Rio Tango Trip with Paulo Araujo - "Bem Legal" (Very Cool) November 4-13, 2004
>From the air Rio presents a spectacular sight, azure waters ringed by a >circlet of uninhabited rocks, the city with its skyscrapers pocketed off into >distinct zones by the necklace of verdant mountains, the dazzlingly white >stretches of beach, and the favela shantytowns clinging to the sides of the >mountains. It is truly one of the most beautiful cities to fly over with >sensational contrasts of mountain, ocean, dwellings, jungle, waterfalls and >islands. Almost at once my heart began singing and I felt like I was a >character in one of the old crime movies where the handsome huckster >villain-hero with his illegal millions says to his bella dama "We'll escape to >Rio honey." Yes, there is an air of uninhibited, totally unrepentant, and unselfconscious sin about the city, from the gorgeous transvestites and prostitutes who parade openly on Copacabana Beach and in Lapa (the nightlife section of town) nearly unclothed, to the fact that no one stops for red lights (the traffic kind) while driving at night. But it is also a great city for tango. We started our classes with Paulo who was warm and encouraging and made time to talk to everyone individually in the group. During our week there we had several group classes at Cafe Xango, his studio in Botafogo and 14 hours of semi-private classes. The classes were amazing, as all his classes are. We learned his basic tenets but also had time for a lot of private correction which is impossible in the large classes. We particularly concentrated on slowing down our movements and analyzing them, so that we could correct bad, habitual patterns. We became very aware of where our weight and balance were located, and the specifics of where each step needed to begin. Depending on where the weight and balance are of the follower (feet together, unweighted foot forward or behind, or weight in between both feet), a different step can be led from each position. His studio is the top two stories of an unmarked building at 172 rua da Passagem, and has a lovely view of Pao de Azucar (Sugarloaf Mountain). It turned out that bus 119 ran directly from our hotel in Ipanema to the Rio Sul shopping center, a 2 reale ride (2.75 reales = $1 US currently). This bus runs every 5-10 minutes. From the shopping center it was only a few blocks to walk to his studio, and this became our daily routine. Paulo has wonderful teachers who share his studio. Andre and Alice are a young and enthusiastic couple who help teach the tango classes while Paulo is away traveling and teaching 8 months out of the year. Andre has a background in contemporary dance as well and Alice is a personal trainer and conducts stretching classes and can recommend massage therapists if you need one. They took us samba dancing to an old traditional and very famous "gafeira" one night called Estudantina in the center of town. This gafeira was an old wooden structure with no air-conditioning. It was a warm night, like summer (the temperatures in Rio are at least 10 degrees warmer than Buenos Aires for the same time of year) and people were sweating like mad. The live music at this particular night was mostly blues and jazz. The samba and forro that they danced had a particular lilting quality with a lot of up and down and circular movement that we are not used to in tango. There is a lot of pelvis to pelvis contact. People are laughing and friendly and drinking their delicious Brazilian beer, not the serious, introspective expressions that you are used to seeing in tango. We went to a tango milonga almost every night and got used to meeting the same tango addicts over and over again. There are numerous tango teachers in Rio. Luckily most of the milongas were fairly near our area, because Rio is quite spread out due to the interspersed mountains. Folks were friendly and it was quite common for women to ask the men to dance without the censure that often happens in a BA milonga. "Cabeceo" was used, but often the men simply walked over to the table. We were invited to private tango parties and celebrations. People gave us their phone numbers and offered rides. The tango itself was not at as high a level in Buenos Aires, but each of us still had some very good dances, enough to tire out our feet.
