Buenos Aires 2008 - Part 5

La Feria de la Plaza Francia (2009)

Sunday (Day)

Finally! A day that was not so horrendously hectic! After staying up until 5 am last night sending emails to Toronto about all our adventures, I actually got to sleep in - until 11:30 a.m. today (What's that, a whole 5 1/2 hours of sleep?) Immediately after I woke up I tried to call M., a tango friend from Toronto who was in Buenos Aires at the same time. Didn't get her - got her landlady instead, who told me that M. was still asleep.

The morning sun was brilliant and warm, the skies were clear, the streets were not congested with cars spewing black smoke, and everyone was smiling and enjoying the weather. A beautiful morning. We went for lunch at Babieca, a restaurant close by the hotel that takes pride in its pasta and baked goods. Soccer was playing on the overhead tvs, and not many people were in the restaurant having lunch yet. Why the rush anyway? We parked ourselves on a table next to the window overlooking Riobamba.

We had lunch on numerous occasions in this restaurant last year. Babieca's pastas are rich and we never tired of our favourites which always came covered with mouth-watering sauces, gooey toasted cheese and savoury bits of ham, bacon, chicken, sausage or ground beef. This time, we ordered a tortilla espanol (egg, sausages and potato cake) and a linguini parisienne (cheese and ham with a cream sauce). We recognized the waiter serving us from last year! I told the waiter that we were at that restaurant just one year ago and that he had served us then. I only understood about half of what he said in our conversation, sometimes it's not the words, but the good will that counts, so we established a great rapport. But what really impressed the waiter was when Man Yung told me to tell him that he was "muy guapo" (very handsome)!

Now, one of our Toronto tango friends went into ecstatic convulsions throughout her first trip to Buenos Aires because every Argentinian man was incredibly handsome to her. But when we went in 2007, we were shocked that we weren't able to find even a single Argentinian man who could put us into convulsive ecstasies. They must have had all gone abroad to teach Tango! But seriously, this waiter was not bad, he actually strongly reminded us of Madonna's ex boy-toy Tony Ward ("And not like a disheveled unshaven Fabio in a ratty t-shirt and cargo pants!" exclaimed Man Yung). Our waiter thoroughly enjoyed the fact that we considered him as handsome (or even more handsome than) a bona fide Italian model and we got extra special service that day (Flattery! It works!)

After a leisurely lunch we strolled back to the hotel and tried calling M. again. Still asleep! I told her landlady (jokingly) that M. must be somewhat "perezosa" (lazy) and the little old lady agreed rather apologetically. What do the Argentinians really think of us crazy tango tourists, staying out all night and sleeping well past noon?

If we had been able to contact M., we would have gone to Confiteria Ideal (one of her favourite venues) with her - alas, that was not to be. Off we went to the Museo de Bellas Artes instead.

The Museum of Art is one of those grand buildings in Buenos Aires on that stretch of land reserved for monumental public works along the Av. Libertador along the river. All around are wide avenues, clear lines of sight and "inspiring" and forceful architecture - like those vistas you find in De Chirico paintings, or in the grand building projects of politically repressive regimes. However, the scene was also uniquely Buenos Aires by the profuse tropical foliage all around - palm trees and big low bulbous trees heavy with glossy dark leaves and fleshy purple-pink flowers (no, I don't remember what these trees are called). Quite pretty really.

Except that the building itself was sadly decrepit. Up close, we could see whole sections of plaster on the exterior wall peeling. Inside, the entrance hall was under serious renovation and no-one had bothered to hide it. Debris and exposed work was everywhere. There was selective air-conditioning - some rooms would be normal and others stifling hot. Oddly enough it was the rooms with the "old" art that were hot. Don't old artworks melt if they didn't have climate control? The wonderful Modigliani looked like it was sweating. Perhaps lack of funding meant that nothing could be done.

The second floor was devoted to Argentine Art - at least that part of the museum had air conditioning. The art was depressing - full of poverty, repression and nightmarish images like chickens with human faces and forks sticking out of their backs.

Plaza Francia was next door to the Museum of Art, so we spent some time walking around in the fair. The weather had become hot and humid mid-afternoon, so even though the stalls were interesting - filled with colourful and cute arts and crafts that we were just dying to buy as souvenirs for the folks back home - we found it to be unbearably hot under the canvas tents. Some vendor was selling a head massager consisting of a thing made of wire that looked like a long-legged spider, and since I was half hallucinating with the heat, I was wondering - "Would massaging my head with wire make me feel cooler"?

Sitting at Freddo's outdoor patio next to the fair, I felt much much better. There was a slight breeze and a nice broad shade under the big umbrellas. Man Yung's coffee came with a glass of gassy mineral water and a tiny scoop of cappucino ice cream. I was drinking a chocolate banana smoothy and I still got a scoop of cappucino ice cream! In fact, the waitress was going around with a huge tray filled with tiny dishes with tiny scoops of cappucino ice cream and passing them out willy nilly to the people lounging in the patio. There were tables of darkly tanned but wrinkly rich ladies with their designer handbags, groups of fresh-faced young people chatting and laughing, and families with noisy children enjoying their Sunday afternoon. Cappucino ice cream (and if you are really hot, a head freezing chocolate banana smoothy) was the perfect way to cool down after a very sticky and sweaty walk around the fair.

Surprisingly, the hotel was only a half hour walk from Plaza Francia - I was expecting that it would take longer being at least eight blocks. We passed by a Christian Dior store - really pricey and upscale in Canada and possibly only available at the swanky Holt Renfrew but here in Buenos Aires, it's just like "Strada". Man Yung was at it with the clothes again - three more polo shirts! Seems like a lot but you can bet he'll sweat through them in three hours of dancing (ewww).

We called M. again when we were back at the hotel. This time she was out. Our phone was flashing so it was possible that she had called back to leave a message, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to retrieve messages on the hotel phone. The hotel computer was occupied again! And typing emails with a stylus on my HTC phone with a virtual keyboard the size of ladybird was just stupidly eye-crossing and time-consuming. I was having such severe tech issues on this trip...

We had plans to meet with Alberto and Paulina on Sunday night for the milonga at El Beso. We were filled with wonder that they aren't completely sick of us already!

Milonguera

We were at a milonga over the weekend and were surprised to see what can be termed in Toronto as an anachronism – a couple who danced a style of dancing that we hadn’t seen in about two years.

We won’t go into lengthy descriptive details, but let’s just say it involved some “choreography” and a lot of back linear boleos (For those who have been personally “touched” by this kind of dynamic movement in a crowded milonga – you know what we mean when we say “Ouch!”) Luckily there was plenty of space and at least the couple looked like they were really enjoying themselves.

We had never seen this couple before, so we thought they were from out of town – but no, they were actually from Toronto! Perhaps they had been in hibernation, or perhaps they were frequenting milongas we weren’t going to - but thinking about it, the quality of Tango in Toronto has really improved a lot since their style of tango was last in vogue. Here on our blog we know we gripe and complain a lot – but the point is, we don’t see this kind of dancing anymore in Toronto. Toronto Leaders and Followers have improved since three years ago.

Especially the Followers.

Let us make a bold statement. In our humble opinion, Toronto has some of the best Followers in the world. Watching some of the Followers dance in Toronto, we are in total awe. Their aptitude has gone beyond mere “Following” – many Toronto Followers already have the skill to follow almost anything that is thrown their way – into something “more”.

Into the realm of the "Milonguera".

We use the term “Milonguera” for the purposes of this post in a very narrow sense. We are not talking about a lifestyle choice. We are not talking about a code of dress or a code of conduct, or a style of dance (as in "Milonguero Style"). We are not even talking about people knowing the music from front to back and back again or having the experience of dancing during the Golden Age. For all of that you will have to turn to the real Milongueras, the ones who are married to the milongas of Buenos Aires. Here in Toronto, we simply do not have the same culture, and therefore cannot make the same comparison on a cultural level.

However, what Toronto Followers could aspire to, and perhaps even achieve, is to “dance like a Milonguera”.

What is it like to be dancing like a "Milonguera"? Man Yung has danced with quite a few Milongueras in Buenos Aires, and has always expressed that they all had a quality in their dance that was quite beyond the average Tanguera. Man Yung and I discuss this topic incessantly. I confess that I would like to dance like a Milonguera, but I have yet to attain this. I still struggle day to day with just understanding the concept. What is the key?

From my discussions with Man Yung and my understanding to date, there seem to be some obvious things that cannot be considered "Milonguera":

1. A Follower who can't follow.

2. A Follower who does continuous unled ochos, ganchos, leans etc.

3. A Follower whose adornment addiction frequently disrupts the lead and results, in minor cases, in her “Not Following”, and in serious cases, in her using the Leader as an ahem, “Phallic Prop” with which she can pole dance to the fantasy of her adornment queendom.

4. A Follower whose “Will” to dominate the dance manifests itself physically, and leads her to be either

a) as heavy as a ton of bricks; and/or

b) as forceful as a braking train; and/or

c) as painful to dance with as a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu double pretzel joint lock

– all on purpose, to show that she knows "better" than the Leader and therefore the Leader should submit to her interpretation of the dance, the music etc. This kind of Follower may think she is a Milonguera but in fact she is just an arrogant, heavy and unpleasant dancer.

4. A Follower whose “Will” to dominate the dance manifests itself passive-aggressively, as revealed in

a) Deliberate absence of “frame” and firmness (and "frame" and "firmness" does not mean pushing forcefully, but a natural receptivity to the lead) in the right arm to feel any lead, mimicking a limpy strand of cooked spaghetti. The Follower may even drop her arm entirely to prove to the Leader "Ha ha! You CAN'T lead me!";

- which may or may not be accompanied by a case of

b) Interruption of the dance to “correct” or “belittle” and "blame" the leader for mistakes in following arising from the Follower’s own lack of ability or desire to follow.

This is especially common in Followers who became “Teachers” or “Maestras” or “Tango Professionals” too soon. Since these Follower's ability to follow has sadly not matched the elevated status claimed by such Followers in the tango hierarchy, such psychological tactics are required by such Followers to “Save Face", frankly, when they couldn't follow. Even if the Follower is on a higher level than the Leader in skill, experience, knowledge etc. - this kind of behavior is absolutely unacceptable on the dance floor during a milonga (and that goes for Leaders teaching Followers on the dance floor as well). If the "Maestra" doesn't want to dance with a particular Leader in the milonga, she should just refuse, and not play games.

Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to be Argentinian or a Portena to dance like a Milonguera, and indeed, some Argentinians/Portenas do not dance like Milongueras.

Even more surprisingly, Man Yung has told me that "Milonguera" does not equate to "Perfect Following". Some Milongueras can follow perfectly. But Perfect Followers do not necessarily dance like "Milongueras". Indeed, Man Yung says that many Perfect Followers are too high-strung, nervous, tense, or precisely robotic and overall, too concerned about being Perfect Followers to be dancing "Milonguera". In addition, Man Yung has danced with Followers here in Toronto and in Buenos Aires who have not been Perfect Followers - but who have still conveyed to him a sense of being "Milonguera".

So how does a Milonguera dance like a Milonguera?

A Milonguera dances for herself and her partner, and not for the ulterior purposes of showing off, proving her style or her philosophy of dance is right, or for impressing onlookers, future partners and/or prospective students.

A Milonguera dances in the moment. She is not thinking of Wal-Mart.

A Milonguera dances because she enjoys dancing with the Leader. Which does not mean that she will dance with anyone who asks. Rather, she will reject Leaders who are dancing for ulterior motives - showing off, impressing onlookers, etc. etc. When a Milonguera is giving her all into the dance, the last thing she wants is to be nauseated by a Leader who is not dancing with her but who is using her in his own tango fantasy. She requires that she and the Leader dance - TOGETHER.

A Milonguera does not care if she is a Perfect Follower, and will not tense up and become as rigid as a board when she makes mistakes. Mistakes do not bother her. Dancing for her is not a contest of skill with the other Followers in the room, or with the ideal of what a Perfect Follower should be like. However, all Milongueras are Very Good to Perfect Followers - and not because they are trying to be, but because they are NOT trying to be.

A Milonguera can feel and show through her dancing the Leader's interpretation of the music. On a basic level, this means the Leader's choice of steps. On an advanced level, this means the Leader's emotional reaction and interpretation of the nuances in the music - whether the music is hard, soft, tender, fiery, peppy, tormented, joyous, etc. Just as the Leader must dance each different orchestra (and each different piece of music in each orchestra) differently, the Milonguera must feel, follow and convey this interpretation and not impose her own.

For the duration of the tanda, the Milonguera dances like she has given her entire being to her Leader and her Leader alone. But the Leader must also give his all to her, the Milonguera. This is the pact that they made, which they must not violate.

Just think, only two years ago many Toronto Followers had trouble doing more than one giro at a time! And one year ago we were contending with a plague of rabid adornistas. Now you can hardly count the number of Toronto Followers who are dancing beautifully - because so many of them are.

Man Yung is so lucky.*

*Except that Irene still drives him nuts by following every piece of music like she is dancing to Di Sarli.

Buenos Aires 2008 - Part 4

Saturday (Night)

When Alberto and Paulina came to pick us up in the evening to go to Glorias Argentinas, Alberto made a disapproving face when we mentioned El Arranque and scolded us about sneaking off to dance there on Saturday afternoon.

He cautioned: "You should stick to milongas that are good if you want to become good dancers!" I had a witty response - "No, precisely the opposite - we should go to sucky milongas because it would appear that Man Yung is a dancing genius by comparison!"

Glorias Argentinas is in the barrio of Mataderos - a long drive, about half an hour to forty-five minutes from downtown. Once you get close to the milonga, you have to navigate all these one-way streets in a very quiet, dark residential neighbourhood - one wrong turn and you will be a few blocks short, or a few blocks off, and you will have to drive right round again. The low square concrete houses lining the broken roads are so dark they look deserted, so we definitely wouldn't want to be on foot being strangers to the area. We've had taxi drivers get lost trying to take us there.

But once we arrive at the brilliantly neon lighted entrance, it has always been worth while. The people there are fantastic, super-friendly, and since foreign faces are rare, the regulars actually try to make strangers feel welcome. In the barrio milongas like Glorias Argentinas, the regulars are there because they enjoy going out, seeing their friends and having fun on Saturday night. They dance for themselves and not to impress anyone or to get students. The milonga doesn't have that slick sheen of commercialism that you find in the more popular, "instructor-frequented" milongas of downtown. It's refreshing.

Saturday nights at Glorias Argentinas are for couples, but this does not necessarily mean that you can't get dances if you are either single or part of a couple. We've always danced with the regulars at Glorias Argentinas, and this second trip was no exception.

So what were we doing at Glorias Argentinas this evening? Well, we had been invited to Elba Biscay's birthday party (time to have a Wayne's World moment: NO WAY! YES, WAY!). Elba is the beautiful, tall, elegant milonguera who partnered with Alberto in the Milonguisimo show for many years. You may recognize her from a popular Youtube video in which she performs a vals with Alberto to D'Arienzo's Valsecito Criollo - and where? At Glorias Argentinas, no less! In that video Elba wears an ice blue top and harem pants with dangerously high ice blue stilettos. Ice blue seems to be her favourite colour, perhaps to match her ice blond hair - and she was wearing this luminous colour at her birthday as well.

If you want to talk about surreal experiences, here's another one. At the party, we were seated right opposite Elba with her partner Antonio Juffre (they competed in the Metropolitano and I think also the Mundial that year) and Adela Galeazzi. On one end of the table was El Flaco Dany's brother Jorge Garcia and Jorge Uzunian from Milonguisimo. Right beside us was Alberto and Paulina. The whole table were special guests of Oscar Hector, the organizer of the milonga and of the show Milonguisimo. The party occupied a long table right at the front and there were many people that we didn't know or recognize - all of them superb dancers. And they all made us feel quite at home, even though it is quite bizarre for these two chinese people from Toronto, Canada (one not speaking a word of Spanish and the other barely managing) to be in the middle of this crowd, some of the creme de la creme of milongueros in Buenos Aires.

When you are hanging around some of the best dancers in Buenos Aires you cannot help watch the pros dance in utter awe. First up was Jorge Garcia. "Look at that fleet-footed man!" Man Yung whispered excitedly to me. His footwork was fast, precise and amazingly clear - with a grounded solidity in his tango walk that would be impossible to find at that speed outside of Buenos Aires. Then there was Jorge Uzunian, who also has beautiful, rapid and rhythmic footwork. Both the Jorges can dance circles around anyone we know. Adela of course, was every milonguero's favourite partner - and her adornments playful and lightning fast. To top it all off, Elba was competing in the vals competition that night with her partner Antonio Juffre - and we had a chance to see them dance a wonderful lyrical vals, filled with the entrega of tango. All of this would make any mere "tango mortal" (like ourselves) feel too intimidated to venture out on the dance floor, but we were continuously encouraged to dance - "You must dance, dance!" they said. The milonga is not just for sitting and gawking and chit-chatting, you are there to dance, and, as the milongueros said, you MUST dance.

We didn't just dance together, we danced with others too. A regular of the milonga (he always sits with his wife right in front of the mirrors - and that has been his reserved seat for the past thirty years) recognized us from the previous year and asked me to dance again. Man Yung even had a chance to dance with Elba!

And what did Man Yung say when I asked him what it was like to dance with Elba Biscay? Well, absolutely FANTASTIC. Your partner can be a world-famous show (or even salon) tango instructor, or the most skilled follower in the local tango community, but she would still not come close to what dancing with a milonguera like Elba (or Susy Tilbe - Man Yung had a chance to dance with her on the first day of our first visit to Buenos Aires) feels like. "Milonguera" seems to be a state of mind that could be transmitted to the leader when the milonguera follows. It is a deep feeling, which also feels like complete freedom. You don't have to worry about whether your partner can follow or not follow, or whether something would be "too tricky" or "too plain" or "too easy" or "too difficult". The milonguera dances to enjoy the dance, she is not anxious about being able to follow everything that the leader is trying to do (even though she can, and she does), nor does she care. It was as if Elba had given Man Yung the order to "dance, dance!" and that was all he needed to do - to dance.

We had an exhilarating time. There were the photos, the huge homemade birthday cakes with raging bright spitting sparklers on top, lots of dancing - and Man Yung even won the lucky draw of 100 pesos towards a pair of Artesanaal shoes!

Just as we were about to leave with Alberto and Paulina, one of the milongueros (probably requested by our hostess Elba) at our table asked me to dance the next tanda. I was surprised, because this particular gentleman had been very quiet all evening, sitting in his seat right at the edge of the dance floor - he seemed rather stern and disapproving, in fact. The next tanda happened to be a milonga. The milonguero looked at Alberto (he knew he was our teacher), and asked him whether it would be "all right" to get me to dance a tanda of milonga, and that he could always wait for the next tango tanda. I guess he didn't have much hope that the gringa could follow, especially in milonga! But Alberto was very confident in my abilities and said "Go ahead, it will be fine!" So off I went to dance milonga with the reluctant milonguero.

The first milonga the milonguero was puzzled - puzzled why no matter what he led, I could follow it. The second milonga he tried every trick he knew for milonga - and still, I followed. I was not in the slightest bit concerned. The third milonga, the milonguero felt completely and utterly free to dance however he wished. He became happier and happier as the tanda progressed, and by the time the tanda was finished, he was beaming and we walked arm in arm off the dance floor. He gave Man Yung the thumbs up as he led me back to my seat.

Man Yung was watching the entire tanda. "He was testing out everything he knew, and you surprised him when you passed the test," Man Yung remarked to me. Well, I'm lucky that I learned to follow from Alberto and Paulina, and how to dance milonga from Martha and Manolo!

It was truly quite late by the time we left the party. As Alberto and Paulina drove us back to our hotel, Paulina asked me, "So, how was it dancing with Ruben _____?" I wasn't able to catch the rest of his name.

"It was pretty good, " I replied. "What is his name again? Ruben? Who is he exactly?"

Paulina said, "Ruben de Pompeya."

"You mean THE Ruben de Pompeya?!!?!" I was totally shocked.

If I had known that he was THE Ruben de Pompeya I'm pretty sure I would have been too nervous to follow the way that I did!*

* And that's why I am not a Milonguera.