Sunday 10 February 2013

Ricardo Vidort at Confiteria Ideal, 2003

The drip-drip of appearance of films of Ricardo Vidort's tango is slow: I hope he will still be remembered by the time everything there is appears! Although there probably aren't that many, but at least they keep coming.

This one is great: Ricardo (in the light-coloured jacket) dancing in a milonga at Ideal, and dancing with a lot of energy and fun, weaving all over the floor. Nobody else seems as grounded and sure of themselves. It's great to see such enjoyment of the dance, and as ever it's a wonderful lesson. & it's such an individual dance: tango, but unlike anyone else's tango. Clearly tango from an era before professional teachers who all dance alike and teach the same things.

A pity there's not more: there is a Part 1, but he doesn't appear in it. Moreover, the camera seems to be surreptitious, and dwells on the other dancers too. But thanks for the few moments; a pleasure to watch!


Video with thanks to Tango Vida

4 comments:

Tangocommuter said...

random tango bloke has left a new comment on your post "'Coming back from Buenos Aires to dance in …' 2":

I am a big fan of Mr Vidort. His dance to Adios Arrabal filmed by Tango chaos in my opinion teaches you all you need to know about dancing tango.

BUT I have to say that in this video I'm more impressed by the the guy (who seems to be the main focus at the beginning) in the striped shirt.

Vidort's weaving in and out is not what London tango needs to see as an example of good floorcraft! and interestingly at 3.22 you can hear someone seem to comment on him "showing off".

But as you say any video of the great man is welcome. more please.

Tangocommuter said...

Thanks, RTB. You put the comment on an earlier post, so I had to cut and paste it here. & thanks for the comments you made on your blog.

Showing off? I don't think so, and I wouldn't take the comment of visitors, possibly on their first visit, too seriously. It's much the same dance as in the Adios Arrabal clip you mention, energetic, lively, confident, but given a lot more room. I believe he used to say, either put everything into it, or don't dance at all, and it always looks 100%. As to his use of the space, I've seen it often enough there when the floor is empty. 'Lane discipline' is perfect when the floor is crowded, but I've seen many of the older dancers make use of whatever space is available.

The guy in the striped shirt is Héctor Brea. There are YouTube clips of a few of his demonstrations, which are a lot more exuberant than this...

Random Tango Bloke said...

Hi TC

I'm wondering if your blog has some gremlins...as I distinctly made two comments on the two appropriate posts!

I had actually given up making comments on your blog because I tried about 5 times to leave a comment on another of your posts and it never showed. I didn't know if it was your moderation - but it seemed fairly innocuous - or gremlins at the time.

Tangocommuter said...

RTB, no I've never moderated you out. In fact, the blog has usually been unmoderated: it was moderated for a month or two around December 2011, and has been for the last six weeks or so.

As to your comment that starts 'I am a big fan of Mr Vidort', I cut and pasted the email text I received: as you can see, you left your comment on the post 'Coming back from BsAs..', not on 'RV at C. Ideal 2003', where it actually belongs.

Check for gremlins at your end too!

The only comment I didn't publish was this one:"TC hope you don't mind but I thought I put my comment on my blog http://randomtangobloke.blogspot.co.uk/ on 'Coming back from Buenos Aires to dance in …' 1" as a) I didn't understand what you meant and b) it seems to be a personal note to me rather than a comment.

If you suspect something isn't getting through to me, you are welcome to query it by email. I always welcome your comments.