Sebastian Gimenez (18 year old) y María Ines Bogado

They are the sixth Campeones trained by Carlos y Rosa Perez

In between the songs, We remained embraced. Magnetically.

The frantic circus of festival milonga disappeared. Magically.

The only awareness I had was the softness of her embrace, as if I were in the cotton field.

…

She is now gone for a tango tour in other countries.

Several days after…

The warmth of her embrace, however, is still lingering in my dreams.

(Original Source of the photo: http://photos.garydraluck.com/events/2010/ap/4/slideshow)

Here is an excerpt from the interview that I like to share:

Q. You dance with pauses, whereas many kids of your age don’t do that.
S.

It has to do with what we were saying before about introspection. It’s when you know that what you’re doing has an expressive purpose and comes from a feeling, you pause to seek that feeling and from that feeling comes the movement. But when one believes that it’s only movement, then one isn’t bothered about seeking what it is that it provokes, lo hace de manera intelectual. Yo no les creo a los phibes hoy!

He is touring in the US this month: this week in San Francisco. Next week in Baltimore.

Here is a recent performance of him and Mariana that I like very much, to a song that I love: Fresedo con Ricardo Ruiz “Buscándote” 1941

In retrospect, my relationship with tango music has gone through the following phases

1. Following the music:

In my first year of dancing in the milonga, I followed the music. And I followed it pretty well. From time to time, women asked me if I played any instrument.

Why? I was curious.  I couldn’t even read music notes, let alone play any instrument. I love listening to all kinds of music, classical, pop, world…, but I was, am still, a music illiterate. You are so musical. They always said, sometimes surprisingly.

But I knew. I was not familiar with most songs that were played in the milongas. Most of time, I just moved to the music that I heard and followed it intuitively.

2. Chasing the music.

A few months into dancing in the milonga, I started collecting music, Di Sarli, D’Arienzo, Calo, Fresedo…. in order to know the songs better. Gradually, I had heard a lot of the songs played in the milonga many times. Within a year or so,  I’d known many by heart. I knew what the next phrase was, and the next one after. Unconsciously,  I started to think about the next phrase before finishing the current one. I rushed to finish the step in order to dance the next one.

That was my D’Arienzo/Biagi period, in which the fast tempo music became my favorite. After the tanda, my heart was racing, cheeks burning. The night felt like shorter, milonga felt like ended earlier. I had good time, although it had lasted only a few months.

Slowly I found myself bored by the way I danced. It seemed that I danced only one dimensional, speed. And I danced to every beat. Eventually, after a night of dancing, I couldn’t feel any satisfaction. (I had to blame my then partner for some of that. But as I said, women is another subject for another time.) I was in my worst slump. For weeks, I hadn’t felt the inspiration to go out dancing.

3. Riding the music.

My turning point was this.  Dance to the music like you are riding a horse. Stay on top of it. I’d found my own presence in the music, no longer losing control and letting it dictate my movement. I was clear with how I wanted to dance the songs. I started to feel the dynamics in the music.

4. Feeling the music.

A year and half ago, Silvina Valz introduced the concept of space to me, which at the time was bewildering. Slowly I realized that my dance was one dimensional and flat.  The lesson with Cecilia was pivotal to my understanding of the dance on a different level. When she talked about how to perceive the different energies from different instruments and vocal and feel the energy of the partner, Silvina’s concept was muy claro. Now, the dance was much more interesting with an able partner. There is another layer in the music, energy!

These days, I am not dancing very often. Without the right partner, I would rather sit and listen to the music and feel it. Once a while, when the right partner comes along, the joy of that tanda is always unforgettable.