"When you follow your bliss... doors will open where
you would not have thought there would be doors..."
Joseph Campbell American mythology professor, writer, and orator

By Sima Oertli
This has certainly been the case for Tango teachers Pedro and Sophia Alvarez. Both were entranced by dance from an early age and Tango has been and continues to be an integral part of their life journey.

Following their passion for dancing Tango has led them to forego their separate careers to become directors of Patio de Tango - one of AustraliaÕs leading Tango schools, which they established some seven years ago. As well as running nine group classes a week in five different venues, they host popular weekly and monthly Tango Milongas and Practicas at Club Rose Bay and the Spanish Club in the Sydney CBD.

Through their classes and events Sophia and Pedro have reached and taught literally thousands of people. They have performed and taught at many dance and arts festivals and events across Australia, New Zealand and Argentina.

They have taught many leading dancers and celebrities, including competitors of the 2006 Dancing With the Stars - Arianne Caoili and Carmelo Pizzino, and winners of the ABC ChannelÕs Strictly Dancing competition 2004, Linda de Nicola and Adrian Seib.

But it all started in an unplanned, accidental way as a result of Sophia and Pedro following their bliss....
Almost a decade ago Sophia and Pedro met at a salsa party as hard-core Salsa addicts, dancing up to five nights a week. Sophia danced her first steps of Tango with Pedro and they soon found they were spending more and more time tangoing with less time for Salsa.

In 2001, they started organising a Tango night at Rose Bay RSL on Tuesdays for friends who wished to tango socially. With encouragement from their friends they started teaching at the Spanish Terrazas restaurant and La Campana in the Spanish Quarter.

As they became more involved in teaching Tango they started to spend more time in Buenos Aires learning with Tango maestros. Their obsession with Tango continued to grow. Before they knew it Tango had become their life. As well as dancing Tango, they were thinking, talking and dreaming it!
This experience of Tango addiction is not unusual. Many people who start dancing Tango find that it becomes for them a life-style, and transforms their lives in many ways.

The following excerpt is from an interview with Sophia and Pedro by filmmaker Taimur Rahim who is currently making a documentary about them.

Taimur: Describe your style of Tango
Sophia: I would say our style is characterised by an intimate embrace, intricate footwork and soulful musicality. Our aim is to always dance from the heart, with elegance and subtlety, and to stay true to the essence of Tango
Pedro: Our Tango has evolved from many hours of dancing at our favourite Tango clubs in Buenos Aires and extensive training with Tango maestros.
Sophia: Yes and we are particularly influenced by the ÒVilla UrquizaÓ tradition of Tango, by such dancers as Javier Rodriguez, Fabian Peralta, Geraldine Rojas, the Misse clan (Sebastian, Gabriel and Andrea) Sebastian Achaval.

Taimur: What other influences, if any, have formed your Tango?
Pedro: Dance and music has always been a really important part of my life. I was raised in the South of Buenos Aires and inherited a love for dancing from my father who was a folkloric dance teacher. My early years were steeped in tango - being lulled to sleep with tango songs as a child, chaperoning my sisters to tango dances, and working as a waiter for a popular tango Club. I also have 18 yearsof martial arts training, I drummed in a rock band, and taught drumming and marching to army recruits during my national military service. IÕve been able to draw on all of these experiences in my teaching and performing.
Sophia: I always loved dancing. When I was three, I pressured my mum to begin ballet lessons. At the age of seven I was taken to see a show by the Berioska Georgian Folk dance company when they visited Auckland (where I grew up). I was mesmerised and remember wishing that I could run away with the company! As I grew older I started tobe attracted to Latin rhythms - flamenco, salsa, and also gypsy music. I remember hearing the music of master bandoneon player Astor Piazolla for the first time and absolutely loving it.

Taimur: What were your occupations prior to becoming full time Tango teachers?
Pedro: I was a cabinet maker and part-time waiter for various Spanish restaurants.
Sophia:They called him the ÒDancing WaiterÓ because he danced as he worked!
Sophia: I had been working as a freelance corporate trainer, vocational counsellor and rehabilitation consultant for people with injuries and disabilities. The interesting thing about my training as a vocational counsellor is that it was all about helping people to find their passion in life and pursue it, you could say helping them to Òfollow their blissÓ So I am definitely walking the talk!

For more information on Patio de Tango contact Sophia on 0411 747 949 or visit www.patiodetango.com.au

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TANGO MILONGUERO

In Buenos Aires they say that if you watch ten couples dancing Tango you will see ten different styles. While it’s true that many people develop their own particular style of dancing, in reality it comes down to a choice of two specific and very different styles; these are often called Tango Milonguero Style [or Buenos Aires Style] and Tango Salon Style.

Each style has its own types of music, embrace and steps as well as different techniques of dancing. Also important is that the psychology or mind-set of the dancers appears to be different according to which style is being danced.

TANGO SALON STYLE
For many people this is a style of Tango where you can find some of the most beautiful Tango dance music. It often has a more accented ‘tango-beat’ [in 4 x 4 rhythm]. Pugliese, Calo and Di Sarli are typical of the smoother and more elegant Salon style.

The embrace of Tango Salon is close but often with little or no contact at the chest. It has a more elegant and upright style than Milonguero and, with both partners having their weights forward, i.e. forming an inverted ‘V’ shape, the first contact is often made at the head. If you go to Sydney Tango venues it is not uncommon to see couples dancing with their foreheads touching.

Unlike in Tango Milonguero, the embrace in Tango Salon can change from a close embrace to a more open one. It is this characteristic that gives the dancers the greater freedom necessary to dance a much wider variety of steps and figures than is possible in the Milonguero Style. The woman in particular has much more opportunity to express and impose her style and personality on the dance, rather than merely being a passive follower.

TANGO MILONGUERO
Although Tango Milonguero evolved from the Salon style to suit the crowded ballrooms of Buenos Aires in the 1940s and 50s, much of the music suitable for this style is older than that for Salon style. This because it is typically danced to a syncopated rhythm [2 x 4] that was popular in the pre-salon days. This is often slow and sombre in nature, which perfectly suits, the Milonguero style, particularly as danced by today’s older generation in Buenos Aires. Among the many younger people who enjoy this style, are the more up-beat music of Juan D’Arienzo and Rodolfo Biagi are popular.
After promoting this style in Sydney for several years, Karina and Fabian have now undertaken an initiative to promote this style across the country.
Karina and Fabian were born in Buenos Aires Argentina; they were introduced to the dance through their families from an early age and represent a third generation of Tango dancers.

They learnt their ‘first steps’ from Fabian’s parents, Orlando and Marta Conca, two respected milongueros, and were later absorbed by the milonguero style of Tango Master Carlos Gavito. With Gavito, Karina and Fabian found the gateway to express their feelings through the dance.
The most striking quality of Milonguero style is the very close embrace that is a requirement of the dance. The couples lean forward to make contact from the waist to chest and the hold does not change throughout the dance. The lady drapes herself around the man with her left arm around his neck, her eyes are often closed; she surrenders.

The dance has an intimate quality that, at first glance one would assume could only be danced by lovers. However, this is not true and friends and strangers alike dance Tango Milonguero. Because of the close embrace the steps are generally small and relatively simple. Exciting, characteristic Tango moves such as Ganchos, Sacadas and Voleos are rarely danced.
One advantage of this style of dance is that it requires very little space and can be danced on crowded dance floors and in small spaces.

THE CHOICE OF STYLES
In Australia there are many teachers who will teach either Tango Milonguero or Tango Salon and a few that will teach both. Many of the new generation of Tango dancers are able to dance comfortably in both styles.

Milongas (or social dance occasions) will generally play music that is suitable for the Milonguero Style or the Salon Style and the convention is that you dance the style to suit the music.

It has to be said that the Tango Milonguero Style, because of the close embrace, while being easier to learn is more difficult to dance than the Tango Salon Style. It is common that Salon Style is learned first and, as the dancers become more experienced, the embrace naturally becomes closer thereby making it easier to learn the Milonguero Style.

SHOW-TANGO OR ‘FANTASIA’
Apart from Tango Milonguero and Tango Salon, the third Tango style which must be mentioned is Show-Tango or, as it is known in Buenos Aires - ‘Fantasia’.
As the name makes clear, Show-Tango is the choreographed Tango seen in professional Tango stage-shows and Tango movies. It is frequently the first style of Tango seen by people outside Argentina.