[Tango-A] NA-E Ghost of Gavito

[Lexa Rosean]

 Ghost of Gavito<http://tigerstango.blogspot.com/2007/04/ghost-of-gavito_23.html>
Milongas
come and go but there's an exhilarating feeling when a good one comes back
to life with full force. I have been meaning to write about this for a few
weeks and I can no longer put it off because I was so moved by this milonga
and it was even more amazing on my second and third visits. Over eight years
ago, Maestro Carlos Gavito started El Recodo milonga at DanceSport. I
remember it well and it was the most exciting milonga in NYC with a crisp
Porteño air that sent shivers of excitement through your soul. In those
days, I was rather intimidated by Gavito but over the years we became
friends. He was one of the few who approved of my leading (although in
general, he disapproved of women leading.) I suppose the great price I paid
for this approval was that he never invited me to dance. He did however,
send his girlfriends to dance with me and this was especially helpful to me
in Roma as I knew no one there and that first dance showed me off so well
that I had female partners for the rest of my stay. Gavito was a godsend. I
have many stories about him and some will remain private memories but here
is another one that I'd like to share...

The night before Gavito died (of lung cancer), he came to me in a dream. I
was sitting in a milonga and smoking a cigarette. He came over to my table
and said to me: "I am going but I want you to stay." He reached over and
took the cigarette from my hand. He smothered it out in the ashtray, gave me
a wink, and then disappeared. I quit smoking shortly after this dream and
now it has been almost two years since I quit smoking. It has also been
almost two years since I saw Gavito. For those of you who know me, it is not
surprising to hear that I see and speak with spirits. It is an integral part
of my life and work. Two weeks ago, as Paul Pellicoro welcomed us into the
new DanceSport and spoke about the history of El Recodo milonga, I saw
Gavito in the room. I saw him again last night and the Holy Ghost of Tango
moved through the dancers touching their forms. (yes that means the level of
dancing was quite high!) His milonga lives! Gavito's spirit is still among
us and blesses the space.

The new studio, by the way, is lovely. The ballroom is light and airy with
lots of windows, French doors, plants and a cafe off to the side. I was
totally impressed with the cappuccino machines and Danesi espresso. Leave it
to Paul Pellicoro to give us a bigger better and classier DanceSport! After
Gavito, Carlos Quiroga, the editor of Reportango magazine, carried on El
Recodo milonga. At present it is being lovingly rejuvenated through the
efforts of Ko Tanaka - dj extraordinaire! and hosts Ronen Khayat, Jennifer
Wesnousky, and Santiago Steele.
Tiger's milonga rating: ✭✭✭✭✭✭✭


El Recodo Milonga
Every Sunday night
9pm-12:30am, $12 ($5 Dancesport Students)
DanceSport <http://www.dancesport.com/> Intl Ballroom and Latin Dance Studio
22 W 34th St, 4th floor - next to the Empire State Building, Tel:
212-307-1111

Special two for the price of one for the month of April

for more milonga reviews visit:
http://tigerstango.blogspot.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/tango-a/attachments/20070423/8d789b67/attachment.htm