Tango and me
- by Daniel Liu
I am frequently asked about how I started to dance tango. To put this topic within the “Frequently Asked Questions” seems a little bit strange, therefore I decided to briefly describe how I got started. The story calls back to April, 1997.
At the 97’, the Lai Lai Sheraton Hotel invited four musicians, one singer and two pairs of tango dancers to do the Tango Frangrance Show. This was arranged by Martín and Teresa Desmarras, members of the Argentine Trade and Cultural Office in Taipei. Well, the show took place in B1 of the Lai Lai Hotel, held as a gala dinner with a tango party, or “milonga” as called in Argentina, with live music. By that time, I did not know anything about tango. I only had learned a few fixed-choreographed ball room tangos from the National Taiwan University Folk Dance Club. Not to say, these were way different from what was going on on stage. Many people that participated in the dinner came from the ball room dance society of Taipei. You know, erected posture, sharp movements of the head, etc. My girlfriend Stacy was invited to the dance floor by Mr. Martín Desmarras, whereas Stacy’s friend Serena, amateur ball room dancer at that time, was taken by one of the professional tango dancers, Daniel Boo. This was a key to our introduction to tango, because after couple dances, Serena came to ask for help since Daniel Boo wanted to tell her something in Spanish. Why I speak Spanish would be another FAQ, but is irrelevant to our topic right now. Anyways, I went to do some translation for Daniel and Serena, and we ended up with a surprising agreement that Daniel would teach us a few tango steps in his room the next afternoon. So my first “basic step” took place in Daniel Boo’s room at Lai Lai Sheraton. “The basic step” seemed to me such a complicated combination at that time! It was rather difficult for me to accomplish those eight steps. Nevertheless, I got started. My first Basic Step! We ended up making friends with nearly the whole group of performers. Laura, the singer; Néstor, Laura’s husband and guitarrist; Daniel Boo and Jesús Velazquez were the dancers, and the others. Jesús came back in December that year for another show and along with her partner Silvana became my first tango teachers. Since most of Taipei Tango Association members started to study tango later on under my “instruction”, I dare say that Jesús and Silvana were the very first pair of professional Argentine tango dancers that teached in Taipei and gave raise and inspiration to the later formed Taipei Tango Association.
Summer that year came the widely knowned Tango Passion to perform at the National Theatre. (Widely knowned overseas; nobody had heard of it in Taipei!) As far as I know, Tango Passion and Tango Essence (2001) are the only tango groups that ever performed in Taipei theatres. I wonder why Taiwan agencies do not arrange for more performances. I heard that Forever Tango goes to Japan several times an year, but hasn’t been to Taiwan a single time! Back to Tango Passion, they made a great hit, at least in my heart. I bought CDs of the Sexteto Mayor, and those sounded just like music from heaven! Before I knew about Pugliese and D’Arienzo, I already took Sexteto Mayor as an idol. I knew Carlos Di Sarli in April because Jesús gave me some tapes of Di Sarli, but at that time I much preferred the beautiful sound of the new orquestra.
As I said, Jesús came back in December that year to make another show called the Latin Fantasy. The show featured several types of latin-related dances, such as salsa, lambada, Argentine folklore, tango and flamenco. By the time they were in Taipei, we arranged a small workshop of seven tango classes. The students were friends from the NTU Folk Dance Club. The content of the classes ran from the Basic Step to “ochos con sacadas”. Not to say, our basis was weak. To learn all that stuff in seven classes within two weeks seems crazy. There was not much about tango walk, nor about close embrace. We used open embrace and lead with our right hand, a practice that I kept doing until tango teachers Lucía and Álvaro came to Taipei in November, 2000. Jesús not only was my teacher, but also a good friend. We talked a lot, we drank mate at his room and even at the class room. He also brought us an outstanding CD named “Tangos Instrumentales Para Bailar”.
After Jesús left Taiwan in January, 1998, I started to study from video tapes that my friend Paco Lin had brought me from the US. I spent nearly NT40,000 in CDs and video tapes. These CDs are still an important part of my tango collection that make up for the songs that I play in the milongas nowadays. As for videos, I mainly focused on the intermediate/advanced video made by Osvaldo Zotto and Mora Godoy. Those were fancy steps and combinations. Again, not much about technique. Mostly combinations that included ganchos, boleos, sacadas, traspiés, etc. I studied the combinations and taught them to friends of the NTU Folk Dance Club. Tango was not my main focus at that time. I participated in a flamenco group called Fuego Fantástico, and with the flamenco practices and performances, there was not much time left for tango. The situation did not change until December, 1999, when our group of tango friends decided to form an association to establish regular milongas, introduce tango movies, hold public talks about tango history and music, and perhaps open up tango lessons. There goes the birth of the Taipei Tango Assocation (TTA). The first months were mainly milongas that changed from place to place. We went to Boheme Café, Hyeres, Starbucks, Volcano Café, and luckily enough, to Café Tutto. Ming-Fu, the owner of Café Tutto, agreed to let us hold milongas in a monthly basis. That was the end of wandering. (We still hold milongas at Café Tutto every first Friday of each month.) That was around July, 1999. At about the same time, we started renting a ball room class room for regular classes. We opened a new Basic class every two months. I was frequently surprised by the amount of people that came to learn tango. The next step was to invite professional tango teachers for workshops. Our first contact was with Lucía and Álvaro Salas. We held the first workshop in November, 2000. We were so anxious before the workshop took place. No experience, not even knowing the masters, not an idea of the amount of students that would show up... The workshop turned out to be a success. We had 40 students for the basic class – by far the largest class in TTA workshop history.
Lucía and Álvaro are a turning point in TTA history, speaking from the dance side. Every time they come, they bring essential concepts that we need to make up for the lack of professional tango teachers in Taiwan. If it was not for them, the tango dance level in Taipei would fall way behind what we have now. Another turning point would be from the devotion side of the TTA core group. This has to do with the leave of five members from the Fuego Fantástico. That was not a happy moment. However, leaving the flamenco group made me and other friends focus on tango and on the prosperity of the Taipei Tango Association. From my point of view, TTA would not grow as fast as it did if we were still in the flamenco group. Makes sense.
Well, that is how I got started with tango. I should say thanks to Jesús and Silvana for being my teachers and to Stacy for being my partner. Also to Paco for purchasing so many tango videos and CDs for me. Now, tango is a part of my life. When I am happy, I tango. When I am lonely, I tango. When I am sad, I tango. I tango anytime, anywhere.
(The writer is a member of the Taipei Tango Association.)
