[Tango-L] Orlando Paiva

[Tanguero Productions]

                     Loreen Arbus

  tanguero at tanguero.com

  www.tanguero.com

   

   

  ORLANDO PAIVA

  12/1/35 - 11/28/06

  Tango god.  Deified by an Emperor. A living legacy.

   

              May 20, 1986.  Argentine Tango invaded California when the New York Broadway hit, Tango Argentino, opened at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles.  Hundreds showed up for workshops taught by company members.  Many of us followed them to a Bolivian restaurant they frequented, Norah's Place, in North Hollywood, which came to be known as 'the home of tango'.  

  Orlando Paiva, who became the patriarch of Tango on the West Coast, was originally from Rosario, Argentina.  He had improvisationally performed with the great orchestras of Osvaldo Pugliése, Miguel Calo, José Basso, The Quinteto Real and Leopoldo Federico, but had lived in the United States in obscurity since the early 70's.  Tango Argentino eventually moved on - - but we had Orlando!  In Los Angeles and soon after, San Francisco, he taught salon-style classes, characterized by the elegance and simplicity of his walk which gave breathing space between figures while maintaining harmony and continuous counter-clockwise movement. 

  In 1989, Orlando became one of the first Argentine Tango teachers "imported" to Japan.  Scores of people packed dance studios, awaiting Orlando.  They bowed to him as he entered and again when he ended class.  It was in Japan that Orlando came to be punctual.  

  In Los Angeles and San Francisco, Orlando danced with several partners when he was "reborn" as Tango teacher/performer with the advent of Tango Argentino.  Women were very competitive for this great honor.  Most probably for this reason, what virtually is an unknown fact is that Orlando was asked to perform for the Emperor of Japan, Hirohito, at his palace.  I know, because Orlando invited me to be his partner in Japan.  

  A red carpet was laid down on the road to the Emperor's palace.  We were given not only a limo and driver - - but were accorded a motorcade.  To each side and in front and behind us were police cars and motorcycles. Banners waved high on poles, on both sides of the street, proclaiming 'Tango Day'.  I came to learn that the Emperor's brother was President of Japan's Ballroom Association (and a dance fanatic).  It was his idea to present Argentine Tango at the Palace, in a command performance for the Emperor.  Afterwards, through a translator, we were told that the Emperor wished to pay us the highest honor - - a tour of his private koi (very large Japanese "goldfish" which were of many different hues) pond and garden.

  Orlando always wore a blazer or suit and tie. He was of slight stature, perhaps    5' 7", and very thin but wiry.  His footwork was more exquisite than anyone who has come before or after. (My dance partner of 16 years, Alberto Toledano, who possessed precisely the body type of Orlando, came closest to perfecting the style of Orlando but, after about two years, he chose to forsake it in lieu of studying with and adapting the vocabulary of many other teachers including Antonio Todaro and Pepito Avellaneda.  But always, he maintained a close friendship and walked with Orlando's feet.)   Orlando's style was, on the one hand, simple - - yet he prolifically invented more than 160 concepts and patterns, many of which are now elements commonly used world over.  A huge percent of social dancers and professional performers use the bridge, some having elaborated upon the original concept by deepening the angle between two bodies, with the woman lower and practically horizontal to the floor.  I suspect virtually no one realizes this figure originated with Orlando.  

  Endlessly patient, he never said an unkind word about anyone.  He never promoted himself (I have yet to meet a teacher who doesn't - - for most, it's an understandable necessity.)  He was gentle, kind, quiet and caring.  "What makes me proudest is seeing my students' progress."  Orlando always said he hoped they would become better dancers than he.  Elegant and creative, modest and selfless, we idolized Orlando.  He commanded any room, whether sitting or dancing.  To 'first generation' tango dancers on the West Coast of the United States, he was our tango god.  He profoundly loved his family but he lived for tango.  He had the most pure tango soul.

  It is possible a very few people, other than myself, have videotaped records of all that Orlando created (until he moved back to Rosario in 1988).  I seek a proper way to help ensure that his legacy lives on but I do not wish to monetize his memory or in anyway disrespect Orlando so I have not found an appropriate means to realize my intent.

  "They are not gone who live in the hearts they left behind."

   

        Yo soy el tango (1941)

        Music: Domingo Federico

        Lyrics: Homero Expósito

        Original Translation
       I Am Tango 

         
       
         

        Soy

        El tango milongón

        Nacido en los suburbios

        Malevos y turbios

         

        Hoy,

        que estoy en el salon,

        me saben amansado,

        dulzón y cansado.

        Pa' qué creer,

        pa' qué mentir

        que estoy cambiado,

        si soy el mismo de ayer.

         

        Escuchen mis compass

         

        No ven que so gotán?

         

        Me quiebro en mi canción
        como un puñal de acero
        pa' cantar una traición.
        Me gusta compadrear,
        soy reo pa' bailar,
        escuchen mi compás:

         

        Yo soy el viejo tango
        que nació en el arrabal.

         

        Pa' qué creer,
        pa' qué mentir
        que estoy muriendo,
        si yo jamás moriré.
        

        I am

        The greatest tango dancer

        Born in the suburbs 

        Dark and turbulent.

         

        Today,

        I am in the dance hall,

        the suburbs have calmed me,

        I am the most gracious and tired.

        Why believe,

        why lie

        that I am changed,

        if I am the same as yesterday.

         

        Listen my friends

         

        Don't you all see that I am tango?

         

        I break-down in my song

        like a steel dagger 

        to sing about betrayal. 

        I like to share with my friends, 

        I am a 'natural' for the dance, 

        listen my friends: 

         

        I am the tango of old 

        that was born in the suburbs. 

         

        Why believe, 

        why lie

        that I am dying, 

        if I will never die.  
       

   

                                                                                  Loreen Arbus       

     tanguero at tanguero.com               

     www.tanguero.com