It Takes the Biscuit!
Well muchachos, today I have some news, so am resigned to sitting down typing for a while to get the blog back up and running.
In summary, life in Buenos Aires has been pootling along in an extremely agreeable manner. I have my little flat set up as I like it, have been eating very well and dancing probably five days a week. I have taken up again with the lovely couple who gave me private lessons last year and though their prices have doubled, they are still one of the best bargains ever. I have a search agent working to find me a flat to buy. Oh and last night I came first my heat in the qualifying round of the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Tango Competition!
Shall I start with that?
Well, I was at my favourite milonga - Club Español - on Thursday, not in the best mood as I had stupidly left my bank card in the cash point and had to sort that out so missed a precious hour of the milonga. There are usually plenty of super dances to be had at Español and this week was no exception, though I was getting rather more than is considered prudent with a chap everyone who has been here will know, Jorge (El Turco) who teaches classes at several milongas and who is quite shameless in offering his services to everyone who passes through town. He is a lovely dancer. Now I am sure I have mentioned many times that the Argentine male is, on the whole, a bit of a charmer and the constant compliments are easy to take if a girl remembers her good grace and a large pinch of salt. So Jorge is constantly telling me I am such a good dancer, gorgeous, blah blah blah. In the middle of the evening, the floor was cleared for a heat in the first round of this big city-wide tango competition that is running here over the next couple of months. The standard was from good to fabulous and generally the best people won, according to a panel of judges and a popular vote. One of my favourite dancers won the milonga section dancing his usual cheeky style with a tall woman from the States. May who used to dance and teach with Michael in London also won with her very suave new man.
So, back to me! After the competition, I danced again with Jorge and he suggested I enter the competition with him in one of the other heats. Naturally I assumed I had misunderstood him or that it was yet another schmooze but he was persistent and, as it turned out, one of the women at my table spoke German and so we had a three-way conversation which established that I had understood him correctly, he did want to dance with me in the competition. The usual reflex "Oh dear no, I couldn´t possibly" was over-ridden by a rather mischievous "What the hell!" So I agreed.
Most of Friday I just laughed.
It was odd not to be at all nervous but I really had no hopes or expectations, do nerves didn´t come into it.
So, Friday night at El Beso - not the busiest milonga, I must confess - the lovely Belen gave up her other plans and came to watch me, which was very much appreciated. Also cheering me on was a new friend who I met a couple of weeks ago and seems interesting. I danced with a few people before the competition, including one in a rather extreme milonguero hold that I can still feel straining my neck today, and a couple of regular favourites. The actual competition was upon us rather suddenly, though had my command of the language been more advanced, I might have known to expect it. I gave Belen my camera and asked her to record the moment and she did get a couple of snaps that I will try to upload soon. Sadly, she could not work out how to take movie clips so I have yet to see myself dance.
We had to dance to a couple of tangos chosen by the DJ to make sure it was all improvised. Of course, I did not see the other couples dance, I just concentrated on following Jorge, and picking myself up from time to time on my most common errors as pointed out by my teachers Romina and Carlos: keeping my feet on the floor, taking parallel steps, holding my torso down, relaxing my shoulders etc etc and I hoped to heaven he would not lead me into a double or triple giro as I almost always get lost in those and end up skipping around trying to catch up with myself! Happily, he probably remembered that as a weak point and I was only aware of one small trip in my footwork. Every now and then I put in a little ankle flick to make it seem that I was in control of my feet but I am still not one for fancy footwork and flying knees, so kept it all very low-key and got through it without any disasters, which is all I wanted.
Then there was a pause while the votes were taken and counted and in the meanwhile a couple more tandas were played. I danced with some other people who said I had been fantastic and was going to win, which I took with the usual pinch of salt. Maybe I should mention that the last time I won (or even entered) anything was a slow bicycle race at the age of twelve, so I am not being modest, I just am not in the habit of either taking part or wanting to win.
We had to go up and get certificates to say we had entered, then stand around on the dance floor being watched while a whole bunch of stuff was read out and finally the results came in. Couple number 2 came in runner-up and go through to the semi-final - applause and cheering and much kissing of cheeks. And the winners, in a coincidence of opinion between the judges and the popular vote .... us. Well it was all I could do not to laugh hysterically I was so astonished. There was more applause and cheering and kissing of cheeks such as I have rarely known. We got more certificates and a prize of a book and a CD. What a shock. There is a small scrap of paper I have to hang onto, which is our ticket to compete in the quarter finals in early June.
Then we and the other couple had to do an exhibition dance to a really long and very slow tango and that was in some ways harder than the actual competition because it dawned on me by then that everyone was watching! Also I had to stifle the urge to laugh and laugh and laugh so that I could actually control my body.
Hilarious.
People started leaving pretty soon after the copmpetition was over. There is another bigger milonga on the next block and there is a general migration from one to the other at about 2 in the morning. We stayed til about half past, then Jorge kindly took me and Belen out for dinner to celebrate. Yes, England, dinner at half two in the morning. I was so glad Belen was there to keep the conversation going and ocasionally interpret into French when I had totally lost the plot. Also good to have a chaperone!
Jorge dropped me off at home at half past five and I got straight on the phone to Susan in London with the news. Her joy was exactly what I needed to make it all real.
Now I shall post this and I´ll come back another time with more general stuff. Sorry to anyone who had given up expecting me to post again.
Cheers muchachos!
Raquelita
In summary, life in Buenos Aires has been pootling along in an extremely agreeable manner. I have my little flat set up as I like it, have been eating very well and dancing probably five days a week. I have taken up again with the lovely couple who gave me private lessons last year and though their prices have doubled, they are still one of the best bargains ever. I have a search agent working to find me a flat to buy. Oh and last night I came first my heat in the qualifying round of the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Tango Competition!
Shall I start with that?
Well, I was at my favourite milonga - Club Español - on Thursday, not in the best mood as I had stupidly left my bank card in the cash point and had to sort that out so missed a precious hour of the milonga. There are usually plenty of super dances to be had at Español and this week was no exception, though I was getting rather more than is considered prudent with a chap everyone who has been here will know, Jorge (El Turco) who teaches classes at several milongas and who is quite shameless in offering his services to everyone who passes through town. He is a lovely dancer. Now I am sure I have mentioned many times that the Argentine male is, on the whole, a bit of a charmer and the constant compliments are easy to take if a girl remembers her good grace and a large pinch of salt. So Jorge is constantly telling me I am such a good dancer, gorgeous, blah blah blah. In the middle of the evening, the floor was cleared for a heat in the first round of this big city-wide tango competition that is running here over the next couple of months. The standard was from good to fabulous and generally the best people won, according to a panel of judges and a popular vote. One of my favourite dancers won the milonga section dancing his usual cheeky style with a tall woman from the States. May who used to dance and teach with Michael in London also won with her very suave new man.
So, back to me! After the competition, I danced again with Jorge and he suggested I enter the competition with him in one of the other heats. Naturally I assumed I had misunderstood him or that it was yet another schmooze but he was persistent and, as it turned out, one of the women at my table spoke German and so we had a three-way conversation which established that I had understood him correctly, he did want to dance with me in the competition. The usual reflex "Oh dear no, I couldn´t possibly" was over-ridden by a rather mischievous "What the hell!" So I agreed.
Most of Friday I just laughed.
It was odd not to be at all nervous but I really had no hopes or expectations, do nerves didn´t come into it.
So, Friday night at El Beso - not the busiest milonga, I must confess - the lovely Belen gave up her other plans and came to watch me, which was very much appreciated. Also cheering me on was a new friend who I met a couple of weeks ago and seems interesting. I danced with a few people before the competition, including one in a rather extreme milonguero hold that I can still feel straining my neck today, and a couple of regular favourites. The actual competition was upon us rather suddenly, though had my command of the language been more advanced, I might have known to expect it. I gave Belen my camera and asked her to record the moment and she did get a couple of snaps that I will try to upload soon. Sadly, she could not work out how to take movie clips so I have yet to see myself dance.
We had to dance to a couple of tangos chosen by the DJ to make sure it was all improvised. Of course, I did not see the other couples dance, I just concentrated on following Jorge, and picking myself up from time to time on my most common errors as pointed out by my teachers Romina and Carlos: keeping my feet on the floor, taking parallel steps, holding my torso down, relaxing my shoulders etc etc and I hoped to heaven he would not lead me into a double or triple giro as I almost always get lost in those and end up skipping around trying to catch up with myself! Happily, he probably remembered that as a weak point and I was only aware of one small trip in my footwork. Every now and then I put in a little ankle flick to make it seem that I was in control of my feet but I am still not one for fancy footwork and flying knees, so kept it all very low-key and got through it without any disasters, which is all I wanted.
Then there was a pause while the votes were taken and counted and in the meanwhile a couple more tandas were played. I danced with some other people who said I had been fantastic and was going to win, which I took with the usual pinch of salt. Maybe I should mention that the last time I won (or even entered) anything was a slow bicycle race at the age of twelve, so I am not being modest, I just am not in the habit of either taking part or wanting to win.
We had to go up and get certificates to say we had entered, then stand around on the dance floor being watched while a whole bunch of stuff was read out and finally the results came in. Couple number 2 came in runner-up and go through to the semi-final - applause and cheering and much kissing of cheeks. And the winners, in a coincidence of opinion between the judges and the popular vote .... us. Well it was all I could do not to laugh hysterically I was so astonished. There was more applause and cheering and kissing of cheeks such as I have rarely known. We got more certificates and a prize of a book and a CD. What a shock. There is a small scrap of paper I have to hang onto, which is our ticket to compete in the quarter finals in early June.
Then we and the other couple had to do an exhibition dance to a really long and very slow tango and that was in some ways harder than the actual competition because it dawned on me by then that everyone was watching! Also I had to stifle the urge to laugh and laugh and laugh so that I could actually control my body.
Hilarious.
People started leaving pretty soon after the copmpetition was over. There is another bigger milonga on the next block and there is a general migration from one to the other at about 2 in the morning. We stayed til about half past, then Jorge kindly took me and Belen out for dinner to celebrate. Yes, England, dinner at half two in the morning. I was so glad Belen was there to keep the conversation going and ocasionally interpret into French when I had totally lost the plot. Also good to have a chaperone!
Jorge dropped me off at home at half past five and I got straight on the phone to Susan in London with the news. Her joy was exactly what I needed to make it all real.
Now I shall post this and I´ll come back another time with more general stuff. Sorry to anyone who had given up expecting me to post again.
Cheers muchachos!
Raquelita
posted by Rachel in Buenos Aires at 6:52 pm
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