Spare me. Please.
At 8 a.m., a band has taken over the front room of my favorite coffee shop. They are wearing costumes—curly wigs and weird clothing. They are disco impersonators.
A television station is filming them. It’s a promo for a gig tonight.
The announcer has done his voiceover. The musicians are warming up.
Who listens to disco? It is not cool. It was not cool even when it was popular. The best you could call it is kitschy.
Also very loud. I am trying to write. Crammed in a back corner, I am working very hard to screen out the music, concentrate on my thoughts.
At the Denver Memorial Day Festival one month ago, Grisha taught a session on tango music, what defines it and makes it irresistible for dancing.
Disco has nothing in common with tango.
So why am I rocking in my chair?
The Inner Life of Argentine Tango: Argentine tango offers much to love and much to learn. There is the dance itself, all rigor and improvisation. Also the music, the history, the costumes, and the people who keep tango alive. And then there are the true tango lessons, the ones you learn when two people step into one another's personal space, connect at the heart, and together create a spontaneous beauty. This blog is about all of it, but mostly about this: Tango is life.
Everything that has happened is happening still
The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past.
--William Faulkner
--William Faulkner
What we call imagination is rearrangement of memory
Pay attention to all that goes on around you. Remember, memory is the most important asset to an artist. What we call imagination is rearrangement of memory. You cannot imagine without memory.
The Ink-Keeper’s Apprentice
Allen Say
The Ink-Keeper’s Apprentice
Allen Say
Only Connect
What is the essence of tango?
Connection.
With what?
Your body
Your shoes
The floor
The music
Your partner
The room
The gossip
The stories
The history
Argentina, her story
The world, their story
Your history
Your story
Your self
Note to beginners: Begin where you will. It’s a circle.
Imaginative Empathy
"It's transcendence--that's what I'm striving for in all these poems: No matter what the characters go through, no matter what their end, they mean to live."
Ai, on her book of poems, "Vice"
Ai, on her book of poems, "Vice"
Would you like to dance?
Sand on snow, Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes, Michigan
Blog Archive
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2008
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June
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- Learning Boleo: May 20, 2007 - June 12, 2008
- Tango and Chocolate: One of These Things Is Just L...
- DiscoTango
- Cool Tango Move Saves Baby
- How to Get into a Boat, Tango-Style
- Family Vacation Tango
- Let's Dance!
- My Fingers Are Covered in Shoe-Black
- A Great Way to Start Your Day
- MIT Tango
- Writing Word Music, Part 2
- Writing Word Music, Part 1
- Beats, not Notes
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June
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