Perfection

We wrote this a while back when there seemed to be a shared Tango consciousness regarding great teachers having or lacking the ability to be star dancers and star dancers having or lacking the ability to be great teachers…

Mark at Tango Beat wrote, “Great performers in every art discipline are not necessarily the best teachers. Is tango the exception?” He makes a valid point and we have had the experience of learning tango from dancers who seemed to dance well, but couldn’t teach to save their lives. However, we have also been fortunate enough to have as our maestro, Andres Laza Moreno, who has the “wide spectrum of talent” that Mark speaks of. Andres is both an incredible teacher and a phenomenal dancer.

Meanwhile, Bora wrote, “People’s tolerance for your mistakes goes down when you enter the ‘experts’ circle.’ After all, who will want to learn from you or see you dance if you fail to live up to the occasion, even if it’s during a social dance at a milonga?” Although we understand and partially agree with this comment, it depresses us tremendously. We’ve witnessed performers flexing almost every muscle in their body in order to avoid making a single mistake. Yet those with an eye for it, can see all the “mistakes” happening underneath this guise. They’re only fooling those very people who don’t want to learn from people who aren’t “perfect”! It is satisfying and oh-so-real to see the Tango greats make mistakes and own them! THAT is real Tango; as is understanding that there are no mistakes in Tango; there are only miscommunications.

Thankfully, there are those who understand and have said that a good dancer does not necessarily make a good teacher, and a good teacher does not necessarily make a good dancer. Nor does that need to be the case. THANK YOU. The old adage “do as I say and not as I do” fits nicely here.

The two of us do not need to dance like Sebastian Achaval or Ricardo Vidort in order to be great teachers. And at least we have the wherewithal to know that we are not even in the same realm as some of those great dancers (although that doesn’t seem to be the case with most teachers)!  We can, however, still be excellent and lovely dancers with an ability to teach the most “advanced” dancers in our community… without being perfect or being perfect technicians. In fact, we have been told and reminded that Tango should NOT be perfect and it is during those times of “imperfection” that Tango can enter your dance (Gracias, Javier). That little comment is a Tango-jewel. It’s something we treasure and pass on whenever we get the chance.

Finally, back in our ballroom days, our teacher and coach (a National champion) told us that you don’t need to be a champion or among the best dancers to be an incredible teacher. Some people need to seriously reconsider why they think they need to learn from the “best” dancer who teaches in the world when they’re unlikely to ever dance better than the “worst” dancer who teaches in their community. We’re not saying this to limit anyone’s potential, but rather to encourage students to seek out the best teachers (especially in their own hometown) instead of only those they THINK are the best dancers.

The Honeymoon Phase is Over When:

Honeymoon Bliss?

…you don’t feel the need to dance every “tanda”.

…you actually enjoy sitting and listening to the music at a milonga.

…you have no desire to dance outside on a concrete floor, in cold weather, or at other locations not meant for Tango.

…you are aware of the Tango music you are amassing – you no longer download/copy any song that is Tango-like in nature.

…you are no longer interested in volcadas/colgadas/ganchos (if you ever were).

…you no longer attempt to put Tango moves to every piece of music (if you ever did).

…you no longer find it acceptable to hear anything but “golden era” Tango music at a milonga (if you ever did).

…you know how to decline a dance… and you do it.

…you no longer think “El Huracan” is a good piece of music to dance to (unless it’s D’Arienzo’s ’44) and you’ve heard “Desde el alma”, “Corazón de oro”, and Poema” (Canaro) played often enough, thank you.

…you think it’s outrageous to hear 3 or more D’Arienzo Tango tandas played at the milonga (especially if it’s less than 4 hours long)… and in fact, you don’t think everything your local DJ plays is good, is in a properly constructed tanda (i.e., what happened to playing songs from the same era?!), or is being played at the appropriate time in the night (because you can actually hear the difference between the songs AND you are actually listening to the music now).

…you do not want to hear Tango tandas by D’Arienzo and DiSarli following one another (too much!).

…you still love Caló with Berón, but you now know that it is like vanilla-flavoured ice cream (flavoured with REAL vanilla) – simple and special, but not the end-all of Tango music. (A friendly poke to some of you out there – you know who you are ;)

…you no longer think that chest contact alone amounts to an embrace – you want more than a feather-light touch.

…you no longer think that any/every teacher brought to your city or seen on YouTube is amazing and you are not impressed or interested in all the tricks and flashy moves they do.

In many ways, it makes us sad to admit that we are no longer in the Tango honeymoon phase. On the flip-side of the coin, we are happy that we are not dancers who are STUCK in the honeymoon phase – and there are many of those.  Once you grow out of the honeymoon phase, that is when you and your dance can begin to mature. We feel that we are now more knowledgeable, our dancing has evolved, and we don’t live in a delusion. We KNOW that Tango in Buenos Aires is so much better.

How We Teach & Promote Argentine Tango

... Tango Awareness, that is.

1. We play only traditional Argentine Tango music AND we only dance to this music.

2. We teach our students to dance counter-clockwise, in one lane, and to not pass other couples (unless absolutely necessary – and NEVER on the right side of a couple) AND we dance with these proper floor skills.

3. We teach our students to keep their feet on the ground as much as possible AND we keep our feet on the ground as much as possible.

4. We do not teach ganchos or other unnecessary movements AND we don’t dance with these kinds of movements.

5. We teach social and improvised Tango that is conducive to dancing on a milonga floor AND we dance a social and improvised Tango.

6. We teach the “cabeceo” (reminding our students that it is done from your seat and not at the corner of the woman’s table) AND we actually use it.

7. As teachers, when we go to Buenos Aires, we go as students ready to learn more. We take classes, we learn more about the music, we dance socially, and we live Tango.

8. We teach our students about the music and the importance of it. We tell them which orchestra/singer/era will be playing during the class. We even remind our students that they should not embrace until the song has begun in order to develop a feeling for what is being played.

9. We teach our students that a “cortina” is a small piece of non-Tango music used to CLEAR the floor between “tandas” and no one should dance to the “cortina” or remain on the floor during this time.

10. We tell our students to go out dancing, to dance with various partners… but we also let our students know that they are allowed to decline dances for whatever reason.

*Although we teach and promote these concepts (and more) with the hope that we’re positively influencing our students, we are often reminded that people will eventually make their own choices – for better or for worse.

La Divina: Andrea Misse

Husband & Wife

Like a warm, gentle, breeze, Andrea caressed our lives and was gone.* We mean our lives – Jani & Kristina.

We first met Andrea Misse briefly in February of 2009 when we were taking a private with Javier Rodriguez. During our first 8-month visit to Buenos Aires, we were particularly interested in learning from male teachers. And in this way, we never thought to take lessons from Andrea. However, when one of our lessons with Javier was just about up, Andrea stopped by. Javier insisted that she dance with Jani. At this time, Andrea was VERY pregnant and it was quite the experience to dance with her. Jani had trouble comprehending what he had just felt with Andrea, but he knew without a doubt that she was the most amazing woman he had ever danced with. Once the lesson was finished and Javier was bringing us downstairs, Jani told Javier that he couldn’t believe how wonderful Andrea felt. Javier’s response was that Andrea not only felt and danced like the old milongueras, but she was a milonguera in a young woman’s body.

Andrea wouldn’t enter our lives again until our trip to the Seoul Tango Festival in May 2011. Taking all nine of Javier & Andrea’s workshops (12 hours), we were immersed in their Tango world. This time it was Kristina who was truly mesmerized by Andrea. How is she so balanced?! How do her legs do that? How does her embrace feel so soft, strong, and all-encompassing (yes, K asked to feel it)?! In all honesty, it was only at this point that Kristina finally and truly fell in love with Andrea Misse, the Tango Goddess.

During the festival, on the night we had performed, Jani cabeceoed Andrea for a tanda of Biagi Tangos. Feeling calm after a glass or two of wine, Jani felt like he danced in the clouds with La Divina Misse. Immediately following the first Tango, she sincerely told Jani that he danced very well. Common flattery, right? However, she also made a point of telling Kristina at the end of the night how lovely Jani’s dancing was and that he was a very good dancer. It was a very sweet gesture that gave us a glimpse into the lovely person she was.

Now fast forward to our current trip to Buenos Aires. We had previously been in touch with Andrea to let her know we would be here and that Jani wanted to take some lessons with her. The first 2 lessons were with Jani only, but Kristina didn’t miss out on the chance to observe the classes – taking notes for Jani and doing her best to visually absorb some of Andrea’s technique. Those 2 classes were so Tango/Life changing, that we decided that the next private would be 2 hours long – one hour for Jani and one hour for the two of us as a couple. And after those 2 hours, we booked another 2-hour lesson for two days later on Friday, December 30th.

Andrea pushed us both hard and was always quick to show how proud of us she was. After dancing a song with Jani where she had demanded that he not be scared to be more violent and more of a brute, she broke away from the embrace and a huge smile slowly spread across her face. After giving us helpful tips to make a calecita-like lean better and more beautiful, our subsequent attempt yielded a “SI!!!!!” and a “Hermosa!!!” And finally, after our last 2-hour lesson while we were thanking her for everything, she stressed how it had been a pleasure for her to teach us.

We were upset after that lesson because we didn’t know when we would have the chance to learn from her again. The next 2 days were “fiesta” days (New Year’s), she was leaving Monday for a festival in Neuquen and after the festival she had plans to go to the beach with her family. Little did we know that we would be one of the last students she would teach… and that we would never learn from her again.

HOWEVER, we were kindly invited to Javier (Rodriguez’) home for New Year’s Eve celebrations along with many other international Tango friends. What an incredible time we had… A 12-hour affair, from 8pm to 8am. Late in the evening (or early in the morning), Andrea, her husband, and their daughter dropped by for a visit. They were beaming with happiness. The little one was so shy, but once a carnival mask was strapped on, she became a different girl and it was then that Andrea and her performed a little choreography that included the cutest (and most appropriate) gancho and sentada combo we have ever seen. It was also during this night that Jani took what may have been their last family photo.

One day later, the news of Andrea’s death hit us, along with MANY others, hard. We had received a message in the evening of the 2nd to go over to Javier’s, but we thought it was for a get-together. It was only half-an-hour later, while checking Facebook, that we found out that Andrea was dead. It was an unbelievable shock and we hurried to contact others in Buenos Aires and get ourselves over to Javier’s where friends were gathering to comfort one another.

In many ways, we were kicking ourselves for not having taken lessons with Andrea during our last visit to Buenos Aires… but then we reminded ourselves that it obviously hadn’t been the right time then. This was now our time. And in this same way, we try to remind ourselves that Andrea is no longer here because it was her time to move on. We couldn’t be more thankful that she came into our lives.

Thank you Andrea for sharing a part of your life and your Tango with us.

Our thoughts, our prays, and our hearts go out to Andrea’s family and friends. We wish them strength and love during this difficult time.

*For those unaware, Andrea moved on from this world after being in a car accident (involving 4 cars in total) with her husband, her daughter, and her husband’s mother. The other passengers sustained some injuries, but are OK.