn’t that the menu was expensive, or that the food selection (they had everything, and Man Yung was interested in the parrilla) wasn’t good - it was the complete lack of service that made us just get up and leave. The waiters seemed annoyed to be bothered by customers. It was almost 7 p.m. and there were no customers - for good reason, I guess, because we got up and left as well. [Now Man Yung realizes why we were bothering the waiters - no one in Buenos Aires eats until 9 p.m. We were way too early. But La Madeleine is 24 hours and is ready to serve patrons any time of the day.]

So we went back to La Madeleine. As I said, my appetite was returning so I ordered Man Yung’s steak with mushroom sauce, and Man Yung ordered a steak with pepper sauce and potatoes in baked in cream and parmesan - both very delicious, and heavy.

Somewhere along the way on this busy day I called N (the expatriate tango blogger who we were supposed to hook up with) and told her that I couldn’t make it to the free Café de los Maestro’s concert on Saturday evening.   I had left her a message on Friday night but I wanted to make sure that I got in touch with her too - we didn’t have definite plans since her eye was infected but I didn’t want a misunderstanding either. We talked about how it was at Sin Rumbo etc. We also called Alberto to see how he was - still not so great, and we told him about Sin Rumbo too to amuse him. I am using the phone a lot this trip, and my Spanish must have improved because it appears I can actually have conversations on the phone without any body language! We called Osvaldo and Coca to see whether we had to make reservations - but they were making them and meeting us there.

Martha left us a telephone message that they would be coming too to Sunderland. We were just about to leave for Sunderland when we picked up the message so we weren’t sure whether there were places reserved for them - yikes. Anyway, we took the taxi to Sunderland - and was surprised that it cost only 30 pesos. Sunderland Club is on a residential street - you didn't expect a milonga place until you spot the sudden, glaring illumination of the lights and the big painted sign above the entrance in blue italics on whitewash. We didn’t have much time to examine the way the building looked - Osvaldo and Coca were already outside, early, and we went in with them. They didn’t have to pay the entrada, so we didn’t have to pay for them.

The gym is about half the size I thought it would be after seeing so many videos on Youtube. The ceiling is high, the floor looks like granite (I brought a new pair of Comme Il Faut with me because the soles were smoother - I feared that the floor at Sunderland would be just as terrible as at Sin Rumbo. Man Yung strained his kidneys trying to pivot on that floor) - and was actually quite reasonable to dance on. We arrived early, there weren’t many people and no-one was dancing - but Julio Duplaa was there on the opposite side of the room. A light must have gone on in his head when he saw us with Osvaldo and Coca as to what kind of style we were dancing (Of course he may have another light go on when Martha and Manolo came as well to sit with us.) He was happy to see us and said hello. Coca seemed a little upset when we arrived and told her that Martha and Manolo were coming too (she said “I didn’t know that!" - she must have been worried about seating arrangements) the table that was reserved for us already said “Osvaldo Manolo Coca Martha” - and it was the VIP table right next to the table of Jorge Dispari, Maria Carmen and their "posse". Osvaldo made us sit right at the edge of the floor, and Martha and Manolo sat opposite us - they came a little bit later before the dancing started.

Osvaldo had actually invited many of his friends to come. There was a blond lady from Brazil called T with her boyfriend, the mustached C. She was very animated, always shrieking and laughing and hugging Osvaldo and Coca and acting like the life of the party. Another couple sat next to us - the woman had a riot of curly hair and looks a little like L (a Toronto tanguera) and the man was a big, hefty, benevolent looking man with a balding head. They danced very well, except she had to lean quite a lot to dance with him. Osvaldo and Coca's friends looked like that they had a bit of money, and definitely, tango was a diversion and not a job for any of them.

Lots of people came to greet the “Masters” at our table - even Jorge and Maria Carmen came over to say hello. The difference was that Martha and Manolo would wait for people to come over to say hi to them - while Osvaldo and Coca would go all over to say hello to everyone. Everyone knew everyone there. Jorge and Maria Carmen brought their entourage along, including their daughter Samantha, “adornista extraordinaire”. She had short hair and ribbon tying her shoe to her legs in the criss-cross pattern, ballerina style - her mini-dress and shoes were all in black. I realized something. Last year at Sin Rumbo we bumped into the Disparis and they had a bunch of people with them - including a girl who could do so many adornments it was amazing to watch. She didn’t happen to be “just a disciple” - she was their daughter (she was kind of wearing the same kind of shoes and dress as last year) No wonder. If you have been dancing tango from the time you were in your mother's womb, you too would be able to do the impossible adornments at the speed of a hummingbird's wing.

Comme Il Faut and shoes like them are now commonplace - even the older Porteñas are wearing them. One woman wore an extravagant yellow and black pair, but too much was going on in those shoes - ribbons, white polka dots, stripes, everything. It looked like the shoes had all the symptoms of the plague all at once. Once upon a time, people were afraid that their shoes were too flashy - but now, no matter whether they dance well or dance horribly, everyone is wearing over the top rainbow coloured stilettos.

Martha and Manolo actually danced a lot - but Osvaldo and Coca danced even more. Osvaldo still runs out of breath, so we were a little concerned for his health. We danced when we were told or urged to - since we were with the “Masters” it would be embarrassing for us to be rushing on the dance floor every minute without them. We were also keeping an eye on everyone’s belongings. Osvaldo talked (complained) to Manolo about us and how Man Yung has stolen all his steps. Manolo reassured him that that was the way we first met - Manolo and Martha saw Man Yung dancing Manolo's steps and they stopped him and asked him “Who is your teacher?” - to which Man Yung quite aptly replied - “You are” (That is such a classic).

Sunderland was not actually as crazy as I thought it would be - there were more good dancers there than anywhere else we went, and although there were tourists, only a few were stupid, like the Nuevo couple that kept on their big moves and big boleos on the dance floor. I kept on expecting a large group of tourists to show up after midnight - but they did not materialize. It wasn’t that packed, the night we went - in Youtube videos you see people sitting on the benches next to the wall, but this time they were empty.

We have been dancing better and better these days since we arrived - but Martha may not be pleased that I am dancing “plain style” without adornments. People on the side would watch us, smile, wave to us or give us the thumbs up to tell us we were dancing well. Carlos Rivarola, sitting at one of the tables on the edge of the dance floor, stared at us intently, wondering where the hell we came from and what the hell we were dancing to look so much unlike the rest of the tourists. Osvaldo’s friends were impressed, and Osvaldo was very interested when we were dancing his steps - he kept on looking and looking at us like he couldn't believe that his Tango DNA has somehow reproduced in a couple of chinese people in a small tango community on the other side of the globe.

E, the clowny guy from the big annual nuevo tango festival (you have to guess which one we are talking about), performed. Perhaps that’s why the tourists didn’t come this night - the good dancers would scoff at his clowniness and the tourists who would appreciate him wouldn’t travel so far to Sunderland because they would be afraid to be ripped off by the taxi driver. Julio Duplaa looked very grave looking at their awful performance, but some of the bits were funny (especially to Osvaldo‘s friends). I can’t believe they let them perform to to four songs. It must have taken up at least twenty minutes of dancing time. The last one they “tried” to dance normal tango to Di Sarli’s Bahia Blanca - nope, it really didn’t work. Actually, it highlighted their suckiness.

Martha and Manolo left at 2:30 a.m. and we accompanied them out the door. We said we had to stay until Osvaldo left because Osvaldo invited us - they agreed that was the polite thing to do. Of course it took them a long time to leave - everyone had to say goodbye to them - and then in the corridor just outside the restaurant part of the building (and where everyone was smoking) a short man who looks a dwarf version of H from Toronto stopped them and grabbed me and started dancing some steps. He tried to do more and more stuff (he is want you would call one of those “fancy dancers”) but it didn’t really make a difference to me. Since we were dancing open embrace, I was even able to do some adornments, and Man Yung said Martha was giggling when she saw I was doing adornments and following this guy so well. “H” claimed to know someone from Toronto, “La Turca” somebody. He claimed that everyone in the world knew him (while we were wondering who the hell he was). I said “Sure, everyone knows you!” I know better than to argue with drunk people or Argentinians with big heads (and small bodies).

Some more highlights of the evening - we saw Samantha dancing with a “very old milonguero” - but very energetic, because he was doing many moves and also dancing rock and roll with Samantha. We saw Ofelia, who is 80 and the mother of the organizer at Sunderland, but who has the legs of someone half her age. We bumped into Juan Esquivel again, with his girlfriend, and he thought we were there by ourselves and was about to invite us to sit with him - and we told him no, indeed, we were with Osvaldo and Coca. While dancing, we encountered “H” on the dance floor and switched partners so I had to dance with H and Man Yung had to dance with his partner (who wasn’t a very good follower at all - “H” even dances like H from Toronto with his pushing and shoving, lack of music and awkward embrace). We danced with “L” and her boyfriend - he’s pretty good, and she’s pretty good, Argentinians are naturals if they dare to dance. Samantha danced with her dad (doesn’t it look weird when they do that?) The Dispari table had a father who danced with his eight year old daughter - she was already pretty amazing. Man Yung didn’t like it though - it looks like some tango professionals are training their children to be nothing but tango dancers from their infancy. What about school and trying to get into a normal profession? The tango scene couldn't possibly be good for children. When we finally left the milonga we saw a young professional tanguera (who had been dancing up a storm at the milonga) standing outside leaning against a post, smoking a cigarette - she isn’t even twenty yet and already she looks worn out and world-weary. The life of Tango appears glamourous - but just take a few steps off the stage or outside the milonga - we suspect you may find hard living, drugs, loneliness and heartbreak.

We can’t believe it but Osvaldo and Coca stayed until the bitter end - after 4 a.m. Surely he should not be partying so hard given his health? We paid the tab for the entire table - even for T and her boyfriend who had a meal and champagne (and were lovey-dovey all night). It was around 250 pesos, but lucky we paid for everyone and not just the “Maestros” - because Osvaldo made T and her boyfriend drive us home. Think of how embarrassing it would be if we didn’t pay for them as well!

Osvaldo and Coca take to the floor at Sunderland during the last few tandas of the evening, February 28, 2009. How gentle and musical they are! (But, oh, what party animals)

Driving back into town, T and her boyfriend followed Osvaldo’s car, and they would pass each other and roll down the window and gesture wildly and yell endearments to each other. EVEN ON THE HIGHWAY. The cars would swerve all over the road as they waved and shouted in the quiet barrio night. Those crazy people. Then Osvaldo and Coca took the highway in the other direction.

T was nice, and we chatted with her a little bit. She told us that Osvaldo was teaching at Saraza on Tuesdays, and that it was a very nice milonga and we should go. She gave me her email address so that I could email her and she could email back the address and times. She must have a bit of money because she usually lives in Brazil and had been in Argentina 4 months already (but not on vacation). She had been to Toronto as well.

By the time we reached the hotel it was so late (or early). We were exhausted. That was waaaaaaaay too much party for one night.

Sunday to follow….

Irene

Buenos Aires 2009 Part 6 - Friday, February 27, 2009

2011-07-25T08:42:00.002-04:00

Dear V,

After everything was wrapped at at the Escuela, M&M went with us to the café across the street where they always go to, and where Manolo never leaves any tips (but always tell the waiters to take the clean tablecloth away and not waste it since we won't be eating) ;-) The waiters love Manolo anyway! We had something to drink ("not cold" water for Manolo, Coke for me, Beer for Martha and Man Yung) and had a little chat. We told them about our visit to Osvaldo and Coca’s house. We showed them our little mp3/video player, and warned them that we have learned a lot of O&C’s steps and that there is a video of us dancing that shows this. They wanted to watch it - Martha said “Don’t worry, I won’t be mad” (Man Yung says that people who say that they don’t mind or that they won’t get mad are actually the ones who really mind and who will really get mad ;-) ) They were quiet when they watched it, and after they said we danced well - however, Martha was not very happy because I did not do “a single adornment”!!!! I assured her that we had videos of us dancing at home where I was doing plenty of adornments, don’t worry (in fact, Man Yung thought the prolific adornments I was doing were very ugly, so I stopped doing them - but I wasn't going to say anything to Martha about that).

We also showed them a video of their performance at Lori Burton's studio in Detroit back in 2008. They liked watching themselves. It seems like that this mp3/video player is a big hit with everyone - both M&M and O&C were very intrigued by the machine. We told M&M we would get them one. It may be handy for them to play music, as well as show people videos of their performances.

M&M went home - we went for a little walk on Florida. We watched the “street tango show” - I was watching my handbag all the time in case there were pickpockets. Man Yung likes watching even street tango shows, he might learn something from what the dancers are doing (that is, if we also want to do a street tango show and put it on our resume)! We bumped into a Chilean couple who has attended Camicando every year that we have. They will see us on Monday.

Street Tango on the Calle Florida, where you can find (almost) every Tango cliche in existence. It is actually a very good "show" - these dancers are more professional and dancing much better than some of the visiting "maestros" that come to Toronto! Maybe someone should invite them too - I'm sure in some pockets of Toronto Tango they will be a huge hit.

We walked a little bit towards Plaza San Martin, really looking for a taxi and a street that went the direction of the hotel. We passed by a toy shop. Man Yung has an idea - he wants to buy some toys for Osvaldo and Coca’s grandkids. We are going to keep our eye out for something suitable (and not too expensive).

After a short taxi ride with the most disgruntled taxi driver we have encountered so far (most are very professional and proud of their job, this one would rather be doing something else and it showed) - we went back to the hotel, changed and showered and then had a huge dinner at La Madeleine. My appetite was finally back - I actually ordered and ate a Parisienne pasta, while Man Yung had a steak with mushroom sauce and fried potatoes the size and shape of marbles. Man Yung’s steak and the sauce that came with it was totally delicious - I kept stealing bites from his plate. We are getting into the habit of eating really heavy - and I have to be careful, because this is usually my downfall whenever I’m traveling!

Even though Sin Rumbo doesn’t start until 11 p.m. there really wasn’t that much time to relax and take a nap before we had to head out again. Taking a radio taxi to these places is a must - the driver had to call in for directions, and it took 45 minutes to get there. Sin Rumbo is 3 blocks away from the very edge of Buenos Aires, almost in "La Provincia", as they say - so it was far. You have to cross many railroad tracks and really bumpy roads to get there - it’s a residential street in Villa Urquiza that happens to have a barrio club.

Hee hee! Julio Duplaa didn’t quite recognize us but he had a puzzled expression on his face that told us we may have looked a little familiar. Anyway, he is always a gracious and welcoming host. The milonga had not yet started - they rarely start on time, so arriving “late” is never really “late”. There was a huge party at the end of the room, celebrating someone’s birthday. We were seated on one of the side tables that lined the length of the room - black and white tiles again. We had to share with another couple. The woman’s name was Julia and she had a wrinkly face with sparkly lively eyes. Her husband seemed kind of dour and grey and untalkative. This was, as we later found out, because he just had a throat operation and can’t talk. Julia encouraged us to get out and dance because we looked so naive - and Man Yung said he was “scared!!” and she reassured him that we should not be scared, we are only dancing for “fun!” Sneaky Man Yung!

We watched the dancers. We thought we would see quite a few high quality dancers, but there was only one leader dressed in a black shirt and pants worth watching - and he danced open embrace with a lady in red with lots of figures. The rest were very ordinary. And they can’t navigate. This was the first place we have gone to this year where a bit bumper car phenomena was apparent. What was nice was that there were mainly locals, very few tourists. The tourists that came provided lots of entertainment for the locals. The table seated behind us had the big tall guys with the untucked shirts and the girls who look “pretty” - well, they had made a big effort - one wore a sarong that showed her midriff, with a delicate flower behind one ear, but her ripped abs, hard face and amazon stature made her look like as odd as a body-builder in a tutu. They did lots of voleos and stayed squarely in the centre of the floor because they couldn’t do their figures while in the line of dance.

There was one young man in a suit that looked like a taxi dancer, because he was dancing with all these tourist girls who weren’t very good dancers. There was another more distinguished gentleman that Man Yung thought was a taxi dancer too (actually, he wasn’t - we saw him at Sunderland the next day and he knew Martha - he was a pharmaceutical scientist and spoke many different languages, yikes!) And again, we bump into the "Villa Urquiza" maestros ______ and _______. We see them every single time on our trips, and they always bring an entourage of slender, handsome young foreigners who have been processed through their "dance factory" - and who look and dance exactly the same in order to gain maximum points in the big "competition". They have a winning formula! Maybe we should sign up! But they'll reject us for sure, we are too fat and too old and we can't stop wearing Crocs.

One of the couples they brought with them actually did win some kind of competition (but not the "big" one). The man was young, with a little beard, very grave, and the woman with long dark hair and protruding butt. They must have been pretty hot - she wore long sleeves and long pants and he was wearing a suit. The way they danced was joyless and soulless - calculated. Maybe they deduct points during competitions if you look like you enjoy dancing tango. With them was an asian guy with a ponytail and a goatee, another trainee - he had no sense of music, and the same dour, “you’ve killed my goat” expression.

The floor was so sticky that even powder didn’t help. Still, we enjoyed ourselves dancing. As it has been at other places too, the locals liked our dancing and watched us approvingly as we danced past their tables. The very good dancer in black we had admired came over early on to tell us we were dancing very well. However, when the lady at our table Julia remarked that the taxi dancer was dancing brilliantly with one of his girls who was doing little “preschool” adornments - I thought “Oh, please" and completely abandoned all my years of Zen training.

I asked Man Yung to dance the rest of the vals tanda while they were still on the floor. Man Yung had no idea what I had in mind, but I knew he wouldn't let me down. We were really just doing our thing, and not really trying to get attention - while we passed by the big birthday party of people at the end of the room, the taxi dancer started doing big spinning figures and so we followed with big spinning figures of our own - because that's what the music told Man Yung to do. And when the music stopped, the four rows of tables at the birthday party erupted in applause - clapping and whistling and the whole lot! It was kind of embarrassing, everyone was looking over at us to see what was the big fuss about - I didn't expect that kind of reaction. The Zen Masters were right - don't draw attention to yourself on the dance floor! But... it was kind of fun pummeling the competition too (Bad Irene!) When we got back to the table Julia congratulated us - she hadn't been watching us dance before (was she distracted by our jokes?) and didn't realize that we had mastered the high velocity whirligig too.

The birthday girl danced an exhibition which had been choreographed, and every few tandas there would be salsa or rock or swing. It was good to clear the floor a bit so it would not be so sticky. Julia was very nice, she suggested that we meet again at Viejo Correo on Sunday but I knew that we had other plans.

When we left, we asked Julio Duplaa to call a remise for us. He was about to give us a business card, but we told him we already had it. He was still trying to place where he had seen us. As we were getting into the remise, I asked him “did you receive our x’mas card?” and Man Yung said “Canada” - and then he remembered. Yes! The Chinos from Canada wearing Crocs! We are doing our bit for the glorification of Chinos, Canada...and Crocs.

It was pretty late by the time we got to the hotel - another round of instant noodles and then off to bed.

Saturday to follow….

Irene

Interview with Alberto Dassieu on Practimilonguero

2011-07-24T02:05:00.000-04:00

Our good friend and teacher Maestro Alberto Dassieu has just been interviewed by the Practimilonguero group!

Listening to Alberto talk brings the era of his tango to life. Enjoy! For more information on Alberto, here's the link to an interview we did with Alberto a while back, and here's another link to a translation our friend did of some of Alberto's life history.

Buenos Aires 2009 Part 5 - Friday, February 27, 2009

2011-07-17T11:43:00.001-04:00

Dear V,

Here’s my long-winded account of Friday. You are not the only ones “enjoying” my emails. Man Yung is also printing them out and reading them. He is loving these accounts!

Friday began with breakfast at the hotel. We had plenty of time before we had to be at Osvaldo and Coca’s house at 2 p.m., so we decided not to do anything except rest. Timing of meals is always tricky. The schedule for the day was Osvaldo and Coca at 2, Martha and Manolo’s class at 4:30, and then Sin Rumbo at 10. We decided to eat the hotel breakfast as late as possible, and then have a meal after Martha and Manolo’s class - otherwise we couldn’t really squeeze anything in.

Alberto had not called us by noon so we called him. His condition is progressing very slowly. He gave me a bunch of blood pressure numbers. I guess that meeting us on Tuesday was really too much for him. Our presence in Buenos Aires is killing the Milongueros. We said we would not go to Elba’s party without him - we will go to Sin Rumbo instead, and for now he must rest and we can make plans later. We had to tell Alberto our plans - to visit Osvaldo and Coca (he’s ok with that) and then “maybe” we will take classes with M&M, but maybe not because we are so tired. Alberto doesn’t like us taking classes with M&M and dancing “Canyengue” style - he must consider it completely opposite his style and bad for Man Yung's tango formation! He doesn't realize that it has been really good for our musicality and that by learning from teachers with different styles and different preferences in music, we are actually increasing our ability to dance to any and all kinds of tango music.

It was going to be a long taxi ride to Lanus, so we went to withdraw cash first. The machine didn’t let us withdraw more than 300 pesos last year, but this year it seems that the sky’s the limit. First 400, now 500. So exciting. Could we withdraw 200,000?

The radio taxi driver had to call for directions. 95% of the taxi drivers we encounter are so nice and friendly and professional. I’ve been too tired (and feeling under the weather) to have long conversations with all of them this year. I’m just thankful that we can take the taxi out to wherever we wanted to go. When we traveled to Osvaldo’s house, we realized just how far it was. First you take 9 de Julio until the end, and cross the bridge into Avellaneda. Then you have to travel a bit in Avellaneda, cross another bridge, and circle around and around first commercial and industrial streets, and then residential streets, before you finally reach Osvaldo and Coca’s house. The streets of Avellaneda and Lanus, or at least the ones we went through to reach the house, are kind of like the areas of industrial Scarborough, Argentinian style. There are very few green areas, but many run down auto shops with corrugated steel and hand painted signs, interspersed with local eateries and kioscos with peeling faded storefronts. It’s dustier and people are sparse. However it is still very interesting for us to see all this, even though the taxi driver was feeling nervous and locked all the doors “for security”. We crossed a rusty steel bridge to Lanus, with quite a few people waiting for the bus at the foot of the bridge, and even saw a horse drawn cart.

It is surreal to visit the residential suburbs. The few times we have, we have observed that the streets are always eerily quiet - whether at night or in the day. All the houses are gated and there's no spaces between the modest houses. Sometimes you see graffiti - but not too much. The area that O&C live is less run down than the area in Mataderos where Glorias Argentinas is - there you have gaping holes between buildings where the buildings had been knocked down. Here, you don’t, but still, it was very very quiet on the street. But thinking about it, it is kind of like Scarborough suburbia - except the subdivisions of Toronto are nicer with “better” looking houses (which all look the same) and there’s better security so the houses do not have to be gated. There’s more effort to make the subdivisions here in Toronto look regular and “nice”, with lawns and tidy streets and such. But really, it all means the same thing.

I can’t imagine how long it took for O&C to TAKE THE BUS all the way from their house to Buenos Aires to compete in the Campeonato Mundial. It cost about 35 pesos for the taxi to get there - right to their door. By bus, I'm thinking may take 2 or 3 hours, depending on how many times you change buses. I once had to take a 3 hour TTC ride from my LSAT exam - buses, subway, RT. I was cursing all the way.

The gate and door of the house was painted a light green - there is a garden that’s the size of our hotel bathroom in the front of the house, with straggling climbing roses. Since we were 15 minutes early, we decided to take some photos of the street, and walk a little bit to the park half a block away. The neighbour peeked at us from the open door of his house (we peeked inside as we passed - it was chaos inside with stuff everywhere) - thinking who are these strange Chinese people taking photos? I bet the taxi driver thought it was strange we would go all the way there in the middle of ??? too.

In the park there was grass and trees (and one or two people sleeping in the shade) but there was also decaying concrete and a rusty children’s playground, and graffiti that someone tried to wash off - but layers of the graffiti traces remained. What was it like to live there? Where the regular day to day people lived? It was so quiet, there wasn’t even any breeze. We walked back and took a photo of the waterproofing shop right on the corner - they do balconies and kiddies swimming pools too, and there were two kiddie’s pools right in the front. But apart from a lone man painting a sign on the whitewashed wall of the shop, there were no other people there.

At Osvaldo and Coca's neighbourhood park

On Osvaldo and Coca's street. It was so quiet it was like the whole world was holding their breath for a showdown at noon in one of those old spaghetti westerns.

More of Osvaldo and Coca's neighbourhood.

We walked back to Osvaldo’s house, pressed the buzzer (and hoping that it really was his house!) We looked in and saw Osvaldo getting up - and he rushed out to open the gate for us without a shirt on. It was very natural for him - because it was hot, he wasn’t going to sit around wearing a shirt. It’s just like that in Hong Kong too, where people would sit around and even walk around in their council flats with just an undershirt and shorts.

Osvaldo’s son was fixing the car. We got introduced to a few of his daughters and his son as they came in and out of the sitting area, on their own business. It was all very natural, like they weren’t even expecting guests. It is a very humble house - the walls are wood paneled and covered with trophies, calendars, knick knacks and a big floor to ceiling drawing of Osvaldo and Coca dancing. The living area was completely dark with red tiles, the only natural light was through the front door and the kitchen window. We sat at the kitchen table - there was stuff on the table because they had finished eating and hadn’t completely cleaned up - and even a baby pacifier and such. I sat on some wet crumbs. They had two single sofa chairs in the living area but there was stuff on them and the floor too. In any case, and this is what we treasure, we were welcomed into their house without fanfare to see how it was that they lived. And it seems that the whole family including grandchildren lived in the same area. It really reminded both Man Yung and myself of how people lived in Hong Kong before they started to make money in the real estate and stock markets and things became fancy. Lots of my uncles and aunts lived with my grandparents, even after they married and had children.

Osvaldo and Coca's Home Sweet Home

So we gave our gifts to Osvaldo and Coca - a necklace for Coca from the Ottawa Museum of Civilization, and a scotch for Osvaldo. He is feeling much better- gained a bit of weight - but last year he almost died. He still gets out of breath even when he talks, and it is difficult for him to finish a tango without getting out of breath. We talked about tango, and he remarked that there had been a tv special of the Campeonato and it talked about how Osvaldo and Coca’s style was distinctive and no-one else dances that style.

We had the forethought to bring our mp3 and video player with the speakers. We showed Osvaldo and Coca their recent performance at the Misterio festival last month (they thought it was ‘weird’ - everyone there was dancing and teaching Nuevo and they wanted to see them to perform?) They liked watching the video very very much, they were so happy to have the opportunity to see - and perhaps confirm that they were still dancing as well as ever despite Osvaldo’s recent illness. We had been talking about dancing in their style (not that they would believe us because they didn’t have a chance to see us dancing last year) and as fate would have arranged it, we had a video of our recent practica at Mad for Dance in Toronto to show them - dancing to their favourite Donato tracks of “El Adios” and “Tiempos Viejos”. We showed them the video and they watched intently.

We showed Osvaldo and Coca this video of us practicing in Toronto to one of O&C's favourite tangos - "Tiempos Bravos" by the orchestra of Edgardo Donato. We look at this video now and can't believe that we were dancing like that back in February of 2009! Even our dancing was rough, green and naive compared to now. It was the first time that Man Yung found our dancing "marginally acceptable" (and not as likely to cause onlookers to lose their lunch). We were happy that Osvaldo and Coca liked it, we were practicing a lot of their steps - but frankly, I think they were more impressed with the big fluffy red heart on the mirror (they like cute things shaped like hearts). This was just before Mad for Tango's big Valentine milonga.

After watching, Osvaldo looked like he was about to cry. Our video really surprised them - because we were dancing in their style! Man Yung was doing Osvaldo's steps, and I was following like Coca. "Your husband has very good hearing," they said, praising Man Yung's musicality. They were also interested in my following, and said I was the “Coca of Canada” - hee! They didn’t really care that we stole their steps from the internet, it was all about having someone dancing like them - because even after teaching so much no-one did, especially not in Argentina. They did mention that some Italian guy did, but come on, obviously we are much more special (just kidding!) Osvaldo was really moved and excited (time to worry about his blood pressure too - I told them that our presence was killing the Milongueros). They watched the videos of us and of their performance at Misterio a few times - and called their children to come and see the videos (probably to prove to them “I told you so! See, someone dancing in my style!”) The main thing Osvaldo was concerned with was that Man Yung had no “pauses”. Osvaldo got up to show us what he meant, and even danced with me (which we videotaped) to show us how to do it:

We took this video at Osvaldo and Coca's house on our trip to Buenos Aires in February of 2009. They had just seen a video of us practicing their steps, and on the whole they liked it very much - except Osvaldo was annoyed that Man Yung didn't know how to pause! This was a little demonstration Osvaldo made just for Man Yung to study when he got back to Toronto.

Osvaldo was also a little concerned about Man Yung's leading and asked whether Man Yung was actually “leading” the steps or whether we were choreographing everything, and so asked Coca to dance a little with Man Yung to check:

Osvaldo wanted to find out whether Man Yung was leading his steps or whether he was just doing "choreography" - so he told Coca to check. I guess Man Yung must have been doing ok since Osvaldo was excited and impressed. Listen to him curse and say "Look at how that sonofabitch dances!"

I said to Osvaldo and Coca that we learned a lot from them, to dance with emotion and the music - and to not dance with so many intrusive adornments like before. Coca agreed that was the way to dance.

We didn’t want to take up too much of their time, so we said we had to go to Martha and Manolo’s class at the Galerias Pacifico at 4. Coca called a remise for us, and as we were leaving, Osvaldo invited us to go to Sunderland with them on Saturday night. Sunderland, the land of the cirque du soleil touristas and the “Villa Urquiza” clones! We were planning to go to Glorias Argentinas, but the opportunity to go to Sunderland and perhaps even bump into Toronto people - while sitting at Osvaldo and Coca’s table, ha ha - was too precious. We made plans to meet there at 11:30 Saturday night. As we left in the remise, Osvaldo told the driver to drive safely with us - he had his eye on him!

The driver was from Spain, and although he didn’t dance tango he listened to it and talked about the orchestras. He knew the area much better than the taxi driver so the trip was far quicker - but which really complicated. We did drive by some green places this time - and passed by Racing Club stadium. The tango was composed by Di Sarli, according to the driver, but we were most familiar with Biagi's version.

It cost 31 pesos to get to Galerias Pacifico, even though there was a lot of traffic. We were just a little bit early for class. 50 pesos for the two of us again - this time Martha and Manolo were teaching Tango Salon. There were some really beginner beginners in the class - because all the intermediates and up all want to take classes where they learn how to fly instead of walk. Again, not many people. Anyway, I tried to rest as much as possible while Man Yung helped with “the ladies” in the class. We took a peek at a video of the performance of M&M in Detroit on our mp3/video player to see if there was anything we wanted to ask M&M - there was only that particular figure that we could never quite get. Man Yung says he kind of “gets it” now after asking them. Martha said Man Yung “dancing very good”. I said that Osvaldo noticed it was “without pause”, which Martha agreed. But apparently he leads very well - he is able to lead beginners to do many things. It’s the intermediates and so-called “advanced” followers who have problems following, because they are so intent on doing adornments and the figures they have learned, they can’t respond to his lead naturally.

Martha and Manolo doing a demo to an never-ending milonga at Escuela Argentina de Tango after their class on February 27, 2009. Just look at Martha's beautiful legs! And we always love Manolo's corriditas. What we didn't like very much were the tango tourists taking photos DURING the demo like they were at the CN Tower or Niagara Falls.

We are getting ready to go to Milonguita tonight, so more to follow about our chat with Martha and Manolo after class and what we saw at Sin Rumbo….

Irene

Buenos Aires 2009 Part 4 - Thursday February 26, 2009

2011-07-10T10:19:00.003-04:00

Dear V,

Thursday morning started with the hotel breakfast and then a quick walk to the back of the block to get our laundry. We dropped off more clothes but they won’t take Man Yung’s dress pants as in their opinion they must be dried cleaned. The plus sized manager almost had an apoplexy explaining to us that the dress pants cannot be “just washed”, and that our whites MUST be washed separately with the colours. Otherwise it was prelude to ARMAGEDDON. The other girl (the petite sized one) who served us last time was much more easy going, she actually let us have both whites and colours washed together (sacrilege!).

After dropping off our clean laundry at our room, we went out again - and in the hotel lobby who did I see? Mr P., a co-worker from my office. Of all the places he could have chosen to stay in Buenos Aires - he decided to book the same hotel as us. He didn’t tell anyone where he was going to vacation, so the first thing he said to me was for me not to tell anyone else in the office (why, is it not socially acceptable to be found in Argentina?) He was shocked to see me.

He is skinny and tall and white with a very very very high forehead and a long long face - and was wearing a funny long sleeved purple round necked shirt (don't forget it was hot outside) with big blocky colour patterns in the front. So, you can see, he looks even more out of place here in Buenos Aires than we do, and we are Chinese. Because of this, or despite this - “Some SOB stole his wallet while he was changing money”. Oh well. He was making the staff make copies of his ID when we bumped into him - and snarling about the horrible service. He was full of warnings about the “dangers” of this unsafe place Buenos Aires. I guess he won't be coming here again. We were full of wonder that of all things we would bump into M, all the way on the other side of the world - and he doesn't even dance tango.

We had to get an electric kettle. The one we bought last time and brought the way back from Toronto was broken and leaking and a electrocution hazard (we were wondering, what the hell with all this water when we boiled water? The kettle was cracked and leaking. Not even double sided lingerie tape would hold the water in. So sad.) We went to Garbarino on Santa Fe, only about four blocks from the hotel, to check it out. There was one on the internet site for only 69 pesos. We considered going to Chinatown for another, but that would cost at least 50 pesos not counting the taxi charges, and then Garbarino you can pay with credit card. So the same 69 peso kettle was right there in the store - wonderful, but I forgot to bring my original passport. I had to get out my citizenship card and copy of passport before they were satisfied.

Before heading out again, we called Osvaldo and Coca. I prayed that Osvaldo wouldn’t answer the phone - he has trouble understanding what I say, and he gets pretty impatient! However, he did answer the phone. I survived the conversation - he was busy today but we could go and see them tomorrow at his house at 2 p.m.

We had another lovely free day to ourselves so we decided to walk all the way to Artesanaal on Riobamba (almost Corrientes). We went along Riobamba, staying with the shade as we went along.

We came across a hat store with lots of hats, and not touristy “TANGO” ones. Man Yung wants to get an English tweed cap, and they have lots of them for just 35 pesos. Next to the hat store was a swanky Italian restaurant - white tableclothes, dark shiny wood décor and different sized crystal wine glasses lined up in a row. Restaurants that we wouldn’t even dream of going to in Toronto are accessible for us in Buenos Aires. But we still end up eating at “cheap” places!

Riobamba is not as “exciting” as Callao - less stores and less people to gawk at, but less riff-raff. We took lots of photos along the way, because Man Yung loves our new camera with a screen that he could actually see without using a microscope. We took a photo of a red cylindrical mailbox (like the ones in old Hong Kong and in England!), the exterior of the Museum of Patrimony (free entrada), a school with students hanging around it.

The mailbox and me decided this morning to wear matching colours

Riobamba just outside the Museo de Patromonio

Museo de Patrimonio. I think the building used to house the municipal waterworks

In Buenos Aires you find schools everywhere among the buildings, where you least expect. It's kind of like in Hong Kong, where there's not a lot of space, so you won't find many schools without a "buffer" round it with sports fields, playgrounds, etc.

The Lottery agency called "Irene". Coincidence? I think this was on Lavalle

When we reached Lavalle we decided to walk a couple of blocks up to the Buenos Aires Tango Club, just to see what it was all about.

There’s no storefront, just a gated doorway with a buzzer. If you look down the clean spartan white corridor though, the sign for Euro Records and Buenos Aires Tango Club is posted on the wall way at the end. After buzzing and getting in, we went up one flight to a very modest looking office. There was no mistake that this was a “tango” place though - from the tango souvenir figurines in the cabinet right at the door, to the “wall of tango Cds” facing the door. We were shown into the office with the “Mega wall of tango Cds” - housed inside cabinets. Two office desks. The female assistant took my list of Cd codes and started opening the glass and wooden doors in the cabinet of the “Mega wall of tango Cds” and picking out the ones I listed. Seemed like a lot of Cds indeed, she was looking up and down everywhere, but very efficiently. I took a seat opposite her “jefe”, the man with the coolest old school music studio/intellectual rectangular glasses I have ever seen. They had light amber lens and the lens merged into the frames like they were one piece, and the lens itself had the “tunnel vision of doom”/”Sci-fi house of horror” effect. Well, I ended with a mass of Cds - but how much did they cost? $100 US. We elected to pay in dollars and not pesos, because now I don’t have to rent an apartment from N's friend - I have a whole heap of dollars. So I decided to buy a few more Cds, discographies of various orchestras and Man Yung bought a tango figurine. Only $35 US more. Every time I bought something the gentleman with the glasses had to mark everything down in a big book with lots of item codes, etc. etc. It wasn’t very efficient, it felt, as Man Yung rightly put it, like “buying wholesale direct from the record company” - which was EXACTLY what it was.

As we made our way back to Riobamba, we encountered a DVD store for all the old Argentinian movies. We asked whether they had any tango movies, and they sprung out all the ancient ones with El Cachafaz. They didn’t have any instructional ones, and the lady said “you better look on Florida - because we aren’t selling these DVDs to tourists but to locals.” The DVDs cost 35 pesos each, and we bought 3 - I hope they work on our DVD player when we get home (the lady assured us that the DVDs were “multi-region”.

Back to Riobamba, it was only a short hike to Artesanaal. Right opposite we saw a barber’s shop with a sign outside that said a cut was 20 pesos. The door was open and two men were talking inside, and Man Yung wanted a haircut, so I said, “Why not try this place?” We walked in and asked whether they cut hair without washing hair (Man Yung’s pet peeve). The barber, a distinguished looking gentleman who looks like that Kelsey Grammer character from Frasier but with better (and more) hair said no way, snorting in disgust, he did not wash hair. His dad taught him how to cut hair but they never, ever wash hair. I guess, that means he will only wash hair "Only in your dreams", or perhaps "When Hell freezes over".

I said, “That’s great - my husband does not like to get his hair washed.” We didn’t even have to wait, Man Yung was seated immediately while two barbershop regulars sat around next to me talking to the barber while he cut Man Yung’s hair.

The barber’s shop is not one of those clean and sanitized no-nonsense places with nothing but mirrors, chairs, a striped pole and an ancient guy with scissors. This had a quirky, old world artsy décor - movie posters, different kinds of clocks - including a wooden one that was in a shape of an owl that told time by the direction of its eyes. There was another clock made out of the back of a chair. The barber was a funny guy but we were funnier. He wanted to trim Man Yung’s eyebrows but Man Yung refused. When he asked why, Man Yung said something difficult that I had to translate… and which I translated as “He doesn’t want to cut his eyebrows because it will affect his functioning in bed” which made all the guys laugh. They all had great hair, by the way. The barber was really skilled, and he was proud of his work, which is something that Man Yung has noticed in a lot of people here in Buenos Aires - respect and pride in their profession. In Toronto Man Yung’s barber would use an electric razor to trim and then use scissors to finish - much faster. Here the barber used his scissors first and razor to finish. The effect is less like a marine and more like George Clooney! Hee!

Right after our barbershop adventure we went to Artesenal. Man Yung says he wants shoes but I think he really only wanted to go there to play with the cat. And there are two cats! One a Siamese who always sleeps on the counter, and the other a tortoiseshell who sleeps on the boxes. V, you can just think about all that yummy cat hair sticking to your shoes (I know how much you love cats - not), and all those kitties who just want to kiss you because you are spending so much money in the store. Man Yung dangled string and it drove the kitties crazy. It didn’t work so well when he tried to do it to a Siamese cat on a leash that was being led by a little girl in front of Farmacity - but then that cat was more like dog? Anyway, after playing with the cats Man Yung had to buy some shoes - he got a black leather pair because he couldn’t get a black suede pair in his size. He got a red and black pair because they didn’t have a grey suede pair in his size. We paid in US dollars to get our discount of 10%…. Once again, heaps and heaps of US cash….

So, all the things I had planned that I had energy for were completed - I wanted to walk three more blocks to B. Mitre and Callao (El Arranque) to have empanadas at La Americana. I wanted to see if the empanadas at La Americana were really that much better than Santa Fe 1234 - and also because it was cheap.

Alas, Man Yung had other plans. The psychedelic glasses gentleman at Buenos Aires Tango Club gave us information on a Tango DVD place where we could find more DVDs because Man Yung wants to see examples of old tango dancing. Since we were right on Corrientes he decided to walk the three blocks up to check out this place. Now, that was not within my plans. I had had a sore throat since I arrived and I didn’t want to push myself too far. Going to La Americana and then taking the taxi home was as much as I could stand - plus a romp on Corrientes with it’s crowds of people and sea of traffic was not something that was going to make me feel better. Unfortunately, since I am not the Chairman, my objections were not logical and off we went to this mysterious DVD place.

Main thoroughfare like Corrientes and Callao invite caution - pickpockets abound. There was also a lot of traffic, so lots of exhaust and dust. Just overall unpleasant. I had not been feeling 100% since we arrived and I had developed quite a sore throat for a few days that I was quite worried about - sore throat but luckily without fever or swollen lymph nodes. However, it was extremely uncomfortable and Corrientes did not help. People everywhere - hot, dry, dusty and polluted. Man Yung keeping an eye on everything just in case. Some suspicious person with long greasy hair seemed to be deliberately observing and changing directions to follow us. Finally we reached the building where the DVD place was located.

It was located on the 5th floor of a building with one of those older one-building malls. Those places always make Man Yung cautious - they are dark and filled with “cheap” and suspect people. There’s one right next to our hotel where shady characters yell “cambio” at passerbys (maybe my co-worker changed his money there?). We found the elevator up to the 5th floor. People were nice to us in the elevator because we looked a trifle out of place. The doors opened - and the corridors were bare concrete and blank, like Hong Kong council flats. There weren’t any people - it was really quiet. Luckily the DVD store was just around the corner - very incongruent, the door was open although there was a chain across the front, and inside was wall to wall DVDs.

We asked the owner of the store whether he had any DVDs of tango - he had the usual instructional ones, which we didn’t care about. We said we wanted older footage, and showed him the DVDs we already bought - we wanted to find if he had other DVDs other than the ones we already bought. He asked his wife and they pulled out quite a few from the room behind the desk - but I didn’t have much faith that there would be lots to see in those DVDs. We decided to buy only one. Out came the official receipt book and they wanted to know where we came from too. I thought that was strange of them to ask, and they pulled out another receipt book where they had the receipt from when Bernard Caron from Montreal came and bought a bunch of DVDs of the old orchestras. I told him that Bernard Caron was a very well known DJ in Canada (OK, Quebec), and we had a wonderful time reminiscing about the way he looked (well, for about 5 seconds). Anyway, that little trip down memory lane seemed to make the proprietor and his wife very happy. They gave us key chains with Pugliese’s photo (and also their address at the back). The DVDs were 45 pesos rather than 35 pesos, but as the owner said “They are better quality). We’ll see.

I had enough of yucky Corrientes so I dragged Man Yung to a parallel street to walk to La Americana. It was much better on the next street - nice shade, less people. I had been looking for a fan to buy since mine broke - and Man Yung was saying, “Let’s look at the shops along the way!” Well, I was exhausted and my throat hurt and I just wanted to sit down and hopefully not pass out. But as luck would have it - we passed by a shop selling Chinese knick-knacks, and they sold fans! But it was wholesale, the owner lady (Chinese, so Man Yung spoke in Mandarin and gave me a rest) was not too happy we were only buying two. However, Man Yung had his usual charm and we bought two for 5 pesos each. Fan problem resolved.

We walked to La Americana but as we approached I saw a Confiteria in the old style across the street. La Americana had no air conditioning and it was filled with people, so I suggested that we check out the Confiteria L’Aiglon (Eagle or something) instead.

First, it had air conditioning. Second, it had the beautiful Buenos Aires old world décor (from the 20’s). Third, the prices were very reasonable! The price of the empanadas was cheaper than in Madeleine or 1234. And they had Parrilla, we ordered Parillada for ONE person for 41 pesos (even though the waiter said but it is for one person, we know that there would be way too much meat for one) - and shared it. When it came with it’s own brazier, spitting hot grease and smoke, it was as we had guessed, HUGE. I said to the waiter, “That’s for one person?!?”

Confiteria L'Aiglon - Asado, beer and heaping plate of fries

The parilla was great - it had all the internal organs bits and the blood sausages. I had opportunity to rest and drink some water and a pepsi. Man Yung had Warsteiner beer.

We went back to the hotel for a rest - not that there were many hours, because at 9 p.m. there were classes with Martha and Manolo in La Salsera, which is way out in Almagro. Just before we headed out we received a phone call from Alberto. He was not feeling well. His blood pressure was up and his doctor told him not to go out for a few days. I said, “Yes, when I am with Man Yung my blood pressure also goes up.” Anyway, our plans to attend Elba’s birthday party were in jeopardy. We told him we didn’t mind, we can cancel so he can rest. I emphasized that to Paulina when I talked to her. Alberto insisted that he would call us at noon tomorrow to update us on his situation.

We took a taxi - we thought we would make it at 9 but it was not so. The police had blocked the usual route and so we went in a really roundabout way, all the way around Abasto mall, through some streets selling wholesale flowers, and then finally to this dark little salsa club where Martha and Manolo were teaching. The taxi driver was nice, we talked about what Abasto used to be (a fruit and vegetable market) and the safety of the area around La Salsera.

It was 30 pesos for two of us, and there were more students in the class than in the Escuela de Tango Argentino. Some were local people and had taken many Canyengue classes and danced quite well, Martha and Manolo introduced us to them. Some young people were absolute beginners, and the women were so stiff and heavy that Martha said it was like they had screws on their feet screwing them right into the floor. Martha had a sore back from teaching one of the women. The price of the class was cheap - even included a free drink. We took a video of us practicing Canyengue there.

Irene and Man Yung dancing Canyengue in matching red Crocs. The HORROR, the HORROR....Bet you couldn't decide what is more horrible - Irene and Man Yung dancing, the Canyengue, or the matching Crocs, or the socks with Crocs! A veritable surfeit of horribleness. If you look carefully there is a couple behind us gawking in absolute HORROR.

After the class, we told Martha and Manolo that we were going to Viejo Correo and that we were going to take a taxi. They insisted that they were going that direction and drove us. Their car is the same one as two years ago - it would be going along, and then it would stall and they would have to start it up again. We talked about how much it would cost to buy them a “new” second hand car - around 15000 pesos. Man Yung was thinking of buying them a new second hand car, but it is too expensive - we suggested to Martha and Manolo that we would “say” that we would buy one, and when Martha and Manolo bought one, we wouldn’t pay (oh, the jokes we make)! Martha said that they wouldn’t want another car - the car they have is “a good car”. Just because it is old and broken you don't toss it out. It’s something to think about.

Viejo Correo is right opposite the Parque de Centenario, so the milonga of Nina Balbuena and Luis Cordoba is called “Milonga de Centenario”. It’s filled with local people who dance a little less well than the ones at Lo de Celia - more "vegetables". It was busier than last time we were there, they had cleared out the tables around the dance area so there would be more space. People were no longer doing all out “show tango”, but still they weren’t the greatest dancers. It was just a place for the locals to meet, relax and dance a little - like the way it should be, instead of a dance pageant.

Like Lo de Celia, people here did not play bumper cars. It’s not difficult to have a milonga that is not like a carnival ride. I think the only impediment is not skill but big heads - there were plenty of people here who do not dance as "skilled" as some of the people in Toronto.

The music there was populist. All the big later Di Sarli, Pugliese, with the greatest hits of D’Arienzo, Troilo etc. Man Yung liked the music - he doesn’t care for intellectual stuff, he wants stuff that makes him want to dance. Even the valses were big and brassy - Pugliese, Villasboa.

Nina didn’t quite remember us but we looked familiar. She gave us a big kiss (just to be safe) and we gave her a gift of a Chinese wallet. It wasn’t until later in the evening when we were talking (she asked me for my email) when I said I already have her email, and that we sent her a Christmas card - then she remembered! She is a sweet old lady, I love the way she makes her announcements so dramatic and filled with honey sweet sentiments when she thanks people for attending her milonga.

The milonga has black and white tiles, and they are always a little more sticky than the granite ones at Lo de Celia. We still had a blast dancing to the “Tango’s greatest hits”, with everyone looking at the two Chinese people. An older moustached gentleman came over to congratulate us and hint that he wanted to dance with me (but we didn’t), another gentleman came over to invite us “Sin Cargo” to his milonga next Tuesday in Caballito (not advertised in any of the tango magazines, however) and when we left, the people in the table behind us gave us the “thumbs up”. When we were leaving, Nina invited us to her house for asado on Saturday. We said, unfortunately, we had other plans, and we looked so regretful…. So she said ok, but we promised to return next week. And why not? It’s nice to go to places without tourists.

It was 2 p.m. when we finally left, the day’s many ordeals were too much for me and I couldn’t drag myself to La Madeleine. We went straight back to the hotel and ate instant noodles instead.

I am writing this to you on Sunday - see, still working hard just for your reading pleasure (or not). Friday to follow...

Irene

Buenos Aires 2009 Part 3 - Wednesday, February 25, 2009

2011-07-02T10:02:00.002-04:00

Dear V,

I had a horrible time trying to sleep on Wednesday morning. Even with the air conditioning at full blast it was so humid I was sweating all night. Man Yung, on the other hand, slept very well - snoring along despite my tossing and turning and going to the bathroom and insomniac fiddling with the computer.

Finally I was able to get some hours of sleep and we slept until 11 a.m., missing our free breakfast entirely. We dropped off our dirty laundry in a little Laundromat at the back of the block (15 pesos for a lot of t-shirts and underwear - much cheaper than the hotel). We decided to walk to Comme Il Faut without breakfast.

The streets around our hotel are great to wander around. It’s like walking through Bayview Village as opposed to Scarborough Town Centre - it’s safer, and the shops are nicer, and there are lots of rich people and dogs. The dog walkers are always out in full force around this area - the young ones with the big dogs, the old ones with the little dogs. We took photos along the route - including ones of a very big tree in a very tranquil park, and the streets as well.

Callao and Arenales

Parque Vincente Lopez

Man Yung relaxing (no, posing like he is relaxing) under a big tree in Parque Vincente Lopez

Fancy apartments surrounding the Parque Vincente Lopez

After a leisurely walk, we finally reach 1239 Arenales, home of Comme Il Faut. We saw a policeman giving a driver a ticket on that section of the street - there's always a policeman there on the corner, did someone bribe the police force to ensure the security of the shoes? He didn’t bother to go over to the car and ask for license and registration. He just copied down the license plate number.

Relaxing and taking a break outside Comme Il Faut HQ...who am I kidding - I want to rush right upstairs to buy shoes!

It was noon when we reached Comme Il Faut - it had been open for a bit and it was busy. Well, not really “busy” but half the showroom was littered with the shoeboxes of one undecisive statuesque blond tourist, probably from Eastern Europe. She had a entourage of two women and an effeminate yet muscular young man who were no help with the shoe selection. Times are a-changing’ - the young lady was not one in which to be undecisive over ugly beige and black shoes. Her dilemma was that she simply couldn’t choose between a black and yellow pair with a rubbery yellow fringe at the back that looks like someone peed on some toilet paper and stuck it on the back of her shoe, and a blue and black pair with a strip of ruffly vertical ribbon at the front that looked like a bandaid soaked in bile.

Is business worse? We saw Alicia, the owner, and she seemed more friendly than we remember from last time. Maru the redhead was on vacation. Silvana the blond one is now an airline stewardess. The assistants are now all pretty, young brunettes in tight black t-shirts. Elizabeth, the one who helped us, had very limited English. But she soon found out that helping us was not a pain in the ass. We went through the selections very quickly - no dithering and wasting time - and this time it was even faster and easier because I am only buying shoes with low 3 inch heels, and I know which styles are more comfortable. Man Yung asked for some shoes but Elizabeth told him that they only have the 4 inch heels for men ;-) I chose a sparkly green pair, a black and beige pair that looks exactly like my orange and black pair (I know, black and beige? Man Yung says I’m getting old so I have to start getting shoes that fit my “age”) and a higher pair that is striped pink and gold.

The person who took our payment was Raquel! The one I communicated with by email about the broken orange and black pair two years ago, and who sent me a free replacement pair even though I didn't ask for one (yes, kiddo, a FREE PAIR. This is why I am a Comme Il Faut fan forever). She is so nice, and she actually remembered the incident and our email correspondence. The prices on the shoes have gone up. It was 300 - 330 pesos per pair last year. Now it is 400 - 420 pesos.

We were so tired and hungry from all that shoe excitement (yipee!) we exited out to Santa Fe to eat. We went back to the restaurant that we went to the last couple of days of our visit last year - the Libertad Plaza.

Libertad Plaza - Good Restaurant, great "Revolutionary" decor

It is about one block from 9 de Julio on Santa Fe, and has that lovely old world style we like. The restaurant is on two levels and there’s lots of mirrors and early 19th century décor, plus panels and artwork celebrating all the revolutions in history - except, oddly, the big important American one. Service was great. Service is great everywhere this year - the waiters are friendly and jokey. Man Yung ordered exactly the same thing that he ordered last year - the “Manchester” steak with salad with Roquefort spread on the bread, and I ordered a “seafood” spinach linguine. Man Yung’s lunch was delicious, just as he had remembered it. Mine was “ok”, I was surprised that they don’t put calamari rings in their seafood pasta, but “brown” reconstituted squid (we have the same thing in Chinese cuisine - they dry the poor suckers and then soak them to restore their size just before cooking) and shrimps the size of capers. But for me, I’m not finicky - any food that doesn’t make me want to investigate the bathroom (I'm still feeling queasy and under the weather - but yes, I still have energy to shop for shoes) is good food.

Every revolution in history - except the American one. Look, menu!

We walked the four blocks back to the hotel, looking for the place where Man Yung bought his belt last time. We found the store - but the belt he wanted was not in his size, either too short or two long. Next we looked for the Carrefour Home store where we bought a cup last time for use in the hotel room. Too bad - the storefront was there but the store was closed and out of business. It was nice strolling up Santa Fe back to the hotel without a tight schedule to adhere to - we did most of our “dutiful” things on Tuesday and got them out of the way so we had a nice free day to just do whatever. While walking out in the sun was too hot, walking in the shade was very pleasant. We even went to the supermarket for water and instant noodles, and to the bank machine which actually let us take out 400 pesos !!!!!!!!! Last year we couldn’t withdraw even 300 at a time, so it was like a big shock.

It was 4 p.m. when we got back to the hotel so it wasn’t like we had a big heap of time before we had to hike it to Lo de Celia which starts at 6 p.m. We arrived about 20 minutes in - not a lot of people at all. More people came eventually but only enough to pack the first two rows of tables on any side. The standard of dancing was “high” in a milonguero sense - everyone doing their two or three figures to the music and not bumping into each other, which was nice and made the floor orderly and pleasant. The music was pretty amazing. Man Yung asked me what I thought about DJ Dany’s music compared to Toronto music. I said, “He has more music and better experience in how to combine it together”. He plays only music that is pre- 1950’s, which means that the big Pugliese and Di Sarli with Florio and Duran and even the later instrumentals were out. But Dany is a genius with the limited time period he was playing. All the music has been engineered to sound great with the noise and defects eliminated. He didn’t fuss around with cortinas - there was one good rockin' Cortina all night long and it was enough. Dany is especially good at Canaro and combining different orchestras for vals and milonga tandas - he has a wonderful ear. By the way, Man Yung said he really thought the Poema tanda was way better than the tandas with Poema we have heard in Toronto. Both Man Yung and I think that the choices DJ Dany made were excellent.

The people were great. There was only one girl that looked like a tourist who came - tall and amazonian but with European features - like if J and C [two tangueras from Toronto] had their DNA combined. The rest were locals just having a good time, and not trying to win a dance competition. We were seated at the second row perpendicular to the bar - all the women were seated in the row in front, and in the row in the opposite side facing. After dancing a little bit the old old gentleman (they are all old but this one was even older) came over to “congratulate” us. The lady sitting nearest to him hurried over to translate, they were both very nice and gave us some compliments. The lady said that the gentleman who was talking to us was a “very good dancer”, and I gave him an indication that we can have a dance later (he asked, “are you sure, your husband is not jealous?)

So I danced two tandas with the very very old gentleman, who despite his oldness was still pretty strong when dancing. No, I didn’t have my wrist twisted inside out, nor was his embrace so constricting I couldn’t move - I just relaxed and very quickly I learned all of his two figure repetoire which he dances to all the orchestras and all the forms of tango dancing ;-). Another gentleman also came to ask me to dance to Calo more towards the end of the evening, and his embrace was more open and he had 50% more figures than the old old gentleman (which means total of 3 figures, wow!).

But the excitement of the evening was really Man Yung. He cabaceo’d all the women in the row in front of us (they soon learned that all they needed to do to get a dance is to turn their heads and look at Man Yung), and some women seated in the next section as well. The lady that Man Yung danced with last year recognized us and was happy that we recognized her - and Man Yung danced with her the most. But not the women at the opposite side of the room, because Man Yung can’t see that far. He danced with all the women many many times, which means in "codigo" terms that he wants to invite them all back to the hotel. We changed our shoes under the table, which means we are hardcore gringos. In general we were pretty uncool. But we had a nice time, and people liked us. Even the washroom attendant was nice (but maybe it was the peso I gave her).

Towards the end of the night someone who looks like Osvaldo Centeno came and sat with another gentleman and had coffee, but he didn’t dance at all. We are not sure that he is Osvaldo Centeno. We didn’t bother to find out because N (the expat blogger lady) is mad at him and we don't want to piss her off too by going over to introduce ourselves.

It was wonderful that the milonga ended at 11 p.m. The regulars (happened to be all the women seated in front of us) started smoking and talking and they were pretty friendly, a lot of them spoke in English. We all said that DJ Dany was “the best” but surprisingly, he was very humble and said “no, no, no, that’s not true”. We promised to return again next time. We’ll have to work it in between the festival classes and the festival milonga at Dandi (Puke! I'm sorry, I have never liked that venue) next Wednesday.

After that we took a taxi back to the hotel, changed and went out to eat. Man Yung said it was just really great that the milonga ended so early, gave us time to do other things and not have to stay up so late. Man Yung had his “Parisienne” pasta and I had a Matambre with a “Russian salad” at La Madeleine - the waiter was super friendly, I think the rumour has gone around that we tip good. He mentioned that the “fat one” was sick so he was serving us today. We were like “which fat one?” I don’t know whether he was talking about our regular waiter from last year or the waiter from Tuesday. Anyway, the service was really good, the waiter even spontaneously appeared with a glass of water when Man Yung went into a coughing fit. The Matambre was delicious and made in the shape of a heart. I wasn’t too keen on the Russian salad though - much starchy potato.

Right now (Friday) we are waiting for Alberto’s call about tonight (he might be too sick to go out) and then we are off to Lanus to visit Osvaldo and Coca. I hope we can find his house and also… that we can find transportation back! If you don’t get anymore email updates it’s because we are still lost somewhere in Lanus….

Have a great Friday,

Irene

Buenos Aires 2009 Part 2 - Tuesday, February 23 and 24, 2009 continued

2011-06-25T18:18:00.000-04:00

Dear V,

Well, it was nice to talk to Alberto and Paulina and to give them the presents we had been planning all year to give them. Man Yung gave Alberto some of his calligraphy and a Chinese seal carved with a dragon figure and the words “Recuerdo” in Chinese - Alberto liked these very much because I told him that the calligraphy was describing and dedicated to his tranquil way of dancing. We gave Paulina a scarf made of felt pieces in the form of tiny leaves in all different kinds of blue, all sewn together - scarves are great fashion accessories.

We didn't want to make our visit too long, as we didn't want Alberto to feel too tired - so it was time to go. Alberto had a lot scheduled for the afternoon - physiotherapy as well as classes.

Leaving Alberto and Paulina's apartment, we went through the big Abasto mall to get to the other side where all the touristy tango stores were - Man Yung wanted to check out the Artesanal shoe store. We found it pretty easily (except it was kind of hard to find our way out of Abasto - we went in a big circle because we can’t find the direct route) but Man Yung couldn’t find any shoes he wanted after just a quick look. There was a big orange long haired cat with amber eyes though dazing on the chairs - and Man Yung woke it up and started playing with it with a piece of string he is carrying with him everywhere just in case he encountered cats in Buenos Aires. Fluffy cats with dark yellow eyes ….. Yummy!

We took the taxi to Lacoste on Santa Fe, about two blocks from Callao and Santa Fe. Time to buy Man Yung’s favourite polo shirts. They were having a sale so there were quite a lot of fussy people rummaging for deals. Alas, the classic polo shirts were not on sale (that is because they are “the best” Lacoste products, according to the manager). The staff actually remembered us from last year and the year before - the manager whom we saw two years ago and who was on vacation when we went last year remembered us too. They brought us stacks of shirts with all the colors for us to choose from. Man Yung bought four with what I called “washed out” colours - light blue, white, mauve, and one blue one. I got a red one and blue one myself, I didn’t bring enough casual shirts this time.

We walked back to La Madeleine and had our lunch. I was still not feeling 100% in anything (I had a massive cold just before the trip - and the ordeal with Air Canada did not help any), so I have been really careful about what I eat. Man Yung had a creamy ham and chicken pasta (Parisienne) baked with cheese and I had empanadas. The empanadas were not as good as Santa Fe 1234 in that the meat was kind of like pate and there was a tomatoes sour sauce inside. And they were more burnt. But it’s food that I can eat that won’t make me sick… yet. We noticed in both Santa Fe 1234 and La Madeleine that now they have a strap on the back of the seats so that people can secure their handbags and shopping bags. It’s a good idea… and shows that things are not as safe as last year.

Back at the hotel and they’ve put us in the same lovely room as the one from our first visit, the one with the huge cavernous bathroom and waterfall faucets. Except when we came back it wasn’t all ready because a maid and Newman from Seinfeld were installing a new tv (awwww…. Just for us). We had to wait about 20 more minutes before we could go in and relax.

This past year we connected with a well-known, expatriate tango blogger on the internet - N. Originally we weren't going to stay at the Wilton - N claimed the folklore dancing landlady of these tourist apartments was her really good friend, and she could hook us up. Well, it turned out to be a bit of a fiasco. Before we confirmed our booking, we were told there was internet - but then a little later we were told there wasn't any. Annoying, but not a deal breaker. We were also promised our own apartment (the landlady owned several), but then suddenly things changed a couple of weeks prior to our departure. We were notified by N that we were going to have to live with the landlady in her own apartment on the ground floor. It smelled fishy so we asked N to tell us honestly what was going on. Turned out the landlady found some other tenants who were going to stay longer than we were, so she bumped us out of the apartment we wanted. Sneaky.

Hmmmmm...what other "surprises" would there be in store for us? Just as Roberto De Niro's character had said in "Ronin" - "If there is a doubt, there is no doubt." We just cancelled and looked for alternative accommodation. I think we incurred around $1,500.00 in extra costs making this arrangement on recommendation and encouragement of N: we booked our flight without booking accommodation on Expedia, so we lost on the few hundred dollars in savings we would have received if we booked the flight with Wilton together. Then, we were planning to stay 11 days, but we extended our stay by several days more to accommodate the rental period of N's landlady "friend". Lastly, because we had to cancel so close to our trip due to the dubious last minute switcheroo, we had to book Wilton separately at a higher price for more days than we planned. Frankly, we would rather pay more than to risk any more funny business from the shady landlady.

Despite the very inauspicious start, we gave N the benefit of the doubt and called her once we arrived in Buenos Aires to arrange to meet. We got her machine the first time, but now, when we called her again, we reached her. Her eye has an infection so she didn’t want to meet up just yet. She sounds much lower pitched than I thought she did from her photos, and she was surprised that I sounded much more British than I look, heh. We could not make plans with her until she felt better, so we promised to keep in touch over the next few days.

With all that eating and visiting Alberto and moving to the new (old) room there wasn’t much time to rest before having to go to Martha and Manolo’s milonga class at la Escuela's location at Talcuahano and Santa Fe.

We took a quick taxi trip there (taxis are much more easy to flag down this year than before, because people can’t afford taxis anymore, I guess). This Escuela location is in a practice studio for Valeria Lynch’s show (she was the female lead and singer in the movie Tango Bar with Raul Julia) - the walls were adorned with huge glitzy posters of her mega stage productions. The Escuela seemed like a complete afterthought - a couple of flyers on a table was all the evidence that there was of the Escuela. We sat down on one of the few couches/chairs in the "waiting area", blown about by the huge whirring standing fans that they had put up to beat the heat.

Some performance tango couple was teaching the class before M&M, and there were lots of students in that particular class, although they weren’t really teaching anything that was useful or practical on the dance floor (back ochos into front sacada - but what for?) M&M were late almost half an hour, I think some students left, and there were only two other students apart from us who attended the class - one a total beginner. We were worried about M&M because they are never late. But this time they were - because they had just finished teaching a Master Class (classes for tango professionals/teachers only!!!) that’s part of a “Master’s festival” (Everyone in Toronto should take these...hint hint) at the Rodriguez Pena location, and that ran late.

So all the better for us! Because we don’t really want to be working that hard on our vacation. We thought that we could take it easy - but we should have know better. M&M are very serious whenever they teach and now with few people in the class their eyes were always on us - no slacking off! We were soon practicing so hard that we were sweating again.

Martha and Manolo's class at Escuela Argentina de Tango - Martha and Manolo are doing a little demo with Manolo's signature corriditas. The background waterfall noise is actually the noise of all the big electric fans - there was a mini-hurricane in there!

Manolo was so kind to demonstrate the corriditas he and Martha were teaching with me so we could film it clearly and practice when we got home. The move is amazing...but what is really amazing is my hair! How did I make it so straight, being so tired and busy on our first day in Buenos Aires? I can't make it as straight and as glossy as in this video anymore!

We have been taking classes with M&M for three years now and still they have stuff to teach us that we don’t know yet.

After the class we walked (very slowly) together to Santa Fe 1234, which was close by. Last year M&M weren’t able to eat anything with us because they were on a no salt, no flavour diet. This year apparently everything was fine so they ordered pizzas with so much cheese that there was more cheese than bread. Manolo has had a pretty bad bout of bad health, and they didn't tell us because they didn't want to make us worry even though we were constantly emailing each other. Something was affecting the nerves in his face and head, but after medicine and acupuncture and Chinese medicine from Barrio Chino (Chinatown) he is feeling much better - just has to avoid eating stuff that is too cold or too hot. Heaping amounts of oily cheese was ok though. Martha had her beer, Man Yung had pizza and I had some empanadas - and we had a chat about lots of stuff. They are a lot less stressed this time because Martha’s daughter is no longer sick, and because Manolo is feeling better. He is 77 the end of March, so he is very very old - but still in good spirits and happy to be teaching and living his dream with the love of his life, Martha.

We talked about the Villa Urquiza “phenomenon” which had kind of exploded all over Tango. Now you were not considered authentic unless you were "Villa Urquiza". They don’t think much of this "phenomenon" at all - people are just making a name for themselves with self promotion, and tagging "Villa Urquiza" onto their resume for marketing purposes. As for famous “Villa Urquiza Fino” - well, yes, he is a great dancer, but he wasn't from Villa Urquiza - he was from Paternal. They concluded that the internet is full of lies.

M&M went home and we walked the four blocks back to the hotel to get ready for our rendezvous with Alberto at El Beso at 10 p.m. We had a little rest before we went - if we didn’t take as much opportunity as possible to rest on our trips to Bs As, we would be dead. We did way too much already for one day.

El Beso was super quiet. Only twenty couples. LOTS of space to dance, yippee! Osvaldo Natucci wasn’t the DJ that night, it was “the other guy”. The music was not thrilling, they only played one tanda of vals all night and that’s when we were walking in. Alberto and Paulina arrived a little later than we did, and they were hungry so they had empanadas and beer. Alberto wanted to check out our dancing - he was pleased and generally proud of us. Paulina said that we were very “harmonious”. But then they concluded our style of dancing was only good for "no pause" music of Troilo, D’Arienzo, Donato etc. (that’s because despite all Alberto’s pains to teach us we still dance “Canyengue” - hee!). He didn’t like us doing “traspie” to Di Sarli milongas and got up to show us how to dance it properly. He also demonstrated how to dance to Pugliese, his favourite. His friend Juan Esquivel from Milonguisimo sat next to him and they were talking about us. We could hardly recognize Juan because he is usually in a suit and looking like a “President” (we mentioned that when we saw him last year and Jorge Uzunian from the show said, yes, “like President Chavez”). Juan is a very long-winded person. He is friendly but once he gets started you get a lecture. Well, I did learn something - about the “three eras of tango music” and how Alberto’s interpretation of Pugliese was correct (well, much better than the other dancers there in any case). He agreed that Alberto is a very good teacher, I guess we are “living proof” of that (heh, except we dance in everybody elses’ style except his!)

We left a little past midnight, we knew Alberto and Paulina wanted to keep us company but then it was getting late for them. As they drove us home, I asked them who was the person that they mentioned that was sucking the attendance out of Tuesday’s El Beso? Alberto says that someone (a semi-reknowned tango personality) had a grudge and had been telling the women that El Beso Tuesdays has Milongueros who won’t ask the women to dance. So the women went away, and then the Milongueros followed.

So that was our busy Tuesday. The first day and we were just about everywhere, seeing everyone but N.

By the way if you read this email and you see me mention “malingers”, what I really mean is “MILONGUEROS”, but the spell check changes them all to “malingers”, which is really kind of a neat description, don’t you think?

Wednesday to follow. Reading this is probably taking more time than your full day’s work!

Irene

Buenos Aires 2009 Part 1 - Monday and Tuesday, February 23 and 24, 2009

2011-06-21T08:39:00.002-04:00

Dear V,

So much for Air Canada's “direct flight” - instead of 12 hours it took us 24 hours to reach Buenos Aires. We arrived at midnight on Monday instead of 2:15 p.m. Monday afternoon. I was dead tired after the ordeal, even though the flight was much better than any flight I’ve had since I was wearing a pair of “compression socks” ($29.99 at Shopper’s) which made sitting still for 12 hours much more comfortable since my legs were not twitching or getting pins and needles every half hour. I was able to sleep a few hours on the flight, and the service was exceptionally good on the flight to compensate for the good scare we had with the “attempted” failed flight earlier - ahem! It seemed that everyone got unlimited wine and beer, so we saw lots of people with incredibly red faces. Nothing like alcohol-fueled “Dutch courage“, I guess!

Lots of entertainment on the flight - about a million movies or shows to choose from. Unfortunately we weren’t able to access a map of our flight progress despite all this great new fancy technology, the screen always froze when we tried. Man Yung watched Godfather II and JVCD (the JeanClaude Van Damme movie). Godfather II was excellent; JVCD was less so (surprised?). Even though Man Yung watched without sound (he can’t stand the earphones) he gave me a running commentary of everything that was happening in Godfather II. There was also the guy in the aisle seat who was trying to talk to everyone. He spoke Spanish very fluently but with a gringo accent. He tried to strike up a conversation with us - asked me whether I understood Spanish and I said no ;-). Then he proceeded to talk to us switching from Spanish to English and back - well, he was one of those who took advantage of the free wine - and it was pretty boring, all about his family and son who married the daughter of a Chinese government official, blah blah blah. The reason for the strange accent? He is from Uruguay but lived in Canada for most of his life. Before the plane landed water from the ceiling started to drip on him. Pretty scary - and the steward said it was “condensation”. Man Yung said that this… was definitely not normal.

Since we arrived so late at Ezeiza, it was a pretty fast queue at immigration and customs. The airport was still full of people roaming around, sitting, waiting, but what for I don‘t know, surely there are no flights this late? (compared with Pearson at midnight, which was like a ghost town). Big crowd waiting for airport taxi. The price has gone up again. 2007 - 50 pesos. Last year 75 pesos. This year, 98 pesos. Only one guy working to take the customers to the taxi - usually it‘s one guy per customer. This one was disgruntled and took whole groups of non-English speaking customers all at once - and he spoke no English. There was a mix up and we followed the guy out to the taxi stand on the advice of the taxi agent at the counter - and he was quite pissed off for some reason trying to sort it out. He kept on trying to explain to us and complaining, and I had no idea what he was saying, but one of the taxi drivers “volunteered” to take us anyway. I was glad it was the old taxi driver with missing teeth rather than the young burly taxi driver. Shouldn’t make a difference anyway but I figured that old toothless taxi drivers are kinder, and if anything should happen my “old husband” can certainly take on an “old taxi driver” better than a young one!

Not much cars on the highway into town. Well, it was pretty late - past 1 a.m. already. So it was fast. The taxi driver said the prices went up in January but now it is “better security”. Not sure what that means, bullet proof taxis? We talked to the taxi driver about where we were from and he was quite determined that the cold weather in Canada would “kill” him. It’s always good to try to talk to the taxi driver - and give a bigger tip than normal. They are much nicer to you if you do this. When we got into town Man Yung noticed that there were less people in the street. He figured it was because of the economy, but the whole mood on the street is a little “depressed”. Not that we saw any of the people pushing the big carts of cardboard though like the last couple of times.

We thought we might have trouble checking into the hotel so late but no, since we notified Expedia, Expedia notified the Wilton staff and they had both a bellboy and a counter staff ready. In fact there was another pair of customers checking in at the same time. Richard at the counter did a double take when he saw us - he recognized us from the previous stays! We are easily recognizable for some reason, I wonder why? He didn’t even ask me for my credit card and passport. However, we couldn’t get a room on the 2nd floor like we asked - it was a room on the 9th floor instead. We didn’t unpack a lot, since we were going to be moved the day after to a 2nd floor room. It has been so inconvenient - first the “free hotel” stay courtesy Air Canada (Delta Airport West) in which we had none of our personal toiletries and no change of clothes, and now the first night as nomads “on the run” to another room.

After a change of clothes and a quick shower, we went out to eat. Alas, La Madeleine right on the corner was closing, and we thought it was open 24 hours? We asked ourselves, was it because of the economy? We asked the guy cleaning the door at La Madeleine where we could get something to eat and he told us to go down Santa Fe “four blocks”. Since Man Yung loves wandering around any strange city on the first night and has no fear we decided to walk. It took quite a while and we were questioning whether four blocks was really a euphemism for eight blocks. Anyway, we were half a block from Av. 9 de Julio when we finally reached “1234 Santa Fe”, a Confiteria which was still open (24 hours). It has a bit of an old world exterior, and patrons were still lingering outside in the sidewalk tables and inside too. Soccer was playing on the tv, which was a bonus for Man Yung. We had to move from one table to another though - they were cleaning the floor with a tidal wave of something that smelt rather harsh. Not that a table close to the other remaining patrons was any better - the tidal wave was swept our way by a sleepy busboy about ten minutes later.

Only one unsmiling and rather disgruntled “no-nonsense” waiter was serving the whole restaurant. The kitchen was partially closed so we could only order empanadas or pizzas. We ordered a whole bunch of empanadas (they were really good, better than La Madeleine) and Man Yung also insisted on getting a pizza. I had a pepsi and Man Yung had a big Quilmes “Bock” beer - the pizza was a bit heavy though with all that cheese, and Man Yung was not impressed with the sour pickled red pepper garnish, even though otherwise the food was very good. Man Yung jokingly tried to grab an order of olives on the waiter’s tray - and without responding the waiter just quickly whisked his tray away from the grabbing hands. We did actually order some olives anyway and finished that off too. The waiter didn’t smile at all but after we gave him a big tip he did and was actually very friendly by the time we left.

We walked all the way back to the hotel - almost 4 a.m. when we finally got to bed. The streets were “deserted” along Santa Fe but there were still some individuals running around alone on some mysterious business. A lone person waiting for the bus. Some young girl walking alone on the street. Flower stalls that were still open with all the lights on but no customers anywhere. A dog with no collar trotting along like it was normal for a dog to be wandering around by itself at 4 a.m. Man Yung said definitely the street showed signed of economic troubles being so deserted. I pointed out it wasn’t exactly normal for the street to have people at 4 a.m. even in Buenos Aires.

We only slept 4 hours, our internal clocks were still wacky and in any case we were probably thinking about the free hotel breakfast. I was dreaming that I was flying, in any case sleeping like I wasn’t in Buenos Aires yet. I am kind of depressed this trip. I felt kind of like this the first afternoon in Buenos Aires last year, but this time the feeling is lasting longer. It’s like, what am I doing here, so far from home? I feel like it is the “same old, same old” again - the stress of having to deal with all aspects of travel, having to cope with using another language, trying to accommodate Man Yung’s extravagant wishes and trying to just plain understand what it is that he wants me to do!

And there’s also the very intense “agenda” that we have to deal with. We were up at 8 a.m. for our free hotel breakfast. Breakfast at the Wilton is pretty good - you get cold cuts, fruit (fresh and canned) boiled eggs, juice, tea and coffee, pastries and bread, yogurt, cereal. I was sending you an email right from the breakfast room about our delayed flight. By the way, exactly the same staff at the Wilton this year doing exactly the same things. It’s like we never left. It’s also like no one ever got a promotion since we started coming here!

Back in the hotel room, it was time to call everyone. We immediately made plans to see Martha and Manolo at their classes at the Escuela de Tango Argentino at 7:30 p.m. at Santa Fe and Talcahuano - a new location we haven’t been to before. Then we called Alberto and made plans to see him at noon at his place. My brain was working - clack clack clack - trying to see what other activities we could fit in before Alberto and between Alberto and M&M. We also had to factor in moving from our current room to a second floor room. Anyway, even though it is a traditional for two years now that we go to Comme Il Faut the first thing after we arrive, I had to SACRIFICE that (boo hoo!) because we weren’t going to have enough time to do that AND go to Lacoste and buy Man Yung’s beloved polo shirts.

After resting in our room a little bit and then repacking everything back into our suitcases, we set off for Alberto’s. The taxis are a little easier to flag down this year, and the traffic is not so bad - even the air feels a tad more cleaner than usual. It seemed that we got to Alberto’s pretty quickly - perhaps because we were now familiar with the route? He was waiting for us outside his building, on the leafy street right next to Abasto. Of course he was very happy to see us, and us to see him too. Paulina had to work in the afternoon but she had time to see us so we all sat down to chat. We were of course most concerned about what happened to Alberto last summer in Europe. It is a LONG story - he got very sick on the trip and so sick while he was flying back to Argentina he had to be held and stabilized at the airport in Sao Paolo. Back in Argentina he was in hospital for a whole month while the doctors tested him every day to find out what was wrong with him. Lyme disease was just a lucky guess and it happened to be the right diagnoses, so he was taking like a million antibiotics just to get rid of that. His right leg still doesn’t feel the floor normally, and the right part of his face is still stiff from the neurological effects. He was most afraid he would not be able to dance again, and he doesn’t dance as much as he used to. It is the worst thing to happen to a dancer. But he’s at it again - touring and teaching in Europe in April this year, with plans to teach in San Francisco as well. Man Yung is always worried about him pushing himself too hard and keeps on saying “Don’t go!” to Alberto.

But Tango keeps him going.

We’re going out right now, I’ll continue this long winded account a little later…

Have a good Wednesday,

Irene

Innocence

2011-06-19T11:38:00.000-04:00

With Martha and Manolo at Sunderland, February 28, 2009

Periodically, Man Yung will ask me: "So, when are you going to write about our trip to Buenos Aires in 2009? Are you ever going to write about it?"

My answer would always be yes....just that I haven't gotten around to it. 2009 became 2010. 2010 became 2011...other posts intervened. Other trips intervened. Life intervened...

I wondered what was the real reason for my writer's block.

I recently took another look at the videos and photos and written records we made of that trip. Amazing stuff! And I know why I didn't want to write it.

How innocent we were, back then. And it was merely two years ago! Looking at our fresh smiling faces in all our photographs, I could feel how much more jaded and cynical and snarky we have become since [What? you ask. You weren't jaded and cynical and snarky in 2009?]. Was it Life or was it Tango that did that to us?

No, we are not as we were in 2009. We've danced with all the milongueros and milongueras we've ever wanted to dance with. We've gone to all the milongas in Buenos Aires we have ever wanted to go to. We already have the most wonderful teachers in the world - we wouldn't want to learn from anybody else. Comme Il Fauts can't get more amazingly gorgeous or interesting, we've seen (and bought) all the pairs that our hearts could possibly desire. We have even achieved one of the "Holy Grails" of Tango - the opportunity (or opportunities - we have performed several times already, isn't that nuts?) to perform in Buenos Aires - and while it is great, it isn't all that.

I am plagued by the sense that people are tired of reading about what we were up to in Buenos Aires - I could hear them say, "Come on, all you do is eat, dance, hang out with your friends having a great time - isn't there anything new?"

The only thing new, I guess, is the cynical: some of the people we have encountered in our Tango journey, whom we trusted and considered friends, turned out not to be worthy of either friendship or trust. Personalities we had admired from afar in Tango have turned out completely unworthy of admiration.

But even that isn't really anything new.

No, there isn't anything new. I think that's what makes it perfect. That's what makes Tango perfect - not the new, or the innovative, or the fancy and new-fangled and the exciting. You don't have to escalate - the basics are your shining treasures. Tango connects us to our feelings and emotions, our hopes and dreams, our successes and failures, our strengths and vulnerabilities. Tango is love - and humanity.

We'd do it - and write about it - all again in a heartbeat. Despite the ravages of experience, nothing is really old and tired if we can still embrace it with the same innocence.

Chinese Fairy Tales

2011-06-13T20:18:00.002-04:00

I confess, my Spanish isn't that great. I can get by ordering in a restaurant and taking a cab and even making small talk - but when someone tells me a story, you might get a blank stare that I'm trying to cover up with a polite smile and a nodding head. Fortunately, the literary laws of Tango story archetypes means that the plot, the ending and the moral of the story are all fairly predictable. The milonguero gets the girl (or not) - and they have a nice tanda (or not) of tango. It's all good - whether or not it all sinks into my noggin.

Now, I have another confession to make - my Chinese ain't that great either. I can speak it without an accent but I can't read anything more difficult than a menu. Man Yung has to backtrack and explain quite a bit when our conversations get serious. I'm sure that Man Yung thinks that it's like teaching kindergarten to kids...

...And strangely, I do feel like I'm in kindergarten again - listening the stories that Man Yung is telling me about current affairs in China:

**************

In China, thousands of babies drank baby formula laced with a chemical that made their heads grow five sizes bigger and destroyed their kidneys. The baby formula company could skimp on actual milk by adding this chemical and make more money that way. Many babies died.

The Chinese Government found some scapegoat underlings at the baby formula company and executed them. The real culprits - the ones making the business decisions and the corrupt officials who were supposed to be monitoring food safety - naturally got away. The Government also supposedly set up a "compensatory fund" for the victims. None of the victim's families got to see a single penny. When one of the parents of these unfortunate babies tried to rally the other parents in order to get justice or compensation, the Government arrested him for "inciting a disturbance" and locked him up.

**************

Once upon a time in China, the police beat up this guy for no reason just because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The beating was so bad the guy's doctor said he was going to be impotent for life. The guy got so mad he rushed into the police station with a knife and stabbed every police he encountered, killing seven. When the police finally caught him, they put him on trial which lasted like, a day. And then they executed him. And the people hailed him a martyr and a hero.

******************
Meanwhile, once upon a time in another part of China another guy set off several homemade bombs at Government buildings around the city, killing some officials. He had been driven off his land several times by the Government acting in cohort with Development companies - every time he relocated, they relocated him again. The compensation was not enough, since the officials skimmed money off at every level. The injustice drove him crazy. The official report said two bombs went off - but unofficial channels said there were more.

*******************

Once upon in China, prostitution became so prevalent that brothels occupied the area of several football stadiums. Some men started to think that all women were whores and could be bought with money. A corrupt government official threw money at a waitress in return for sexual favours - and when she refused to put out, he was outraged. He beat her and tried to rape her. She resisted and in the struggle, stabbed the corrupt official to death with a dinner knife. The Chinese Government arrested her, charged her with murder and sentenced her to death.

*******************
Once upon a time in Chinese Mongolia, big business strip mined the grasslands for coal. The locals made their livelihood herding sheep and cattle, but the shortest direct path of the coal trucks was right in the middle of the grasslands. They destroyed the habitat and ran over the herds of livestock with their wheels. The sheep and cattle starved because they could not access the grass. The locals pleaded with the coal company to take a detour around the grassland and use the paved road, but the company refused to listen because they had the protection of the corrupt government officials and did not need to answer to anybody.

Some of the herdspeople tried to stop the trucks by staging a protest - and the trucks just accelerated right into the protestors, killing a herdsman and dragging his body for miles without stopping. There was a huge, angry riot. The Chinese Government shut down the internet, and sent in soldiers, guns, tanks and planes.

*******************
Once upon a time in China, some farmers bought seeds that grew into watermelons that burst at the slightest touch, because there was too much growth additive. Some other farmers bought seeds that grew into watermelons that were harder than stone - you could whack the watermelon with a metal shovel and they wouldn't break. Yet some other farmers spent their life savings and bought seeds that did not grow into anything at all, because the seeds were fake.

*******************

Once upon a time in China, there was a great Chinese leader who used to study engineering. He decided that his big project for China would be a huge hydro electric dam - he considered himself an engineer and wanted to leave his mark. Millions of people were displaced off the land for the project, which would immerse many areas under hundreds of feet of water. Many wise men and scientists said that the dam would do more harm than good - but the great Chinese leader wouldn't listen.

Finally the dam was built. The environment was turned upside-down within months. Some areas drowned in "100 year record rainfall"; other areas turned to dust with "100 year record drought". You can see the cracked, parched bottom of some of the great Chinese lakes - lakes that used to be so huge you could almost consider them seas.

********************
Once upon a time in China, a developer backed by the power of the corrupt Government gave an order to expropriate a poor flower farmer's land. The flower farmer pleaded, please, give me one more month - so I can harvest my growing flowers and recoup my losses at the Chinese New Year flower market. The developer laughed and ran over the flower fields with his trucks and tractors.

Since the flower farmer still refused to move off his property, the developer made the fatal mistake of going in person to the flower farmer's house to deliver his ultimatum. The flower farmer stabbed him to death with gardening shears, and then used the same shears to cut off the developer's head. The flower farmer then threw the developer's head into a plastic bag and brought it to the local police station to turn himself in. The police were horrified when the severed head rolled out of the bag, but there was nothing they could do to revenge the developer's death - the flower farmer had drank pesticide and died right after delivering his message.

********************

Once upon a time in Guangzhou in China some government licensing officers beat up a pregnant street vendor for refusing to pay them a bribe. The street vendor's husband tried to intervene - and the licensing officers punched and kicked him to death. The locals were so outraged there was a huge riot. The Chinese Government shut down the internet and sent in soldiers, guns, tanks and planes.

********************

Once upon a time in China a news program interviewed some kids in kindergarten. They asked the kids who they wanted to be when they grew up. Instead of wanting to be teachers, or doctors, some of the kids said very loudly they want to be "Corrupt Government Officials". Because that's where the money is being made - everyone knows that.

********************

Once upon a time in China there was a good, uncorrupt government official. The people loved him for taking a tough stance on corruption and dispensing real justice.

The corrupt government officials would have none of that - and made the police arrest the good official on trumped up charges. Even before the good official was taken to HQ for questioning, it was reported that he had died a "mysterious" death en route. He had been beaten to death by the henchmen of his corrupt accusers. The people found out and became angry and there was a huge riot. The Chinese Government shut down the internet, and sent in soldiers, guns, tanks and planes.

********************

Once upon a time in China there was a wise village chief who rallied his people to fight against the appropriation of their ancestral lands by greedy developers working with corrupt government officials. His opposition was ruining everything for the developers and their allies - so it was conveniently arranged for him to be accidentally and tragically run over by a car. The villagers did not believe it was an accident, and a riot ensued. The Chinese Government shut down the internet, and sent in soldiers, guns, tanks and planes.

********************

Once upon a time in China there was a son of a corrupt and powerful official. He had no fear of the law because of his father's power and influence. He was driving recklessly one night and ran over a pedestrian. He got out of the car - and when he discovered that his victim had not died, he knifed him eight times to make sure that he was dead and that there would be no witnesses. Speeding off, he hit another pedestrian around the corner.

********************

Once upon a time in China there were grieving parents of the students who died in the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Another anniversary rolled around - this time the Chinese Government had a different tactic up their sleeve. The grieving parents - usually sent out of town or put under house arrest during the anniversary of the Massacre so that their voices would be not be heard - suddenly received mysterious phone calls in the night. This time, instead of threats - the voice on the line offered them money. "How much do you want to make all this 'go away'?" the voice asked.

********************

Once upon a time in China there was a corrupt official who was in charge of food safety when the deadly baby formula incident broke out. He was supposed to get punished, or even fired, but he was considered a staunch party member so of course they just put him in charge of something else.

Unfortunately, they put him in charge of a region that subsequently experienced a very deadly earthquake - even more deadly than usual, since all the schools were built using substandard materials and shaky "tofu" construction in order for the corrupt officials and their developer buddies to skim off more money from their government contracts. A whole generation of schoolchildren died, crushed to dead under the collapsed school buildings. How embarrassing for the Chinese Government - and how unlucky for the corrupt official.

*********************

Once upon a time, there was a corrupt government official who amassed such an immense fortune through bribes and corruption, he had to hide his mountainous stash of cash in the fish pond - wrapped in plastic inside a big crate. In fact, there was more than one corrupt official with lots of hidden cash - luckily, searchers started to get more experience with the hiding areas. Whenever the Chinese Government was forced to arrest yet another corrupt official who overstepped the limit (what, is there a limit?) they would know where to look for the money.

*********************

I feel so helpless - it is kindergarten all over again. And there is nothing cathartic in the telling, listening or re-telling of these fairy tales. Where are the heroes and heroines, the moral of the story, the happy endings? Once upon a time in China, there's only greed, corruption, abuse of power, injustice and no morals - and just villains and their victims. How will all these Chinese Fairy Tales end? I think it will take Man Yung more than 1001 nights to tell them all, every day they keep on coming...

...That is, until the Chinese Government shuts down the internet - and sends in the soldiers, guns, tanks and planes.

** This "Once upon a time" is not a long time ago - it is NOW, and EVERYWHERE.

Splogged!! (Or Splegged, or Splagged - not sure what the exact terminology is)

2011-06-07T19:52:00.001-04:00

Googling our own blog today (yes, we need to get a life), we discovered that we had been splagged - or is it splogged?

We are indeed very ignorant about what this is, so let us describe the scenario: we discovered another blog on Google's blogger which had copied all our posts, word from word, since our first post in 2008 and all the way up to our posts of May, 2011. Word for word.

Couldn't fanthom why anyone would want to do that.

Are they doing this to attract traffic to their blog so that they can get money out of this traffic? How odd - considering around five people read this blog regularly, and over 50% of them are called Irene or Man Yung.

Are they doing this to gain universal adoration? Doubtful - they're more likely to get universal indifference. And then again, there's the fear of accidentally stumbling across examples of Irene and Man Yung dancing - and immediately losing one's lunch.

Maybe it's a plot by the central Chinese Communist government - we haven't exactly been lavishing praises on that particular totalitarian regime. I mean, didn't the Chinese pirate the Harry Potter sequels within twenty-four hours after publication, by taking "The Hobbit", changing all the names inside and slapping a picture of a guy in glasses waving a wand on the cover? This is kind of like this, except they've taken all our content and tried to pass it to the general public as a "Tango Blog". Smart!

Well, the flagrant splogging (or splagging) has left us scratching our heads. Whatever their motivations, we can say this - better to stick to reading the original! Here, in the one and only "Irene and Man Yung's Tango Blog", rest assured - we won't sucker you into clicking onto malware or viruses - who knows about that other site? The worst you'll find are non-contagious gentle cooties of the tango kind, easily eradicated by thorough hand-washing or a bottle of germ gel!

** Man Yung raised a very good point - could it be that Man Yung has another Tango girlfriend and they are setting up their own blog together using all the content from this blog? Has anyone seen this lady? I swear I was keeping my eye on Man Yung all the time - even when I was playing Angry Birds at the milonga. Mysterious.

Thirty-Fifth of May

2011-06-04T19:04:00.002-04:00

Goddess of Democracy: a symbol for the struggle for human rights, freedom, justice for the victims of the June 4, 1989 massacre, and of course, democracy in China

You won't be able to find anything on the internet if you are in China using the search phrase "Tiananmen Square Massacre" or even "4th of June" or "89.6.4".

So people have skirted around this by referring to the event as "Thirty-Fifth of May" on their websites. However, the giant Chinese Communist State Censorship Apparatus got wind of that too.

But no matter how hard the Chinese Communist Party tries to suppress, with force or threats or bribery, the people will never forget. Every year Man Yung remembers, with much sorrow.

Good Job, Mr. Toronto Police Officer!

2011-06-02T19:06:00.000-04:00

Canada Geese

Spring has arrived - which means that flocks of Canada Geese can be found everywhere in Toronto, diligently raising their young hatchlings. So cute! Although much geese poop everywhere.

There's not a lot of wild open spaces here in the city, so the geese have to co-exist with people. This means that the geese are not only in the parks - they are also in the little patches of grass next to pedestrian walkways, on the walkways themselves, and even on the roads. The geese are often seen crossing the said roads - and sometimes even busy six-lane highways - with all their young following obediently in a row. Our hearts stop whenever we see this, because it is so dangerous. Luckily, most cars stop and patiently wait for the whole line to waddle across to safety.

However - and this really PISSES US OFF - some monsters actually accelerate and charge right into the geese flock, INTENT ON RUNNING SOME OF THE BIRDS OVER. A lot of times they even succeed.

We were taking a stroll in the neighbourhood yesterday evening when we encountered some geese crossing a busy street. The cars were whizzing by. A few stopped, but one or two did not and verged on geese murder - a few of the geese had to shuffle a little faster to avoid death-by-wheels.

About twenty meters away, a police car was parked - a speed trap.

The police officer saw what was going on with the geese. He dropped his radar gun, and drove up to the geese line-up with lights flashing. All traffic had to stop - the police car was right in the middle of the lanes.

When all geese and goslings were safely on the other side, the police officer made a U-Turn - and went back to making his speed trap. Good job, Mr. Police Officer!

If only Toronto milonga organizers could hire the police to attend the milongas to protect the fragile, nascent, line of dance...we can bet you that Toronto navigation will instantly improve, and no one would need to take a single private class! Too bad that the policing will cost $65 per hour - at that rate, Toronto milonga entradas will have to skyrocket upwards even faster than Buenos Aires inflation. Oh well.