Vagabond Artist

Tango became part of my life a few years ago in Florence. There were friends of mine that raved about it and those are people that I Iike so once I went to a milonga at Le Caldine. After that I took a course with the tango club of Florence that organizes the Tango Festival every May in Florence.

The way one has to move their body in response to the partner whether they are leading or following reminds me of karate. In karate , the little of it I did I could feel the energy in my hands. In tango it is in the chest. It is impossible to dance tango slunched over.

It is like a language and takes a hell of alot of practice, every partner is different. I remember the first time I really was dancing, my legs were killing me that night.

I had the great luck to dance with Andreas Erbsen. A German architect with the most crystal blue eyes. Andreas original trainting was in martial arts and then he discovered tango so took classes in classical dance to understand something about dance. He is an incredible teacher and after dancing with he and his companion Angela Ruth I really became hooked.

A friend of mine had a crush on Andrea's girlfriend Angela so he asked me to be his cover and dance with Andreas while he got to dance with Angela. He paid for dozens of private lessons that we did in this roof top apartament on the corner of Santa Croce square in Florence. We danced in the early evenings on this 150 squre meter roof top terrace, turning one way to face the facade of Santa Croce and then the duomo and the towers of Palazzo Vecchio and the Bargello. Another turn and we were looking at the hill of San Miniato al Monte. It was surreal and unforgettable.

In Paris one can dance tango every day and night of the week. My header photo is dancing on the quai of the Seine in the summer. I like the people that dance tango, especially here in Paris. Most are couples with men leading and wome following but there are men / men and women / women couples and mixed couples of every origin. The faces of everyone is serious, concentrated, no one chats while dancing. It takes alot of concentration and can be slow or fast but is always an inprovisation that follows the music.

In Finland when the Beatles were at the top of the charts tango songs were up there right along with them. From the beginnings of the dance in Argentina that were a mixture of African, Indios and European influences the dance has evolved to something new. It seems that the music is more upbeat less tragic.

Dancing with a good partner is rewarding but dancing tango with someone you love is a completely different thing.

I cant wait to get back to it.