Su acento es la canción de voz sentimental,
su ritmo es el compás que vive en mi ciudad,
no tiene pretensión, no quiere ser procaz,
se llama tango y nada más.---Una Emocion

El Hipopotamo near Lazarme Park where our story begins... 

Its accent is the song of the sentimental voice,
its rhythm is the pulse my city brings alive—
it doesn't have designs, doesn't want to be obscene,
its name is Tango, and nothing else.—Translation of Una Emocion 

Una Emocion, one of the most beautiful tango pieces ever written.  You’ll recognize it as the song Pablo Veron and Geraldine Rojas dance to at the end of Assassination Tango while the credits roll.

You're probably wondering 'why is he starting out his blog with this quote and movie reference?'  Don't worry, it's all connected, stay with me. 

It was a hot summer Sunday afternoon this past February, and I was feeling the worse for wear as I tucked into my lunch—at 4pm—at El Hipopotamo, just across from Lazarme Park.  They call it "pizza", I call it Type 2 Diabetes. 

It looked like a throw-rug with enough cheese on it that my teeth couldn’t bite all the way through it.  They got stuck in the middle and…well, you get the idea, it was smothered in cheese…Get over it...I digress…    

I had a map that listed a series of Sunday afternoon milongas, so I called to see about the one across the street.  A woman informed me that in fact Jorge Dispari would be teaching a “seminario”.          

‘Cool….What’s a “Seminario”, and who’s Jorge Dispari?’  I thought.  A “seminario” is a lesson based around some special topic.  I know, EVERY tango lesson has a special topic, but this wasn’t about steps, it was about style…Villa Urquiza style.  

There was only one other guy there for the class.  (Tango classes in Buenos Aires always seemed to have more men than women.)  

Suddenly Jorge Dispari (see photo scalped from Google Images) appeared from the back patio where he finished what would be the first of nearly a dozen cigarettes over the next two hours.  He was bubbling with enthusiasm and introduced himself, his wife Maria Del Carmen and his step-daughter Samantha and handed me a card.  His card featured a photo of him dancing in a very well tailored suit, along with a brief description of himself as the choreographer of the film Assassination Tango-the quirky vanity project starring Robert Duvall. He also told us he'd been the "teacher to the teachers" with notable students including Javier Rodriguez, Andres Laza Moreno and even Pablo Veron in that final scene in Assasination Tango.  Jorge lamented that many of the dancing scenes had been cut from the final---maybe one day there'll be a "Director's Cut DVD".   His mini CV also proudly highlighted his personal passion as a teacher specializing in "Villa Urquiza style".  

 Wow,  I had the same teacher as Colonel Kilgore in Apocalypse Now! (See photo) (In Assassination Tango Duvall also wears a funny hat and carries a rifle, but I couldn't find a suitable photo so used this one instead.)

“‘Villa Urquiza style is about elegance. It's always about elegant movements, about walking, about listening to the music” Dispari explained, his raspy voice pausing to emphasize the word "elegant" in that lilting slightly Italian accented Spanish that is characteristic to Argentina .  (Argentina accented Spanish is truly a joy to listen to. It can make anything sound alluring.)  Jorge paired me up with his wife Maria Del Carmen who introduced herself by her nickname "Turca" and we began.

It was tough.  All we did was walk, with Jorge stopping us from time to time urging us to listen to the music and dance in a straight line-lentamente--- ....sloooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwly.

I was in tango ‘boot-camp'.

While introducing ourselves, Maria del Carmen casually mentioned, she is Geraldine Roja's mom and daughter Samantha is Geraldine's sister.  The tango world is quite small.    

When I realized this was Geraldine's mother I was partnered with, I got nervous.  "What if I accidentally step on Turca's feet?" I asked sheepishly.  What if word got out to Robert Duvall?  My career as a dancer would be finito.   Jorge looked at me and smiled reassuringly.

"She'll say 'ouch', you'll apologize, and you'll move on" he laughed.   Now it was Turca's turn to smile nervously.

Yes, she did say 'ouch' a few times.  Thanks Maestro. But more importantly he deconstructed the traditional tango song for me so I could understand the Villa Urquiza approach to salon tango.  

By dancing slower, I could first focus on perfecting the moves and secondly, lead my partner in a more enjoyable dance rather than maneuvering her around the floor like an over-loaded shopping cart in a busy supermarket.  Come on, everyone's done that at one stage or another....anyway... 

At the second class I took with the Disparis, Jorge had us all walking and only "allowed" us to do a figure at the appropriate pause in the music which he signified by clapping his hands.  If one of us did a figure just because...he brought that up during our "notes" section in the lesson in which he gave everyone personal feedback on their progress. 

Here's the key to understanding Villa Urquiza:  each traditional tango piece has a similar structure and when you recognize that structure, you can begin to appreciate its genius.

The songs always begin with a simple beat that can be slow or fast but is there to establish the walk.  The musical phrase ends with a trill or some kind of accent, then begins again.

At that point, in the "Villa Urquiza" style, the leader pauses and can do a figure with the music-a giro or a pencil or an ocho.   The next phrase is usually a variation on the opening theme.  This is the opportunity to dance against the beat---or "contra tempo". 

So in the opening walk if you were dancing "steppppppppp, stepppppppppp...Pause." in contra tempo you would dance: "steppppppppp step-step steppppppppp...Pause".

                                                 It's important to pause.  Pausing is good. As a leader pausing during those natural phrase endings in the music keeps you from whipping around the dance floor like those tornados that rip apart trailer parks in the Western United States.  (See photo...Look familiar?)

Let's have a look, at how the Maestro, Jorge Dispari does it...

Note the opening, then the walk which ends at a pause at :19 second into the piece.    He walks again and pauses with the music at :23.  Then another walk and pause at :29.

Watch for the little pivot step he begins. It's not an ocho but a more subtle pivot which Maria del Carmen responds to with an adorno.   Then at 1:00 Dispari introduces his first figure-a giro.  That's ONE MINUTE into the piece!   Up to that point it's all walking.  That is Villa Urquiza style.

Here's another example of the musicality of Villa Urquiza, this time with Andres Laza Moreno who I also took a class with:  

00-:10 Andres Laza Moreno walks. When the musical phrase ends, he pauses and introduces a small figure.  The walking continues, then again at :29 the musical phrase ends and he pauses before introducing another brief figure.   There's more variations on walking and pausing, then at :43 he introduces his FIRST major figure, a giro.  There is more walking, he goes behind the pole and at 1:08 while behind the pole he continues with the giros.   Note also the pacing of th walk.  He leads at around one step per one bar of music in 4/4 time.    Her Voleos are very subtle.  The more exaggerated and athletic moves are reserved for "tango fantasie' performance.  You might even think he's not doing anything but the confidence of each step, the musicality, the precision, the elegance---those are the hallmarks to watch for. 

You get the idea.  In this form of traditional Salon Tango aka "Villa Urquiza" style, "less is more".

So which style should one then adopt?  I hate the word "style" in reference to tango preferring instead the word "choice". To subscribe to a "style" is to limit one's self to the broader possibilities to be explored.  Villa Urquiza style is the platform that creates the basis for the progressive moves we see in "21st Century Tango" as described by Manuela in her farewell letter to the Robert Duvall character in Assasination Tango mentioned at the beginning of my blog.  See...I told you there was  a connection! (Hot Tango Couple, Performance, Bar Sur San Telmo February 2008)  

As the song says "it's name is Tango and nothing else".

The author, channelling Villa Urquiza style with hot Hungarian girl, at Friday milonga, Budapest June 2007

Last update: 31-10-2008 12:17

Published in : Blogs, Dancing