The traveller's thoughts depot

A Greek's open letter to Europe's citizens

2011-06-21T14:06:00.000-07:00

Dear friend...

I decided to write to you because during the last months many things are being discussed about me and my country, but nobody let's me get into the discussions. If you happen to be German I also live close to you (Hannover) and I don't feel very well when I hear that they tell you about me. I thought that maybe you would like to listen to my opinion, it could give you another perspective... If you have any doubts please don't hesitate to contact me and I encourage you to confirm what you will read here from other sources.

Everybody knows that Greece has financial problems and some people may tell you that other countries have as well and there is a crisis of the capitalist system overall... But I don't want to discuss about that. Let's assume that Greece is the only country close to bankruptcy on the planet right now and I have to tell you that I am feeling very ashamed for that. They tell you that Greek people are corrupt and lazy and they only party with your money and now it's time for them to pay. And this is completely unfair and I will explain you why...

First of all the debt of Greece is public and not private, the private debt of Greece is much smaller than in most other European countries and even in the world. Greek people are definitely not lazy and they take care of their home and businesses, like you do. They are proud like you and they don't like to live on other people's money and that's why they are careful. If you happened to visit Greece you probably saw a poor, chaotic, south European, beautiful country and I am sure that you also saw people running their businesses well, cleaning their houses every day and cooking their food with passion. I am sure that you didn't see a bunch of lazy, corrupt bums, partying with no tomorrow like they tell you.

I will remind you also that Greece has been consistently one of the last countries in the EU, during the last decades and what the people have been living was far from paradise. You can understand it from all the indicators of economic freedom, from the percentage of the people above 30 living with their families and the low fertility rate, which between the lines reads 'no job, no perspectives, no stability, no plans for the future'. And they have been trying hard all these years, the old to support their families and the young to study and educate themselves, in favorable conditions. I know that it is difficult for you to understand it because you grew up in a system that was maybe pushing you, but was providing you several things. If you were in Greece you would have to try all the time, without expecting any justice, or recognition.

But still Greek people have been trying hard to be like you. You may have seen that from your Greek friends in the University who don't do so bad I guess. You may not know that Greek families have to pay thousands of euros every year for private supportive lessons of English, Math, Physics, etc to complement the inefficient education system. I will remind you also that several decades ago Greek emigrants came to your country, worked hard, learned your language and habits and and became part of your society without creating serious problems. Now, a new wave of emigration has started and your country will receive hundreds of highly educated young people without spending a dime on their training. So please don't let them accuse me because we are normal people like you are and we have been through hard times ...before the hard times expected to come!

So who is to blame? The fact that Greece has been ungoverned for decades, that there is no institution that is working, no justice, no planning, nothing. For decades... This is the corruption in Greece; normal people have NO RIGHTS, but the stronger pariahs of the political parties have total immunity when they steal or even kill. And this is what I want to discuss with you and to cry for help, if you want...

They say that every nation has the government it deserves, but in Greece it is not so simple as it seems and I will explain you why. Greece has suffered a civil war after the second world war, on which the 'British sphere of influence concept' had a lot to do. Then was a CIA driven military coup in the 60s, and both events opened wounds that have not healed since then, even though 'democracy' came in the end of the 70s. All these recent events have destroyed the political structure in the country and have established a 'sick' system... There is no democracy because the voters' only options are 2 parties (plus the 5% nationalist, Christians and 5% Stalinist communists). The names in the parliament have been the same from the 50s till now, people have no power to change anything and this is probably a unique situation for Europe. And external political destabilization is very easy to do, you may know about Latin American and African countries. Once the system deviates, it is difficult to bring it back....

All the politicians and their friends and relatives have been plundering the country's wealth for decades; without representing the Greek people, and having full immunity for their actions. What Italians rejected in last weeks referendum (Berlusconi's immunity) is the norm in Greece... Nobody can touch them! Even if they are openly involved in scandals, if they degrade the future of this country, if they are getting rich when Greece is collapsing. Now they try to convince your politicians that they 'control the situation', but in fact the people don't want them anymore. Despite most European countries there has been no referendum for any crucial matter the past 20 years. We need a referendum whether we want them to govern, and I know the answer: DEFINITELY NO!

Tonight they are voting (and they are going to pass) the new support/austerity package and 1 million people will demonstrate in front of the Greek parliament in Athens. And they are not demonstrating for the austerity measures. THEY ARE DEMONSTRATING AGAINST THE POLITICAL PARTIES! We want to make sacrifices, but we don't trust our politicians. They are not Greek, they are traitors, parts of elites, who showed up one day and had a seat in the parliament. We are willing to make sacrifices, and we acknowledge our responsibility. But during the last year of austerity measures which paralyzed the country, none of the people involved in large scale scandals were touched. We are desperate for justice, people will not back down unless the ones who stole, or acted against the country will be punished. This is the only way that our country can get back in the right track again.

And this is where I need you help... All those years with the EU, we traveled, met and enjoyed each other's company. We like Europe, we have felt it that it is better that way. As I told you the situation has not been good for me and now it is really bad. And I am feeling very bad, ashamed and humiliated. I can't sleep at night. Unfortunately, you are asked to pay taxes to support Greece, because some 'experts' say that it will still be better for you (and all of us) that way'. I am not the person to argue on that, personally I would fell more descent to leave the euro-zone and walk my own way. Apparently again I have no choice...

But before you pay, just make sure where you give your money and for what reason. If you have to pay taxes for the present Greece don't do it. If you feel that the European Union is something precious that should solve the problems and be preserved, please help me on the actual problem. And if you feel rage about the sacrifices you have to do, please don't simply 'blame the Greeks', but search a little bit more. There are huge scandals, obvious people responsible. Please help me pass this message through:

The Greek people are asking desperately for help. We need to reset out political situation. We are in a dead-end. Military coups can fall with public reaction and the hope of democracy bringing justice is a big motivation....

When 'democracy' fails then there is nothing to do or expect....

Your politicians knew about this for long time, some may also have been nurturing this situation, but I don't want to waste time blaming others.

The point is that Greek default may mean the end of Euro (as they say) and we are all involved... And now it is your money too...

The ones guilty for Greece's bankruptcy have to be punished and you have more power to do that than me... It is very easy to find out who they are: 2 political parties and 5-6 families... If Greek justice is corrupted and not efficient, a European committee or even the International Court could be the right way to go. For the bankruptcy of a historical nation, the burdens of the EU tax payers and the overall destabilization.

For us political reform and justice is more vital than financial support...

We are in need of a European intervention in governance, our political and judicial system has failed....

Kind regards

Michalis Vousdoukas
Coastal Oceanoghrapher, PhD, MEng, MSc

When you are strange

2011-03-04T12:52:00.000-08:00

I am in a period in which I have re-visited The Doors, I have been listening to their music, reading about their story , and watched the several movies and documentaries related to them and Morrison. And being under the influence of their pure creations, something happened to me, something that I haven't experienced for almost 3 years. I felt an urge to grab my guitar and when I did that, melodies and lyrics started to come out, I started to write a song! Inspiration...

I have spent years during my graduate studies, trying to keep the door of inspiration always open and I have spent this period, which may be a stereotype for students, I was writing songs and poems, I was in a band, etc. At those days, every time something was coming out, I knew that I had to write it down and to record it immediately, in order not to lose it. Last Monday, and after spending the last years being more preoccupated about my research, rather than my artistic creativity, I did that very basic mistake. I didn't write down anything.

After 4 hours I tried to play again my 'song' and I couldn't recall anything. It was completely gone and the reason is obvious and known among 'artists'; it wasn't mine! Unlike science, philosophy and other creative activities, artistic inspiration is not something that has to do only with the creator, it is a gift at an instant. The ancient Greeks believed that the cause, the driving force responsible for everything was the muse that was whispering the words, or singing the melody. The artist was just listening and repeating. And that releaved the creator from some of the stress of being creative...

I believe that one of the most stressful thing in trying to create art is to maintain the ability to listen to the muse, whenever she 'decides' to speak. Jim Morrison believed in extended states of illusion and strong drug and alcohol consumption, which allowed his unconscious to emerge. Keeping his 'doors of perception open' was his way of communication with the muse. Original creation involves this 'bypassing' of the conscious mind which is useful mostly to refine the final product. Of course connecting with the muse, the unconscious, or keeping inspiration alive in general is a very exhausting activity and the reason that many artists don't enjoy long and prosperous lives.

Those who have experienced being a 'porte-parole' of inspiration can recognize it in the creations of others. It doesn't mean that all inspired songs or melodies will talk about the truth or will change the world. Inspiration is a spark of energy that hits us, refracts through our knowledge, feelings and experiences and gives birth to something. The muse can whisper a melody to you and it's up to you if it will become a joke, a nice story or big idea. Inspiration only gives you the option to create and for that reason it is a unique opportunity.

This is also the reason that I am very skeptical about most of the cover versions of existing songs. Somebody else's muse has spoken and the difficult, the struggling part of creation has been done. Rearranging songs is much easier than creating them, even if the cover is made by extremely gifted people. Some covers have also some spark, but most of the produced cover songs that have flooded the music industry since the 80s are just easy ways to exist in the music map and mainly to make money.

And the magic thing about the music of The Doors is that it is flooded by pure inspiration and originality. Flowing lyrics and ingenious music generated by the lust of four talented people to create something unique. And immortal...

What is happening in Greece?

2010-02-18T09:14:00.001-08:00

Greece and its economy have been in the spotlight for several weeks/months now and that made me come back to my (mainly) tango blog and write some thoughts about the situation. I have two good reasons to do it, namely a) texts about Greece are in fashion so people read them; b) I consider myself somebody who is well aware of the Greek society, but I am currently living abroad, and thus I am able to see it from a broader perspective.

The tile is ‘What is happening in Greece?’ but should rather be ‘What has been happening in Greece?’… Because things are pretty bad, but they have been bad the last years and they were going bad, ever since I could see a tomato and say ‘ντομάτα’… Last year the riots were indicative of the deep problems the Greek society is facing (discussed also here) and this year is the economy. Our dept is currently more than the value of the whole country; we have a population which is constantly getting older, no perspective for economic growth and people who don’t have any respect to the governments they elect, the EU and any kind of institution in general… So apparently things are not ideal…

This is not going to be an economic analysis, but rather a social one. Anyway, I lack the academic knowledge for an essay on the Greek economy and for that you will find other resources, like Edward Hugh’s blog which I enjoy reading lately. Anyway, it is said that ‘politics is the game of the devil’ and when looking for possible substitutions of the first word, ‘economics’ comes straight to my head. I am sure that many of you also think that all these ‘debts’, ‘GDPs’, etc are partially BS… Most of the countries in the world are in debt and to me it has been a constant puzzle, how and to whom we all owe money and why the outcome of all these transactions are always us being more in debt and never paying off (of course the answer is known and some simplified explanations can be found in here or here). According to my average person perception, the issue is who is more in debt and the winner of this year is definitely my country, Greece!

To finish this introduction, please don’t forget that the present post is my PERSONAL perception of things. You may find some things written below hard, or even exaggerated and you are welcome to ignore and argue against them. Moreover, sometimes inevitably I express my ideas or predictions on financial or political problems for which I may not be informed enough. You are welcome again to correct me… So here I go…

Firstly, I have to take something out of my chest, for all of you to know… Greece belongs to the EU, NATO, European Space Agency, UN, OECD, or whatever, but is not like the other Western European countries. To put it better before the recently new EU members, it was NOT an EU country, at least considering the structure of the society and the way this works, the prevailing culture, mentality and way of life, etc. An average western European with the average Greek, sitting in the same table will have a hard time finding interests and ideas to share. In fact, Greece is a country, until recently, geographically isolated from the other EU members, for a long time influenced by its Balkan and Turkish neighbors, with people that mostly imagine and are attracted by the idea of being part of Europe, rather than actually doing it.

One of the main reasons Greece became part of the EU is because the Western world has always been feeling indebted towards the Greeks, for the heritage of the ancient Greek civilization. We were given the chance to become part of the EU, thanks to the other parties’ desire to honor our ancestors. Given the philosophical and ideological hypostasis of the Union (which matters among other more practical issues), a Europe without Greece would be like Christmas family dinner without the grandparents (who are very sick, not very fancy and badly behaved in our case). The other reason is that considering its geographical location and size, Greece was not a poor country. We are still the rich of the Balkans and we were richer than Portugal and Spain, so why not?

Now comes the difficult part… Why we are still in the EU? Inertia, momentum, are some words that come in mind… There are many member countries which did not honor the objectives and the overall spirit of their ‘EU contract’; but none like Greece. We didn’t even read it, we went straight to the chapter ‘Rights and privileges’ and we tossed all the other pages to our barbecue. In fact the society was not ready for this and the whole outcome always looked like teaching gorillas how to use hair style mouse. We are still in the EU after constantly hiding and postponing the current crisis with painkillers (e.g. see this link). We are still in, because any bailout would appear as a black eye for the EU institution. We are still in because other countries face similar problems as well, certainly to a lesser extent and our quitting would bring huge confusion, given the already fuzzy rules, definitions and criteria, of our already fuzzy and titling economic system.

And now comes the most important part, since I will stretch something that some experts may know (I am not sure if all of them do), but the normal people in Europe probably cannot perceive. The amount of corruption in Greece and how much, along with the way things work in general, this puts the country on a league of its own; at least for EU standards. It is normal that people everywhere are not happy when they pay taxes and that politicians are charismatic personalities in terms of communicational skills, but usually ignorant, and with a tendency to take advantage of state money; but when there is nothing more that this, then I can tell you WELCOME TO GREECE…

The names of the members of the parliament have remained the same the last 50 years, as do the names of the university professors and any other high ranked position. There is no way that somebody will be given any kind of power, without ensuring first that he belongs to this ‘special tribe’ and he will not have any intention to change anything[1]. That’s why the Greek people have been ‘trained’ not to trust anyone but themselves. That’s why nobody will listen to what the others say, even if they have PhDs or parliament seats, since all these things usually mean corruption. There is no right or wrong, true or false, good or bad when you leave in such a society. And people cannot learn and advance, they just develop constantly their emotional intelligence through their effort for survival.

Political parties are dominating life from the university years and active members get degrees without passing any exams, the same way they get the jobs later[2]. For example a former minister of Public Works, responsible for the development of the whole country, didn’t even do his undergraduate thesis himself. The ‘normal people’ on the other hand, vote the candidates who promised them a position in the public sector and they don’t trust anyone. My generation grew up listening to their parents telling them that the best man is who doesn’t give a penny to the state. And this is the key element of the problem. I was lucky to have lived in several countries and I have seen many corrupt politicians and crooks. But completely corrupt countries you don’t meet easily…

Just to give you an idea I mention a recent story below… Last year there was an environmental regulation towards the renewal of vehicles, giving a benefit for each old technology car, exchanged for a new one. Aftermath: They ended up giving 4 times more benefits than they were expecting. The whole system was mobilized: cars cut in two were valued twice, documents for crashed cars coming from all over the world were issued overnight to be after retracted, etc. Offering an extra unemployment benefit is enough to double the number of unemployed in the country in one night, anyway people working ‘in black’ are so many. Nobody wants to pay taxes, so all the energy is spent to find the illegal way to make money, constituting the Greek economy a highly self-organized chaotic system, instead of a structured EU country it is supposed to be. In the meantime the media, reproduce daily stories of scandals and corruption, eroding any moral principles left on the people… Bottom line: people do not care for anything public, they are definitely not willing to financially support their country and they will do their best to avoid this… Plus the whole system is highly tolerant to this attitude as this is …the way things work!

What is very strange is that the Greek system is offering, apart from sun, beautiful beaches and good food, several benefits to its people and deserves to receive its taxes, despite what Greek people believe. As a Greek, I received good education, including my PhD, which allowed me to make an international career. As a university student I had free textbooks, courses and food, I have played volleyball at competition level at state subsidized clubs and received student benefits from my parents’ jobs. Comparing the health system with other countries I have been recently living, I find the Greek one not so bad and in general I think that the people have several good reasons to support their country. The problem is that it doesn’t cross their mind that they should, neither can they imagine that this is what everyone else in the civilized world is doing. They just can’t …

What the current government is trying to do is make the people pay taxes. Greek people have a high standard of life, getting wined and dined more than anyone else in Europe. France is a historically rich country, but the French would be surprised with the quantity and frequency of lamp or fish consumption in Greece, or how often people go to the restaurant. They also drive good cars, own (several) houses and spend a lot on entertainment, since there is no rival for the Greek nightlife in Europe. While a coffee costs typically 5 euros and clubs and bars (selling 7 euro beers) are full 7 days a week, 95% of the population declare income less than 30000 euros. At the same time, the country is flooded by villas, swimming pools and BMWs, with doctors, engineers and lawyers getting their euros under the table.

The new government is aiming to get a piece of the black money which is almost half of the total economy. All the economic indexes are fake, as there is no control in transactions; after all these years of completely chaotic, corrupted governance, the ministers cannot even know how many people are working in the public sector, not to mention the private one. They have a rough idea on how much they spent on salaries and how many kilos of potatos were produced last year and that’s it. Everything else is just part of a sequence of events that they mostly observe from a privileged point of view. If this government really has any intention to do something and this is mostly because of the external pressure it’s receiving, the first step is to start organizing the system and make it gain conscience of its actual condition (aka make an accurate budget!). Technology can help on that as it is now cheap and abundant, allowing centralized control, since in such a corrupted system, any transfer of information through people carries high amount of entropy and results in distortion of the figures.

The second step is to force the people towards more legitimate practices and this is what all the measures taken are all about. The power that accountants had to save money from their clients, is indicative of the level of corruption and the measures are specifically aimed there. The receipts, the means test, etc are precisely pointing towards a more structured economic system, and again with the help of technology significant results can be achieved. Many analysts consider the goals set by the government too optimistic, but even though I am not

an economist, the ‘secret ingredient’ could be the present extent of corruption. In fact after a year and if they achieve something, then they will actually know what can be actually achieved. For the moment they only can hope that the money on the black market is the holly grail.

The problem is that such action will bring a big shock and act as an endurance test for the Greek society, at it will affect most social layers and aspects of life. People don’t understand that they can’t go on living with this attitude and that they even have to pay for the mistakes of the past. They also don’t believe and that’s a very difficult point, as they will react to the pressure to come. They protest and they will protest more, because the moral principles have been diverted all those years of thoughtless spending of EU subsidies. They are the same people who were giving fake invoices, asking for EU funding to expand their businesses, or the farmers who planted subsidized crops, only to burn or damp them later. And these people are not crooks, but the average Greek, the family man, the civil servant, the doctor, the lawyer, the minister. All used of drinking aged malt whiskey paid by EU money, won after submitting fake papers, money given to help us increase our productivity.

The current world is mostly one of economies rather than countries. During the EU experiment, strong economies offered the unique opportunity to the weak ones to receive significant financial help and know how in order to improve their economic, social and technological level. Experience showed that for some reasons[3], South Europeans lack the focus and discipline to respond to such a challenge. The gain of the strong was the potential of exploiting a larger scale economy and expanding their activities without the previously existing political and legal barriers.

This adaptation period seems to be almost over, given also the present reduced credit possibilities and the weak countries will have no excuse for not being able to survive. As a result their high value human and physical resources will be absorbed by the ones who have the power. This is what is happening to Greece, which has already sold most of the public sector, while at the same time the population is undergoing significant change. The most educated people are going abroad, while emigrant are taking their place back home.

The currently attempted change in Greece came way too late, as now the money has been almost completely spent and the deviation of the mentality and the economic system is difficult to be corrected. A fundamental problem is that nobody can speak about morality as all are immersed into corruption. Even the government, cannot convince the people to pay their taxes, as long as they are being bribed, linked to private companies and even receive their disproportionally high salaries and pensions. In fact, if they are really interested in winning the people’s trust, they should from cutting of their own benefits and huge security expenses.

So according to my perspective, this will be the critical point for the Greek economy: whether the society will respond and will endure a structural change that is inevitable anyway. The new government is trying to promote a more transparent way of governance, putting figures and information on the net, but has to do more. It has to convince the people to change their attitude and prove that it has honest objectives and wants to play the game with fair rules. The next question is whether this effort will not collapse by the inevitable strikes and people’s reaction and chaos will be avoided. Already tax collectors’ drive for work has been significantly reduced, after the new measures blocked ways for them to get bribed. One move towards the right direction and the system deflects it: state income is reduced instead of increased. Finding ways to control transactions and get taxes will be an exhaustive strategic game that the government has to play very well.

The only positive sign is that Europe will not let Greece fall, even though it deserves to. Any country leaving the Euro zone will be a hard blow especially, considering the constant efforts of expansion during all these years. Moreover, other countries (Italy, Spain, Portugal) are facing similar problems (not in the same scale) and are already being dragged down by the Greek crisis. They have been using similar tricks to hide their debts and they are now having difficulties in getting loans, with everyone’s eyes in Greece If things escalate and the door opens for one to leave, nobody can control who else will have to do it also, so the risk is too high to take.

For the Greek people, the question is simple… Whether it is not too late and if they will survive this crisis with dignity, or after a big humiliation. For sure the change is necessary and if made earlier would be for a better life, while now will be just to stand on our feet and not become Latin America. What worries me is that this obvious message still doesn’t get through, neither the people, nor the politicians and that will delay things even more.

[1] Even in the highly corrupted former USSR, Gorbachev, a poor farmers’ son could become General Secretary. Back in Greece 90% of all the current parliament members are first degree relatives of former ones.

[2] One could argue that corruption exists also in other countries and for example Italy is one of them. On the other hand at least, Italians build cars and design beautiful things and this is done only by competent people. In a country like Greece where most jobs are services, skills are again important but not so necessary and proving one’s value is not so easy.

[3] In fact the hostile environmental conditions in the northern regions and the limited physical resources (compared to the south), forced the people to evolve and develop a higher level of discipline, social organization and efficiency, turning the tide in their favour.

Tango in Buenos Aires: some useful tips

2009-10-06T17:17:00.000-07:00

This is a follow up post on Buenos Aires tango after the ‘What I saw in Buenos Aires’ one. I will try to focus more in practical issues, as many of my impressions are there. I will only repeat the rough classification of the two tango waves, as this is an important reference… There are certainly subcategories, but those two may not make it for an essay on the subject, but I think are enough to help you find your way around. Names and places are partially important as you may be probably going to the same 3-4 venues every night, but the ‘milonga’ is different. There are historical milonga names though (e.g. El Beso), as there are standard place (e.g. Salon Canning), which are not a guaranty for every night. Once you are there it will be straight forward to understand what is what.

On one hand you have tango ‘milongero’ where things are more formal in all senses; dress code, attitude, dance style, etc. In many of these milongas you may have to adapt to the eye contact code, which can be roughly explained like this: men and women sited and glances start to cross all over the room as the cortina is about to finish. The thing is quite simple. If you want to dance with someone you look at him/her and she/he does the same. Then eye contact, nod for an invitation and then dance, as eye contact implies approval… Usually the dance floor is packed, so take it easy and protect yourself from wrong steps, as people anticipate to watch and evaluate. Similarly don’t try to ask someone to dance if you don’t think that he/she will accept as this will result probably in a ‘no for life’. Patience is important… This is the tango in its traditional form here in Buenos Aires and places can be El Beso, Salon Canning, Nino Bien, etc.

Second group is the ‘practikas’ ring, which is an initiative of different groups with a more fresh approach on tango. Within this you will have a place to dance every night, among younger people and the vibe is very similar to the one you find in most good European milongas. The level of tango is extremely good, or at least it often can be, as you may have more that 50% of professional dancers on the dance floor.

Separation in geographical terms is also rather straight forward. If you prefer classic style most of the milongas are located in the center, mostly San Telmo, Monserat. If you go for the practikas you will be 99% moving in the area of Palermo, Palermo Soho and some names are Practika X, Tango lab, Tango Cool, etc. If this is your choice you should arrange accommodation in Palermo close to Scalabrini Ortiz and you may even be able to do everything on foot! For the ‘milongeros’ walking several blocks in the center at night is not recommended in general.

After the milonga/practika, ‘all the roads lead to Rome’ which in that case is ‘La Viruta’ lasting at least until 4 in the morning and gathering all the die hards. For me this is the most characteristic place of Buenos Aires tango… Early in the night, before 1:00, things can be ‘strange’ the least.. Bad dancers (feels like they were passing by), a mess on the dance floor, long tantas of cumbia and rock and roll, even competitions, but once you know what to expect, you may end up loving even this! And once the other milongas are over, everybody comes there and the place can be transformed into an all star milonga! You can see any professional dance there and sometimes sensational things happen. For me this is where you see what tango is in the city. From the 100% popular (in good and bad sense) situation early till the extreme quality late in the morning. Plus the free classes and the amazing ‘show’ at 20:00 every Sunday! Don’t miss it!

So to cut a long story short, when you arrive, you have to meet some people, e.g. a good way is by taking some classes and get some names and addresses. Or go to la Viruta at 3:oo in the morning and ask the people you dance with! There are also several free tango guides distributed in schools and milongas and they provide from partial to too much information (tangauta is good for example). Once you start, then it’s easy; every night you will be able to spot the main milongero and Nuevo place and then it’s up to you. After spending a couple of weeks trying places, you will eventually settle on your preferences, but it’s likely that you will be also preparing bags to go back home! No problem… Next time you know that you will be prepared!!

What I saw in Buenos Aires

2009-10-06T17:08:00.000-07:00

It is 00:30 and I just arrive in El Beso… I take my place in the table and I order a whiskey… In the raw of tables in front of me and beyond the dancefloor, women are only sited, while I am surrounded by men; glances start to cross all over the room as the cortina is over. This is the code to start dancing in the traditional Buenos Aires milongas; eye contact, a nod for an invitation and then dance, as eye contact implies approval… After an if you are a new face, people anticipate to see you move and evaluate. Higher ages mostly, some but not many good dancers and strictly close embrace. In Buenos Aires I realized that I dance tango Nuevo! That’s the word for the ones which like to dance more freely and separate from the traditional walking, ‘severely’ embraced tango. But in this milonga there are rules and if we let yourself free, you will receive strange looks by the ‘milongeros’.

So this is the tango in its traditional form here in Buenos Aires. In El Beso, Salon Canning, Nino Bien, etc. I travelled so far away and I settled here for a month, because I wanted to feel the tango in its cradle and it is true that there is some magic in those places. You vaguely feel the roots of tango, even though you understand that there was a reset during the military regime period. The popular aspect, the joy of the abrazo, class, elegance, people seem to enjoy it more in general. On the other hand, it is a nostalgic, fanatic approach, trying to preserve tango in its ‘original’ form, even though people’s current lifestyles are not expressed by such an attitude. Older people feel like home, while younger ‘milongeros’ and ‘tango tourists’ are just playing a role. Just like heavy metal funs dress with tight black trousers and t-shirts. And let’s face it… This tango cannot be supported in a wider scale for long, as the only thing that makes it attractive is that it is technically easier for milonga standards. Anyway, the older generation of milongeros still considers rock and roll something ‘revolutionary’…

After, there are the ‘practikas’, an initiative of different group of people to create a ring of places to dance, in order to separate them from the traditional tangeros and do something different (but also to be more efficient in ‘catching’ the ‘tango tourists’ who add a lot of momentum in both activities and budgets). Those are younger people and the vibe is very similar to the one you find in most good European milongas. There is one striking difference though… The level of tango is extremely good, or at least it often can be! Since all the teachers, organizers of the practikas of the ring support them every night, you end up having more that 50% of professional dancers on the dance floor. As a result, there are times that …scary things may be happening there! This is the ‘other’ tango, the one that will probably dominate in the future, despite the fact that it makes couples argue during tango classes and leaves many ‘unfulfilled’ souls in the milongas…

While the traditional tango, or ‘tango milongero’ is based on simple marks, given the tight abrazo, the ‘new tango’ being more 3 dimensional has resulted in the development of new ‘codes’. Legs and bodies move to all possible directions and ways, and different dancers and teachers develop their own marks, building a new language… And this is when tango becomes very elaborate, creative, but also more elitist and loses some of the social character. Of course the more experienced you are, the more ‘polyglot’ you become and you built up your repertoire of ‘signs’. But one could argue that despite the strict rules of the ‘traditional’ milongas, people look more relaxed and maybe even happier…

There is a very important point in all those observations… Tango is miles away from being popular or mainstream in Buenos Aires. In fact average Argentinian’s idea of a tango dancer is someone professional dancing in shows; and this is what many people have on the back of their heads when they start. Even though it is part of the tradition, it is considered like an ‘old’ obsolete thing, like folk dances in Europe. Argentineans don’t dance and are not interested in tango and you find yourself again inside a closed circle, looking at the same faces every night at the milonga. And since they are relatively few and in their majority professionals, the social aspect of the milonga is sometimes lost. Unless you are skilled enough to please the ‘spoiled’ Argentinean dancers, or you have already a sufficiently large network of tourist ‘friends’. Third solution is if you have already spent enough on private classes to become their ‘friend’.

If you come back from Cuba, or other places in Latin America you are full of salsa, cumbia and reggeaeton sounds because you hear them everywhere… In the bars, taxis, on the street.. If you come back from Buenos Aires with the same effect on tango, it’s just because you were at the milonga every night, plus at 2-3 classes per day. Apparently, there is no big difference compared to other cities with developed tango scene… The wave of tango tourism, either in the form of attending tango shows, or of people like me coming to intensely study tango has triggered some local interest, but apparently the tango scene is like a small village, inside a big metropolis! This can be very nice as it is like a non stop festival!

Back to dancing in the milongas, this is even more difficult to describe as everything is related to you, the tango you like, your level and the places you will choose. In the closed Buenos Aires tango circle you have either the ‘forgotten’ milongeros, or the modern dancers who are trying honestly to integrate tango dancing in their current reality. If you go to the ‘milongeros’ you will get to be dancing more easily, maybe not from the first night, but after a while. This will immerse you into the nostalgic worlds of classic tango and it can be good enough. It is up to you as this atmosphere can be also a drawback as also the fact that may not have the opportunity to do some moves that you may fancy…

If you go to the ‘practika tribe’, keep in mind that sometimes you may have embarrassing moments as you will be surrounded by the professionals. There will always be other foreigners though and in general it will be also ok in its own way. As a man I have to say that I have more fun dancing in Europe than Buenos Aires, as in the latter, access in the good dancers can be very limited. For women and especially good looking ones, I would definitely recommend it. There is this long tradition of men competing for the women (see history of tango in general), plus the Italian ‘thing’ (see my post for Italy) that has resulted in an army of good male dancers, that can make almost every woman dance, or most likely feel well. Still any very good female dancers had the same complaint as me…

But why the Argentineans don’t want to dance with us? (ok it is not that bad…) One problem is that in this small community, people are struggling to get some status to the eyes of the others. This makes them very selective in their dancing preferences and rather reluctant to experiment with the ‘new faces’. Second is because they have the reputation of being ‘complecados’, meaning things like snob, arrogant and other similar words that has made some compare them with Parisians. Third, because especially Nuevo tango is something very personal and more elitist, making people more reluctant to accept to try, adapt to the other’s style and most important enjoy… Finally, because some of these people there are really good! They teach, they give demonstrations, they are full of it and consequently have a higher threshold. They will not spend their everyday reality with ‘tango tourists’… Sounds fair!

I cannot say if this is more intense in the ‘Milongeros’ or the ‘nuevo’ group (probably the second), but as a foreigner I had my best tantas with other people like me. The Argentineans I danced with were mostly ‘passers by’ and when at times I managed to have a good dancer dance with me, it was obvious to me that she wasn’t so much into it. So instead of feeling the vibe of tango in its birthplace from the local people, I rather experienced its reflection upon other foreigners! (a very mild way to express my disappointment for not dancing well in many milongas!)

So what’s the bottom line… Come to see for yourself! Even though I am a big fun of travelling alone for tango (and this is what I did), I would suggest that you bring with you as many friends as possible to have a comfort zone. Anyway the subject is inexhaustible and you can come back alone, after you do the first reconnaicance mission! Take advantage of the many, varied and usually affordable classes, don’t do Naveira’s workshops (better spend the money on private lessons) and try as much as you can the various approaches on tango. Just make sure that you will leave some time to meet this interesting city, with its big contrasts and attractions, which has its own character far beyond tango…

PS. More posts on ‘practical’ issues to follow

The new world...

2009-09-07T08:05:00.000-07:00

The plane is taking off from Santiago, Chile. I am surrounded by loads of Canadian people, tanned in a funny way after their ski holidays. Right in the moment of take off a guy in his thirties next to me plugs his earphones on the ipod and starts to listen to his favorite music. Me, already tired of listening to the security instructions in English, Spanish and French for the second time today, I start to heat up. The thing is that if there are still morons that will use phones, cameras or whatever, why do we have to listen to that boring shit every time we travel?

The thirty year old moron is now drumming on the air and finally clapping his legs to a rhythm that a washing machine could certainly outbeat. (He is wearing his sunglasses in the plane) One part of the story is that this ‘new’ generation of human beings can often lack any sense of social consciousness and a psychologist could make a 5 page list of problems that such an attitude may reflect. On the other hand, if you let each of these guys touch you, you are going to have a real hard time living in this world.

Solution: You detach…. You assume that you and this guy have nothing in common and you have solved the problem. After you may even start chatting with him and you may even have fun, at the most extreme scenario start to like him somehow (and in a detached way… now he is drumming on the back of the sit, while half of the people in the plane are asleep, including the user of the seat…).

Old fashioned societies were full of codes of behavior oppressing peoples’ personalities towards ‘what was the right thing’ and this could be very boring. Everybody would turn out to be similar; while good and bad are not so easily defined anyway. Then came the 60s and people made this breakthrough and managed to establish a more liberated way of seeing life. In my soul the feeling of rock and roll is the one of freedom and this is part of the heritage from this era. Being as you want in order to feel the moment, open, not taking anything for granted and aggressive in some sort. But there is some big misunderstanding while this guy tries to carry exactly the same breeze of ‘I am what I am and I don’t give a shit..’ He totally neglects the fact that the people who showed him that way had actually read Guevara’s political speeches; while he has his picture in his underwear. They were seeking everywhere around them for inspiration to do the change, while he is downloading the inspiration form itunes. Style and manners came long after a change inside, while in our era style is hopeless to pass any message through, being so exhaustively sold…

Anyway we are supposed to have passed this phase on sociological evolution and now assume that everyone is capable and thus responsible to figure out right or wrong. Another question is on which criteria this will be done and education is supposed to also ensure some standards. Education is what we learn at school, but more important is what we experience in our lives and there for me lies a big growing problem.

2 hours ago the plane was landing in Santiago and one of the most amazing sceneries I have ever seen in my life was unveiling itself through the window. A golden band of setting sun, under purple, gray, magenda painted clouds, were filling the sky. In the meantime, granite, steep, rocky mountains, were standing right in front of me with their tops all white with snow and all these colours were reflected at small ponds scattered around the grass fields of the arid Chilean landscape. At the same time, in the plane we were all watching the documentary on Flying saucers which was apparently beating Planet Earth’s unrepeated beauty. And that’s a serious part of the problem… The sun is setting in Santiago, you are hanging hundreds of meters above the earth and you are concerned about whether Flying saucers were extraterrestrial means of transport or military test models. The link with reality has broken as a screen is sucking your existence…

And this is happening with increasing frequency and intensity to all of us. First was TV, then computers, after internet, iphone, ipod, blackberries and who knows what follows next. This is why everywhere in the world people listen to music composed several (TV-free) decades ago, or at least this music remixed. If you look carefully it feels like we are not living in this world anymore in order to be inspired and create out of it… There is absolutely no problem, since life will never stop and we are always acting somehow... Even though we are not sure if many things that are defining us and the others are actually happening, or not… This is not something new; David Bowie came up with the Ziggy Stardust persona decades ago. A possible problem is that our current virtual reality may not be so cool or in style, while at the same time Ziggy actually selected space while we think we are still here!

I left home (currently Portugal) to visit New York, Buenos Aires and now Tokyo, under the terror of the swine flu. Listening to the media I was aware that I was doing something REALLY dangerous, but I decided not to change my plans… What I saw wasn’t at all what I expected… EVERYTHING WAS ABSOLUTELY NORMAL! (I don’t need to describe more, as normal is the probably what we know better… no change at all!) But this flu mania will affect our minds, attitudes and life like so many things that do not really exist. And we will continue to live even though we will be far from real world again. How, why and with what purpose they are trying to spread to flu terror is another big discussion, I have to say only one thing… There is something fishy and we have to start to seriously turning out back to mainstream media. That was too sloppy to pass unnoticed.

Anyway, I do not intend to write the perfect essay, neither to come up with any solutions. I am reviewing this text after having landed in Tokyo and I can tell that here people wear masks! They are also thin and many (too many) on every square meter… I had my visa taking instructions in 3 languages from a screen, while the girl on the desk was looking with dreamy eyes in my passport and visa declaration. I guy behind me on the queue was watching cartoons on his ipod, while I was counting how many girls had mentioned something about their lesbian ex-girlfriend the past 45 days. Flying saucers were finally man made, the Big Lebowski soundtrack is almost as cool as the movie, while trains in Tokyo are definitely fast. Japanese people look detached staring either at their iphones or on the empty space; they seem prepared for the future whatever that may be. As far as I am concerned, I think I will need some extra time!

Besos tangeros a todos!

Lust for life

2009-05-10T05:29:00.000-07:00

I am sitting in my living room listening to online Greek radio, playing music from the 80s… I am really mesmerised by a singer called ‘Arphoditi Manou’ and a song about the night. This tendency of re-visiting the simple things in life is what I really like in music from past decades, among several other characteristics that I will mention below…

One is the ‘out of breath’ vibe in the voice (Springsteen did that a lot, see ‘Dancing in the dark’) which now would sound passé, but is so fresh in fact. It immediately wakes up the feeling of a young person running, searching, experimenting; full of life and emotions in a rush to try, taste, feel, discover things. Nobody seems to be able to stop him… isn’t that nice? And isn't that the way it should be?

Another feature that I find charming is having the melodic and lyrical elements stripped without the stylistic garments of modern music, the image making, the pretention, the lifestyle or whatever.

And this is the point where it is necessary to clarify that this post is not an elegy to the ‘good old times’, there will always be good music created and the same applies for all forms of arts, science, or whatever. On top of that, I am the first who doesn’t want to go back to the past, since my life is much better now, I am a happy man! It’s just that this happy man is feeling like talking about what he observes around him, from time to time!

So, back to the past decades poetry… Art can never be separated by aesthetics and style, but it is my humble opinion that at least music is better supported by ideas, feelings, attitudes, rather than style. Everybody is using it and plays with it, but ‘big’ music was always something more than painted guitars, tattoos, dyed hair and cozy cd covers. Particularly if the guy who’s designing all that, is a bloody manager, fighting for his new roadster. Bob Marley’s music will probably be around for much longer, because it is overwhelmed by this rastafari vibe, it is the reflection of major events like the Jamaican independence to a whole society and is so much about the simple and essential ingredients of happiness. Freedom, love, hope, change…

I was born in the second biggest city of Greece in 1975. At that time, LP records were still considered ‘technology’ and even 15 years later blue jeans, would be just a 15 euro of fake Levis. No shopping centres, no credit cards, one car per family, free camping in the summer and some naked hippies 100 m away. After, I moved to Lesbos Island for my PhD where I found my self living even further in the past. Students hitchhiking to go to university, open houses and always the key under the flowerpot. Fish fished yesterday was not fresh anymore and women bringing in their lovers from the back door, to hide them from the vigilant neighbours.

Then I went to work in Denmark and after in Italy and after in France, and then I realised that in their most modern version, my previous life experiences were corresponding to the reality that those people had been living a couple of decades ago. I was travelling in space, but what was even nicer was that I was also travelling in time. And, in those new environments, many things were different… No folk music playing, the greengrocer and the butcher was in the shopping centre, as was the restaurant, the cinema, and life in general. Rules about everything, lives organised in electronic agendas several weeks before, three times more bills in the mailbox and tasteless meat and vegetables.

The world cannot stop changing and Europe is Americanized… Our cars became bigger, our clothes fancier and we are still around, alive and kicking! And we are happy as it is obvious that everything around us is improving every day, the world is changing! In some undefined way and for unspecified reasons, those are the times when progress, prosperity and life in general are seen from the perspective of getting the best from the material things. Improve them, discover new, appreciate them as much as possible; then possess in the first place and secondly enjoy. Things become old very quickly and are changed or upgraded, since everything has to be up to date. An interesting thing on this new spirit is that the people want to upgrade themselves as well, we cannot remain the same in this constantly updated environment. We start to evaluate our lives, our selves, and the people around us from a shorter term perspective, as change is in the air and inside us.

In 1969, Jimmy Hendrix was well established as one of the best guitarists in the world and he happened to be left handed. As usual when he gave the concert in Royal Albert Hall in 1969 he was playing with a right hand Fender Stratocaster, and similarly was doing Albert King and many others; surprisingly… the guitar industry didn’t have the right product for them! Since then, the world has changed a lot and now there are so many standard, special, custom, specialised, or whatever versions for any kind of guitar, car, underwear, or lighter, that everyone can find the piece one wants, or at least one thinks one wants.

I mention this example for two reasons… One, because I find it very interesting as a simple fact; second, because it fascinates me to think that somebody grabbed a guitar, any guitar could do[1] and he became one of the best players in the world. For sure he wasn’t the only one doing those things. Today, after a first week everybody would be telling him ‘you cannot play with a right-hand guitar you are left handed, why don’t you buy the right one?’, he would end up feeling uncomfortable to play in front of his friends and he would even quit for that. Nowadays, everybody, in order to have the right to stand up and say anything in any field, has to be perfect in terms of skills, equipment and most of all …style. Few decades ago people opened their mouth and just improvised, while the others were enjoying it; today if you are not perfect, nobody pays attention to what you say, they won’t even listen if you are… And this is not only about music… Our world is full of talented, hard working people who nobody bothers to meet or listen to, because we are used to only meeting interesting personalities on TV… If he is not on TV, he isn’t that good!

The TV, on the other hand, has the responsibility of finding the discovering people we want to meet and since this has to be done on a weekly, or daily basis, it doesn’t always succeed in the quality test. We are exposed to huge amounts of trash, because somebody has to be the star of the day, something has to always be on the headlines. And the people are tired from that, they are saturated of nonsense stimulation, they became numb… There is a huge difference in the amount of information we nowadays have access to, but the opposite happens to the things that penetrate us. You can understand how big the change is if you consider that 40 years ago a lunatic like Charles Manson convinced people to follow him into the mansion, make love to him and kill others. Even he could find his audience!

I am in danger of being accused for rambling in this post and even for being boring and referring to clichés. Of course, manipulation through the media and consumerism are clichés, and I am concerned about that as well as about the environment, the injustice in the world, peace, and how all the above are interlinked… But the post is not about that … it’s about …living life! About the poetic lyrics of the song I was listening to, about the emotional reading that fascinated me… the pure lust for life. The biggest problem I find in the present approach on the ‘art of living’, is that we are so overwhelmed by the presence of products, that we inevitably begin to think that happiness is also one…

So, going back to the example of the guitar: of course, buying one will definitely make me happy, but it will not make me play. I have to play, I have to find the music inside me and release it! From my point of view, everything in life ends up to the same simple bottom line, (which if you are a Buddhist you may find it pure bullshit…): We are born and, from the very first moment, time is running against us, our cells may degenerate and reform, but there is always a deficit, we are slowly fading. Life is a gift, is a loan from something beyond us, which I even don’t want to waste time to define… Creation is the rebellion of the spirit against the slavery of time and death. It is the only hope to transform the amazing occasion of being here in this world into something more, the only possibility to go beyond the level of existence.

Man creates art, enterprises, feelings, love stories, world records and spaceships, because he doesn’t want to die. Because every time he is achieving something that he feels important and challenging, he feels connected to another dimension, another universe not governed by the notions of time and death, a domain which liberates him. In the meantime, with each step he takes on our Earth, he is slowly and physically wearing himself out; we are consuming our energy, because that way we forget the simple fact that we are consumable… Meanwhile, materials are our tools; the more efficiently we use them, the more we can go further. So, if you want to hide inside your Prada, Ipods and Levis, do it, but don’t forget that all those beautiful little things are the means and not the goal. A Ferrari doesn’t make you Schumacher, neither a Gibson Jimmy Page. Better buy a Fiat 500 and go all over Europe with it…

I started with music and I want to finish with it… Music captivates me as one of the few divine human creations. A song is the holistic reflection of a single moment; all the instant thoughts and emotions, bursting through the prism of a personality that came all the way, from his birth to the very moment of inspiration. Music can capture the magic of the moment, as well as all the background and that’s why it’s so much more than entertainment and showbiz. It can carry you into the heart of the situation and make you happy, sad, rebellious, anxious, free, in other words …it transmits life… All that can be said in one word… ’Magic’!

So, tonight I am listening to those songs that make me wish that I was there, in a period that I haven’t experienced, I wasn’t even alive. And this is because they trigger a feeling that fits into me, that makes me want to be part of and live it. People can fall in love with musicians, painters or authors, because their art exposes them to a new fascinating world, one that they would fit. And me, I am intrigued by the art that exhales lust for life! So, the dreamy closing is with me being at the Royal Albert Hall watching Jimmy play his guitar the opposite side, and being together with all those people; who at that specific moment believed that the world can change into a fair, peaceful, open-minded place. I would rather be with those naïve creatures than all than with CNN, AIDS, War on Terror, sponsored media and that unnecessary buzz.

[1] Jimmy Hendrix used right hand guitars but he was changing the string order, so the main problem was the limited access to the lower frets. Albert King didn’t even do that, he learned to play with the strings upside down. He developed his own unique technique, adjusted the tuning to his style, creating a very characteristic sound.

Tango from Brussels to Iberia

2009-04-19T16:52:00.001-07:00

I am writing this post in the train, travelling from Marseille to Granada, aiming to finally reach home at Faro. This is the final part of a trip that started from the Brussels tango festival. It was the first time I was visiting the city and thus dancing there, while the festival was completely international confirming some old, well known theories… (which are..)

• short people dance better! (even though I am medium height!)
• people from northern countries have difficulties touching each other.
• however, some of them can dance very well!
• Parisiens can be extremely snob…
• people from the Netherlands can be crazy in a very interesting way!
• Tango is becoming really international with so many different interpretations and approaches, a fact that makes it even more interesting! (and addictive.. mmmm!)

Starting with the comment regarding short people, this goes to the Argentinean professional dancers which are as fabulous, as … short! I am talking about the couples that impressed me in this festival, the perfect Pablo Vilarraza and Dana Frigolli and the playful Oracio Godoy and Cecilia Garcia. All short, flexible, musical and so charismatic! I wonder if we have any chance to become so smooth, if it is a matter of hard work or there is a limit there!
About the northerners, well, having danced REEEEALLY close embrace most of my tango years, I always find difficulty in the beginning to dance with people who don’t enjoy and feel comfort by hugging others! I understand that for cultures where contact is completely out of everyday life this is can be an issue, especially when people pour sweat on others (!!), but well… we do it in the south and it doesn’t hurt! What happens is that at first you ‘invite’ your partner to come close (I never grab anyone but I leave him ‘space’) and you feel her uncomfortness. This is already a bad starting point.... You try to dance more open but then you are under-qualifying yourself as this is not your tango, not the way you want to express it… Anyway, given that at such festivals people in general dance well (which is the most important) this can be overpassed. On the other hand some adaptation is necessary as posture, definition of axes, interpretation and several others when the bodies break up….

Continuing commenting on my remarks, I have to admit on the other hand that in that ‘family’ of tango dancers from the North (I say family as it is the same ‘tribe’ of French, Belgians, Swiss, Dutch, Germans, etc going to one tango gathering to the other..) there is a style developed which is very elaborate, light, technical and creative. There is less passion according to my humble opinion, but a lot of musicality, technique and improvisation; it is a more mental rather than emotional way to do it. And on top of that everything remains ‘fresh and clean’!!!
And that brings us to the famous world wide snobbism of the people from Paris. Guys, it is true that some of you dance very well, but RELAAAX! You are not even the best to act like that… I have been around a lot, as an unknown tango traveller and I have seen and danced with many excellent dancers (thank goodness…). Nobody ever made me feel as intensely as some tangeras from Paris that I am giving some kind of harsh exams, that I am not good enough and I shouldn’t be there at the first place. Even girls dancing tango one year have this attitude of tango divas, sitting in the milongas and saying no to the people they don’t know, in order to ‘protect’ themselves from the ‘bad guys’ who will ruin their perfect technique.
As I have written above, I have danced with several ‘super’ tangeras and inevitably some ‘super’ tantas have occurred several times, with better and worst dancers than me. When the first was the case, what made the tango great was not the technique, but the presence of the partner, just feeling all the energy, soul and attention to this awkward but so creative addiction we are subject to. My (again humble) opinion is that tango in the milonga should always be popular and not elitist, a social gathering as anyway good or bad is relative and to go to the extremes, even people you don’t consider good dancers can often surprise you. For all those of you who feel so lonely at the top, why don’t you start giving tango shows and let us common living beings enjoy getting together?

In the other extreme (in the good way) have been several Dutch girls (or at least girls living in the Netherlands) I have met in several milongas. These people have something that completely liberates them from clichés, dos and don’ts and makes interaction with them a very relaxing and at the same time dynamic and creative process. In Brussels I had one really amazing tanta (if not the best of the 5 days) with a Dutch girl which was so present and so communicative that I was sure she was Argentinean. In fact it was really funny as between the fantastic tangos (I was starting to lose it and getting dizzy..) we were trying to define the language in which we would talk. As her French was not good she was trying to speak to me in Spanish, with her thinking I was Belgian or French probably and me confirming that she was a super tangera from Buenos Aires!. In the end we realized that none had any ‘exotic’ origin and that English was the best choice… Tango was great though!
Finally, about the internationality there are many things already mentioned above. Different styles, interpretations, all this orgasm of workshops and festivals make the tango scene very dynamic. In this festival I saw for the first time (in my life) coloured people dance very good tango, while I am looking forward to meet again the very funny and creative 2 m tangero (so interesting to watch him dance…) and the so charismatic (and polite indeed) young dancer from Russia!
All the above make Brussels festival a good choice for international tango experiences. In general the festival was very well organized with good quality professional dancers, courses and demonstrations. On top of that, the venues for the milongas were really fabulous, extremely cosy and elegant and the only drawback is the same that applies for all the festivals of this scale… They are too big and rather cold… Meeting people and making ‘friends’ is a little bit difficult as there are too many people in such a big space and the ambience hardly ever warms up. On the other hand the feeling of being part of something so big and well organised has a charm on its own…
The train is arriving in Granada in few minutes and my trip to Faro continues by motorbike!! Hope to see you all my friends at the Lisbon festival end of May!

Ate logo!

Tango to sell-Tango to gift....

2009-02-18T16:41:00.001-08:00

Well most of you are probably familiar with the situation already. An Argentinian ‘tango dancer’ giving his ‘special workshop’ in some festival or event somewhere on Earth (Lisbon in my case). With his big mouth, telling stories about his country and its big traditions, showing how macho he is. When he starts dancing you realize that there better dancers among the students, but everybody is mesmerized as he is …Argentinean! In the meantime you did 200 km for the ‘special’ event, you ruined your weekend and on top of that you paid several euros!

Tango is a growing passion for an increasing number of people globally and apparently it has become a product from which others make profits. Those people are trying to do their job as well as they can which apparently is to …sell; and as a vendor is interested in increasing his productivity, rather than provide useful products, a ‘professional’ tango teacher wants to sell more steps. It doesn’t matter if they are of any use to you, if you are capable of doing them, or there is enough space for them in the milongas; they have to be fancy and complicated. Schools are into a race of who is going to teach the ‘sakada’ or the ‘ganzo’ first, neglecting if their students can take it. This has lead to a tango community having discussions about their good friends ‘Cicho’ or ‘Sebastian’, before or after going to the milonga to execute non-musical, un-balanced complicated steps, trying to imitate them.

Tango dancing on the other hand is a combination of skills and cannot be purchased. It is a language that requires time, experience and talent to be spoken fluently, so inevitably some of the customers have to be disappointed. Of course this is not acceptable from the commercial aspect and as a result tango classes have to change orientation in order not to fail. So often there is a clear effort to by-pass the problem, which is that the students are not learning! Several ‘special workshops’ are flooded by jokes and ‘funny stories’, turning out to be more entertainment, rather than learning. Furthermore it is not acceptable behaviour from a teacher to tell his students that they should try to learn to equilibrate, instead of learning the ‘soltada’, as this will harm the present system which brings profits. Some do however, like Javier Rodriguez, but this guy is a different story, as he has nothing to prove. Like his demonstrations are pure tango, without any choreography and theatrical elements, similarly in the class he doesn’t have problems to express himself in a non politically correct manner.

There is no doubt that there are many magnificent Argentinean dancers but definitely the equation Argentinean=tango dancer is not correct. The many mediocre or bad ones, as good professionals, have to find efficient ways to cover their weaknesses and become the good product they have to be. So they are preparing complicated choreographic demonstrations to distract the spectators who shouldn’t notice the lack of musicality, finesse, and flow in their dancing. And this adds a lot of distortion to the beauty and simplicity of tango, which is made to be danced between the couple and not to be watched. Excuse me if I sound crude, but if I want to watch a choreographed dance I’ll prefer going to the theatre to watch real dancers perform perfect steps after years of exhausting efforts. In the tango demonstrations I want to see true communication, musicality and desire to share.

Tango classes on the other hand are becoming extremely profitable with the prices increasing exponentially with the reputation of the professional dancers. This is a vicious circle putting pressure on them to become even more spectacular on their dancing and the steps they teach as they have to be ‘among the few who know these things’. Even famous couples of more milongero style are starting to make efforts add more ‘modern’ elements in their dancing, with often negative results. In the meantime tango dancing and consequently learning is a recreational activity and consequently the lesson has to be fun. Of course this is an important element of any pedagogic effort, but it cannot be the main goal. But often in tango classes it is.. Latin American people with their vivid and pleasant character are ideal to entertain people and tango teachers often abuse that skill. You may find yourself into a class where you learned nothing but had many good laughs, paying a little bit more than going to the movies though…

The extent to which all the above take place depend on the level of tango on the area and the cultural level of the people. I have noticed that Italian people who dance well and know what they want, will not be ‘bullshited’ so easily as the French for example who are fascinated by avant garde and ‘crazy stuff’. But still all those festivals, workshops and special events take tango in a very superficial direction and this is becoming visible almost everywhere.

What I believe is that all us tangeros should stay close to our partner, go deep into the music and what we carry inside and try to make something with all those things, first of all. After, as a musician who realizes that another instrument is necessary to enrich a specific melodic part, we have to look for other moves. But as a melody badly played is worse than no melody, similarly a fancy step without balance and musicality is not preferable to walking smoothly in the rhythm.

Travel enlightment

2009-02-16T17:58:00.000-08:00

Most if not all people have the tendency to relate to things, situations and places. This tendency is vital for our emotional world as it helps us become involved to our environment and drives our desire to share, create, know and protect. On the other hand, mentally this has a drawback as it often leads us to take things for granted, with the repetition weakening our ability to judge and evaluate new situations. It partially puts our tendency to search and explore into sleep mode.

This is among the reasons that make people who travel more interesting in a spiritual sense, as they lack this fixed frame of mind, imposed by a stationary environment and frame of life. When you encounter new places, societies and ethics, inevitably you are forced to critically evaluate your own experiences and reset beliefs and attitudes. This vital for your effort to integrate and adapt to a new reality, comprising a very entertaining and educational process.
But the main topic of this small post is not the merits from travelling but the mode of being on the move itself… This situation when you are hanging thousands of meters in the sky inside a plane, or you are watching fast-forward changing cross-country sceneries in a train, car or whatever. At that moment you don’t belong anywhere, you are only committed to a destination, while slowly you are detaching your own experiences from your point of origin. There are some musicians who transmit this feeling very well, JJ Cale is for me probably number one. I listen to his music and I feel that I am alone wandering in this big world, without a home, with a constantly changing personality and living environment. Only feelings and thoughts which are being evaluated through time by the frequency that they occur. The desires and thoughts that come to me more often are the ones who define my truth…

During the last years almost all the decisions or ideas that made a difference in my life came while I was travelling. While looking down to earth from the window of an airplane and suddenly identifying a high peak, one the ones that matter more to me. In a state which I was physically and mentally detached and I was able to choose which domain of my life or person I wanted to bring close. Just like that and out of a sudden while being in a ‘vacuum’ and free.

History, politics, despair and tango... Greece

2008-12-24T05:43:00.000-08:00

While travelling in Greece by train you realize a lot of things… There are those places where the landscape is so diverse and unpredictable that pores into the people’s minds and souls intense feelings and attitudes. For example, standing at the statue of Christo Retendor in Rio de Janeiro and gazing at the steep rocky formations blending with the wide sandy beaches, you realize that Rio would never be a boring place. Similarly, Greece is a country stretching along pieces of lands scattered all over from intense volcanic and tectonic action. Thousands of islands, uneven, steep landscapes, such an intense mix of sea and mountains, dry land and alpine forests all in such a small small territory. No surprise that Greek people are totally unpredictable, extrovert, impulsive and emotional.

Being Greek myself and visiting my country after a year, it is impossible to write a ‘tango post’ like for example I did for France or Geneva. Especially now that the country is ‘on fire’... Going around by bus you read the messages on the walls: ‘3 bullets for one Alexi[1]’, ‘Watch out for the blood spilled on your couches..’. You see several businesses shut down, burned shops or cars. The economy is receding and the people are sank into pessimism and discontent. The two dominant parties are deep into corruption and there is no hope for a new political movement, neither any ‘space’ for new ideas or approaches. The country is sinking and is slowly killing itself.

Under this ambience dancing tango is not straightforward with all this negative energy everywhere, with the people being blocked by their problems and feeling limited, bonded in a reality that leads nowhere. I strongly believe that inside tango you can find everything, as tango is life! And by going to the milongas these days I felt exactly all this negative ambience, I could tell that things are by far not ok. So this post may be one of the most ‘loaded’ ones, as I have to write (my thoughts) about Greece and then link with tango, in the meantime trying to avoid reaching 200 pages... The present situation is the following of a series of historical events and most of the present problems have their roots in the past and are deeply ingrained in the Greek society. As a result, it is impossible to avoid reference to political and historical beliefs that other people will not share, even though I try to be as pragmatist as possible and take distance from the events.

The Greeks comprise an historical nation with the roots coming from the ancient times, followed by the Hellenistic and Roman periods. These great civilizations were followed by the Byzantine Empire, which erased a lot of cultural elements of the ‘Golden’ ancient era, to establish the more mystic and ‘Eastern’ Orthodox Christian religion (meaning that they closed libraries, stopped the Olympic Games, etc). After 400 years of Othoman dominance the progressive spirit of ancient Greece had almost disappeared and what remained was the beautiful and extremely rich Greek language, the identity of an old nation (even though in terms of blood there has been a lot of mixing since the ancient times) and still a progressive spirit, however judging on the standards of the ‘troubled’ Balkan area. The Greek people were always open, travellers, merchants, trying to find ways of prosperity, even though they found themselves in an area with huge political problems and constant military conflicts which are still impeding progress. This concludes the first part of my ‘fast forward historical overview’…

The modern Greek country was established in 1829 after the Greek revolution against the 400 years Ottoman rule. After that first recognition there was constant war for the independence of the remaining territories with Greek majority and the map of Greece was constantly changing until the 1940s. The revolution was followed by the Balkan wars (1912-1913), the First World War (1914-1918), leading to the Greco-Turkish wars (1919-1922) and finally the Second World War (1939-1945). Through all these hard times, the Greek nation became very mixed as Italian, French, Turks, Slabs, and in general people from several ethnic groups started to use the Greek language and practice the Orthodox Christian religion, which now defined the modern Greek identity. Even though the Orthodox church was much more discrete and didn’t intervene to the political life as the Vatican did, Greek people still sympathize the church, as it united the people during all those difficult times.

During the Nazi occupation in the 40^s living conditions were really harsh with famine, diseases and massive deaths taking place everywhere, while in the meantime some people made enormous profits and lived comfortable lives by collaborating with the Germans. The above resulted in the creation of military units with such Greek people (along with others desperate from starvation) to fight against the resistance and in general support the Nazi regime. The Greek resistance on the other hand was mostly organized around left sympathizing groups, creating fertile ground for communist regimes like the ones in Bulgaria, Albania, etc.

In the meantime, the country was under the sphere of British influence which would never allow a communist government, a fact that finally lead to a civil war: on one side was the left-sympathizing Greeks (independent groups which continued to fight against the British after the Germans), fighting against the right wing Greeks, aided by the well organized British army, with the latter winning of the conflict. Most of the leaders of the left were forced to migrate to the Soviet Union, with some being eradicated after by the Stalin purges and others finding shelter to Europe.

The above events constitute the darkest pages of modern Greek history with a lot of violence, hatred, segregation, and have deeply hurt the country’s integrity. Both sides indulged in very harsh atrocities and most families lost members often without knowing in which side they were fighting. (people fighting on the ‘official’ Greek army were favouring the left guerrillas and were either secretly helping them, or even joined them). The most negative outcome of the above is that several traitors and people of lower ethics found themselves in positions of power, while several patriots lost their lives. All the above resulted in a poor, exhausted, deeply religious and not united post war Greece.

After the British, the Americans took over the situation, driving the country’s history, according to their (famous world wide) ‘strategic plans’ and they would always find helping hands in this corrupt and exhausted country. The results are known; the military regime of 1967-1975[2], peaking at the Turkish occupation of Northern Cyprus, started by the desperate junta who wanted to annex Cyprus to Greece, only in an effort to win some popularity, while the people were already on the streets.

The following left governments didn’t have the virtue, talent or force, to exploit the people’s trust and to change this entire situation; after 20 years of government the country was again into economic recession and corruption. The current right government is expressing the regressive spirit of conservatism of the past decades, ruling without any serious political, economic or social plan and supporting populism, far right ideas, xenophobia, religion and even (secretely) monarchy and totalitarianism. In fact, the surnames of the members of the parliament are exactly the same like in the 60^s, guarantying that the same failed and historically proved corrupted cast will be in power of this country. The political situation in Greece is a deadend situation with no signs of hope…

In the meantime, the people lack the spirit and mentality to change their fates. The 400 years Ottoman influence, made the Greek society miss all the developments in economy, politics and philosophy taking place in the west and instead brought eastern, more mystic and backward looking mentality and practices. People are very emotional and very easily manipulated, as they were at the same time poor and without social consciousness, from the constant lack of unity. Thus they let Greek politics taken over by people which in their majority are corrupt, pursuing only their own personal motifs for wealth and power, building the country on the same basis. The political parties only express different aesthetic approaches… Even though one would disagree with my historical beliefs, I think that few people wouldn’t share the opinion that the degree of corruption in Greece is higher compared the any other European country. The structures according to which people find jobs, gain access to wealth or power are absolutely unjust and are based on a ‘sick’ mentality of knowing the ‘right people’. All these exist everywhere, but even more in Greece…

Making a pause to the historical analysis and going back to tango it is obvious that under these conditions, the Greek people feel weak, constrained and suspicious about the others. Nothing is simple and good motives are by far not the default. The situation cannot change easily and the result of all the above is that when you try to dance with somebody the first time it is very likely that the dance will be a ‘struggle to win your partner’s confidence’. Instead of saying ‘why not’ you may find people in the ‘why yes’ mode and it will need something from more you to ‘turn the tide’. On top of that due to the Orthodox conservatism (only on the surface though), women in general need more time to feel relaxed, comparing to the Northern countries. But after the first ‘adaptation period’ things improve radically!

All the above regime of corruption, suspiciousness and constant ‘deceleration’ of every human effort had a very interesting positive side effect on the people. Similarly to many of the ex-communist countries the luck of any solid legal structure, the difficulty to express thoughts, desires and in every aspect of life in general, has resulted in an elevated average intelligence and in intensified virtue by some. This is even stronger since ‘traditional’ lifestyles and attitudes (which often simplify roles) have been surpassed and society wears ‘modern clothes’, while on the other hand the help and support usually present in such western countries are absent. Without any ‘map’ for life, any ‘real’ laws, or social care and by the fact that history was so turbid, the people were forced to find the way on their own, they had to use their judgement every moment, just to achieve the basic things. And they got ‘better’ through that (learn-the-hard-way) training, something you can see in tango! Tango is communication and even amateur tangeras ‘feel’ a lot, understand and follow very well. Once the line is crossed you find yourself on the other side…

Going to back to my thoughts about Greece I have to refer to what Plato said: ‘the real moral principles of a person, are the ones he would follow if he was invisible..’. The conditions I describe are almost as close to invisibility as they can be, as Greek people are very impulsive and unconstrained; there is no ‘savoir vivre’ in this country! This means that you can directly spot the naturally polite people, or the ones with the open spirit; you can see talent where it exists, as education is weaker or at least less ‘elaborate’ compared to average western Europe countries. The people who have a drive for something will pursue it anyway, like nobody stopped Da Vinci open corpses or Jean d’Arc fight battles in the 15^th century. But in a country ideal to disorientate its people only few may find the way, while the majority struggle in ignorance. What is encouraging is that the talent is there and that even without any practical motivation or reward a lot of people finally choose to do the ‘right thing’, the follow moral paths. The problem is that as majority they still vote for immoral leaders, which implies something about the ethics of the whole society.

Another historical aspect is that Greek people had traditionally dominated the commerce in the area, even under Ottoman dominance. They have this historical memory and pride of an old civilization, with the heritage of the sea and as a result the tendency to find solutions and ways of survival. As a result, they produced wealth enough to always have access to education and thus broaden their spirit, more than the living conditions favour. All the above mean that when you dance tango in Greece it may take a while to win the others confidence, but as soon as you do it you’ll find a lot of extra potential. There is broad spirit, talent, feeling and talking about women, I would say that they are very feminine, passionate, adaptable and flexible.

Another interesting characteristic of Greece is that while the country is poor, there is a lot of wealth concentrated in the hands of the people and exchanged in ‘corrupt’ ways which cannot be tracked by any economic indexes. Most people don’t pay the taxes they should, and this results in a country without incomplete and ‘spontaneous’ social care (only Greek people can understand this phrase!). In the meantime the past generations have deposited their small fortunes and they will do their best to support their children, by providing them everything. Cars, fancy clothes, education… But what they cannot do is find them jobs!

All the above have resulted in the Greek nightlife which is of unprecedented scale and intensity for any European country (even Spain is comparatively weak). I have been around a lot and I am sure that there is no other country where so much time, energy and money are devoted to going out and partying. Even in cities of 50000 people you can dine at midnight, party until minimum 3 o clock, find the streets flooded with people every day. The ample variety of bars and clubs makes selection of the ‘place’ and the dressing a form of expression which reaches levels of professionalism or even art. The people show who they are by choosing the place and their clothes and they are evaluated according to that. They will find (almost every night) the people with shared taste of music and even attitude for life in their favourite place.

This huge amount of young people on the streets, looking for ways of entertainment results in a very youth and dynamic ambience in the ‘tango world’, far more to most of the other places I’ve been. The average age is around 30 and there are many people around 20 starting to dance which makes Greek tango really fresh and pleasant. On the other hand, some of these ‘new entries’, just coming from the fancy clubs introduces a ‘show off’ approach on tango, leading to less modest and more demonstrative dancing styles. Tango in Greece is mostly Nuevo and not always good one… If you are a woman and you cannot lead the dance you may spend some time with guys pulling your arms to do the fancy soltada or ganco. If you are a man and you dance stylo milongero, you will encounter some more gancos, but anyway… it will not hurt!

In general I would say that you can dance very good tango in Greece, but you have to be ready to adapt to some strange attitudes! I believe that people are hot in general and they can emit a lot of emotions. There is emotional intelligence, feeling and understanding, as well as drive for passion and for adaptation of the leader-follower roles, necessary for good tango. Anyway, it’s a fact that almost everywhere I’ve been in Europe there are Greek people deeply involved in the community, organizing milongas, djs, good dancers, etc, which implies something.

I have just got in the train on my way to Athens. A young man (around 18) is sitting next to me, looking quite cool and ‘free’, dressed in modern clothes and smelling tobacco. His mother is sitting outside, in front of the window nodding at him. It’s the first time he is travelling and she is afraid. He has 2 motorbikes and he wants to buy a third one to do enduro. He goes to the football game every Sunday and sometimes he likes to get into fights with the hooligans. Still his mother will wait for him until the train will leave, nodding, protecting and showing her love and affection. Greece is a country who always wanted to be in the west, but has been educated in eastern schools… The spirit of innovation and progress lives strongly in the minds of some people, but most of the Greeks are confined in just wearing Calvin Klein and Prada and cannot support true change or innovation (like in everywhere but here contrasts are maybe more intense). At least, the hearts are beating hard and they are still flooded with emotions, good or bad, while the minds work hard to find solutions in an almost chaotic and desperate reality. In the meantime, they go out almost every night trying to find themselves, love, friendship, but most of all ways to forget and release the tension. The same huge amount of tension that became visible with the long wave of violence of the last weeks. I don’t think this is a good image of a society, but at least could be a good background to dance tango….

Cities:

Thessaloniki is known in the country for the very beautiful women, dressed in fancy clothes even during daytime and the city is known for having a mentality of show off. So it is not surprising that tango is full of people who try to do fancy stuff without having the necessary basis in terms of technique. Unfortunately the people who started teaching in this place didn’t do a good job. Women are really interesting to dance with though; after having sorted out the things I describe above.

Athens is the capital of the country a big metropolis of 5 million people, famous for the professionalism, but also for the fast pace of life and the overall inhuman living conditions. As a result, the people who dance there (and they are many) usually dance well. In general the average dancers are more open and spontaneous (in such a big city you don’t have time for questions…) and you will feel a more free and dynamic ambience. However, you may find some people really tense, or even snob, especially some of the very good dancers, something which is common for big cities (I believe that Paris is the capital of tango snob elite..)

Small tango groups exist in other places as well and some of them are really worth to try. For example in Lesbos there are few dancers that I consider good for any place.

[1] Alexis was the name of the 15 old kid killed by a policeman this December, triggering all the extreme violence and demonstrations all over the country

[2] The recently open CIA files proved that the regime was supported and organized by the American government.

Airports-windows to the future?

2008-11-29T06:51:00.000-08:00

In the Greek language the word for ‘man’ is άνθρωπος, which is the product of the combination of the words ‘άνω’ (up) and ‘θρώσκω’ (to look). This means that the name man gave to himself was ‘one who looks up’, with the latter referring to god (who was expected to live in the skies…), but as well as to anything divine and superior in the broader sense. Man is ingrained with the ambition and desire to understand what is around him and ‘above’ him, this magic power that, at least the way we perceive the Universe, separates us from the other forms of life. Then, through the years we have learned to use the expressions ‘high technology’, ‘haute couture’, ‘high standards’ for the best and the ‘sky’ was always linked to excellence…

There are some places that can express this spirit, that can be considered as ‘temples’ of the mankind’s drive for progress and innovation; for sure some of them are airports. Back in the end of the 19th century, the pioneers of aviation were doing passionate efforts to conquer the skies and most of them were so dangerous resulting even in loss of lives. Such was the passion and the desire of these people to achieve what was regarded as impossible and through these efforts mankind was again ‘looking up’, but this time in the absolute sense… Hopefully all these efforts, driven by full devotion of mind and soul, succeeded and aviation is nowadays part of everyday life.
This fact has changed not only our way of life, but also the way we think, as flying with a plane is a new and unforgettable experience. Man is not made to stay kilometres above the Earth (or is he?), but he does it; even if landing may be scary sometimes, or presence the air cabin may bring some inconvenience. Nobody can say no to airplanes and in that way we are convincing ourselves that we can do achieve even more, that we may have limitations personally but not as a species.
In the meantime, while life may change, several aspects on mankind remain the same. Wars, prejudices, attitudes, weakness and in general social, personal and any other sort of human problems persist. And most probably that’s because we, as groups, societies, or as a whole, we don’t want to change! Many of us live lives ‘flying low’, convinced of our limitations and driven by our fears and weaknesses and most of all… we are ok with this! If there was a referendum, people would probably say no to airplanes, among several other things, like heart transplantation operations, submarines, lasers, etc. But, hopefully it doesn’t work that way and innovation springs from the minds and gets established through practice and following our needs.
For that reason there are not so many places which express this spirit of excellence, the tendency ‘to stare up’; even in many universities the attitudes are dominated by small hearted feelings, politics, or any other negative aspect of our existence. But airports cannot be like that, as in aviation there is no space for mistakes. Everything has to be and to look perfect, radiating a feeling of security and confidence; in an airport man has to and wants to be perfect. So, thanks also to some gifted architects, many airports can be called ‘temples of innovative spirit’, generating an ambience not so common in the real world.
Sitting in an airport lounge, watching the planes land and take off, takes you to the ‘future’, at least the one we would wish to have. I am not a ‘technology radical’ and I am deeply aware that several technological products have brought serious problems to people and the environment. But I cannot avoid being overwhelmed by the magic ambience of airports and everything that this may imply. Because by taking a moment to observe things after making a step backwards, I realise that I am in the situation in which man achieves things that I would just dare to imagine… And not only that, but he can also bring it to a level of functional perfection, proving that we have more potential than what we think. Even though this ‘other reality’ is restricted in few thousands of square meters and outside there is the ‘real world’ with the many problems… At least when you are in an airport you feel that you have to ‘look up’ and you can do the world better. And hopefully we will in the future…

Discover the world through tango-My manifesto...

2008-11-25T02:10:00.000-08:00

I have written this post initially in Greek, but as this is the main intro of my blog, explaining my concept, I felt it should exist also in English....

As a person I generally prefer ‘tète-a-tète’… I like sharing a common goal with somebody, particularly when the latter is clear and when defined. I put emphasis on the latter phrase, since according to my opinion when many people gather, the purpose becomes less clear; population dynamics prevail, favoring the more socially charismatic and dominant personalities. On the other hand, when two people interact nobody can be overlooked and communication, as well as mutual understanding is necessary. On the other hand, entering in another person’s reality, you become familiar with his desires and perceptions about aesthetics and life, in other words you encounter new experiences and landscapes you …travel! And this way can offer numerous thrills, as each personality comprises a new planet to be explored.

Apparently, it is not a surprise that I love tango, as it fits perfectly to the above situation, while it carries many additional characteristics… Two people meet while the music starts, implying a mood, a set of emotions, a situation that the dancers have to adopt, live and create. Something like a theatrical play, but this time there is no rehearsal; you don’t know your role, you just have to discover it instantly, along with your partner. And just like a painting or a poem, each tango carries different meanings for each one of us. So, with the start of the dance begins a discussion, with the man saying the first phrase. After, the woman approves, inspires and amends, as both they exchange energy, feelings and ideas, they play, experiment, while they get more familiar to each other. That’s why each tango is potentially a profound acquaintance, a journey into another personality, based in a well defined but so rich and complicated common purpose…

The additional magic comes from the infinite combinations of body-types, moods, as well as perceptions about life, tango as a dance and the music currently playing. All these can transform each tango in a lyrical moment, a relaxing dialogue with a stranger on the street, or a moment of very intense feelings. And this always depends on how each one of us transmits, receives and reflects signals. The extent to which we express ourselves as clearly as possible, without offending or violating the ‘space’ of the others. The more balanced we are in our comportment the less likely becomes to experience negative moments in tango. Good tango dancers usually have class…

The other important property is that tango never lies… When you dance you cannot hide from the others, even if in life you have the habit of hiding from yourself. Tango will reveal hidden truths and desires, it will show you who you are; the more you let this out, the better your relationship is with yourself, the better dancer you’ll be. While in our everyday lives we have our eyes open, staring ‘on the road’, with so many rules and stereotypes ingrained in our minds; in the milonga we close them and we listen, feel and smell. We cannot cheat or be cheated. Tango shows the way… We just let the music dominate us, we open our soul, inviting our partner to join. Whether he (or she) will accept, in what sense and for how long is another issue. That’s why the first tango with a stranger is a test… The rest are as well!

Conclusion… Tango is magic, because it is holistic; tango dancing is a situation so rich that few others (if any) can match. So free and unpredictable, with constant flow and variation of moods. Rich and inexhaustible as it is related to so many varying factors like the music, the dancers, time, space and the interaction of all the above. In addition, while a popular dance, it is so elaborate that it gives you the possibility to share the pleasure of artistic creation with the musicians, rather than just follow. Tango is really creative and free and this characteristic along with the potential of such a direct and varied communication, makes you discover yourself and the others better.

I started dancing tango in 2006 in a small town of 40000 habitants, located in Lesbos Island, of Greece. The people who helped me do the first steps were members of a local tango association and from the first place they gave me the impression that they were subject to a kind of disease. They were giving free tango lessons, obviously motivated by their passion and desire to share it with others, with this being their only return; watching tango get bigger and bigger, spreading the disease... I deeply appreciated this devotion, with regard to those peoples’ character, as well as to the tango as a ‘germ’ itself… After a year I had exactly the same symptoms, dancing alone in the corridors and elevators, driving 100 km away just to get to the milonga and travelling around Europe, following my obsession… It was and always is tango, this way of getting together with people, of expression and communication, which I still consider the most profound and complete so far.

In the past years I was lucky to travel a lot, live in different countries and of course …dance in all of them! Living abroad may bring several hard times, but triggers a process that I personally find magical and very important… It dissolves the ‘myth’, the one we build growing up in a specific environment, comprising of specific codes of communication, attitudes and aesthetics that can usually be useful only in a certain place. Often our behaviour doesn’t express directly us, but is our position towards our environment; being mostly our response to given conditions. When the background changes, we encounter a different ‘myth’ for which we lack the answers and we often don’t have enough time to construct a new response. We have lost our map… And when you are lost, the fastest, simplest and only way is the truth. The fundamental truths and principles which are valid everywhere and make communication simpler and more efficient. The sediment… I consider this a very important step of improvement for any personality…

According to a Chinese saying ‘if you haven’t planted a tree, written a poem and been in love, you haven’t actually lived’… I would say that you have really experienced a place when there is a song to always remind you, a person that you’ll never forget and when you have danced tango… The addicts like me will agree that you can get more information in a milonga rather than in a hundred museums, bars and restaurants together. And this is what this blog is mostly all about and what wants to prove to the non believers! Travelling, discovering and experiencing the world through tango… I hope you enjoy my mission as much as I do!

Tango on the ocean-Dancing in Gran Canarias

2008-11-09T07:59:00.000-08:00

Even though where I current live the temperature is 20 ^oC during the day, it is true that this is not a season for dreaming of summer landscapes and leisure on the beach. However today as I was waking up, during this passage from the subconscious to the conscious, I had the vision of long and high dunes, coloured from white and gold sand, in various formations and spreading for several kilometres.. It was the magic scenery of Mas Palomas. Cliché, touristic, one might say, but always sensational… I visited Gran Canaria last February, in an effort to catch some sun and enjoy the beach and sea in the heart of the winter. Brilliant idea indeed… In the meantime I was lucky enough to have my visit coinciding with a tango festival taking place every year in Las Palmas. I wasn’t very optimistic about the experience, but I couldn’t miss it as well!

The first days of the festival were right on the peak of the carnival which is deep rooted in the local culture and combined with the working week days; it wasn’t big surprise that participation was rather weak,. In the weekend more people showed up, also from other islands, mostly speaking Tenerife. As a result things started to heat up, while in the meantime I started to become more familiar with the people and become part of the ‘group’. Anyway people were very hospitable and friendly and the ambience was cool… So it was the point of enjoyment with the festival peaking with classes and milongas…

The first thing that really stroked me was the devotion of the people to the classes, taking notes and videos, attending several lessons in a raw always focused, trying to understand every detail. Tango passionates exist everywhere, but I had never seen something like this before. It was obvious that the Canarians love tango and knowing that they don’t have a lot of chances for interaction with other dancers and teachers, they won’t definitely miss the few ones available. As a result, despite the fact that the tango groups in the Canary Islands are small, there are some very good dancers (mostly in Gran Canaria and Tenerife)…

Personally I also found my personal ‘tango guru’, Nacho, a local teacher that impressed me with his particular style. Nacho is teaching all the latin American and ballroom dances and he is very much into the dance and the music, while he has built his own hidden bridges, between different styles and dances. His tango is passionate, very musical and precise, while most important of all, even if he masters all the ‘fancy’ tango moves (soltadas, volcadas, etc), he prefers to transform every tango in his own ritual. He knows that he ca write his own lines in the tango book and he does it! And me, I finally skipped some classes of the festival take few private ones with him… Invaluable experience

The other thing that vividly remained from my visit is the contact with some of the people. The Canarians live simple, calm lives in a place which often resembles with paradise. Island people who have learned to take it easy, to appreciate the moment and the simple pleasures. So calm and polite, but on the other hand, present, respectful and technically correct, in the dance. So dancing tango with them brings a pleasant and mild warmth, but as well as something extra too difficult to express with words. Like the felling you have when you watch the see for hours, peace and serenity, but also something supernatural, bringing together aspiration and dreaming. Butterflies flying in your stomach… A feeling that persists every night after the milonga, during the walks on the beach next to the oceanic swell and the music from the swash. Another interpretation of tango and a very pleasant one indeed…

Avant garde and cultural conflicts: Le tango en France...

2008-11-04T05:38:00.000-08:00

Well… I am on my way to Geneva for the 3-day MuSaCa milonga, where I expect to have a really good time, but as I am about to leave France for good, I have to write few things about the tango in France. And this is really a tough task to undertake… I have spent a lot of time thinking about how to do it and where to start from and gradually I gravitated to begin with some words about the (famous) French culture…
And this really is another tough task to undertake! First, because I’ve spent only a year in this country; most likely a lifetime is not enough to understand the way the French people act! Second, because I was living in Marseille which is a city rather irrelevant to France, flooded by people of North African origin and is not at all representative. But I have been moving around a lot… And I feel I got some things correctly… And after all this is a blog and not a scientific publication on sociology.. So I will try!
So to start, the French culture really deserves to be called a culture and what is very important is that the French people …love it! They deeply feel that they have the privilege (and the good-heartiness) to offer to the world the best, the richest culture, guarantying among many others, high standards of living, equal rights and personal freedom, access to the world’s peak moments of artistic creation, literature and philosophy, a beautiful language, an excellent cuisine, etc. It is true that the French culture is very rich, as life in France is very pleasant as well and I wouldn’t say that the French are ignorant when they are so proud about their way of life. But, wanting to make a connection with tango inevitably I will critically refer to some points which affect the quality of the French tango, even though it is a country that I honestly love. So, just to start…
If you are French and you are reading this text I know that it really tears you apart to read negative things about your country. In fact France is the place where I found people more sensitive (and less tolerant) to criticism than anywhere else. (If you want to make a French your enemy, just say that you don’t like the wine, the cheese, the tango, or even just say that the French is a difficult language... That will do!) But, if I was saying that everything is great here it would be apparent that I am lying.
Back to the French, so… One thing to make clear is that the French are not latinos, they are…. FRENCH! Their culture and codes of behaviour don’t include a lot of physical contact, but it is mostly based on the formality and the respect on everybody’s personal space. Letting yourself loose with people you are not familiar will most probably lead to embarrassing situations, as people can be easily offended and demand to be carefully treated, as they also do to the others. In addition and in comparison to the latinos, they have their own perception of style and the role and balance of the sexes.
French women are very beautiful (they are famous for their looks and femininity anyway!) and interesting, but they are ‘classy’ and not ‘sexy’. Light make-up, elegant clothes, mild manners, as well as simple and practical aesthetics in general, respecting the time and the right of the women when they cannot afford to spend hours to look ‘pretty’ or ‘hot’… Nothing of the explosive and provocative sensuality of the latin woman, who tries to light a fire that will burn all men’s hearts. French women walk in low shoes, wearing comfortable clothes and they also count on their spirit, their ability to make an interesting discussion, during a walk or a dinner. In fact, they are not so much into the ‘prey and hunter game’, with several principles of the feminist movement being well ingrained in the French society.
Another important point is the drive for enjoying life as a priority, which is fundamental for the French way of life. The French want to eat well, do excursions in the weekend and enjoy nature, their hobbies and recreational activities and the prevailing mentality is try to discover, or even invent simple and affordable ways to enjoy all these in the most efficient way. A look on the number of holidays and the way they are distributed around the year is enough to understand that. A key factor in this way of life is the ‘post-modern’ French family, as these activities are mostly organised for couples or families…
The French make kids early, independently of their working conditions, as the system offers a lot of support to young parents. This results in a mentality of focus in a closed circle and they are used to spend time and energy only for their own sake and the one of their beloved ones. For the people outside this circle they have their education, their politeness, but honestly they don’t really care and abstain from any serious efforts for communication. (this is of course a generalisation, but I am sure that people who know France a little will get the point..). The mentality of tango on the other hand is the one of a popular dance, of a common social event, which in addition in Argentina is coupled with a series of rules, part of a ‘tango code of practice’. In France the world ‘popular’ almost doesn’t exist, as everybody is equal to the others and this is the first conflict between France and tango. And there are several others…
While tango is a simple and direct language which requires sharing and communication, in order to flourish; most French people feel that they carry a unique personality, which they try to make appear even more inaccessible and incompatible. The context of life in France cultivates this tendency to the people and makes this society so colourful and fun to live. On the other hand the fact that the French people alone draw a line between them and the others requires more time to make a connection and results in characters that I would personally call ‘tense’. It is a frequent impression on my contact with French people that they are always trying to generate, or identify something out of the norm, even when this doesn’t exist. This may be vital for cinema and the arts but it is in contrast to tango which is based in clearly showing intension, as communication should be instant.
This brings us to the issue of the leading and the following. Being a man I can talk mostly about the following… One year here in France, almost every time I had a serious discussion with somebody (mostly for work) I fell on the same situation: I was at the point of feeling that we’d covered the issue and that we should go ahead, while my interlocutor demonstrated his need to discuss further. The French love to talk and analyse things. Even if they have found the answer they would do it all over again, just for the pleasure of discussing and with the excuse that MAYBE something new will occur! So it is really difficult for them to act spontaneously. Same for tango... You listen to the music and you want to do a long step left. And you do it. You partner gets the message but she doesn’t move. She is having the same expression with your college saying ‘Hey wait! Why we should go left? I am not ready for that yet…’. Tango is slow in France…

And for the following another issue is the pleasure one get’s from the contact… The French with their individualistic attitude cannot understand the principle and the pleasure of spending a night along with 200 other people hugging each other. They are used to pay attention to themselves and their very loved ones. The presence of somebody less intimate in a close distance is an issue, even for the average French ‘tangero’. You feel the nervousness, the luck of comfort and also the fact that a French woman will not leave the ‘control’ to anybody so easily, even if it’s in the context of the milonga. It’s very common to see couples that dance all night only with each other, as the ‘social’ perception of the event is weak. On the other hand, for many French tangeras I had the impression that they were dancing together, they were not allowing me to lead them…
For a good milonga (according always to my humble opinion..) there are some essential ‘ingredients’ and those are a) inspiring music; b) proper floor; c) good dancers and d) a correct ‘line of dance’ to enjoy all the above. The importance of the latter is huge and neglected by several people, as apart from dancing in couples, the whole milonga functions as a unity as well. If one couple is not following the milonga, then the line is breaking and the pace is lost; nobody can dance… The latter is a problem in several places but in France it’s absolutely a nightmare! If you stand above of the milonga and notice the trajectories of the couples, it looks more like random chaotic systems, or traffic in the centre of Delhi, rather than something following any rule. In addition, due to the attitude discussed in the previous paragraph, most of the French people dance more open as they prefer to ‘keep’ their intimateness. This creates even more chaos as each couple occupies more space.
I have mentioned in the beginning that the French consider their culture the best and it is true that when they have contact with other cultures they don’t make a real effort to ‘cross the line’. They rather feel that they can adopt everything to the ‘French way’, and even improve by adding ‘essential French touch’, instead of trying to get as closer possible to the ‘real thing’. And they usually won’t take seriously other cultures, music, habits. This results in a ‘sloppiness’ in the organisation of the milongas and the way of dancing as well. The French are attracted mostly by the idea, or the aesthetic hypostasis of tango, rather than the dance itself. Many of the DJs or the organisers of milongas are poor tango dancers… They devote their time and effort in a thing that attracts them in an academic manner, but they don’t actually know in depth. Like the sport casters, or the football club presidents who never played soccer, or the film or music critics who are not musicians. That’s why they don’t mind for the existence of milongas with non danceable music or non slippery floors. They cannot understand that there would be a problem in order to find solutions.
Another feature I felt very intensely is a ‘sloppily introduced feminism’ in tango. Experienced dancers know very well that the role of the woman in tango is extremely important and that she controls in a great extent the dance. But she has to know how to follow and when to ‘take over’ the situation. This requires skill, talent and experience on her behalf, but once she masters the game she can be the ‘real’ leader. Nevertheless she cannot lead and this is perceived falsely by many women as submissiveness. Always a discussion starts by somebody opening it and that doesn’t mean that he is the ruler.
A tango starts always by the man making the first step but still is not dominated by him. And from the male perspective, I adore (and prefer) tangeras who know how to take initiatives, as this makes the dance more challenging, alive and creative. On the other hand, it is extremely unpleasant to dance with somebody who doesn’t follow. My role is to introduce the musicality and primarily control the space in the milonga, respecting my partner and the other people. So dancing with a person who acts on its own is very tiring and transforms tango into a sequence of ‘unfulfilled intensions’ rather that a creative communication.
Back to studying and practicing tango, it was to my surprise that in France very few people really study tango, but rather feel that it’s ok to once in a while to the milonga, among their other activities and priorities. On of my explanations is that they have learned to put themselves above things, instead of letting the passion drive them. Another important feature is that French people are in general ‘sober’. They have their eyes open, they plan their lives carefully and to choose what’s best for them. The passion for tango and the blind thirst and devotion to its learning, so common for the tango addicts cannot grow easily in the French. They have ‘better or other things to do as well’ in general, an attitude which may be correct from one point of view, but on the other hand tango demands time and effort…
So what is the bottomline? The French don’t dance tango well because their culture is quite distant from the spirit of tango and because they don’t want to study and really live into it. And what is good in French tango? The idea of dancing your own ‘Tango in Paris’, where of course you can have some super tantas with some excellent partners. The live orchestras which in France I’ve found superior to every other place in Europe. But most of all, it’s the ‘avant garde’… It’s the French touch! It is true that by analysing everything, taking nothing for granted and trying to make the breakthrough all the time (without often having the necessary base), the French cannot offer you e.g. the consistency and the balanced quality of the Italian tangeros…
But they can generate magic moments! In France I’ve been to several medium to bad milongas, but certainly I have danced some super tangos, that broadened my perception of the dance and took me further ahead. That could be the ‘French touch’! And also there are some people who dance well and study tango a lot. And this is the moment when the free, open, creative spirit is combined with skills and talent that can reach perfection. Like some of the excellent dancers I met in the Milonga de 4 Saisons! Allez! On va danser!

Barcelona tango festival: Catalan pride?

2008-11-03T12:02:00.000-08:00

There is no better place to write your blog than at the beach… So this is where I am! Citadella Olympica in Barcelona... I left yesterday France with tears in my eyes (indeed!) to start my road trip to Faro. So unfortunately, I had to say farewell to the country of the good life, delicious food and beautiful women, the land where holidays never stop! The country where all the people carry an artistic touch and they act so unpredictably that makes every moment a possible surprise. Once again I had to tear up my roots and leave. Just like that….

First stop of the trip is Barcelona for the 6^th tango festival here. Two things were very intense on my first moments in Spain. One is the contact with what I call ‘normal people’ the facility to communicate and understand each other that exists between Spanish, Greek and Italians, which is not shared with the always ‘bizarre’ French. The Mediterranean touch! But this time there was something missing in the contact. It’s due to the fact that I got used to the ‘French touch’ and I was looking for this magic ingredient, even though it often makes life and communication more difficult. Second is that Barcelona is an amazing city…

Arriving here, feeling a little bit ‘blue’ for my so recent departure and separation from the people close to me, I needed some thing to tone me up. And in Barcelona this is very easy. Just walking around can be enough, but at the same time, if you want to offer yourself ‘special gifts’ there are so many options. So I started with nice lunch by the sea for example, watching the waves listening to the swell, enjoying the energy that the sea transmits.

Back to tango, on the other hand the festival was not a great thing. The place (Casino) was magnificent, but the people were rather ‘irrelevant’ to tango and while there were some dancers good enough, there was something missing. After long time I felt a ‘closed’ mentality and I don’t know where to attribute it. Catalan people are known to be more reserved and less easy to contact… From the first moment I met people telling me how they like their city, how every time they visit other places, they appreciate Barcelona even more and in general there was this intense feeling of pride and introversion, which could explain also my tango experience.

Tango is connection but if you keep the door shut you are just moving in vacuum space. However my stay was short and I cannot be sure, judging only on the festival. I have the impression that this is not the level of the city, but most likely local people didn’t support the festival and I have to come back to find out how Barcelona tango is…. Nevertheless people are everywhere and I had some delightful tantas, as well as I met some very nice people. So I am going to try again in the future. No matter what the city deserves one or more ‘second chances’!!

Profoundly civilized- La milonga MuSaCa in Geneva

2008-10-29T10:15:00.000-07:00

Anybody would expect a Greek guy to be very interested in a milonga with the name of the most worldwide know Greek dish! So when people told me that it is also a nice place to dance, I took instantly the decision to catch a train and meet the MuSaCa tango tribe! Even though I had been in Geneva before…. And then I realized several things… Firstly the milonga is more of my taste rather than the dish! Secondly, even though I’ve spent 5 days in the city 3 years ago, I haven’t quite known it, a fact that highlights the great advantages of tango tourism. And last but not least, I loved the Swiss people, the way they are and they live.

When I visited the city as a non-French speaker and non-tango dancer, I found it too low key... Especially comparing with the vivid nightlife of Greece where I was living at that time, Geneva gave me a feeling of ‘vacuum’. Of course the politeness and simplicity (in a positive sense) of the Swiss cannot be overlooked, neither the human-friendly, clean and nicely organized city. But unfortunately I didn’t have the possibility to make contact or even chat to the local people. But this time, my tango visit was totally different!
Switzerland and Geneva in particular is extremely (and honestly) international. Apart from the mixing of 4 different language population groups the city is overwhelmed by the thousands of international organizations employees, as well as the tourists and the business visitors, from all over the world. As a result, it is a genuinely international society and what is most impressive is how simply and easily all this is taking place. The Swiss people live smooth and undisturbed lives in a well organized and wealthy country and as a result, their character has developed accordingly; being calm, polite, simple and honest And most important, their perception of the world and the others is similar, good-willed and trustful, an attitude that ‘purifies’ any interaction.

Contact with somebody who is honest and believes that you are honest as well, brings the best of you and this is an amazing feeling. It makes you relax, enjoy the moment in the first place and following generates the desire to ‘pay back’ the ‘treat’. It brings human interaction in a higher lever of quality. As far as tango is concerned, it is obvious that you dance better with somebody you feel well and you are familiar to. Of course an excellent tango can be more ‘aggressive’ or ‘esoterical’ driven either by seduction, or the coincidence of the special moment; but the most enjoyable dance (at least from my point of view) is when you are possessed by positive feelings, familiarity and respect for your partner. When you want to share with him another step, another tango, another tanta, when you want to stay in the abrazo and try to overwhelm him with all your positive energy and feelings. This is the magic of tango…. (or at least some of it!)
And in Milonga MuSaCa this happened to me several times. Almost all the people I’ve met were brilliant and after the first day the feeling was that I participated in a family celebration. Of a big family! And it is true that people who’ve been to MuSaCa will not miss it next time, they are so happy to meet and all this positive energy is in the air, adding something that it is impossible for a big festival to beat. Tango in Switzerland doesn’t have the scale or the dynamism of the Italian tango for example. But I have never been to a milonga with so many people that I was really pleased to meet and I would love to meet again. For that reason the MuSaCa family has now a new member!!
Just before finishing this blog I have to make two remarks… One is about the beautiful ‘Parfumerie’ space where the milonga takes place, with an elegant and simple ambience which I found very much in agreement with the one of the city. Second, about the perfect organization, including hospitality for the foreign tangeros like me, especially considering that this year it was an ‘one man show’ (Sarah’s show!)… A bientot a tous!

PS. Just some additional ‘technical’ details for those who may be interested. For people who haven’t danced to places with very good tango (for me Italy from Rome and to the north is the reference in Europe) the level of the dancers and the quality of the ‘circle of dance’ will be more than satisfactory. Some criticism is that many people dance more open embrace, a style not so of my taste, which also makes couples occupy more space, a disadvantage for the crowded hours of the milonga. Also some dancers (among them several high level ones indeed), weren’t so respectful for the rest and moved in a rather ‘chaotic’ way, making co-existence quite difficult. But in general nothing reaches really disturbing levels and the milonga flows all the time…

Heavy loaded history, the absolute beauty and the thurst for new experiences... Dancing tango in Moscow city!

2008-10-21T08:41:00.000-07:00

Started 23/08/2008

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It’s 4:30 in the morning and I am at Domodedovo, the main airport of Moscow ready to catch my flight back to France… Once again I had the opportunity to pretend that I live in Moscow, spending one month in this crazy place (if not the craziest so far!). One month sharing a flat Moscow downtown (in Chistie Prudi), along with the gentlest British accountant I have met so far, Tom… One month, following the same patterns every day: leaving home and being ready to get electro shocked by the views of the hundreds of thousands of astonishing girls living in this city! One month meeting the stoned faces of the Moscovites reading philosophy, history and literature in the metro and then watching them crawling dead-drunk in the parks.

Moscow is a rough place, where the people have been trained through the years to endure hard times. Situations and living conditions that could drive a Western European in despair or even death, within few weeks are every day reality for the Russian people. On the other hand this country offers one magic fix to its male citizens… Abundance of the most beautiful women in the world! Just watching them passing by the street is a reason (and a way) to stay alive (and kicking)!

If somebody hasn’t walked the center of Moscow 20:00-22:00 in the evening, unfortunately cannot understand what I am talking about. Because we are talking about the ‘grand fest’ of beauty… The most direct and natural interpretation of beauty, 100% focused on aesthetics, grace, sensuality, femininity, without ever losing the balance… Russian girls are beautiful in the most efficient and elaborate way. No ideologies, no styles, no perceptions about life and virtue, just the essence, the most pure interpretation of beauty and femininity.

Soviet people have been through several hard times during this century and the combined outcome of the wars, the purges and living in an Empire, which flourished through taking the maximum out of its citizens, had resulted in extreme scarcity of men during several periods. This ‘natural selection’ process left behind the strongest masculine genes, which on the other hand were offered increased possibility of choice regarding their potential mates. So one of the reasons that Russian women are so nice is that they are the ancestors of the most beautiful women of their time! Only they had the ‘privilege’ to find a partner and make families. And in addition, high aesthetic and femininity standards have in that way been implanted in the prevailing culture, with competition between women for male attention being still strong…

On the other hand, there is the sexist education of the Soviet regime, which still persists, according to which young Russian girls are taught that their role in a family is inferior to the one of the man. They are taught to cook and serve, to walk (like in the catwalk) and do their make-up with professional standards, while the boys learn to do the plumbing and the electricity things in the house… And still, when they date each other, the Russian girls expect that the man will pay all their expenses, confirming his superiority and his dominance. They, on the other hand, know very well to support, to animate and stimulate their man… On the other hand, women no matter how feminine and ‘fragile’ they may look, deep inside they carry a strong and well structured character, based on their good education, the hard times of every day life, without often the presence of man.

So, logically speaking, there are plenty of reasons that the Russian women dance tango very well… It’s because they are feminine, they are beautiful, they have the gift of slim silluetes with long legs, which adds an incredible torsion and dynamism in their dance; it’s because they have been educated to understand, follow and inspire the man and they totally surrender when they dance! And on top of that it’s because they are clever, well educated and they love to learn…

While in the west, education has been transformed into skill acquisition, directly related to the job market, the prevailing perception in Russia is still the classical one. Learning just for the pleasure of acquiring knowledge, no matter if it’s on history, philosophy, politics, or arts. Russian people love to train their minds and gain skills and it’s not an accident that they have been completely hooked, by the ‘trip’ of inheriting all these new movements and emotions, the voleos, the sacadas, planeos, the musicality of tango, the pauses and the climaxes. They adore the creativity it carries and they want to master it NOW! In the Moscow tango community there is a madness going on, with lots of (mostly rich) Moscovites attending numerous classes, special lessons, festivals; travelling around the world, curious to know how other people dance and inviting the cream of Argentinean dancers to teach them their secrets.

So the only negative aspect is that some people dance in a way too ‘loaded’ fashion, doing a lot of figures, without having the necessary the base and letting the passion and the ‘feeling’ as second priority. My interpretation of this attitude is that it’s driven by an ‘academic’ desire to explore tango, but it’s almost common in ‘colder’ places, where direct contact with strangers is not part of the prevailing culture. On the other hand the Russian tangeras, with their inherent tendency towards perfection, are so well skilled and devoted, that they will follow any partner and interpretation of the music. And for that reason Moscow tango, for a male dancer, is an awesome experience, it’s one among the high peaks of the worldwide Tango trip. So perfectly spiced with all those cultural gaps, the curiosity and the desire for acquaintance and interaction and the unique scenery of the unique Moscow city. Which no matter how dominant, it disappears after each cortina….

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Finished 20/10/2008

La milonga des Quatres saisons

2008-10-16T12:50:00.001-07:00

This year I danced a lot, but in general I wouldn’t say that I enjoyed dancing so much. Living in Marseille, where unfortunately tango is very poor, I spent several nights dancing un-synchronised, nervous tangos. There where some bright moments, but it’s true that the region of Provence cannot offer many tango thrills, with the exception of the city of Nimes where things are ok, but still…

But! There was one weekend which really reached perfection, it was my re-birth as a tangero.. The name is the Milonga des Quatres Saisons and it is taking place 2 or 3 times a year in an amazing place close to Systeron. One weekend full of tango in a Agro-tourism, laid-back situation, in a brilliant, old, stone-built edifice, surrounded by beautiful mountainous sights. It is true that in Italy exist several ‘Vacanzas tango’ which can match the situation, but one of the highlights of this event is the multicultural element, avoiding the ‘commercial feel’ of the big festivals. In fact the milonga started as a gathering of friends, who wanted to enjoy a tango weekend together and has gradually open to other people (still though asking permission from the organisers is necessary...). So, people from several countries join, creating a very pleasant blend of cultures and dancing styles… I participated in the Autumn milonga, so I slept on my tent and apart from sleeping; I was dancing all day!
For some people, time is a fuel they consume to reach to their destination and for others; it’s a virgin land to seed. Anyway you take it, when time is abundant, life carries more quality and is more fun… This is what I've experienced in the Milonga des Quatres Saisons, having all the time to dance, but also to talk, to drink tea, to walk on the hills and then dance again! Because tango never lies and always gives a taste of the potential of sharing and experiencing things, but in the Mas du Figuer you will have both the time and the interesting people, as well as the proper frame to exploit the possibility!!

Για τον έρωτα...

2008-10-12T17:54:00.000-07:00

Η μελαγχολία είναι το αγαπημένο ρούχο του έρωτα…. Κι ο έρωτας είναι ευχή και κατάρα στην ψυχή. Σαν ένα ελατήριο φορτίζεται, μαζεύει και πως θα εκτονωθεί κανείς δεν ξέρει….

Πότε δεν αντέχει άλλο και σπάει σκορπώντας άπειρα κομμάτια τριγύρω. Άλλοτε ελευθερώνεται και μας εκτοξεύει τόσο ψηλά που φτάνουμε τ’ άστρα με τα χέρια μας… Είναι και φορές που μένει αιχμάλωτος, καταπιεσμένος, να ποδοπατείται όλο αγωνιώντας για τον χρόνο και τελικά μένει ένα άψυχο, σκουριασμένο μέταλλο…

Αυτό είναι το παιχνίδι του έρωτα, αυτή η μοίρα όσων τον λαχταρούνε και εκείνων που τρέφονται από αυτόν...

Γιατί είναι τροφή, είναι ανάσα.. Πότε μια μεσαία νότα από βιολί που γδέρνει το στήθος σου και πρέπει να σκιστείς στα δύο για να τη νιώσεις κι άλλοτε μια αέρινη μελώδια φλάουτου που σε παρασέρνει όπως ο αέρας τα φύλλα και σε ταξιδεύει…

Αυτά τα ταξίδια δεν ξεχνιούνται ποτέ, για αυτό και δεν σταματάμε να αναπνέουμε έρωτα… Και να εκπνέουμε γαλήνη, τρέλα, οδύνη, χαρά…

Η νύχτα απλώνεται πάλι έξω και στο σκοτάδι μπορεί ο καθένας να βλέπει ότι θέλει… Ο θεός που πιστεύω είναι η αγάπη. Στους φίλους, σε ότι ζω και σε ότι αγγίζω, σε μένα τον ίδιο. Ο έρωτας όμως είναι τύραννος και έχει διαλέξει εμένα για το θύμα του…

Αραδιάζω λοιπόν τα πύρινα βέλη του ένα ένα σε αυτό το χαρτί και αδειάζω το φορτίο του. Λέξη λέξη ηρεμώ και η κούραση της μέρας που πέρασε με τυλίγει…

Ήρεμα με λίγες όμορφες σκέψεις μπορώ να πλαγιάσω τώρα…

Style, fashion, quality and the sediment- In other words... Tango in Italy!!

2008-10-11T17:49:00.000-07:00

I will start my post with a phrase from one of my favourite books, ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’, by Robert Pirsing. Among other things, the author says that ‘the difference between fashion and style is quality..’. And this is what exactly tango is all about. Fashion, trends and lifestyle come and go, often pushing people to habits, lifestyles and tastes, driven by ephemerous aesthetic criteria. But…
Through the years, decades and centuries there is something that sustains through the whirls of time, a ‘sediment’ that is always in fashion, whether it is in architecture, clothes, art and manners… And this, according to my humble opinion, is because it has reached a perfect balance, it has achieved beauty and virtue, stripped by any ideological, or aesthetic trends. Parthenon and the Casa Mila will be always considered nice buildings, as the Adagio of Albinoni and Yesterday from the Beatles will always touch people’s souls. And this is the reason that tango has survived 40 years of prohibition in Argentina, to conquer the world from the 80s to now. Because it comprises one of the best miniatures of life, one of the most ‘real’ forms of human communication and contact…
The Italians on the other hand, they know very well what the term ‘sediment’ is all about. They walk every day to go to their homes or jobs next to architectural miracles from the Renaissance and the Romaic times. They had to design their modern houses, schools and churches in such a way, so that they would stand next to the older ones and they would look ok. In other words their sense of aesthetics and equilibrium has been fine tuned through the centuries, under the reference of the immortal beauty of their history. They were taught by history to respect the ‘sediment’. And in general they do it….
They know that the simple things are the beautiful ones and that to advance to more complex structures it is necessary to have communication and to take time. And they know that they have to respect tradition, as most of the times one can find there all the possible experimentations and future forms. And they will devote time and effort to comprehend it and they may even give up and find shelter there, as they have lived beautiful and pleasant lives in their old cities. Sometimes they try breakthroughs and they fail and others they succeed, but they cannot and don’t want to forget their references, as they have nice visions and experiences from there. Italy is a traditional and nostalgic country that can become really modern when it really finds a reason to do so; otherwise it enjoys the pleasure of living with the accumulated experience of the past. That's why Italy is famous for the style (and the fashion at the same time)…
And once Italians have conquered style they transformed it into lifestyle and they introduced it to all aspects of life, including tango. That’s a good reason that tango in Italy is brilliant; but it’s not the only one… It’s also because half of the citizens of Argentina in the 19th-20th century were Italian emigrants. It’s because when you listen to a canzoneta napoletana, you feel like you meet the grandfather of 'Malena '. It’s because Italians like to stay at home and the ‘creatures of the night’ find shelter only to organised dancing activities to stay out until after midnight. And it’s because the way the Italian women are…..
And they are really awesome; beautiful, sensual, interesting, polite, respectful, one could say that they are perfect… But they are not accessible… Italy is probably the only country where women are equal to men, they are respected in the society and they can be… women at the same time! They can act irrationally, they can have the time they need to do ‘their feminin things’, they can be fragile and sentimental and most of all, desired… But for some reason, they will say 'no' to men two times more, to what they would really like even themselves… (for an amazing text on Italian women see http://mediterranean-lifestyles.blogspot.com/2007/06/ageless-italian-beauty.html)
And the men… they've just learned to enjoy life separately from the women, to enjoy friendship, sports, their beautiful country and most of all they have learned to try! They work hard, they do the best they can to convince one of these awesome ‘ragazzas’ to come closer. And it is true that they have reached extremely high standards of communication skills, pleasant character, appearance and of course… dancing skills! Yes, the Italians dance well tango, salsa and everything, because… they have to!
Furthermore, it’s generally observed that when such ‘traditional’ ethics are dominant in a place's mentality, social forms and codes of interaction are favoured. And of course tango cannot be exempted, as it also fits perfectly to the prevailing Italian style and comportment. This small theatrical parenthesis of passion, lyricism and devotion is tailor made for the Italians. They love it and they can put there all the gathered energy from their (more) passive lives; they can have their perfect moment, with no guilt, as it is put into a frame of an acceptable social activity. And they dance tango like crazy and they dance really well!
Italians in general like communication. They know how to listen and they have a nice way to express themselves, with respect for their listener. And they have high standards for what is good or beautiful and they really care to make it perfect. It’s just like they eat pasta and gelato all through the year, but on the other hand they have transformed their preparation into a supreme form of art. But as they are simple and calm when they communicate, they are passionate in the spirit…
As a result, tango in Italy is rather simple and passionate. Lots of closed abrazos (milongero style), but perfect, smooth caminatas coupled with energy, passion and communication. The perfect moment of two people who meet, learn each other and live together strong emotions. And what is magic is that the level of the dancers is usually above a high threshold, so people dance with each other, they exchange a lot and they get better, bringing the milonga to the level of a real social gathering. It's difficult to dance a bad tango in Italy... No soltadas, volcadas and other acrobatic things are necessary, you just have to listen to the music and control your body well. And if you don’t, you don’t fit to this place, because quality is a prerequisite to participate. Avant-garde fantasy and breakthroughs should be perfectly expressed to be accepted, as people they don’t like to feel that they try to go beyond their capacities and most of all they don’t want the ‘invisible cord’ of perfect communication broken, as this is what they love. The feeling of bringing two bodies in one and they will not miss that for any fancy move… Tradition, equilibrium, measure, blended with pure passion, communication and musicality.... Ma tu balli il tango?

Ο Πόνος

2008-10-09T15:15:00.000-07:00

Πόσο πραγματικά προσπαθούμε να ξεχάσουμε τον πόνο! Ειδικά ο σύγχρονος τρόπος ζωής δίνει στον πόνο μια υπόσταση, σχεδόν μη πραγματική. Καθημερινά ζούμε, ελπίζουμε, σπαταλάμε το είναι μας και τα υλικά μας εφόδια σαν να μη πονέσαμε ποτέ. Και μάλιστα με μια απέλπιδα «ελπίδα» ότι αυτό δεν θα γίνει ποτέ. Είναι άραγε κάτι τέτοιο η καλύτερη ζωή που όλοι αποζητούμε; Είναι τουλάχιστον ζωή;
Ο πόνος που τόσο ολοκληρωτικά επιδρά πάνω μας και μας καταβάλει δεν μπορεί να αποκοπεί από την ζωή. Ο άνθρωπος είτε το θέλει είτε όχι, ζώντας φέρνει πιο κοντά του τον πόνο. Με κάθε χαρά μας τον σπέρνουμε και είναι αυτός που θα διαδεχτεί τις καλύτερες στιγμές μας και μάλιστα για τον ίδιο ακριβώς λόγο που αυτές γεννήθηκαν. Το ίδιο χέρι που μας σήκωσε ψηλότερα, να δούμε κι εμείς για μια στιγμή πιο καθαρά τ’ αστέρια και τον ήλιο, ξαφνικά μας καρφώνει τη λεπίδα του στα ανακουφισμένα βάθη της ψυχής μας.
Είναι αναπόφευκτο για την ανθρώπινη φύση να στολίζει το περιβάλλον του με αγαπημένα άψυχα και έμψυχα, όπως και το να γραπώνεται από τη χαρά, την ευτυχία και την γαλήνη, όταν το μπορεί. Αυτό και όχι μόνο, είναι και το ανελέητο δόκανο του πόνου, η επιθυμία μας για χαρά και η αγκίστρωση μας σε ότι την προκαλεί. Ένα αόρατο σκοινί που γεννιέται και κάνει κομμάτι μας οτιδήποτε μας εξυψώνει από τις επίπεδες δυναμικές του καθημερινού μας βίου. Ένα σκοινί που όταν χρειαστεί να αφαιρεθεί, θα φέρει πάνω του κολλημένο κάτι δικό μας, μια επώδυνη εγχείρηση.
Αλλά και ο πόνος δεν μας καταχωνιάζει στα σκοτάδια της ζωής. Δεν είναι έρεβος, είναι αστραπή. Μια ακίδα που κεντώντας απλώνει μια οδύνη, όχι θανάσιμη, που πάντα αγγίζει κάποια άγνωστη χορδή μας και την διεγείρει. Και έτσι βγαίνουν νέες αρμονίες από τη φωνή μας, πλουσιότερα λικνίσματα διαθλούν το είδωλο μας στον κόσμο.
Ο πόνος κρατά στη ζωή αυτές τις αισθήσεις μας, ενεργοποιεί αυτά τα ψυχικά αποθέματα, που ορίζουν την λέξη άνθρωπος. Γιατί όποιος έχει διανύσει μια απόσταση ποτέ δεν βρίσκεται ακριβώς στο σημείο οπού πατάει, αλλά και σε όλα όσα έχει πρωτύτερα διαβεί. Κουρασμένος, ικανοποιημένος και γεμάτος από εικόνες και συναισθήματα που διαδεχόντουσαν το ένα το άλλο.
Αυτός είναι και ο λόγος που δεν πρέπει να φοβόμαστε τον πόνο, αλλά μόνο να τον δεχόμαστε σαν μια κουραστική διαδρομή, ίσως με βαρύτερο φορτίο. Και ίσως ακόμα και να μη τον αποφεύγουμε αλλάζοντας τη ρότα μας, γιατί έτσι τον υπηρετούμε. Άλλωστε, αν ο τόπος που βρισκόμαστε δεν μας ικανοποιεί, θα προτιμήσουμε μια οδυνηρή διαδρομή από την παραμονή και όμοια θα είναι λυπηρό να μας δένει ο φόβος του να πονέσουμε σε καταστάσεις που δεν θρέφουν τη ψυχή μας. Πόσες οάσεις, μαγικά τοπία και ζεστές, όλο στολίδια ψυχές κρύβει αυτός ο κόσμος μόνο να φανταζόμαστε μπορούμε…
Στο ταξίδι της ζωής λοιπόν, όποια διαδρομή κι αν διαλέξουμε ο πόνος δεν είναι μόνο πόνος, αλλά και χαρά και γαλήνη και προσμονή και κυρίως ο πόνος είναι ζωή. Και η χαρά το απόγειο της….

12 Οκτωβρίου 2001
Αν και όλα ξεκίνησαν στο πλοίο για Μυτιλήνη

Ταξιδεύοντας χορεύοντας τάνγκο

2008-10-09T14:56:00.000-07:00

Είμαι άνθρωπος που γενικά αγαπάει το tète-a-tète… Μου αρέσει αυτή η κατάσταση όταν συγκεντρώνεσαι και δίνεσαι ολοκληρωτικά σε έναν σκοπό, ειδικά όταν αυτός είναι κοινός και ξεκάθαρος και επιπλέον τον μοιράζεσαι με κάποιον. Και λέω επίσης ξεκάθαρος, γιατί συνήθως όταν μαζεύονται πολλοί άνθρωποι, ο σκοπός και ο έλεγχος χάνεται και απλά επιβάλλονται οι πιο ισχυρές προσωπικότητες. Όταν δύο άνθρωποι αλληλεπιδρούν η αλήθεια του καθενός έχει την ίδια βαρύτητα, όσο κι αν είναι διαφορετική. Δεν μπορείς να παραβλέψεις αυτά που για σένα δεν έχουν σημασία, αν έχουν για αυτόν που έχεις απέναντι σου και οφείλεις να σεβαστείς τα θέλω του, τις αντιλήψεις του και την αισθητική του. Και όταν σέβεσαι και ακούς τότε ταξιδεύεις… Σε άλλους κόσμους, άλλα χρώματα, μαθαίνεις άλλους τρόπους και τόπους. Και πραγματικά εκπλήσσεσαι από το πόσοι διαφορετικοί άνθρωποι υπάρχουν, που μπορούν να σε διδάξουν ένα πολύτιμο μυστικό που μετά θα γίνει δικό σου για πάντα.

Αλλά το τάνγκο είναι αυτό, αλλά και τίποτα παρόμοιο. Είναι η συνάντηση δύο ανθρώπων για να υποδυθούν έναν ρόλο που υποβάλει η μουσική. Μόνο που ο ρόλος δεν είναι ξεκάθαρος, αλλά απλά υπονοείται από το τάνγκο που ηχεί και αυτό διαθλάται διαφορετικά μέσα την ψυχή καθενός. Όταν λοιπόν ξεκινάει ένα τάνγκο αρχίζει μια συζήτηση πάνω στην ερμηνεία του κομματιού, την οποία απλά ο άνδρας ξεκινά. Η ντάμα τον στηρίζει, τον εμπνέει και τον στολίζει, ή τον απορρίπτει. Για αυτό και κάθε τάνγκο είναι μια βαθειά γνωριμία, είναι ένα ταξίδι μέσα στον κόσμο του άλλου, μια και είναι βασισμένη σε έναν κοινό και ξεκάθαρο σκοπό.

Η επιπλέον μαγεία έρχεται από τους άπειρους συνδυασμούς σωματότυπων, διαθέσεων, αντιλήψεων της ζωής και του ίδιου του τάνγκο και φυσικά μουσικής, που μπορούν να μετατρέψουν κάθε τάντα σε ποίηση, ή σε έναν όμορφο, χαλαρό διάλογο στον δρόμο με κάποιον άγνωστο. Πάντα σε σχέση με το δικό σου πρίσμα… Όσο πιο πολύ καταλαβαίνεις, προσαρμόζεσαι και δέχεσαι, αλλά και ταυτόχρονα εκφράζεσαι χωρίς να υπερβαίνεις και σέβεσαι, τόσο μικρότερη είναι η πιθανότητα να έχεις μια αρνητική εμπειρία. Και φυσικά σε σχέση με αυτό που ψάχνεις... Γιατί το τάνγκο δεν λέει ποτέ ψέματα, ούτε οδηγεί σε παρεξηγήσεις, αντίθετα αποκαλύπτει πολλές κρυφές αλήθειες. Ενώ κάθε μέρα περπατάμε στον δρόμο με τα μάτια ορθάνοικτα και τόσα πρότυπα καρφωμένα στον εγκέφαλο μας να μας ορίζουν τον καλό και το κακό, την ίδια στιγμή στην μιλόνγκα κλείνουμε τα μάτια και ακούμε, νιώθουμε και μυρίζουμε… Άρα δεν μπορούμε να γελαστούμε… Ούτε και να ξεγελάσουμε… Απλά αφήνουμε την μουσική να περάσει από μέσα μας, ανοίγουμε την πόρτα της ψυχής μας και προσκαλούμε αυτόν που χορεύει μαζί μας. Είναι δικό το θέμα αν θα περάσει μέσα, που θα πάει και πόσο θα κάτσει. Το πρώτο τάνγκο με έναν άγνωστο είναι ένα μεγάλο τεστ… Τα επόμενα εξίσου!

Ξεκίνησα να χορεύω τάνγκο το 2006 σε μια πόλη 40.000 κατοίκων, στην Λέσβο με την καθοδήγηση ανθρώπων που ένιωθα ξεκάθαρα ότι είχαν προσβληθεί από κάποιας μορφής αρρώστια! Ανθρώπων που ήταν ξεκάθαρο ότι ήταν παθιασμένοι για το τάνγκο, που έδιναν τον χρόνο και την ενέργεια τους χωρίς να περιμένουν κάποια ανταμοιβή, παρά μόνο την χαρά του να βλέπουν τους άλλους να χαίρονται το τάνγκο. Εκτίμησα πάρα πολύ αυτήν την εθελοντική αγάπη, τόσο στους ανθρώπους αλλά και για την πάθηση! Λιγότερο από έναν χρόνο μετά διέκρινα πάνω μου ακριβώς τα ίδια συμπτώματα, συλλαμβάνοντας με να κάνω δεκάδες χιλιόμετρα απλά για να χορέψω ένα βράδυ, να ταξιδεύω τον κόσμο με πυξίδα αυτό το ίδιο πάθος… Είχα εθιστεί και εγώ σε αυτόν τον τρόπο επικοινωνίας και συνεύρεσης, που ακόμα και τώρα θεωρώ ίσως τον πιο βαθύ και πλήρη που έχω γνωρίσει…

Στα χρόνια που περάσανε, είχα την τύχη να ταξιδέψω πολύ, να ζήσω σε διάφορα μέρη και να χορέψω σε όλα από αυτά. Η εμπειρία τους να ζεις σε έναν ξένο τόπο περιλαμβάνει πάρα πολλές δυσκολίες, αλλά έχει ένα μαγικό χαρακτηριστικό, τουλάχιστον ως προς την δική μου εμπειρία. Διαλύει τον ‘μύθο μας’ αυτόν που χτίζουμε μεγαλώνοντας, όλους τους κώδικές συμπεριφοράς και αισθητικής που μας βοηθούν στις συναναστροφές μας και συνήθως έχουν αξία σε ένα συγκεκριμένο μέρος. Σε γενικές γραμμές διαμορφώνουμε μια προσωπικότητα που αποδέχεται ή αντιδρά σε δεδομένα πρότυπα, συμπεριφορές και ήθη και όποια κι αν είναι η θέση μας, το σημείο αναφοράς παραμένει το ίδιο. Όταν φεύγουμε, ερχόμαστε σε επαφή με άλλους ανθρώπους που έχουν ακολουθήσει άλλον μύθο, άλλο σημείο αναφοράς το οποία είναι μάλλον αργά να ακολουθήσουμε. Έχουμε αυτόματα χάσει τον δρόμο, δεν γνωρίζουμε τον τρόπο, δεν έχουμε χάρτη. Και ο πιο σωστός δρόμος για αυτόν που τον έχει χάσει, είναι να ακολουθήσει τις μικρές, απλές αλήθειες… Αυτές που απλουστεύουν την επικοινωνία και γίνονται πάντα κατανοητές… Και παντού! Για μένα αυτή η απλούστευση είναι βελτίωση…

Μια κινέζικη παροιμία λέει ότι ‘αν δεν έχεις φυτέψει ένα δέντρο, δεν έχεις γράψει ένα ποίημα και δεν έχεις ερωτευτεί, δεν έχεις γευτεί την ζωή’… Εγώ θα έλεγα ότι αν δεν έχεις ερωτευτεί, δεν έχεις ένα τραγούδι να θυμάσαι και δεν έχεις χορέψει τάνγκο, δεν έχεις ζήσει έναν τόπο. Όσοι χορεύουν τάνγκο θα συμφωνήσουν ότι πηγαίνοντας σε μια μιλόνγκα σου δίνει πολύ περισσότερα για τον τόπο που επισκέπτεσαι από δεκάδες μουσεία, μπαρ και εστιατόρια μαζί. Ζήτω λοιπόν τα τανγκο ταξίδια!!