Customer Reviews

Paul Pellicoro on Tango

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When you first discover this dance, as I recently did, you can easily become overtaken by its intricacy in physical, musical, and cultural ways and find yourself longing for anything or anyone who can explain it or put it into some context. Pellicoro starts with a brief, clear description of the history of the dance, putting it into the context of the cultural climate of Argentina in the late nineteenth century and showing how it spread to Europe, the U.S., and Asia.

His chapter on the different styles of tango is well written and makes it clear that as the dance spread around the globe, some cultures made only minor alterations, and some changed it so much that their versions became completely different dances which still use the name tango. This would include the British style, which in its emphasis on power and presence and efficient mechanics of movement, has become more widespread than any other style. It also includes American style with its flare suited to stage and screen productions. Then you can see how the Argentine style has all of these things but it emphasizes intimacy, passion, and emotion. Once you are clear about this, you are ready to see the different styles of Argentine tango, and these are presented well.

After some photographic descriptions of basic steps, Pellicoro steps off the stage and includes chapters written by other tango dancers, the first three of which are women. If, like me, you are new to leading, it is certainly essential to become completely tuned in to how women, or followers think and feel about tango. They also shed some light on the etiquette and social customs of the dance.

In the chapter called "The Stars of Tango", you can read bios and interviews of some of the world's most influential tangueras and tangueros. The history of tango is still so much in the making, that the older masters who are still alive can still link us back to earlier times, even to the golden age of tango from the late thirties to the fifties. When I recently met Nito and Elba, one of the famous couples who are interview in the book, I felt I had some familiarity with their lives, their dancing, and their relationship, so I was able to ask them good questions to find out more about them and their views on tango.

I recommend this book as a way of getting started, finding out where to dance all over the world, knowing what to wear, how to act, and how to get started learning. Then you should continue exploring, reading early Argentine books on tango, talking to Argentine, dancers, finding teachers who make your blood flow faster in your veins, and getting out to milongas, or tango parties, which are probably happening in your city.

Paul Pellicoro On Tango is a comprehensive guide to the Argentine Tango dance, written by expert instructor Paul Pellicoro -- who is the man that taught and choreographed the tango scene for Al Pacino in the popular movie "Scent of a Woman." Individual chapters embrace the philosophy that anyone can learn the tango, and address everything from dance steps to what to wear to working in harmony with one's partner. An extensive lists of top-class places to go to for tango dancing around the world rounds out this superb instructional for dance enthusiasts. Paul Pellicoro On Tango is a "must" for all tango dance enthusiasts!

This tome is notable for many things but I especially value its splendid section of potted-biographies, of some of the great dancers of the Golden Age, e.g. the legendary Carlos Gavito (RIP), who sadly passed away a few years after the book was published. Just reading those pages by Carlos Gavito is worth the purchase price of this book! Many of the newer tango dancers, especially in the non-latin countries, would benefit enormously from reading words of wisdom from the greats like Gavito and Puppy Castello. In my opinion many new dancers are stranded, far out of sight and touch of essential Argentine Tango; the poor souls are often seen bobbing up and down, anchored to one spot, standing apart from each other, on bent knees, crouching whilst looking, neck bent down to the floor - all of these things are anathema to beautiful, "Porteño" Tango Argentino - as they 'sizzle' dangerous boleos and fling flashy but mis-understood ganchos, not to mention the imbalanced 'halitosis' colgadas of the standing-apart style that looks more like 'tango bent back and off balance' than the elegant and true Buenos Aires fare. A read of the fine words of the tango greats in this tome will do some good, assuredly, and starting to dance better tango may be just around the corner, though I do not like greatly book/printed tango lessons, and the page by page instruction by the author, Paul Pellicoro, will not give the beginner what a lesson with good tango teachers will. That one part of this book could be better but this was one of the first contemporary books on Argentine Tango, written by a dancer who knew the post-Junta young stars of tango, not to mention the greats, like Puppy Castello - his chapter is a learned read too, and I for one, can forgive the chapter with photo-aided learning. It is but a small part of a great book that has very useful chapters on the music of tango, naming many of the great composers and orchestras, and explaining differences between them; and it has a fine history section and a best tango music recordings chapter. I include it in my top 5 of 45 tango books that I own, because it has so much first hand knowledge from the old and gold greats, the real legends of our beloved dance. I recommend Johanna Siegmann's excellent The Tao of Tango for learning of the profundity and essence of the dance.

As a tango dancer who has been to Argentina to study the dance this is not the best book for history, connection, and understanding where the dance came from.