Trainers training in Buenos Aires

In my career as a tango dancer I have met quite a few Argentinian tango stars, with whom I took classes and workshops. They are really great dancers and fantastic performers, but being a good dancer and performer does not mean that you're a good teacher - and I have experienced a lot of extremely bad teaching. They simply don't know how to transmit their skills to other people, which many times left me frustrated and irritated - why pay a lot of money for classes if the teacher don't know how to teach!

Some months ago in Oslo, I shared a glass of wine with my good friend Lucia. Lucia is one of our time most brilliant dancers, and I proposed to make a workshop for teachers about teaching here in Buenos Aires. Lucia is very curious and for the record not only a brilliant dancer but also a very good teacher, and we decided to make a Teachers Training/workshop here. The first Teachers Training took place the 17th of July.  Only a few people participated but it was a great success. Lucia is good at promoting, and since I have already made this training at M2tango studio in Copenhagen, more people were interested and we decided to make one more teachers training yesterday the 21st of July. 

Workshop the 17th of July 2010 - participants: Maria Celia Arias, Paz Giorgi, Sanhsara Muniz Rieffestahl, Kolja Rieffestahl, Fabián Salas and Lucia Mazer.

Workshop the 21st of July 2010 - participants: Juan Pablo, Gustavo Rember, Kolja Rieffestahl, Silvina Machado, Mariel Robles, Luzia Mazer, Christian, Hector Corona and Gonzalo Alonso.

Read more about Teachers training here.
For me this was a fantastic experience to teach some of the best tango dancers in the world how to teach. They were extremely curious and really wanted to become better teachers. That way of thinking always warms my heart, and i got the chance to give something to the tango world on this trip, where we have met so many nice and generous people.

Performance in the rain at Placa Dorrego

On Sundays there is an old flee market at Placa Dorrego in St. Thelmo, a nice picturesque part of the city that, of course, attracts tourists and as a consequence of that also attracts those who wants to sell something (anything) for the tourists. It is a very nice area. Last Sunday we went there to show this part of the city to Tamara, Sanhsaras sister. The girls went shopping, I watched the WC final between Holland and Spain in a local café while flirting with the waitress - who was at least 70 but nevertheless open for a good flirt. The Argentinians welcomed the victory of Spain.

After the game i found Sanhsara and Tamara at Placa Dorrego (I just followed the sound of tango music, Sanhsara is always near by). The merchant on the traditional flee market had packed down their stalls and left the space for the sunday milonga run by Pedro Benavente - "El Indio", who's nickname is due to his origins. I have been here before in summer time and I can warmly recommend to go to this milonga. You dance on the square under the trees while the cafés around serve coffee and cold beer. In winter time it is a little bit different. At five in the afternoon it is dark and this particular sunday it was raining a little bit. But still El Indio and his dance partner shows up to do their milonga and show for the local people and tourists.

We fell into conversation with Pedro, who is a very nice and generous man. After he saw us dance, he later invited us to do a show for the tourists assembled on the square. So we did, in sneakers and warm clothes we danced to D'Arienzo and harvested the applause of the public - Pedro harvested the cash of the public, since he also does this for a living. We ended up performing three dances, two of them together and one where Sanhsara danced with Pedro and I with his dancepartner (I don't remember her name). It was very funny and a good experience.

Club Gricel

So far and by far my favorite milonga in Buenoas Aires: Club Gricel, nickname "Jurassic Park" because of the high percentage of dancers in the age category 70 +. Each milonga has its public and style. Gricel is a popular place where people come to dance and enjoy themselves - no tango snobbery here, just dance, drink champagne (Argentinian produced champagne with names as Chandon and Reims), 35 pesos per bottle (1 EUR = 5 pesos) and have fun.

The old milongueros are crazy about Sanhsara, she gets a lot of dances and as she said last night; it's about getting as many dances with them now while they're still alive - in 10 years they will be gone, and maybe with them this special atmosphere. I understand why they want to dance with her, she's dancing very well and has a happy and uncomplicated appearance - very attractive. I dance with Sanhsara and some young (40 - 45) girls we have met several times. They are very cute and also very smiling and happy. The rest of the woman jealously observes when we're dancing. With all the attention I get it's not easy to stay humble but I will try. It is not about me and my dance anyway, it is about this fantastic tradition of going out dancing and having fun - even when you're 60 - 70 - 80 +. It keeps these people alive and vigorous, thats very obvious. This was confirmed by a guy Sanhsara danced with last night who said that "this keeps me alive" - very much alive I might add.

Another reason for having Gricel as a favorite is the music. They always play good music. Last night was not as good as usual but still far better than other places. But maybe my view is colored by my preference. When I worked in the wine business in France many years ago the golden rule was to never place an order when you were tasting the wine at the chateau. The ambiance of the place, vineyards, sun and nice people could easily influence your judgment. Maybe with Gricel it's a little bit the same. The happy crowd of dancing dinosaurs, who so generously share their place with us is might affect my judgment. 

Go to Club Gricel when you come to Buenos Aires! Also if you're not dancing, just sit and watch.

Today I received my second best compliment ever

I like compliments in s small scale. A small nod with the head or a blink with the eye is good feedback for me. Feedback like 'good' or 'nice' from the right person I also appreciate. But this does it, more compliments easily gets too much for me. And of course there are exceptions, one is from today, and it must be the second best compliment I ever received, and it was not just a small nod with the head or a blink with the eye.

Now this thing about best/second best of course is related to context, the situation, a special mood. Today it was related to tango. I had a private class with Olga Besio. She is a legend in tango, she's old school and she's a tango maestro (read more about our first class with Olga in the previous text in my blog). It was in the same room as last time, old building, the room with old painted (long time ago) panels and one fluorescent under the sealing tightening up the room. A bit cold today because of the change in the weather. 2 chairs, Olga and me. Sanhsara was not here today so we communicated on Spanish and French.

Today we spoke about music again and the about 'abrazo', the embrace - the most important part of dancing tango; how you hold your dance partner. We danced and Olga liked my embrace, gave me a few tricks and corrected one or two things but that was it. Then we started talking about music and listened to music together. Olga played 'Poema'* and asked me to close my eyes and dance an imaginary dance in my head, so I sat there on the chair with my eyes closed and danced a tango with my wife in my head. Then Olga asked me to dance alone with an imaginary dance partner, not just in my head but on the dance floor. So with Olga sitting on her chair watching, I danced alone around the floor holding my arms as if I was dancing with someone. It was awkward for two seconds but then it felt natural and I forgot about Olga and just danced.

Now it comes: When the music stopped Olga clapped her hands and said with big enthusiasm that "you have more musicality in your dance than all Argentinians". After that we danced some more but for me the class was over. We kissed good bye and I took a taxi and in the late rush hour around 7 in the evening I had the time to sit on the back seat and savor the compliment and feel even more like 'El Porteño'.  



*Poema is a famous tango melody by Francisco Canaro. You can find it on iTunes. 

La magia del Olga Besio

Yesterday we had a private lesson with Olga Besio. Sanhsara already had one, now we went together. Olga only speaks Spanish and can supply herself a little bit on French but not much. Sanhsara was translating. We always prepare a subject when we take private lessons so we know what focus to give the teacher and ourselves. Our subject for this lesson with Olga was musicality, "cadencia", interpretation of the music. As usual the class took place in an old building, the room with old painted (long time ago) panels and one fluorescent under the sealing tightening up the room. 3 chairs, Sanhsara, Olga and me.

We danced two dances with Olga watching from her chair, she gave absolutely no sign of her thoughts about our dance. She asked us what we felt, and from there she started talking. Sitting on our chairs we listened to her talk about music, the story told by the musicians, the questions the orchestra asks in the music and the answers it proposes. How to listen, what to search for in the music and how to use it in the dance. It is not about counting to 4, It is about the story, about opposites: slow-fast, soft-hard, rhythmic-lyric, romantic-pragmatic, long-short steps, staccato-legato, light-heavy and so on.

We listened to music, no talking, no dancing, just sit and listen. We played 'air violin' together. She talked about pauses; 'quebrada' how to get into a quebrada and how to move on from a quebrada.

We danced some more, she told us more, we danced. It was the most interesting private class ever. She showed me things in the music and the tango that has been right in front of me all the time but that I never saw. Not many people sees it, tango has lost some of its origins in the last 20 years, but Olga took us to the secret places. I could feel it in my dance that evening at Canning, Sanhsara could feel it, people watching it must have felt it.

We drank two bottles of champagne between the dances.

Argentina and Brazil.........adiós

Argentina - Germany, we had been talking about this game for days. The Argentinian flag is hanging out of almost any window you can find in BsAs. It's in the shops, in the cars, on the cars, balcony's....all over.

Before this important game there was another: Brazil - Holland. We watched the game in a local bar/café together with the regulars. The ambiance was clearly for Holland. Argentinians does not want Brazil to win anything. For the record I can say that Brazilians does not want Argentina to win anything either. They both love to see the other loose. The cheering when Holland scored a goal was malicious, but the undertone was also: good that Brazil is out, then we're not going to play them in semi finals and risk an embarrassing defeat. This day Brazil lost, and the Argentinians were laughing and the Brazilians (and us with a heart that beats for Brazil) was crying.

My wife was, as a very good patriot when it comes to football, of course devastated. The good thing about Brazilians and especially her is, that bad mood does not last for long. After the game she went to a private class with Olga Besio, one of the big stars in Tango, and this experience clearly gave her back her fighting spirit. We were now ready for the Argentina - Holland game.

We danced all night at Club Gricel where I got my compliment and new alias 'El Porteño' and later La Viruta, came home 6 in the morning and I was the only one who got out of bed at 10 to go to the café and watch the match. I arrived to Café Rio half an hour before kick off. The ambiance was nervous. At first view the Argentinians does not seem very pragmatic. They are very proud and cocky, and of course they would win this match. But underneath I could sense the "is this the end of the road again nervousness?". But not on the outside. They are proud, like an old bird rubbing its old feathers.

15 minutes before kick off the ambiance was chaotic. The waiter was moving around tables an chairs so everyone could see the TV, this under the instruction of his small and choppy mafioso lookalike boss, who at the same time was telling everybody everything about football; who's the best, how bad the referees are, what Maradona should and should not do. And of course, the Germans had no chance.

As we all now now it took the German team less than 3 minutes to prove him wrong and to shut him and the rest of the Argentinians in Café Rio and all over the city up - the city of Buenos Aires was silenced by the goal of young Thomas Müller.

Sanhsara showed up for the second half and could hardly hide her Brazilian satisfaction. She managed to control herself and be discrete, but not for long. After the match she welcomed the Argentinians in the losers club, and all of a sudden Argentinians and Brazilians were friends - brothers of arms in a lost battle. Hugs and kisses........

Reports from a friend in Brazil tells that the Brazilians after all found use for the huge amount of fireworks, that in the first place was meant to celebrate Brazil as a world champion. Second best of course is to celebrate Argentina's defeat. Here in Buenos Aires the Argentinians are rubbing their old feathers.

El Porteño

Last night, at 3 in the morning, an old milonguero* Sanhsara just danced with came over and said that he could not believe that I was from Denmark: "baillas como un Porteño" - you dance like a Porteño! It was meant as a big compliment to my dance and I did not hesitate so savor it, and took a big mouthfull of the champagne we had standing on the table.

Porteño means that you are native of Buenos Aires. The expression comes from the fact that Buenos Aires has a port, and to all Argentinians a Porteño is a person from Buenos Aires. The history of the port is at the heart of Argentinas history. All immigrants from Europe arrived here in the second half of the 1800 and beginning of 1900. The port was a busy place, and Italian, german, danish, swedish and other exotic languages was spoken here.

We have been in Buenos Aires for one week today. I have been here before in 2007 and 2008. I can therefore hardly claim to be a Porteño, at least not in the historical sense. None the less, the old milonguero called me a Porteño, a way of saying that I dance like a local. For someone like me, who's on the quest of becoming a real tango dancer and not just someone who dances tango, it was a really fine compliment. The answer to the question asked in the introduction to my blog is therefore: Yes, a danish guy can earn the title 'El Porteño'.


* A milongureo is a gentleman tango dancer. Normally a milonguero has a certain age, before other people see him as a milonguero. A milonguero has danced thousands of dances, with many many different woman. He knows the music and often he sings the songs into the ear of his dance partner while moving around the dancefloor. A milonguero often has, but not necessarily, a big belly.