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I met Lida Gudovskaya over two years ago at one of my privates with Andrea and Javier. She was studying with them from Russia. I danced with her at the milonga. At that time she was just an average tanguera. Now she has been performing in BsAs and Russia, with Juan Manuel Riera who often can be found dancing at El Beso and Cachirulo.

Thanks to Simbatango , I got to know the name of my tango crush. (see my post: Sunderland practica). She also performs at Plaza Dorrego, which I’ve not been to. They are studying with Carlos and Rosa at Sunderland.

And un amigo Gus:

It is good to be young and fabulous. Enjoy every moment of it!

The second time within a week,  I went to Buenos Aires Tango Club to get more cds with a DJ friend of mine who spoke fluent Spanish. My friend told Carlos that I was looking for more collection of Danceable music. Carlos,  probably an  encyclopedia of tango music, laughed: ” well, what is danceable to you, probably not danceable to me.” (via the translation of my friend).

The next hour or so, we sat with him and listened to different cds he brought out. The experience was so good that we went back the next day and did the same with him for another two hours. I’d bought over 80 cds ranging from 20s to 60s during my three visits in two weeks.

Lately, I have been reading some posts or comments about what is danceable tango music; or more, what is not danceable. The first time I heard of Valera played in the milonga, I thought what the heck that was. That was not danceable. Now every time, I hear Fueron Tres Anos by Valera con Ledesma, I want to dance. (And I am not moved  the same way when the same song is sung by Falcon).  When I started going to milongas, I always struggled dancing to D’Agostino con Vargas. I didn’t know how to dance to his voice.  Now I love Angel Vargas, with D’Agostino or Del Piano and Lacava.

What is with the change? My dance-ability has improved. I am now able to stretch my movement in the span of a few notes. I don’t just dance to every beat in the rhythmic songs. I don’t chase after the music. I could select the phrases that I want to dance (walk) to,  suspend on a few or just embrace and breathe through some.  I used to dance only,  if you will, milongueros, then salon.  Now if the woman wants to dance open on separate axis ( not my preference), fine, I could manage one tanda as well.

The thing is, the more music I listen to, the better I dance, the more high-level of dancer I’ve danced with, the wider range the music I enjoy dancing to. Before, I always danced to golden age. Now  I love to  dance certain music from the late 20s (Canaro, Lomuto, Di Sarli y sus Sexteto Tipica…),  early to mid 50s various orchestras (Di Sarli, D’Arienzo, Angel Vargas, De Angelis, Valera, Sassone, De Caro, Salgan…) and modern orchestras (Fervor de Buenos Aires/ Misteriosa, El Arranque, Esteban Morgado…).

Here is my theory: if you are moved by the music, then it is danceable. After all, it is the music that moves us, not we move to the music. Now whether you have the ability to dance to it or not, that is entirely another matter.

The following are a couple of brilliant performances, in my opinion,  on music that some might think  that is not danceable.  Yeah, They are performances. If you are open minded and shrewd, however, you might learn a few things that you could use on a crowded milonga .

Fueron Tres Anos:

Here is Ruben y Cherie:

This couple has gotten great reviews from the New York Times and I can see why. The music is B.B. by Troilo, 1963 work. A tango friend who is a Troilo fan pointed it out to me. I didn’t recognize the music, although it is in my library. It is very dramatic and theatrical. I couldn’t think of any better performance that I have seen than this.

This is one of my favorite Pugliese instrumentale. Interestingly, there are two different versions of this song, learned first from Royce. You can read here.

The shorter version is 3.55 minutes long, I think, which could be found on BTAC Collecion Revista Vol. 01. – Osvaldo Pugliese y su orquesta – Años ‘52 / ‘53. The more commonly available version is 4.06 minutes long from Reliquias’ Cantan Alberto Morán y Roberto Chanel.

I like Fabian Peralta y Virginia Pandolfi’s performance the best. I like Peralta’s recent performance seen on youtube. There is more subtlety in his movement and less flashy. I really enjoy the musicality these two have expressed. And how they walked to the music.

Perfect example of how Pugliese is danced in the milonga setting. Simple, smooth yet musical. Less is more, and it seems so effortless.

Both of them are amazing dancers. I love the way Tate dancing socially in the milonga. Here, however, since they are not regular partners, the performance lacks of chemistry, despite occasional demonstration of individual brilliance.

Pay attention the pauses in all these performances in didactic context. It is interesting to see how each selected which phrases to dance and where in the music to pause. For me, the first two performances,even while the dancers were pausing, the intention still carried the music. So the both performances felt uninterrupted, smooth and flowing to the music. The third one, the pauses interrupted the flow of the whole dance, therefore the music choppy.