Sydney's clever tanguera

A few years ago - and it can't be many because she is very young - a beautiful and talented young lady (and that she is) joined the Australian tango scene as a beginner. Of course she instantly caught the eye of the men and she could have taken a few lessons and continued to be asked to dance, but she has taken it further. She has fallen completely and totally in love with the dance and the music. She has taken many classses, practised and immersed herself in the music to the point that she is now DJing at a weekly milonga. Now she has started to write a blog all about tango - and she does it very well. (This is not meant to sound patronising, as a magazine editor for 20 years I saw some awful unedited copy and her copy is excellent).
Her latest post is about the escapism of tango - and she uses the waltz 'Desde El Alma' to illustrate her point. It helps considerably that she speaks fluent Spanish, but the point she makes about tango being an escape from life is so true. I know many who have found that, especially at a time of tragedy. When a young member of my close family died last year tango helped to keep me 'normal'. A tanguera I was speaking to last week who had just been retrenched and was feeling frightened about how she was going to meet her mortgage and other commitments told me she would dance tango as long as she could afford to because it was an escape.
So I hope our beautiful tanguera keeps writing her incisive blog (it can be easy to give up and lose interest) and given what little I know about her I feel sure she will. I can recommend it.

A great band but what about the playlist

Last night Fuego Blanco Sydney's youngest and most enthusiastic tango orchestra performed for Sydneysiders to dance to. And they did an admirable job. Just back from Buenos Aires where they continued their studies with the Escuela de Tango they played music that was enjoyable to dance to. When they played Piazzolla's Libertango they acknowledged that it wasn't a piece many liked to dance to, but they played it with a passion that kept the dance floor moving and won them applause. I can't wait to hear them again next Sunday at the Victoria Room.
There is tango to dance to, tango to listen to and tango for those who ride in lifts! The first is the tango that dancers want to hear - and there is a wealth of music from the Golden Age of tango music. Generally thought of as the period from the mid 1930s to the end of the 1940s, dozens of orchestras performed and recorded the the tango music that was being danced in the milongas around Buenos Aires.  In the past two decades modern orchestras such as Color Tango, Sexteto Mayor and El Arranque (to name a few) have recorded the old songs with new, but mostly very danceable, arrangements. So why am I blabbing on about the music? Because at last night's milonga, apart from an occasional danceable tanda of milonga or waltz music -  a mixed up D'Arienzo tanda and a Di Sarli tango, those who ride in lifts would have felt more at home with the DJ's selection, than did many of those who dance tango.I was disappointed as I know this DJ understands the music better than many who put together playlists and I was expecting to be able to dance all night! Like many who love Golden Age Dance tango I spent more time sitting.
And the floorcraft (see below)? It was much, much better than last time I visited this venue.