Saturday 9 January 2010

Nothing to say

I didn't know Tete Rusconi and have nothing whatsoever to say about him; I think my favourite tribute so far is Irene's. Hat tip TangoCommuter.

Buenos Aires 2008 - Part 9 I thought he wasn´t going to ask me after all, because he had spent the entire evening dancing with flaquitas ... What was it like dancing with Tete? ... it was like a very terrifying ride on a roller coaster, but kind of fun too. ... you cannot anticipate moves or go faster than him, or be too involved with your adornments, because you will miss the lead, and he won't dance seriously with you. ... It was a really challenging dance, but he was very musical because all his moves connected with the music in a percussive way (I don't know how else to describe it). ... Alberto was very proud of me, and Paulina agreed, dancing with Tete is "muy dificil".

Read the whole thing, it's funny and interesting, with all sorts of observations about people and styles and a lot more detail about what Tete felt like to dance with. Her description is more or less what I would have guessed from watching him on video. An honour, a lot of fun, but you might find out whether you're just a 'skinny' or not, and you'd better make sure you're going to like the answer.

4 comments:

NYC Tango Pilgrim said...

I had heard mixed comments from women who had danced with him. For me, he was a personality of tango. He once stopped me in the middle of the dance at Porteno y Bailarin and spoke some Spanish to me and my partner. I never had the chance to know what the hell he stopped us for.

I think he had a good tango life, dancing with all these beautiful women the night before he left. To me, he was a carefree spirit of tango, that was it.

But Osvaldo Zotto, I would regretfully miss him.

msHedgehog said...

That's a nice description. Yes, I thought the same when I first read about it, that he was dancing with gorgeous women at four in the morning and was found dead in bed the next day; he had a happy life and died in peace. My friend TC really got a lot out of his teaching, in dance terms, I think most of all because of his personality, but also his vivid communication and the character of his dance.

I've heard a lot less about Zotto, and would be interested to read something.

Irene and Man Yung said...

Dear Ms Hedgehog,

We posted our experiences about meeting Tete on our blog and then less than 24 hours later, we read news that he had passed away... it was a total shock, because writing about him made him so vivid in our minds.

We didn't get the opportunity to see him when we were in Buenos Aires in 2009. Planning our trip for 2010, we were just talking about how much we were looking forward to seeing him again. He was always such a fixture in the milongas of Buenos Aires. Now both Tete and Osvaldo Zotto gone... suddenly there's a huge void.

Thanks for enjoying our post,

Irene and Man Yung

msHedgehog said...

@Irene and Man Yung : I can't imagine. How upsetting! I did enjoy it, you write very vividly.