The Greatest Maestro of Tango in The World

In the world-wide community of Argentine tango (an enormous community now on every continent), there are a few maestros that are sought after everywhere. These are people who have studied, danced, and written about tango so extensively that to dance with them means that you’ll receive the distilled essence of the form itself — its movement, its history, its soul.

One of these maestros — perhaps THE maestro of all — is Gustavo Naveira.

“So, you see, you can go this way ..." Gustavo points directly ahead over his wife Giselle Anne's right shoulder. "Or ..." He turns to the left and points with the same finger behind him. "... you can go that way."

He smiles, somewhat puckishly.

The students, about fifty of us, gathered recently in a ballroom in a San Francisco hotel, scratched our heads, muttering, some laughing. Although what he and Giselle Anne had just demonstrated was beyond beautiful, the rest of us dancing would more probably look like glum, confused insects struggling over a little crumb of bread.

"This way or that way." Sounded simple. Very difficult to do.

Gustavo Naveira is the greatest teacher of Argentine tango in the world. With his wife Giselle Anne, he displays a complete knowledge of tango movement and the reasons why tango works so marvelously as a dance form. To study with them is to receive an encyclopedic — and very exciting — knowledge of where tango comes from, of its traditions and grand forms, its lore, its music and extraordinary musicality. You don't just do steps, as is so often the case in dance classes, even those taught by other considerable Argentine maestros. Gustavo displays the variations. He asks, "Why do it this way instead of that way?" He changes direction in ways that at first appear impossible. But when he and Giselle Anne do it, it appears altogether natural. And if you and your partner have enough ability, curiosity, emotional intensity, and plain gumption, you'll get it too.

The noted Argentine maestra Nora Dinzelbacher suggested that I go to Buenos Aires with my amor Beatrice Bowles, to participate in one of Gustavo's famous five-day seminars. He will plan a series of classes on a certain genre of tango movement or, in the case of the series we attended, on the musicality of tango itself. Nora and her husband Ed Neale have participated in several of these, and she counseled us that, although this would be one of the most difficult things we would ever do in tango, it would reward us many-fold. New understandings. A more profound way of approaching the music. A view of tango dance movement that would be far more broad and meaningful than anything we had ever seen before.

Article Author: Terence Clarke

Terence Clarke is a San Francisco novelist, journalist, and film maker who writes about the arts. His latest novel is A Kiss For Señor Guevara.

Visit Terence Clarke's author page — Terence Clarke's Blog