Cacho Dante and the embrace

I hadn't intended to write any more about the tango of Buenos Aires and the tango of Europe, and then I remembered a basic exercise. But it was when I discovered a video as well that the keyboard started to rattle. & anyway, I think it's important. When it comes down to it, the outstanding differences between those two tangos seem to be in the embrace and in the way the music is followed with the body.

The exercise is occasionally (too rarely) used in classes here: the leader leads without using the right arm and hand. Holding the right arm behind the back forces the leader to rely exclusively on using the sternum-to-sternum contact to lead. (It might require the 'follower' to use the left arm a bit more firmly.) It always surprises me how sensitive this is: the slightest move from the lead is picked up and responded to immediately. This exercise is great for practicas, and really encourages a clear, firm lead from the chest.

& the video? Sadly, Cacho Dante has injured his right hand. Does this stop him dancing? No way! Here he is giving what appears to be a class demo. I don't remember him giving formal demos in classes but he would dance a bit, aware that we need to watch a lot in order to learn. The video shows clearly the embrace and how it is used. Of course, Cacho is a different shape to many of us, but I assume he was slimmer when he danced as a young man and could still lead well. With regard to body shape, a friend who has danced with him and many others tells me: 'They just lift you onto those big bellies and dance away with you!' & I wonder about that lifting: thinking about the embrace, I've recently noticed that dances where I have the feeling of lifting from the core are successful: those where I can't get that feeling, less so. Entirely subjective. & pushing up from the core means pushing down onto the floor, being grounded.

With thanks to Lonesol.

Posture is central to the embrace. As a young man and as an older man Cacho was unlikely to have spent days hunched over a terminal, and being upright was probably much more part of his culture than it is ours. Myriam Pincen said leaders should stand up straight and breathe in fully as they embrace: '...you are then in the right position'. That's easy to do as a drill: the problem is staying in that position throughout a tango. The moment a leader's posture slumps, the embrace loses its firmness and clarity.

Cacho is dancing to Pugliese, and I take this video as a masterclass in dancing Pugliese too. It's a different kind of music, and we're likely to get one or at most two tandas a night, so we don't dance much to it. The abrupt energy as well the lyrical side of the music are there effortlessly in his lead. I'm not sure how he does it, but I'd guess he's so precisely on the beat he doesn't need to exaggerate his movements. That final step is an example; it's firm but not at all demonstrative, and yet it has great energy.

There are two other recent clips of him dancing Pugliese at the Lujos milonga in Plaza Bohemia. His right hand is bandaged, and although it is behind his partner's back you can see he doesn't hold her with it. It's a great lesson, but I hope the hand has healed. 

The two other clips are Lujos 1 and Lujos 2. & two tangueros in each: I'm sure the guy in the white shirt with the elegant lady in pink is Eduardo 'El Nene' Masci. I note he's relatively slim and can still lead effortlessly; encouragement to many of us. & sorry, I don't know who the lady in pink is.

PS. Ah, Lujos milonga! Just look at that big floor, perfectly normal lighting, people turning up to eat and drink and dance for hours! Isn't that civilized?

El Nene

I've somehow managed to think online about tango for four years (four years and one week to be exact) with hardly a mention of El Nene, although I've known of him from videos. I don't recall seeing him dance, but there are plenty of videos on YouTube. What's particularly interesting about this one is that it was uploaded just a few days ago: that is, he's around and teaching right now. If you live in Europe or the US this might not be news; you might have enjoyed the good fortune of watching him, of dancing with him, of learning with him. But if you are in the UK, it's quite possible you've never heard of him. I can't help repeating myself: we've been missing out for years, and we still are.

Difficult to find out much about him: the only biographical info seems to be on the milongueando site, which sadly has been infected with something nasty and isn't safe to visit (www.milongueandoenba.com/new/english/p_nene.html - avoid it). This incomplete sentence occurs in my (StartPage) search result: 'Eduardo 'El Nene' Masci has been dancing tango in Buenos Aires for 50 years. The youngest of seven sons brought up in the barrios of...' But do you really need a biography when you can watch dance like this? I can watch the opening 30 seconds, the walk, of this over and over (well, and the rest of it too), right from the first step, so clearly and completely led with the whole body. There's a complete attention to the lead, a complete absorption in the music. There's a gentleness and softness about it, it's so inevitable that you hardly think of it as leading; the music just seems to draw Elisabetta Cavallari and El Nene along the lines of melody and the rhythm. A fabulous Troilo track, a great sensuality of music and movement.

&... well, wouldn't it be great to have someone like this in London, in the UK? To watch this quality of tango, perhaps to dance with someone like this? I wonder what workshops with a tanguero like this would be like. I guess they'd be very much like the dance: perhaps dazzling on the surface only in moments, but something that would continue to inform how you dance, how you felt about the music, for a long while.



& there's a great Troilo tango then vals here, from a week or two ago. Better video quality too.

(Rovigotanto were the hosts for this, run by Elisabetta: they are centred in Boara Pisani, about 60 km south-west of Venice. That area of north Italy, Milan, Venice, Ferrara, is home to several great dancers from Argentina, and regularly invites others. Rovigotango videos are here on YouTube. There's quite a wealth of great tango there, including video of their milongas. It's evident from their website that the milongas are run along quite formal Buenos Aires lines; in fact you can see the separate seating of men and women in the videos.)

PS: I find the red light a bit over the top. The world must look wonderfully green outside.


PPS: The following seems to be the Spanish version of what can't be read in English:

Eduardo Masci baila el tango en Buenos Aires hace 50 años. Es el mas joven de siete hermanos criados en los barrios de Caballito y Boedo, ha sido apodado como “el nene” cuando siendo solamente un chico aprendió el tango de sus ermanos mayores.
A los diez años ya estaba bailando y cuando tenía 14 era un habitué de las milongas mas populares de la época como el Club Huracán y el Club Buenos Aires entre otros. Trabajo para el Estado toda su vida pero su pasatiempo fue siempre bailar y con los años fue desarrollando su particular estilo por el que es muy respetado. A menudo hace exhibiciones en las milongas más importantes de Buenos Aires y hace pocos años comenzó a viajar al exterior a enseñar y exhibir su tango. Maestros de Milongueando organizado por Maria Plazaola y Susana Miller y jurado al Campeonato Mundial de Tango en Buenos Aires.