Hello Tango-L,
Yesterday, I went to a Milonga in Tokyo. That was my first time
to attend tango in Japan and the first tango dance after I left
Florida last year(7 months ago!).
Well let me tell you about dance in Japan first. Ballroom dance became
popular (at least for old generations) after the big hit of the movie
"Shall we dance." Except the ballroom, the most popular dance in Japan
may be Flamenco. In my town (1 million pop.), there are a couple of
Flamenco schools, dozen of ballroom schools but no AT school.
Some young guys like to dance Salsa, mainly because Latin students
are having Salsa party regularly.
If you want to dance tango in Japan, you should go to Tokyo.
This huge city has everything, I found out there are
some homepages about AT. They even have Searchable Database of
AT. You can find Milonga, Lesson, Teachers, Concert and/or even
partners. Unfortunately, it is all written in Japanese.
Now I want talk about the dance, Milonga yesterday. I should confess that
I am a merely a beginner who just danced a few times.
And this is just one event I observed here.
So it might not be general and even incorect but I will try my best to
describe my experience there.
It was quite similar to the milonga I danced in Tampa. The place was
old nice hall. An old man (I think he is one of local AT teacher)
organized it. He also did DJ. Musics were nice, a little bit old
and slow tempo. Later he mixed a few rather modern ones with old ones.
For 3 hours only 3 milongas and one Valz.
And they offered a free lesson for beginners in other room and later
offer some wine and cookies.
I noticed a few things different from Tampa. First, they
don't call it Milonga, they call it Party. You should ask for
Tango Party not Milonga in Japan.
And it won't last till midnight. It starts around 6 pm and end before
9 pm. (Japanese are busy people).
It started 5:30 but people came around 6pm. In total about little more
than 30 people were there. The hall was full at 6:30. Male/female
number was almost even. I think men outnumbered ladies.
Most of men were old ( half of them looked over 60, and
I was the only one who looked less than 50 ) while ladies were
considerably younger.
There were many good dancers, they were smooth and skillful.
Both ladies and men were doing lots of fancy steps on the floor.
I especially liked a bold and short old man who danced with lots of
energy and passion.
Strange thing (at least for me) was that it was hard to find a
beginner (even for the beginner lesson, only one guy was true beginner
while all others were more like beginner to intermediate level.)
During the break I could find some people who can speak English.
They were very nice and kind. They told me that they had visited
BsAs and they really love tango.
I heard that some well-known Argentine teachers had visited Tokyo and
gave some lessons there.
I enjoyed a lot. Ever since I had learned tango, I haven't had
many chance to dance. So when I first embrace my partner, I couldn't
move smoothly. One Japanese teacher pointed out that my upper body
is not stable and my head is in wrong position. She also corrected
my right arm hold (which I wouldn't expect from teachers in America,
but comparing with one Japanese ballroom teacher who corrected my
index finger and ring finger direction in Paso Doble class, it was
nothing.)
Ah, one more comment, Japanese like close embrace.
It would be a little bit hard to find them if you don't speak
Japanese. But there are some people who can speak English (or Spanish).
I recommend this club I went though you should stop dancing around
8:45.
So I say, when you are in Kyoto, enjoy old temples and old street
with cherry blossom. If you want dance Tango in Japan, you should
go to Tokyo.
Any of you want to dance AT while you are visiting Tokyo, I might help
you find a person to contact.
Sanghyeon
on 5 Mar 1999 18:40:53 he added:
After I posted about Tango in Tokyo, I got several messages about
way to contact in Tokyo. I first try to reply to individuals.
But I think it would be better to post here.
Frist, some general information, most of Japan tango page is written
only in Japanese.
Japanese tango party ends around 9pm.
The enterance fee is usually 1000-2000 Yen (it would be higher
if they have live tango band or special performance.)
Now 1 US dollor is about 120 Yen.
The Tango party I attended is organized by SUIYOKAI.
You can find their schedule in their English homepage
http://super.win.ne.jp/˜yakushi/suiyokai.html
They have party almost every tuesday.
The person who are managing this homepage is not a member of this club
but he would help him.
The organizer's phone number is (Japanese National code is 81, and
when you call them from outside of Japan you should omit first 0 )
03-3360-2151 (e.g. 81-3-3360-2151)
One lady I met in the party can speak English and also organizing
tango party. Her name is Lilliana Nakata (03-3986-8149)
These are active tango clubs in Tokyo
ElTango@dns.yarne.funabashi.chiba.jp
(El Tango, They have regular dance)
tarok@mmaj.go.jp
(Monthly tango party in Tokyo called GARUFA)
cta@d1.dion.ne.jp
(club Tango Argentino)
You might get some information from Kyoto, Nagoya, Osaka are from
Kyoto based tango band "orchestra Astrorico" homepage
http://opinion.nucba.ac.jp/˜hiroyuki/tango/astrorico
(Japanese)
and their e-mail contact
yasunobu@nucba.ac.jp
This is Web tango magzine in Japanese, You may get some information from
the creater of this homepage
http://www02.so-net.ne.jp/˜humberto
(Japanese)
E-mail: humberto@sa2.so-net.ne.jp
And this is latin music magazine in Japan
http://www.t3.rim.or.jp/˜latina
(Japanese)
E-mail: latina@t3.rim.or.jp
You can also contact Ms. Yukiko Konobu
who are in some other tango club.
p.s. Yukiko informed me that several months ago Japan postoffice
printed Japan-Argentine 100 yr friendship stamp.
And there is a tango picture on it!
When you visit Tokyo, drop by postoffic. It would be a good souvenir.
Sanghyeon
