I have just returned from the Tango Magic festival in Seattle, and wanted to report on my experiences with Tete and Silvia.

First, I want to thank you for your podcast, because without it, I would have never known about these masters, and perhaps never attended the festival in Seattle.

As I was dancing at the warm-up practica (I know....talking while dancing is a no-no, but....), my partner was asking me how I learned about Tete. I said, "It all started with a podcast...."

It is amazing, if you think about it....you from New Hampshire, attending a festival in upstate New York, creating a podcast, that me, from Eugene, Oregon, listened to on the train from Osaka to Tokyo, about a couple of tango masters from Argentina. Moreover, while in Mexico City I was searching my computer for local tango events, and saw that these masters would be in Seattle. Truly amazing.

Class with Tete and Silvia

I realized in class that Tete cannot teach one to dance like Tete. The reason is that his body and mind are in perfect alignment to dance the way that he dances. As you pointed out in the podcast, his belly is quite noticeable, almost mythical. But what I realized is that is it keeps his back in a constant Tango posture. What I also noticed is that he is able to do 'giros' on his axis while keeping perfect Tango posture. From my own experience, coming from a background of ballet and modern dance, is that as soon as I start to turn, my body tends to straighten up as in a pirouette, and I loose contact. This is not the case with Tete. He is able to do a complete Tango 'pirouette' keeping his chest in a position where he would never loose contact.

Additionally, in the way that he uses cadencia (cadence in his movement), he is able to transfer a message about the dynamics of his movement directly into the bones and muscles of his partner. Within the framework of this dynamic, he is able to step perfectly into the center, or the side of his partner's axis, thus being able to turn both of them seamlessly, or keep her on her axis, and turn himself around her. What makes Tete a master, in my opinion, is that he is able to feel his partners' center at all times, never loosing connection; and is able to move with it, move it, or move around it.

Tete is able to create this dynamic with whomever he dances with.

During one advanced class, there were not enough women to partner with the men. So, Tete ordered an assistant to round up some women in the hall. One of the women dragged in was about five foot seven in height, and appeared to weigh nearly four-hundred pounds. I danced with her, and her lack of self-confidence was evident. During one point in the class, after a change of partner, the students' ability to do the sequence Tete had been demonstrating demonstrated started to break down. Tete said that leads should adjust, and that what was demonstrating (and all of his dance, for that matter) is independent of whom he dances with.

He started pulling women randomly from the class into the center, and started dancing with them. He looked over in the direction of the large women and signaled her to join him. She gave him a sheepish look and came slowly toward him. He had to verbally coax her to pick up some speed (in quintessential Tete style). As she was walking toward him, I could see that he was paying attention to how she was walking. When they joined together in the abrazo, the first thing that Tete did was to slowly lead her in a slide-step to the side, permitting him to get a feeling of her center. From there, Tete could led her in all of the steps that he had been demonstrating in the class.

Silvia, for her part is interesting. She is an unlikely partner. Because she discovered Tango relatively late in life, she never picked up the mannerisms of someone whose adult identity is tempered by the Tango attitude. She could be any woman off the street who has struggled with life and has found food for the soul in Tango. It is clear from watching her and Tete that the most striking thing about them is the connection they share.

What makes them interesting to watch is that their connection is strong and mutual. After they dance, it is heartwarming to see Tete stroke her hair or kiss her on the forehead. This is not a kiss of mentor to student, father to daughter, or lover to partner. It is a kiss of acknowledgement; recognition that for that one moment in time, two souls have been connected in a way that is beyond age, time and space. It is a moment we all long for as human beings, what our souls yearn for, and what Tango opens up the door to.

I came to three conclusions after watching and studying with Tete and Silvia. The first is that a good lead can dance with someone with little-to-no Tango experience, move as a pareja exactly as intended; and make the woman feel connected, successful at dancing Tango, and loved in a deeply spiritual way.

The second conclusion is that Tango classes have jaded many leads and follows into thinking that Tango is about being marching through the paces:

from ocho to boleo, to sacada and so on...on and on. To Tete, he explains that such thinking detracts from the true experience of Tango. I believe he would say that if you are always thinking of what's next, you are never experiencing what is.

The third conclusion is that most group Tango classes for follows tend to be a waste of time. If a sequence is properly led by the leader, a follow will 'get it' and follow. The ones who really need to learn the sequences are the leads, first by learning how it feels to be led in it.

Personally, I lead best when I have learned the sequence as a follow, and then lead it myself. This conclusion was reinforced when I asked Tete to lead me in the sequence. I could feel it in my body, and consequently I was able to lead it in my partner. Group classes tend to put people together who are both trying to figure out the sequence at the same time, and because of this, it takes twice as long to learn it.

For their part, follows need to be trained to feel their own axis, and to learn how to move staying on their axis and in balance when led through walking, back ochos, front ochos, and giros. This is an exercise in inner-focus rather than on learning combinations. The embellishments can be learned later.

My opinion about teaching 'follows' was reaffirmed a few months ago, when I taught my friend's fourteen year old daughter about the basics of Tango at our Saturday Milonga. The group Forever Tango had just performed in town, and they had come to the Milonga for a reception, a bit of social tango, and to relax.

I had danced with the my friend's daughter, Elena, previously in a ballet class and knew that she had a strong core, but she had never taken a tango lesson. I think she had been resisting Tango because it was something her mother wanted her to do. (As an aside, I study ballet at a local ballet school. I have been dancing since I was a teenager, and am too advanced for the adult class. Consequently, the ballet class I take consists of fifty-year-old-me surrounded by fourteen to seventeen year-olds. That is why I like Tango. I get to dance with women my own age! ...But, that is another story).

Elena and I spent about thirty minutes of working on the basics of walking forward, backward, and side-to-side; rocking back-and-forth, practicing how to maintain axis during front and back ochos and giros. When she got to the point where I realized she knew what if felt like in her body to be able to maintain her axis, I realized that she had could dance with anyone who was a strong lead.

To prove the point, I introduced her to one of the dancers from Forever Tango, and said to him "dance with her." I gave no explanation or words to indicate that she had never danced Tango before in her life.

It was no coincidence that Elena was able to follow him. She had internalized the fundamentals of Tango; and, they looked great, too! I felt like a proud father whose daughter had just passed the audition for Julliard.

I can boil the message of Tete's class into the few words that he repeatedly uses... "Musica! Apilado (posture)!, Cadencia (cadence)!, and Energia (energy)!" And, that is truly it--Tango in its most simple and basic form.

That is the beauty of Tete's gift to the Milonguero world.

As I understand him, here is my interpretation of Tete's message based on the way he talked about each element in class.

To Tete, 'Music' is not just the element that provides the beat. Music is the container that holds the framework for cadencia, and is the glue that joins two souls together for the duration of the dance. It is the force of gravity that exists between partners.

Apilado (posture) is the quality of the embrace that permits partners to achieve ultimate connection, and express the movement in their hearts as it emerges from the depths of their souls, unimpeded.

Cadencia is the structure of movement that is possible to build within the framework of the music.

Energia is the joy for life that both partners bring to the experience of dancing together. Tango is a dance of joy. Tango is life affirming. It cannot be approached out of sadness, fear, or self-consciousness.

The lesson and the gift of Tete, in my opinion, is that Tango is ultimately about love--a kind of pure love that exists when two souls are in perfect synchronization as they move through space.

At the end of the last class that Tete taught during the festival, he talked about a dream he had had the previous night. In the dream, he was dancing in the clouds, totally free, totally unencumbered by gravity. As he was relaying the dream, he spread out his arms airplane-style, and started dancing around the center of the room in quintessential Tete style. As all of us watched on, we got a glimpse of what is must be like to be in heaven, and saw the possibility of achieving heaven on earth.

As I watched him, I felt a warm glow of appreciation for this special soul.

I hoped that when I ultimately do get to Heaven, (hopefully in the distant future), I will see Tete surrounded by a large group of angels. He will be parading around in pure Tete-style, exclaiming to Saint Peter....."Energia!!! Musica!!!! Apilado!!! Cadencia!!!"