Product Description

Gotta Tango is a superior instructional package for learning how to dance the authentic Argentine tango at a social level. Master teachers Alberto Paz and Valorie Hart take you on a journey through the rich culture, history, and music of Buenos Aires that inspired the romantic passion, alluring creativity, and natural elegance of the Argentine tango dance. You will learn the fundamentals and roles each partner plays in this exhilarating and intimate social dance.

The book describes, illustrates, and explains the fundamental concepts and techniques, while the DVD visually demonstrates the concepts and movements of the tango in real dance situations with a partner. This combination provides tango lessons that are infinitely more effective than a stand-alone book or video product--and will have you dancing with confidence in less time than you thought possible.

Each tango dancer has a unique way of expressing movements. Gotta Tango offers a logical, structured approach that will help you learn quickly how to move spontaneously with a partner and with the music. It provides the tools you will use every day as a tango dancer as you immerse yourself in the experience, pleasure, and addiction of dancing the Argentine tango.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #134400 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 216 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780736056304
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Alberto Paz and Valorie Hart own Planet Tango, a company dedicated to preserve, foster, and advance the traditional values of the Argentine Tango culture, with a school and tango salon located in New Orleans, LA. They produce the widely successful New Orleans TangoFest each year. Together, Paz and Hart conduct master Argentine Tango classes, as well as lectures and workshops in cities across America and the world. They also publish El Firulete, an online international Argentine Tango magazine in English, and they have been featured dancers on the Buenos Aires TV show, Tango around the World. With their Web site, Paz and Hart provide dancers the opportunity to network on an international level.

Paz is a native of Argentina and grew up in the city of Buenos Aires, while Hart was born in the United State and is ballet trained with experience in both off-Broadway and summer stock. The two met in 1995 during a tango conference and workshop at Stanford University. Since then, the pair has made Argentine tango dancing their business.

They have developed a methodology based on the fundamental structure of the dance combining traditional and modern concepts of improvisation originally developed in the 1930s, updated in the 1990s, and sucessfully utilized in workshops in cities across America and around the world since 1997.

They have become knowleageable educators with a proven record of providing expert instruction while examining the romance, passion, and emotion that fuel the authentic Argentine tango.

Customer Reviews

Lessons from World-Class Masters
From the opening description of an eager and silent arrival at a nameless milonga, through the loving details of historical and musical significance, and with a thorough and conscientious discussion of the mechanics of the dance, Alberto Paz and Valorie Hart present a beautiful and invaluable resource for lovers, and future lovers, of Argentine Tango.

Theirs is a methodical approach, gleaned from a tireless dedication to understanding and teaching the structure of this dance, and they hold the keys to unlock for their readers the passion and wonder that so many tangueros worldwide have been fortunate enough to find.

Their detailed and descriptive text is accompanied by diagrams, photographs, and an accompanying DVD, all of which contribute to their enlightening discussion of the mechanics of Argentine Tango. It is well-ordered, logical, and thorough. I found their discourse on the musical history of tango to be especially fascinating, as well. It left me wanting more--and I hope that they do plan to give us more.

Paz and Hart's text is voiced richly and fully by the historian, by the musical theorist, by the accomplished dancer, by the compassionate and skilled teacher, and ever by the dedicated lover of tango. We are exceedingly fortunate to have this timeless resource by master teachers Alberto Paz and Valorie Hart.

I agree with a previous reviewer that it should be "required reading" for any student and lover of Argentine Tango!

Learning from the Masters
GOTTA TANGO (Book and DVD)

There are several excellent reviews that have already been written describing the contents of "Gotta Tango", and its long term importance as a tango resource.

What I want you to understand is something of its revolutionary significance and value as a teaching tool. Everyone knows the old adage `those who can, do, and those who can't teach.' In the case of Paz and Hart, it should read `those who can do, should do, and leave the teaching to someone who really knows how to teach!' They are among the few who not only understand and can effectively communicate the structure of the dance...their brilliance as teachers has allowed them to present the material in a variety of creative ways, so that it is accessible to students with varying learning styles.

There is first the written text, expressing an overview of the concepts being presented. Then there are step by step directions on how to properly execute the particular movements. There are diagrams (cleverly drawn from above) so one can grasp the pattern and flow of the movements, and there are photographs, allowing one to see the authors executing the steps. Each section of material also references the accompanying DVD, where one can see the movements in motion. The DVD has voice over as well as printed text-over so one can reinforce the visual concepts that way as well.

In short, if you read this book, you are going to dance better. If you don't yet dance, you are going to want to dance, joining the tangueros and tangueras of past and future times, sharing Valorie and Alberto's love and passion for the tango.

The perfect format and forum for instruction for the novice dancer

The Tango was a slightly salacious dance that had its origins in the barrios of Argentina and went on to achieve widespread popularity in the dance halls of Europe and America in the early decades of the 20th Century -- a popularity in ball room dancing that persists to this day. Profusely illustrated and with an accompanying DVD, "Gotta Tango: Argentine Tango Anywhere, Anytime" is the collaborative work of Tango experts and instructors Albert Paz and Valorie Hart. Offering (quite literally) a step-by-step instruction guide, "Gotta Tango" is the ideal do-it-yourself manual for men and women wanting to master and then excel in their performance of this Latin American dancing tradition. All of the concepts, techniques, flourishes and flairs associated with the Tango are covered in depth and in detail. This book/DVD combination is the perfect format and forum for instruction for the novice dancer (as well as a perfect brush up resource for even experienced Tango dancers coming back to the dance after an absence) and is enthusiastically recommended for personal, dance school, and community library instructional reference collections.