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Post date: Jan 5, 2017 6:03:38 AM
Jesica Arfenoni & Maximiliano Cristiani - this pic captures their beautiful walk!
Sharing this article by US based Tango teacher Ney Melo.
Back in the early stages of my tango life I hosted Ney Melo's Sydney / Australian tour twice. On the second visit he was accompanied by his beautiful dance and life partner Jennifer Bratt. I always enjoy Ney's musings on tango, and this one particularly struck a chord. A good walk is so essential to tango!
"MY TOP 7 FAVORITE “WALKING VIDEOS
December 28, 2015 - Ney Melo
“The Walk”….”La Caminata”….since I was a tango beginner, it has fascinated me. Back then, I just wanted to be good enough in tango to embrace a woman and walk beautifully with her. As the saying goes “if the walk is good, the woman dies in your arms, if the walk is bad…..the woman just dies.”
So here are 7 of my favorite “walking videos”. By no means am I saying that these are “the best”, these just happen to be ones that I look at when I am in the mood for some “good walkin'”.
1. Jorge Dispari and Samantha DispariJorge and La Turca were very important teachers for me. They really say what is on their mind and were the most critical teachers I ever had. In a world where many teachers adapt to the different trends in the dance, it was nice to have teachers who were fixed in their idea of the aesthetic and musicality of tango. This is a class demo on walking and musicality that I organized for my Buenos Aires tour group back in 2008. Here is Jorge with his daughter, Samantha.
2. Javier Rodriguez and Andrea Misse
Javier, my maestro, and Andrea were such a beautiful couple. What struck Jennifer and I right away about the classes with Javier is how he looks at you and it is as though he sees right into your soul; he is so intuitive. It has taken me years to get to the point where I can teach and live with such an open heart and, even then, it is nowhere near how Javier is. As for Andrea, I will retell my story of our last interaction: The last time I spoke with Andrea Misse was during the 2011 Firenze Tango Festival, during the breaks in between the workshops or during the teacher dinners before the milongas. I was about to be a dad later that year and we spoke about that a bit. I remember her looking at me with those beautiful eyes of hers and she told me (in Spanish) “It’s all going to work out.” and whereas I might have heard that same sentence from other people many times in my life, when she said it, it was as though time stood still.
3. Marko and Maja
Stylish and elegant. I love these guys:
4. Neri Piliu and Yanina Quinones
I first met Neri and Yanina during the 2013 Firenze Festival and they did an amazing “tango show” choreography. Here they are showing their roots in “salon puro”:
5. Pepe di Gennaro and Adelma Rago
Improvisations are a funny thing: no matter how much you practice, the way to take a performance from “good” to “great” almost relies on the planets aligning (the partners feel good, the crowd has energy, etc etc). In this performance, all of that seemed to happen and Pepe and Adelma really nailed it, especially the walking that starts at 0:56.
6. Sebastian Misse y Andrea Reyero
Another beautiful and stylish couple and really nice people. I look forward to seeing them in Firenze 2016.
7. Carlitos y Noelia
Working on my dance with Carlitos this past summer helped me rediscover the beauty of “changes in dynamic”. Here is a beautiful interpretation of “La Tupungatina”.
BONUS:
Here is my contribution to the beauty of walking in tango:
Have copied this out in its entirety instead of just the link to article to keep these great videos for posterity - just in case this link breaks or disappears off the net over time.
You can see the original article here.
If this has inspired you to learn tango click here for details on our next beginners courses!
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