5:45 AM tango

it's all about the axis

2009-11-18T00:44:00.001+02:00

Javier Rodriguez & Andrea Missé in Bucharest

2009-09-03T11:11:00.003+03:00

7-12 September, Tango Emoción in Bucharest. Classes, performance and Milonga with Javier Rodriguez & Andrea Missé in Romania.
Info & registration here: www.tangobrujo.ro

Geraldin Rojas when she was 13 :)

2009-05-04T14:34:00.001+03:00

Ezequiel Paludi y Geraldin Rojas in Romania

2009-04-29T13:22:00.003+03:00

Our school is 2 years old and we are celebrating!!! :)
Tango Emoción in Bucharest. Classes, performance and Milonga with Ezequiel Paludi y Geraldin Rojas in Romania.
Info & registration here: www.tangobrujo.ro

Musicality heroes

2009-04-23T12:17:00.003+03:00

I wanted to post this quite a while ago... Enjoy Mamie Sancy y Carlitos Espinoza.
Any comments? :)

Los Hermanos

2009-04-18T14:26:00.004+03:00

Los Hermanos Macana

knowtango.com

2009-04-02T13:14:00.003+03:00

knowtango.com

A website with huge number of tango locations and events.

Here is a place to find tango wherever you go. (Classes, Practicas, Milongas, Festivals)

Keep it up guys!

Tango Encuentro Bucharest 24-26 April

2009-04-02T12:19:00.008+03:00

Adrian Veredice y Alejandra Hobert & Damian Esell y Nancy Louzan are coming to Bucharest!

Info here www.lucianymonica.ro

Tango Article

2009-02-06T17:42:00.002+02:00

Worth a read:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/jan/28/world-tour-tango

80 kilos of tango

2009-01-21T13:31:00.000+02:00

no comment

A Little Treat for The New Year

2009-01-13T13:32:00.005+02:00

Enjoy:)
Javier Rodriguez and Geraldine Rojas perfoming Humillacion, Los Mareados, Que falta que me haces and La Cicatriz

Winter Tango Fairytale

2008-11-13T00:59:00.003+02:00

Once again in Bucharest, Romania, our honorable guests: Murat & Michelle Erdemsel.
And this time they also bring friends: Mazen Kiwan & Mairia Filali.
Details on www.tangobrujo.ro (this time in English too :)

DANCE QUOTES

2008-11-07T12:14:00.000+02:00

by Eddie Uehara

The Wisdom Project

2008-11-04T12:55:00.002+02:00

by Andrew Zuckerman

What I've been up to

2008-07-21T17:41:00.007+03:00

Me and a couple of friends started a new animation studio :)
www.toyset.ro

wish me luck

on Buenos Aires (II)

2008-07-04T16:34:00.003+03:00

Somehow the trip to BsAs rendered me mute. It's been almost 6 months now and I'm still wondering why. I don't know. Everything I've lived there is still very much alive in my mind, yet I find it very difficult to write it down.

Perhaps it's sheer simplicity is overwhelming. Maybe the common people doing remarkable simple yet fantastic things it's what stroke me. Cultural clash? Maybe, though we're not so far apart. There I've experienced a sense of normality that I'm still searching for here, back home.
When I said to the people living in Buenos Aires that I loved the city and I could live there whithout any second thoughts the general reply was "It's funny how we want to leave Argentina and you foreigners want to stay". Well, I'll try to explain. Byass, of course.

I did not grow up in a western European country. I was only 10 when the communist regime came to an end and I don't remember much of that period. We, as a nation, were aiming West. Yet all I recall is the "transitional" time from communism to democracy. A time of social struggle, political mayhem (more or less subtle) and somewhat economical growth. One could state we're now on the right track. We're part of EU, NATO and everything is going by the book from a very large point of view. We're building a consumerist nation, and now we can buy the Pepsi can from any corner of the street, the same Pepsi can our parents could only see at the foreigner tourists or could only buy in duty-free shops.

The sense of value has been twisted and perverted. What I shall write next is purely subjective and prone to various kinds of critique - feel free.

.... to be continued....

LA APERTURA

2008-06-20T17:32:00.001+03:00

short film :)
20 minutes, make sure you have the time to watch

one year old

2008-05-11T20:46:00.003+03:00

TangoBrujo, the tango school from Bucharest. The first year. 365 days, mas o menos. There has not been one single day in all this time without tango in my life and for that I have to thank you.

Happy Birthday TangoBrujo(.ro)!!!

Otra noche en La Viruta

2008-04-03T21:30:00.010+03:00

... not quite. But Otros Aires was in Bucharest! Even if it was a private event for Stella Artois Romania we managed to get in (yes, tango people are well connected, yay). At the Bragadiru Palace there was this large beautiful ballroom all dressed up for the event.

They came and they played. And we danced. The mood was fantastic, at least for us who danced. The location, them, us, everything was just right. That night had the spirit of any good milonga in Buenos Aires. After the concert it got even better (we went to the Milonga de Aviation - sshhh, coming soon) All I can say is that I've met yet more fine people from Argentina, I just hope they felt at least a little bit like home.

Suerte!

Marking the event, the first post in English from LaSastresa here

Otros Aires

The location (Bragadiru Palace)

Some of us

Phone movie

Pica Pica

2008-03-28T15:38:00.002+02:00

I didn't get the chance to shoot this but someone else obviously had:
Javier Rodriguez y Andrea Misse en Parakultural
Its funny how on video everything seems much slower. Live it was a craze...

on Buenos Aires (I)

2008-03-14T15:56:00.001+02:00

The mecca of tango. The city of tango. The people of tango. The fascinating city. The nation who came up with the ideea. A too short experience. A too long longing to come.

The first day there I thought I was home. I had this peculiar feeling that everybody I know is actually living next door. Friends, family, they were all naturally supposed to be just a few blocks away, yet I was an ecuator and an ocean apart from them. One understands circumstances through one's own experiences, true. However this city has an universality of it's own. The good, the bad, the ugly an the ever beautiful all come together here. It's a city of all people and I suppose that's how tango was born. The elements are all here. This place and everything in it, It is tango.

Wherever you go whatever you do everything is in the air. You can feel the mood of every esquina at any given hour of the day. And after a while you know the streets, you don't need a map, it's all so commonly there. Like home. Like a lover whom you've grown to know by heart yet you never get bored, you never want to leave nor forget.

to be continued...

What about home?

2008-03-06T20:30:00.011+02:00

As of 7th of March the first romanian tango festival emerges, the Bucharest Tango Festival will feature Ney Melo and Jennifer Bratt together with Richard Lang si Rahel Zigler. We'll have a good share of seminars, live music, milongas, even a "tango boutique".
For more info visit www.tangobrujo.ro or www.eltango.ro

From April 5th Bucharest will host Sebastian Arce and Mariana Montes
For more info please visit www.gotan.ro

This is an interesting one. On March 31st The Romanian National Opera from Cluj-Napoca featuers a national premiere, a tango “operita”:
MARÍA DE BUENOS AIRES
by ASTOR PIAZZOLLA and HORACIO FERRER
more info on the show here, the Cluj Opera website
more info on Cluj-Napoca here: wikipedia or the city's website

Intimissimi

2008-02-28T20:06:00.005+02:00

worth a look, click here

Budapest Workshop

2008-02-27T18:02:00.003+02:00

The posts are getting ahead of me..

Tan Piola

2008-02-13T14:12:00.005+02:00

Hello again, back home (cold, gray winter). I don't feel like posting on Buenos Aires yet, but I will soon. Meanwhile:

Tan Piola y cajetilla - Sarmiento 1272 - Buenos Aires

Here are some videos from the opening night.
Osvaldo y Coca and... Does anymobdy know who are those two?*

*And Patricia y Matteo , thanks TP

Buenos Aires

2008-01-04T22:41:00.001+02:00

It´s unbelievable. It feels so familiar...
More soon.

less than a week

2007-12-23T18:54:00.000+02:00

Guys, thanks a lot for writing. I haven't had the time to post anything or reply, It's been a hellish time doing my best to put everything in order, finishing projects, etc... The few free moments that I had I spent reading blogs (esp. on BsAs) rather than writing. The more I read the more I let go and agree with sallycat about BsAs beeing in the soul of the beholder.

Now It's a little bit more calm, though there are many friends coming and leaving and I want to see them all before we split again. I'm thinking less and less about the trip, sort of letting it go with the flow. I don't have any ideea about what to take with me (I'm pretty sure the luggage will be grabbed in an hour or so) and I hope they loose my stuff so I can have a good reason for not having all the stuff I need :D There is a birthday party right the night before I leave, I think I'll spend the first flight minding my hangover.

Now, everyone could you please have a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones :) Thank you.

May your new year be full of tango!

on BsAs, of course

2007-11-17T15:58:00.000+02:00

Tango in Buenos Aires from Kate9 on Vimeo.

I can't really concentrate on anything else. ANYTHING. I really don't want to build up my expectations so every time the BsAs thought creeps in I try to find something to do. Not that I wouldn't have stuff to do. I have a lot of things to do and I ignore each and everyone of them. It's stupid. Can't really focus on anything...

I want to be there already. To walk the streets to smell the air to meet the portenos to go to milongas to go to classes to see the maestros to listen to live tango around the corners to drink a coffee early in the morning anywhere in any square just sitting and watching Buenos Aires going by. Sunrise. To feel the blood and beat of the city enchanted by music. Sleepless nights and tiresome days. Oblivion and surrender.

Maybe not.

Far,far,away

2007-11-15T11:09:00.002+02:00

Distance for tango: roughly 7700 mi or 12300 km in a straight line
Departure: 29th of December
I still can't believe it. I'm going to Buenos Aires for a month!
The only thing that worries me is that a month passes so quickly.
Big grin on my face :)

Any tips?

L

2007-11-13T12:11:00.001+02:00

There is L, a tanguero from here. I know him since I've started the tango thing and I always looked up to him for he's a very fine dancer. But there was this thing about him... he seemed rushed, not that he did miss the cadencia or something, I can't really put my finger on it.

But Sunday night I saw a wonderful thing happen. He went dancing and he seemed so relaxed and so calm. I don't know what happened to him but he'd better keep it. Really beautiful. It was so nice to see one of us dance like that!

Eso L!

It's lions I tell ya

2007-10-30T19:49:00.000+02:00

Having a walk home. Feeling like the longest trip you've ever taken. Cold and foggy is the night. Tricky street lamps tempt you to feel comfortable and secure. You keep walking, not a soul in sight. You have to get home but you don't hurry. A stray barking from afar kinda keeps your senses awake. It's all so quiet. Loosing the love to the fog, a living dead disappearing into the mist. Or be left guttered by knife by the pavement the only thing you can do is fake warmth, keep silent and wait.

For all we do is dance. The closest embrace you can think of. The most elegant step you may ever take for it may be the last. Breathe, for you're not to waste your breath. Take your time, for your step should not be hasted. Feel her for all those souls can feel no more. Touch her dreams and lead the music for the music would lead you back.

Whisper, step, whisper, step, step,... hold...

For all we do is dance.

tango issue #two

2007-10-29T16:08:00.000+02:00

A while ago someone on tv said among other things that "tango is for people born old". I believe he shed quite a gloomy light on tango in that interview.

Well.. I must disagree with him. If anything the tango is for people who never grow old (not that they die, of course). As I see it It's not that heavy world filled with regret and nostalgia. Yes It has very powerful emotions. I guess tango as a whole it's beyond it's lyrics. One of the reasons it's so addictive is that it has quite a few facets. It can be depressive or it can be bliss. One thing always leads to another, which might be quite the opposite.

Sometimes it's the milonga floor sometimes it's the milonga crowd sometimes it's the young and the old it's the music the lyrics the embrace the cadencia the etiquette the woman. Above all it's a feeling. And a rather joyful one and not at all suicidal I might add. You may actually have some fun. :)

tango issue #one

2007-10-23T18:07:00.000+03:00

I was reading this post on Sorin's Blog and I was wondering...

As I said before It's a small tango community here. Let's say 50 (I stand corrected if I'm wrong). So learning tango is very much like learning to drive in your grandparents 20 house village. What happens when you eventually hit the highway? Or the big city traffic? I'll get a lot of horns (it's a latin thing) and sweet words for sure..

We have little choice here on a regular basis. If we want other people we pretty much have to travel abroad. Which is ok. Then again... I'm not yet sure how dancing in the same relatively small crowd impacts one's skills.

I must admit I was a bit scared of not learning the proper technique. There has been no choice but to trust my gut feeling and obviously my teacher. Fortunately, the fear dissipated with Ney and Jennifer's visit here.

For now I sit quietly in my spot waiting for BsAs this winter :)

Ney & Jennifer were here

2007-10-10T18:07:00.001+03:00

First contact.
These wonderful pages.. I've been enjoying them for quite some time now. So many colors, so many people. I swap them with my friends and then we try to act like those guys in the pages. On the page each box has as still drawing in it, but we know better. There's a whole world between the boxes.

But I'm growing up they say. Slowly I'm beginning to understand those funny things with no pictures. Letters they say. Wreadin'.. I don't know them all and I have to read each and every one aloud but they're starting to make sense... and we have all those pages neatly tied together with so many words up on those shelves, my folks say I have to grow up some more to read those.

The other day the most curious thing happened. Me and my friends were alone for the whole day at home. We've been planning on this. We sneaked up on those shelves and got one of those books. We opened it... carefully... and we read.

By the time the grow-ups came back we read a whole page. Letter by letter. By ourselves. Wooow. For some days after we were just... silent. Mesmerized. And curious. And happy.
And we have to learn to read and write beautiful words like those on that page. And to grow up.

Ney Melo and Jennifer Bratt

a very very brief recuerdo

2007-10-06T00:42:00.001+03:00

In Romania the first tango school started just 3 years ago. You ca find a more detailed history here, on the elTango page.

It's still a fairly small tango community but I think it's growing fast. This year two new schools have emerged, Tango Brujo led by La Morocha and the Tango Tangent led by Daniel Mandita

I'm trying to dance since May.

Julio Balmaceda & Corina de la Rosa

2007-10-03T17:13:00.000+03:00

I find them to be one of the most elegant couples on the tango scene.
The video is made in Denver, USA and the music is live (?!)

No words. No comment. No doubt.

Julio Balmaceda & Corina de la Rosa

First seen on this cool blog La Tanguera

tango why tango

2007-09-28T03:38:00.001+03:00

At first it seemed provocative. At least. Then it changed. It doesn't sit still for a moment. It's ever changing, ever growing. Intriguingly beautiful. Deceivingly addictive. It's like good perfume lingering a piano bar filled in cigarette smoke. You'd follow but you're not sure who's perfume it is. Another sip and you're writing poems in your head.
Scent of things to come.

But first you have to master it. It takes time, a lifetime maybe. Bathed in the rhythm one may be confused if sinful or blissful. I believe it to be both. Pleasurable, treacherous, it gets hold of you and I'm not sure if it ever lets go.

This is the beginning of a story. The tale of my tango addiction. The words of a tango rookie in a new found world of music, people and dance. Should my posts to come be boring (vague may be), please indulge my awkward writing. My intent is not to rationalize but to express the things between my right and left hemispheres, to depict illusions and to speak the gray of tango and the colours between.
:)