Thru the wall

While looking for Handel’s ‘Sarabande’ from the Suite in D minor for solo harpsichord at youtube I stumbled upon this ad:



Haven’t seen it in ages. Still, I do remember how exhilarating I found this video the first time I watched it back in 2002.
Didn’t buy the jeans though.
PS.While we are at it: the UK Lilt Odyssey spoof is not to be missed.

Why should we take it easy?

I love Emiliana Torrini. For those of you who have never heard of her - read on.
She is a beautiful, gifted woman who possesses the extraordinary ability to nail things down with just few simple words.
Some time ago I met up with one of my non-tango friends. These occasions being ever so rare, I did my best to avoid even mentioning tango, but then he asked. I admit I can get pretty emotional at times and I might have gotten carried away a bit. But after a while he made me stop dead in my tracks by just saying in an amused way, "Come on,you are not serious, are you? Take it easy. It's just a hobby".
There it was, as fluffy as clichés generally go.
How often in our lives do we hear those magical three words? Take this easy
and take that easy.
You know what?
I wish I could, but on the second thought – I'm afraid, I don't want to.
Neither tango, nor anything else in my life.

Do you like to be alike?

Do you have a Facebook account? And if that’s the case, have you come across the Likeness application? Come on, admit it, I know for sure that you have:-)
For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about: this silly applet lets you take a quiz to find out how much you are like/unlike your friends and one's asked to answer ten questions to some random subject. Afterwards the answers are evaluated - et voilà! - you find out that you are "Twins" or "Peas in the pod" with someone.
How do you feel about it? Do you like being alike?
I know it's a bit daft to give it a first thought, let along the second one.
But it made me think nonetheless.
As a teenager I bore some resemblance to a child star well-known in the country I was born and brought up in. She came across as a sweet, lively girl. It also went without saying that for your average school boy she was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
So the first time my friends pointed it out to me, I was absolutely psyched. My greedy little mind seemed to discern undreamt-of possibilities in it. So I did everything possible to look more likeher…up to the point of even studying her mannerisms. And for some time it made me more popular.
But bit by bit I became weary of it. I didn't want to hear "Wow, do you know you look exactly like…?" anymore.
I longed to be me again.
At the end of the day most of us are bound to find out that being ourselves is easier than pretending being someone else. It also applies to tango. How often do we notice people on the dance floor who are ready to go to some mighty lengths to look like their teacher, their friend or – last but not the least - their foe.
Some time ago I watched the show of a considerably well-known couple. Twenty seconds into their performance I already thought I was hallucinating, because what they danced was an exact copy of this choreography (I'm aware of the fact that I just outed myself as a freakish freak with too much time on my hands, but yes, I watched this video once or twice:-) Whatever.
It was almost offensive as they seemed to me talented and sassy enough to come up with something of their own.
My fellow bloggers have already mused repeatedly about things like woman's style in tango and the world has surely had its share of Chico wannabes.
For many of us it's just a part of the learning process. But some get stuck forever in an endless circle of copy-pasting someone else's moves and lives.
I think sometimes it's easier to grow up and out of whatever one's been holding dear and start thinking, living and dancing for ourselves.
I'm ready to embrace my "alikeness", as long as it's all mine, coming straight from my soul. Because that's one thing that makes every one of us unique, isn't it?
Silly quizzes notwithstanding.

Have a break...

... have a piano cat.





I'm staying home tonight. It's stormy outside and I don't feel like going out.
So i'm in for a movie.

And one point goes to...

Bereits seit einiger Zeit kann man auf youtube-Kanälen sehen, wie man die anderen bewertet. Lustig, wie sich da so manch’ unerwarteter Abgrund auftut. Nehmen wir doch als Beispiel

den kanal von tangueriles aka Familie Paludi

Scrollt man die Seite herunter, erhascht man einen Blick auf „Meine neuesten Bewertungen“.
Auf zwei Sachen kann man daraus schließen:
1) Als Kind träumte Geraldine Rojas davon, Turnerin zu werden.
2) Geraldine Rojas hat es so richtig auf Jennifer Bratt abgesehen.
Ich meine, wenn man sich die Mühe gibt, jemandem einen Punkt zu geben, then he(she) is definitely making a statement. Für die noch nicht Eingeweihten: Jennifer Bratt ist eine San-Franciscoer Tanguera, die einen gewissen Grad an Netzberühmtheit mit ihren Embellishment-Videos erlangte.

Obwohl kein großer Fan von ihrem Tanzpartner, finde ich die beiden doch sehr sympathisch. Jennifer’s einziges winziges „Vergehen“ war wohl, dass ihr Name häufig in Verbindung mit dem von Geraldine erwähnt wurde, und zwar wegen ihrer präzisen Fußarbeit.

Was haben wir daraus zu lernen? Don’t mess with the queen.

Auch sieht es so aus, als hätte Ezequiel Paludi unter dem Namen neotanga666 durch die fremden Videos gehopst (vorwiegend die mit Chicho, Arce, Dana und Pablo) und eine schleimige Spur von Beleidigungen hinterlassen.
Das tun die beiden auch in ihren Workshops, leider: Ezequiel erhebt mit Vorliebe belehrend den Zeigefinger, um den gleich in die Richtung seiner imaginären Feinde auszustrecken.
Das Recht auf freie Meinungsäußerung ist unanfechtbar. Aber wo verläuft die Grenze zwischen einem gefühlten Standpunkt und einfacher Bosheit? - die ist häufig verwischt.
Viele würden behaupten: je höher nach oben, desto dünner der Luft, also muss man sich - auch als Tänzer - von anderen abgrenzen, indem man die letzteren runterputzt.
Schade eigentlich.