And Rogue Wolf, when you're ready to catch more ballet, be sure to ask for recommendations in the ballet section and specifically state your sexual preference... err I mean your preference for sex... no, I mean your preference for something sexual... well, whatever...

And, if you are in Finland - and it's winter time, and very dark outside, nothing much moving out there except reindeer (without Santa) and the only thing on television are re-runs of the never ending presidential election in the United States - WHAT DO YOU DO???????<P><A HREF="http://www.latimes.com/editions/orange/calendar/20001117/t000110242.html" TARGET=_blank>Who's Nuts for the Tango?</A><P><BR><p>[This message has been edited by Basheva (edited November 17, 2000).]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>For a people often perceived as reserved and shy, the sensuous tango seems an unlikely national pastime, but it enjoys huge popularity, and business is booming.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><BR>Incredible!

Molly Glentzer's review of "Forever Tango" begins with wit:<P><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><B><A HREF="http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/ae/dance/741781" TARGET=_blank>Forever Tango takes step forward, step back</A></B><BR>By MOLLY GLENTZER, Houston Chronicle <P>While the election returns were zigzagging Tuesday night, dancers were doing the same in Forever Tango at the Wortham Theater Center's Cullen Theater.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><BR><B><A HREF="http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/ae/dance/741781" TARGET=_blank>More</A></B><P>Stuart adds: There's a printer friendly version available in small print at the top of the article page. I strongly recommend this, as the Houston Chronicle has the narrowest columns I have ever seen. <P><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited December 03, 2000).]

The Tango...it's sensuous and charged, such a "love dance". My husband and I had lessons before our wedding and made the Tango our 1st dance together as a married couple. The experience of learning the dance was a lesson in how to FEEL the difference between the genders and then use these differences to our advantage. It was a great first step into married life! <P>I love watching it too. Watching the Tango is like being a fly on the wall while an intimate couple shares the energy that flows between them...back and forth. <P>I think if you understood it better Azlan, you might really enjoy it. I don't think it should be seen in the light of a "performance" but rather as a sort of "folk dance" at a public gathering. I saw a couple in a New York disco (The Limelight) and it was a great venue for it. People gathered around close to the couple, the atmosphere was charged and we felt drawn in by the energy between the man and the woman dancing the Argentinian Tango. <P>

Tango is also big business in Germany. The Argentine stand at the Hannover Expo. featured live Tango several times each day. I spoke briefly with their singer, who told me that he was off to a gig in Stuttgart and that Germany was an essential stop for most Argentine Tango dancers and musicians.

New York Times article about a shrine to the Tango and the man who brought it to Argentina:<P><A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/12/arts/12FOOT.html" TARGET=_blank>Tango Shrine</A>

A review of "Forever Tango" in SF:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><B>Flagrant sexuality, subtle artistry delineate 'Forever Tango'</B><P>By Rachel Howard, SF Examiner<P> Tango has been infiltrating the imaginations of ballet and modern choreographers at least since the'80s, but 2000 was a banner year for "inspired by" tango dances in the Bay Area. We saw Lines Contemporary Ballet perform Alonzo King's take - by turns nostalgic and tongue-in-cheek - on the music of Astor Piazolla in each of the company's two seasons, while over in Berkeley Julio Bocca's Ballet Argentino brought the house down with Ana Maria Steklman's cutsier homage to the same composer.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><B><A HREF="http://63.78.169.150/business/default.jsp?story=art.tango.12220" TARGET=_blank>More</A></B>

<P>Here is the Forever Tango website:<BR> <A HREF="http://www.showgate.com/tango/" TARGET=_blank>http://www.showgate.com/tango/</A> <P>It does look like one of the stagier tango shows from the photos.<P>London remains crazy for the Tango. I don't think I've seen Forever Tango, but here are reviews for two recent London shows. Tango por Dos had a classy show earlier this year called 'Una Noche de Tango' with fine dancing and good contrast between the halves.<P> <A HREF="http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/reviews/story/0,3604,231858,00.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/reviews/story/0,3604,231858,00.html</A> <P>'Tango Pasion' was more stagey fun - dumbed down, but not too glossy, tango if you like. The dancers made it worthwhile, nevertheless. The programme had the ugliest cartoon images of tango, unbeleivable for such an enchanting dance form.<P> <A HREF="http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/saturday_review/story/0,3605,296043,00.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/saturday_review/story/0,3605,296043,00.html</A> <P><BR> <P>Sally Potter and Pablo Veron <P><BR>Here is the link to the stills gallery from 'The Tango Lesson' website about the film by Sally Potter who learns how to do the tango while her flat is renovated. <BR> <A HREF="http://www.spe.sony.com/classics/tango/stillsclips.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.spe.sony.com/classics/tango/stillsclips.html</A> <P>The plot fades somewhat in the second half, but it is worth seeing for its feel for tango and the dancing. Sally Potter studied modern dance at London Contemporary Dance School.<P><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited December 28, 2000).]

Tango is big in town here. It's one dance my former (ethnic) troupe has nearly always included in annual showcase. After performing it a number of times with the troupe and then retiring and watching "younger blood" attempt it for the first time on stage, I was struck by how much more able the veterans were -- stronger torsos, well-placed arms, hand, fingers, details, details, details. A sloppy, weak tango is not a pretty thing to watch. "Forever Tango" dancers came here twice through the city's Argentinian contingency. Gawwwwwwwwwwd!!! These people were chiseled from the finest marble. I've never known people to be that thin and that strong at once -- pure sinew. And the hair,the dresses, the shoes, the grooming. Almost as breathtaking as watching Brett Favre chow down on gumbo and jambalaya at the table next to me on Father's Day ...<P>The dancing in these concerts was interspersed with vocal and instrumental numbers, all of which were mesmerizing. I wasn't the least bit bored, no not the way I might be if I had to, say, watch those sperm receptacles -- oh, I'm sorry -- "dancers" perform their choreographically intricate numbers at Super Bowl halftime. <P>Ya know, Robert Duvall is quite an accomplished tango dancer, and he seems like a heckava macho man to me ... although I don't think he shoots up with steroids or anything really cool like that. <BR> <p>[This message has been edited by Christina (edited December 28, 2000).]

Interesting:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><B>Tango goes baroque</B><P>S.J. COMPOSER TOUCHI ADDS SULTRY NOTE IN HOMAGE TO `FOUR SEASONS' <P>BY LESLEY VALDES, San Jose Mercury News <P>Michael Touchi poses an intriguing question under the title of his ``Tango Barroco,'' which received its world premiere at San Jose's Le Petit Trianon on Sunday night.<P>``What if Antonio Vivaldi had lived in Argentina of the 1930s?'' the composer asks, answering the question not in words but in dotted notes.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><B><A HREF="http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/arts/docs/chamber23.htm" TARGET=_blank>More</A></B>

Well the dancing couldn't have been up to much as it doesn't even get a mention!

It was a symphonic concert Stuart! Azlan thank you for posting the review of my partners new composition. It was a terrfic evening of music and the piece itself is quite wonderful. Mike is a huge fan of dance and will be pleased that you posted it here. <BR>Regards,<BR>David

From the Los Angeles Times:<P><B>TANGO PASION SIZZLES WITH 2lst CENTURY DESIRE</B><P><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Tango is basically sex with your clothes on. And the clothes that the members of Tango Pasion were wearing at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza on Wednesday were like a Bob Mackie explosion. Credit Emmylou Latour with a glitzy, body-revealing wardrobe and Hector Zaraspe with sensational choreography (much of it based on the filigreed footwork of the dancers): This sizzling company of 30 singers, dancers and musicians put the second S in "passion"--it definitely translated.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <P><A HREF="http://www.latimes.com/cgi-bin/slwebcli?DBLIST=lt01&DOCNUM=8967&DBPUB=20010202ErCZpKWu&QDesc=Tango%20Pasion%20Sizzles%20With%2021st%20Century%20Desire" TARGET=_blank>MORE</A><P><BR>As a writer I really do appreciate an attention grabbing starting line.....and this review does well in that regard....<BR>

From the Los Angeles Times:<P><B>Too Hot to 'Tango'? Try Lukewarm</B><P>By LEWIS SEGAL, Times Dance Critic<P><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>In "Tango Dreams," Fernanda Ghi and Guillermo Merlo try to depict the estrangement and reconciliation of an Argentine husband-and-wife dance team just like themselves. But at the Alex Theatre Monday, they proved more exciting when they stopped asking "Was the passion of our dancing an illusion?" and started showing the audience that it wasn't.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR><A HREF="http://www.calendarlive.com/top/1,1419,L-LATimes-Search-X!ArticleDetail-27296,00.html?" TARGET=_blank>MORE...</A><BR>