“A dancer cannot survive on one dance alone” – Jack Ellard The Tango Connection: An Interview with Nadia and Santiago from Vancouver’s Strictly Tango Dance Company By Laureano Ralon Facchina

 

Laureano: For those in the Vancouver Salsa scene who may not know who you are, please introduce yourselves.

Nadia: My name is Nadia Tavakoli, I teach Argentine tango, I’ve been doing it for the past few years, and I’ve been dancing for the past 12 years. I’m an ex-professional ballet dancer and I’ve been training since I’m 12 years old.

Santiago: My name is Santiago Yanez and I’m fairly new in the dance scene: three, four years or less, but I’ve been dancing Tango pretty intensely for the past few years I guess (laughs).

Nadia: He’s a very dedicated guy!

L: Very well. The second question – and I guess you’ve already answered part of it in the previous question – is, what came before tango? What type of dance background do you have?

N: First came the ballet, then I went to Cuba to do more contemporary Afro-cuban workshops there, and I love modern dance, but now I have moved on from performing at a professional level. I still perform with Tango once in a while when people ask us to do it. Anyway, after modern dance came Tango…

S: I have no dance background, but prior to taking on Tango I was involved in a lot of physical activities, though…

N: He forgot to mention that he bikes from Argentina to Canada….

L: What???

S: (laughs)

L: I guess I’ll have to write a separate piece on that…Motorcycle Diaries, bicycle version…

S: (laughs)

L: The next question is, What attracted you to Tango, who was your first instructor, and what was the most important lesson you learnt from him/her?

N: I love all kinds of dancing and I’m generally very passionate about dance at large. I don’t quite know where my passion for Argentina Tango came from, probably from movies about Argentina. I do remember the first time I saw Argentine Tango, though; that was in Montreal: I was passing by a Milonga and I walked in there, and then someone asked me to dance and I said “I don’t know how to dance”, and the guy walked away.

Not knowing the codes at the time, I was a little offended by this; I thought I could get up there and dance anyway, but then I realized that it was a hard dance and that I needed to take classes and have training. So, I asked the organizer if there was someone in Vancouver that would teach Argentine Tango, and he directed me to Carlos Loyola, who was my first Argentine Tango teacher.

L: And what was the most important lesson you learnt from Carlos as your first instructor?

N: Um, that’s a difficult question to answer…

S: My first instructor was Claudia, a guy back in Mendoza, Argentina, who was also a professional Tango dancer. I took five classes from him, maybe less. She was a friend of mine, and one day I saw her dance and was really wowed by it. I was really in love with the music at the time. Mendoza is not really a Tango scene, but it has a small Tango community. It wasn’t until I traveled to Vancouver and settled here that I realized I really wanted to do this – I had it in my mind without even knowing it.

L: So, you’ve done some traveling. That ties in with the next question, which is, how often do you go to Buenos Aires and how do you like it there?

N: Well, I told you before you turned the tape recorder on that I absolutely love Buenos Aires; I love all the cultural activities there, and I go every year. I was actually hoping to go twice a year: I bought a place in Buenos Aires, but I can’t go all that often due to my commitments here. So, I go once a year and I do train intensively, taking as many classes and privates as I can. I’m also getting really interested in Argentine Folk dances, such as Chacarera and Malambo – which is mainly for guys but I train in it nonetheless.

S: I went twice since I came here. Once for three months and once for nine months, and I danced every single day.

N: I do want to mention that I am grateful to Carlos Loyola for having brought Argentine Tango to this city. I recognize that he was the one started to teach it here in Vancouver and I’m grateful for that.

L: That is quite something indeed.

N: Absolutely.

L: Let’s move on. What do you think Argentine Tango has that other partner dances such as Salsa or Swing lack?

N: What Tango has is a wider range of emotions. When you think of Salsa, it’s a happy dance, which is wonderful, I mean, I love all of those dances you mention. But what really attracted me to Tango is that it has a range of emotions and you can express whatever state you’re in, whether you’re sad, happy, angry, etc. Whatever it is that you’re experiencing you can dance Tango and express that emotion through your dancing.

L: So there’s such a thing as a happy Tango?

N: Oh yeah, there’s Tango in three layers so to speak: Tango-Tango, Tango-Milonga, and Tango-Waltz

L: And which one is the most up-beat?

N: Waltz is definitely up-beat, and so is also Milonga, which is somewhat closer to Salsa. But even if they just played the most melodramatic form of Tango – and if you don’t understand the verses is even better because you don’t have to hear all the melodrama – within that one style you can express different emotions, especially with some composers more than others.

L: I guess it’s easier to make that song your own if you’re not conditioned by the lyrics…

N: Absolutely.

L: Let’s move right along. There’s a Vancouver Salsa legend named Jack Ellard – he’s about 80 years old and he’s still doing the Mambo every night. He trained in New York and Montreal and he’s an icon in Vancouver. Jack told me once that as a dancer you cannot survive on one dance alone. My question to you is, how does a Salsa dancer who approaches Tango can benefit overall as a dancer?

N: I think Argentine Tango would develop more sensitivity, which you need in any partner dance.

L: Do you agree with Jack’s statement?

N: absolutely, it’s important to try out different things, for sure.

L: I guess the reason I ask you is because I know an Argentine Salsa dancer in Miami – his name is Nelson Gaston Vidarte – who’s known for mixing Salsa and Tango in his choreographies. I believe Miami also has a Salsa-Tango Congress now…

N: There’s always fusion in any artistic area, whether music, dance, etc., there’s always a tendency to mix things to come up with something new; and Tango itself originated from a mixture of rhythms and different dances that latter became Tango – and it’s continually evolving.

L: Do you dance Salsa yourself?

N: Not very well, but if they put the music on, I won’t sit down (laughs).

L: And how does your body feel when you dance Salsa?

N: Happy! As a dancer, I love to move, and Salsa is a very happy, up-beat dance.

L: I’m curious to know if you teaching Tango is your full-time job…

N: Teaching Tango is my life, now whether you consider it full-time or not, it really fluctuates… part of it is group classes, the other part is privates, and it fluctuates a lot from month to month, but yeah, I don’t do any other job.

L: Last but not least, what can you tell us about your dance company – Strictly Tango?

N: It’s a place where people can take classes or ask us for shows, as well as come to dance socially once a month at the Forurfera Center. We also bring people from out of town and organize workshops for our students.

Visit strictlytango.com to learn more about Nadia, Santiago, and their dance company Strictly Tango.