For the Followers of the Tango, Tango is a Religion
It has a Mecca-Buenos Aires. It was practiced in secrecy, and only when the Parisians whole heartedly took on this religion did it come out into the public eye. Tango has different forms of spiritual practice: music, poems, dance and tango shoes (ok this is my cult). Tango has prophets, and GOD(S)- although this I am sure is up for debate. With this comes the politics of it all.
All of these subjects I will touch on in the future, but today I would like to introduce to you a dancer Carlos Gavito. The following is a part of a letter I posted to my friends sometime in January 2005.
'I feel very fortunate to be able to take classes with a well known dancer and professor of tango, Carlos
Gavito. He is so elegant and yet so simple (or rather makes it seem this way).
This is very special for it is unknown how long this master of tango will be with us. Carlos is very sick and is dying of a brain tumour, but his dance is not fragile at all. I have named Gavito, La Profeta. He preaches how the tango should be danced. "A woman," he says," is not a marionette. She should be treated like she is the most precious thing in your arms."
We are his followers wanting to be a part of his inner circle- the disciples. I received the blessing of Gavito, The Kiss (only one cheek here not the double). I am a convert. Will I get to go to Tango Heaven now? Only if I do not dance with the devil the bastardized Nuevo Tango that have all the Viejos (oldies) scandalized.
On Sunday we went to Club Cuidad de Buenos Aires for a milonga and Demonstration of Carlos and it was extremely emotional for everyone. He is so loved.'
When I would bring up Gavito's name in conversation with other people in the Tango World in BsAs. I received similar stories about him. Which in itself sounds like a tango song. In the early days he was not a well known dancer or even known as a great dancer but he persisted.Time moved on and he ran into troubles and had to leave Buenos Aires. The burdens of his troubles gave him the emotional intensity expressed in his movement of the Tango. Gavito returns to Buenos Aires triumphant.
On July 1, 2005 Carlos Gavito went to Tango Heaven.
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2 comments:
Dear Miss "Tango in her eyes",
First of all I must say that I enjoy reading your blog.
I have been fortunate to have had some lessons with the great teacher Carlos Gavito. When he used to visit London regularly it was such rewarding times to be able to take workshops and lessons with him.
Mr Gavito has certainly had the greatest effect on me in the way I think, feel and enjoy Tango is to be danced.
However regarding the tango itself being viewed or referred to as a religion I must seriously disagree.
Perhaps my posting Tango is not a religion explains this in more detail than I could fit into a comment here.
MilongaCat
Hello Milonga Cat,
Thanks for stopping in. Gavito certainly did have a wonderful way of conveying the feeling of Tango. Which is why I nicknamed him La Profeta. His passion was so infectious of spreading the spirit of Tango.
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