Our Fall Buenos Aires location!

My new neighborhood and our Fall Program in BA

On Saturday my lease ended at the apartment in Barrio Norte/Recoleta.  For my last week here, I moved to the private apartment next door to my good friend Maria Teresa Lopez's restored 1880’s tango guest house in the Balvanera neighborhood.  

There's so much soul in this down-to-earth neighborhood! I think of Barrio Norte/Recoleta, where I stayed for 2 months, as "the Upper East Side" of Buenos Aires.  I think of my new barrio as the "East Village".  But someone local said today, “Barrio Norte is Europe. THIS is ARGENTINA.”  Now, I’m starting to understand!  In my experience of the “European” side of town, people were nice, but kept to themselves.  Here in Balvanera I’m meeting truly interesting people every day.

In addition to the palpable soulfulness of my new neighborhood, there are so many great milongas within a 1-mile radius.  This is where I will organize my Fall Buenos Aires program. Maria Teresa’s tango guest house is right next door.  Connected to my apartment is s charming complex of dance room, mini-cafe, and courtyard, all dating back to the 1880’s and carefully preserved. We are well-equipped for lessons, sociable practicas, dinners and small parties.  Pretty much everything one needs is in walking distance - unless you choose to take a cab or bus to a different cluster of milongas.

At the end of the block is a small, corner cafe’/“heladeria artesanal” (homemade gelato bar).  What a first look doesn’t reveal is that a chef in the back makes fresh wholesome meals every day and will come out to discuss your individual desires and needs.  There’s no menu - just a sign out on the sidewalk that says “Plato del Dia - 30 pesos”  (“Today’s special - $6”)   The owner, a management consultant and engineer, is also a musician and a deep and fascinating intellectual. He introduces his guests to each other with genuine admiration, as if each were an esteemed but humble celebrity.  The other night when I was walking home from a milonga after 1am, the cafe' was still open, with musicians and singers who dropped in to jam - when I came in they played jazz, blues, and tango.  The place was so alive!  A young couple danced swing outside on the sidewalk to the blues tunes.

Other conveniences:  There are 3 supermarkets in the immediate area; one of them is enormous, more like a department store.  For fresh produce it’s better to go to the simple Bolivian produce stores that are bursting at the seams with fresh fruits and vegetables from nearby farms.  Two blocks from the tango house, a non-luxury, but fully equipped gym has low rates for classes and monthly enrollment.  There are cafe's and restaurants sprinkled throughout the neighborhood.

Want to join me next fall in Buenos Aires?

Would you like to have fabulous, insider-experiences in Buenos Aires milongas and around the city, like some of the ones I've been describing over the last two months?  

- Have you been wanting to work with me to really advance your tango, and also been dreaming of going to Buenos Aires "someday"?  Are these items on your "bucket list"?

- Want to enjoy the benefits of all the insider knowledge I'm gaining in Buenos Aires, enhanced by the support of my Porteño team of experts?

My good news is that I'll be returning to Buenos Aires in October and November 2013 (even earlier to continue my own study), and I'm now accepting applications for the Fall programs!  The program's infrastructure is now fully designed, but we need to talk so I can find out what your specific needs and desires are to recommend the right components for you.

If you want information about meeting me in Buenos Aries this fall, contact me now to set up a time to talk!  Skype works great, and it's free to talk internationally.

Just email us at support@tangomojo.com, and I or my team will get back to you promptly.

My training with Melina . . .

I’m excited to report that last week I started 

training with my hero, world-class stage artist Melina Brufman.  Monday, she left on her European tour.  In my brief series of private classes with Melina, I was able to make two major shifts in my dancing, and found myself already dancing much more powerfully, even in milongas. I’m convinced that Melina is the right dance mentor for me!  We agreed to work together intensively early this Fall, when she is back in BA for a 2-month interval in her tour.

Here is a video of Melina dancing with her professional partner, Claudio Gonzalez:  

Melina and Claudio use a lot of "theater" in their choreographies, but that's not what attracts me to Melina as an artistic mentor. She has something in her dancing that for years I've wanted  to cultivate in myself.  Finally, I'm just beginning to "get it".  It feels like what I "got", which has already empowered my dancing, is just the tip of the iceburg!  

I am so happy and grateful that I have moved this goal from "bucket list" to top priority, and that I've taken decisive action toward becoming the dancer I've always wanted to be!

Helaine's Adventures in Buenos Aires Tangoland - Episode #4

After my Saturday night in a more challenging, competitive-feeling milonga where I didn't know how to "break the ice",  I wanted give myself a break.  I had been looking forward to trying out a famous, classic, Sunday milonga only 2 miles from home. This venue on Sundays is not on the "in-crowd" circuit, though on three weekdays it's considered "hot".  Different organizer, different crowd.  I had been there only once, years ago, on a Sunday and had liked it.

Coming from a late dinner in another part of town, I rushed to get to the milonga, feeling anxious. It had started at 6pm and it was already after eleven. A lot of people were leaving as I arrived.  The milonga would close at 1am.  

But the moment I walked in, I felt comfortable!  I thought, "Even if I don't dance tonight, but just relax and become familiar with this environment, it will be a nice 2 hours."  I took my time freshening up in the ladies' room and changing my shoes.  The music coming from the next room was soothing to me.  I was seated at a good table, and ordered a bottle of mineral water.  

One after the other, two men came up to my table to invite me.  In Buenos Aires, "walk-up" invitations are usually done by bad dancers or men without manners who think, "She's a foreigner; I'll just go and grab her".  I find it rude because it puts the woman in an awkward position of being obliged to dance, unless she chooses to turn him down in full view of everyone there, making him lose face in front of the others.  Sorry, but if I haven't seen a man dance, it's up to me to decide whether I want to risk having a bad experience on the dance floor.  In the tango world, the whole ritual of inviting with a glance (mirada) and a nod (cabeceo) from a distance is an art, with social dynamics underlying every nuance, which we learn with experience.   Also, I don't particularly want to dance with a man who hasn't seen me dance. A good dancer determines before inviting whether he's likely to have a good dance experience. If he's not looking for a good dance experience, he's inviting for other reasons.

Eager to change the dynamic that had started with the table invitations, I decided to get myself invited by an older man who looked nice on the dance floor. I simply looked at him as he returned to his seat.  And he invited me, probably presuming I had liked the way he danced.  Dancing with this man gave me a chance to be seen by everyone else.  He wasn't great, but he was a genuine, traditional dancer and it was pleasant.  After that set, the invitations started coming from good dancers, and I really had fun!  

One man who had come to my table at the beginning was tall and attractive.  I had been disappointed to discover when he danced with someone else that he was a very good dancer.  Why was I disappointed? Because now I thought of him as a guy with bad manners.  But after he saw me dance a few tandas with men who had invited me properly, he also gave me a very nice "cabeceo" from across the room, and I accepted.  It turned out to be really beautiful to dance with him!  By the third tango he said, "From now on, when I invite you, please accept!" And I smiled and said, "With pleasure. But not at my table."  (It gives other poor or ill-mannered dancers license to do the same. And what if I'm in the middle of accepting an invitation from across the room?) Truthfully, however, I can't wait to dance with him again.  I still suspect that he's not a well-mannered guy, but the enjoyable fantasy can live on the dance floor!

I recognized an older gentleman in the room as someone with whom I had danced often 15 years ago, on my very first trip to BA.  He had been about 65 and semi-retired back then.  He looked a little shrunken, but he was still so, so elegant!  He invited me, and it was perhaps the best set of tangos I've experienced since I came to BA, and therefore one of the best sets of tangos I've ever had!  I think that in this tanda I experienced a level of emotion in tango that I have not allowed myself to experience before. 

Here's the story I posted on Facebook about my encounter with this 80-year old man, in the form of a letter to my late friend Norma, who invited me to join her in 1998 on her seventh and my first trip to Buenos Aires: 

Dear Norma,

It's 2am and I'm feeling so emotional!  Norma, from your place in the non-physical, did you see who I danced with late tonight at Canning? It was Juan, the elegant, retired gentleman with the thick, wavy white hair and dark eyes who danced often with both of us 15 years ago at Club Almagro and at Confiteria Ideal. He had been so kind to us back then. He always wore a suit, was always impeccably groomed, and his embrace and sense of the music were divine. 

Tonight I went to Canning around 11pm, and it took me a few minutes to recognize him because he looked a bit shrunken - he's surely over 80 years old now. I have never forgotten Juan in all this time; I had learned a lot about tango from dancing with him back then, when I only had 3-4 years of tango under my belt. In fact, during all these years, every time I heard Pedro Laurenz's tango "Vieja Amiga", I have thought of Juan. 

After I had danced several tandas with others, when I was thinking of how to approach Juan to let him know of my memories and my appreciation, he invited me to dance, and I was thrilled. Of course, he didn't recognize me, having danced with thousands of "extranjeras" since then. What I didn't expect tonight from this elegant, still perfectly dressed and groomed gentleman, was that dancing with him would be such a rich and beautiful experience. It literally felt like being in love. I forgot all about making my feet look nice. It was one of the deepest tandas I've experienced in the weeks I've been here. 

Can you believe, Norma, that during our first tango, before I had introduced myself, he let me know when I was finally embracing him "properly"? Then between tangos he gave me an explanation that I believe might change my tango forever. I held both his hands as he corrected me, and I thanked him.  

Then I told him we'd danced together years ago. Juan was very happy that I remembered him and that I had thought of him often, particularly when I heard certain tangos. We had been dancing the last tanda and then we danced the Cumparsita. It was a very special moment. Then he introduced me to some friends, so proud that I remembered him from Almagro*, and he recommended his favorite milongas to me so that we could dance together again. 

When I got home tonight, I was still trembling a bit with emotion, and I was sure you came to listen when I said, "Norma!! Did you see who I danced with tonight?"

(*For those of you who don't know, the legendary Club Almagro, which hosted one of the best and most beloved milongas in the '90s, closed in December 2000. I was there when they made the announcement, and it was a sad moment!)

Tonight, by the way, I'm returning to this Sunday milonga, with the hope of dancing with Juan once more.

Here's a video of the elegant milonguero who moved me so deeply, about whom I wrote above.  His name is Juan Topalian.  In this video he's dancing with his wife Franca.  Thanks to Janice Kenyon, "Jantango", for a link to this video on her blog, Tango Chamuyo.

http://youtu.be/NZ-PUkKrE0o

Of course, I'm always happy to hear your thoughts!  Can you tell what might have made dancing with Juan so special for me?

Helaine's Adventures Episode #3

My disappointing evening, and a new lesson that helped me break through!

 

 

The Saturday night after my adventure at the “arcane” young people’s milonga, I went to the first “in-crowd” milonga recommended by young American who had danced exquisitely with the Japanese tango professional. It would be my second step in my initiation to this circle of milongas. 

 

That evening, I called to reserve a table for myself - always a good idea with milongas that become crowded.  I arrived within 30 minutes of the milonga’s opening. The host seated me at a good table in an L-shaped, tightly-fitted row of women’s tables along the dance floor that faced a complementary, L-shaped row of men. The two L’s formed a horseshoe around the large dance floor. The entire opposite end of the room, at the open end of the horseshoe, was filled with many tables. That section was designated for couples and random arrivals of both genders.  Behind a wall on the men's side was another room filled with tables and only two openings to the central room.  When I arrived it was empty, but by midnight it was full.  

 

This host was very meticulous about orchestrating the seating, and he strictly enforced his decisions.  One woman near me had changed seats on her own, and when he noticed he came to scold her and moved her back to her original place!

 

I observed my usual “rules” for milonga success:  I took my time observing the dance floor to see whose dancing I liked, ignoring several immediate invitations from the men's side.  I knew only one person in the room, a French man with whom I had danced a few days earlier, who was sitting out of eye-shot in the couples’ area with his partner.  So I felt like a total newcomer there. 

 

A young Turkish tanguera sitting next to me, dressed very casually, chatted with me in English.  A new tanda started and surprised me by getting up to go to a man’s table to invite him!  The tanguero she invited was a heavyset American I thought I recognized from a festival in Chicago.  If it was the same man I had danced with at that festival, he seemed to have lost about 100 lbs.  In Chicago his agility and dynamism had amazed me and I thoroughly enjoyed his musicality.  Though he had been so much fun, I was glad we had danced in a wide-open embrace, because he perspired heavily. When the Turkish girl came back, she said she had told the American that her table neighbor was American too.

 

There were some very fine dancers on the floor.  Plenty of average dancers as well. I liked the dancing of two stout milongueros who were full of life.  I watched them carefully as they passed and when they glanced in my direction I did my best to make eye contact.  But they were very much in-the-moment, and it would take several tandas for me to establish any eye-contact.

 

Meanwhile, I was impressed with the high-level dancing of a few younger men and women. Some of the young men were clearly dancing with awareness of their own style and appearance.  Nevertheless, I sought to let them observe my attention to their dancing or to make eye contact.  I was finding it tough to break the ice.  Still, I enjoyed the music and the new environment, and found myself smiling a lot.  I continued to ignore the invitations of dancers I thought were weak, or of men whom I hadn’t yet seen dance.

 

 

When I felt really ready to dance, I simply didn't know how to get invited because nobody in the room had seen me dance.  I was sorry I had not gone to this same milonga the previous Tuesday to meet an old friend from Italy who was a yearly regular at that biweekly milonga.  She would have introduced me to some friends. But she had already left Buenos Aires.

 

Finally, the big American invited me.  I felt grateful for his helping me break the ice. Yes, it was the same man, and he had indeed lost a great amount of weight.  We danced close and sometimes open, and had fun, but when we were done I went to the ladies’ room with my packet of aloe towelettes in my purse to wipe his perspiration from my face and chest, and adjust my hair that was matted over my right temple.  (I carry aloe towelettes in my totebag to all milongas. I use them rarely, but sometimes they are great for emergency freshening-up!  I recommend them for women and men, and prefer natural ones from a natural foods store - even baby wipes - rather than chemical-based towelettes from the supermarket.)

 

After that tanda I could STILL not catch the attention of any of the good dancers.  I finally accepted another American’s invitation. He was not very experienced, but did very nicely and was a pleasant fellow.  Then I just sat for a long time, smiling and watching the dance floor.  When I least expected it, one of the milongueros I had been watching on the dance floor invited me, and that was a very good tanda.  Then immediately another Porteño invited me, and that was also good, and then the big man from Chicago invited me again. I thought I had broken through!  But I got no more invitations from interesting dancers . . .  only from those I didn't want to look at, and so I didn't dance again.  

 

I stayed at this milonga until almost 4 a.m.  I had danced only 5 tandas!  I was determined to go back another time and be more successful.  I was determined to break into this circle that was so much more challenging than the milonguero environment. I decided not to wear all black with long sleeves again to these milongas.  Some of my experienced tanguera friends and I have observed that bright clothes and exposed arms or shoulders (or back or legs) sometimes help attract more invitations.

 

MY LESSON:

 

When I got home at 4:30am, I wrote to my Porteña “milonga mentor” Maria Teresa.  When I next saw her, she told me this:  

 

When she goes to a milonga where she is completely unknown, she either accepts the first invitation she receives, or chooses a man and discreetly asks him to invite her later as a favor, so that her dancing can be seen. I  used the latter strategy a few times years ago, but I thought I had "graduated" to more energetic means.  Yet my fail-proof methods had not served me in this situation. Maria Teresa said that dancing even with a poor dancer at the beginning of a milonga gives her the opportunity to show that she is a good dancer.  And that usually breaks the ice for her.

 

Ahaaa!!

 

THE PROOF:

 

At another challenging milonga I’ll tell you about in a future episode, I tried accepting the first few invitations I received, and danced at the beginning with some poor dancers.  I found I was able to dance well anyway, helping each of those weak dancers to dance better.  Contrary to anything I believed before, by doing this in a milonga where I was unknown, I found that invitations started coming from better and better dancers. With each step up in quality, I gradually returned to my usual selectivity. In the last two hours of the evening, I was dancing with the best dancers in the room.

 

Both women and men can apply this lesson!

Helaine's Adventures Episode #2

Running into a celebrity, and a couple of anecdotes


Here’s Part 2 of Wednesday's story of “the young milonga”.

I stayed until the wee hours, and I was able to greet the most senior person who entered the room late, the famous stage dancer Carlos Copello.  Both Carlos and his partner of many years, Alicia Monti*, had supporting roles in Sally Potter’s film “The Tango Lesson”.  Here’s a short clip from the film that opens with Carlos and Alicia.  http://youtu.be/-QLBMYV93Mc   The Englishwoman is Sally Potter, and her jealous dance partner who arrives moments later is tango star Pablo Veron.

But how did I know Carlos Copello?  Carlos and Alicia had been been one of my guest artist couples at my 2002 New Year’s Tango Gala and Festival in Todi, Italy.  They not only performed for my two-hundred New Year’s Eve milonga guests from all over Italy, but also did an outdoor performance in the freezing December 31 night on a stage set up in the grand piazza for the general Todi community!  After our weekend-marathon gala in a glamorous mansion just off the piazza, Carlos and Alicia and the other famous guest artist couple taught 4 days of workshops for the 125 guests who stayed for the whole week.

At the end of the festival, Carlos and Alicia came up to my loft-like apartment for tea, and Carlos proposed that he and I partner on doing the same festival the following year, because he had so many international tango contacts, especially in Japan!  Though I was flattered, I didn’t feel that he was the right business partner for me, and I didn’t want to be an organizer of future festivals, so I didn’t pursue his proposal. Again, that was in early January 2002.

So now, 11 years later at “the young milonga”, I re-introduced myself to Carlos Copello and got hugs and kisses. I told him hasn’t changed in all these years. (“Mentime, que me gusta!” - “Lie to me, because I like it!”)  He brought up the subject of festivals again, and I just smiled, telling him that I’m only interested in teaching and dancing, and there are people better suited to organizing festivals.  He was disappointed.  I left the milonga at 4 a.m.

* I can't resist telling you a funny story about Alicia Monti, after she and Carlos broke up. Alicia and Timothy Ferriss, author of “The 4-Hour Work Week”, “The 4-Hour Body”, and “The 4-Hour Chef”.  In 2005, Tim Ferriss was in Buenos Aires and studied tango for 6 months with world-class tango dancer of Villa Urquiza origin, Gabriel Misse’ (brother of the late Andrea Misse’).  After those 6 months of intensive study, he entered the Buenos Aires World Championships.  His partner for that adventure was Alicia Monti.  Here’s a short video clip from that event: http://youtu.be/ynjBJMVTNZs.  In the video, Ferris is wearing the number “82”.  (In front of them, I was surprised to see my friends of many years, Olga and Emilio, wonderful tango dancers from Miami, couple “81”!)

Shortly afterward, Ferris and Monti appeared on the “Live with Regis and Kelly” TV show and won a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most tango turns ever recorded in one minute (37).  The tango world scoffed at him for bothering to do that, but he won himself some amazing national publicity!  Ferris, by the way, writes in his blog that he stopped dancing tango over 5 years ago.  You can look up the Guinness event on Youtube, under “Tango World Record - Tim Ferriss and Alicia Monti”.  I think it was pretty silly, but I admire Ferris for his intelligence and his brilliance in business, marketing and getting publicity.

Running into Carlos Copello at a late night milonga triggered all theses memories!

"Rose Vine Tango" Videos of the Week

In the first "episode" of my new series, "Helaine's Adventures in Buenos Aires Tangoland", above, I mentioned how impressed I was with the girl who danced like Virginia Pandolfi "on steroids".  She turned out to be Virginia herself, "unplugged", in a casual environment - a young, late-night milonga.  

I haven't found a video to show you the "unplugged" side of Virginia.  But last December, I sent my readers the following video of Virginia dancing with Javier Rodriguez, almost a year after his beautiful professional partner Andrea Misse had died in an auto accident.  Javier's new partnership with Virginia began shortly afterward.  

Have a look at this one again, and read the comments below from viewers if you like, but make sure to then scroll down to the second video link for the big video treat!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_4obN4X3x0&feature=share&list=LLoVwWhyqGQrAJObcJzgaLNQ

Along with this link, I had solicited viewers' comments. The following responses came in, surprisingly all from men, of all different levels of tango experience.  I'm publishing their comments anonymously:

"So beautifully executed and a might sexy if I may say... I must have reviewed it 5X and watched some of the other associated clips as well!"

* * * * *

"In response to your question, I really love her hips back, chest forward posture, and the way she reaches toward Javier's core while at the same time maintains her own axis." 

* * * * *

"I found Virginia's poise and and use of stillness very compelling to watch.  "It is hard to  adapt to the sight of a new relationship.  But if Tango has taught me anything it is that the moment of shared heart space with a dance partner is not closed when you dance with someone else,  the heart space just expands."

* * * * *

"The welcomed challenge for Javier is the size of his new partner, Virginia. At first glance she appears overwhelming for his small frame, but this highly skilled guy can handle it. Its a pleasant surprise when a woman like Virginia turns out to move like a butterfly and uses elegant embellishments. This can make a man foreget about most other things. Some men are confused about when to adjust their embrace to the size & weight of their partner, so not to constrict the follower or themselves. Instinct & musicality is hard to teach. Obviously, a man has to make adjustments for a woman like Virginia if he expects any positive feedback from her body. It's so hard to find a pro partner. Since the lost of Javier's [partner Andrea], I am just thrilled that he still has that magic he can share with the world. He is so into the moment that its beautiful to watch. Overall, this is a good start for Virginia & Javier."

* * * * *

"Virginia is by FAR one of my favorite DANCERS, not followers. I LOVE her step, she could only take ONE and I start screaming. She makes me actually weep. I prefer her with Fabian Peralta. She is music, she is movement, she is drama and entertainment. I have watched her for years. We are FB pals... oooooooouuuuuuuuu!" 
The BIGGEST Virginia Pandolfi fan (rivaling her mother)

* * * * *

Recently, I saw a few videos in which Javier danced with someone else, and I wondered whether he and Virginia were still partnering.  Well, here's the "video treat" I promised you:  9 minutes - two tangos and a milonga, with Virginia and Javier performing about a month ago at a festival in Monte Hermoso, Argentina:

http://youtu.be/buMbFA6KX40

Next, Virginia doing a US tour with Ney Melo in April and May, and Javier will teach and perform at the Seoul Tango Festival in May with another partner.

Of course, I'm always happy to hear your thoughts!

Here's Episode #1 . . . and a great bailarina "on steroids"

Helaine's Adventures in Buenos Aires Tangoland - Episode #1

At a very crowded “Gricel” one Thursday night, I’d danced with a chubby young man who had given me the best of my 20 tandas that evening.  His dancing was technically clean, richly complex, and musically stimulating, while he was always emotionally present, and navigated the dance floor skillfully and respectfully.  I had asked him at what milongas I could find younger dancers like him.  He recommended one that he said was the most “arcane (“known or knowable only to the initiate” - Merriam-Webster).  I went there the following week.

This milonga was publicized to start at 11:30pm.  I arrived at 12:30.  I had to walk through a very noisy hall full of wild salsa dancers to climb the stairs to tango, and the room was empty, except for a two middle-aged Korean ladies eating pizza, and a table in the corner with about 10 athletic looking 20-somethings dressed in leggings, jeans, flip-flops or low, casual boots. Some of the girls wore no makeup. They were also eating together - looked like they had just finished a class and were having a bite before the milonga.  At 1am the two organizers started setting up. A few couples were dancing modern tango to traditional tango music, including two blonde girls who looked European, taking turns leading each other.  Black and white films from tango history were projected on a big screen.  

One 40-ish Porteño, a decent dancer, who was hosting a pretty Brazilian lady around my age at his table, invited me to dance.  I was feeling good about my dancing.  But I had assumed I would NOT be dancing much that night with these people between 18 and early 30's - who danced amazingly well!  Just in case, I decided to order water and not finish my glass of wine, to be prepared to dance. The kids who started coming onto the dance floor ranged from good to outstanding.  A few seemed to be the caliber of any professional I've ever seen, and I realized that these young people have worked and studied a lot to achieve that level of skill.  One young woman in colorful palazzo pants and a shirt tied at the waist was dancing so powerfully she seemed to vibrate.  I watched her for a while and thought, “She dances like Virginia Pandolfi 'on steroids'!” 

Next an 18-year-old boy, who looked even younger, invited me to dance. He was very good for his level of experience, but he apologized for being “lacking”.  To me this boy was much better technically and musically than many of the milongueros who started 50-60 years ago, at his age.

A couple was brought to sit at my table, because it was a table for 4.  They were around 30, good-looking and athletic.  He turned out to be an American from Arizona, who's been living in BA and studying tango intensively for 6 years.  She was a tango professional from Japan.  We introduced ourselves and they got up to dance.  Their dancing were gorgeous.  I was so impressed that an American guy could dance like that.  Later he moved to the seat next to mine to make room for someone, and we chatted at length.  He told me a lot about his background, including his winning an Argentine award last year for his dancing.  He runs a tango house for young people from abroad. He gave me a lot of referrals and advice, including the milongas he most recommends for high-quality tango, and the most effective ways he knows to find the right partner, from his own experience and others'.  

The young American asked, “By the way, do you know who that is?”  He pointed to the girl in the palazzo pants.  “That’s Virginia Pandolfi!”  Seeing her close up, in casual clothes, with hair simple and little makeup, I hadn’t recognized her.  But I had recognized how she moved!  I guessed that she had taught the class of the 10 students in the corner.  (Watch the videos below featuring Virginia Pandolfi and Javier Rodriguez.)

The next week, I started following the American's advice, and I will tell you about my further adventures in upcoming episodes of "Helaine's Adventures in Buenos Aires Tangoland"!

 * * * * * *

In the first "episode" of my new series, "Helaine's Adventures in Buenos Aires Tangoland", above, I mentioned how impressed I was with the girl who danced like Virginia Pandolfi "on steroids".  She turned out to be Virginia herself, "unplugged", in a casual environment - a young, late-night milonga.  

I haven't found a video to show you the "unplugged" side of Virginia.  But last December, I sent my readers the following video of Virginia dancing with Javier Rodriguez, almost a year after his beautiful professional partner Andrea Misse had died in an auto accident.  Javier's new partnership with Virginia began shortly afterward.  

Have a look at this one again, and read the comments below from viewers if you like, but make sure to then scroll down to the second video link for the big video treat!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_4obN4X3x0&feature=share&list=LLoVwWhyqGQrAJObcJzgaLNQ

Recently, I saw a few videos in which Javier danced with someone else, and I wondered whether he and Virginia were still partnering.  Well, here's the "video treat" I promised you:  9 minutes - two tangos and a milonga, with Virginia and Javier performing about a month ago at a festival in Monte Hermoso, Argentina:

Of course, I'm always happy to hear your thoughts!