Dinner was the Early Bird at La Cabrera (José A. Cabrera 5127)
At the Early Bird at La Cabrera, the meal is 40% off. The seating is at 6:30pm sharp, and you have to be done by 8:00pm sharp. No reservations taken. You have to just show up and put your name on their list, along with the number of people in your party. When 6:30pm comes around, they will seat parties by going down the list. We arrived around 6:15pm, and our name was one of the last ones on the list, but we were still able to get seated at 6:30pm. While we were waiting, we looked at the menu so we would know what to order ASAP and not dilly dally since we had to be done by 8pm.
My guest had one of the steaks, which was huge and came out in two pieces. I had the short ribs. At first, I wanted a full portion, but the waiter strongly advised against it for just me, so I got a half portion. It was still massive. Both cuts of beef were absolutely delicious and cooked exactly how we ordered them. We also ordered a chorizo, which was large and more than enough for two people. The La Cabrera chorizo is unique to the restaurant since it is made on site, seemingly with much less fat than the usual chorizo at a typical parilla. We both had water and no wine. All dinners come with a bread basket and an assortment of little veggie side dishes (mashed cauliflower, mashed beets, roasted veggies with poached egg on top, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, a carrot and garlic concoction, apple sauce, aioli, chimichurri) all served in little dishes a la Korean BanChan. The bill for the both of us with tip was ARS$10,000 ($35), and we took the leftover meat, as there was easily enough for another meal.
I toyed with the idea of going to a milonga, but decided against it as I was already physically tired after two weeks of intense training, and honestly, after dancing with the Intensivo assistants, why would I need more?
November 5, 2022
Saturday
For breakfast I had some leftover Morita empanadas, and based on my experience, I do not recommend them. The day after, the Morita empanadas are really flaky, too flaky like the dough didn’t have enough fat or protein to bind properly, and very powdery. So I believe their flour to binder proportions are off. But the worst part of it was in my Proveleta, I bit into a small stone! I’m glad I didn’t bite down hard because it could have been a dental disaster! So you can rest assured that I will never go back there ever again!
Other than the stone incident, the morning was mellow and easy going with me just editing my own work (actually the toughest thing to do), and jotting off emails to some buddies.
Then it was off to Tango Imagen, because it was the very last day I could do any shoe shopping. And up to this point, I had not purchased even one pair, a record for me!
Tango Imagen (Anchorena 606) did not disappoint! I got there promptly at 11:05am, just a few minutes after it opened, and Adrian was there with the door wide open. He remembered me, too, though I did email the shop earlier in the week to let him know I was coming. Long story short, I pulled all the size 36 shoes that looked interesting (about 30 pairs, LOL, which would generally be pretty obnoxious anywhere else and by anyone else), tried them all on, and settled on about 12. When he rang me up, it only came to about USD $750, so I decided to look around some more. I finally settled on an additional 3 pairs for a total of 15 pairs, which came out to USD $878 (USD $59 each). I told him in my email that I would be paying in USD so he was ready with USD change (small bills). I was thrilled. While I previously thought shoe prices have kept pace with their past USD equivalent, clearly that is not the case. It seems to me that shoes are about 20-30%+ cheaper than they were previously, even accounting for me likely getting a modest discount because I bought so many shoes in under an hour and am a longtime client.
After I returned to my studio to snap a few pics and then pack away my shoes, it was off to Gabriela Elias’s Escuela to Olga Besio’s seminar.
Olga Besio’s class at Escuela Mundial de Tango (ARS$1700) (prices for seminars went up by ARS$100 more than last week)
Olga Besio is a legend. I took one group lesson with her in about 2008 and it blew my mind at the time, even though it was in Spanish, so I just had to take this opportunity to learn from her again.
The class was all in Spanish with no translation. And my Spanish was extremely rusty. But I still got the jist of some of the class info, as a kind student astute enough to realize that I hadn’t a clue what was being said, translated quietly for me, which I dearly appreciated.
The class was heavy on listening and discussion, and less so on actual physical movement, though we did some.
I got there a little late, and the class had already started with discussion, then listening to some tango music. Then we practiced doing ochos, but just stepping on the 1. Then there was more discussion, and listening to strong tango music, then practicing some ochos stronger on the 1.
Next there was some discussion about soft, soothing music. Then, individually, we danced/moved to the music, just feeling it and expressing it in our movement, being respectful of the pauses in the music.
To the same music, we practiced in couples, with one person walking and the other person doing back sacadas to the walker’s trailing foot as they walked forward slowly. It was kind of a head trip as it required you to move circularly around the forward walker, and to also be aware of where they were stepping and how you were going to time it just right to do a back sacada to the walker’s trailing foot. Both dancers were to be aware and focus on the quality of movement in the back step and forward step.
The class ended with all of us doing our own foot massage. Maestra’s philosophy is that we should do the foot massage to our own feet to make them more flexible and heat them up before dancing. So we rubbed the base, tapped the top, pulled, bent and stimulated each toe, etc. to massage and stimulate the feet. Even if you work on computers all day, Maestra said we should stimulate our feet at least twice a day even if we are not dancing.
She also said we should massage our shoes, and showed us how. I didn’t do mine since I had dance sneakers, but for the usual tango heels, it involves rubbing the inside base with our thumbs and bending the shoes so they are flexible.
It was an interesting class, filled with concepts I had never heard or tried before.
Alejandro Turco Suaya’s class at Escuela Mundial de Tango (ARS$1700); subject: Pugliese
Next class was Turco Suaya’s Pugliese class. We began with a discussion of Pugliese – his general biography (b 1905, d 1995), political leanings strongly in support of workers’ rights and conditions and equality, the environment at the time, how he was imprisoned several times because of his beliefs. His humbleness and strong sense of fairness and respect for work, who never wanted more than the others. During the times he was in prison, his orchestra still played, still performed, leaving a single red carnation on the piano to represent him.
We also listened to some of his most famous compositions (La Yumba), which are more symphonic (what you’d hear in a concert hall) than typical tango music (what you’d hear in a dance hall). In Pugliese’s music there is often the usual beat, and then in the middle of the song, the rhythmic line disappears. Where it disappears, we were to pause and do more flowy, expressive movements (not just stepping on the rhythm) such as big, flowy lapices in place. In Pulgliese’s music there are parts that are very complicated, and very complicated for beginners express in their dance. Fortunately, these parts are temporary and the music then returns to the usual beat or even driving rhythm, which are easier to dance to. Most other orchestras are all about the Bandoneon. Not Pugliese’s music, which are more about the violin. His compositions are very original arrangements. There is chaos and freedom in his music. It’s very flexible music, where you do more in the silence. We are the interpreters of the musicality.
Since there was only one beginner leader in class and six followers, the Followers ended up doing more exercises than dancing with each other. We began walking individually in a circle to get the music of Pugliese inside our bodies. Then in partnership, we were to dance together, just walking and when there was a pause in the music, we were to do something flowy like lapices.
The beginner leader had a hard time hearing where the beat faded away and where the pause/melody/flowy part began. I found myself wanting to take over the lead from him, and I did back lead a little bit so he could better “hear” where the non-beat parts were, and also back leading him back to walk when the beat returned. I also led some of the Followers in their turns, being sure to do the rotation around my spine the way LV taught in the Intensivo, and I surprisingly found that many Followers did not follow my lead at all, but just pivoted to whatever side they wanted to, even though (in my opinion), I clearly led them the other way. Some Followers also did not know how to do the basic turn exercise/footwork.
Maestro as usual rotated in the class, watching the leader and giving him pointers and instruction, and also dancing with the followers individually. What surprised me was how good everyone looked when they danced with him, even the followers who did not do turns very well or did not follow my lead very well. I guess that’s why he’s the Maestro and I am the student. :o). There were a couple of milongueras in class, who even though they were not that technically astute, still danced with incredible connection, passion and acceptance.
It was an excellent class, as usual.
* * * * *
After class I picked up a few empandas for the plane trip, went back to the studio to pack and shower, and then Dante took me promptly to the airport.
My Aeorlineas Argentinas flight was awesome! I totally lucked out as even though my original seat was fine, I noticed that further back there were a couple of rows that were complete empty. So early on in the flight, I switched back to one of the rows and was able to lay completely flat and sleep somewhat during most of the trip. It was heaven to be able to do that, since I worry about all the blood pooling in my legs during such a long flight, even when wearing compression leggings and compression socks. I also had my eyepatch, ear plugs and noise-cancelling headphones, which were a Godsend since the row was just a couple ahead of the bathroom.
It was a great trip overall. I spent much less than I budgeted, partly because I was working for half the trip, and partly because everything is so much less expensive because of the strength of the dollar and the state of the Argentine economy. I actually had a hard time following the Spanish language for the prices of things because the numbers were so high (everything in the hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands) and my Spanish is so rusty after not really using or hearing much of it in the last three years. And other than the dinner at La Cabrera, I ate out at very cheap take-out places or groceries from Coto or the veggie market, which was super cheap. I also only took one taxi ride; all other transportation was done on the Subte, where I spent a total of ARS$550 (US$2) for all my rides the entire two weeks I was there. Even my Airbnb private studio was very reasonable at USD$26 per night. In the past, that’s what I paid for Airbnb communal living situations!
I will be sure to be back in 2023!
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