IT TAKES TWO AND ONE OF THEM COULD BE YOU AS THE TANGO SCENE GETS, HOT, HOT, HOT IN L.A.Byline: Sandra Barrera Staff Writer It's another Sunday night Sunday Night, later named Michelob Presents Night Music, was an NBC late-night television show which aired for two seasons between 1988 and 1990 as a showcase for jazz and eclectic musical artists. in Burbank, and Felix Chavez, a tall, elegant man in his early 70s, is showing a room full of novice dancers how to tango like the Argentinians do. This is how he makes his living. And, says Chavez, ``I've never been so busy in all my 48 years of teaching.'' Could the tango really be more popular now than ever before? With tango classes going on somewhere in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, every night of the week and annual gatherings such as tonight's Fiesta Argentina at the Ford Amphitheatre List of Ford Amphitheatres
``Like everything else, the tango goes in and out of fashion,'' says Fiesta Argentina's producer, Guillermo Bordarampe, who in the 1970s was a big star in Argentina as a member of the folk-rock band Arco Iris Arco Iris were a rock group from the late 60s until the late 70s in Argentina, and one of the most influential in Argentine rock history in more ways than just music. While tagged as an 'acoustic' Argentine rock band in the beginning, Arco Iris were pioneers (with Chilean band Los . ``But lately, these last couple of years, tango has been on the up and up.'' If the revival began with ``Tango Argentino'' on Broadway in 1985, then the actor-turn-tanguero Robert Duvall and ABC's ``Dancing With the Stars'' has rekindled it and kept it going strong. Like Duvall in ``Assassination Assassination See also Murder. assassins Fanatical Moslem sect that smoked hashish and murdered Crusaders (11th—12th centuries). [Islamic Hist.: Brewer Note-Book, 52] Brutus conspirator and assassin of Julius Caesar. [Br. Tango,'' the students attending Sunday night's class at the Argentine Association all have been seduced by the dance that sprang to life in the brothels BROTHELS, crim. law. Bawdy-houses, the common habitations of prostitutes; such places have always been deemed common nuisances in the United States, and the keepers of them may be fined and imprisoned. 2. of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires (bwā`nəs ī`rēz, âr`ēz, Span. bwā`nōs ī`rās), city and federal district (1991 pop. in 1880. The tango was regarded as lewd by Argentinian society. But it started catching on in the early 20th century, and by the 1920s they were even doing it in the U.S. Renee Zajac, a smart, vivacious 40-something from Altadena who spends her days as a legal secretary, explains the appeal from her own experience. She had just finished a dance class at a Studio City club when she saw her first tango exhibition. ``What I saw just absolutely changed my life because it was so extraordinarily beautiful,'' she says. ``It was so hot! I remember thinking, `I don't care
"Don't Care" is a 1994 (see 1994 in music) single by American death metal band Obituary. how hard it is, I don't care how long it takes, I don't care how much money it costs -- I will learn to do this beautiful thing.' '' After four years of tango instruction, Zajac is just as passionate about the dance, despite a serious car accident that landed her in a wheelchair for two months last November. She talks about one day making the trip to Buenos Aires just to tango. And she's not the only one. Jacob Sabounjian, a 56-year-old entrepreneur from Santa Clarita, says he's going, too. ``When you dance like this,'' he says, pointing to the dancers as they cross ankles to the sultry bandoneon ban·do·ne·on n. A small accordion especially popular in Latin America. [American Spanish bandoneón, from German Bandonion, Bandoneon : Heinrich Band music in the dimly lit hall, ``you enjoy it. But then you go over there and, on the streets, after midnight, in small places, they're dancing like this until morning. Go somewhere else and it's the same thing. It's the same atmosphere throughout the whole city.'' Unlike in Buenos Aires, tango aficionados in L.A. have to do a lot of leg work to find the same atmosphere. But the atmosphere does exist in places like the Argentine Association, which is listed at the Web site www.tangoafficionado.com. But to really get good, it takes practice. And that brings up another dilemma. ``Unfortunately, I haven't been lucky enough to find a regular partner,'' says Noura Altalhi, a 28-year-old woman from West Hollywood who will shortly excuse herself to tango with another student who just might be the one. Sandra Barrera, (818) 713-3728 sandra.barrera(at)dailynews.com FIESTA ARGENTINA 2006 What: A taste of Argentinian food, art and culture, featuring tangos by Esther Segovia, folk music by Julian Cordoba cor·do·ba n. See Table at currency. [American Spanish córdoba, after Francisco Fernández de Córdoba (1475?-1526?), Spanish explorer.] Noun 1. y La Cuerdas del Sol with harpist Julio Montero mon·te·ro n. pl. mon·te·ros A hunter's cap with side flaps. [Spanish, hunter, from monte, mountain, from Latin m , and tango and gaucho gaucho (gou`chō), cowboy of the Argentine and Uruguayan pampas (grasslands). The typical gaucho, a familiar figure in the 18th and 19th cent., was a daring, skillful horseman and plainsman. dances by the Otero Dance Company. Where: Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. E., Los Angeles. When: 8 tonight. Tickets: $32 to $40; $12 for children 12 and under. (888) 464-2468. CAPTION(S): 4 photos Photo: (1) Noura Altalhi of West Hollywood and dance partner Antonio Nozar of Glendale prepare for their tango lesson at ``Sunday's Tango,'' held weekly at the Argentine Association in Burbank. (2) Mario Marine and Susan Gregory of Otero Dance Company will perform at Fiesta Argentina 2006, tonight at the Ford Amphitheatre. (3) - Renee Zajac of Altadena, with instructor Feliz Chavez (4) no caption (feet of people dancing) John Lazar/Staff Photographer |
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