Following is a beautiful article written by Franziska Greiling for release
to the Detroit Newspapers.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TODAY S DATE:
CONTACTS:
Amy Calio
President, Latin and Argentine Tango Club of Detroit, 313-561-3236
Ferdinand Hampson
Habatat Galleries, 248-333-2060.
No Last Tango in Detroit
Valentino danced it pulling his partner to him with a bullwhip. Laurel and
Hardy caricatured it. The pope disapproved of it. The Argentine upper
crust feared its anarchistic streak, but their young men went to the slums
of Buenos Aires to learn it. The Kaiser forbade his officers to dance it.
Mothers warned their daughters that it would ruin their reputations and
their prospects.
No one could stop the tango. Not in pre-first world war Europe and the
United States, and not now. Not even time has stopped it. There is no last
tango 120 years after the creation of the dance in Argentina. Ah individual
last tangos, yes, when passion dies or death intercedes, but the shock and
the delight of the tango still stuns people who want to see more and even
learn this ultimately complex dance.
Consider Detroit in September. Glass sculptor Leah Wingfield has a series
The Last Tango showing at Habatat Galleries all month, and eight Argentine
tango dancers come to Detroit at the end of the month for three performances
and a plethora of dance classes open to the public. If anyone is
particularly smitten by the tango and asks, Is it possible to get private
tango lessons, the answer is yes.
Wingfield knows what it s like to be caught by the dance. I collected and
listened to CD s of the lovely, haunting and passionate Tango. Over and
over and over and loud. I was absolutely captivated by the music and the
deliciously scandalous history of the Tango. . . .I just love the unabashed
sexiness and romance expressed by the dancers. And I adore the politically
incorrect machismo! It just seems to elicit a gut response before one has a
chance to think it away.
The dancers coming to town are proof that this dance, created in the 1880 s,
has young legs. Compania TangoDanza includes six fine young dancers from
the latest generation of tanguistes to tour internationally: Leandro Palsu
and Andrea Missi, Gabriel Missi and Maria Sol Alzamora, and Diego Amormn and
Vanesa de Lmo. TangoDanza is taking a break in their tour to join up with
another young couple from Buenos Aires, Mariana Gonzalo and Claudio Fontis,
in Detroit. The eight dancers are part of a 10-day long celebration of the
seventh anniversary of the Latin and Argentine Tango Club of Detroit. The
club is made up, primarily, of Americans who love the dance. It s led by
Amy Calio, an Argentine/American who is the club s president and one of the
area s foremost teachers of Tango.
The 10 days are a mix of performances and classes, but the peak is a
nightclub event: a formal dinner/dance and professional tango show beginning
at 7 p.m., Sept. 29, at Lovett Hall in Greenfield Village. At some of the
other events, professional dancers will demonstrate and coach people
attending the classes and parties. Events include:
Sept. 23, a tango workshop with classes in beginning, intermediate and
advanced levels in the tango and two related dance forms, from 1 to 6:30
p.m. at the Pittsfield Grange, 3337 Ann Arbor/Saline Road, Ann Arbor.
Sept. 23, an evening class, dinner and dancing from 7 p.m. to whenever
everyone gets tired at the Grange Hall
Sept. 24, dancing the milonga, a dance that is one of the tango s immediate
ancestors, at the Brickhouse, 7755 Auburn Road, Utica, beginning at 7 p.m.
Sept. 30, classes at 7 p.m. followed by a party at the Scarab Club, 217
Farnsworth, Detroit.
Oct. 1, a workshop including beginning, intermediate and advanced classes in
tango and related dances with eight professionals at Dance Avenue, 1860
North Telegraph, Dearborn.
Tickets for the dinner dance and show are $70 for members, $80 for
non-members and $40 for the show alone. Instruction costs $30 a class, $50
for two classes and $60 for all three. Parties after classes, including
food, are $20 per person. To discuss private dance lessons, or to learn
more about events, call Amy Calio at 313-561-3236, or visit the club s
web-site at http://www.MotorCityMilongueros.com.
The work of sculptress Leah Wingfield is at Habatat Gallery, 7 North Saginaw
Street in Pontiac from Sept. 1-30. For more information, call 248-333-2060
or visit the web-site: http://www.habatat.com.
# # #
Note: Photo opportunities with the dancers begin Sept. 15 when Mariana
Gonzalo and Claudio Fontis arrive from Buenos Aires. TangoDanza dancers
arrive in Detroit Sept. 22. Pictures could be taken of the dancers and
sculptures together at Habatat Galleries or of the dancers at another
location such as a dance studio.
Abrazos,
Amy y Ray
Latin & Argentine Tango Club of Detroit
25283 Hopkins
Dearborn Heights, MI 48125
(313) 561-3236 (313) 561-4505 (Fax)
http://www.MotorCityMilongueros.com
