All who love Tango have their own Tango stories. Some of them are beautiful, but
some are very sad. Tango music deeply talks from heart to heart about different
sides of life. It is constantly changing; and like in real life, it has difficulties.
I came into this world because of Tango. My mother met her only love,
gorgeous Greek man, on the dance floor of a small town on the Black Sea, South of Russia. My parents
enjoyed dancing Tango. It gave them passion and love; it gave life to me. Sadly, they did not stay together
for a long time; my mother did not live a long life.
Tango later came to me in several different periods of my life. Only now while looking back, I can
connect all these small separate pieces for the whole picture and see why and how I came to Tango or
why Tango chose me.
First, we had a bandoneon at home. My grandfather brought this strange (accordion like) musical
instrument after World War II. He even tried to teach me to play it.
- You need to open it widely to take some air. It would play the music, if you know which bottoms to
push, - he would say (Later I learned how to play an accordion).
When I was ten years old, I attended a Young Pioneers summer camp. In the evenings people gathered on
the dance floor for a dance and talk, and on some days children were allowed to come. Tango was very
fashionable at that time.
One night the crowd was especially tight and noisy, reacting very strongly to what was happening on the
dance floor. I also tried to come closer, but saw just crazy and strange leg movements, which were doing
different tricks under the exciting and passionate music.
Finally, I could look up and was shocked by the intimate and very close positions of a man and a woman.
Their eyes were closed, the upper bodies were still and almost quiet. This couple looked disgustingly sexy.
They awoke my interest.
Their heads were slightly turned to the side like they were watching someone inside their embrace.
Someone was between them, someone whom they tried to impress, compete with, or seduce. At the end
of the dance a man put a woman on his leg and a little down and posed...And at this last moment with the
last chord of the music, he suddenly looked directly in her eyes. They posed and posed. Silence, dream
and love mesmerized everybody. Then the whole crowd exploded and yelled. A man and a woman
walked, faded away and disappeared.
Next evening the orchestra started the Tango. I was invited by a boy and forgot about the whole world.
He gave me his hand and Tango came to my soul for the first time....
However, I did not danced Tango again for a long time.
My second tango sensation I experienced in CA while watching a performance of the Tango Passio
(Monica and Omar Ocampo), well-known professional tango company from Argentina. In the
intermission, we found an invitation for some lessons. It was the beginning of my new and strong Tango
passion. Later I tried to watch every show they would bring to CA. Then, for several years I was
persistently trained with some great Tango Masters of the world.
All feelings, all twists and plots of the real life lived in the most exciting and complicated tango music and
movements. My mother and her love lived forever there. I dreamed to tell my stories by dancing it.
Tango is about life and love. My husband's love and generosity brought tango into my real life, while we
were celebrating our anniversary cruising to Alaska. One evening we enjoyed a show presented by
professional tango-gauchos group Las Pampas Devils from Argentina.
Next day we asked Pablo Juan Vino and Hugo Daniel to teach me Nuevo style of tango and stage
choreographies. Then we followed Las Pampas Devils for several cruises and I performed with them. It
was very exiting and successful time.
Later, in San Diego once again, destiny intervened, and my search brought me back to Tango. I was
invited to give a Tango lesson before the show Tango Passion at Escondido Center of the Arts. One year
later I finally got a chance to learn and dance with Monica and Omar, Los Ocampo, whose big influence I
got from their earlier performances.
In 2004 I formally registered my own Tango Caminito Dance School and began to teach
Communications, Energy and Connections in the Embrace of Tango. During my lessons I use some
metaphors that precisely talk about the hidden sense of tango, dance of three, and the classical triangle.
For some people tango could open a very special, mysterious world of the dance with the invisible third
person, who is inside the frame, and who we are constantly looking at...
Tango is a dance of two: a man and a woman as one. But the music is the main conductor and a partner
in this sophisticated dance for some intellectuals.
How many new discoveries tango hides?
Come to learn and dance with me!
some are very sad. Tango music deeply talks from heart to heart about different
sides of life. It is constantly changing; and like in real life, it has difficulties.
I came into this world because of Tango. My mother met her only love,
gorgeous Greek man, on the dance floor of a small town on the Black Sea, South of Russia. My parents
enjoyed dancing Tango. It gave them passion and love; it gave life to me. Sadly, they did not stay together
for a long time; my mother did not live a long life.
Tango later came to me in several different periods of my life. Only now while looking back, I can
connect all these small separate pieces for the whole picture and see why and how I came to Tango or
why Tango chose me.
First, we had a bandoneon at home. My grandfather brought this strange (accordion like) musical
instrument after World War II. He even tried to teach me to play it.
- You need to open it widely to take some air. It would play the music, if you know which bottoms to
push, - he would say (Later I learned how to play an accordion).
When I was ten years old, I attended a Young Pioneers summer camp. In the evenings people gathered on
the dance floor for a dance and talk, and on some days children were allowed to come. Tango was very
fashionable at that time.
One night the crowd was especially tight and noisy, reacting very strongly to what was happening on the
dance floor. I also tried to come closer, but saw just crazy and strange leg movements, which were doing
different tricks under the exciting and passionate music.
Finally, I could look up and was shocked by the intimate and very close positions of a man and a woman.
Their eyes were closed, the upper bodies were still and almost quiet. This couple looked disgustingly sexy.
They awoke my interest.
Their heads were slightly turned to the side like they were watching someone inside their embrace.
Someone was between them, someone whom they tried to impress, compete with, or seduce. At the end
of the dance a man put a woman on his leg and a little down and posed...And at this last moment with the
last chord of the music, he suddenly looked directly in her eyes. They posed and posed. Silence, dream
and love mesmerized everybody. Then the whole crowd exploded and yelled. A man and a woman
walked, faded away and disappeared.
Next evening the orchestra started the Tango. I was invited by a boy and forgot about the whole world.
He gave me his hand and Tango came to my soul for the first time....
However, I did not danced Tango again for a long time.
My second tango sensation I experienced in CA while watching a performance of the Tango Passio
(Monica and Omar Ocampo), well-known professional tango company from Argentina. In the
intermission, we found an invitation for some lessons. It was the beginning of my new and strong Tango
passion. Later I tried to watch every show they would bring to CA. Then, for several years I was
persistently trained with some great Tango Masters of the world.
All feelings, all twists and plots of the real life lived in the most exciting and complicated tango music and
movements. My mother and her love lived forever there. I dreamed to tell my stories by dancing it.
Tango is about life and love. My husband's love and generosity brought tango into my real life, while we
were celebrating our anniversary cruising to Alaska. One evening we enjoyed a show presented by
professional tango-gauchos group Las Pampas Devils from Argentina.
Next day we asked Pablo Juan Vino and Hugo Daniel to teach me Nuevo style of tango and stage
choreographies. Then we followed Las Pampas Devils for several cruises and I performed with them. It
was very exiting and successful time.
Later, in San Diego once again, destiny intervened, and my search brought me back to Tango. I was
invited to give a Tango lesson before the show Tango Passion at Escondido Center of the Arts. One year
later I finally got a chance to learn and dance with Monica and Omar, Los Ocampo, whose big influence I
got from their earlier performances.
In 2004 I formally registered my own Tango Caminito Dance School and began to teach
Communications, Energy and Connections in the Embrace of Tango. During my lessons I use some
metaphors that precisely talk about the hidden sense of tango, dance of three, and the classical triangle.
For some people tango could open a very special, mysterious world of the dance with the invisible third
person, who is inside the frame, and who we are constantly looking at...
Tango is a dance of two: a man and a woman as one. But the music is the main conductor and a partner
in this sophisticated dance for some intellectuals.
How many new discoveries tango hides?
Come to learn and dance with me!
ELENA PANKEY.
MAXIM GYTANO
PARADISO. LA, 2005
MAXIM GYTANO
PARADISO. LA, 2005
Published in La Sonrisa Latina. Dance Notes, La Vida Tango, 2004-2006
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