Each month, this page features a video of an exceptional tango (or milonga or vals) danced by world-class tangueros. The dancers come from varied traditions (eg. salon, nuevo, milonguero, show) within authentic Argentine tango.
We offer some commentary on the dancers, the dance and the music underneath each video.
The aim is to showcase the very best of authentic Argentine tango and some of the most important tangueros dancing today, and to reveal the huge variety of styles within the dance.
We hope that you, our regular students, will enjoy watching a different video each month, developing a sense of the dancers and styles you most admire, increasing the breadth of your knowledge of real Argentine tango, and initiating wider discussions about tango.
PLEASE NOTE: most of the videos to date are embedded from youtube, which means that once you view the video, you'll see others offered for you to watch; these others are 'youtube's selection and not our recommendations.
Video of the month, August 2008: Osvaldo Zotto and Lorena Ermocida dance salon tango (commentary below):
Osvaldo Zotto and Lorena Ermocida are one of the most established, famous and esteemed tango couples. They dance improvised and choreographed salon tango, with some show tango elements thrown in, depending upon the situation. Here they dance a classic salon tango which we believe to be improvised (having seen this couple dance many times), with a touch of show tango towards the end of the tango. We would date this performance from around 2000.
Osvaldo Zotto is the brother of Miguel Angel Zotto (the famous founder and star of 'Tango Por Dos'). His dance is less flashy and attention-grabbing than that of Miguel; rather, Osvaldo's style is renowned for being technically superb, perfectly musical, and smooth. Jon cites him as probably his favourite tanguero, noting particularly his control, combined with sudden bursts of speed and energy. Osvaldo has also benefited from having a long-term partner in Lorena Ermocida, whose stylistic traits match his own exactly. Every dance they do, improvised or choreographed, to a theatrical audience or to a small group of students, has elegance, power, precision and sensuality. They have a wonderful connection which means each dance is clearly created by two equal individuals, with each one's participation as vital as the other's, and each movement and embellishment responding to and enhancing the other's. We were very sad to hear, in an email from Lorena only a couple of weeks ago, that she and Osvaldo have decided to go their separate ways.
The piece they are dancing to is 'Nochero Soy' by Osvaldo Pugliese - the same tango chosen by Javier Rodriguez and Andrea Misse, below (see February). Both couples are dancing salon style tango. Yet their interpretations are very different. Zotto and Ermocida dance the pauses in the music particularly well, and we'd encourage you to see just how the best tangueros can sustain pauses in their dancing, and try to develop this feeling for yourself when you experience a cessation of regular beats in the music you're dancing to. In this dance, as is their trademark, Zotto and Ermocida begin slowly, feeling their way into the tango, trading movements, changing pace, as if breathing in and out. They create a wonderful sense of phrasing which respects Pugliese's music entirely. And as they always do, they rise to the occasion of the rapid final phrases with flawless sacadas and boleos within a giro structure, combining technical precision, musicality and feeling. This is great, dramatic, passionate salon tango without any posturing or 'over-dancing'. Enjoy!
Video of the month, July 2008: Fabian Salas and Carolina del Rivero dance tango nuevo (commentary below)
In April (below), our chosen video was a tango nuevo performed by Sebastian Arce and Mariana Montes. This month, we have another tango nuevo couple, but Fabian Salas and Carolina del Rivero dance in a very different style, as you can see (though Arce was once one of their students). Salas and Rivero are as established and as world-famous as Gustavo Naveira and Giselle Anne (January), and indeed Salas and Naveira were part of the group which initiated tango nuevo (and can be seen dancing together in the film The Tango Lesson). Salas is the organiser of CITA, the huge tango festival which takes place each Spring in Buenos Aires.
Here, Salas and Rivero dance to one of Astor Piazzolla's most moving compositions: Romance del Diablo. As with many nuevo dancers, they do dance to electrotango on occasion, but they often dance to traditional tangos or Piazzolla. We saw them dance this choreography, live, a month or so before this performance, and it was overwhelming to see that, many years after Piazzolla's death, tango nuevo had made it possible for his music to be danced. Watching this performance live took our breath away. What cannot be seen on the video is the charisma and feeling that Salas and Rivero have when they perform - the way they dance both for the audience and for each other.
Stylistically, their nuevo is marked by its frequent changes of axis (colgadas and volcadas) and breaking of the embrace (soltadas). Having studied with them intensively, we can vouch for the fact that the dance you see above is entirely led and followed - even the movements/positions which you think Carolina 'does for herself' are in fact created out of changes of axis, led by Fabian. Their technique for volcadas and colgadas differs from those taught most widely, and depends upon an extraordinary level of skill, control, timing and strength on both sides. However 'difficult' this dance looks, it is much, much harder in reality! What also struck Sarah in particular is the generosity of Salas's lead; he leads in a way that places Carolina at the centre of the dance, allowing her to display her extraordinary dancing and draw attention away from him. When you dance with him, you feel both that he wishes to make the dance wonderful for his partner and at the same time that he expects (requires) an extremely high standard from her.
We studied with Fabian and Carolina daily for two weeks, across several occasions. When Fabian turned up to take the first workshop, in his tracksuit and trainers, with a pint in one hand and a box of chalk in the other (he has some wonderfully innovative teaching methods!), he created quite a contrast with the other maestros we had become used to, and we wondered what we'd let ourselves in for. But he and Carolina are amazing teachers, who run incredibly challenging classes (they generally teach only advanced level), and we haven't been to any other classes which were quite as enjoyable as theirs. It is very sad to hear that they have split up, and we hope it won't be the end of their professional partnership.
We hope you enjoy watching this unique couple interpret one of Piazzolla's finest works.
Video of the month, May/June 2008: Our guest teachers Pablo Nievas and Valeria Zunino dance milonga (commentary below)
For May, we've chosen a video of Pablo and Valeria, who are coming to teach exclusively for Argentine Tango South East for the week of June 5th to June 11th, as part of their 2008 European Tour. This is the first milonga we've posted on this page; Pablo and Valeria excel at milonga, as you can see, with lightning footwork, great musicality, and a wonderful sense of frisson and fun in this traditionally lighthearted and energetic dance within the tango family.
This is a choregraphed performance of milonga, but it conveys beautifully the very different mood, pace, feeling and style of milonga, compared with tango and vals. Milonga has a less polished, stylised feel; it is relaxed and 'rough around the edges', yet is also technically demanding when danced 'traspie' (using double time steps), or even faster, as we see here. You can see the way in which Pablo and Valeria express the music's more staccato, rhythmic qualities, using more defined 'stops' between rapid, rhythmic phrases. As you can see, in milonga the man and woman may 'echo' or 'mirror' each other's steps more markedly than in tango, and you can observe clear patterns being traced by the feet across the floor. Perhaps even more than with tango and vals, our eyes are drawn downward to the feet, as they mark out and express the particular rhythm of milonga.
The music they are dancing to is 'Milonga de Mis Amores', and is a typical milonga. If you listen, you will discern the milonga's traditional syncopated rhythm underlying the theme. This structure is also found in tango, but it is more consistently present thoughout milonga; it's hard to express in written language, but if you ask us in class we can tap it out for you!
This video was taken at La Region Leonesa in Buenos Aires, in 2005. We have seen Pablo and Valeria dance tango and milonga since then, and we know they will give a stunning performance when they dance for us at our milonga (social dance) on Saturday 7th June, at Westgate Hall in Canterbury. They'll be dancing tango and milonga - choreographed and improvised - for us that night, so don't miss the chance to see them dance live.
We knew this couple as teachers before we saw them perform. We took classes with them when we were last in Argentina, and we knew that they would be perfect guest teachers for our students. They are clear and precise, warm and friendly, and speak very good English. Their dance style is not the same as ours - they are trained in a different tradition (and they are of course far more advanced!), but their teaching style is comparable to ours, so we believe you'll find their classes and workshops accessible and fun. For full details of your week of tango with them, visit the page Special Events: Upcoming page. You can also view a pdf of the glossy flyer available in class, which gives details of weekend workshops and the milonga, by clicking here:
pdf flyer for Pablo and Valeria week
Enjoy the video... and come along and enjoy their live performances and classes/workshops even more!
Video of the month, April 2008: Sebastian Arce and Mariana Montes dance tango nuevo (commentary below)
This month our video features two highly accomplished, world-class nuevo dancers: Sebastian Arce and Mariana Montes, who are Argentinean but reside in France. They trained with Fabian Salas and Carolina del Rivero, one of the three best 'nuevo' couples in the world (who will be featured in a later 'video of the month') yet their dance is totally distinct from Salas/del Rivero's tango; it is entirely their own.
This particular dance has been one of our personal favourites since it was performed, at CITA 2006, which is the massive tango festival initiated by Salas, and held every year in Buenos Aires. Arce and Montes stunned the crowd at La Viruta (a milonga which tends to attract younger dancers and which plays electronic tango as well as traditional music).
The dancing you see here is likely to be the farthest removed from the kind of tango you currently learn and dance. Tango nuevo, when danced properly, really is a separate dance from salon tango, and yet is somehow wholly tango and not anything else (certainly not one of those 'fusion' dances which inappropriately and unsuccessfully mixes bits of incompatible dances with tango). Moreover, although of course in salon (traditional) tango, there is an extraordinarly breadth of different styles, in nuevo there is an even greater emphasis on the creation of new steps and movements, so that there are more distinct differences between one couple's dance and another's. The nuevo danced by Chicho is utterly different from that danced by Salas/del Rivero, and different again from that of Naveira/Anne.
If there are features that connect the best nuevo dancers, they are probably an increased emphasis on innovation, ingenuity and fluidity, a lack of complete, recognisable, traditional tango sequences, and a rather different relationship between the man and the woman. Our own experience of learning and dancing nuevo is that the demands placed upon the follower are considerably higher than is necessarily true in social salon tango - which is understandable, as the latter originated as a dance for non-professional, social dancers. The woman must be capable of following a series of dramatically different movements in quick succession which require her to control her balance, weight and axis, and maintain solidity and strength in her core, yet flexibility and fluidity in her limbs. More than ever, the beauty of the dance arises from the follower's expression of the movements in which she is led - her poise, elegance, speed, precision and flow. Indeed, in tango nuevo (or 'neo-tango') the woman is often far more active in the creation or suggestions of movements and steps, even in a social dance situation.
All these qualities are perfectly epitomised in the performance of Arce and Montes above. Technically superb, they dance a stunning, modern, sexy tango which contains show-stopping, ingenious movements that have since been adopted (copied) by other nuevo dancers, but without much success. It is easy to be thrilled by the innovation and prowess of nuevo dancers like these, but the great skill of Arce and Montes lies in making the very difficult look simple and effortless. The precision in his lead is crucial, but alone it would not be sufficent; it takes a follower of Montes' standard to carry out the dynamic movements with total control and yet such apparently relaxed ease and grace.
We are running a special day of workshops on 'tango nuevo' in May; the workshops are intended for intermediate dancers only (see Upcoming Events page). We won't be teaching you a particular 'style' of nuevo eg. Arce and Montes'; instead we will focus on giving you the foundations and techniques used by all good nuevo dancers, so that you can build comfortably and elegantly your own tango nuevo, in your own style.
Arce and Montes are dancing to 'Enjoy the silence' by Tanghetto (on their album Buenos Aires Remixed, which you can buy from us) - an electrotango based on Depeche Mode. The music itself contains little progression, and none of the 'narrative' that one finds in classical tango music. For those of us that enjoy letting the music drive our dancing, this kind of music cannot rival that of the great orchestras. But the advantage for this style of dancing is that the music's very lack of narrative allows the dancers greater freedom to improvise and to develop their own 'story', as we see here.
Thank you for all the positive feedback about this new page. We're glad you're enjoying watching the best tangueros in the world!
Video of the month, March 2008: Thierry Le Cocq and Veronique Bouscasse dance milonguero style (commentary below)
Thierry Le Cocq and Veronique Bouscasse are not quite world leaders in the same class as the dancers featured so far on this page; they have not been on the tango scene for as long, and they dance and teach tango primarily for their own enjoyment rather than as full-time professionals. However, they are justly respected and renowned in Argentina and worldwide, and in our view, this page would not be complete without them. They exhibit an extraordinary range in their dancing, successfully covering many styles from milonguero right through to nuevo, which is most unusual. For us, it is their milonguero style which is most memorable and impressive; this is also the tango they themselves prefer.
Thierry and Veronique are French and based in France, but they travel all over the globe to teach tango. We were very lucky to be able to study quite intensively with them a couple of years ago, taking many classes in both their particular version of tango nuevo and in milonguero style tango. They are inspirational teachers and dancers, and our close embrace technique has been heavily influenced by this couple. It was partly for this reason that we chose Thierry and Veronique this month, as we thought those who have just studied 'close embrace' with us would find this video particularly interesting, and would be able to see some of the things we covered danced here so perfectly.
Sadly, Thierry and Veronique have split up, and now dance with new partners. They occasionally perform together, and this video is one of their more recent dances (April 2005). It is improvised, and indeed they rarely choreograph their demos. Nor do they need to: it is rare to see such sensitive musicality, forged out of Thierry's famous rhythmic footwork and Veronique's apparently effortless gracefulness in expressing the musical themes. Their technique is stunning, but they are not merely technicians. This is the best of milonguero style tango, with all the musicality and feeling of the older dancers added to the best technique and stylishness of modern tangueros.
The piece of music they are dancing to here is Mia Vida by the orquesta of Osvaldo Fresedo. We are playing more of this kind of traditional, rhythmic tango in our classes and practicas, and hoping to share with you a wider range of alternative ways of dancing to this kind of music. It is too easy only to 'stick with the rhythm', and the very best dancers express not only the rhythm but also the melody and its narrative... just as you can see here.
Enjoy the video!
Video of the month, February 2008: Javier Rodriguez and Andrea Misse dance tango (commentary below)
This is a beautiful, improvised tango danced by Javier Rodriguez and Andrea Misse, videotaped in Summer 2006 in Buenos Aires. The style they are dancing in is known as 'Villa Urquiza' (named after the place in which it is said to have originated). Javier's parents dance in a similar way, also. These styles don't have strict 'boundaries', and the terms are not widely used; mostly, people just refer to 'salon tango', which covers all sorts of styles. But Villa Urquiza is probably defined by its elegance and precision. We would aspire to this kind of salon tango! Notice the easy, fluid way in which the couple alters the embrace to adapt to each movement, and the way in which they dance for each other, not only for the audience.
Javier dances with presence, but always allowing space and time for Andrea to express herself as an equal partner within the dance. His previous dance partner was the famous Geraldine Rojas, a vibrant, stylish and energetic performer, and it is interesting, if you have the time to browse youtube, to compare his dancing with these two very different women. Our feeling is that although both women are beautiful dancers, Andrea is a better match for Javier, as they seem perfectly balanced in terms of style, energy and musicality.
Like Javier, Andrea comes from a family of famous tango dancers, including her brother the extraordinary Gabriel Misse ('magic feet'). Interestingly, Andrea's very particular style bears some resemblance to that of Alejandra Martinian (Gabriel's partner), but is more understated. There are many women who 'copy' this style, but it only ever looks impressive when danced with real feeling - when the woman dancing 'owns' the style for herself, rather than just aping its technicalities.
(Our) Jon studied for some time with Andrea, who used to run a tango school in London with her ex-dance partner Lleandro Palou, and with Alexandra Woods and Stefano Fava, who now run the school very successfully on their own. Javier and Andrea do not spend much time teaching now, even in Buenos Aires, and focus instead on dancing and performing.
The piece Javier and Andrea are dancing to is 'Nochero Soy' (which means, loosely translated, 'I am a man of the night'), by the orquesta of Osvaldo Pugliese (our favourite!). Characteristically, the piece has a powerful musical narrative, with sharp alterations of pace and mood. If you like this music, listen out for more of it in our classes and practicas. (You can also buy Pugliese's music from us.) Javier and Andrea dance it perfectly, expressing its themes, not just following its rhythm and pace. This is an extraordinarily polished performance, yet also full of feeling for the music and each other... just like Gustavo and Giselle, in January's video (below).
Enjoy!
Video of the month, January 2008: Gustavo Naveira and Giselle Anne dance vals (commentary below)
This is a stunning choreographed vals, filmed in 2007, by one of the very best Argentine tango dancers in the world, Gustavo Naveira, and his superb partner Giselle Anne. We studied with Naveira in Buenos Aires, in August 2007, undertaking his famous one-week advanced tango seminar; we also took the four-day intensive course he ran in London, in December 2007 (during one of his rare visits to England). We can vouch for his reputation as an extraordinary teacher and innovator, and an inspiring dancer.
You will probably know Naveira as one of the founders of 'tango nuevo', and you can see him when he was younger, with Pablo Veron and Fabian Salas, in the film The Tango Lesson (1997) (the DVD is on sale in our classes). Those who have had the good fortune to watch him dance and teach in person will also know that he is a fantastic dancer of other styles of tango, too.
This vals showcases his - and Giselle's - excellent fleet-footed musicality, huge versatility and enchanting (and sexy) performance style. Notice how they utilise the different possibilities of the 1-2-3 vals rhythm, yet simultaneously express the musical themes and their development. Here you can see a dazzling combination of nuevo-style colgadas, soltadas (breaking of the embrace) and sacadas, alongside some lightning footwork danced with precision in an older, milonguero-style embrace. Throughout, the most striking feature is Gustavo and Giselle's musicality, something they focus on in their teaching.
The vals they are dancing to is 'Palomita Blanca', played by the orquesta of Anibal Troilo, in 1944. We play his music quite regularly in our classes, practicas and social events. We have two CDs of Troilo on sale in our classes: one from his earlier period, and one from later in his career, when his music became somewhat more dramatic and expansive.
We will be focusing on vals for the first three of our pre-practica 'open classes', on January 20th and February 10th and 24th. These classes run for one hour before each Sunday practica, in Canterbury, and are open to ALL LEVELS, so do come along and give it a try (for full details go to 'Upcoming Events' page). You don't need to be able to dance like Gustavo and Giselle to enjoy the beautiful themes and rhythms of Argentine vals. We will focus on exploring the different rhythms and 'mood' of vals, compared with tango and milonga, using simple steps and figures (at least to begin with).
Enjoy watching Gustavo and Giselle!
Page updated August 2008