Wonders never cease and we start at 8 this week

02 Monday Apr 2012

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Lesley Mitchell‘s magic is working. There is a man (who shall remain nameless, but he’s closely associated with Viva) who did a milonga for the first time. Successfully! You had to see it to believe it. Lesley will be back at SPC this Thursday to continue transforming the left-footed into the fleet-footed. Practica starts at 8, lesson at 9. This is working so well that we’ve asked Lesley to come back next week too, when we return to the 9:15 start time for another three weeks.

We’ve been hoarding pictures all month. We could say the dog ate them, but… Only a few are slightly pre-chewed.  See the Picasa album here.

Don’t forget our first Saturday milonga is coming up April 14th at All Saints Church. It will include a Meetup for members of the Tango Meetup Group and a Beginners Lesson by Lou Becerra of Central Jersey Dance Society for people who have not taken tango lessons before.

You’ll do a milonga to a milonga at a milonga

29 Thursday Mar 2012

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If you understand that sentence,  you’ve already passed the entrance requirements for Milonga University. Distinguished Professor  Lesley Mitchell will be on hand tonight – 9:15 at the Suzanne Paterson Center – to conduct a further symposium in the uses, abuses, derivations and applications of milonga steps, milonga music and navigating your way around a crowded milonga dance floor.

If all your teachers had been this good, you’d have multiple PhD’s by now.

Join us for an evening of fun with tango, great snacks and nice people. By the time we pass out the Blue Books, you’ll be ready to ace the whole milonga thing.

And speaking of milongas, we’re going to have one! Our  Milonga Magnolia will be on Saturday, April 14th  with the live music of  Emmanuel Trifilio  on bandoneon. Save the date.

You’re not too late, just a little tardy

26 Monday Mar 2012

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There’s still time to learn how to milonga. Lesley Mitchell  gives the second in her trio of milonga lessons this Thursday in SPC at 9:15 pm.  

You’re not having real fun on the tango dance floor until you can milonga. And, according to verytango.com, you’re not doing the real tango. (See their interesting article on the African and Cuban origins of milonga here.) We don’t want you wishing you coulda, shoulda, woulda. Life is too short for regrets. The only solution is to come on over and benefit from Lesley’s superb teaching.

The reason you need to milonga?  We’re going to have a milonga! Our plans will be firmed up in the next few days but it looks like Viva will be starting a monthly milonga  on the  second Saturday  of each month. The inaugural will be April 14th.

You wouldn’t want to go to a milonga and not milonga, would you?

We can cure your pasos envy

22 Thursday Mar 2012

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Without pena. You know you want to. You know you wish you could. You know you admire people who do. Well, it’s time to join them. You, too, can milonga.

We’ve got just the person to teach you – Lesley Mitchell. Lesley starts a three week series of lessons in milonga tonight at 9:15 at the  Suzanne Patterson Center.

Milonga is that fast and rhythmic cousin to Tango with the upbeat and infectious music. Lesley will start slowly, bring you up to speed and show you how to make your tango vocabulary work in milonga. No student left behind. Guaranteed.

If that doesn’t put the spring in your Spring, we don’t know what would. Admission $12 and FREE for students, just because, you know, it’s Spring.


La vida es una milonga

19 Monday Mar 2012

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At least we’d certainly like it to be. To that end we’ve got Lesley Mitchell, Philadelphia’s premier tango teacher, to teach a three week series in milonga, the dance step. You know, the one you always think is too fast for you.

It’s not and Lesley is going to prove it. Working with some of the slower songs to start, Lesley will demonstrate ways of moving and sequences that are specific to milonga.

Your vida can’t be a milonga unless you know how to milonga. It’s rhythmic, exhilarating and fun. Start with us this Thursday at 9:15. If you’re a student, it’s free. Just our way of making you forget how awful exam week was.

The wearing of the green is optional

15 Thursday Mar 2012

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But we hope you’ll bring along all the shamrocks, Leprechauns and tangueros you’ve got on hand. A little wine wouldn’t hurt either.

That’s tonight 9:15 to 12:15 at SPC.

Sure and begorrah

12 Monday Mar 2012

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One day a year simply isn’t enough to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day so we’re starting early. Our St. Paddy’s Milonga is this Thursday, March 15 from 9:15 pm to 12:15 am. Just music, dancing, food and fun. No lesson, no announcements, no fluorescent lights.

We are fully in the spirit. If you’d like to be as well, here’s what you can do; Start practicing your Irish brogue; Round up all your old shillelaghs and green derby hats; Check the garden for little people; Drink some green beer (no, never mind, that one’s yucky.); Look for rainbows.

Do all that and you’ll be completely Irish by Thursday. We hope to see you then when you’re at your most sentimental and lyrical best. Until then, we leave you with this traditional Irish verse:

May your thoughts be as glad as the shamrocks,
May your heart be as light as a song,
May each day bring you bright, happy hours,
That stay with you all the year long.

March madness is upon us

08 Thursday Mar 2012

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Ours just has nothing to do with basketball. Ours has to do with milonga.

  • Milonga – the dance, is the most fun you can have on the dance floor.
  • Milonga – the music, is the happiest, most upbeat of tango music.
  • Milonga – the social event, is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow as long as we’re talking about March, madness, St. Paddy’s and little green men.

We are simply mad for milonga. We want you to be too. And you will be when you’re good at it. So here’s the plan:

Come to SPC at 9:15 tonight for Chulo’s milonga lesson. Chulo will cover the basics of movement, slowing down to recover your steps in time and the proper body mechanics for milonga.

Come to  our St. Paddy’s Milonga next Thursday. See? The end of the rainbow is just over the horizon.

Come to our 3 week milonga lesson series starting March 22nd.

When you do all that, it’s a slam dunk that you’ll be dancing milonga like a pro.

March came in like a lamb

05 Monday Mar 2012

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We’re going to right that wrong and make sure you go out like a lion. We’ve got things planned for you.

Thing 1:  An introduction to milonga. ChuLo returns this Thursday at 9:15 with a lesson designed to convince you that milonga is not too fast for you. He’ll demonstrate the body mechanics needed to move less and recover in time for your next step.

Thing 2:  An actual milonga, our St. Paddy’s Milonga, Thursday, March 15 – music, dancing, food, fun. No lesson, no announcements, no bright fluorescent lights.

Thing 3:  More milonga.  On March 22 we start a 3 week series of lessons in milonga steps. We’re serious about this milonga thing because it’s the most fun tango dance.

There. You’ll certainly have no reason to say this is the mildest March you can remember.