Archive for March, 2005

Piazzolla and Bandoneon on NPR\’s Day To Day

Wednesday, March 30th, 2005

I hope you were able to catch the report about Astor Piazzolla today on NPR\’s Day To Day.

If you missed it, you can listen to the entire show on the Day To Day site or you can download the following mp3 (Piazzolla-DayToDay-NPR20050330.mp3) if you want to hear just the Piazzolla article.

The reason for the article, aside from recognizing the genius of Piazzolla, is that the Rough Guide music series has come out with a new CD: Rough Guide to Astor Piazzolla featuring 14 of his most popular pieces. In his day, Piazzolla (other recordings by Astor Piazzolla) pushed the boundaries of tango to new horizons. If you\’d like to see how today\’s artists are extending the boundaries and breathing new life into tango, you might enjoy the Rough Guide to Tango Neuvo.

I\’m providing these links to Amazon for your convenience (and because I get an affiliate percentage), but don\’t forget that we also have the Adios Nonino [IMPORT] CD by Astor Piazzolla on hand for sale ($18.00). You can reserve online and pick them up (sorry, we don\’t ship) at any class or milonga!

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Faux Pas de Deux or Shuggleftulation

Monday, March 28th, 2005

In my tango foundations classes, I\’ve often addressed the tendency of a nervous follower to second-guess her choice (or the leader\’s lead, or the lack thereof) and take double or triple steps when one or zero would be best. The tendency sometimes arises because of a mistaken belief that it is the follower\’s job to know or guess what the leader wanted and if she thinks she did the wrong thing, to try to fix it herself. I prefer to teach that the follower makes the best decision she can to take either a single step or no step, and that it is the leader\’s job to then decide whether to accept or adjust the outcome.

I generally compare the result of the follower\’s second-guessing to the situation in which two pedestrians are approaching each other on a narrow walkway, and then spend a few awkward moments stumbling and shuffling, trying to get out of each other\’s way.

Today I came across a recent article on The Straight Dope in which Cecil Adams discusses Is there a word for the jig you do trying to get around someone on the sidewalk?. My personal favorites are faux pas de deux, ambi-ambulation, or avoidancing. Do you have a preference or an alternative?

Posted in Followers and Following, Metaphors | Comments Off

New Options for Private Tango Lessons

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2005

We\’re offering some new payment and scheduling options for private tango lessons that we hope you\’ll find both convenient and affordable.

The highlights are as follows:

  • Base pricing is simplified a little bit.
  • We\’ve clarified the payment options for Pay As You Go or Prepaid lessons.
  • You can now create private small-group lessons for up to 6 people.
  • We are making available some lunchtime time slots for private lessons during weekdays.

You can view the details on our private lessons page.

Posted in Announcements, Site Announcements | Comments Off

Locations Page Redesigned

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2005

I\’ve redesigned the layout of the tangophilia locations page to make it more readable and useful.

Locations in North Carolina are now grouped by city/area, then grouped by state for regional/mid-Atlantic locations, then everywhere else :-)

For each area, those locations with scheduled upcoming events are listed first with a note telling you how many events are scheduled at that location. Those locations without scheduled events are at the bottom of each list.

Posted in Site Announcements | Comments Off