A picture of Carrie from our Halloween Milonga!
| I like DJ-ing tango events. It’s fun. It’s also surprisingly challenging, as our newest DJ, Carrie, will tell you. It’s hard enough for most tango students to even think about what orchestra they’re dancing to, let alone organize them like Carrie’s been doing. Yay, Carrie! |
St. John’s is a pretty awesome city to start one’s tango DJ-ing career. No one here will stick up their nose when you (intentionally or unintentionally) mix 1920s Fresedo with 1940s Fresedo. You can throw in some Count Basie for the Lindy Hoppers and the tangueros/tangueras join right in! I occasionally think about throwing a song by Pugliese in the middle of a tanda of Donato, just to see if someone would pick a fist fight over it. I never have, so perhaps we'll never know.
Got no idea who Fresedo, Donato or Pugliese are? Awesome! The following definitions are for you:
Tanda - A grouping of pieces of music
Each piece of music in the tanda is typically the same style (all tango, vals, milonga or nuevo*) and same orchestra. There are usually 3 or 4 pieces of music per tanda. Some cities do 4 tangos in a tanda or 3 of anything else. In St. John's, the tendency seems to be 3 pieces of any style.
Cortina - A short clip of non tango music which signals the beginning of a new tanda
This is the thing that says, “What a lovely tanda you’ve just had. Now go find someone new to dance with!” It is usually about 30 seconds long, which is just long enough to gulp some water before the next tanda starts.
*Tango, vals, milonga and nuevo? What are these styles? Stay tuned, because the answer will be in the next blog post!
Got no idea who Fresedo, Donato or Pugliese are? Awesome! The following definitions are for you:
Tanda - A grouping of pieces of music
Each piece of music in the tanda is typically the same style (all tango, vals, milonga or nuevo*) and same orchestra. There are usually 3 or 4 pieces of music per tanda. Some cities do 4 tangos in a tanda or 3 of anything else. In St. John's, the tendency seems to be 3 pieces of any style.
Cortina - A short clip of non tango music which signals the beginning of a new tanda
This is the thing that says, “What a lovely tanda you’ve just had. Now go find someone new to dance with!” It is usually about 30 seconds long, which is just long enough to gulp some water before the next tanda starts.
*Tango, vals, milonga and nuevo? What are these styles? Stay tuned, because the answer will be in the next blog post!
