An Interesting Perspective on Pulpo & Luiza

[L]

I am forwarding these interesting excerpts from the Tango-L Discussion List to give you, perhaps, a new perspective on Pulpo & Luiza, who return to Los Angeles and the Casa de Practica Studio to teach and perform from this Thursday, March 1, thru Wednesday, March 7.  Please check www.casadepractica.com for more information and a printable schedule, including an Early Registration Discount Coupon which must be received by Tuesday, February 27.

Re: Pulpo & 'alternative' discussion...

I  have hosted Luiza and Pulpo several times at Woodstock Tango, a three 

year old community based on  classic, traditional tango - music and 

dance.  Altho his reputation  as an innovator attracts many 'neo/nuevo'  

dancers to our sessions, their classes and workshops are always steeped 

in and based upon classic tango technique...very precise, very detailed, 

very technical.  Altho his personal style might be considered 

avant-garde...it is  completely grounded in  traditional technique 

...something we don't see very often in many 'nuevo' social 

dancers....not even close.

Ilene

Trini y Sean (PATangoS) wrote:

Last fall, I asked El Pulpo about his use of alternative

music.  He laughed and said that with his father and

grandfather being bandoneonists, he got sick of tango music

when he was young and wanted to get away from it.  Hence,

his interest in rock 'n roll.  

In Jackie Wong's interview with him, he describes how he

and his friends would experiment and how he felt that he

had to hide it.  His website also tells that he first

practiced tango to rock 'n roll, which were certainly

before the late 90's.

http://www.tangopulse.net/tango_interviews.htm

El Pulpo isn't interested in creating mini-Pulpos.  Rather,

El Pulpo appreciates the freedom his teachers, the Dinzels,

gave him to create his own tango.  It should be no surprise

that people in BsAs do not dance like him, because he is

not trying to recreate himself in others.  However, I do

see glimpses of his teaching in others.

Trini de Pittsburgh