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"They are 66 years
old. Both children of immigrants and from the thickly
populated southern area of Buenos Aires. In March 2004,
they competed with 665 tango couples of the Tango Salon
Metropolitan Championships.
Coca: I knew how to but I didn't
dance. I learned from looking, so when I started I was
led by sheer intuition. At 18 I was taken to dances now
and again but I didn't dance. When he (Osvaldo) asked me
to dance I danced as if I had done it all my life.
Osvaldo: I always
danced but I gave it up when I got married (to Coca).
Dancing was dead for 30 years. Withdrawing was my own
choice. I
wanted to devote myself to my family and my home.
However, I danced the most beautiful tango during those
years. Coca: I've also danced the most difficult tango
in my life: raising three daughters; and a milonga as
well: my son. |
** Can people who do not belong to
this culture learn to dance tango properly? **
There's no
such dance as complex as tango. This is because you have to learn to embrace your partner while
dancing. Besides, the embrace has no equal: you can feel
your partners heartbeat. People from other countries can
learn to dance tango if they have feeling because there
is more to tango than the physical thing. Anyone can dance,
but this is about vibrating, otherwise it is a dead
person that is dancing.
** Do you dance
choreographies? **
What does that mean? In order to dance
tango you have to improvise and dance to what you feel,
the rest is an invention. You can not plan beforehand
what you will feel afterwards. Feeling is what matters!
** You took part in the "Salon Tango" category, What
's that kind of Tango like ?**
It's simple, elegant and cadenced (rhythmic), You
have to have an ear for time, for you
are to "walk", you shouldn't lift your feet from the
floor..
** What do you feel when you
dance? **
Love, magic, emotion. It's like telling my
wife I love her or telling a friend who's leaving that
I'm going to miss him. Sometimes it's like feeling the
pain of a daughter whose crying. People show their
happiness or their sadness when they dance tango. It's
not about showing how well you dance or that you are
better than someone else... but about feeling.
** What did taking
part in the contest mean to you? **
It was the
happiest day of my life because people liked the way we
danced a lot. I was not sponsored by anyone, just by the
audience, the ordinary people. They chose us as winners,
but the jury gave us the second place."
Extract from Mateo Nazar Menditeguy "Osvaldo
and Coca - Indisputable milongueros" Tango News 2004.
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TANGO E-NEWSLETTER
