‘’I’m a believer’’ - Interview Lucia and Deniz (article published in Gancho, October 2013)

Motto: “We teach best what we most need to learn.” (Richard Bach, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah)

I’ve met Lucia and Deniz through a Facebook group called Tango accommodation exchange (thank you, Luciana, for the initiative!). They were coming to a tango event in Bucharest and looking for a place to stay, so they ended up sharing our apartment with me, my roommate and 3 cats. And, yes, they survived! : )

The first thing that came to my mind when I met them in person was ‘’My God, they are made for each other!’’. I was surprised (in a most pleasant way) to see such a compact, easy going, fun and beautiful couple. Now, you may think I’m buttering them up, but wait until you read their story and meet them for yourself.

We spent an entire weekend together and it felt like we’ve known each other a life time. I’ve listened to their amazing story, I loved it, it made me believe that fairy tales are still possible and I’m happy that they agreed to share some of it with all of us.

Here goes (I have to mention that Lucia and Deniz answered separately to these questions, therefore it’s a surprise they made each other):

Corina: What led you to tango? Why Tango?

Lucia: It is funny, because I really don’t know why tango! I wanted to dance, I missed dancing since I’ve had to finish dancing ballroom dancing because of my high-school. I wanted to dance something, anything, the only condition was – it should be a dance without a partner : ) I knew how hard these relationships could be, so I wanted to avoid it from the beginning. Finally I ended up in a tango class, please don’t ask me why! : )

Deniz: Tango music, without knowing anything about it - other than my father`s old Turkish tango LPs. I was listening to the music and I tried once to dance but it did not go well at that time (in Istanbul). Then 5 years passed and I started to dance in Bratislava, Slovakia. A few trials in few weeks till I found Lucia and then we started together. Tango was waiting for us.

C: How did you two meet?

L: In our first tango class. A friend helped to arrange our meeting, because we both were looking for a dance partner.

D:  In our first lesson on 2nd December day ; ) I was sitting in the only local milonga when a lady approached me asking why I am sitting. I said I don`t have a partner and I am a beginner (I was too shy to say I can`t dance yet). She was surprised and she said “I will find you a partner” and few weeks later she called me saying she has a beautiful partner for me. She found me Lucia ; )

C: What was your first ‘tango crush’ experience like?

L: I didn’t experience a tango crush. I’ve met Deniz in the first tango class of my life, and at that time it wasn’t a crush, because I didn’t know anything about the embrace back then. I think a tango crush can come only with a nice embrace. Besides, I am not allowed to talk about tango crushes anymore... : D

D: I can`t say I had a tango crush – with your terms in your last article. My crush in tango was different. I had just finished a long-term (10 years) relationship before I started tango and met Lucia. Tango was the white light at the end of the tunnel, after the crush in my private life. It fitted me a lot: Tango is including regrets, love, heartbreaks, being homeless and away, loneliness, hope, beginnings… Whatever I was feeling that time was in tango ; )

C: What was the most difficult tango-related decision you had to make?

L: Good question! Actually, there were no difficult decisions since I have tango in my life. Everything seems to go smoothly, as it should... Things evolve naturally. Maybe one thing: when we’ve decided to teach tango. It was a hard decision for me, not based on our enormous experience or perfect dancing, but on the fact, that we want to give to people „our” tango, the way we see and feel it. It is a kind of mission we feel we have to accomplish here and now.

D: I think the most difficult was/is to start teaching tango. We know we are not 100% ready to teach as we are in our learning curve but on the other hand, we also know that if we want to expand tango in Bratislava and have a nice community, we have to. Our friends encouraged us, people started to come and asked to teach and Christine Denniston was telling in her book “I started to teach not because I know everything but I know little bit more than others… Today all over the world there are people starting to teach because they know little bit more”. And we met our mentors Mariana and Dimitris who supported us a lot.

All encouraged us and we made this decision which was really hard and took almost 1 year to decide and be ready.

C: What is your happiest memory in your tango life so far?

L: That I found tango... somehow it came into my life, my world and changed it totally. I am happy just to have it! And also the moment we have discovered Tango Natural in Belgrade and then continued to meet wonderful people, including you! These all are happiest memories!

D: Happiest memory yet to come. But I think I was feeling very happy when I was in Belgrade Encuentro for the first time to see that tango is something much more than what I knew, more social, sharing, full of love and friendship. Let me be the romantic side of the couple: I am always the happiest guy when I embrace and dance with Lucia.

C: How do you manage the idea that your partner has such intense feeling in somebody else’s arms?

L: I also do J, so I wish the same for him. I think it is good. It’s strange, but I am not jealous, we even talk about the feelings we had in a milonga. Maybe later there will be a kind of emotion that I will be jealous of... If I thought of this kind of embraces in connection with my man in the past, I would be jealous for sure, but now I am not.

D: Once I heard it from Sebastian which is fitting the definition a lot. When you dance with a woman, you don`t dance with that woman only but also you dance with your love, wife, girlfriend, sister, mum. Simply she is all the women of your life, represented in that woman in your embraces. It is same for the other side. To know this and understanding it make you see tango different. So she is also dancing with me even if she is in somebody else`s arms. (fuhaaa, such a tricky question it was : D )

C: What does tango mean for you now?

L: My life!

D: Tango is life, life is tango. TangoVida : )

C: What’s the story of ‘Gancho’? How did you get the idea to make a magazine? Why the name ‘Gancho’?

L: It was Deniz’s idea, he is the initiator of such activities in our couple. I am the doubtful one, especially in the beginning. He is hot blooded : ) We decided to do something for our small community, to let it know more about tango. It was a very innocent start, we just wrote a few articles related to tango, collecting information basically on the internet. Later, we’ve started to add some personal experience from tango travels, interviews etc. Then, our dear friends gave it a real drive and we have our new web-based version, which we are really proud of.

Regarding the name, I hope Deniz will answer. I had doubts again, especially, because I am translating gancho into Slovak and my „hard times” started with the name... : )

D: After first Belgrade Encuentro, we started to feel that tango is all about sharing so we need to contribute this sharing as well. We can`t only take but we need to give. When we look around we saw that there are magazines on local levels but nothing in English international in gancho`s concept. We said let`s start with baby steps, let`s make a simple pdf e-magazine which people can read or print and put on their tables during milongas and people may enjoy it. It should be the only allowed gancho in a milonga : D Name of gancho represents this fact: hooking people to each other and hooking them to tango. So gancho is touching all parts of tango (fashion, dance, music, CDs, books, travel, people, DJing etc.) and hooking people together.

C: Where do you see ‘Gancho’ in another year?

L: We do not make further plans, we will continue to try to give our best and manage it time wise and make it interesting and attractive and, at the same time, instructive. And of course, we want to reach more people.

D: We started gancho in English and in Slovak (to be responsible to the community we are in). Thanks to our friends Andreea and Andrei to open our minds and carry the target- bar higher. We had a big step change on our e-magazine concept. We have switched to web format after 1 year, but still we keep our pdf format (may be little bit limited version) in a new template. We started to use more visual e-mail letters.

What is next? Target is to be globally local. So we will have local volunteer authors who will maintain local news, translations and events, in parallel global concept will continue. Now we are 5 people and we hope to be more. So next 12 months you may see the link ganchoRomania, ganchoSlovakia, ganchoTURK, ganchoITALY links on www.gancho.info.  So this is an open invitation for everyone who wants to join us ; )

C: What are your plans for the future?

L: Tango, tango and more tango. And to find a way, how to be able to travel more for tango : ). No seriously, my inner wish is to enlarge our community and to have a nice group of people who love tango, who will feel tango and dance it with their hearts, so that every milonga will be a pleasure and people abroad will like to come here to dance with our tangueros and tangueras and it will fill their embraces with love and the feeling, that life is worth it. I became more romantic after meeting Deniz...

D: We want that gancho will be the unofficial GLOBAL TANGO E-MAGAZINE for everyone where they think first gancho when it is said tango magazine and where they want to take place in one of the news ; ) We have a dream.

C: Any word of advice for tango dancers and your readers?

L:  Always do what you feel in your heart, be it dancing, working, loving, whatever. Follow your intuition, only then life makes real sense. And regarding tango: try to feel tango rather than learn some steps or sequences. When you manage to feel tango, it will create sequences of its own, you will be wondering...

D: I cannot give any advice. The biggest support and gift for us that they read gancho and give us feedbacks to improve it to a better level and help us to spread it by inviting their friends to subscribe us. Just print few copies every month to leave on your milonga tables so that people can read us more. Be a part of gancho-team, by writing, reading, spreading. Thank you for the interview.

When they told me their story I learned that true love is still likely to happen in our days (and listen to me: when you meet them, ask them to tell it! It’s worth it!). Then, as they were going on about their plans with Gancho and their plans with TangoVida – the school – I knew that the passion inside both of them is something I want to honor.  I learned that in life, as well as in tango, everything is better done passionately and in two : )

So, dear readers... what have you learned?...

Tango DJ-ing (published in Gancho)

Corina Raduta | On 01, Feb 2014

I was a 1-year-old when I first felt the magic of the tango music. My grandfather loved this music and he used to play it for me on vinyl trying to teach me to dance it – in its European form, of course. I used to dream of Universes while listening to those tracks…

I was a 1-year-old again – in tango years this time – when I rediscovered the MAGIC of tango music. I was watching the tango teachers choosing the tracks for a weekend of intensive classes. It was fascinating to see how they knew the songs, how they mixed them so that the combination would sound harmonious… They knew the music by orchestras! That was a wow for me (rookie!)

Now, at the age of 6, I still get the chills when people can put together tango music so that dancers feel alive throughout the entire milonga. Now I dream of Universes while dancing that music!

I won’t talk about the tDJ-ing technicalities since there are teachers for that aspect. What I want to say with this article is a big “Thank you!” to those who take hours out of their lives for the tango dancers. And since everything in our lives is about preferences, I choose to talk here about a special tDJ – my favorite one. I sometimes choose to go to a milonga only knowing that she’ll be in charge of the music desk.

I know Crista as a tango dancer – an appreciated one, too. She has a special grace and energy that one can feel just by watching her. Sometime about a year ago I was going to the Saturday Practica at Nana’s place (another of my preferences!) and I saw that Crista was playing the music. Before that time Nana had a playlist with tandas to the making of which I contributed as well (just a little bit) and that was playing for a few good weeks there. At least the two of us have got to the point of almost knowing it by heart and it seemed we lacked the time to make another playlist. So the idea of someone mixing music, tandas and energy was a breath of fresh air.

So Crista was our tDJ that evening. It was only at the end of the Practica that I realized how fast time has passed, how much I’ve danced and how high my energy level still was. It got me thinking… What has happened differently? Maybe I just had a better mood than other times… And then it hit me: it was the music! Memories started to come back to me: my childhood dreaming on tango music wings, my Universes that come to life while listening to or dancing tango… Those things have happened to me that night. So it must have been the music! The music played by Crista, actually.

She continued tDJ-ing at Saturday Practica and at other tango events in Romania and abroad. She’s appreciated by many dancers! I think what’s special about her is the passion she has for the music, for people and for tango. She plays just as she dances – always fresh, always energizing, almost all the time with a little taste of new, just enough to push us towards discoveries. She’s connected to the dancers, to the ronda and to the music, so she can really create THE atmosphere that carries us on all night.

I asked Nana Cazan – our Saturday Practica host and Sorin Matei – host of Milonga Tabiet in fiecare joi (Thursday’s Milonga Tabiet) to tell me a few words about Crista. She’s the regular tDJ at both events, so I think the hosts are the most qualified to make a point. Here’s what they say:

Nana

Why is Crista my favorite DJ? Because she’s fresh, energetic, dynamic. She plays the music in direct connection with the people on the floor, creating a great atmosphere in the milonga/practica.

She is constantly in search of music, of different versions of the same songs from different orchestras. She changes her tandas all the time, she introduces new songs in her tandas, she doesn’t have standard tandas to play, nor standard playlists; she changes the list all the time, sometimes creating it on the spot – there’s always something new in her tandas. This way she brings to the attention of the dancers beautiful songs, some even unknown, but always danceable, contributing in this way to the musical education and culturalization of the tango community that she’s a part of. You can’t say that you’ve listened to the same tanda twice. Maybe a similar one, but never the same.

She dedicates a lot of time to tango music, out of passion and you’ll often see her smiling enthusiastically and exclaiming “Aaaaah, how beautiful is this song!”

She refuses to play less interesting or less catchy songs, even if it’s in the beginning of a milonga, when people are just arriving. She considers that music should call you, invite you to dance from the very beginning. Not only once I’ve experienced a night in which had I felt like dancing each tanda, without resting a minute.

Not only once I heard the girls on arriving to the Practica, just putting on their tango shoes exclaiming “Oh, what a beautiful music!” while Crista was managing the music desk.

Sorin

I am a business man. I dance tango only out of passion. For a while now, I began to organize Milonga Tabiet in fiecare joi (Thursday’s Milonga Tabiet), the only regular milonga independent from the tango schools and with their support. Having a business background I tried to give a proper structure and a high quality to these events. So I looked into every detail that brings such an event closer to excellence: ambience, location, related services, sound, music.  

When taking in consideration the aspect of the music I chose to work with tDJs in order to keep the quality, instead of a playlist that would run regardless of what happens in the room. This is how I discovered Crista. Passionate about people and communication, just like me otherwise (only she is a psychotherapist with various fields of expertise, including working with groups), she has music in the blood. Brought up with classical music, she discovered that playing tango music in milongas nourishes her.

You’ll say: ok, but what is special so far? Well, special is the fact that she spends at least 5 hours a day studying this music, the orchestras, the different versions and approaches of songs. She studies the metrics and tests with dancers every new tanda she makes before playing it in milongas. I discovered in her firstly a passionate of music who then became a professional and she amazes me every time I watch her.  

So, at my event – Milonga Tabiet in fiecare joi – I am the host, it’s important that I socialize, make sure everyone is pleased and satisfied. But, well, when Crista is tDJ-ing I get invariably charmed and I find myself dancing, floating in a world that I thought was long gone, yet there it is so vivid. It’s incredible how a tDJ can transform a good milonga in one that people talk about for at least a week. Chapeau!

In the end, I just want to say I also tried tDJ-ing (once!) and I can say it’s definitely not easy. It takes passion, will, dedication and a lot of work – that is if you really care. It is also very rewarding to see that dancers are enjoying themselves and the music. I played my tandas in Sofia in a milonga, in Brasov and at my school (Escuela Principal de Tango) and the smiles and energy received made my work worthwhile! And I don’t think I’ve done half the work Crista or any other dedicated tDJ has done.

But, my point is that music is what lifts our energy from our very beginning in tango. That’s why I love it when my students come and ask me or my partner about the music, when they feel that it practically makes their hearts move and then they discover that their “contaminated” hearts made their feet move as well… So, I am grateful for our good tDJs because they really make a difference in our growth in tango.

And all the more, I am grateful to Crista because she keeps enchanting us with her tandas! Thank you, Crista!

See you in the ronda on good music!

Doua picioare stangi si un cap prea rational (by Dollo)

(autor: Dollo; sursa: www.dollo.ro)

De obicei e nevoie de doi ca să dansezi tango. În realitate am doi instructori și o clasă de colegi de diverse niveluri, iar după patru luni de cursuri încă nu sunt capabilă să mă las în voia unui bărbat și să-l las să mă danseze ;)

Trebuie să-l iei în brațe ca și când ar fi un prieten pe care nu l-ai văzut de zece ani și ți-a fost tare dor de el. Ăsta e secretul îmbrățișării milonguero, astfel încât poziția în dans a celor doi parteneri să rămână constantă pe toată durata dansului. Ia-l în brațe gândindu-te că este acest prieten vechi și drag –  îmi spune M., care învățase trucul ăsta de la primul ei profesor de tango.

Mă uit indecisă la bărbatul din fața mea. Ne chinuiam de câteva melodii să exersăm un ocho – pas de tango care presupune ca femeia să se tot unduiască mergând în spate sau lateral, ghidată de partener. Tipul are bluza udă, broboane mari de sudoare îi șiroiesc pe frunte și câte una se mai prelinge între noi, din când în când. Nu mă încurajează să-l iau în brațe (ca și când ar fi un prieten pe care nu l-am mai văzut de zece ani…) și mă anunță autocritic că a reușit să-mi lase urme de transpirație pe tricou, deci nu e cazul să-mi fac iluzii cu privire la îmbrățișarea aia. Să rămânem la stadiul la care ne aflăm – e a treia oară când dansăm împreună. Și „dansăm” e un cuvânt prea generos pentru nivelul nostru actual.

Îmbrățișarea milonguero mi se pare în continuare cea mai grea noțiune de tango din cele pe care le-am învățat în astea aproape patru luni de când m-am apucat să dansez. Pe de-o parte mi se pare o intruziune în spațiul meu personal – să-ți lipești pieptul de pieptul unui bărbat total necunoscut, și capul de obrazul lui poate fi aproape o fantezie sexy uneori, dar eu n-am reușit s-o gust, încă, într-o sală de tango ;)

Cum spune C., profa de tango, ilustrând manevra cu propriul piept, „mișcarea e asta: îi iei și-i oferi liderului”. Ehei, sânii sunt un subiect sensibil – cel puțin pentru mine – deci am încă rețineri în a-i oferi așa oricui ;) Dincolo de glumă, profesorii se străduiesc să ne alunge din cap orice gând cum că îmbrățișarea asta ar avea vreo conotație sexuală. Nici n-are, cel puțin în stadiul în care la fiecare melodie schimbi partenerul, astfel încât să învețe fiecare câte puțin de la fiecare.

Celălalt motiv pentru care încă nu mă simt confortabil în îmbrățișarea asta este lipsa mea cronică de încredere. În mine în principal, dar probabil că și în bărbați. Senzația e destul de prezentă la mai mulți din sala de dans, majoritatea suntem oameni single, trecuți prin suficiente relații nereușite cu viața. Totuși, tango-ul e un mijloc minunat de autocunoaștere, de a te redescoperi (ca femeie) și de a comunica într-un fel nonverbal cu lumea. De aia e un proces greu pe care unii îl abandonează pe drum. Pentru o femeie independentă – majoritatea suntem așa pe acolo – e o provocare majoră să te lași trup și simțuri în brațele unui bărbat și să-i urmezi mișcările. În tango e un singur lider – bărbatul, și un follower – femeia. El trebuie să fie creierul, tu trebuie să te lași pusă în valoare de el. Unora nu le iese asta în cuplu, darmite în tango.

Deși pare că nu e mare lucru – mai ales dacă vezi și filmul „Parfum de femeie” unde un orb și o începătoare reușesc să acopere ringul de dans cu mișcări răscolitoare – realitatea e ceva mai prozaică.

Dar îți calci pe rețineri, îți alungi gândurile inerente și te lipești de lider. Cel puțin „la poză” cum îmi spunea G., unul dintre lideri, îmbrățișarea e corectă. Pe parcurs se rupe din varii motive, în principal din cauză că cele expuse mai sus nu sunt depășite și asimilate. Privită din oglinzile de pe pereții sălii de dans îmbrățișarea asta pare una incomodă pentru femeie. Poate pentru că femeia a uitat să se mai sprijine pe bărbat și preferă să-i pună la îndoială „stilul de dans”, ar zice M., un alt lider care mă învăța în primele ore cum să fac să mă abandonez complet în seama lui. „Închide ochii și ascultă muzica, nu gândi (!) și nu-mi anticipa pașii”. N-am reușit s-o fac nici acum. Nu închid ochii (uneori e interesant să-ți privești liderul în ochi;), nu pot să nu anticipez ce vrea să facă liderul, și de multe ori nici măcar nu ascult muzica, fiind ocupată să nu greșesc și să plec de pe loc cu piciorul greșit. În final rezultă că dansez mai mult cu capul decât cu picioarele, ceea ce pare aproape paradoxal pentru mine, care de prea multe ori în viață mă las ghidată de simțire și mai puțin de rațiune.

Cei mai vechi în tango mă încurajează că relaxarea va veni cu timpul, exact atunci când nu mă aștept. Că voi avea la un moment dat o revelație despre poziția cea mai potrivită astfel încât să mă simt confortabil în brațele partenerului de dans și să pot dansa cu plăcere un maraton de tango.

Recitind ce am scris mai sus îmi dau seama că orele mele de tango sună mai degrabă a supliciu, decât a plăcere. Nu e așa. Fiecare luni seara petrecută pe podeaua aia tocită de tocuri și tălpi mă face să zâmbesc toată săptămâna. Iar din 3 februarie porția va fi dublă, pentru că începe școala serios, cu ore lunea și miercurea, de la 20.00 la 23.00 Dacă vă tentează să încercați veniți la Escuela Principal de Tango și vă convingeți singuri. Dacă nu, așteptați-vă că vor mai apărea p-aci postări despre asta, pentru că eu una sunt cucerită gata și decisă să perseverez.