Last notes from BsAs + how to get a BsAs cell phone number for your phone

Thursday, 24 de Abril
Men's Technique @ Mariposita (Carlos Calvo 950). Another great class focused on speed and quality of movement. They worked on walking; tapping; walking with fast taps and fast back crosses; walking with fast ochitos, back and front boleo, ending in back cross to twist to other side to alternate feet; big lapices; balance exercise -- kicking one leg while weight is entirely on other straight leg, and doing this in a square, taking 4 kicks to get all the way around; same twirl thing only with feet locked in a cross so movement is in the hips with legs following with force.

Milonga @ Mariposita. This class was very challenging, and focused on canyengue and milonga lisa. For canyengue, we did the footwork/bodywork for the basic baldosa. For milonga lisa we did the three step stutter step left foot back diagonal for Follower, and then side right for Follower (opposite feet for Leader).

Friday, 25 de Abril
Hugo Daniel class on axis, equilibrium, and balance @ EAT Galerias (they raised their prices, now 19.50 pesos per class). Another great class where we did many of the same exercises as last week, and some different ones as well. I really enjoy these classes where we do exercises only.

Gachi Fernandez class on technique @ EAT Galerias. As usual, we started the class with relaxation and stretching exercises. The rest of the focus of the class was exercises to illustrate the concepts of (1) starting change of direction movement in the back of our chests and having our bodies (legs) move around as a consequence of the chest movement. And (2) our feet, with the trailing foot propelling you forward as it pushes off from the floor. Her classes are excellent, but sometimes mentally brutal and physically frustrating. I know...stretch goals and all that... :::sigh:::

Saturday, 26 de Abril
Sebastian Tango show @ Borges Cultural Center @ Galerias Pacifico (35 pesos). This was a tango modern dance dramatic performance of a love triangle gone bad with gender role reversals and partial nudity. Narration was in Castellano, but plot summary was available in English and the story line was easy to follow given the dramatic presentation of the dancers. Caliber of dancing was high, but extremely modern in its flavor; those hoping to see traditional tango might be disappointed. It was about an hour, with no intermission. I give it a 6 (slightly disappointed by lack of male dangly bits), my roommate gives it an 8 (thrilled by the female dangly bits).

Sunday 27 de Abril
I spent the day doing not a whole heck of a lot except watching the movie Tango (bought at Tango8 for 40 pesos) with Carlos Rivarola.

Monday, 28 de Abril

Hugo Daniel & Aurora Lubiz Tango lesson @ EAT Galerias. For whatever reason, this lesson was obnoxiously packed with too many beginner followers, so much so that it was unproductive. The teachers were good overall, so maybe that was why it was so popular.

Gabriela Elias Milonga @ EAT Galerias. Another great class. She is an excellent maestra who teaches fun little sequences in easily digestible pieces. Highly recommended for milonga.

Carlos & Maria Rivarola @ EAT Galerias. This class was lightly filled, with twice as many followers as leaders. We continued work on the same sequence from the last few classes, again focusing on quality of movement and expression. Maria worked with the followers, again focusing on her variation of ocho movement, which is more of a hips forward and straight (no pivots or turns away), with the just legs going behind each other in the ocho movement. We also worked on smoothness and elegance when doing spiral cross changes of directions during the molinete, as well as the follower embellishment of back beats to the right side of the foot. Carlos was happy to autograph my roommate's Tango movie DVD, which he choreographed and starred in, with my chosen words... with "Para mis estudiantes favoritos" but added a tongue-in-cheek question mark after it.

The Peso weaks, prices go up a smidge
In the last several days the Peso weakened markedly against the U.S. dollar and Euro, and prices have gone up a little bit accordingly. The price for classes at EAT Galerias is now 19.50 pesos (up from 15 pesos), and food at the little empanada shop near my apartment and at the restaurant on Lavalle that I eat at daily went up as well. Don't get me wrong, it is still dirt cheap to stay here, but higher prices for the locals is not a good thing.

A word on technique classes (for the ladies):
Flat shoes are highly recommended for technique classes. They could be ballet slippers, dance sneakers, etc. But to wear your spikey stiletto comme il faut's to these classes are a complete waste and could be a danger to you and your fellow students (especially if you are not the most balanced/stable/strong in the ankle or spatially aware).

Follow-Up from the custom shoe order at P.H.
My roommate's shoes were all made on time, and all fit a little differently since they were all hand made. Overall, my roommate was pleased with the product, but especially the service (Lilliana is a doll, and extremely patient with him, an especially finicky dancer with unusual feet/foot problems, and who decided mid-order [after being told by a local maestro] to really spread his toes when he danced. You should have seen Lilliana's expression after that visit; her eyes rolled to the back of her head for a split second but she managed to keep her composure). My roommate asked her if she could make a shoe based on his custom mold if he brought her the ready-made skin from elsewhere. She said she could do it, and gave him the shockingly low quote 44 pesos (dunno if prices have gone up in the last couple of days). As a side note, while we were there, and since we are leaving soon, it was my turn to buy my shoes. For whatever reason, the store was slim on inventory, and she was out of my size in the shoes that interested me. She convinced me to go ahead and have some made in my size of the shoes for which she had ready-made skins. The total time it will take for her to make these shoes (which just requires assembly at this point) is 4 working days, and I got to choose the specific type of heel. She put all the parts of the shoe in a box for me to inspect and approve. It was wild. Kind of like a do-it-yourself shoe kit for the aspiring home cobbler. When I went to pick up the shoes, they weren't there yet, but were being delivered by Lilliana & Rodolfo's son. When they got there, they were still on the mold. So I got a chance to watch them finish the shoe -- add the bottom plastic bit to the heel, install the foam padding, and glue on the inside of the sole, and touch up paint. One pair came out perfect, the other had a weird pimple in the heel, so I swaped it out no problem with an even more gorgeous pair off the rack.

Thumbs up for LOLO GERARD (Anchorena 607) shoes - you MUST go here!
I went to a great shoe store in Abasto, near Tango8 and Artesanal, called Lolo Gerard (Anchorena 607). I was extremely impressed with the exceptional quality of the materials, finish, construction, and stylishness of the shoes. They had plenty for the gals and guys, all reasonably priced. The two pairs I bought were normally 270 and 240 pesos each, but they gave me a discount to 230 each pair. The gals in the shop were super nice and fun. The women's shoe fit is more forgiving than Comme il Faut, suitable for average and slightly wide feet. Even Lillian at PH thought the shoe I brought into her for additional holes were really beautiful and well made (I was so happy and lighthearted when I bought the shoe that I forgot to ask Lolo Gerard to punch more holes! Lilliana at PH happily did it for me free of charge since my roommate and I ended up buying a truly frightening number of shoes from her).

How to get a Buenos Aires cell phone number (instructions courtesy of Jeff Schneider, because most of y'all know what a luddite I am):

Step 1: Have a phone that takes GSM 1900 SIM cards (needs to be unlocked)
Step 2: Go to Personal (The cell phone store with Blue signs) and buy SIM card (between 5 and 10 pesos). Bring Passport.
Step 3: Buy top up card (Tarjeta Personal) from any kiosko. Follow instructions
Enter *151
Then 1
Then the number from the Tarjeta Personal card xxxx xxxx xxxx #
Then 1
Finally 2 to exit

or you can go online and add to your phone
www.personal.com.ar
Serviocos para personas
Mi Personal
Gestiones Online https://servicios.personal.com.ar/gestiones/index.asp

Here are the other functions
*111 Atención al Cliente *200 Autoconsulta (*CAS) *227 Consulta casilla de mensajes / Información
(*PLAN) *7526 Consultas nuevas características de tu plan
(*CLAVE) *25283 Modificación clave personal (*CLUB) *2582 Club Personal *555 Contestador Personal *150 Consultá tu saldo Personal Light *151 Cargá crédito en tu Personal Light

OR, you can rent a cell phone while you are here at www.altelphonerental.com

Last words about travel to Buenos Aires:

Always look behind you after you get up from a seat (especially in a taxi). It is amazing how much stuff falls out of pockets, even when you are careful.

Don't put any valuables in your checked baggage. Stuff gets routinely stolen out of there (you can google it). Getting your luggage wrapped in plastic at the airport for 30 pesos ($10 U.S.) might act as a mild deterrant. If you must have furs, computers, cameras, etc., etc., keep them on your body or in your carry-on bag so that they are with you at all times.

You will buy more than you thought you would, so bring extra empty luggage and a minimum amount of clothes (which you can get laundered while you are there).

For those of you who remember Giovanni Garcia, please be in touch with him while you are there. He gives privates and can also take you around to milongas. If you are lucky, you might even run into him at a lesson (likely at Tango Brujo as he needs to work on his nuevo tango since it's in demand from his clients). He dances like an angel, even more so than he did last September.

Try to go see Tango x2 if you can (Linda!!!!). The show was playing while I was there, but I couldn't get it together schedulewise to go. Word of mouth gives it raves.

And now, back to our regular program (a.k.a. my tentative dance plans this weekend, so you can join me...)

Wednesday, April 30 - CCSF classes

Friday, May 2 - maybe Monte Cristo Milonga. Lesson topic for this month is colgadas, and since mine truly suck, I guess I know where I will be if I go dancing.

Sunday, May 4 - Negracha & Diego workshops at La Pista; maybe Studio Gracia fundraising milonga that night though it does later than I'd like.

Monday, May 5 - La Cumparsita Milonga @ Slovenian Hall with my favorite maestros Negracha y Diego

Wednesday, May 7 CCSF classes

Scouting tour from Buenos Aires continues...(+ shoes, housing, booze)

Thursday, 17 de Abril
DNI (Corrientes 2140, 15 pesos). It was a good class. I don't remember anything specific about it. Floor was hardwood.

Men's Technique @ Mariposita. Another great class! They began with walking with intention, forward and back, and increasing the speed. They also worked on forward ochos, again doing it very quickly. Maestro emphasized that the steps in the feet needed to follow the music. They also worked on lapices and boleos, taps, very rapid twisting ochitos, and very fast twisting ochos.

Milonga @ Mariposita. Also a great class, with a few pretty easy sequences taught. One tip maestra threw out -- in milonga, the follower should almost always be on the balls of her feet, with the heels rarely or never touching the ground so that she can be as responsive in her steps as possible.

Friday, 18 de Abril
Axis, Equilibrium, and Balance with Hugo Daniel @ EAT Galerias. We did the same/similar exercises as in the last classes. Surprisingly and happily, Giovanni was in the class. He told me I was naughty for not calling him recently. I made up for it by arranging to meet him later that evening. He offered to teach my roommate for free, so we took him up on it. He was going to a men's technique class after this one, and I asked him if we could tag along since my roommate wanted to work on improving in that area. Giovanni told us no, that he wanted to see my roommate dance first.

Technique with Gachi Fernandez @ EAT Galerias. This class was OK, with many exercises. We started with stretching (deep ones, quite yoga-like) and loosening up our bodies. Then we went on to do the exercises to help us understand the physical properties of body movement related to tango. One exercise was walking backwards with our heels to the ground as much as possible. This caused our steps to be on the small side, and our knees to bend. We also did disassocation walking exercises to maximize the range of motion/torquing in our chests. We practiced doing two ochos with enrosque on the third step. We also practiced the boleo movements -- front contra boleos, back boleos, and show tango move where there is a hop after the end of the rounded back boleo. The last exercise was a partnered one where both did back sacadas to each other. Good class.

Private lesson with Giovanni Garcia (Chile @ Piedras). Some of you may remember Giovanni from our Dinzel lessons at Dandi, or from the night at Tasso. It was a great lesson, targeted mostly at my roommate, but I was there as the follower prop. We did very simple things -- walking, getting to the cross, for Followers the spiral cross (he recommended I do more of a snug tracing around my other foot with my toe in the spiral cross). He gave a lot of good technical tips for dancing (mostly aimed at my roommate for leading purposes), and practical ones for the milonga. He recommended my roommate, who has thus far has not had a good experience at the local milongas, go to El Arranque on Monday afternoons and just WATCH. Giovanni says that he used to dance 100% for himself and was quite a show-off. Now he dances 75% for the follower and 25% for himself, and illustrated both concepts where he danced 100% for himself and did all sorts of fancy show tango moves, and then he danced 75% for the follower, first starting out doing simple things to gauge her skill level, and then leading moves that she could follow easily within her skill level, but were still interesting and pretty, and would make her feel good, like she is a dancer and capable of more than she realized. I thought that was an incredibly beautiful sentiment and way of dancing.

Sunday, 20 de Abril
Quintaesencia show at Centro Cultural Borges (where the EAT Galerias is, 30 pesos). I went to a very nice tango & fusion dance show. There were four different segments: a show tango, a spring ballet-style, one with a lot of modern dance elements, and a traditional/nuevo. It ran about 90 minutes with a 15 minute intermission. The theatre was small and intimate; every seat in the house was good. The show runs Sundays in April and May @ 5:00 p.m. This is a much better show and value than the tango dinner shows around town. You'd just have to fend for yourself for dinner, which is easy since you are on Florida and near Lavalle. (Linda -- you should see this!)

Monday, 21 de Abril
Pablo Nievas y Valeria Zunino lesson @ Confiteria Ideal (2.5 hour lesson with 0.5 hour practica, 20 pesos). Maestros taught a very nice sequence (from the Follower's perspective): Right foot side step; left foot back; Leader catches/stops Follower's foot. Follower pasadas, then back ganchos with her left foot Leader's right leg, then does slow high boleo into caracia. She then steps forward and does counterlcockwise molinete. On the forward then side step,. leader "sacadas" her so that the Follower's right leg enganches Leader's left leg. He then steps side left to force her to do a high back boleo, to forward contra boleo, then she steps forward with her right foot to resolution. For the leader, he does a series of lapices, sacadas, etc., during all this. :o) It was a great class, and we actually started with some basic fundamentals -- an entire tango just walking together to work on lead/follow. Then we did one tango each just doing forward ochos, then back ochos. Maestra taught a cute embellishment during the ocho, basically just the front and back rounded tucks. It was really nice having so much time to drill the steps. I wish I had gone to these 3-hour lessons at Ideal sooner (I prefer them over EAT, whose lessons are all 1.5 hours). Interesting, Maestro Pablo was a student assistant at many of our CITA classes.

El Arranque Milonga (Bme. Mitre 1759, 8 pesos for ladies, 10 pesos for men). I had a great time at this afternoon porteno milonga, as usual. The floor is a stone composite, but they have really nice ventilation, so it's a very comfortable place to dance.

Body Training class @ Tango Brujo (Esmeralda 754, 20 pesos). Tango Brujo is a retail tango shop on the ground floor, with dance classes held upstairs in a loft-like facility with hardwood floor. The focus of our lesson was to continue working on follower freeness of the leg so we did many exercises such as working on front and back linear boleos, and also straight to the side counterbalance/contra energy/movement. Then we worked on side ganchos (such as Follower right leg ganchos Leader's right leg, and also Follower left leg ganchos Leader's right leg, with Follower perpendicular on Leader's right side both times). It was a very nuevo lesson, which apparently is the style Tango Brujo is known for. Happily, I ran into Giovanni in class, and we had dinner at one of my favorite parrilla restaurants (and home of the 4 peso choripan), Galauno (parrilla al carbon) 663 Lavalle.

Tuesday, 22 de Abril
Diego & Zoriada Alvaro @ Confiteria Ideal (20 pesos, 3-hour "lesson"). This was more of a guided practica rather than a group lesson. It was nice to have Diego give technical pointers on some issues I was working on.

Eduardo Saucedo @ Confiteria Ideal (20 pesos, 3-hour lesson). His guest follower teacher was Cecilia Gonzalez (of Carlos Copello school, a different younger "Cecilia Gonzalez" than the famous one from CITA). The first hour of class was a practica for the intermediates+, while maestros taught beginners. The second and third hours maestros taught a couple of sequences: (1) Little mini volcada with 2-3 small back steps for Leader, putting follower off axis so she could do front & back cross embellishement around her right supporting foot while she is a little bit off axis. Then leader steps forward outside, and she back, into the cross and resolution. (2) Follower does right side step, leader turns her perpendicular to him, as if to make her step forward with her left foot, but leads down with his left hand so she just extends her left foot/leg, then walks around her while she does calesita (with optional lapice embellishment) to back (high or low) boleo to front boleo or spiral cross depending on the amount of energy. We ended our group lesson with a Chacarera lesson. Eduardo is a guy with abundant good vibes; great fun to learn from; a real gem.

Wednesday, 23 de Abril
Gachi Fernandez @ EAT Galerias. Another great class focusing on the dynamics of body movement with many exercises. This day focused on starting movement in our chest, and having our legs torque around as a consequence of our chest movement.

Tango Salon @ Mariposita. The regular teachers did not show up, and I and my roommate were the only students. So Carolina Bonaventura and Francisco Forquera ended up giving us essentially a 45-minute private lesson. They taught us a fun sequence, and worked on us to clean up the technique of getting it done.

Impulses & Dynamics @ Mariposita. Bruno Tombari and Mariangels worked with the leaders and followers as a group, first doing different types of footwork to accentuate milonga music. We then danced together to put it all together. They were OK teachers.


Shoe Shopping
Some of you have asked about shoes. Yes, I already have a dozen, and will probably add a few more to that before I return home, with an additional piece of luggage that I will have to buy to schlep them home. I got most of my practice shoes on the clearance racks @ Artesanal (two stores, one on Riobamba 448 and Anchorena 537) for 140-180 pesos each. Artesanal is highly recommended by Chelsea and Christy.

I also went to P.H. (Grito de Ascencio 3602), my personal favorite. It's a factory. Their shoes are more traditional, so not as fashion-oriented as Comme Il Faut, NeoTango, Victorio, Tango Leike (i.e., no spikey stillettos) and wider in width. Prices I paid for shoes off the rack (I do fine with off the rack, as my feet aren't "unique" enough to require custom) were 170-200 pesos. If I wanted custom shoes, they would have run 220-230 pesos, and would take about a month if they did not have the skins already made.

My rooommate had some men's shoes custom made at P.H., and I was suprised by the care that the process required. First they make a tracing of the feet. Then they make a wooden model of the feet, and add little strips of leather to it depending on where you need more space (like for bunions or wide feet). There was even an intermediate fitting to tweak the sizing (add more leather strips to build out the model), and we returned voluntarily twice more to get the fit absolutely right (he has very "unique" feet and shoes have always been a problem for him). The shoes for which the skins were already made took about 2 weeks to make. For the shoes that had to made from scratch (including new skins that had to be cut and sewn), it took about a month. Lilliana, the sales gal, is super nice, and they adore Jeff Schneider, whose holiday cards from several years past decorate their shelves. I've also gone to various other shoe places (Darcos@ Suipacha 259, and the 4-5 other shoe stores next to or across the street), but didn't buy anything there since they were more expensive than I wanted to spend, and their widths were narrower than I was comfortable with, though Victorio did have a pair that I was happy with (300 pesos). I also liked a pair at Tango8 (Lavalle 3101 cross street Anchorena near Artesanal) and will probably buy it before I leave. I haven't gone to Fattomano yet but will try to, as they come highly recommended.

Housing
Some of you have asked if I've bought a place here. The answer is no, but the idea is looking more tantalizing as the housing/banking situation in the U.S. becomes bleaker. A quick surf on the 'net revealed that a small studio condo in a sketchy 'hood can be had for around $35K. From looking at the windows in various real estate places, it seems the decent places here are all around $85K-135K for 1-2 bedroom places in nice barrio, like where my apartment is (Palermo). The place through which I rented my apartment is http://www.tangorental.com.ar/, who are friends of Jeff Schneider ($1K per month, with $700 damage deposit that will be refunded when I leave). Advance planning is key, as the deposit/payment must be made in cash (credit cards not accepted).

Malbec & Fernet Branca
As I normally do when I travel, I try to drink what is locally produced and what the region is famous for. So that means Malbecs have been my libation of choice. The wine here is decent and very inexpensive, even more so if you buy from the grocery stores or gourmet food stores (from 3 pesos for plonk to 20 pesos for a nice bottle). I had a divine bottle of wine (Finca Gabriel 2005 Malbec) from a small batch artisanal producer for a whopping 16 pesos (US$6). Wine in restaurants is also quite reasonable, with most bottles 20-40 pesos. In terms off other libations, Fernet Branca (and knockoffs) are quite popular here, perhaps a reflection of the strong Italian influence (and thus it feels like being at home in SF). I've tried some of the Fernet knockoffs here and they all suck; so my recommendations to any Fernet lovers is to stick with Fernet Branca or Fernet Menta if you like mint.

Besos y abrazos,

Ana de Buenos Aires

Scouting tour from Buenos Aires continues...(+ random notes on life here)

Thursday, 10 de Abril
Milonga con traspie class by Demian Garcia and Laura De Altube @ EAT Gallerias. I thought this class was OK, but it didn't knock my socks off, and I don't remember anything specific about it.
Chiche y Marta tango class @ EAT Gallerias. Another great class taught by Chiche (Marta was ill).

Friday, 11 de Abril
Hugo Daniel @ EAT Gallerias class on axis, balance and equilibrium for men and women (note that men were listed first). This was a truly excellent class, with exercises only (no steps taught) and strong emphasis on musicality. We began with posture, first centering ourselves above our feet and then having a slightly forward intention. Then we did a variety of walking\stepping exercises, changing the size and tempo of our steps (doing side and diagonal cross steps in tango and milonga rhythm and the basic milonga baldosa box with milonga traspie, milonga lise, and milonga canyengue feet\body styles).

Saturday, 12 de Abril
Hugo Daniel workshop @ EAT Gallerias workshop on axis, balance, and equilibrium. We did many of the same exercises as yesterday. One interesting thing we played with was the ocho movement, playing with the different areas of where the energy intention could be and how it made the ocho look entirely different. The three areas we played with were energy intention in the chest, in the hips, and in the knees. It was truly amazing how different the ochos could look based on where the energy intention is located, and I was amazed at how different my body felt (more stable in some places, less stable in others) depending on where I directed the energy intention. Personally, I think these classes\workshops are among the best ones offered at EAT. He is a maestro who teaches how to dance (not just another pretty sequence).

Sunday, 13 de Abril
Hugo Daniel workshop @ EAT Gallerias workshop on axis, balance, and equilibrium. We continued our work from yesterday, and so practiced more movement and coordination exercises with a special emphasis on playing with the rhythm and timing of each step, depending on what we were dancing to (tango, vals, milonga, canyengue). I found the canyengue upper body movement especially challenging to master (and certainly have a long way to go before it looks anywhere near natural).

Tuesday, 15 de Abril
Chiche y Marta @ EAT Galerias. Another great class with Chiche (Marta's been ill).
Carlos & Maria Rivarola @ EAT Galerias. Los Maestros taught one of the same sequences as last week (that's OK though, I needed to clean up my foot/bodywork on it) and some new ones as well. The followers spent time with Maria at the barre working on our floor boleo footwork with an emphasis on it being loose and fluid. Maria made it clear that high boleos should not be done at the salon (milonga), that it was dangerous and rude.

Wednesday 16 de Abril
It was horribly smokey here in Buenos Aires because of a nearby fire, so I stayed in the apartment all day.


Random Buenos Aires comments for those coming for a visit.
Regarding the food, though the grilled meats, empanadas, and dulce de leche are all delicious, a steady diet of that over several weeks can get a little old (or damaging to the waisteline). So with that in mind, I´ve been sprinkling in ample trips to the local supermarkets here (Disco, Coto, and Carrefore). They all have amazingly large selections of prepared foods along with the ubiquitous roasted chicken (a la Costco and Safeway). They are hot and cold, in ample tables with plastic cartons next to them for you to fill with the quantities you desire. You bring them up to the serviceperson there who covers it with plastic wrap, weighs it and prices it. This same bagging\weighing\pricing procedure is used for fresh produce as well.

Subte versus taxi:
I used to take the cab from my apartment in Palermo to the EAT studio in the Galerias Pacifico on Florida, but found that it really racked up the expenses (20 pesos one way) and I often got stuck in horrendous traffic. Now I just take a cab to my local subte (tube) stop and take the subte to the Florida station (90 centavos one way). It takes a whole lot faster and is much cheaper. I just have to be extra aware and careful not to get pickpocketed.

Laundry:
Laundry services are super cheap here. It´s 7 or 8 pesos per load (bagful) of laundry, usually available the next day or same day if you drop off early. Lots of places will also pick up and deliver your laundry free of charge.

Computers & Phone:
They have these places called Locutorios where you can rent computers with internet access for 1-4 pesos per hour (the 1 peso per hour places are usually crappy, so I wouldn´t pay less than 2 pesos per hour). These locutorios are located all over the place, so you are never too far away from your gmail. The locutorios also have phones you can use to make local or international phone calls and are quite reasonable. If you are on an even tighter budget, you can buy a phone card at the locutorio, and then use it in one of the booths to make a call. But if you are making an extremely long call to the states (like to the airlines to change a flight or bank because of lost ATM\credit card) and don´t want to be cut off because your minutes ran out on the card, just dial direct from the phone without the card. It will be more expensive, but at least you will not be cut off.

The Roving Entrepreneurs:
It is quite common when you are eating dinner in a restaurant or sitting in the subte to be solicited by the ever-present budding entrepreneurs, who go around leaving whatever they are selling (hair bands, pens, notebooks, screwdrivers, bungee cords, tap measures, etc.) on your table or in your lap for you to take a minute or two to examine. If you want to buy their item, that's great. And if not, no worries, they just come by a minute or two later and take the item back and move on to their next destination. These roving entrepreneurs might also try to sell you something when you are in a cab. At first I was surprised and amused and thought their behavior a tiny bit intrusive, but they are quite convenient and I've bought several items from them (a nifty pen with built-in light [5 pesos], and a small notebook with pen [2 pesos]).

How to get small bills.
The ATMs usually dispense money in 100 peso bills, and you usually can only take out 300 pesos per transaction (though you can have multiple transactions in a day, one after the other on the same visit). The problem is that cab drivers and small businesses prefer small bills near whatever the tab comes out to be. One way to get smaller bills is to take out money 290 pesos at a time. That way the money will come out with 2 100-peso bills and 90 pesos in smaller bills (10s and 20s). I highly recommend that if you go to a restaurant and the bill is more than 50 pesos, to pay with a 100 peso bill.

Besos y abrazos,

Ana de Buenos Aires

Scouting tour from Buenos Aires continues... (+taxi scams)

Thursday, April 3
Cecilia Gonzalez@ Carlos Copello School (575 Anchorena). I decided to go to this lesson because I had a free pass, which I got from the Tango 8 shoe store across the street. I thought this would be Cecilia Gonzalez of CITA fame, but it was a different one, much younger. She was a good teacher, as was her partner. The class was small and nearly all beginner tourists. Still, she taught a nice little sequence with some fun follower embellishments (forward rulo on the front ocho, with little kick at the end). I probably won't go back though. I think the price for the lesson is normally 15 pesos.

Mariposita (Carlos Calvo 948/950) http://www.mariposita.com.ar/ The dance studio is a modern loft-like facility located in a boutique hotel owned by Carolina Bonaventura. I got there early enough to watch the men's technique class, taught by Francisco Forquera. I thought it was fantastic. They worked on walking, pivots and enrosques, back and front boleos, weight transfers, and lapices, with maestro constantly reiterating the importance of force, energy, dynamics, and impulse to make the leads/dance come alive and add flavor. One interesting thing maestro did was to have the students practice walking, and then he would call out all the different elements/moves (boleo, point, tap, enrosque, etc.)
randomly and the students would do them as they were called out. The men's technique class ended with work to improve balance and strength, and animating/speeding up the feet. The milonga class, which is what I went there for, was good. There were only two other couples, so there was a lot of individual attention from the instructors (Carolina y Francisco). They are excellent teachers and fluent in English. Cost for lessons is 15 pesos per lesson, though a discount card can knock that down to 12.5 pesos.

Saturday and Sunday, April 5&6.
Volcada and Colgada workshop taught by Gustavo Rosas and Gisela Natoli @ EAT Rodriguez Pena facility (Rodriguez Pena 1074). Cost was pricey at 110 pesos each person in a couple for workshops on both days, or 70 pesos per person per day if you came as a single dancer, though it was 7 hours total instruction (3.5 hours each day). Saturday started off with Colgadas, and this was the first time I had ever seen a maestro (Gustavo) actually put up paper notes/diagrams to illustrated the physical dynamics/concepts of the move (me being a fan of notes, he got brownie points for this). My colgadas still suck, but less so (on account of my volcada work, surprisingly). Los maestros taught several fun interesting sequences, which I sucked at, but not horrendously so. Sunday continued with review of the sequences we learned Saturday, and the addition of a couple of new ones. It was very helpful to just keep drilling over and over the colgada movement, to get used to being off axis, but still having control in the abdominals and trying to keep the hips level. Our volcada work was fun, but if I had never taken any other volcada workshops in the past, I would have found it frustrating since they went quickly (I felt that if you were a follower and volcadas were completely new to you, you would not have done well in this class) and los maestros didn't emphasize the extreme importance of the follower posture. The wood floor at this facility sucks. If you are the first class, the floor is super sticky and it is downright dangerous to dance on. So for that class, boatloads of talc is spread on the floor, and it takes a while for it to work its magic to make the floor reasonably tolerable to dance on (and even then you end up getting lots of talc on your pants/legs).

Monday, 7 de Abril.
Milonga with Gabriela Elias @ EAT Gallerias. She taught an interesting sequence and is a good teacher.
Tango with Carlos & Maria Rivarolas @ EAT Galleries. They taught another fun sequence, and are good teachers with lots of individual attention. They remembered me from last week, which is nice. The cool thing about the lesson was that at the end, they made the leaders and followers split up into lines, and had a random leader matched with a random follower, and just to dance down the room in a walk, to get us all used to dancing with different qualities of dancers and different body sizes and to improve our abilities as leaders and followers and connection.

Tuesday, 8 de Abril
Milonga & practica @ El Beso (Riobamba 416, 20 pesos). There was a substitute teacher since Oscar Casas is travelling. His name was Jesus something or other (Velasquez, maybe?). Surprisingly, he taught the lesson wearing heavy construction boots. He is fluent in English and had good technical tips, and really emphasized musicality. Unfortunately, the class was tiny (3 couples total) with beginner dancers. During our break (it was supposed to be a 1 hour lesson and free 1 hour practica, but it turned out to be a 2 hour lesson), maestro discussed milonga etiquette and the art of the cabaceo.

Raul Bravo class @ EAT Gallerias. Maestro taught another fun sequence. He is good teacher, and has an excellent following of experienced dancers (maybe a bit too many wannabe show tango stars), who often act as assistants to help out the struggling students in class.

Rivarolas class @ EAT Gallerias. My body was floppy and my brain was fried from overtraining, so I had a difficult timing getting the relatively easy sequence down. I ended up leaving early because it was unproductive to stay.

Wednesday, 9 de Abril. I decided to take a complete respite from dancing tango today since clearly I have been overtraining. Being the addict that I am, I decided to write down my notes from the past week instead. ;o)



Side notes on taxi scams I have experienced here (for those planning to visit):
Scam 1: The bill switcheroo: Fare is 12 pesos, you had over a 20-peso bill. Driver switches it and says you gave him a 2-peso bill.
Solution: Whenever you hand over money to the driver, state the amount you are handing over: "Vente pesos." That way he can't say you gave him "Dos pesos".

Scam 2: Counterfeit claims: Driver says the money you gave him is fake. He is trying to emotionally prey on you, as you will be flustered by this information. Don't believe his claims that your money is counterfeit. He is trying to get his hands on your money in a guise to see which bills are fake and which ones are real. DO NOT let him put his hands on your money. If you do, you can be sure your 100 pesos bills will disappear or magically turn into 10 pesos bills. If he is insistant, call for the policia.

Scam 3; The roundabout route: Driver takes you on an unsolicited tour of Buenos Aires before dropping you off at your requested destination.
Solution: Try to know the route/general direction to where you are going (many streets are one way). Have a map with you at all times (the free Tango map is actually quite good as it covers a wide area of Buenos Aires and has the street numbers). If it's a place where you go to and from all the time, you will know how much the fare should be. If your castellano is good enough, say so.

Scam 4: The fast meter: Some cabs have meters that are rigged to run fast. There seems to be some type of on-off switch that they can control out of sight of the passenger. Pay attention to how fast the meter is running. If it took you 8 pesos to get to your destination, and then the return destination using the same route costs 30 pesos, you've been scammed. If you notice the meter running fast, you can just tap on it angrily with your finger saying something to the effect of "no es corrrecto" -- magically, it just might start working correctly from that point on. It's your call whether you want to pay the entire (inflated) fare, or say in castellano that the fare should have been 10 pesos and pay only that. (Then again the difference between 10 pesos and 30 pesos is US$3 v US$9, and is it really worth your time/emotional and physical health to make a stink over US$6 in an emerging country whose economy can benefit from your extra $6?).

They say to try to take the taxis marked "Radio taxi" if you can, and call for one to pick you up if you can. That way there is a record of which taxi was dispatched. I've gone in non-Radio taxis with uneventful rides, and have been scammed in taxis marked "Radio taxi" that I've flagged from the street. Be sure to tip the driver if he's given you an OK ride with no scams.

And for all you wannabe movie stars, a posting from tangomango.org:

We are looking for non-professional dancers to feature in an upcoming documentary film -- Seduced by Tango. The film will star Pablo Veron, hosted by Robert Duvall, and will air on PBS.

We will represent dancers from five tango communities around the world, and will fly you to Buenos Ares, all expenses paid, for next year's Tango festival. To be selected you must submit a video. See details at:

www.seducedbytango.com

Many thanks for your interest!
Global Village Media

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Besos y abrazos,

Ana de Buenos Aires

Scouting tour from Buenos Aires continues

Hola Tangueros y Maestra!

Saturday, March 29
El Arranque afternoon milonga (B. Mitre 1759). My roommate and I decided to go to this one last local milonga, just around the corner from our hotel, before her evening flight back to SF. The other popular before-the-plane option is Confiteria Ideal, but she already experienced that one and she wanted to try a different milonga. We had a good time. Her cabaceo'ing was effective, so she was happy. It was more real-deal porteno than international.

Salon La Argentina (B. Mitre 1759, yes the same place as above, only this is the night milonga, hosted by different people). I got the same rude treatment as at La Cachirulo -- They asked me if I had a reservation, I said no, they said they had no room, no open tables, but let in many, many other portenas in after me, without asking if they had reservations. So I am guessing that this was one of those real-deal local porteno milongas that are "unfriendly" to international people. I vow going forward to call for reservations, and am hoping it will make a difference. Or just go to Sunderland every Saturday night.

Monday, March 31
I took two classes at the Escula Argetina de Tango (EAT for short, located in the Gallerias Pacifica on Florida, www.eatango.com, 15 pesos (US$5) each class): The first one was a musicality class taught by Jesus Velazquez, and a second tango class by Carlos and Maria Rivarola. The musicality class was OK, but not great since all we did was learn a sequence and try to dance it differently to a different song/orchestra. The Rivarola class was OK. They taught a pretty sequence, and went around to instruct the students individually.

Confiteria Ideal afternoon milonga (12 pesos for milonga only; optional lesson beforehand, which I skipped). I had a good time, as usual, though it seemed emptier on this day than on the other days I attended.

Tuesday, April 1
Morning shoe shopping at P.H. (Grito de Ascencio 3602 in Pompeya). They were super nice here, especially if you speak castellano and mention that you are a friend of Jeff Schneider. Custom shoes are ~230 pesos; ones off the rack are 150 pesos for basic ones, 230 pesos for their most fancy ones. If they have the skins already made, you can get a custom shoe in 10 days. If the need to make the skins from scratch, it takes 1 month.

3 Classes @ EAT: (1) Chiche & Marta Tango Rhythm & Markation class. We learned an interesting sequence and we played with the timing in therms of giving it a different flavor. (2) Enrosques y Sincronization de Brazos y Piernas with Raul Bravo. We learned a really fun sequence, but what struck me the most was that the assistant in the class was astoundingly sharp in what he saw and how he corrected the dancers. The assistant is truly gifted. (3) Tango with Carlos y Maria Rivarola. They built on what they taught the day prior, but since there were many new people in class who weren't there yesterday, much of it was a repeat. What was really excellent about the Rivarola classes was that they emphasized the need to drill and practice our molinetes over and over again, just like ballerinas doing their daily barre routines -- the same positions over and over, day in, day out.

Wednesday, April 2
Milonga Con Traspie class @ EAT with Gabriela Elias. She is an excellent teacher. We did the chasse traspie and liso footwork, and a cute embellishment for followers. She had us do a lot of drilling of the footwork, and dancing the same footwork but playing with the timing and flavor of our dance by having us dance to a slow milonga first (Canaro) and then speeding it up to faster ones (Di Sarli, etc.)

Gustavo & Giselle workshop (30 pesos per person = US$10). This workshop was advertised as "Deep Fundamentals" at the advanced level, but beginners were welcome. They first danced a really gorgeous, outrageous show tango sequence (inappropriate for a crowded milonga social dance floor), and then broke it down for us into small, somewhat easily digestible pieces. Gustavo & Giselle are holding this workshop series every Wednesday and Saturday in April, but I don't know if I will continue as much of it is over my head, and it sucks getting so jarred on the dance floor by all the advanced wannabe show tango stars.


Besos y abrazos,

Ana de Buenos Aires