Robin Bach Nia Blog

Reposting of Comments from Novemebr

2008-12-27T09:18:00.000-08:00

Hello All This is Flanagan speaking on behalf of Ms Robin.
This is a reprint of a comment back in November for those of you who may be interested.

She has arrived safely in Argentina and is safe and sound…well as sound as she can be. Her laptop is not cooperating; we believe the charger isn’t really a charger; it just played one on TV. So her main communication device has bailed on her. Darn the luck! She has found a locutorio, Internet Café, and is paying for internet. So that is where I am getting my information, along with a few phone calls

In BA, her new home is a tiny, old apartment, (not quite like her home in Kirkwood) and she found herself wondering,” What the Hell was I thinking?” Needless to say after spending 12 hours in the New York Airport this was not the warm and cozy she was looking for. She was a bit melancholy; however, in true Robin fashion she realized this was not the Princess Tour but the “What the Hell Adventure”.

In her first experiences in Buenos Aires, she found out that the Spanish she learned in school (and did not use), was pretty much useless. Good thing she is taking Spanish down in Argentina.

Map of Robin’s Location in BA
http://maps.google.com/maps?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS255&q=La+Rioja+1119+Buenos+Aires+argentina&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&resnum=1&ct=image

Robin’s apartment is across the street from Gricel, a well known tango club in BA, so she went to check it out. Our adventurer said it was a beautiful room, great floor and there were about 200 people dancing tango. Close embrace was the style and the group was a bit older, however, our little miss loved watching the dancing and she was asked to dance…she declined (in Spanish). She did smile though. Big! In the midst of the chaos and the unknown she was able to smile. WOW! Life is good!

The weather is nice with a daytime temp around 72. Some of the evenings require a jacket. Her apartment is located

Her second visit to Gricel, Robin arranged a lesson with the owner, Gustavo Manan. He speaks no English. She was very nervous. The lesson went well; however, she did not dance to her potential because she was a bit overwhelmed, my words, not Robin’s. She made arrangements to take another private lesson with Gustavo. Robin also has signed up at a tango school, DNI, I will provide more information in a day or two.

Keep Robin in your prayers. Overall it is a good trip and keeps getting better even though she has had a few setbacks.

Adios, Miguel Giacona Flanagan

December 4, 2008 9:03 AM

Hey There I am still out here in Santiago, Chile

2008-12-27T09:12:00.000-08:00

Well , last night I went to the tango club by mifi´s house. One of her twin sons, Fransisco went with me. He is a cross between a mother hen and a yenta. He is so protective of me and points out obstacles in the sidewalk to avoid. So anyway, he went with me to the club for protection and to find a man for me to dance with....hilarious, really. He kept pointing men out saying, "what about him, do you like the way he dances?" The quality of dancers in Chile is more like the US than BsAs and the seasoned dancers did not arrive until about 1:00 am. Fransisco and I gave each male dancer a nickname so we could easily talk about them.. There was:

Monty : he was a large tall bald old man that looked like a mountain, but a classically good milonguero style dancer.

Swordfish: the quintessential Latin lover, greased back hair tall and lean with a huge nose and shiny black clothing..I´m sure he was gay, something in the way held is butt cheeks. He held his left arm very, very high in the air, I only saw that posture once in BsAs.

Guapo: Who was the best dancer in the place and gorgeous, totally surronded by women the whole night...I was not going to get a chance with him!

Pollo: An old over-tanned guy who thought he was really something on the dance floor. He danced with different women every song, if you can call it dancing...he looked like a chicken who´s head had just been cut-off...jerking and flapping his almost dead wings and legs. He was embarrasing and entertaining all at the same time.

Pelo Malo: A greasy unkept short inca looking guy who was learning how to be a good dancer but not there yet, kind of like me. He had a bad expression on his face most of the time and I decided that dancing with him would be like playing tennis with someone who is at your same level...I was looking for a better tennis player.

The music was supplied by live musicians. The piano player was blind and was led to the stage by the drummer, weaving through very small openings in the crowd. It looked like they had practiced that dance for years. A singer and a bandoneon player completed the ensemble, but they were truly background characters.

Fransisco was determined to find a partner for me, he wanted me to have a fun time so he said, "This is what we will do. I will take you by the hand to the middle of the dance floor and say to the crowd, ´will somebody please dance with her´" I´m not sure if he was serious or kidding, but he was frighteningly confident in this idea. I envisioned a butcher holding up a piece of meat trying to make it look more appealing than it really was. Nobody was holding a deli number either. I quickly objected to this idea and was trying to figure out a way to help Fransisco feel as though he was contuibuting to my pleasure in Chile. So, I sent him to ask Guapo and the girls a question. I wanted to know who could give me private lessons while I was in Chile. After a few minutes of Fransisco being passed around the group, he came back with a man whom I had noticed half way through the evening. This man was my height and looked like he was trying to emulate John Travolta in SNF. His shirt was unbuttoned, his pants were tight, his shoes were shiny and he had a similar face to Carla Tortelli´s (Cheers) second husband, Nick; but I had not seen him dance during the evening. Fransisco translated that he, Jorge, could give me private lessons as he owned the club. Jorge wanted to dance with me to see how much I knew (a shot of adrenaline pierced my chest). I followed him to thte crowded dance floor and proceeded to initiate -el abrazo cerrado- for the third time ever. You know how difficult close embrace is for me. I breathed in, lifted my chest with my abdominals and walked off the cliff. His style was much different than the suave style in BsAs. He was assertive, sometimes a little more than assertive. I closed my eyes and hung on for the ride.

I have private lessons with him on Monday, Tuesday and Friday evenings. By the way, Jorge has a new nickname too... I call him Harry because when we were dancing the hair from his back was so long and dense that it actually tickled my nose.

1 week in BsAs

2008-12-04T08:41:00.000-08:00

Hola mis amigos,
I have had some technical difficulties, my comupter cannot get electricity through the cable, my battery died and am at a friends house using the computer . I will put some short video clips on the site. After a tough start, my body and spirit has acclimated to my temporary home. This city has incredible energy and rhythm. I have had 2 tango classes and will have 2 more today. Spanish lessons in the morning for 4 hours have taken most of my mental energy. I would love to hear from you.
much love,
Robin

Blahgggg, blahggg, blahggg

2008-11-15T09:49:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

I just set up this blog to connect while I am away in Argentina. I will be posting pictures, observations, stories and video clips of everything Tango, Nia or movement related. I will be sending the link to this blog in an e-mail, or you can just go right to my links page of my website www.robinbachnia.com .

I want to hear 'read' from you , so the blog will be set up for you to make entries too.

Let's play!