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| YOU CAN DANCE STUDIO |
| Tango Travel Journals Buenos Aires - Part III |
| Nov 9, 2003 okay, got some feedback (fabulously positive and questioning about the real bsas). so ... REAL BSAS (according to my hugely limited experience) I see beggars in most places. gathering things from the trash and collecting paper in huge green plastic garbage bags. i don't know yet what they are doing with this paper, bottles, metals, etc... by beggars i mean, children, families, men, and women. some of the beggars look very rural in appearance, some do not look rural at all. the level of pollution is here very high. many, many taxis, cars, buses, etc. my reading tells me the industrial pollution sources are many and surrounding the city. traveling here is as anywhere in the world. travel smart, be street aware, and don't flash money, your american voice or clothing on the street. THE PEOPLE the people i have come in contact with are waitpeople, grocerystore owers, tango teachers, tango student (local), musicians, and beggars. every single one of these people had a gentle air about them. even the beggars in the sense of if you do not respond immediately to their request they move away from you. i visited a friend's house for dinner, this person has money. i don't think I know what an "average" home is like. MONEY the exchange rate for US is wildly in our favor. approx 3 pesos to our dollar. everything here seems unbelievably cheap. i see poverty everywhere, however. don't understand how the economic thing works. was just told at lunch that 70% of the population in argentine is below their poverty level. CONTINUING STORIES sitting in internet place with mark and two grandmothers with two little kids. one grandmother was singing a lullaby to her child that we have all heard as kids. Mark just sang it to the grandmother in English and it brought a big smile to her face. She is watching her grandson play some computer game. went to an afternoon practica with my danish friend, Jen, yesterday at Confiteria Ideal. he loves to practice as i do. we started our workout with walking. the teachers came over and praised us on our walking. not sure if it was praise for how we walked or that we were walking when everyone else was trying to do figures. we stayed for three hours working on various combinations and relaxation techniques. i have been to different classes in different environments taught by vastly different style teachers. so i have been trying to find a common link between all the information i am getting. so far the link i am seeing is that all these movements are simple and done in a turning motion. milongas are crowded you can't move that far forward at once, therefore one must do their moves in one spot. one teacher said go to the cross (in spanish) and then when he demonstrated it, he took one side step and the rest of the cross was done in a circular motion. it makes total sense when you see it. they teach the moves in a linear walking forward motion, then when they are actually done it is in one place and circular. i am taking copious notes and really plan on bringing some of these wonderfully simple and wonderfully feeling combinations back with me. Rebecca and Nick came to our home for a rooftop barbecue being thrown by some of the danish people in the house. we were talking tango (of course) and she said these dancers down here are taught navigation and beginning movements at the same time by necessity. absolutely. the complaint i am hearing from leads from outside Argentina is that they go to the classes and then are unable to execute the learned movements because the milonga space is way more limited that they are use to. my new mantra...navigation, navigation, navigation went to a class last night for beginners and was able to lead. at the practica afterwards i got to work with a local woman who leads and follows. more experience, yieee ha. i asked one woman to dance and she politely declined saying, "i prefer to dance with a man." today, i started my day in my favorite cafe on the plaza dorrego....Sunday is the day of the flea market and fair...here are some of the moments... ¿ penguin walking by with briefcase ¿ man in tango garb talking to two policemen in flack jackets ¿ a waiter dressed in black pants and vest with white shirt carries cafe y leche and croissants (media lunas) on round silver tray to customers sitting on sidewalk ¿ flea market vendors slowly unwrapping their treasures from their newspaper and tissue protection and placing them in the booths ¿ musicians setting up to play ¿ policeman just told a kid to get off his bike and walk through the market ¿ woman (older milonguera) in red and black high heels, fringe, gloves, and large rhinestone earrings standing on cobblestones fanning herself ¿man in tall green pointed hat carrying small pointed candies to sell ¿ kid walking with pack of dogs (4). 1 puppy named Jesse who is having trouble staying with the group, still learning the ropes ¿ band warming up, tango singer starts to sing, music fills the air ¿ women in high platform shoes teetering their way across the cobblestones more later, ciao, ev |