Anibal in Bali

ANIBAL IN BALI

Retrospective September/October 2007:

“Once upon a time...

... came a dancer from far, far away, who brought with him a beautiful Tango Nuevo style. He arrived on a tropical island and looked in wonder at all the strange things he found. The people there had milongas just like in his home – but sometimes they were wearing long sarongs and strange hats made from colorful cloth while dancing. That clothing was required by the local people for their rituals, for example to bless some new guesthouses.

... of course our traveller also found many young maidens on that tropical island. Indeed, it seemed to him as if there were many more maidens on this island than men. He liked it very much, as he felt like Odysseus on the island of the sirens, but sometimes it made him very tired to dance with them all. But he was teaching them his beautiful Tango Nuevo style and they had a lot of fun.

... after a while, the dancer was longing for his own food, a change from sweet mango nectar. Luckily, there were other people from his own country, and so they bought a mountain of beef and roasted it over the fire, until it was surely dead - twice. This time, the locals were looking in wonder – as they never ate the flesh of cows.

... then came the day when he had to go home. They had a merry dance in beautiful Tango Nuevo style as a farewell. When he left, it felt to him as if he had stayed not more than two months – but in reality he had been living on the enchanted island for seven entire years...”

The End – to be continued...

Love , Beate

Anibal, my dear friend, dance partner and teacher, who's company I enjoy, who' s teaching I appreciate (clear and to the point) who's dancing I miss a lot (fantastic connection) .

Anibal in Bali ,here with Esteban and Evelyn from Uruguay,who were holidaying in Bali and performing at Made's Warung and Practica with Anibal at thE sunseT

Here some additional pictures with Gianfranco on a shooting day (1 Market place Denpasar, 2-5 Garuda WIsnu Kencana, 6 on a sightseeing trip to Uluwatu temple)

Always a place for you in Bali,

Stefani K.

Anibal in Bali, March-May 2008

Dear Tango friends,

Get out your new Muñecas, girls, he’s back! A quick stopover in Bali before going to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore was celebrated with a welcome milonga. I missed it, but I was told that all sorts of nearly forgotten tangueras y tangueros came out of their holes where they were hiding (maybe weeping a bit?) after Leonardo left in January.

As I witnessed Anibals week-long stay in KL, I’m going to include a few highlights of that. Notable about the workshops were a few flashy turns for show effect, and the air-condition – if you want to feel cold during tango for a change, go to KL... Very memorable was the milonga lunch in Runa’s house, who bakes the most delicious bread, to honour a Korean couple on a stopover from Buenos Aires. We danced barefeet or in socks, to protect the floor. As for the nightlife, which we know our maestro likes a lot: who says you can’t do a few quick’n’naughty tango steps in a jam-packed watering hole on Jalan xy to 80’s pop music?

Then we had him back in Bali. OK – “move your body”! He was there to inaugurate our new Saturday milonga at Kumala Pantai. Poor guy – he was the only man. Guys, you really can’t let our visiting teachers do all the work. Luckily, David came back from Bandung just in time to help out and really applied himself to dance with everyone: “Una, una, una!” Well done!

Anibal is really moving his body for us this time: He has generously updated our milongas to “dua, dua, dua”-style. It actually feels a bit more like a “real milonga” than the quick one-song-“next, please!” that has been in fashion lately. For those who don’t know what a “real milonga” is: You dance three or four dances with your partner – for better or worse – until a break in the music marks the end of the set and everyone goes back to their seats.

It didn’t take long to fill Anibals schedule to the last lesson. As a teacher he’s technique-oriented and systematic – quite a change from Leonardo’s learning-by-doing. If he can’t make you understand the technique, nobody can. Nothing better to learn your part better than his soft, precise lead – very challenging for the woman’s independence. „What’s your problem?“ Come on girls, why did we fight for emancipation if we’re not going to use it now – EVEN in tango?

How do you do a practica with six women and not a single man? No problem for Anibal: „Men are those in flat shoes, women those in high-heels“. Easy! I think the leading abilities of many of our women (and of course the men) improved significantly during Anibal’s stay, – mine certainly did – with all the benefits they bring for following. Stefani even learned to like ganchos... And now some of us even muster the courage to stand up and dance together in our milonguitas. It’s a sweet sight, isn’t it, guys?

Of course, tango is about a man and a woman finding each other. The maestro, it must be said, is quite an expert in this field, too: He spreads his charmes freely and widely, wherever he goes. And again, being a devoted teacher, he does not keep his knowledge to himself. Or how else do we have to interpret the constant whispers between him and our dear Matthew? This line caught by a passer-by definitely wasn’t about tango: “We went out for drinks” - “What? Just drinks?”

So we all learned a lot during Anibals stay, danced a lot and laughed a lot. He focussed on his talents as a teacher and worked hard with everyone in the lessons. With three milongas per week, which Anibal attended punctually if not always merrily, he worked hard in the evenings, too. After I came back from a short absence I noticed that the maestro’s cheeks were clearly a bit more sunken than before. We’ll have to put a bit more Argentinian beef onto his plate when he comes again.

Gracias, Anibal.

Yours truly,

Beate