My Travels
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My Travels |
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I did some teaching at Casa Marina Reef for guests and some locals, as well as well as a session at the Emily Watson School of dance in Sosua
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Arrived on time after a good flight with Virgin Atlantic. It was painfully
slow the customs and immigration followed by snail pace baggage reclaim.
They had two carousels that broke down alternatively so we all went from one
to the other like ants follow a food trail. Upon passing through, I
discovered that transfers to the hotel were to be paid for by me. What a
great tour organisation Captivating Cuba are..Iarrived at the Hostal
Valencia in the old part of Havana. I am sure the place was great in the 50s
but is now in need of refurbishment. I had to change 3 rooms in 2 hours till
I found a room with water and air-conditioning that worked! The first night
was spent along Calle Obispo, a thriving street with a number of Bars
boasting live music and attractive women.
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An early start at Hostal Valencia. It was a very
warm day in the high 20s. I took a stroll round the Malecon and up to Habana
Centro where all the shops and locals mill around. Back to Obispo in the
afernoon for a few drinks in the Cafe Paris and listened to some live music.
Danced with an older Cuban woman who grabbed me after watching me sway along to
the music. Got some Salsa CDs from a street seller. Copies of course but the
black market is a way of life here. Sightseeing day around town. Great buildings
and thousands of Police!
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The video clip is
an unplanned, unrehearsed dance with Mrs Dauber who is the main teacher of
Tango. She also does Salsa as well. She was very complimentary and wondered
how long I had trained in Buenos Aires. She commented that they had many
overseas students over the years but nearly all had no sense of the dance or
musicality. They seem to have been taught by numbers! Before I left I did a
bit of research about venues to dance Tango and the few that were shown had
now closed so the Tango scene is very limited in Cuba. After we danced a
Tango we went into some Salsa dancing to Los Van Van. She was a pretty good
dancer and she just loved my "Leslie Phillips" step. It had never been done
in Cuba and I can actually remember inventing the step around 1993 with a
former partner of mine Jemma.
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| After I was winked at a few times I made a move to dance with a lass from Santiago de Cuba. Anna was a really pleasant woman and danced very elegantly. She made me feel that all the years of dancing over in the UK withmy developed Cuban style had not been wasted. We ended doing a dance demo for the crowd which was enthusiastically received and we were given several rounds of drinks. After the drinks and dancing came the hard sell! How about we get a Casa particular, Senor? She opened her hand bag to reveal a condom packet. Ah well, I politely declined using lack of funds as a reason. She just winked and said " Manana?" Good to be back in Cuba, I am going to have to think up some good excuses. I think I'll go for the Gay angle. | Today I managed to find the Casa del Tango. The first place in Cuba where they danced Argentine Tango. It is a run down building in Calle Neptuno. It has a marble dance floor in great need of repair. They have filled in some of the missing marble with cement, so it looks a bit strange. There are 2 rooms for dance but when I was there the place was not open for Milongas because part of the building opposite had collapsed so the street was closed and guarded by yet more police. I knocked on the door to be greeted by Edmundo Dauber and his wife who are the owners. The studio was started by Edmundo's grandfather and the walls are adorned by Tango pictures. Some people from. Argentina had been here and played as well as taught. | Today I went down to the Museo de Havana Club in Havana vieja. There are classes held in the first floor studio by a young woman accompanied by various partners. I watched the first 30 minutes of a lesson which was conducted in lines going over repetitive steps with very little enthusiasm. The students looked bored out of their brains and there were some who had danced before but she made no attempt to split the group. I came back later and asked if she would mind having a dance for the video. Well you could not have planned the next moment.Next to us was a guy who was showing a Cuban girl some New York Salsa and the result is as follows. It took all my self control to not burst out laughing. Can you see how typical of New York style..there's no smoothness just routines. | ||||
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During the month
of July/August, I made the 16 hour flight to study Tango and teach a bit of
Salsa in Buenos Aires. I stayed in San Telmo which is the ancestral home of
Tango. An area close to the centre of BA that has a number of Salons for the
dance enthusiast. It was the middle of winter but the Gods shone on me as
the weather was very pleasant for most of the days. Each morning, I would
venture out for some sight seeing and dance class in the afternoon. I met
many teachers and found most to be very pleasant although time in Argentina
is very flexible.....2pm was often 2.30pm mas o menos. It was galling for
the first few days. No!, I tell the truth it was a pain in the ass all the
time. |
Often my days would be spent around La Boca sightseeing and dancing in the street cafes with some very nice dancers. It was nice to be accepted as a Porteno(a local) All the other places, Avenida Independicia, Confiteria Ideal, Suipacha 384 to name just a few were very nice and the teaching quite good. I enjoyed classes with Gustavo Sorrel and Aurora Lubiz. There was a very nice young couple Paola and I forget his name at Independicia. They taught in a relaxed way and the sessions were friendly with students learning well . |
The cost of everything is very cheap with an average dance costing $12 which includes a class. I found the people to be quite friendly and some clubs were like they are here... some for Tango snobs and others friendly and full of smilesOn my return, I feel enthused for the teaching of Tango and am embarking on a series of workshops to encourage Tango in the suburbs. I aim to teach in milonguero style which is the equivalent to Cuban style Salsa as opposed to Nuevo Tango which is the New York style of Tango. In a crowded hall ...flashy learned routines just doesn't do it for the real aficionados.. |
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The teaching was mostly good, however, I found the teachers at Dandi not that inspiring. I find smoking whilst teaching an offence and I actually chose to leave a lesson rather than put up with it. The maitre d' was a pretty miserable man but I was told he had recently had a personality by-pass op, so I had to forgive him. Needless to say, I never went back to Dandi
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I must say that the standard of dance in class was much the same as the UK at Basic level, so they are not born Tango dancers as we are not born Ballroom dancers. Don't just go for the Tango....there are many places to visit in and around B.A. At some Tango Salons ladies you may get bored silly trying to make eye contact with a guy to encourage him to ask for a dance. A custom which I found laughable to the extreme. I thought that the women were checking on my hairstyle till someone told me different. Come on B.A. time to move into the 21st century. I think a lot of Tango snobs love the preening of it all. |
I really enjoyed my time there, as I treated it as a great way to absorb Tango at the roots. The best dance I had was with an Italian woman who was like silk and only been dancing for 2 years... she also had a SMILE. A sense of joy, realising that a a social level Tango is a DANCE between 2 people.
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Uruguay |
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Whilst in Buenos Aires, I took a chance to travel across the Rio Plata to Colonia, Uruguay where I spent a full day sightseeing in this world heritage area. The area is peaceful compared to the hustle of B.A. and I sat in a nice restaurant overlooking the water and watched the world go by for several hours. I met a local artist who showed me his collection of art at the gallery next to the restaurant. My Spanish was just about getting me through as I met some very nice locals whom I shared coffee with by the old railway station. Colonia del Sacramento, in Uruguay's province of Colonia, is steeped in hisotry. It was the only Portuguese settlement along the Rio de la Plata. Founded as Nova Colonia do Sacramento in 1680 by Manuel de Lobo,and as such was the focus of struggle between the Spanish, who founded the settlement at Montevideo in response, and the Portuguese over control of the area. For years it operated as a contraband port, evading the strictures imposed on trade by the Spanish crown. Today it is a resort city, a port, and the trade center for a rich agricultural region. |
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