Looking for Bahía Blanca

Bahia Blanca: "A la ciudad que me vió nacer"

Ever since Sally Potter danced her “Milonga Triste” to this tango with Fabian Salas and Gustavo Naveira in an abandoned barber’s shop, we have been blessed with a veritable potpourri of interpretations of El Señor de Tango’s signature tune.

We know that Carlos Di Sarli was born in Bahía Blanca, and that he had tenderly dedicated the score of his composition to the city of his birth. We also know that this is a beautiful tango, filled with feeling and nostalgia. But what does it all really mean?

Since neither Man Yung nor I can ever profess to know anything, we can only humbly look to that venerable institution YouTube for answers. And in YouTube, not only is there potpourri - if you wish to go by the thesaurus, you may also find a ragbag, assortment, hodgepodge, collection, jumble, variety, medley, assembly – all in all, a cornucopia with a random sprinkling of cambalache:

Osvaldo Zotto and Lorena Ermocida



Question: "Mr. Zotto, what does it all really mean?"
Answer: "It means that Ms. Ermocida dances robotically without regard to following the lead while trying to do as many adornments as the music cannot possibly allow. We hope that people will look past the music and concentrate on her footwork. Because if they can't get the music (and I bet you 99% never will), at least they will get an opportunity to fiddle with their feet. You are aware, of course, that Ms. Ermocida is part of a very lucrative "Lady's Tango Week" festival every year? You should go. Not only will you learn lots of extra adornments - you also get to gawk at Pablo Veron!"

Daniel Naccuchio and Cristina Sosa




"Ouch! My back is so straight I am literally giving myself a hernia. That's the key to winning the Campeonato - stiff upper back and plenty of enrosques. What was the question again? Oh, the music - of course it means, 'swirly feet, swirly feet, double swirly feet' - is there any better way to evoke the notion of 'ocean'? No, to interpret this tune you don't need to follow the music - ever hear about water having musicality? Ridiculous."

Chicho and Lucia Mazer



Man Yung: "Actually, this is not at all bad. Chicho's musicality is pretty good - not 100% dead on, but mostly fine. This is one of the highlights of CITA 2004, in fact. Too bad stuff like this has set off an explosion of 'Folks, it is now acceptable to dance bad nuevo to good traditional tangos.'"

Fabian Peralta and Virginia Pandolfi




Man Yung: "This is a surprise, Peralta looks like he is concentrating real hard on interpreting this! I don't think I've actually seen him dance better. Except that his partner is sometimes going faster than he is leading."
Irene: "Do you think that green tea + Ovaltine would be a good ice cream flavour? .... Oh, you were talking about Fabian Peralta."

Orlando Paiva Jr. and Mariana Meling




Man Yung: "Watching this, I'm starting to feel a little Bahía Blanca."
Irene: "You dissed this two years ago when you first saw it. I told you it was pretty good."
Man Yung: "He wasn't dead on with the music 100% of the time the last time I saw this - and he still isn't dead on."
Irene: "Whatever."

Orlanda Paiva and Geraldine Rojas in “Assassination Tango”



Man Yung: "What little we could see of the performance is pretty darn good. Can you see that Geraldine does not do a single adornment from the moment she starts dancing to the moment that the camera cuts away to the shot of the people gabbing?"
Irene: "Too bad that most followers are only taking notice of Geraldine when Geraldine is adorning - rather than when she is not."

So, what does Irene think about when she dances?

I used to think about what adornments I could do at every given moment. Now I think about not doing any adornments.

I think about whether the current music is any good, and what should be played to make the tanda better. I'm also on the lookout for anything that might inspire a blog post. I'm also looking at the door to see whether any friends/strangers/regulars have shown up.

I am also wondering if the "Four-Directions Bumper-Car ride" leader will crash into us and cause Man Yung to start a fight. Or I'm rolling my eyes at Man Yung's crazy moves and thinking that he dances funny.

I'm worrying about a wardrobe malfunction. I'm thinking about how long I will be able to dance without my feet hurting.

If it's Friday night, I'm thinking of what I'm going to do on Saturday morning (usually involving a trip to Wal-Mart). If it's Saturday night, I'm thinking about what to do on Sunday morning (usually involving a trip to the Supermarket). I am often contemplating ice cream flavours.

Sometimes I'm thinking about the funny joke I just heard while chatting with my tango friends. Perhaps I may be still giggling over the joke. Once I couldn't stop snorting with laughter while dancing with a certain distinguished older gentleman. I had to disguise it as coughing/choking/gagging, because it wouldn't be pleasant for the said gentleman to think I was laughing at him.

The only things I don't think about are 1) Winning the Campeonato, 2) Tango Blog World Domination or 3) Actual World Domination.

In fact, I've actually evolved to a point in which I can appear to be dancing but in reality I'm totally and utterly absent!

Following my example is not recommended.

Please follow Ofelia's example instead:



One final note: Entrega in Tango can be achieved in any embrace.

80 kilos = 176.4 pounds?

I have a good friend in tango who is one of the best followers in Toronto. If there is anyone who is truly "Milonguera" here, it would be her.

All the leaders that have had the privilege of dancing with her know what I am talking about when I say that she is one of the best followers. But does she care that she is one of the best followers in Toronto? Does she mentally replay all the lovely compliments that she receives from the people she dances with and the people who observe her dancing? Does she lie in bed awake at night thinking about where she is ranked on the fabulous echelon of great dancers in Toronto? Does she even read this blog religiously to see whether we have mentioned her name in the context of "great following" or "great dancing"? Does she even care she is "Milonguera" or not?

Actually, no. Therein lies her secret.

She started to learn tango around the same time that Man Yung and I started. Although she felt immediate love and affinity for Tango music, she has never done more or less than any normal, sane person trying to learn the tango in learning how to tango.

Sure, she took some group classes, and maybe a handful of private classes when she was a beginner - but she has never shelled out thousands of dollars for private classes week after week for years from the top instructors. She doesn't attend every single milonga and practica available, and when she does appear at a milonga, she dances only a few good tandas with the best leaders - and enjoys all of them. She has been to Buenos Aires (once), but she didn't take classes from morning to evening every single day and then burn herself out by staying at the milongas until 5 a.m. in the morning every single night. She doesn't have a thousand pairs of tango shoes. She rarely watches tango videos on Youtube, and she doesn't read tango blogs (even when I send her links). She has no idea who Rick McGarrey is, and couldn't care less. She enjoys tango music, but neither the music nor the dance are all-consuming obsessions for her. She has no desire to be DJ, instructor, performer or to become any sort of authority on either the dance or the music. She has a well-balanced life outside of tango - in fact, in living her day-to-day life, she actually has great long moments in which she is not thinking about tango at all (GASP! HORROR!)

Yet, despite all this and despite not having previous dance training/superior alien DNA-infused genetic makeup/Argentinian ancestry etc., my friend is a beautiful tango dancer. That's because when she dances tango, ALL of her dances tango. And when I mean ALL, I mean not an iota more, and not an iota less.

"Not an iota less": This means she is not thinking about who to dance with next, whether she looks good in her outfit today, what she is going to do on the weekend, whether or not to invest in that particular RRSP, etc.

"Not an iota more" (and this is the tricky one): This means she is not thinking of what she should do in the dance to make herself more impressive, more elegant, more stylish, more musical, more "milonguera/tanguera". She is not thinking about about what adornments she should nor should not do, in fact, she is not even thinking about her feet. She is not thinking about adopting any currently chic embrace or fashion or idealogy just so she can appear more "authentic" or "legitimate" in anyone's eyes. She is not thinking about dancing like Samantha/Geraldine/Andrea/Corinna/Milena/Eugenia/Villa Urquiza/Villa Devoto/Nuevo Tango/Nueva Pompeya/Barracas/Boedo/Lanus/Retiro whoever or whatever, and it would not make her any less tango if she did not have to fantasize about emulating someone else's style.

Here's an excerpt from a documentary "El último bandoneón" (The Last Bandoneón) by Alejandro Saderman. In this excerpt, you can also find examples of tango dancing by three women who dance with their "ALL": Margarita, Lidia and Ofelia.






This is priceless:

Javier Rodriguez: "Dancing with women like them is something different. It's not because they weigh 80 kilos. They don't weigh 80 kilos... they are 80 kilos... of tango."

For women like Margarita, Lidia, Ofelia, and my good friend, whether 80 kilos (or 50 kilos, or 150 kilos) equals 176.4 pounds is completely irrelevant. The real question is the question of being. When these women dance, they ARE tango.