We spoil you, Tango Siempre in Malvern

2011 has started well for Tango Malvern....last weekend with our first "Tango Soirée" of the year with Loyd Vidal and Sandra Bernard at The Fold, Bransford, was a fabulous evening. Dancers converged from all over and the atmosphere warm in all ways.. Superb dancing from our lovely guest couple inspired us all..

There will be more such Soirées! very soon..

In the meantime though get ready for our rather bigger event our second Valentine's Tea Dance with none other than the UK leading band Tango Siempre.

Because we want to spoil you, and if truth be known, us as well, we have requested the full musical quintet Julian Rowlands bandoneon, Ros Stephen violin, Jonathan Taylor pianist/keyboard , Richard Pryce double bass, and Buenos Aires-born vocalist Guillermo Rozenthuler with his rich, soulful voice ..to create the richest and most powerful sound imaginable ..drama, passion, seduction…. Tango Siempre at our Valentine's Tea Dance has it all…

Venue :

Colwall village Hall,

Mill Lane,

Colwall, Nr Malvern,

Worcestershire

WR13 6EQ

. Tango Siempre has it all…

join us, if you dare this Valentine's Sunday Tea Dance .

Tango Malvern web site is http://www.tangomalvern.com

local or international connection..

Busy busy busy..even our "local" tango scene has revved up over the last year or so. Now it's difficult to plan bigger events such as workshops and milongas for fear of clashing with another group nearby (when I say "local" I mean probably within an hour's drive )...

However.....our last really special tango splurge was a few weeks ago now, with our much awaited for and greatly appreciated Korey Ireland and his partner Adeline Schieferstein, (it took a year of planning to arrange..) and yet its taken me till now to sit down a minute and reflect.

I accept no one wants to read endless waffle, but still I need to remind ourselves of a few points of the weekend we so much enjoyed and benefitted from here in the wilds of Worcestershire, England, not Buenos Aires that is..!!

We read a lot of conflicting comments on the web from tango purists, tango "fascists" ..and then those who really want to be in the spotlight literally- on the stage, legs flashing everywhere, epitomised by TV's "Strictly..."

Our mission here in gentle Worcestershire is to promote salon tango, or social tango, the non aggressive, elegant, subtle form of tango danced more typically in the milongas of Buenos Aires. From the outside this may not look so dramatic as some styles, but then, the feeling runs deeper, so nerve-tinglingly deep in close embrace but perhaps "just walking" that I know which style I prefer to share with someone else..

So looking back on that weekend of workshops we shared with Korey and Adeline, it's the memory of that gentle presence that prevails, discreet, moving and intense...

the focus on the connection, the relationship between each other, and the MUSIC, said it all.

We were treated on the Saturday night to a live and spontaneous musical set with Korey on his bandoneon, Cliff on guitar, Xenia violin and Peter Okell-Walker also guitar...

"Brilliant. "...The floor was filled with joyful dancers..a dream indeed.

We will carry on this mission here in Malvern, to try to develop tango for all people, for enjoyment, spiritually and emotionally, it has to be salon (or social) tango...

Incidentally, our "local do, although primarily intended for the tango regulars from here and nearby, in fact brought visitors from far and wide including, Huddersfield, Southampton, Wales, Bristol, and New Zealand! Great to make these lovely warm tango connections ...

looking forward to continuing with this ..more similar workshops and weekends hopefully coming up ....

Tango Malvern web site is http://www.tangomalvern.com

Take a chance with tango...

Is anyone sure about anything at the moment. when there is so much uncertainty in the world? Yet it appears there are a lot of tango festivals going on across Europe. Maybe last year I would have gone along too, so alluring the idea of dancing tango in foreign climes, yet I feel curtailed now by the exchange rates and rising unemployment all around, that even in the pursuit of true art, I feel uneasy about it. Of course it all depends on your personal situation, and if you are able to go then do so, and enjoy. Definitely! Yet tango has survived great depressions before, surely because in many ways you don't have to spend a lot of money doing it and it's in difficult times that we really need it. The average class cost is really amazing value, around here it is anything from £4 for a one hour class to perhaps £6 -£8 for a whole evening including a practica session. Therapeutic in so many ways, learning tango is a whole lot better than many other more expensive activities, while you lose yourself in the music, move in perfect harmony while in the embrace of another warm kindred spirit, exchange a few words perhaps, there is undoubtedly a power in the dance. To not dance tango now is unthinkable, and would actually be of no benefit at all, as stress levels would rise, while we'd miss so much about the whole tango scene. What would we do with our special tango gear, the CD collection? The flirty little dresses you'd never wear to anywhere other than a milonga? The connection we all strive for in tango is what makes it so compelling to do, and what changes our life for the better really. Dilemmas occur when trying to organize tango events. We need to cover our costs obviously but feel its essential to keep the costs down as much as possible to encourage people to keep dancing regularly. In two weeks time we will welcome a couple on tour from Buenos Aires to lead our regular Monday night class in Malvern. Aisha and Victor will be in London before travelling up to our quaint old Spa town of Great Malvern. A truly glamourous couple yet when they appear we will charge the same £6 for the evening as we do on all the other Mondays..it seems the right thing to do. And to enable us to really get to grips with tango, we are now in the process of arranging the first "Tango fiesta" in the Malvern hills...August Bank holiday weekend, and of course we'll work on keeping the costs down, but not our standards or style! It could be a marvelous escape from the big wide world, Cocoon yourself in tango...or maybe we should stop defending the dance but simply remember "its better to have loved and lost rather than to have never loved at all..."






Tango Malvern web site is http://www.tangomalvern.com

Spas, Festivals and Parties!!

There is a lot happening in the tango world at the moment. Outside Malvern there are festivals happening all over Europe, with Edinburgh this weekend- wish we were going too, but it's a long way and eats up quite a few days in reality with the traveling involved, so as much as I absolutely loved going there last year, this time I allowed my sensible brian to dictate, stay in Worcestershire, save the train fares, and all that!
However, last weekend was a another matter as we drove over to Coventry to join the "Tango Spa", Tango Warwick's 2nd festival. Not a huge distance to drive, about an 1hr 15 mins, and a cheap hotel into the bargain! Credit crunch proof. Not only that, but we had the compete joy of joining workshops run by Ricardo Oria and Jenny Frances the top teachers themselves from Edinburgh! Their dancing is non other than beautiful, elegant and flowing, an inspiration to hold in our minds for a long time... The DJ workshop we took part in with Ricardo Peixoto, Rui "El Galerudo"Resende, and Ricardo Oria, was a highlight for us in what was a brilliant full-on learning weekend, for, in a "relaxed sitting around a table situation" we were able to fire questions at this amazing panel of expert DJs and dancers, really getting to the heart of what being a tango DJ is all about...now we have to finesse our skills on watching the dancefloor and selecting the right tangos at the right times!! (no small order..)
The "Tango Spa" certainly did live up to its "soak yourself in tango" promise.....well done and grateful thanks to Ricardo and Su for their energy and faultless organization!
Now, we need to get to work with plans for our own little tango fiesta, in the diary for the weekend of August 28th (Friday) and Saturday 29th , running into sunday if enough interest... We are very excited about this, as it will be the first of its kind in Malvern, and we know that tangueros will love the chance of walking and running, maybe even dancing a tango, across the stunning Malvern hills literally on our doorstep! A romantic location with a wonderful set of teachers, workshops and events into the bargain!
A beautiful airy modern village hall with excellent dance floor is already booked for the Friday and Saturday, with the possibility of a small marquee on the Sunday for mini workshops and garden tea party is being considered! "Marquee Malarkey" would do this if we go ahead, as we already have experience of their fabulous "Latin-American championship standard" portable dance floors, in effect enabling us to set up and tango virtually anywhere....
I might even get a chance to play some suitably English music of Edward Elgar when I serve the tea and scones in the garden!
Dream on... there's loads of work to do in the meantime...





Tango Malvern website is http://www.tangomalvern.com

I'll have what she's having..

The passion for tango waxes and wanes sometimes. What is it about the dance that captivates some of us and yet leaves others unmoved? In our young tango community we watch how our core group of budding tangueros appear week by week, enthusiastically tackling the class subjects of ochos, giros and even the subtleties of el cabeceo. Yet some disappear, maybe for a myriad of reasons, we never really know why, but they are missed. It is the variety of people who dance tango that makes it so interesting, so diverse, so compulsive. Tango has conquered the world, in actual fact, as anyone fascinated with the subject will have discovered, as tango spreads its wings across the globe, we find talented dancers and teachers evolve not just from Argentina, but from the Far East, the whole of Europe, the Latin Americas, Russia, the USA as well as home bred in the UK. I have been amazed by the technical yet innovative approach to the dance of the Germans and Orientals, and the chic stylishness of the Italians, as well as the sheer passion of a genuine Argentinean!

We endeavor to bring to Malvern some of this eclectic society, for tango, although originated in Argentina well over a century ago, has over the last twenty years changed and diversified into an international passion. Why? An interesting question. Especially when you look at the fascinating array of people dancing tango today. Lawyers, doctors, pharmacists, engineers, musicians, farmers, teachers, scientists, artists, writers, to name but a few, and including young students to retired professionals. It has been described as the "thinking man's dance." In a world dominated by television, the internet and mobile phones with their constant demands via texts and emails, the real world of tango excites and makes us feel connected to the human race as a whole, far more than any cyber experience ever could.

When you experience a beautiful dance with someone, and are blown away by the awesome connection with that partner, I can never forget that line in the film "When Harry met Sally," and Sally is sitting in a cafe with Harry having just eaten a presumed "orgiastic" ice-cream, a nearby woman having observed her noisy renditions says to the waitress, "I'll have what she's having"...

We all want that, don't we? Yes please, and that wasn't even including the music!

Tango Malvern web site is http://www.tangomalvern.com

sleeepy old Malvern tries el Cabeceo!

Another week evaporates, this time of course we have had the Easter weekend as well, and some of us have been sharing eggs and buns with family. If we lived near the bright lights of London no doubt we'd be be out far more, but here in the depths of rural England, we tend to lead a quieter life. We had toyed with the idea of promoting "el cabeceo " within our young tango society, for several reasons, but mainly due to some of our own experiences at milongas over the last couple of years or so. Milongas should ideally be highly enjoyable sociable events where you can dance tango as much or as little as you personally like, simply chat with friends, and have a drink maybe. But sometimes, this doesn't happen - you can easily become drawn into the "getting x amounts of dances competition" and risking not really enjoying yourself as much as you could otherwise. My last blog of course did mention the slight problem with dancers setting their sights only on certain partners, and then possibly missing out on some truly memorable dances with others, now by mentioning the cabeceo I wonder if we can trigger some other responses. My experience as a woman has made me think if we could at least make people aware of its principles (cabeceo), we could perhaps make it a little clearer who we'd rather like to dance with and also very discreetly (of course, as we hate to have to reject people openly) suggest by averting our eyes appropriately we could avoid being asked to dance by someone we feel not ready to dance with (for whatever reason)....however maybe even later on in the same evening, for we may prefer the music now being played, our feet may have recovered, we may have finished that little chat with our friend, any reason(!) but we may now absolutely love the idea of dancing with you, and if we could just hint at this by a longer than average mutual stare, it would be so liberating! If only. However, we know how us the rather shy English tend to be about eye contact! "Oh my goodness, he looked at me, quick look away before I blush.." So, this game needs to be aired in the open a little so we can practice our flirty little tricks with each other and become more comfortable with it. Hence our class last monday, in the middle of highly restrained Malvern, famous for our Elgar connections, the Malvern hills, Malvern water (the Queen drinks this, you must know) yes, all in the true heart of England, we decide this is the place to introduce the slightly controversial cabeceo. Our tango pupils were given a little game to play, with leaders and followers facing one another across the hall, we were instructed to give each other negative and positive glances, with the idea of "yes, we do really want to dance" or "no, not interested at all!" At least we had a bit of fun with it, as it was Easter monday anyway and we were aiming for a mini milonga/practica for half of the evening in any case. Did it work? Well, I hope we haven't frightened people away, when we are really trying to empower them, it was certainly a start, it broke the ice, got people talking about the issues, and we hope to continue with the cabeceo project. Thank you to everyone for being such good sports. Thank you Mhari for bringing the bottle of Argentinean wine, that helped as well! And also Isolde for making some authentic mate (Argentinean type of tea) for us to share too.

On Tuesday, we made the journey to London to go and see the radical Orchestra Tipica Fernandez Fierro being their UK debut and which shook us defiantly from our sleepy Worcestershire comfort zone! Brilliant young musicians from Buenos Aires, of 3 violins, a viola, cello, double bass, piano and 4 bandoneons, plus a powerful vocalist wearing a selection of ties and even LED glasses (?), they were like nothing we'd ever heard before, very different from Bajofondo Tango Band, and the well known Gotan Project....playing Piazzolla with passion and aggression at the same time....those people who had expected to dance in the aisles to more traditional tango music were surprised, and their dance shoes were never taken from their shoe bags... Phew, what a night!

Tango Malvern web site is http://www.tangomalvern.com

Edward Elgar and Francisco Canaro..

It is really lovely to see how many people stay to dance in the practica now on "Tango Malvern" evenings. ..Last night I danced with some of our recent beginners who were all doing very well, particularly with interpreting the music..it maybe that our first "Tango Malvern" milonga is not that far away....and how exciting is that! The thought that in Malvern there is a budding tango scene, and a the sounds of Canaro, Pugliese and Di Sarli are drifting through the walls of our Edward Elgar rich architecture ...
The Malvern people seem hungry for this cultural development, and already mutterings are heard from those toying with the idea of planning trips to Buenos Aires ...maybe we could organize a grand tour...a little way off perhaps.. but not impossible by any means..
Certainly this summer we will be holding our first milonga at the very least....Plans are afoot!
And maybe another reason why I'm able to think about such big plans now is that a special Irish Setter is looking much better now, and is allowed out again for some "moderate" walks on the malvern hills, where it's not only the Enigma Variations you can hear these days across the breeze....

Tango Malvern web site is http://www.tangomalvern.com

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Tango Malvern - Argentine Tango

Something special is just about to happen in the beautiful spa town of Great Malvern, the inspirational setting to a history of art and music, a group of enthusiasts are creating a club devoted entirely to Tango, the authentic Argentine style, where elegance, drama and passion combine to make one of the most addictive dances ever!!

If you already dance Argentine tango we will be pleased to welcome you, just as much as if you are completely new to the dance.

We are meeting every Monday in the middle of Great Malvern for classes for all levels with experienced Tango teachers, and also we will be holding regular practicas, where you can immerse yourself in practising your skills, or simply dance the hours away to your hearts content.

Make lots of new friends, have fun, experience incredible emotions, and, improve your posture and fitness at the same time!
Dance to authentic tango music from Buenos Aires dating from the !920s and 30s, through the golden age of the 1940’s and 50’s right up to contemporary tango music…. Be warned you may become addicted

http://www.Tangomalvern.com