Berlin - Thursday: Villa Kreuzberg, "Loca" at Tango Loft and....birds.

Graffiti-art, Spree-side gallery

Originally posted 30.4.15

I was really looking forward to Villa Kreuzberg (Kreuzbergstr.62, Restaurant Tomasa VillaKreuzberg).  Several people had recommended it. The host and DJ was Felix Hahme

The setting is lovely - a beautifully lit house, which is a restaurant, beside a park.   There is a small area outside the main dance room to hang your coat and a chair to change your shoes unless you prefer the decent facilities attached to the restaurant.  Given the often restricted choice, many in Berlin changed shoes in the dance salon.  The room is a lovely space but it was quite dark and in terms of the physical conditions for dancing this was the most difficult thing.  I was approached and invited directly by  five guys, probably as a result of the lighting, although direct invitation seemed far more common in Berlin than I had expected.  I don't think it is a cultural attitude though because there was less direct invitation generally at Milonga Popular, Alma, Nou, Cafe Dominguez and Max & Moritz, and a mixture at Loca.

At Villa Kreuzberg The room is quite long.  Although you can see straight across it on the short sides you cannot easily see diagonally even if the floor had cleared during the cortinas. This is a common problem with rectangular rooms where men and women are not seated opposite one another on the long sides.  Felix has a new milonga forthcoming and the lighting in the picture here reminds me of how it was in Villa Kreuzberg.  Video.

There was a practica going on to - almost inevitably - Di Sarli before the milonga. Hearing the more lush music of this orchestra over and over in classes is certainly one reason why I am especially picky about Di Sarli.  I have the same problem with Canaro's Poema, but seeing Ricardo Vidort dance it, more than anything, is helping me get over that prejudice. That, and not hearing it too often.
  

The majority of the dancers I saw at Villla Kreuzberg that evening were I would say at least aged over 35 with a scattering of younger dancers. I noticed more good dancers arriving after 2200.  Before this was some of the most execrable dancing I've seen in a while, wholly and obviously based on class-moves. This is what performance-style moves that are widely taught in class look like when danced by those not destined for  performance. It is its own best advert. You can see this kind of thing any day of the week in British milongas, and in Europe.   I don't think that need be the case if people dance from the music, rather than with the aim or learning particular movements. The music is the modern band, Color Tango's version of Gallo ciego.

Musically, though, things looked promising.  There were two great tandas to start, then I think a middle-of-the-road vals tanda,  There was a poor Rodriguez.  There was a (best) forgotten Canaro including duck quacks and a mixed (in terms of merit) milonga, tanda.  I began to feel depressed.  Even some of the good dancers danced to all this music.  The floor did not clear during the cortinas indicating indiscriminate dancers who did not really care what they danced to, nor with whom, nor that they were blocking the line of sight of others who might want to invite by look.

When it comes to animals in tango I can tolerate (but not much more) Donato’s Gato. It's danced here in cayengue style.  It's danced here in the popular, modern way of young people dancing tango all over the world, stylized very differently to the first clip, with ganchos, leg wraps and volcadas.  It's closer to the popular image of tango from touring shows and TV.  Each to his own but they strike me as different dances and I don't just mean the canyengue style. I prefer the first couple - the way they dance I find more suited to the music. They seem to feel the music differently to the other couple. If the older couple were to dance to say, De Angelis' La vida me engañó I imagine the way they would dance would wholly change, yet I can imagine the younger couple making little distinction.  What seems clear to me is that there is a certain "Look at us" about the young couple. The other show is also a show - but it's different. If they are concerned about the look of things, and I'm not sure that they are, then it's a different look quite apart from the canyengue.   It knows it's a show in a different way.  It's droll, a bit vaudeville but the dancing is still good. For me, they are more attuned to each other and to the music.

I like the musical birds best: Di Sarli's violin-birds in El amanecer. It's danced here, musically, for sure but it's about the movements, the tricks, about technical mastery.  Should technical mastery be the aim of social dancers?  In a show perhaps, or if your aim is to show-off your skills, but that's just not very - social.  I think social dancing is about embrace, connection and musical feeling.  The difference between social and performance dancing reminds me a bit of The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  There are the goats on one side of the river and the lush meadow on the other.  They are two different worlds.  The goats are ambitious and have to prove themselves by crossing the bridge. But you know what they say about the grass being always greener on the other side...

Canaro's El pollito (1931) has the unmistakeable idea of birds cheeping, and doing that for which I find no equally evocative English words: "frétiller du croupion".  "Croupion" is the back end of a bird. "Frétiller" is waggling.  You can hear how much the track developed, musically from 1927.

The D'Arienzo El Pollito, does have something of the bird about it but if so, it has to be the boss-bird. It's a strong track. D'Arienzo's Lorenzo is more bird-like for me.  In fact, its friends remind me of a group of slightly mad fowls:  Ataniche,  is danced here in a social style, in a very connected way and with respect for the music, the dancing is coming from the music;  this dance to Rawson is relaxed and light-hearted and I'm delighted pretty much any time I see guys swapping roles.  Here's Jueves danced the way I probably most dislike.

Gallo ciego (there are good versions by D'Arienzo and Tanturi) means, and the music sounds like, being off your face, though it still reminds me of its literal meaning - a rather desperate, blind cockerel somewhere between crazy, comical and pitiful I can never quite decide.  I find the Tanturi more light-hearted than the D'Arienzo.  There's also a famous Pugliese version, if you like that though I only dance that kind of thing occasionally. 

At Villa Kreuzberg there was another Di Sarli within an hour, starting with Marianito and I'd had enough - not the worst track, but very far from the best and more than enough Di Sarli for me. It was barely half past ten.  It was perhaps premature on my part but I'd had some difficult dances to the two good tandas at the start; I was demoralised by what came after and the extent to which people didn't seem to care about what was played.  I believe that although things and people can change, unless there is some catalyst, past behaviour is nevertheless the best predictor of future behaviour.  I couldn't see things improving.  As I was putting my coat on outside I heard Lo pasao pasó and hesitated a moment, but only a moment  Still, that is a good opening track and had it been first I might have stayed.  I felt so frustrated I forgot to take a photo and went on to ...

...Loca, a monthly milonga held at Tango Loft with DJ duo Gaia Pisarou and Francesco Cieschi. 

I didn’t arrive until nearly 2330. I heard something great just ending as I arrived. I think it was a good Rodriguez. It is a wonderful thing to arrive to good music.  Ricardo Oria, writing about Nortena recently, said "You hear tango music; you climb the stairs; breathe it in; you feel at home." Arriving to good music is exactly like that.  I remember whatever came next was good too and my spirits lifted. The music generally was good. There were a few tracks I wouldn't have played but it was mostly great tandas.

The dancing was mixed.  I met my friend again from Roter Salon and danced a tanda or two.  After that I danced a lot and only with guys including a couple of particularly nice tandas - one that was even with with a local Berliner. 

At about 0130 after sitting out a tanda there was a poor milonga track to start the next one.  I always think a poor opening track is a bad sign - something's changed or someone has taken their eye off the ball. I would rather there was a strong opening track, but worse even than a weak opening track is a weak middle track in an otherwise good tanda.  I thought the music might be going downhill and prepared to leave.  My friend spotted me and asked if I was going.  Just then the second milonga was great and we danced it. For the next hour or so the music was good though very strong.  We danced it all:  D'Arienzo, Pugliese,  Tanturi, Biagi, Troilo, one after the other but all or nearly all classics.  There was a late and dramatic Di Sarli which though I forget now, may have been tracks like the 1958 Bahia Blanca and Una fija.  I did dance them and the place closed around 0300.