At our very first trip to Buenos Aires, my
companion and I caught delight in Danielle Charonnet´s (alias “Dani”) clear and
devoted style of teaching, and have resorted to her private lessons on our
trips to Buenos Aires, ever since. On our fifth visit, in November 2014, she
gave an interview for this blog.
PARIS - BUENOS AIRES
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| Dani at "our" rehearsal studio. |
PARIS - BUENOS AIRES
She tells that she started
dancing Argentinian tango in Paris in 1998, did her first “studying trip” to
Buenos Aires in 2002, and moved there in 2004. She lives in Buenos Aires ever
since, and started to teach tango 9 years ago. ”Quickly after I settled in
Buenos Aires, some Argentinian teachers proposed me to work with them as their
assistant, and then after a while, as their partner. Teaching was for me at
that time –and still is – the best way to keep learning about the mechanisms of
that dance.”
A DIMENSION OF LIFE
When I ask Dani the question
“What is tango”, she first answers with a cheerful laugh, but then becomes serious.
“For me, tango is a new dimension which you can add to your life. Basically it
is this.”
She then expands on the
subject. “It´s a very multiple dimension. It is a connection to a social life
that you would not have otherwise. It is a connection with yourself that you
would not have otherwise. It is a connection with esthetic emotions, which you
would not have otherwise. It is a connection with other people – such a special
connection, that in no aspect you would have, otherwise.”
She adds “If I speak for
myself: I am a much richer person than before I started to dance tango. Learning
tango, I developed a higher sensibility to the context, a deeper awareness
about the present. That led me to experience in other artistical fields: dance
theater, singing … “
A LANGUAGE – A CONVERSATION
“As a dance of pure
improvisation, the tango does not propose any sequence of steps which would be
written in advance. Learning this dance is like learning a language. The more
skilled you get, the better you can build your sentences, and the better they reflect
the feelings that generate in you the moment. The more skilled your partner gets,
the better he or she can answer to what you just expressed, commenting it or
completing it with his/her own ideas and colors… It’s a conversation!”
COMMUNICATION
What concepts does she want to bring to a class of
absolute beginners? “First of all, how they can connect to each other”, she
says. “I want them to feel that they don´t even have to touch each other, to send
or receive a lead. So, I don´t start with the embrace. I start with the communication
that can be established at a distance – just being conscious of the movements
of the body that is in front of you”.
For each beginners´ group, the
pathway of teaching that is then pursued may vary a lot, depending on the precise
of the group, she explains. “Each time it is different, but usually I try to
get into it in such a way, that the embrace, which often can be experienced
as something blocking, or difficult, or heavy, will be conceived more as a help.
I try always not to impose a form ´from outside´, but instead to get, little by
little, to the tango embrace – from the natural part of it”. She says,
that also in many other respects she likes to refer to usual, daily sensations
of axis, walking, relaxation, tension, and so on.
BEING A TEACHER
“The dancer and the pedagogue
are very strongly connected in me. I understand dancing tango as a never ending
research, which proceeds cyclically: you first complete a cycle of basic
knowledge and then… go through the same cycle again and again! It may sound a
bit boring, but trust me, it isn’t!”
“I’m lucky enough to say that
after all these years of dancing, studying and teaching tango, the thrill
hasn’t gone! When I’m about to enter a milonga and the first accents of the
rhythm and melody reach me, my heart beats quicker!”
ARGENTINA vs. EUROPE
I ask Dani how she would
compare tango dancing in Argentina versus in Europe. “I think that tango is
more ´sanctified´ in Europe”, she answers. “It is put on a piedestal, which is
understandable, because it is not the original culture of the people”.
She tells about differing experiences
in milongas. “In Europe dancers make great fuzz of getting ´in time´ to
milongas, and to dance every tanda, to make the visit ´rentable´. In Argentina,
you go to a milonga – and you may perhaps not dance at all”.
When inquiring about
differences in dancing styles or levels, Dani ascertains that European and
Argentinian dancing have converged. “A decade ago, there was a huge difference,
but it has clearly diminished. Nowadays you can have access to real milonguero
style dancing in Europe, too. Still, in genuine Argentinian tango, there is something
that is impossible to repeat outside Argentina”.
BUILD YOUR OWN TANGO PATH!
I am curious to hear what
wisdoms, told by her own teachers, have been of special importance for her.
After pondering a minute, she tells that she cannot pinpoint any singular
tuition. “I think that I have received a lot of small crucial inputs, from
tango teachers and also other body awareness and dance teachers. Combining and
recombining them, through all these years, I started to build my own way to
understand and explain some important principles. It is not that I would have
been ´struck´ by any single advice.”
I then want to know, which
main wisdom she, herself, wants to give her students. Her answer, in my mind, is
a great wisdom in itself: “I think, that if I am a really good teacher, I would
give nothing particular. Because, I think that it is something that you really
must discover from your own sensations. I will give tools, but I will not say
much, because I think that learning tango is a very personal trip”.
