Susana Ferrante and Osvaldo Roldan

Good news! Marina2x4 is uploading videos from Buenos Aires again after seven months. She's uploaded some of the best clips of real tango I've watched. ('Real' – that is, social dancing from the milongas.)

Her two clips of Susana Ferrante and Osvaldo Roldan attracted me. Osvaldo seems to have spent a lot of the past few years teaching in Europe although not as far as I know in the UK. Apart from these two clips his YouTube presence is just demos, which are slick and quick, but I get a better idea of him as a dancer from these two clips. It's neither a milonga nor a real practica, it's a dance in someone's large kitchen with a bunch of other like-minded tangueros. It's late afternoon, after an asado I'd assume, dishes and empty bottles stacked on the worktop. Alicia Pons is in the background – maybe it's her kitchen. People are drifting in to pick up their winter coats and kiss goodbye: maybe this was a month ago in Buenos Aires when it was cold and wet. Meanwhile, the tangueros have settled in for a few warm hours of dance. Que placer!



Milongas are more formal, and filming in milongas usually isn't this close up. Here you are among the dancers, and you can see that tango really matters! There's a real commitment and concentration, and it's a pleasure too of course, it's what they love doing. They put into it an intensity, an attentiveness, an energy that we'll probably never match. That goes for all the dancers in these clips; it's Osvaldo's profession, of course, but he's working at it even in a dance in someone's kitchen. I thought of that quote from Ricardo Vidort, "When you dance tango you must give everything. If you can't do that, don't dance." Posture is uniformly good. One thing I can't help noticing is the distance at belt level between dancers, which happens when posture is the classic good tango posture. In the European dancing I see I never notice that much distance at belt level. People tend to dance more upright here.

There's a great sense of the warmth and physicality of the dance. The embraces are full on, uninhibited, seriously close. (A London friend says: 'London close embrace is usually fake: it's a few centimetres short of a real close embrace'.) The camera is close up, so you can see how much upper-body movement there is, particularly in the D'Arienzo, as you'd expect. There's a range of ages, and of footwear too!

& the collision: in the D'Arienzo, the tall guy in the baseball cap takes a long backstep straight into Osvaldo's space. Unbelievable. It doesn't look as if he belongs here at all.

There's a second video of Susana and Osvaldo here. As for the dancing in the milongas, check out this video of a milonga at Lujos, also from Marina. The older generation might be departing one by one, but it looks as if they leave tango in its home city in excellent health.

Many thanks, Marina2x4!

Silvia Ceriani in London

Silvia, who was partner of the late 'Tete' Rusconi, is in London for the week. She'll DJ at Juntos milonga this afternoon, and at Carablanca, Conway Hall in Red Lion Square, on Friday 16 October, 8pm to midnight. A good opportunity to experience an evening of music from a regular DJ at Salon Canning and at La Catedral in Buenos Aires!

Muma in Ojai, and online links to Ricardo Vidort

I'll put this page here, at the risk of overwhelming a 'private home' in Ojai, because  it's a cause for celebration that Muma has been invited to put this teaching together,  and with hopes that she'll be invited to Europe (and to the UK in particular!) to teach it here as well. Moreover, the article has a number of links to YouTube, but nothing new. Incidentally, I wish there were 'hundreds of examples of Ricardo's dancing on the internet'! Many thanks to Jantango for the link. Home | "Equinox" | Ojai / Monday | Ventura / Tuesday | Nevada City |  Workshops  |  | Resources | Contact

Tango Lab in Ojai:  October 2015 Celebrated Milonguera + Teacher Muma Valino — from Buenos Aires — The "8 Lessons"   — of Ricardo Vidort — Monday - October 12, 2015 — at a private home in Ojai — More Information:   Tango Lab Overview           Muma's Bio + Background More Links to Muma + Ricardo           Past Quantum Tango Workshops Tango Lab with Muma Valino:  Ricardo's "8 Lessons" Muma & Ricardo Vidort, dancing in 2001 — at the opening of "Bien Jaileife," her milonga in Buenos Aires A classic milonguera and celebrated teacher, Muma Valino visits Southern California + Ojai for the first time ... on what may be her last ever tour to North America. Muma is master of dancing tango in the intimate "close embrace" of the milongas and dance floors of Buenos Aires, where she grew up and still lives today. The daughter of a well-established tango family, the likes of Alberto Castillo and Ricardo Tanturi were frequent visitors to her childhood home, and her mother was a singer with the orchestra of Francisco Lomuto. In her own time, Muma has been a cherished dance partner of several of the most renowned + influential social dancers of her generation — among them, Osvaldo Natucci, Fernando Hector Iturrieta, and Dani "El Flaco" García — and with these and others, Muma has helped create a vital "living bridge" between the Golden Age of tango's storied past, and the dance we continue to explore, create and enjoy together today. In this regard, , Muma is perhaps most widely known for her many years of dancing and teaching with the legendary milonguero Ricardo Vidort, who began as a teenager in Buenos Aires in the 1940s, and passed away in 2006, after more than 60 years in tango. Like Muma, Ricardo was a consummate social dancer whose philosophy and approach centered on the nuanced interactions and subtle pleasures of the milonga, where we gather not to "perform" tango for the benefit of any onlooker, but to share and celebrate the pleasure of being with each other, moving together in the company of friends and the music that we love. As a key figure in the "Tango Renaissance" that began in the 1980s, Ricardo was also famous for his views on teaching and tango pedagogy — especially for his push back against those who sought to make tbe dance seem much more complex, rarefied and esoteric than he felt it needed to be in order for us to enjoy it on the social dance floor. Rather than taking an endless series classes in the vain pursuit of an elusive and hypothetical "perfection," Ricardo suggested that dancers could find more value and pleasure in focusing on just a few key concepts, ideas, principles and techniques — a solid foundation that would enable them to enjoy and expand on a lifetime of tango — dancing, learning and improvising on the social dance floor. One well-known expression of Ricardo's philosophy was his claim that he could convey all that one needed to know — all the essentials of tango — in just "8 Lessons," after which he would send the newly minted dancer out into the world of the milongas, to apply and refine these insights over time as they discovered and created their own unique and personal "style" — one of the milongueros' highest values. ... Alas, Ricardo never took time out to document and record the many details of his famous "8 Lessons" approach to learning tango. But to our great good fortune, Muma was there — dancing and teaching right alongside Ricardo during the height of his influence and activity in the 1990s and early 2000s ... And she has generously offered to share and pass on some of her unique insight into the ideas, concepts and material that she and Ricardo developed and explored together. Most of Muma's recent visits to North America have focused on Tango communities in the Pacific Northwest — Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Eugene — where she is a cherished presence. Muma has a reputation as a warm and easy-going teacher, able to convey tango's nuances with clarity and grace, and who embodies the pleasure and confidence that she brings to the dance floor. Muma's teaching has been described as "hands on" rather than analytical — less about the mechanics of any given movement or situation, and more about how we can each find and express the deeper, richer and more resonant "emotional core" of our own personal tango. Please join us in Ojai for this rare opportunity to spend a little time with Muma Valino and her "8 Lessons" of Ricado Vidort — an invaluable window onto Tango's rich history, and a welcome inspiration for our ongoing evolution + the unfolding future that lies ahead ... Muma's visit to Ojai is being made possible by the generosity of our fellow dancers and organizers, DJ Ronaldo + Melinda Bread, who are hosting Muma on her first ever visit to Southern California, and who will present another invitational workshop with Muma over the weekend, focusing on Milonga Tráspie and her dancing + teaching with Dani "El Flaco" García. Overview:  Ricardo's "8 Lessons" with Muma Valino When:  Monday, October 12, 2015 Where:  in a private home in Ojai Tango Lab: 7:00 - 10:00 p.m. - a Two-Hour Seminar on  Ricardo's "8 Lessons"           — plus supervised práctica time with Muma Cost:  $30 / Dancer * ... (= $60 / couple)    *   For this edition of "Tango Lab" ... •    Active Social Dancers This edition of Tango Lab is aimed at active social dancers in our local and neighboring communities. To join us with confidence on Monday evening, you should be familiar and comfortable with dancing in a closer embrace — improvising tango in varying floor conditions, to a range of music, with a variety of partners ... •    Role Balanced In order to maximize everyone's experience and insure that we have an equal number of leaders and followers, you are encouraged to register and attend Tango Lab with a partner. For single dancers interested in Tango Lab, please let us know your role, and we will do our best to match you with an appropriate single partner, if available ... And while "traditional" gender roles are not a limitation — women who lead and men who follow are both welcome — we will plan on keeping to an even number of dancers so that everyone will have a partner throughout this seminar ... •    Limited Enrollment Thank you for your understanding that, because of the size of the room, we will only be able to accommodate a limited number of dancers for this intimate seminar in a private home with Muma Valino. Questions + Registration — please contact:   Stephen Bauer ... More About Muma Valino A lifelong milonguera, Muma Valino lives and breathes the most prominent social form of Argentine Tango — as danced in a "close embrace" in the crowded clubs and salons of her native Buenos Aires. The daughter of a well-connected tango family, Muma grew up steeped in the music, movements and traditions of the dance. As tango reemerged in the "Renaissance" of the late 1980s and 1990s, Muma became one of the most prefered partners for a generation of older milongueros who began dancing back in tango's "Golden Age." Not only was Muma a welcome presence on the everyday social dance floors of the milongas, she was also a highly valued colleague in countless demonstrations and lessons. Over the years of teaching with her fellow milongueros, Muma has emerged as a gifted and celebrated teacher in her own right — widely acknowledged as a master of milonga tráspie, the lively "tango picado," and the philosophy + approach of her long-time collaborator, the renowned Ricardo Vidort. Some of Muma's Partners — Clockwise from top left: Ricardo Vidort, Dani "El Flaco" García, Osvaldo Natucci, and Fernando Hector Iturrieta. Above:  Muma teaching, dancing and demoing in the Pacific Northwest, 2009 - 2012 ... this will be her first visit to Southern California More Links for Muma Valino + Ricardo Vidort Muma on Ricardo Vidort Muma reminiscing about dancing + teaching with her friend, the late Ricardo Vidort. Muma's Dancing in Buenos Aires •  With Ricardo Vidort, at the opening of her milonga, "Bien Jaileife" (2001) ... •  Demo with Dani "El Flaco" García, milonga tráspie at "Sunderland" (2001) ... •  On the social dance floor, dancing vals with Osvaldo Natucci at "El Beso" (2000) ... •  On the social dance floor, with Fernando Hector Iturrieta at "Lo de Celia" ... Muma's Teaching A video collage of Muma teaching in Vancouver, BC, (2009) ... and an overview of her upcoming workshops, later this month in Eugene, Oregon. Interviews with Ricardo Vidort Speaking on video with dancer + writer Janis Kenyon in 2001, Ricardo profiles his philosophy + approach to tango as a social art form. Transcripts of later interviews — on his life in tango ... on learning + feeling ... and his last interview, looking back when he was in hospice. Ricardo's Dancing There are hundreds of examples of Ricardo's dancing on the internet, but this series is from Rome, probably filmed in the early 2000s, before he fell ill ... More Reflections on Ricardo's Impact on Tango From a longer article, "The Last Compadrito," by friend, tanguero + blogger Rick McGarry, from his website Tango and Chaos. Earlier in the article, Rick also shares his views on Ricardo's dancing as profiled several imbedded video clips ... More writings on the idea of "Simplicity" in tango and Ricardo's famous "8 Lessons" approach to the dance ... And, beginning at 00:34, a video collage of Ricardo — dancing, teaching, chatting, and having fun in the homes, cafes, studios and milongas of Buenos Aires ... Muma's translator during her visit to Ojai will be her friend Ronaldo. A dancer + DJ in Los Angeles, Ronaldo also hosts the radio program, Tango Angeles on UBN.