An interesting list for this evenings team discussions of cover versions – which ones we prefer and why – what was the cover trying to improve? Did they succeed?
Jo – Remembranza – De Angelis and D’Arienzo
Nigel – El Recodo – Di Sarli and Biagi
Deb – El Pañuelito – Pugliese and D”Arienzo
Jon – Unfortunately the selection was eaten by Archie
Remembranza is one of Jo’s favourite – and she has in fact chosen 2 cover versions ! Malerba recorded this in 1943 – D’Arienzo was in 1964 and De Angelis in 1954. I have added the iconic Pugliese version from 1956 as well as the ‘original’ from Malerba.
Personally I have played the Malerba version 230 times, D’Arienzo 100, Pugliese 46 times and De Angelis – who I normally love – only 3 times!
I chose El Recodo from Biagi in 1952 as I love playing this in a mixed orchestra 1950s tanda. There were actually 2 previous Di Sarli versions in 1941 and 1951 – this one is from 1951.
Deb chose El Pañuelito from Pugliese 1959 and D’Arienzo in 1963.
In these difficult times we have totally changed the way that we practise. Four sessions a week – and 100% using video.
On day 1 we pick a theme – like colgadas – study our Trello Cards – focussed, labelled and categorised records of our professional teachers teaching us each sequence – and start to practise them.
We video a dance where we feature the sequences we are studying, and later on we select at least 6 things that need improvement. We also are careful to praise each other where things look good – this needs to be sustainable and focussing only on weaker areas can itself cause issues.
On day 2 we work on these identified areas – comparing our efforts to our teachers – all again using video.
We then re-record a dance and compare the first versions with the second.
This is an incredibly focussed practise routine. Here is an annotated example from last weekend.
Before the pandemic we used video only occasionally, and in a very general way. This is a new level completely.
We miss the professional input of our teachers hugely – but we have enough material and have been taught enough times that when we see errors we are confident in our ability to work through them, applying the solid foundation principles that we have been taught by them for so long.
We also practise to the more open modern music so associated with Nuevo – this may seem unusual but I find as the leader that it frees up one side of my brain, that would normally be so in tune with the complex demands of the music.
Four sessions a week is actually more work than when we were attending classes and social practise sessions, as we only practised by ourselves once a week.
The difference is the focus – and the completely different relationship we have now with the camera.
As Tango dancers we always want to be moving forwards – and this certainly is producing great results even after just the first weeks – since the lockdown started.
One either benefit is that the attention to detail and the planned nature of each session makes everything stress free, and hugely rewarding and enjoyable. We often limit each session to just 45 minutes – which flies by as we work rapidly through each area.
We so look forward to being able to dance with our friends in our small practica and to being back under the watchful eye of our experienced professionals – but this has indeed proved an outstanding way to change our learning regime to take advantage of these unexpected and unfortunate times.
All feedback welcomed – on facebook please as your thoughts will reach a wider selection of our community.
