T A N G O L O N D O NISSUE 5 - NARANJO EN FLOR SPRING 2010

T h e 4 0 0 C l u bYes it’s that time again. Spring. A time of blossom, a time of fl owering. A time of growth and regrowth. New growth. New growth that one way or another, always comes from old.

And in this issue of the400club, where we are forever ready to embrace the season, we bring you news of both the old and the new.

News that saw the passing of two great milongueros. Men who took the dance of their childhood and built new structures, new possibilities. News of a great man of old, a man of the past who wrote to change the future... and danced! News of venues old and venues new. News of performance fi rsts and songs from days long gone, but songs that sound like they were written yesterday.

words and music by Enrique Santos Discepolo 1935translation by Alberto Paz at Planet-tango.com

Tom Keenes writes for the400club about a great literary fi gure and a little known skill he developed in later life...

How often have tangueros read - and no doubt sometimes believed - that “Dancing is a horizontal expression of a vertical desire”? This quote, or variations of it, is usually attributed to Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw though some sources suggest that its author was the American poet Robert Lee Frost, with Shaw later adding “legalised by music”. But whether it was Shaw or Frost who came up with this memorable phrase we can at least be sure that George Bernard Shaw knew how to tango.

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) was the author of 63 plays, including ‘Arms and The Man’ (1894), ‘Androcles and the Lion’ (1912) and ‘Pygmalion’ (1913). His output as a playwright, novelist, critic, pamphleteer, essayist and private correspondent was prolifi c - he is known to have written more than 250,000 letters. In one of these, written to Lady Meyer on 15th February 1925 whilst onboard a liner bound for home in England, he wrote “Have you ever tried Madeira. Also I learned the tango, the only discoverable dance in the modern fl oor trotting”.

In 1924, at the age of 68, Shaw had been persuaded by his wife Charlotte to take a long holiday on the mountainous, sub-tropical Atlantic island 535 miles from Lisbon, where they would stay at the celebrated Reid’s Palace Hotel to enjoy “the fl owers, sunshine, bathing and no theatres”. Shaw was feeling “too old - I ought to be retiring”. But rather than an escape from his cares, Shaw arrived at Reid’s on 30th December 1924 to hear the devastating news that his closest friend, the renowned theatre critic William Archer, had died after an operation for cancer.

As an escape from his grief Shaw spent the mornings writing in the hotel’s gardens on top of the cliff overlooking the Atlantic, or swimming in the ocean. But the afternoons dragged, so at some point in his stay he decided to take tango lessons from the hotel’s resident dancing instructor, Max Rinder (whose wife, coincidentally, had

Tango and the Man George Bernard Shaw and “the only discoverable dance”

Cambalache

undergone a similar but successful operation for cancer). Shaw’s dancing partner was another hotel guest, a young woman named Hope du Barri: a photo exists of all three posing in the hotel’s gardens, and some sources suggest that the lessons took place there.

I’ve not been able to fi nd out whether George Bernard Shaw already knew any other social dances popular in Europe in 1924, such as the foxtrot or waltz (the Charleston would be brought to Paris from the US by Josephine Baker the following year), or whether Max Rinder was teaching them in Madeira, but it is perhaps not surprising that Shaw ended up learning the tango there as the dance was experiencing a second wave of popularity across both Europe and the US after a fi rst international craze in 1913-14, which had begun in trend-setting Paris in 1911, was cut short by the First World War.

The dance that Argentines had brought to France in the years prior to the War had been adapted to and by European tastes and infl uences. Ironically, it was due to high society in Paris and London having gone crazy for the tango at this time, giving it their seal of approval and exporting it back to the middle and upper classes of Buenos Aires in a cleaned-up style often known as ‘French tango’ that the dance became openly accepted by polite society there, where previously it had been shunned as a risqué and disreputable dance of the lower and criminal classes.A variety of instruction books on how to dance the tango were published in Europe between 1913 and 1914 which combined with diverse teachers - both Argentine and European - of varying degrees of knowledge and skill to create a proliferation of dancing styles. The result was

that students who went to one teacher could not dance socially with students who went to a different teacher. Hoping to create a standardized version of the dance, and improve the general level of technique, the English had eventually codifi ed their own version of tango steps between 1920 and 1922 for teaching in dance schools and for performance in competitions.

The resulting ‘English’ style of dancing the tango - perhaps that taught by Max Rinder to George Bernard Shaw - would undergo further evolution in the mid 1930s, when staccato moves and an emphasis on strict tempo became fashionable there, and eventually became known as ‘International tango’, the ballroom dance as practised around the world today. This is of course a completely different dance to what is now known as ‘Argentine tango’ (which returned to Europe and the US in the mid-1980s) but then tango was also a different dance in Buenos Aires and Montevideo in the 1920s to how we dance it nowadays.

However, while the style of dancing differed, authentic tango music of the Río de la Plata was danced to in Europe during the 1920s as it is in milongas around the world today. Recordings by Argentine and Uruguayan musicians had been available in Europe from as early as 1907, and following the War Argentina continued to export 78rpm disks recorded in Buenos Aires to Paris, London and Berlin. Some ríoplatense musicians recorded in Paris, too, as well as touring Europe and the US to play concerts.

From around the time of the War the lively, up tempo beat of early tango had given way to a slower, smoother phrasing, and the early to mid

1920s were a period of further change. Musicians of what became known as the ‘traditional’ school (such as Roberto Firpo, Francisco Lomuto and Francisco Canaro), who above all played music simply to dance to, were now joined by those of a new ‘evolutionary’ school (such as Juan Carlos de Cobián, Osvaldo Fresedo and Julio de Caro), classically-trained players who sought to develop and refi ne tango music, widening its vocabulary through the study of melody, harmony and interpretive technique.

But this increasing sophistication made the music more diffi cult to dance to. It also coincided with the rise of the tango song (tango canción, as exemplifi ed by Carlos Gardel), which was intended more for listening than dancing; the performance and radio-broadcasting of foreign popular music (mainly jazz); and the growing popularity of cinema-going as a social pastime. All of these factors lead to a decline in the numbers of people dancing to tango in its homelands during the 1920s. This decline would not be turned around until the mid-1930s, when bandleader Juan D’Arienzo brought pianist Rodolfo Biagi into his orchestra in 1935. To the delight of audiences they returned tango to its dancing roots with an electrifying, driving beat and in doing so helped to kick-start the Golden Age of tango in Buenos Aires.

We can only guess what music George Bernard Shaw might have learnt to dance the tango to, whether it was the latest recordings by ‘evolutionists’ like Julio de Caro or ‘traditionalists’ like Francisco Canaro (who would travel to Paris in 1925 and then tour Europe for ten years), perhaps played on a gramophone wheeled out onto the lawn.

On 12th February 1925, after six weeks in “one of those unnaturally lovely hells of places where you bathe amid innumerable blossoms in midwinter” George and Charlotte Shaw left Madeira for England. He gave his tango teacher Max Rinder a signed photograph inscribed with a dedication “To the only man who ever taught me anything”. In December of the same year, Shaw was awarded the 25th Nobel Prize in Literature. What became of Max Rinder and Hope du Barri is unknown.

Today, guests of Reid’s Palace Hotel can stay in the same room with its stunning views of the Atlantic where the Shaws spent their winter holiday. The hotel still has a resident dance instructor offering free lessons, with Saturday night dinner dances in the grand hall-of-mirrors dining room.

Thomas Keenes 2010

January saw the passing of both Osvaldo Zotto and Tete Rusconi. Whilst we plan to look back at the contribution of Tete in the next issue of the400club, in this issue we asked two London tango dancers for their recollections of Osvaldo Zotto - one of the most signifi cant dancers of recent times.

First, Myriam Ojeda-Patiño “Mina”:

“Osvaldo Zotto was an inspiration for a whole generation of dancers. Giraldo and I were very happy we meet Osvaldo and Lorena back in 1998. We organised few workshops for them during their visits to London and I personally worked alongside with him in Tango Por Dos, in the year 2000, when I covered for one artist who had to leave London unexpectedly.

I learned a lot from him during the 5 weeks of working with him - every day except Mondays (day off). His way of preparing for the show, how he concentrated in his body, how he prepared his muscles and the way he trained his body for the execution of different steps.

I become almost his shadow as I would wait on the wings of the stage and follow his routine exercises. I also saw him trying different ways of interpreting his set material during the performances and his constant look, search for new ways of doing a particular step.

His precision and level of accuracy during each performance was outstanding. Close to perfection.

My admiration for him grew enormously and my respect for his work still giving me lots of inspiration. He was my best school in tango and I will try to pass onto my body and to my students all I learned from him.

Giraldo will agree with me when I said that Osvaldo Zotto brought to tango elegance, fi ne movement, musicality and a great level of technique. He made classical tango look an art form.”

And now, Alexandra Wood:

“Osvaldo Zotto was a great friend and inspiration to me, he always gave me support and encouragement. I remember after I performed in Sunderland Club in Buenos Aires with Stefano, for the fi rst time four years ago, I was very nervous, and after the demo Osvaldo gave me a huge hug and congratulated us, his compliments were extremely important to me.

He was with us in October in Madrid at the tango show we performed at, he made it a fun weekend!, and also in Rimini in Italy for 5 days over New Year, his show with the lovely Gisele Avanzi bought tears to my eyes, he danced with such passion and dedication to his partner. I had the pleasure of dancing with him every night at that festival, dancing with Osvaldo was very special for me, I felt lost in the quality and depth of expression and devotion, he danced from deep inside and exemplifi ed elegance and grace.

I miss this wonderful man so much, I will always endeavour to transmit in my dancing what I learnt from him, he will live on eternally in all of our dancing.”

If you would like to fi nd out more about the sort of impact Zotto had on social dancers who watched him perform, you can read a short article by Clive James (yes, the Clive James) on his website: www.clivejames.com/video/zotto. You can also read the recollections of Osvaldo’s brother, Miguel Angel Zotto, at the website of the excellenet El Tanguata magazine at: www.eltangauta.com

In praise of the NEW & OLD Osvaldo Zotto 1963-2010All this because, here at the400club, we love Tango’s connections between past and present, between the here and now, and the long forgotten - between winter and spring. It is these connections, this renewal, that generates the feeling that you are participating in a hundred year long celebration of love and loss. Something which only serves to deepen the experience of dancing.

We hope you agree.

Remember, if you have any comments, news you would like us to feature, or simply feel that your feelings about tango are underrepresented here, please drop us a line at:

the400club@esharpstyle.co.uk

Que el mundo fue y sera una porqueria, ya lo se... En el quinientos seis y en el dos mil también! Que siempre ha habido chorros, maquiavelos y estafaos, contentos y amargaos, valores y dublés... Pero que el siglo veinte es un despliegue de maldad insolente ya no hay quien lo niegue. Vivimos revolcaos en un merengue y en un mismo lodo todos manoseaos...

Hoy resulta que es lo mismo ser derecho que traidor..! Ignorante, sabio, chorro, generoso o estafador!

That the world was and it will be fi lth, I already know... In the year fi ve hundred and six and in the year two thousand too! There always have been thieves, traitors and victims of fraud, happy and bitter people, valuables and imitations But, that the twentieth century is a display of insolent malice, nobody can deny it anymore. We lived sunk in a fuzz and in the same mud all well-worn...

Today it happens it is the same to be decent or a traitor! To be an ignorant, a genius, a pickpocket, a generous person or a swindler! All is the same! Nothing is better!

Todo es igual! Nada es mejor! Lo mismo un burro que un gran profesor! No hay aplazaos ni escalafon, los inmorales nos han igualao. Si uno vive en la impostura y otro roba en su ambicion, da lo mismo que sea cura, colchonero, rey de bastos, caradura o polizon...

Que falta de respeto, que atropello a la razon! Cualquiera es un señor! Cualquiera es un ladron! Mezclao con Stavisky va Don Bosco y “La Mignon,” Don Chicho y Napoleon, Carnera y San Martin... Igual que en la vidriera irrespetuosa de los cambalaches

They are the same, an idiot ass and a great professor! There are no failing grades or merit valuations, the immoral have caught up with us. If one lives in a pose and another, in his ambition, steals, it’s the same if it’s a priest, a mattress maker, a king of clubs, a cad or a tramp.

What a lack of respect, what a way to run over reason! Anybody is a gentleman! Anybody is a thief! Mixed with Stavinsky, you have Don Bosco and La Mignon don Chicho and Napoleon, Carnera and San Martin. Like in the disrespectful window of the bazaars, life is mixed up,

se ha mezclao la vida y herida por un sable sin remache ves llorar la Biblia contra un calefon.

Siglo veinte, cambalache problematico y febril! El que no llora, no mama, y el que no afana es un gil. Dale nomas! Dale que va! Que alla en el horno nos vamo a encontrar! No pienses mas, sentate a un lao. Que a nadie importa si naciste honrao. Que es lo mismo el que labura noche y dia, como un buey que el que vive de los otros, que el que mata o el que cura o esta fuera de la ley.

and wounded by a sword without rivets you can see a Bible crying next to a water heater.

Twentieth century, bazaar problematic and feverish! If you don’t cry you don’t get fed and if you don’t steal you’re a stupid. Go ahead! Keep it up! That there, in hell we’re gonna reunite. Don’t think anymore, move out of the way. Nobody seems to care if you were born honest. It’s the same the one who works, day and night like an ox, than the one who lives from the others, than the one that kills or heals or than the one who lives outside the law.

It was one of those parties in Madrid where everyone smokes hash in the kitchen and tries to concoct a decent drink with warm Fanta, rum and no ice:

‘Pass me that slice of lemon, will ya’, said a guy with a London accent.‘Here’. ‘You American?‘No’.‘Where are you from, mate?’‘Buenos Aires.’‘Ah, Buenos Aires…’, he sighed. ‘A real city – not like this fucking hamlet.’

This was many years ago. But certain things stick in your memory, although you may not understand them fully at the time.

Time went by and the more I travelled back and forth the more I realized that there actually was something special about Buenos Aires. Like Sao Paulo, DF, Paris, London or Berlin, my home town had its own language, its own idiosyncrasy, and its own myths. It was a capital, 15 million strong: it was a country within a country.

Maybe that is why when trying to explain some Argie term abroad – even in Spanish speaking countries— you always encounter that little cultural blind spot that you cannot fully explain. Doing so would mean recounting your whole childhood and boring the listener to death in the process.

That is why in future issues of The 400 Club I shall try to enlighten the reader on aspects of at least some cultural rarities. That is, trying to bore you but in the written form.

If you have a question for Claudio - some trait of Argentine culture or character that you do not understand, please drop us a line at th400club and we will see that it gets his full attention.

The400club asked Loyd and Sandra, freshly returned from a trip to Buenos Aires, for the background story of their time there, which, amongst other things saw them performing for the fi rst time at the prestigious Salon Canning…

We stayed in: PalermoWe performed at: Salon CanningWe did classes with: Javier and AndreaWe watched performances from: Javier and AndreaWe ate: Bife de chorizoWe drank: Red wine and ChampagneWe bought shoes at: Comme Il Faut for her, Neo Tango for meWe had great fun at: Salon Canning and SunderlandWe loved: Shopping, shopping, and shopping...We managed to avoid: Tango nuevoWe wished we had managed to: Have a bigger swimming pool on the top of our building and had better weather!

This May, Loyd and Sandra will host a weekend of workshops and milongas with Sebastian Misse and Andrea Reyero at their tango club, Gallo Ciego, in Birmingham. October will also see the return to Gallo Ciego of Javier Rodriguez and Andrea Misse. For more information and booking details visit www.tangoinbrum.co.uk. Their Salon Canning performance can also be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgonIQ6TbzU

Abrazos is Jenney Surelia’s regular milonga, held immediately after her ‘a taste of tango’ classes on a Tuesday evening, and now in a new, salubrious venue.

The milonga and classes take place on the upper fl oors of no. 4 Great Queen Street, Covent Garden / Hol-born - just around the corner from Negracha. We understand that the rooms are a photographic studio during the day, but, according to internet legend, they have also hosted many a late night private after-show party for the likes of Missy Elliot, JayZ etc. For some reason, the400club also has a distinct recollection that back in the 80s / 90s the building used to be home to a Private Members club beloved of media types, but this could, of course. just be a distortion brought on by one too many private view on Cork Street.

Whatever the history, the new Abrazos venue is cer-tainly a great alternative to the darker, seedier, more ‘toilet broken down’, more ‘sweat dripping off the ceil-ing’ venue of some Tango evenings we could mention (but won’t). The milonga starts at 9.30 and the400club enjoyed their evening there immensely - particularly the warm, friendly welcome from both host and regu-lar students (not something you fi nd at every tango venue). As ever with Jenney’s evenings, the music was great and we found ourselves going home with a warm glow in both heart and head. We look forward to returning again soon. For more information check out Jenney’s blog and website: www.abrazos.co.uk

Everybody polka, everybody polka...

Yes, yes my lovelies, this spring we see spots! Spots small, spots big, spots of blue, spots of red. Spots, upon spots, upon spots, upon spots!

But before you ask if this malaise is the result of too many late nights cruising the fl oor at Corrientes or coiffi ng cocktails at Carablanca, I will tell you, no! The spots before my eyes are real. Yes, this spring we see the return of the dot - the one and only polka dot.

So whatever your shape, whatever your size, you need to seek out the spot. Whether it comes from the back of your wardrobe, the bottom drawer of your grannie’s deepest chest, or the last rack at TK Max, we don’t care! Just wrap it, swirl it, stitch it, fl aunt it till it burns! Clash those colours, swamp the subtlety and wear the polka with pride!

This spring we want you forget the shy. We want to see you express yourself loud and clear - and in dots of domination.

Bring out the inner Minnie. Down with the mouse!

without thinking, and with more feeling.

TK: That’s very true... So who or what gave you the idea to start a separate Salon Room at Portland Place, and how long has it been running?

@33: Adrian and Amanda Costa back in October 2009. They helped us begin the salon room. [see The400Club, issue 4]

TK: What kind of feedback, if any, have you had about the Salon Room?

@33: Very mixed! though mostly positive. It has taken a while for people to get the hang of it and until recently we were fi nding ourselves needing to ‘police’ the fl oor so the fl oorcraft didn’t deteriorate. As you can imagine this went down well with all the dancers who liked the concept and not well with dancers (some of them fairly experienced) who preferred dancing more randomly! The Salon Room was discussed on the Belgian tango homepage and we are attracting dancers from outside of London who come especially for the fl oorcraft. We are lucky at 33 in having many rooms for people to choose from suited to their preferred way of dancing, and we have been encouraged by the support and feedback from dancers on ms hedgehog’s brilliant blog. [mshedgehog.blogspot.com]

TK: I’m not surprised that some people weren’t so happy with the constraints of the Salon Room, but luckily as you say there’s enough space elsewhere in the building to accommodate different approaches to social dancing. I wonder, has the introduction of the Salon Room altered the way that lessons are taught at 33 in any way?

@33: Yes, we have changed as now in every lesson we put more emphasis on fl oor craft, musicality and fi gures/movement that you can use in a milonga without interrupting the dance “fl owing” in the line of dance. We are also inviting more guest teachers who refl ect the Salon style in their own dancing and teaching.

TK: That’s good to hear. It’s a great shame that you’ve had to move out of Portland Place.

@33: We were hoping to be able to return to our original home this summer time, but after a short spell at Pushkin House in Bloomsbury Square, we have found ourselves another beautiful home at No.5 Cavendish Square (www.no5ltd.com/) were we will be from Sunday 11 April. We have two dancing rooms again, one of course will be the Tango de Salon room!

TK: That’s fantastic news. Here’s hoping that the Salon Room continues to be a success, and thanks very much for your time.

@33: Thanks to you also. On another note, we have also found a new home for our recently opened intimate milonga on Monday nights. This night has been at a burlesque club called The Last Days of Decadence, but from Monday 12 April we will be at the Avalon Club in Shoredich High Street (www.avalon-london.com). It seems that Cavendish Square and the Avalon club mirror perfectly what was the atmosphere of Portland Place. We look forward to welcoming you to both milongas!

Salon dancing is something we very much support here at the400club, so you can be sure to see us there soon...

THE 400 CLUB Issue 5 - NARAJO EN FLOR SPRING 2010

For the 400club, Thomas Keenes talks to Naomi and Silvia, the organisers of Tango at 33 about the creation of a dedicated ‘Salon de Tango’ and the future of their milonga now that they have had to move from Portland Place.

TK: First of all, for those readers who have not had the pleasure of dancing at 33, could you explain what the ‘rules’ of salon dancing are?

@33: If you imagine you are driving a car on a busy motorway, if you begin ‘side-stepping’ into the other lanes, all the drivers around you will begin to get very annoyed. Particularly if you begin doing wheelies and spins! So the same concept applies when dancing on a busy salon fl oor... Pick your lane and make sure you do not side-step into the lane beside you. If you begin doing complicated and large fi gures on one spot for too long, the traffi c behind you gets frustrated... so keep moving forward in relation to the dancers around you. Keep a distance from the couple in front of you so they have room to turn and make small back cuts without you breathing down their neck. And above all listen to and enjoy dancing to the music.

TK: So, not how most people dance in London!? Where do these ‘rules’ come from?

@33: In fact there are many lovely social dancers in London... however it only takes a few ‘wild cards’ to upset the fl ow on the dance fl oor. Much of it is about attitude: sensitivity and respect for all the other dancers on the fl oor - and of course your partner. Although we refer to these as ‘rules’, really they are only a common sense which originated out of the crowded social dance spaces in Buenos Aires.

TK: How do dancers - both leaders and followers - benefi t from this approach to social dancing?

@33: The feeling that you can dance without being kicked or bumped, arelaxed atmosphere, improving your tango skills because when you have“limits” you have to become more creative e.g. to fi nish your fi guresalways in the right direction, and paying attention to the music - howit can offer variation to one small basic movement.

TK: Yes, and it certainly improves your awareness and discipline dancing in the salon room. But it does seem to me that many dancers there are still most interested in doing fi gures - even if they do fi nish in the right direction - at the expense of simply walking forwards in time to the music... so while there is less bumping into one another compared to a normal dancefl oor, and no overtaking, both of which are fantastic, the forward ‘fl ow’ of the dance around the room is not as good as it might be (for me, at least!). In relation to your analogy of traffi c on a motorway, it sometimes feels like an orderly and well-behaved but very slow-moving traffi c jam! Perhaps people still haven’t quite ‘got it’ yet? (at least how I imagine the Salon Room could be)

@33: All the variations of walking: little, tiny, large, quick double-time, slow, half-time, pausing... is where all the magic of feeling in Tango emerges... however the lovely subtleties of this do seem to be ignored in favour of grandiose “Tango” movements much of time. It seems many people see the milonga as somewhere to practice all their moves, rather than just dancing

SIMPLY SALON - TANGO AT 33 Claudio Molinari“The doctor is in...”

Tango Tales and “The death of the pinch”

at work and play in BsAS

New for Spring!New AbrazoS!

Todo Trajeado:

The return of the pink polka!More news from fashion’s front line:

And Finally...The 400 Club is an irregularly produced, amateur newsletter for the London Tango scene. We do not intend to cause offence to any parties and take no responsibility for the accuracy of information, views or otherwise expressed in this newsletter.

The next issue will arrive when and if we have suffi cient time and inclination to get round to doing one. If in the meantime, if you have any comments or would like to contribute an item please contact us by email:

the400club@esharpstyle.co.uk

Booking Now... Music:Wednesday 28 April Tango Siempre present ‘Malandras del Tango’ at The Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank http://www.southbankcentre.co.ukFriday 14 May Gotan Project at the 02 Academy, Brixton http://www.o2academybrixton.co.ukMonday 17 May Chango Spasiuk at the Purcell Room, South Bank http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk “Chango Spasiuk is a celebrated innovator of chamamé, a powerful folk tradition from North-eastern Argentina...‘Tremendous soul’ (Billboard)” Thursday 1 - Sunday 4 July ‘Celebrating Argentina 200 - Tango meets Classical’ at King’s Place, Kings Cross. http://www.kingsplace.co.uk A festival celebrating the bicentenary of Argentina’s independence, featuring Argentine music - classical, tango and folk - alongside poetry, fi lms and comic art. Of particular interest will be a concert of classical and contemporary tangos at lunchtime on Saturday with an evening concert on the same day by singer Liliana Barrios. Tuesday 3 - Sunday 22 August ‘Tanguera’ at Sadler’s Wells, Islington. http://www.sadlerswells.com

Tango Festivals / Special Events etc.Thursday 29 April - Sunday 2 May Argentine Tango Intensive - Sebastian Misse and Andrea Reyero at Gallo Ciego, Birmingham. Contact: www.tangoinbrum.co.uk/Friday 28 May - Tuesday 1 June Tango Rojo Festival of Tango and Tango Arts hosted by Rojo y Negro tango club at Latvian House Queensway and The Union Tavern Islington. Info & booking: www.tangorojo.euThursday 07 October - Monday 11 October (booking open from 1 June) Javier Rodriguez, Andrea Misse & and DJ Damian Boggi at Gallo Ciego, in Birmingham.

Tango Tales is a radio show, podcast and website created by Elmira, a social tango dancer and volunteer DJ for WSCA-lp 106.1FM / Portsmouth Community Radio, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA.

The goal of the show is to educate listeners about Argentine tango and, hopefully, to seduce some of hem into dancing tango. It went on air for the fi rst time on Dec 4, 2006 and, starting Feb 3, 2007 it became an “offi cial” show on WSCA-lp 106.1FM. In January 2008 the podcast was added for tango enthusiasts throughout the world.

Thanks to this, you can now listen through itunes, to shows explaining, a brief history of tango music (over fi ve shows) with Max Valentinuzzi who played piano in tango bands in Buenos Aires between 1946 and 1956; the story of how ‘Caminito’ came into being; an interview with Brian Winter, the author of Long After Midnight at the Nino Bien, a travelogue intertwined

Milongas Regulares... (a non-comprehensive list)

Mondays: Tango@33 at the Avalon Club, Shoreditch E1 Pablo Tango at The Square Pig, Procter Street WC1Tuesdays: Dance Tango at Vino Latinos, Langham Court. Hotel W1 Abrazos at 4 Great Queen Street, Holborn WC2 Tango @ the Light, Shoreditch E1Wednesdays: Zero Hour at The Dome, Tufnel Park N19Thursdays: Rojo y Negro’s Poema at Latvian House, Queensway W2 Milonga Sur at The Old Whitgiftians, Croyden Tangology @ W6, Malinowa Hall, Hammersmith W6 Hackney Tango presents Milonga Bohemienne @ The Boys Club, Dalston N16Fridays: Negracha at The Wild Court, Holborn WC2 Carablanca at Conway Hall WC1 Midnight Milonga at The Tango Club, Covent Garden WC1 Tango at the Welsh at the Welsh Centre, Grays Inn Road WC1Saturdays: Corrientes Social Club at Haverstock School, Chalk Farm NW1 (two Saturdays a month) Dance Tango or El Once at The Crypt, St. James Church, Clerkenwell EC1 Tango Tea at the Tango Club, Covent Garden WC2 (fi rst Saturday of the month) Stardust Milonga at Chester House, Kennington SW9 (last Saturday of the month)Sundays: El Portenito at The Bedford, Balham SW12 (every other week) Tangology at The Langley, Covent Garden WC2 Tango at 33, No5 Cavendish Square W1 Tango South London at The Constitutional Club, Dulwich (last Sunday of the month) Milonga Sur and Corrientes Social Club at The Royston Club, Penge, SE20 La Mariposa at 1a St John’s Hill, Clapham Junction, SW11Remember to always check times and dates with the organisers BEFORE you plan your trip.

with narration about the past and present of Argentina and it’s tango; and of course, ‘the death of the pinch’ (a tale of the slow decline of the Argentinian male’s penchant for bottom pinching - you will just have to listen to fi nd out more!), and many, many more.

All the shows are presented in a knowledgeable, accessible, and ultimately, joyful manner, with further explanatory notes, links etc. all available on the website if you want to fi nd out more.

The400club love Elmira’s shows, and urge anyone who’s interested in understanding the words, the context, or just the background gossip relating to the songs, orchestras, and composers etc. that we all love to dance to, to check out the podcasts now. You can fi nd both them and lots of other interesting tango related stuff at: www.tangotales.com.

Fantastic!