"I am eternally, devastatingly romantic, and I thought people would see it because ‘romantic’ doesn’t mean ‘sugary.’ It’s dark and tormented — the furor of passion, the despair of an idealism that you can’t attain." - Catherine Breillat http://youtu.be/S983INsbeRE
"The first time I saw the slide I clapped my hands with glee - not unlike a child in a candy shop. Alas, I forgot that I was in public and earned a number of stares from my neighbors in the coffee shop." http://youtu.be/2RniqNMkUPw
While we were listening to songs to choose for the performance, I played Pugliese’s “Y Mientes Todavia” for Magdalena. It was a song that I had been listening to all summer, used for my “Heavy Vocals” workshops, and which I had not had the opportunity to perform to yet. From the opening notes, she immediately fell in love. When the song was over, Magdalena said: “What I love about Moran is that, unlike other singers who sound like they are singing about a past heartbreak, Moran sounds like the heartbreak or the betrayal just happened or is happening. His feelings have not been worked out and thus the emotion in his voice is so raw.”
So, without further ado, here is “Y Mientes Todavia”
https://youtu.be/dm-6IBqdnUY
Back in 2002, I met a friend who introduced me to works of the Surrealist writers. I remember late nights of sitting in her living room, drinking red wine and watching the weird films of Luis Buneul and Salvador Dali or reading George Bataille, Andre Breton, or the poems of Robert Desnos. I was recently reminded of one of Desnos' poems when I was watching a documentary. The more I think about it, I realize that is very "tango". Here it is:
J'ai tant rêvé de toi que tu perds ta réalité. Est-il encore temps d'atteindre ce corps vivant Et de baiser sur cette bouche la naissance De la voix qui m'est chère?
J'ai tant rêvé de toi que mes bras habitués En étreignant ton ombre A se croiser sur ma poitrine ne se plieraient pas Au contour de ton corps, peut-être.
Et que, devant l'apparence réelle de ce qui me hante Et me gouverne depuis des jours et des années, Je deviendrais une ombre sans doute. O balances sentimentales.
J'ai tant rêvé de toi qu'il n'est plus temps Sans doute que je m'éveille. Je dors debout, le corps exposé A toutes les apparences de la vie
Et de l'amour et toi, la seule qui compte aujourd'hui pour moi, Je pourrais moins toucher ton front Et tes lèvres que les premières lèvres et le premier front venu.
J'ai tant rêvé de toi, tant marché, parlé, Couché avec ton fantôme Qu'il ne me reste plus peut-être, Et pourtant, qu'a être fantôme
Parmi les fantômes et plus ombre Cent fois que l'ombre qui se promène Et se promènera allègrement Sur le cadran solaire de ta vie.
- Robert Desnos
Back in 2003 in Buenos Aires, I saw a way of dancing tango that touched my heart. It had (what I think) are the "4 elements of a good dance":
It was a style that drew you in instead of throwing moves and poses in your face. Here are two examples of it. My friends and I jokingly call it "Estilo Javier y Geraldine 2002 - 2005".....but what would you call it? Do you have other examples of couples that dance this style?
Javier y Geraldine
http://youtu.be/droR4oVglrA
Pipe y Mamie
http://youtu.be/rrYznDthXcw
On Friday night, 30 minutes before Marika and I danced at Nou, Thomas (the owner of Nou) asked us if we would be open to the idea of dancing to live music since El Cachivache Quinteto (a wonderful tango orchestra that is touring Europe at the moment. If you get a chance, check them out.) was in the milonga that night. He said "no worries, if the audience doesn't like you and clap enough, we won't do it". (I love the German sense of humor.) Later, the pianist, Pablo, informed us "It's an original song of mine....and it has a big romantic Hollywood ending." That's it, that's the only "guidance" we got.......but, once again, we thought (almost hopefully) "hey, maybe the audience won't want it."
After dancing 4 songs, it appeared that the audience wanted one more! So it was time for us to dance to "the song we never heard before". Pablo took his place at the piano and we stepped onto the dancefloor. I heard the opening notes, walked over to Marika, and I embraced her. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed with this feeling: "I miss her. I miss her terribly." Everything came rushing back to me at that moment: her voice, her smile, her laugh.........her eyes. Those big, beautiful eyes which I had looked into and realized, much too late, that I had hurt their owner's feelings. The realization that all these wondrous places I would travel to would now look a bit less beautiful because her eyes weren't looking at these places along with me. Regret and sadness took over and I realized that the "plan" I had going into the performance was not going to happen. Part of me said "not now. I don't want to feel this now." but another part said "just go with it" and I did. It was a strange feeling to let my sadness move me and to not know where it would take me. I can't remember any of the movements we did, it is only by watching the video later that I can see what happened.
This morning, I was trying to find out the name of the song and I received this message:
"I don't know if you know the story behind this song but watching you both dance to this interpretation with only piano.....I have never heard it like this before and it is beautiful."
I learned that the song was written by Pablo while he was in Buenos Aires because he missed his love who was in France at the time. It amazed me how I knew nothing of the story of the song but yet I was able to feel exactly what it was about.
So, without further ado, we present to you "Para Vos/ For You":
http://youtu.be/KTQ64SbaELY
One of the most difficult things to teach in tango is the concept of the embrace. Through the embrace, we communicate our rhythm, our steps, and even our feelings. As a teacher, I feel that we need to help students achieve a mastery of rhythm and steps.....but what about feelings? Early on, I used to advocate bringing the past into your dance. Any happiness, sadness, or anger that was felt previously felt could be used to add character and shape to your dance. This worked for a while and it has worked for many of my students because these feelings are usually suppressed and tango gives a stage for them to appear on. So, to an extent, I will talk about this in a workshop because it does help some students rediscover and get in touch with these emotions. But the problem lies in the situation where the student is finally in touch with these feelings and relies on them to shape his dance....but then cuts himself off from what is happening in the embrace at the moment. I was guilty of that for many years: I went in to the dance with a plan; a rhythmic, choreographic, and even emotional plan. It wasn't until I let go of things, and went in to the dance "blank', that I then felt that my best tango started coming out.
Sunday May 18 - Dance Manhattan workshopsMay 23 - Denver Tango Festival (Ney & Hannah Louise Poston) May 28 - Eugene, OR workshops
June 6 - 9 Workshops in Martinique June 20 - 22 Portland, Oregon workshops June 27 - 29 Seattle, Washington workshops
July 11-13: San Francisco workshops
*More dates will be added; they are still being confirmed.
Nov 9/10 - TangoLoft Stuttgart, Germanyhttp://youtu.be/yUS4hV8RMWk
http://youtu.be/Z_XzHDNwELM Nov 16/17 - Genoa, Italy Nov 23/24 - Bucharest, Romania Nov 30/Dec 1 - Ankara Tango Carnaval
Weekly classes in Cambridge, Mass:Mondays, Tuesdays, & Wednesdays 7pm - 8.30pm
TRAVEL SCHEDULE:
June 6-9: Toronto Tango Festival (with Jennifer Bratt)
June 14-15-16: Tango workshops in Los Angeles
Aug 25 - Sept 1: Reykavik Tango Festival in Iceland (with Cecilia Gonzalez)
The September - December 2013 schedule is currently being compiled. Please email me with any requests for workshops.
https://vimeo.com/67353904
Melbourne Tango Argentino Festivalito Feb 21-24, 2013!! — with Ney Melo & Cecilia Gonzalez and Michelle Marsidi & Joachim Dietiker
Wednesday nights at NETA 620 Cambridge St. in Cambridge, MA7pm - 8.15pm PLUS I will run the GUIDED PRACTICA AFTERWARDS
Thursday nights at 7pm at MIT 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139 Campus Building 36-classroom 112. 7pm - 8.15pm
18 Jan 2013 in NYC[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0Ycfj3DFg8&w=640&h=360]
Davette ve Daveti Kabuldi Üslup Http://www.akademitango.com/tr/bunlari-biliyor-muydunuz/p2_articleid/29
Monday November 26 - Friday December 7th, 2012 Level: Intermediate Time: Marte y jueves 8pm a 9:30pm
Location: La Casa de Tango, Ave. Domenech (al lado de la farmacia Siempre Abierta) Edificio de esquina (2 pisos) con el rotulo de Logia Odfelos., San Juan, Puerto Rico
Martes 27 Nov 2012 Tango- musicalidad a través de diferentes orquestas trabajando con pasos y adornos variados. Clase I
Jueves 29 Nov 2012 Vals- musicalidad, variedad de giros en abrazo cerrado y adornos para ella.
Martes 4 Dic 2012 Milonga con traspié- musicalidad y pasos clásicos.
Jueves 6 Dic 2012 Tango- musicalidad a través de diferentes orquestas trabajando con pasos y adornos variados. Clase II
Reserva tu espacio lo antes posible.
Tel. 787-602-7352
* matriculados en el curso de intermedio no tienen que matricularse pues estos talleres están incluidos.
** Los estudiantes de intermedio que quieran además tomar las clases de Básico con Ney tendrán un 50%. de descuento. Horario Nivel Básico: Marte y jueves 7pm a 8pm Lugar: La Casa del Tango
*** Los que quieran registrarse para clases privadas pueden hacerlo llamando al 805-822-7712
"Y ENTONCES... TANGO"
Classes in Portland, Maine, Thursday nights starting August 2nd, 2012 http://www.porttango.com/ney-august/
Song: Mi DolorOrchestra: Juan D'Arienzo with Ramos (singer)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsWYT9lK-2E&feature=relmfu
Song: Mi Vieja Linda (milonga) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-ufafBR8yY&sns=tw
http://youtu.be/m2X0jEUxQAM