What is tango?
If you ask for what tango is, you will get as many answers as there are dancers. Some say that Canaro is tango but Piazzolla is not. Others say that it is an elaborate variation of the salida. There are those who claim that tango is about two hearts making a connection through movement on the dance floor. Someone else may say that it is the dance that is enjoyed at milongas. In art and life, and by any means in tango, contrary answers may be equally true. Continue reading »
Eugenia Parilla is a force of nature that neither could nor should be tamed. I dare to say that there is no other woman in the world of tango with such a blunt and Dionysian expression as hers. I am reluctant to use the word ‘ornament’ to describe her unique features because we usually think about foot embellishments when we use that word. Even so, I feel that I must use the word here but with a very different meaning. Eugenia ornaments with her entire body. Every limb tells a story. It is amazing to watch but I have often wondered how it would be to dance with her. The extent to how her expressions take form in dance reverses the traditional roles between the man and the woman in the tango.
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The strangest misunderstanding that numerous tango dancers suffer from is that the arms are not parts of the body. How often have we not heard that you should not lead with the arms, which implies that they are merely ancillary and thus not part of the body per se. Well, is not the point proved when we see how some men try to bend their women into repertoire they are not capable of leading? Continue reading »
The YouTube clip under scrutiny today is doubtless the one that I have watched the most times.
If you know me, you would not be surprised to see my favourites Pablo and Dana in the clip, but you will perhaps be surprised to see them in a very modest dance. Here is no extravaganza, no flying legs, no jumping or any innovative choreography. What you see are two advanced dancers in what looks like social down to earth dance. I must say that the first time I saw the clip, my mind told me that that was all there was to it. Even so, some intuitive part of me was mesmerized. Continue reading »
Although this post is going to be about two performances in which Eugenia Parilla is one of the dancers, it will be about Chicho. It will be about two different aspects about Chicho that are close to diametrically different. When we think about Chicho, we think about one of the great innovators of tango nuevo. We most likely think about him in something like this:
