We had the Oklahoma Tango Festival last weekend. There I met my hero who inspired me to start learning Argentine Tango 14 years ago.
In the introduction of my book "Beginning Argentine Tango," I wrote how I got interested in Argentine Tango. Basically I was inspired by the Broadway show during 1999 in New York.
We invited Hugo Patyn and Celina Rotundo. And it turned out Hugo was among the dancers on the stage in the performance in 1999.
They were the major components of this event. I will summarize what impressed me with three aspects.
(i) Their performance in the show. It was superb.
Their dance was Show Tango, a different breed of Tango from what we see in a milonga (social Tango party). They danced four songs, and all were amazing. I can be a hard-to-please spectator, but they were great.
(ii) Their classes. They were very well designed. Argentine Tango looks complex, because the dance is not about remembering patterns, but about combining small basic units. You can have infinite combinations of the units. That makes Argentine Tango look very complex.
From the standpoint of a leader, learning the dance is like learning driving. Just like set patterns don't cut it in real street driving, the leader needs to learn how to drive.
In the workshops they effectively broke down the patterns to units, had the learners practice the units, then re-combined them. If you use the units well, instead of memorizing a pattern, it would be a faster way to master Argentine Tango. A participant said that after traveling to many festivals, their workshops were one of the best she ever took, because they really broke things down. I agree.
Also, their dance was very dynamic. It emphasizes the flow of motion, and results in a very smooth and comfortable Tango. Certainly it was different dance from the style that emphasizes small-and-subtle Tango.
(iii) Their Body usage.
Advanced followers are dancers, not just followers. Meaning that they will DANCE what is led by the leader. A beginner can follow and do a simple back ocho. Advanced follower will follow and DANCE the back ocho. That is the difference you can feel immediately.
As a result, the advanced dancer's dance can feel like an entirely different game. She knows what she is supposed to do, and she will dance it. She can feel like a sport car with a revving engine that will respond to the lead sharply. A sloppy lead/driving would wreck the precious car.
Less advanced dancers are weaker in that aspect. A body not dancing feels somewhat unstructured in the motion, and ironically more difficult to read and lead. Even if they say Tango is a conversation, it helps to be articulate and clear with your words.
Usually when I dance with someone for the first time, I dance cautiously to figure out the partner's habit. I danced with Celina for just one song. It was refreshing to dance with someone with that fluid, yet well-structured response.
From my standpoint, that event was a very memorable one.
There is one thing I regret, though. Hugo and Celina are top-of-the-game dancers who have danced in Broadway and on world tour. They are the strongest Argentine Tango dancers to have ever visited, performed and taught in this state of Oklahoma. I do not feel our promotion did them justice. We focused our ads toward the Tango/dance community, but it should have been organized better, and more toward a broader general audience, so that more people could watch the Broadway level Argentine Tango. Some of the audience might have gone home with a lasting impression, like I did 14 years ago. In other words, there is much we can still improve on as event organizers. We will fix these regrets next time.
