Tango by Paulo Moreno

Impressions from last milonga

2011-09-29T18:33:00.007+02:00

The milonga organized by Barrio-Tango past 24th September was great. The floor, atmosphere and sound were nice and the location made it something unique. Here are some snapshots:

Milonga at HAL13

2011-09-23T18:54:00.006+02:00

Tomorrow, in a very special place, Barrio Tango will host a milonga free for everyone.

The address is: Zijperstraat, 1823CX Alkmaar

From 21:00 until 01:00. I will be the DJ.
www.barrio-tango.blogspot.com

HAL 13 is the place that hosts the art project by Anton Dekker: Draaistroom.
Click here for info about Draaistroom

Showtime

2011-09-02T14:35:00.009+02:00

The new tango season in Alkmaar is about to begin and this means promotional performances with Valeri Fiteni:

September 2th at HAL25, Alkmaar, Kunst tot de Nacht

September 6th at salon Barrio Tango, de Sociëteit, Alkmaar

September 7th at salon café d'Alderliefste, Bergen

Holland and Lisbon

2011-08-17T18:39:00.009+02:00

Being just back to Holland after a 3 months stay in Lisbon and because I’ve also been going back to my home country quite frequently since my emigration from Portugal I am often asked, in both places, how tango is in each of these places. My quick easy answer is: people in Portugal are shorter.

The long answer: Tango is universal, and so is being human. However, there are obvious differences; and finding the reason for them is sometimes difficult. Physically, it´s easy to point out some differences: Lisbon is magical; it is basically a big and monumental city that breathes people as a person would breathe air. Besides being the capital of a country almost 1000 years old which used to rule half of the world not so long ago(historical speaking), it receives every working day the same amount of people that it houses every night. There is a monument in every block, and I´m not solely talking about the inner city, and there’s actually the chance that you do live in a monument. So the first difference is simple: the context. There are so many quality places where milongas can happen while in Holland you don´t find places, you build them yourself. Thinking about outdoor milongas, then the difference is even bigger. On one side you have warm, dry weather, polished stone floors everywhere and an attitude of living in the public; on the other you have clouds, cold and rain, rough concrete pavements(at best red brick), the only few public spaces are parks and a law that prevents spontaneous gatherings of people. It´s hard to blame for these characteristics but this is my favourite side of tango dancing in Lisbon, anywhere you can dance and anywhere is insanely beautiful.

Another difference comes from geography, and this one goes in favour of Holland. I can actually speak of tango in the Netherlands while for Portugal I have to speak solely of Lisbon or Porto. It´s simply too far apart. Lisbon and Porto stand at over 300km apart and there is no tango in any nearby city or town. The Netherlands are the opposite. While every individual tango scene of every little city in Holland is way smaller than the one in Lisbon, you can travel to all these places as easy as going to the supermarket because they are close by and also well connected either by highways or public transportation. You can´t talk about a specific tango scene of a city in the Netherlands, you talk of a region. At any given milonga at a city you’re bound to meet people from other cities that also have their own tango school. In Lisbon, only people from the metropolitan Lisbon dance. This Dutch synergy between tango dancers makes for a very dynamic and strong tango economy. There are more students, and these dancers have to themselves a much bigger choice of dancing grounds; and this makes it so much more attractive for quality tango professionals to come to Holland to improve the general quality of the dancing and the general tango awareness of the public.

Now for the subtle differences. There are more men at milongas in Lisbon than at milongas in Holland. The proportion of male/female students is the same regardless of the country; however, there is in Portugal a culture where men go out at night much more often than women. The outcome is that at a milonga in Lisbon is not unusual to have more men than women, something quite unbelievable in the Netherlands. This Portuguese cultural aspect leads also to the fact that men end up practicing more than women, leading this to provide with a bigger quantity of higher quality male dancers than female ones. Another difference is seen in the age group: traditionally in Portugal, nightly and physical activities are done by youngsters. Tango fits in this profile and so the average age of Portuguese tangueros is younger than of their Dutch counterparts.

And what about in the milongas themselves? Technically, there is little difference. Comparing to the Netherlands, there is in Portugal: a much bigger preference (almost total) towards dancing only in close embrace; There is no difference regarding the use of “cabeceo” in order to ask someone to dance, both rarely use it; upon hearing the "cortina", both dancers immediately go each separate ways; there is a preference towards small steps and few big movements which is quite the opposite of Holland; the atmosphere is much more formal and serious; beginners don’t go to milongas; dancing to whatever music except traditional recordings of old tango music is frowned upon.

The most annoying aspect for me regarding the Lisbon tango scene is that, even though there are milongas almost every day, these same milongas don’t share the dancers they created and act a bit like rival clubs which does not help the evolution and enlargement of the tango scene in Lisbon. While in Holland there is a big group of people that go dance almost everywhere, in Lisbon these people are very few and not encouraged to do so.

All the photos are from some of my favorite dancing spots in Lisbon.

Barrio Tango

2011-08-08T19:37:00.008+02:00

And there it is. The new project is official.

I will be teaching in Alkmaar under a new collaboration with Valérie Fiténi named Barrio Tango.

Classes start September 13th and will continue every Tuesday evening until Christmas.

With them, will also accompany a regular "practica" from 22h until 24h on the same evening.
The location is in the centre of Alkmaar at a place going by the name Societeit Alkmaar.

Check the official Blogsite HERE

Tryout lessons and demo will happen September 6th at De Sociëteit, Luttik Oudorp 78, Alkmaar.
Tango voor beginners: 19.15 – 20.15 uur
Milonga vanaf halfgevorderd: 20.30 – 21.30 uur

Following the workshops there will be milonga(free entry) until 24.00

A Couple of References

2011-08-06T18:47:00.002+02:00

In this post I want to share with you the characters who, in some way, have inspired me the most along my tango path.

I’m off course not familiar with every dancer in the world and my time in tango has been not that extended. Also, since I’m not a big fan of YouTube judgements, I’m restricting my view to dancers who I personally seen dancing and/or took classes with.

The two dance couples whom I consider my references have two common traits. Firstly, they are, as far as I can see, extremely professional. I don’t mean with this that they have been making a living out of tango for a long time. I mean: their attitude towards dance, dancers and dance teaching is respectful, humble, hardworking and honest. What am I saying with this? I’m talking about revering the dance as an art form instead of a show; about understanding that we´re always as work in progress that needs to be improved constantly no matter where you stand; about establishing a direct connection between your real life and your dancing presence; about acknowledging that it´s not about you, it´s about the dance and all that comes along with it. Secondly, they are fantastic teachers. They care about their own effectiveness as teaches and also how to improve the teaching technique itself and how to relate it to “real life”.

I first got to know Gonzalo Orihuela and Solange Chaperron during a couple of workshops and at that moment I realized that there was a true engagement between what was being said and the persons doing the talking. Also, the content of the classes was not about a show of moves, it was about engaging the dance personally. Then, I saw them dance and immediately I was struck by their extreme intensity first, and then, by their need to expand tango outside the traditional dogmatic boundaries of conservative tango.

Not a long time ago, I also had the opportunity to have some lessons with Murat and Michelle Erdemsel. I cannot stress how much teaching material I have stolen for my own classes. For me, it was ground-breaking material not only about how to dance but also how to teach dancing. Extremely common sense, structured, clear and energetic. When I saw them dance, the words to describe it were: effortless, elegant. I admire much more than the near flawless technique the perfect balance between the dance couple. Also, as the ones before, I admire the way that other art forms and music styles manage to come together so beautifully with them.

Also to visit:
Murat and Michelle's website
Gonzalo and Solange's website
Gonzalo's blog

Love of Heels

2011-07-30T17:08:00.001+02:00

For someone who has been initiated into tango dancing, one thing that jumps immediately to your eyes is the shoes, worn by the ladies off course. And more specifically, the heels, the narrow nail wide spikes that make it seem impossible that it actually can support the weight of a woman.

Before saying anything else, the first question is: does a woman look better with heels or flat shoes? My quick answer is: Heels, no doubt.

And now while some people are already wanting to tell me that’s only because I´m not the one wearing them, let me paste in here some fragments from an article written by Sarah Breck, also a dancer, regarding the same subject:

“So the reason I wear heels? Because they help keep me in check. I feel like I become a better and stronger dancer when I wear them. Wearing tennis shoes for a long period of time actually cause me to develop bad habits.”

Now, I agree completely, and more, this also applies to men. How come? Well, if you ask more experienced dancers, they also wear shoes which are very different from sneakers or other traditional men´s shoe. When I started learning I used regular shoes that had a wide rubber sole and a heel which was at most the height of a finger. The first bad habit I encountered was stepping on my heels way too much and the second was an almost complete disregard for my foot placement. This works fine if all you do is walk in a linear fashion parallel to your partner. The problems come when you want to become better dancer: if you´re balancing on your heels, you can´t react quick enough, you lock your hips and stepping feels like marching; if you want to pivot on any feet, the point of contact with the floor must be super clear to you, not a huge surface which at the time was in a material that couldn’t turn anyway. And besides slowing your learning it also affects your body: ankles start hurting and since you can´t really rely on your positioning to lead, you resort to using your arms. When I finally got proper dancing shoes (not flat), what happened? My feet started to hurt, blisters appeared and I couldn´t dance more than 4 songs consecutively. Sound familiar? How come? Because of this:

“Every attempt I had made to wear heels I felt off balanced; unstable; and constricted in my movement. I loved the idea of heels but came to the conclusion they were not for me. (…)

Heels did not feel good because they showed me all my flaws.

When I wore heels I felt weak and unstable in them. Why? because I hadn’t figured out yet how to put my body in strong enough positions that let me be stable. I felt constricted. Why? because I let the idea of being in heels freak me out, causing so much tension in my body I couldn’t move with ease like I can in the comfort of my Keds.”

So, getting back to my answer regarding women looking better in heels, I would like to point the following: while you feel off balance, unstable, constricted and in pain, you are going to look clumsy, unconfident, and inelegant which are not qualities that are appreciated when thinking about attractiveness either in a woman or a men. The heels have the quality of bringing truth out in the open by forcing you to be only in the most correct manner. If not, what we see are your flaws. This applies for dancing, walking in the street or for just standing. If you don´t have the proper posture, it causes discomfort and you look silly. But used properly, then what comes out are your qualities, your elegance and that is attractive.

“So the reason I wear heels? Because they help keep me in check. I feel like I become a better and stronger dancer when I wear them”

The shoe, whether for men or women, should provide maximum freedom, all the possibilities of movement that exist. But to be ready to wield them, one needs to know how one´s body works. Understand the dynamics of your own body, your balance and the consequences that the movements of some parts of your body have on others and on your dance partner.

So, heels? Yes!

To check the article from Sarah, which is entitled "Why Women Should Wear Heels" click HERE.

The Attractiveness of Movement

2011-07-26T16:40:00.003+02:00

Has it ever happened to you, seeing someone somewhere and then not looking at that person again only to become obsessed with that same one after your eyes have seen that person dance?

That someone magically goes from indifferent to fascinating is quite a puzzling affair. But the opposite can also appear, and so many of us probably have also witnessed, when that incredible attractive girl or guy who happen to simply and discreetly be standing by the bar disappoints everyone by simply starting to move to a beat (most likely off the beat), clumsily, uncoordinated and well, you really just can´t appreciate that static beauty the same way, can you?

In our world, which is dominated by image, we tend to forget about this and pay so much attention to that static image, the photo. Whether on a magazine or within a nice wooden frame or on our laptops´ screens, we wrongly judge appearances, therefore attractiveness, based on so little information. No wonder we get so surprised with what movement does to our judgements and appreciations.

Well, we could say that movement is real life paying us a visit while we´re on our fantasy worlds. With so little information, like on a photo, we have ourselves, to fill in all the enormous blanks. And so we do, well, our brain does. Our fantasy.

Does the fantasy stop with seeing the movement of someone? Not quite. Once again, we are left to guess the causes of that movement and so our precious brains come to rescue us and of course, another fantasy ensues. Is the movement a reflection of that person´s emotions, character, skills, physical abilities, health? Or is an act modelled after someone else? Just as a lie is not someone´s real opinion.

Hmm, maybe taking a step further would help. And instead of watching someone dance, we can actually dance with that person. And now the level of intimacy that you allow yourself to reach will further test the moving images that you had of this someone and help you to see (feel) the beauty in a more informed way.

At this point, we are now judging attractiveness based of the interaction of movement, which can be overwhelming due to the simple speculation that this beauty can be transposed to so many other acts of living. This is the stage where dancers can in fact fall immediately in love with the partner of that particular dance. And many inexperienced dancers actually do.

Attractiveness is absolutely primal, instinctive and fundamental for us. And movement, as in dancing, also a basic human need, is a way to explore and expose the true level of attraction of one to another.

So, in conclusion: Don´t just stand there, dance!

Private Lessons

2011-07-25T20:41:00.002+02:00

Would you like to have a private lesson with me?
If yes, then click HERE.

I will be back in Holland in August 16th. I´ll be staying in Rotterdam but I´ll be travelling to Alkmaar frequently. That means I´ll be available for lessons in both cities.

Fill in THIS FORM and let´s see if we can make an appointment.

Why Tango?

2011-07-16T23:39:00.006+02:00

For you:
Discover yourself, your posture, your presence, your elegance.
Express your emotions freely through your body.
Exercise your creativity. Creativity is intelligence having fun.
Improve your awareness of yourself and your surroundings.
Enjoy. Relax. Channel your energy into a controlled motion.
Have fun!

For the couple:
Communicate without words. Improve your sensitivity.
Become aware of each other's presence and feelings.
Share emotions intensively.
Have fun together.

Want to join group classes? In Rotterdam or in Alkmaar?
Click on the Tango button just below!

Back online...finally

2011-07-15T22:33:00.010+02:00

Yes, I´m back to this blog, hopefully for good. During these troubling days I find myself divided between Portugal and Holland and with no fixed place to teach. This does not mean that nothing has happened since my last post. Classes continued, I participated again in the Nijmegen tango route and also performed at the Rotterdamse Schouwburg Foyer with the quartet Tango Gato Loco(picture on the left).

I am now busy with redesigning the website of Paulo&Regina and developing some sort of feedback and inquiry method directed to tango students.

Videos from Alkmaar, 23-07-2010

2010-10-07T17:19:00.003+02:00

Dancing with Regina Lerma at DeTangoStudio milonga in Alkmaar this Summer after giving workshops.

Alma de Bandoneon by F.Canaro:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_1enmn3vp8&feature=channel

El Lloron by Hugo Diaz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZXcM-Z1_Eo&feature=channel

2010-09-15T14:24:00.005+02:00

After a very nice and interesting participation in the Zango - Zang en Tango Festival - with workshop and tryout lessons with Regina Lerma, I am very glad to resume with a new teaching season at Detangostudio in Alkmaar.

Every Tuesday at:

Milonga Tango Moreno

2010-08-23T18:32:00.003+02:00

The opening milonga was a big success and I was very happy to see a full salon of dancers enjoying Tango until 2am. Thank you all for coming and I'll see you all next month.

The next Milonga Tango Moreno will be on the 3rd Saturday of September 18th.

The "Cabeceo"

2010-08-12T23:52:00.002+02:00

Stolen from Gonzalo Orihuela's facebook page:

"Has its good side.

It’s takes a bit to get used to it. We need to be able to be discreet and avoid looking at the same person has it would be for her an obligation to look at us.

But cabecear avoids the ‘no’. No one likes receiving a no after offering an invitation. No one likes giving it either.

Being in a place such as a milonga in which we are searching for feelings, willing to discover sensations, cabecear has its charm.

If I happen to want to dance with someone and she happens to want do dance with me for sure in one moment or another our eyes will meet. We just have to be aware without staring and when she looks at us look back. Look not stare :) Probably if she really wants to dance with me she will do it several times during the evening.

If somebody does not want to dance with me she will not look at me and if she does look at me she will look away as fast as she realizes that she did.

Cabeceo avoids the uncomfortable situation of getting all the way to a table and being rejected, On the same time it avoids having to dance with someone with whom I don’t want to dance with and by not wanting to reject him making him feel bad I will probably have a bad time dancing with someone I didn't want to dance with.

Knowing in advanced that everything will be worked out during the evening through eye contact creates a certain tension in the salon right in the moment that we come in to it. And one works on his dances the whole night. The moment of the dance comes loaded, after looking for each other the whole night, by a great desire, which is not based on wanting to dance my self but cause I’m going to dance with her. And that experience makes out of tango an experience which would be totally different if we would invite and be invited in a different way."

Video from Cuartito Azul Rotterdam - 2010-06-05

2010-07-31T18:37:00.003+02:00

Recuerdos de Bohemia by O.Fresedo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOMHvl2Chjs&feature=related

Videos from Firulete, Den Haag, 2010-06-25

2010-07-07T18:45:00.002+02:00

First number:
Alfonsina y el Mar by Tango Lorca
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c5h3UbxJTg

Second number:
Un Tango y Nada Mas by C. di Sarli
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeQBm1vjors

2010-06-16T23:41:00.008+02:00

Paulo and Regina will give a workshop for advanced dancers titled:

"Backsacadas for leaders and followers"

Coming Saturday, 26th June, just before the start of the milonga Firulete in Den Haag.

Also with performance during the milonga.

more information at:
http://www.tangofirulete.com/

photo © Ronald Schlundt Bodien

5th June - Den Haag - Milonga Firulete

2010-05-31T14:57:00.008+02:00

Paulo and Regina Lerma will be performing during the Firulete milonga in Den Haag on the 5th of June
Scheveningseveer 21, The Hague, 21:30 - 01:00
http://www.tangofirulete.com/

Ken Robinson TED Speech on Creativity and Education

2010-04-22T20:45:00.001+02:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlg5l074PCI&feature=related

A bit of History

2010-04-03T17:40:00.004+02:00

The word “Tango”

“In black culture. In one of the African languages, tango means to approach, to palpate or to touch. (...) That’s why in some regions of the African continent – and later in American regions as well – the drumbeat was called tango or tan-gó.”
“In native culture. Particularly among the natives of Honduras, tango was (...) the name of a percussion instrument...”
“In Latin-Spanish culture. Tango in Latin, comes from Tactum, to touch...”
“It has also the meaning of touching in the emotional sense, of beating and hurting, of writing poetry, (...) of playing a song.”
“In old Castilian, (...), the word tangir means to play an instrument.”
“(...) the spiritual and artistic genesis of tango took place from about 1880 to circa 1895 (...).”
“Archibaldo Lanús defined it (...) as ‘the will of being’.”

The Milonga

“La milonga. This is a black word that means a mess or a mix-up. By extension, the word milonga also designates the dance places.”
“According to José Gobello it is a Quimbundá which means ‘word’. (The Quimbudá was spoken by black benguelas, malembas and mozambiques)”
“(...) we might describe it as a Creole melody of the river Plate merged into the powerful breath of Camdombe’s drums. It is the (...) daughter of the tambourine rhythms that have accompanied the ceremony called ‘camdombe’, designed for the celebration of the Congo’s king’s coronation since at least 1760 (...).”
“The Spanish writer Sañudo Autran (...) describes:
La milonga is the most popular song in Argentina and Uruguay, and the most genuine.
The milonga bears some resemblance to the saetas which, especially in the Andalucian city prisons, are sung by prisoners on Good Friday.
I’ve seen the strongest of gauchos crying when hearing a milonga.
The milonga reigns in the inspiration of natural poets, of good improvisers. The payadores are similar to the medieval minstrels described in novels of the middle ages."