Here's a picture of Jamaal, my partner/colleague in crime for these camps, discussing a video that they just saw of tango dancers with 1 of the  camps (Emery).

I actually like the blurry picture.  They look like they are dancing tango!!!  This is on the performance afternoon, on the stage, this is 1 of the 'dance camps' (Harry Thomas) doing their tango thing.  I am on the stage in the wings taking this picture....

I learned a handful of things from this camp experience.  And like most things, I know how we could make it better next time. 

I like the idea behind teaching Tango to high schoolers.  Argentine Tango itself, offers its' participants many things.  We don't just learn a dance form, get exposed to different "old" music, but also learn patience, how to negotiate, trust and a handful of other useful life tools!

We bought "expensive" tickets as I didn't want to sit in the nose bleed section of the theater.  It was pouring rain.  We arrived with time to get situated.  As we waited in line to climb 4 flights of stairs (at which point I thought - hmmm - I don't think our seats are correct - 4 flights of stairs?) we arrived to stand in another line to get to our seats.  It appears that they had double ticketed a few seats, including our own.

As we waited for the "person in charge to arrive", it was, of course, getting closer to performance time.  So Rommel sprang into action.  He had asked another young lady waiting how much she had paid for her ticket and it was a bit cheaper than ours.  He asked to be seated lower and we down a level and the "person in charge" still hadn't arrived.  Rommel asked if one of the boxed seats "palcos" were available for now as the lights were blinking to indicate it was time to be seated.  shop.tuentrada.com/Online/mapa_colon/mapa.html   Now, we thought, according to what the girl at the box office had shown us that we had bought tickets at the first "palco" - so not orchestra seats but the next up.  And as she was showing us this color coded map - there was different pricing for the 1st row, and the 2nd row, etc.  VERY CRAZY.  So we looked at our tickets later and they did say "cazuela".  Someone clearly screwed up!!!  In the end, we ended up in great seats.  They told us they were 700 peso seats. Which I had a hard time believing, considering that price wasn't an option when I was buying them!!  But maybe they aren't available for sale!

Rommel did a lot of exploring during the 2 intermissions!!!  He shot this pics from the "palcos" opposite us! 

He found that there were 3 "cafeterias".  He went to the 8th floor ? - the very top - and said that the layout was VERY different than the lower floor.  It seemed that as you descended from the "heavens" the cafeteria catered to that clientele.  He told me of the champagne bottles on ice, with well dressed families at reserved tables!!! 

The Theatre is still undergoing renovations.  And I found it funny or out-dated - the pricing structure, the seeming opulence, the "security". 

Or maybe it has just been too long since I've been to an "older" theater, where the actual structure and design reflects the structure of the social classes.  If you're poor you sit as far away as possible fromthe 'stars' and can't be seen bothering the rich!!! 

Nevertheless, it was quite beautiful a theater.  We walked down to the orchestra seat level after the performance and thus, were "allowed" to leave out the main entrance - now that was beautiful as well.  What a difference than our arrival, where we entered from the side and missed this entry foyer that in itself was magnificent!!  I could just imagine kings and queens being escorted into this grandiose entry chamber / reception area. 

Not sure what else it would be used for!!! But it is very beautiful!  I haven't said anything about the actual ballet or the dancers or the orchestra!!!  And well, there isn't much to say, unfortunately.  I didn't think the dancing was anything out of this world.  If seemed to be that the dancers took awhile to warm up.  There was 1 pas-de-deux with "Manon" and her lover that was very lovely.  But aside from that it was really just ok for me!  It is always nice to have live music and to be able to see the orchestra and the conductor, which we could from our seats!  The story is rather strange and well, depressing!  It puts women in a rather dim light!  "I'll take the man who gives me jewels, because my brother has set me up with him and has told me to even after I've been with the man I am in 'love' with, and the man with the money and the power then takes me to his favorite bordello to play cards" - huh???  "Then 'Manon' encourages her lover to cheat at a card game, her brother gets killed, she goes to jail, the jailman molests her, she runs off with her lover to strange lands, she dies".... ugh!!!   I had expected more from the dancers - ie: higher, tighter, jumps. More clarity of lines.  But somehow it just never came.  Like I said there was 1 "pas de deux", that I can't remember where it was now but that I remember thinking, "that was lovely".  Strange to see dancers making out on stage too.  WOW!  That was a little abrupt for me!!  ANYWAY!!! 

Overall, etiquette was a little, well - Argentine!!!  Yes, I know it's still flu season but really? Lots of coughing!  And the bugger of all - TAKING FLASH PICTURES! It says on the program - no flash photography. AND they made the announcement during intermission to huge applause. BUT nope - they didn't seem to care or maybe they didn't think they were being talked about, "flash photos? they can't be talking about me... i'll just take one more!"  ANYWAY!!!

I was glad to go and the experience was great!!! 

Last night we went to see Fuerza Bruta at the Centro Cultural Recoleta. 

I didn't know really what to expect. 

I had surfed them online and had seen part of their performances for the Bicentennial and had heard from fellow dancers (Delisa and Jayne) that they were amazing!  SO!  THEY ARE AMAZING!!!  It is very much unlike anything I have experienced before.  It's interactive, it's all over the space - vertical, horizontal - you are looking up, you're looking near, far, you are in a club, you are standing up, you are clapping, oohing, ahhing, you're getting wet!! - it's quite unexpected.  They really push the boundaries of what "performance" is and what the relationship between the audience and the performers. 

My 2 favorite parts, NO WAIT - my 3 favorite parts were / are: 

1) the "walking on the wall rolling on the foil section"  - you can see 1 of the girls here in this picture. 

There are 2 girls on a wire and the foil is against a wall - they are running and leaping and flipping as the foil is waving and moving and on top of that the lights keep changing so that the colors create a whole texture. 

My 2nd favorite section was the cool body part flinging with head jiggling and mouth open and yelling choreography that was a repeated phrase.  It was interesting and loud and had this interesting contrast of "all over the place" and organized. 
In this picture above you see 3 girls in front and 2 boys in the back.  They repeat this choreography with the legs moving and heads jiggling, feet stomping, in this box shape.  The dancers soon after descend into the space where we are standing and interact with us. 

My 3rd favorite section is the "water" section.  It's totally brilliant.  There's a see-through fiber glass (?) pool that starts close to the ceiling above us and gradually descends to just above the audience.  The dancers slide and splash and stomp around above us.  The pool descends and it's amazing to watch the whole audience reach out and touch the pool, i don't know, in fascination or in need to touch them! 
So in this picture the pool has already descended from the ceiling to just above the audience.  And all the hands touching the pool.  There are dancers on the other side and the light has a lovely effect on the water. 

Here's one of the dancers playing and making faces to us, the audience, below her.  She takes notice of us and presses her face against the pool to see us!

The lovely "mermaids" below play off the theme that the dancer above set up.  The lovelies below reminded me of nymphs. There was a playful air to them and the music helped to add to the feel of playfulness.  Very satisfying to see them like this after seeing them slip sliding diving across the pool above us!

And the last picture from this section that I will share here is the figure of a body in the water as the pool grows distant - as it ascends.

Sigh!!!  I feel like i just relived it!!!!

I took video as well and would like to figure out how to post a few little bits to the blog... 

So tonite - Saturday - I am off to Teatro Colon.  I hope to snag a few pictures of the inside and enjoy the ballet of course!!!

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Here is the link to more of my pictures: www.facebook.com/album.php   and more:

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Wednesday night we went to a little local milonga hosted by Jose y Ana. It was great to see everyone using their new found tango confidence to dance with some locals as opposed to shying away from the idea...

On Thursday we woke up relatively early - it was still dark out at 8am!  And we had a long drive ahead of us. We were headed to Uco Valley - Valle de Uco.  This is much higher, chillier.  It took us about an hour and 15 minutes to get there.  We were supposed to go to Andeluna and they couldn't confirm our reservation so we got a last minute visit with La Azul.  A really small bodega.  We had a lovely tour and fabulous explanation of their wine-making process.  Each tasting is individual - and also corresponds to each persons habits.  For example, a person who drinks orange juice will experience the wine very differently than someone who maybe drinks coffee in the morning.  The distinguishing of the acidity will be different for these 2 people.  Luis, our tour"guide" told us that he loves Fernet (this bitter liquor that you add to Coke).  He had to give up Fernet when he became involved in this business - his palate had become used to the bitterness of the Fernet and therefore could not distinguish "bitter" taste in wines. 

We then went off to Jean Bousquet.  This bodega is like a machine - it has lots of machines too!!!  They do not sell their wines in Argentina - they do all their business for export.  We became thoroughly entertained with Bousquet's German Shepherd pup who just wanted to play.  His name is Buster and whoever would pick up a rock or a piece of wood or whatever and throw it - he would fetch it back.  There were plenty of us in the group who happily obliged him! TOO CUTE!

Bousquet was interesting to see how as it seemed very hands off in terms of "quality control".  He advertises that he uses organic grapes in his winemaking. The grapes are planted in soil that contains re-constituted flowers and does not contain pesticides. There are roses planted at the end of every row of grapes. The roses help in discouraging bugs and they use sulfur and copper to ward off any other critters (like wolves, etc) who do not like the smell.  Very interesting. Also their reserve malbec was only $25 - right? 25 pesos....

We then went to Salentien - a very big fancy winery to have lunch and tour.  Well - we had lunch and well, missed our tour!!!!  This winery might be interesting to visit again next year.  They have a museum, a chapel and the restaurant.  The building is built like a cross.  Lunch was ok..... 

Here's the gang with a complimentary glass of champagne.  This is our last outing together for this year.  We head back to Buenos Aires later today.  And after that everyone starts their journey back to Arizona.  

Yesterday we visited 3 bodegas with wine tastings and crashed Achaval Ferrer's tasting room for our "picnic" lunch. 

The gang at Catena Zapata

We have hired Walter and his 15 person van to take the 8 of us around for these 3 days.  So yesterday we visited the Lujan de Cuyo region - we visited Catena Zapata, Achaval Ferrer, and Alta Vista.  We missed seeing Carmelo Patti and visited him today.

Each winery has its own unique aspects.  I think similar to tango it's good to experience many wineries - many milongas - to know that there is not 1 way to do things but many as there are people and ideas. 

Here we are at Achaval Ferrer in their lovely tasting room.  After we had our tasting a few of us bought their lovely Dulce - a sweet wine of malbec grapes.  Then we asked if we could stay and each some lunch.  We all brought some bread, cheese, ham, salami, etc and we had a bottle to share - we had a lovely lunch!

We missed Carmelo Patti even though we had made an appointment with him so we continued on our merry way to Alta Vista.  We had to wait a bit for our tour so we enjoyed the surroundings of the interesting birds hanging out, and the little critters that look like guinea pigs but are a rabbit of sorts!!! and the lovely lavender.

Today we visited Carmelo Patti.  And I enjoy visiting him so much.  His methods are very different than the other places we visit and we can a real personal approach to the wine making industry.  I think we all managed to buy a bottle from him.  I don't remember what i bought last year but this year I am coming home with a signed bottle of 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon.  YEAH!!!  He is a big fan of letting the wines age and then he is a big fan of letting wine decant - breathe!!!   If you're going to take the time to dress or to cook a lovely meal then the wine should have time to do the same - breathe!   

THEN we went to our lunch with wine pairings.  We had scheduled to visit Ruca Malen, which is the same place that we had enjoyed a lunch last year BUT at the nth our last night our reservation was canceled due to a large group of journalists who would be attending.  SO Rommel had them suggest and help us with our reservation at Melipal.  What a lovely afternoon!!!!

Check out all those glasses!!!!!  Each course was accompanied by a wine from their winery.  We discovered that the Chef here is the same at Ruca Malen. We were in good hands!  They were accommodating to my veggie / no lacto needs and I think everyone enjoyed their meal.  We took about 3 hours to consume with pleasure!!!

The Chef is Florencia and the sommelier who helped in the wine pairings was also a woman.  This was refreshing to discover!!!  Ryan, Rommel and I had been to Ruca Malen last year and had enjoyed the food but not so much the wine. This lunch we all agreed that the food and the wine were both quite delicious!  We also managed to dance a tango in their hall on our way out! 

AND THEN!  Why Ryan and Joey decided to run a sprint across their lawn is beyond my understanding but they did...

So Melipal was a success!!!  We made it back to our Mendoza home all content and a little tipsy!

Tonite we have a local milonga to attend.  We attended last year and thought it would be fun to revisit this year. 

Ryan brought the latest in apple technology on this trip - his IPad and we have been lucky enough to enjoy several games of scrabble on it!!!  And I finally won a game between Ryan, Kaitlin and myself today!! YEAH!!!

the gang arrives in Mendoza

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Another great new place that I found this trip was/ is Cafe San Juan.  On San Juan near Balcarce: San Juan 450. phone 4300-1112.  We found this place in the Guia Oleo.  What a delicious place.  Rommel and I took Katie there for a late Graduation present. 

we enjoyed tapa sized appetizers of brie and sundried tomatoes, tortilla de papa with morones on toast, then main dishes of rabbit in port wine sauce, brochette of shrimp, like a paella.  Then a delicious wine to wash it all down!  We also had some delicious desserts.  There was an apple tartlike thing with homemade cinnamon ice cream.  Then a mousselike treat with all kinds of flavors in it!

The last place I want to mention is Taberna baska on Chile and Tacuari.  (chile 980)  Another lovely meal.  Delicious options.  They even have "centolla" - the crab from the Patagonia area.  It has some really interesting options including paella and shrimps and calamari.  And some great sounding dishes.  I hope to go their again.

So - now we get ready for Mendoza.  We leave Sunday - tomorrow in the evening - there will be 8 of us.  Looking forward to getting away from the city.