Argentine Tango in Arkansas

News

It happens in Mt Vernon Missouri, population 4,000. It happens on the courthouse square in a restored 1893 building, picture a Norman Rockwell Americana setting. See pictures at http://www.karens-murrays.info/.

Three days of close, tango bliss. The closest you will come to the atmosphere of Buenos Aires. Guiding us in this replication is Alberto Perone, straight from the dance salons of BA. Tonya Smith has brought him here, together they will teach, perform, and otherwise wow us with the ways of the milongueros.

Also to wow us is Chas Gale and Gaia Banovitch. They will bring the shoes we love and also offer instruction.

The tentative schedule:
Friday Sept 10,
2-4 pm Sign In, Meet and Greet Milonga
4-5 Class with Chas and Gaia, pay at door
Dinner 7-8, includes beer and wine tickets
Charcarera with Tonya and Alberto 8-9. Milonga 9-12.

Saturday Sept 11
The Not So Square Art Festival set up around the square 9:00 AM
12:00 noon, Charcarera in the street, lunch on your own from vendors
1-2 PM Class with Tonya and Alberto, 2-3 Class with Tonya and Alberto
3 pm ice cream truck
4-5 Class with Chas and Gaia, pay at door
5:30-6:30 Public Performances in the park
7:00 Dinner
9- all night milonga

Sunday Sept 12
Brunch 11-1 pm
1-2 pm and 2-3 pm classes with Tonya and Alberto
3 pm ice cream truck
4-5 pm class with Chas and Gaia, pay at the door
Farewell milonga

Cost is $150 per person before Aug 11, after that $175. Includes 5 classes with Tonya and Alberto, 3 meals, 3 milongas, open practicas, ice cream truck, and more.

Motels: Super 8- $58.50- 417.461.0230, Relax Inn- $56.95- 417.466.4511. Ask for tango rate.

Mail check payable to and send to: Karen Whitesell, 202 S Hickory St, Mt Vernon MO 65712

No credit cards, but pay by PayPal to kglass02@centurytel.net and please add $3.

There is a letter to the editor in the Harrison Daily Times January 12, 2010, that people of the tango community need to read:

Vistors discover downtown Harrison Dear Editor
My wife and I decided to take a small road trip to Harrison, Arkansas, to celebrate the New Year. We stayed at the Hotel Seville;what a beautiful place. We had quite a dinner at John Paul's, equally amazing. We were surprised to see Tango dancers in the lobby of the motel as we made our way to our room, how exciting.

We stopped to watch, of course, and absolutely enjoyed every minute. I think one of the ladies was from Buenos Aires in Argentina. The next morning, we visited a few little shops on the square and a local art gallery and really enjoyed the small surprises Harrison has to offer. Tango in Harrison, Arkansas -- I had no idea.

I have been a businessman and drove through Harrison many years, normally only stopping to grab a bite to eat and meet a client [sic] December 31, and fun day of shopping all the quaint little shops, we will be back and hopefully stay at the Hotel Seville and maybe do a little Tango.

I wanted to write and thank everyone for the wonderful hospitality and let you know we absolutely enjoyed our visit! We will be back!

Parker Miles, Little Rock

When:On Tuesdays in November (and subsequent odd-numbered months), from 7-8:00 pm
Where:At the Fitness Club in Harrison (see Map for Directions).
Instructor:Alice Laule

This new class is for anyone who wants to review in order to get back into tango again, or for people with no tango experience at all. This series of 6 sequential classes for beginners will start the first Tuesday of each odd numbered month. These will run for six weeks, then start all over again at the beginning of the next odd numbered month. Once a person or a couple has completed the fundamentals of tango class, then they will be much more comfortable joining the regular 7:30 to 9 PM class on Tuesday, and everyone can progress faster.

For an outline of the class, please go to Curriculum of Fundamentals of Tango Class

An extended interview with Gustavo Naveira is available on the Dance of the Heart website at

http://www.danceoftheheart.com/naveirainterview.htm

The interview is ongoing - if you have questions that occur to you upon reading this interview, please contact us at tangolessons@danceoftheheart.com to have your questions possibly included in subsequent interview sessions.

Here is an excerpt from the latest installment:

"About the problem of difficulties with the discipline of practice, I think on one side we can't think about tango as a sport. You know that, in sports, if you don't practice a certain number of hours, you can't play professionally at a certain level. But in tango, sometimes practice is not useful. You can't direct the practice to achieve your objective... because it seems to be leading you in another direction.

I think, an opinion only, it's because the tango is still developing. There's nothing proved. You don't know what can happen. And there is another problem.in football, it's YOU who is running several hours a day to get your level, but in tango, it's all about the RELATIONSHIP. You cannot compare tango to other dances because it's a dance that sets a new world.it's NOT individual, how he or she is doing things alone. It's not fully explored yet, so that's why I think we are still in a development moment. That's why I say it's not a rebirth of tango.

I think that before, the main thing was not the dance. In the old times, the people were dancing in order to express deep feelings about the music. The start of all this was the music, so they were trying to play everything around THAT...a social situation, not a political situation. This was interesting, because it was about the relationship between people. But it was not concretely about the development of the dance through the relationship. The new subject is the development of the dance BASED on the relationship. "

We will be offering private tango classes at the O'Brien Center-time can be arranged by Alice Laule. Cost will be $35.

We now have a video page for our tango videos! Click on Videos to the left to see our latest. We are also uploading videos to YouTube, which will provide us with a link to embed our videos here. If you would like to upload tango videos to YouTube, please contact Alice or Ayesha(the webmaster) for instructions.