Friday 19 October 2012

Isabella y Javier

I love this! In the first moment I thought; this guy looks slow, ponderous, clumsy even, and look how he leans over his partner. & then they start dancing! What a delight. It's not a particularly complex dance, pretty much a repeated figure, but the easy, relaxed musicality of it, and the energy, is so enjoyable. & to me it's got heart. There's a whole army of bright young dancers who'd score far more in superfluous elegance and variety – without a trace of that warmth and affection that's so typical of the milongas.
Something I see here that I've not noticed so much in other videos is torque, how precise he is in using the energy of turning.
I don't know what to call these videos from Cachirulo. They aren't demonstrations, they aren't 'performances' either. Just two people having a great time dancing together. & the shouting from the guys: there's a lot of teasing going on. But Javier just grins, he's having a ball. & so, I guess, is Isabella.
There's one other video with this couple on the Cachirulo channel. We've got to thank Cachirulo again and again for the hundreds of videos on his channel. It's such a great cross section of that amazing milonga, Cachirulo, of tango at the start of the 21st century.
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5 comments:

  1. Chris19 October 2012 at 13:20

    Thanks for that, TC.

    "they aren't 'performances'

    I'd be interested to hear why you say that, TC.

    To me this very much looks like a performance - as in: entertainment for an audience.

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  2. tangocherie19 October 2012 at 17:37

    27BThis isn't a "performance," but rather a demonstration of how this couple dances in a milonga. This vals is the regular way Javier dances socially. A "performance" is danced for the audience's entertainment, whereas social tango is for the pleasure of the dancers, and if the people watching are entertained as well, so much the better.

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  3. Chris19 October 2012 at 20:11

    "This isn't a "performance," but rather a demonstration of how this couple dances in a milonga."

    Anyone present who want a demonstration of how this couple dances in a milonga can get it every time this couple dances in a milonga... alongside other couples.

    As the video caption says, it's Javier's birthday. His gift from the milonga is the floor all to himself for him to do a performance - for the entertainment of himself and the audience of friends.

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  4. Janis19 October 2012 at 23:37

    I agree with Chris. The best way to see Javier dancing is during the milonga, not when he's the only one on the floor.

    Birthdays, farewells, foreigner visits, etc. are excuses to provide brief entertainment and use it to publicize the milonga. Foreigners then hope they will be invited and filmed at the milonga.

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  5. Tangocommuter21 October 2012 at 18:34

    Thanks for that insight from the milongas, Cherie: very much how I see it. For me it's a pleasure to watch a couple enjoying dancing together, whether there's anyone else on the floor or not! (Just so long as it's not pre-rehearsed and practiced...)

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