My first encounter with Raimund
Schlie ja Daniela Feilcke-Wolff was in June 2013, at a week-end tango camp in
Finland. I immediately liked their relaxed way of dancing the close embrace
Tango Salón, and got fond of their inspiring way of teaching. Consequently,
when the opportunity came to spend a full week with them in April 2014, at the
Villa La Rogaia in Italy, I did not hesitate to enroll with my partner, Rita
Marjut.
For all of us nine participating
pairs, that week was an exciting and very rewarding experience. For me, there
was the extra bonus of having the opportunity to interview Daniela and Raimund for
this blog.
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| Daniela and Raimund at Villa La Rogaia |
BERLIN &
BUENOS AIRES
Raimund has been
dancing Argentine tango since the early and Daniela since the late 90´s. Raimund
is one of three founders of the famous Berlin tango school Mala Junta, in
which also Daniela has been teaching. Raimund has visited Buenos Aires since
the middle 90´s, but the greatest impact came from the visit the two made in
2005.
Besides Daniela
”buying her first high heels”, their dance was greatly influenced both by Pablo Villarraza & Dana Frigoli of the DNI tango school, and
by Susan Miller at La Academia
de Tango Milonguero. ”In this period, I was deconstructing
and reconstructing my whole dance”, Raimund tells. ”The way that the movements
were analysed at DNI was a big thing for me. Later we, of course, digested all
this, and developed our own ideas”.
They add that
incorporating Alexander technique principles into their moves was another great
boost to their dancing. While both have been training Alexander techniques,
Daniela even has earned the Alexander technique teacher´s
certificate.
LET
BEGINNERS TURN
In Buenos Aires,
tango walk is considered the basis of all tango dancing, and considerable
effort is put into walking exercises. Raimund and Daniela agree, in principle.
They point out, however, that you start to appreciate walking only as
an advanced dancer. ”We have discovered, that
with beginners you should rather start with simple turns. Newcomers
´feel dancing´ when they turn, and this gives them pleasure and motivation”,
says Raimund.
He adds that ”Of
course they need some basic skills, like shift of weight, parallel and crossed
system – but I would also start with simple turns.” Daniela stresses that you
should teach things beginners can apply in the milonga - and also encourage
them to start going to milongas early, even after one month´s lessons.
RELAX – AND
LISTEN TO THE MUSIC!
I inquired
Daniela and Raimund about the aspects that are the most difficult to teach in
Argentine tango.
”To teach figures and
combinations is easy, but to teach quality needs some
experience”, Raimund points out. ”For the pupils, the most difficult part to
learn, is to be relaxed in a good posture, which leads to a gentle and nice
embrace, which persist even during complex movements”. To achieve this lasts
the longest, a minimum of 4-5 years of regular practice and dancing, he adds.
Although there are ”no quick tricks” to achieve a relaxed dance hold, what
helps the leader is not to think about leading,
but ”to let her dance”. When the leader realizes this, he start to relax.
On the other
side, non-experienced followers ”are not really dancing”, they are ”trying to
do the right thing”, preoccupied by guessing what the leader is going to do.
The solution is for the follower is to be more independent, that is
- to dance! The crucial question for the follower is: ”Are
you still following, or are you already dancing?” When dancing ”herself”, the
follower gets relaxed, because her mind is relaxed, and she stops to worry
about ”making mistakes”.
Raimund tells,
that only after having danced Argentine tango for some 3-4 years, while dancing
to a Pugliese tango, he suddenly understood the ”musical meaning” of a tango
movement: ”Ah, there is movement in the violins…!” To discover the intimate
connection between tango movements and the different nuances of tango music is
an important developmental step for any dancer of Argentine tango.
SHINY EYES
GRATIFY
When I meet
teachers working with such a passion and devotion as Daniela and Raimund do, I
ask myself where their enthusiasm stems from, and what their personal rewards
from teaching can be? Daniela explains that there are moments in which she
feels so touched. ”For example, in musicality classes you may find such a
development, during even only one class, that you hold your breath, and think:
oh my God! And among the pupils, you see shiny eyes…”
Raimund adds,
that in when in a class on embrace, you start to see nice embraces, that feels
rewarding. And when a pupil who has been ”thinking in figures and structures”
starts ”to dance”, that gives the teacher a very rewarding feeling. He adds
that when at a milonga he has a very nice dance with a familiar lady, it may
strike him that ”wow, she was in my tango class!”
THE MUSIC
PUSHES AND PULLS
In the teaching
of Raimund and Daniela, their great knowledge of, and intimate connection with
tango music is strongly present, and in their curriculum musicality is an
important topic. Knowing, in addition, that both are internationally recognized
DJ:s, I was keen to ask them about their personal musical preferences.
Both of them
named Osvaldo Pugliese as the foremost orchestral leader, the Emperor. Daniela
explains that ”he combined D´Arienzo and Di Sarli.” She says that
Pugliese´s playing was ”really rhythmical” and ”really lyrical”, not ”just kind
of”. Daniela clarifies that some orchestras, such as D´Arienzo, are ”pushing”,
while others, like Laurenz and Caló are ”holding back”, while Pugliese is doing
both things, simultaneously. ”He pushes you, but at the same time he says
´stop, go back´. And his music is so incredibly full of energy.” Raimund adds
that in the beginning, Pugliese´s orchestra was just a copy, ”from top down”,
of De Caro´s orchestra, but a pivotal change happened when Osvaldo Ruggiero
joined in as the first bandoneón.
”Of course , I
also love D´Arienzo and Laurenz, and I like many more”, says Daniela, but adds
that she does not like the music of the fifties, except Di Sarli. Raimund, too,
gives credit to Pedro Laurenz. ”His orchestra made just perfect tangos, perfect
milongas, perfect valses. That you cannot say of every orchestra. Laurenz was
famous for his fantastic variations, because he wanted to show how good he was.
And he was able to play the bandoneón ´in both directions´, without the need of
breathing in between”.
Raimund also
lists Di Sarli ”because he had periods when he was brilliant, and he was
getting better and better through the years, so his last recordings were the
peak of his art! Most other orchestras had their best years in the beginning of
their career.
GIVE ALL YOUR
SECRETS AWAY!
Before we end
the interview, Raimund and Daniela are eager to make an important statement to
wanna-be tango teachers. In Raimunds words: ”Very important is not
to withhold anything. Inexperienced teachers may think they ´loose´ something
if they give all their secrets. It would be irresponsible not to give
the student everything you know.” He adds that ”when you give your
knowledge, you receive so much more, because when you analyse a movement for
the student, you may invent three more variations for yourself”.
”You should
teach your favourite things - and don´t teach anything you are not dancing
yourself”, adds Daniela. ”Think about what you want your students to be able to
do. Think about what reason you have to teach them.”
INTERNET SITES
Home page of Daniela & Raimund http://www.dyrtango.de/
Villa La Rogaia http://www.rogaia.com/en/
Mala Junta http://www.malajunta.de/
DNI tango school http://dni-tango.com/?lang=en
