Stephen & Susan Brown
Tango Argentino de Tejas / Texas
Planet Tango / El Firulete / New Orleans
Symphonic dances : "Set in a Buenos Aries nightclub, "Tango Valentino" centers around the relationships between Victor, Vee, played by assistant Vee, played by assistant choreographer Shellie Hubbard, Victoria, played by Valorie Hart and Rico, played by Alberto Paz. Through the tango, they will display passion, anger, jealousy and ultimately, love."
Susan Lake Productions / World Council for ARgentine Tango Events (WCARTE) outreach promotion of Argentine Tango
Tango Afficionado / Dance Afficionado / Los Angeles
Perhaps the following event described by Larry is a possible predecessor to the 3rd Street Promenade events in Santa Monica?
Found on the net: An inspiring story of outreach on Thanksgiving 1990 : "The following article by me appeared in Dance Action Magazine a few months ago under the title TANGO BEACH PARTY."
The Sunday afternoon of Thanksgiving weekend four demented couples and a few of their friends met at The Sidewalk Cafe in California's Venice Beach, a few miles South and West of Los Angeles proper. Boombox and cassettes in tow, we were ready to do the Argentine tango.
We first had to find a place to dance. The best place seemed to be across the pedestrians-only street that separates the beach from the cafes and shops fronting the beach. The sidewalk there is wide, made up of ten-foot squares of smooth concrete separated by flat cobblestones.
True, in the street were a long line of artists peddling their wares and behind us on the grass was a limbo dancer with his own boombox, but everywhere else seemed worse.
We applied our sunblocker and had a go at it. Denise Yarfitz and her husband Marc Pierre began and like magic a semicircle of people formed to watch. Loreen Arbus and Alberto Toledano joined in and the circle thickened. We were a hit!
But not to everybody. One of the artists was unhappy about the people crowding him – and not even to look at his work. He came over and complained, and we looked around for another spot. We found one a half-block away, where a sidewalk angled toward the sand near a plaza where the skaters were doing their tricks.
This time Joan Yarfitz and Carlos Blasco took the "floor," followed by Renee Cardenas and Jim Lazarou, then Saul Kishner and Denise. Again the magical crowd formed. Larry Carroll began passing out a flyer telling people where to dance the Argentine tango and who teaches it.
The crowd was thicker this time and generally attentive and kept their distance, except for a small child who toddled into the center of the action to get a better look, and a startled skater who glided slowly between two whirling couples.
A half hour of this and we took a break for drinks and a snack and rummaged through our cassettes for selections that would better penetrate the crowd noise. We also talked to a number of people who had questions.
By this time the wind had picked up and clouds were starting to cover the sun. Should we go or have one last dance? Denise said "Stay!" and grabbed Marc, so the decision was made. Couples swapped partners and danced a while longer. We were joined by a couple who did International tango for a few minutes.
By 3:30 the crowd was thinning as the day became completely overcast and the windchill factor went up. Finally we retreated to our cars to go home, repair ourselves, and rendezvous at Marcela's in Van Nuys for food--and more Argentine tango!
Larry Carroll; A.K.A. Larry de Los Angeles
Tango Mango / San Francisco Bay Area
Argentine Tango - Igor Polk's Site / San Francisco Bay Area
