Tango é, com o fado e o flamenco, umha das três músicas urbanas do século XX.
Hoje, ouvi um tango dumha mulher Uruguaia chamada Giovanna que me fiz emocionar:
Deixo-vos a letra em espanhol. Se entrades no seu espaço: http://www.myspace.com/giovannatango

há para ouvir tangos e milongas.

CIUDAD DE NADIE
Mi ciudad está por todos lados
en los tangos errantes del destierro
tirando más al pecho que al costado
ahí donde se angustian los recuerdos.

Mi ciudad está en la pesadilla
en el mapa siniestro de la sangre
limita con un rio y la costilla
del resto del pais que tiene hambre.

Ahí en la calle
que siempre duerme
los tigres amarillos de la hambruna
están llevándose el cadáver de la luna.
Y se vislumbra
por las veredas
la huella de la perra desventura
en la masacre de las bolsas de basura.
Ahí en la calle
de la penumbra
Cuando la noche se recuesta en los umbrales
el sueño se parece a la locura.

Mi ciudad está en ninguna parte
en la brújula rota del viajero
durmiéndose en el frasco de calmantes
al márgen de la vida y del deseo.

Mi ciudad está mirando al norte
amarrada al cabo del subsuelo
cambiando por monedas su horizonte
al sur de los que miran desde el suelo.

Tango actual. Letras de agora e de sempre. Realidades que trocam de ubicação geográfica, mas não de ubicação humana. Antes eramos uns, agora são outros. Quem sabe se voltaremos a ser outra volta nós..!

Tamém, além da realidade que se vive em muitos paises da América Latina e duas terceiras partes do mundo, essa "ciudad de de nadie" pode existir no nosso interior. No próprio coração:

"Mi ciudad está en ninguna parte
en la brújula rota del viajero
durmiéndose en el frasco de calmantes
al márgen de la vida y del deseo."

"Mi ciudad está por todos lados
en los tangos errantes del destierro
tirando más al pecho que al costado
ahí donde se angustian los recuerdos."

Um tango cheio de verdade e sentimentos que soa como bágoas de tristeça na voz de Giovanna e na música de Hugo Fattoruso.

Às vezes, a beleza é triste.

Ou a tristura é bela.

le serate di tango organizzate da Deep in Tango e Fatti di Tango

Photo Credits: Andrea Balducci

To me, one of the most appealing things about tango is that it is accessible across social levels and includes all types of people, from lawyers to taxi drivers. It's a working class dance, initially cultivated by mariners and immigrants who missed their homelands and wanted to experience an embrace--to remember loves left behind, lost loves, or the hope of future loves.

On the dance floor, everyone starts at an even stature until his or her dance skills are displayed.

Tango has also taught me more courtesy and empathy. The dance hall can be a community. Hosts regularly greet their guests who come to dance and send them off with hearty goodbyes and kisses on their cheeks. Milongueros greet familiar dancers as they enter the hall. Codigos are set to protect a dancer's wishes and pride. Regular milongueros greet elderly dancers with the utmost reverence. 

The moments I miss a step or catch my partner's foot, he usually takes the blame: "No, no, it was my fault."

I am developing my steps, technical abilities, the weight with which to balance my feet, and the way my knees need to brush as I walk. The pleasantries and courtesies have taught me how to be a more thoughtful person as well.

]]> http://elsingapore.wordpress.com/?p=23 Fri, 04 Jul 2008 21:24:54 +0000 elsingapore http://elsingapore.wordpress.com/?p=23 Il tango non è una danza, ma uno stato d’animo. Una filosofia di vita incentrata sulla magia dell’istante o, come vuole la tradizione, «un pensiero triste che si balla». Traduce in movimento le passioni, dall’amore al rifiuto, dal sospetto al tradimento, dalla gelosia alla rabbia, senza dimenticare la nostalgia. Dell’oggetto del proprio amore. Che sia una persona, un momento, un paese, una sensazione, o, perfino, il tango stesso. A questa malinconia multiforme è dedicato Amor de Tango con Raffaele Paganini e il Balletto di Milano, che questa sera nell’ambito della rassegna Cosmophonies, sarà al teatro romano di Ostia Antica. Un viaggio nella storia e nella cultura del ballo argentino, ma, più ancora, un percorso nella memoria, guidato da brani che hanno fatto la storia del genere, da Carlos Gardel a Astor Piazzolla, eseguiti dal vivo dal trio Aedòn.«Lo spettacolo - spiega il coreografo Ruben Celiberti - nasce da un ricordo che mi accompagna sin dall’infanzia: il giorno in cui mio padre mi incuriosì facendomi ascoltare i suoni che scaturivano dal grammofono mi trasmise una tale emozione che fece nascere in me l’amore per la musica passionale di Buenos Aires. Ho voluto rappresentare i ricordi, le passioni e la nostalgia di un paese lontano, la mia esperienza sublimata dall’espressione musicale e di danza che solo il tango possiede». Vanta un passato tanguero pure Paganini, che, etoile di danza classica, ha spesso scelto questo ballo come protagonista delle sue perfomance più introspettive, tese a indagare l’animo umano, proprio e altrui.

Fonte: http://www.ilgiornale.it/a.pic1?ID=273715

Abrías la puerta de tu casa como siempre puntual, no eras muy glamourosa, pero creo que nunca te hizo falta. En nuestro ritual primero nos veíamos, seguido de tu dulce "hola" y por ultimo la parte que me dejabas a mi (o será que quise dominar desde el principio). Me acercaba a ese punto, que me llamaba y provocaba: tu boca o mas especifico la parte superior, entre el labio y la nariz la cual besaba y lamia suavemente y a la vez cual asesino silencioso de Süskind olfateaba con un dejo de amor y lujuria. Me sentía ciego, sentía que ya no te iba a volver a ver y tenia que aspirar ese ultimo fragmento de tu esencia.

La primera vez que escuche el tango "Por una cabeza" fue en la película: "Scent of a Woman", en 1993. Tenia 13 años y había ido con un amigo de la secundaria a ver "Robocop 3" pero no llegamos a la función de las 5.30 porque en el camino se le ocurrió "entrar a comer gratis al centro comercial de al lado". Después de unos Pipuchos, 2 coquitas y llevarnos la charola del recorte del jamón con cebolla y rajas compramos unas frituras para disimular nuestro atraco y salir corriendo al cine.

¡UHHH AHHHH!

Ya no había boletos y cuando vi que él volteaba a los videojuegos de al lado le dije -podemos entrar a ver "Perfume de mujer"-, -no mames- me respondió, -esa es una película como para nuestros "jefes". A 10 minutos de que empezara tuve que convencerlo contandole que Al Pacino pateaba traseros en "El padrino 2" (no había visto la primera) y "Tarde de Perros". Lo convencí, aunque yo no sabia de se trataba (en ese entonces solo pensaba en películas XXX, Supermario 3 y NBA). Entramos.

Desesperados porque Charlie Simms era un perfecto idiota y afeminado, y porque al Teniente Coronel Frank ya lo hubiésemos mandado a volar, de repente, llego la escena del tango. Sala en silencio, violines chirriantes, elegancia y gracia en cada paso enmarcado por una mujer hermosa, una mujer que tenia que oler como los ángeles, su olor inundaba el cine, esparcía el tufo de palomitas, plástico, polvo y de sexo seguramente (había parejas mayores en los cuatro puntos cardinales de las filas). ¡UHHH AHHHH! Nos impacto.

Salimos del cine, por un túnel que conectaba casi a la calle, bailando, cada quien con su pareja imaginaria (yo me imaginaba a una amiguita de mi salón y el una compañera mía de la primaria y que era su vecina). -Imaginate bailar esa cuando te cases-, -estaría bien chido-, -¿que onda? ¿te parto tu madre en las maquinitas o que?-, -jajajaja, pendejo-.

¡UHHH AHHHH!

¡Caray! solo Carlos gardel podía hablar con autoridad de temas hípicos; nadie como él podía conocer la emoción del jugador de ver a su caballo llegar victorioso a linea final, ni sentir desaliento de verlo flaquear en el momento mismo en que un supremo esfuerzo lo hubiese colocado en la categoría de ganador.

Me imagino que así reaccionamos cuando detectamos "el perfume de mujer". Me imagino que te llamaba la atención de mi como buscaba llegar a tu meta. Busco una carrera. 

[audio="http://www.goear.com/files/sst4/f7e92eda49fe5ca2ad3cc048fd469178.mp3"]

All you need is rock: "Descargala"

"Por una Cabeza"
Carlos Gardel
Interprete: Tango Proyect
Album: Scent of a Woman OST

There are some physical traits that a salsera can't change about herself: her height, her hips, the softness of her fingertips. Then there are traits that a salsera develops, always prone to change: technique, style, heart and soul. As much as a salsa gigolo develops a salsa philosophy -- one that determines how he dances, what moves he leads, his state of mind -- so does a salsera convey by the way she dances, the way she follows, what is in her heart and soul.

Sometimes I become very greedy for a particular salsera, and I want all my dances to be with her. When she leaves me to dance with another, I feel the pangs of jealousy and loss. When we dance again, I am with a wounded, tender heart, once forsaken, then forgiven, not knowing how long our time will last. I love this feeling.

Opening scene from the movie "Kiss Me Kate" », featuring Kathryn Grayson » and Howard Keel »:

Scene from the movie, "De-Lovely" », a musical biopic of this song's composer, Cole Porter »:

This is the feeling I seek, song by song, dance by dance ... salsera by salsera.

Några hekto tyngre blir nog Tango, men vi kanske sparar några hekto när all trä är lackat och fukten inte tränger in. Foto: Niklas Qvarnström

Sunday July 6
FREE Concert with Ian Whitcomb and the Bungalow Boys
at the Cicada Club
Downtown 8 p.m.-11 p.m.
617 S. Olive Street, L.A.

Ragtime Dances: Waltz, Foxtrot, One Step, Two-Step & Tango
Men must dress in evening attire, meaning coat and tie, no California dress casual jeans, sneakers or T-shirts.

Admission is Free
Some parking meters in neighborhood or valet park for $7, or 1/2 block North of Cicada Club, park at Pershing Square for $6.

You can always hop on the Gold Line and transfer to the Red, but remember...safety in numbers!

Following the success of Cinéma sur l’Herbe / Films on the Green in June, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation are proud to present a new series of French films for the month of July (July 11-25). ’Dancing Together’ will feature three critically acclaimed and award-winning films showcasing dance and music, from tango to hip hop, an electrifying mixture sure to appeal to West Harlem’s diverse residents.

The Mount Morris historical district in West Harlem, at the crossroads between the traditional Harlem of 125th street, new immigrant communities—such as Little Senegal on 116th street—and the student neighborhoods near City College and Columbia University, provides an ideal setting for a festival that seeks to bring neighbors closer together, to create new connections, and to contribute to New York’s remarkable melting pot (or dancing pot, as it were!).

The first movie, Je ne suis pas là pour être aimé (Not Here to be Loved), by Stéphane Brizé, is an intimate, profoundly endearing portrait of a worn-out police officer who rediscovers his taste for life when he begins to learn the tango. The screening will (naturellement!) be followed by a tango session in the park, so that the audience can truly get into the spirit of things!

Flora Gomes’s Nha Fala is an exuberant, high-spirited celebration of the power to defy destiny. According to an ancestral Cape Verde legend, any girl in Vita’s family who attempts to sing will soon perish. But when Vita falls in love with a musician in Paris, she discovers she has a beautiful voice, and she resolves to confront her fate back in Cape Verde by… throwing a huge party! Festival-goers will also be able to join in the fun during a BBQ following the screening.

In On n’est pas des marques de vélo (We Aren’t Cheap Brands) , director Jean-Pierre Thorn tells the story of Bouda, one of France’s most popular hip hop dancers, who grew up just as hip hop was taking hold in the banlieues. Thirty-year old Bouda—along with his friends and family and the most recognized and talented Hip Hop artists of his generation—goes over the 80s and 90s and how they formed a new generation. After the movie, audience members will be invited to drink a toast to hip hop in France.

July Schedule

*Please note that each screening will be followed by a party.

These movies have only been screened once before in New York. The prints have been flown in from Paris.

For more information, please write to cinema-ny@frenchculture.org.

Link: ’Films on the Green’ on Facebook

The sub-titled screenings will continue to take place outdoors every Friday at sunset (around 8.30pm), and will be free of charge. All three movies will be followed by parties!

]]> http://athenageek.wordpress.com/?p=25 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:24:41 +0000 Liz http://athenageek.wordpress.com/?p=25 I love my technique class.  I went in last night feeling exhausted, and with stuffy ears that were effecting my balance.

Near the end of the class, the instructor had us doing ochos on our own.  Back and forth, on the 1 beat.  He explained a bit of technique first: Wind up while stepping, and then let yourself unwind into the turn.  After a couple of tries, I found that this worked wonderfully for me!  What had been a very shaky and unstable step was now a whole lot more stable.  This works for back ochos too, though I'm not quite as stable in those yet.

I wouldn't say my ochos are good yet, especially the back ones.  However, I now feel much more stable.  I would say that if I keep practicing this way, I think I will be able to do them with consistent stability before too much longer.  I'm so happy about this, I always dread the moment I get put into back ochos, because I know it's my worst step.  Most of the leads I dance with don't support me very much when they put me into back ochos, so I end up just crossing instead of twisting.  When I get support, I'm usually fine, but that probably means I'm not doing them right.

By the end of class, I felt much more comfortable with both forward and back ochos, and a lot more stable in general.

Here's hoping that the steps I dread will soon become fun.  :)

It has been a real pleasure hearing these experiences and receiving all the advice and proposal for help to make the most of this journey, I hope to receive more and I wanted to say to you all that you've been of great help and that you also made me want to go there even more :) .

I thanked and I'll thank the people who I regularly see in person, but I here on the net I especially want to thank those who I won't see until I get to Argentina and those who I won't see for who knows how much time, since they're on the other side of the world. In strict alphabetical order.

Alex, whose blog provides both wonderful posts and wonderful photos of the most strange and non tango-related things

Barry, that I met on youtube and always sends me great music and challenges me with the most wonderful or strange conversations

Cherie, that demonstrates how people can love a kind of tango and yet be civil and open and all the things I never dreamed of in my city

Damian, whom I met in person and had a great time dancing with, but now has gone back to Australia

Deby, who writes the first tango blog I ever found and read and continue reading, because it's so great

Jantango, who I don't know, not even on the net, but thank you very much anyway for your comments and advice

MissTango, who writes wonderfully and, apart from tango, made me discovery very interesting stuff about BsAs even before I decided to go there

and Tina, that I might meet here in Italy sometime in the future, but for the moment I expect to meet in BsAs

So, everybody, a very heartfelt thank you, grazie mille.

Veronica

And now back to my exams, which are now the real reason that keeps me away from my blog.

Uno busca lleno de esperanzas
el camino que los sueños
prometieron a sus ansias.
Sabe que la lucha es cruel y es mucha,
pero lucha y se desangra
por la fe que lo empecina.
Uno va arrastrándose entre espinas,
y en su afán de dar su amor
sufre y se destroza, hasta entender
que uno se ha quedao sin corazón.
Precio de castigo que uno entrega
por un beso que no llega
o un amor que lo engañó;
vacío ya de amar y de llorar
tanta traición...

Si yo tuviera el corazón,
el corazón que di;
si yo pudiera, como ayer,
querer sin presentir...
Es posible que a tus ojos,
que hoy me gritan su cariño,
los cerrara con mis besos
sin pensar que eran como esos
otros ojos, los perversos,
los que hundieron mi vivir...
Si yo tuviera el corazón,
el mismo que perdí;
si olvidara a la que ayer
lo destrozó y pudiera amarte...
Me abrazaría a tu ilusión
para llorar tu amor...

Pero Dios te trajo a mi destino
sin pensar que ya es muy tarde
y no sabré cómo quererte.
Déjame que llore como aquél
que sufre en vida la tortura
de llorar su propia muerte.
Pura como sos, habrías salvado
mi esperanza con tu amor.
Uno está tan solo en su dolor...
Uno está tan ciego en su penar...
Pero un frío cruel, que es peor que el odio,
punto muerto de las almas,
tumba horrenda de mi amor,
maldijo para siempre y se robó
toda ilusión... Letra: Santos Discépolo
Música: Mariano Mores
Canta: Nariano Mores

[audio=http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/4/15/1867866/Tango/01UnoMarianoMores.mp3]

]]> http://lmuston.wordpress.com/?p=51 Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:39:45 +0000 lmuston http://lmuston.wordpress.com/?p=51  BAR FLIES, presented by Untouchable Productions, choreographed by Roslyn Wood-Morris featuring Gerhard Bester, Craig orris and Rayzelle Sham (main, dance, Alex Mullins Hall, today – Wednesday, at 11am)

Reviewed by Leon Muston, Arts Editor

MUCH like the fringe physical theatre production Kissing Frogs, this main dance production takes a hilarious look at the modern dating scene through dance and movement.

But whereas Kissing Frogs consists of numerous scenes and characters, Bar Flies takes place over one night at a bar, involving just three characters.

To start off with, there’s only the barman, making the place presentable for the evening.

He considers himself charming and funny, but is virtually invisible to the other characters.

A woman who seems quite withdrawn and guarded enters the bar, but releases her sensual inner self the more she drinks.

Her opening dance sequence is hilarious - she moves around her table knocking back glasses of wine with the barman mimicking her moves in the shadows and stepping in whenever her glass needs refilling.

Then another character enters the bar – a guy who thinks he’s God’s gift to women but comes across as a cross between a 1970s disco heart-throb wannabe and a cowboy.

He’s obviously a regular, as the barman hands him back a belt he left at the bar on a previous visit.

From this point on the man and woman start the process of checking each other out without wanting to seem to interested.

They start doing a very funny tango around the furniture as they try to decide whether or not to get together, both continuing to knock back the alcoholic beverages.

Once the woman decides to go for the guy, the bartender becomes jealous, keep attempting to interject himself between the two of them, and it becomes a tango for three rather than two.

The protagonists being able to stand let alone dance at this stage is rather improbable, and eventually the effects of the alcohol are brought into the choreography with the dancers draping themselves over furniture, stumbling around and falling into each other’s arms.

As it becomes clear the woman is thinking of leaving with the guy, the bartender, who has also been indulging in the liquor he sells, has had enough and engages the guy in a fight.

This is another highlight of the production, as the fight takes the form of a tango, the two half dancing, half fighting.

It could be argued that the show is more physical theatre than dance, but regardless of what you call it, all three performers are excellent in their roles and the choreography is absolutely outstanding.

It unsurprisingly got a standing ovation from the capacity audience when I saw the show.

The favicon is based on the logo, so it can unleash its power much better when used in connection with the logo, but can also be used on its own as it has the letters “u” and “l” inside, standing for UserLogos(.org).

The Logo itself tries to show the adaptability of UserLogos.org and its users by having different versions, different shapes, different effects (shadow or glow) and different colors.

The items themselves should act as generic logos, trying to represent logos itself without having to be connected with for example Google, Ebay, Wikipedia and so on.

For the case the background is dark, this version should be chosen:

And finally the favicon:

Oh so tiny!

That's it! What do you think? What could I improve?

It's challenging to add graphics to a page and not overwhelm it, but I think that she and her designer did a wonderful job.

My Blueberry Nights is a terribly disappointing effort from the man who has produced such masterpieces as Chungking Express and Happy Together. A bog standard road movie with dialogue so wooden you could cut it up and make parquet flooring out of it, it makes some episodes of Sex and the City seem like King Lear by comparison.

There are some pretty shots of course and even a few faint signs of life from the scenes with Natalie Portman but the general feeling produced, at least in this viewer, was of being in the presence of unfunny parody of one of Wong, Kar Wai's previous films.

In the context of an Augmentative and Alternative Communication course, it is often challenging to teach the subject matter framework information, general device knowledge, device programming, as well as all of the intangibles such as Velcro strategies and light tech board hacks and modifications. As more and more information and research comes onto the scene coupled with the ever expanding list of mid-tech to high-tech speech generating devices, we need to start finding ways to compact the information. One clear focus of assistive technology research for the foreseeable future is looking at ways to get massive amounts of framework and technical knowledge to students who are often busy either in full time school programs or both in a combination of school and employment settings.

Personally, I am being called on in an ever greater way in the speech language division I work in to provide training and tutorials to students in the graduate degree program. While it is important to have a personal touch and bring the concepts to life, it has been helpful to find ways to not reduplicate training and efforts.

Here is one resource my friend Amir Shasavari and I created. It is authored in Keynote, but here is the PowerPoint version. The focus is to help train people about the relatively new Tango! AAC device from Blink Twice. Here at Nova Southeastern University, we are finding it a helpful resource for training graduate students in Speech Language Pathology in their diagnostics as well as their AAC course.

The presentation/ tutorial has features that are important for both online learning and for self study:

• linkable information that goes out to increasingly rich levels of media (video, more directions, downloads)
• solid navigation tools inside the tutorial
• a uniform look and feel to the whole user experience

I hope you find this resource useful and consider the importance of this topic.

Download the tango tutorial

La reconocida modelo Romina Burne ya se encuentra en camino para arribar en la tarde de hoy, lunes 30 de junio, a nuestro país. Y es que bajo la antesala del II Salón de la Moda Íntima, la exuberante argentina dio el rotundo “si” a la invitación que se le extendió para que paseara su espigada figura por la pasarela que el Grupo Latina ha programado.

El II Salón de la Moda Íntima está dispuesto para los días 1 y 2 de julio, en el Hotel Radisson Eurobuilding – Caracas, pero será justo el día miércoles 2 de julio, cuando Romina haga su aparición en el escenario bajo la sensual firma de Lody Lingerie, quien vestirá a la modelo para tal compromiso.

Romina ha logrado impactar el territorio del “tango” gracias a su imponente y agraciada silueta; ella se ha hecho merecedora de importantes campañas publicitarias, editoriales de moda, comerciales y unas que otras tapas de revistas.

Con esa misma intensidad y estilo, la modelo argentina, confiesa conquistar las pasarelas de Venezuela, y es que viene dispuesta a dar el todo por el todo en el escenario y así cautivar a todos los presentes que asistan a este evento de lujo.

El Grupo Latina, con la puesta en marcha de este II Salón de la Moda Intima, promete marcar un antes y un después en lo que a desfiles de moda respecta en nuestro país; y es que la organización a preparado un espectáculo que cuenta con tecnología de punta y un juego de luces impresionante, nunca antes visto en nuestro continente.