Susanne Kihm, German, first arrived in Georgia seven years ago. Three years later, she came back and ever since she’s been continuously living in Georgia. Being a multilingual, Susanne first taught English to orphans in SOS kindergarten, now she teaches German to students at the Goethe Institute and the Tbilisi State University. Also, Susanne has a translation work in progress. She translates a novel by one of the significant Georgian authors - Guram Dochanashvili from Georgian into German.
Languages as a mean of communication seem to be a true passion in Susanne’s life. For it is not only a verbal language that she’s fond of but also profound and subtle language of music and dance. In fact, this is why she came to the radio show, to reflect upon her passion for Tango.
It was two years ago, that Susanne together with her friends started a Tango Argentino scene in Georgia. This is what is written on their homepage: “Tango Argentino in Tbilisi started when some tangueros and tangueras – Nika, Tobias, Katja, Franziska, Susanne, Nino and Tom gathered in Tobias’ apartment, and decided that Tango was the one thing missing in Tbilisi.
That was in mid January 2008 and two weeks later, on the 31st of January, the first Milonga took place in the JR’s Night-Club in Sheraton.”
Ever since, there has been Milongas twice a week in various cafes in town. Milonga is a word that has two meanings. First is the name for a special music form, which evolved prior to Tango and is a more cheerful and quicker predecessor of the latter one and the second meaning is the name for the Tango evenings and sessions. Now together with Milonga sessions in different cafйs of Tbilisi town Susanne and her friend Nika Lomtadze give lessons in a small studio on Sulkhan-Saba Str. They already have about 20 regular students and twenty more that drop in from time to time.
“The main principle of Tango Argentino is really based on communication. It is the thing about the two partners. It never gets boring. Every dance would be different, depending on whom you dance with, to what music, what mood you are in and it’s completely based on improvisation. There is no choreography, like in the ball room dances.” – explains Susanne.
Even though there are few basic elements to name a few like ocho (figure 8 step) and cruzada (the crossing step) the core idea is still improvisation. However, for a dance not to be chaotic and to be beautiful, woman partner has to be very attentive and to follow every motion and intention of a man as he leads. According to Susanne, it takes approximately half a year of learning before you get the feeling that you are actually dancing Tango.
For that to happen sooner, it is probably better to understand the meaning of Tango as a dance. Tango has soaked in many different cultures and social contexts before it became what it is today and it is still evolving together with society.
“Tango evolved in the end of 19th century in Buenos Aires and Montevideo and it combined different influences. It is mostly derived from African dance called Candombe, a ritual dance based on pantomime. The Gauchos Argentinean cowboys picked it up and modified it. Then immigrants, mostly Italians added their own touch to Tango. For them, it was a mean to express nostalgia and melancholy they often felt to their homeland and also a mean to get away from mundane reality.”-explains Susanne.
“The Tango Argentino is a sad thought, which can be danced”- once said Enrique Santos Discйpolo, Argentinean musician and composer.
Indeed, the melodies and lyrics of Tango are mostly sad and sorrowful. They often tell unhappy stories of love, where men are mostly abandoned by women. The lyrics of Tango often contain special slang vocabulary called lunfardo. According to one source it is a special coded language used by the criminals, while other sources claim that the immigrants have made a verbal blend to add a mysterious flavor to Tango.
Nowadays Tango has become so popular, that festivals are held in just about every big city of the world. The reference point still to be Buenos Aires.
Susanne Kihm together with her friends is looking forward to bringing a tradition of Tango festival to Tbilisi. They were thinking of fulfilling the initiative in June, with special guests from Argentina to perform and hold workshops, however due to scarcity of funding they had to postpone the festival idea to a late fall and to limit themselves to two-day-event for now.
On 17th, there will be a presentation of the video by Nino Dzamashvili about Tango in Tbilisi. A video is dedicated to the 2nd anniversary of Tango in Tbilisi.
On the 18th a special retrospective show will illustrate the history of Tango Argentino. About 6 couples will demonstrate various phases of development of the dance by performing and encompassing different forms of it like Milonga, Canyenge and Tango de salon together with more modernized forms of Tango.
Susanne Kihm, talks to Ruso Strelkova, host of radio show FilterFree
11.06.2010
No comments:
Post a Comment