The West End Library’s Weekly “Practica”
hy tango? While talking to some participants at the West End Library’s weekly “practica” (Spanish for “practice session”), comments were willingly offered up. A twentysomething from Bethesda who tried tango two months ago said, “I tried it, it’s addicting.” Another 50-something male said, “It’s not about sex or picking up someone, it’s about making a connection for that dance. It doesn’t happen in every dance, but when it does, you know you have to find it again.” From women in their 30s and 40s came comments, ”Tango saved my life;” “Amazing, life changing, gorgeous;” and “(tango) Rekindles everything ballet should offer but does not. It is nice and kind.”
Tango is not what’s in the steps, it’s what’s between the steps… it deals with your emotions.”
Sidney, a former Canadian, studied tango with Carlos Gavito, aka the Great Gavito, and has danced for 15 years. Now a FB resident and regularly at the WE/L practicas for the last four years, he perhaps says it best, “Tango is not what’s in the steps, it’s what’s between the steps. And, tango goes beyond the steps. It deals with your emotions. This is why people come to tango. They come toinner being….it has similarities to yoga. It demands great inner concentration and you find out things about yourself.”
In DC, tango got its foothold in the mid-1990’s and now is flourishing with an increasing number of weekly Milongas (dances) in the area and always a tribe of new followers. They are all ages, nationalities, and professions united in what is a very nuanced and a very challenging dance to learn.
The tango crowd is friendly and typically dances at least once a week. They may take lessons. They may be single, married, or in a relationship.
There is no fitness level required. For many, dancing is their primary activity, although, among those I met at WE/L practica, two have black belts in the martial arts. Tangoers are not into drinking (i.e. alcohol): water is best, along with snacks of fruit. It really is all about dancing.
For the most part, women wear dresses and, once serious, invest in strapped heels with leather soles (yes, Argentina manufactures and sells terrific tango shoes). Beginners can adapt tennis shoes by taping masking or duct tape across the bottom of the shoe (where the balls of the feet hit) to allow easy turning. Couples dance in counter-clockwise rotation around the room. Proper etiquette dictates that a new partner is chosen for each dance.
And so you see short and tall, male and male or woman and woman (at the practica this helps you understand better how to lead or follow). Bahman Aryana, along with Alexandra Russell, organizes the practicas which are held Saturdays in the second-floor community space of our West End Library. Then Sundays, Memorial Day through Labor Day, an outdoor Milonga is held at Freedom Plaza (1300 across from Wilson Bldg.) . Up to 200 people come to dance beginning at 7 pm until 10, weather permitting.
Argentine tango is said to have developed on the wrong side of the tracks in brothels frequented by lonely, homesick immigrant men in the late 1800s. It was introduced in the 1920s in Paris by tango singer Carlos Gardel, who cleaned up the lyrics, making them romantic – even poetic. Its popularity in France made it more acceptable to the upper classes back in Argentina and, then, throughout the world. Even in Finland, where it is said to have been introduced in 1910, tango has provided Finland’s national soundtrack since its 1917 declaration of independence from Russia, and every little town has a tango hall.
Dancers take tango vacations throughout the world–from Paris to Singapore, UAE to South Africa. The opportunity to dance is vast, the joy of tango, unending.
~ By S.Trinter FBN
For Tango worldwide visit http://www.cyber-tango.com/e/ geo_e.html
On the internet, to see Geraldine Roja, one of Argentina’s best today on YOUTUBE videos google,” Geraldine Rojas Mala junta. Poema Milonga”.
