Interview with Tango Maestro FLACO DANY

I took this interview on September 10, 2010. El Flaco Dany is my favorite milonga dancer, some say he is the best. I am among those.
Apart from his extraordinary talent for dance, Daniel Garcia is a gentleman, truly a 'viejo milonguero', respectful and elegant. Without these features, tango remains just a dance, when in reality is a portrait of one's personality.
Because of his milonga dance, I learned to do the man's part in tango. It is just too beautiful to be sat or sad when played.

Lucia (L):When did you start dancing and how was the atmosphere back then?
El Flaco Dany (FD): I would accompany my parents to Saturday’s dance evening. I was 12, I was dancing fox trot, boogie boogie, rumba, swing, rock, everything.
Tango I started later, when I was 14 .
I had one pair of trousers and used it both I and Gavito – one night me, the other night him.
There were no tables at the milongas back then. Men would stand up in the center, and the ladies, accompanied by their mothers, sit on the chairs around the room.
I have engineering studies. When I started to work, I would go to my job directly from the milonga – at 5 am, when the milongas was over, we had breakfast ( I, Gavito, etc), and then at 6am I would start the work. At 2pm I was back home, had a nap, and prepared to go to the milonga.
Some famous milongas back then: Sans Souci, Chantecler, Monte Carlo, etc.

L: Who taught you tango?
FD: There were no teachers back then, we practiced among men: Gavito, Virulazo, Pepito Avellaneda, Lampazo, Parejita, Finito, Todaro. Each one had his own style, we passed the figures to one another, but we did not copy them in the dance, this would have been a great offence back then.
There were back then 2 main styles: tango with large steps – tango salon – and tango with small steps – tango milonguero -, each one with its charm and specifics. I dance them both.

L:Why milonga con traspie?
FD: I always liked D’Arienzo and would dance with a lot of figures.
New orchestras appeared – playing candombe, you know, milonga comes from Africa, so we started to study the dance, Facundo Posadas and I.
Milonga con traspie came most naturally to me, and it only makes me happy to see people enjoy my dance and want to learn from it.

L: Still you stay clean. You dancing Di Sarli are completely another person from Flaco Dany dancing a Caceres milonga.
FD: Tango is about subtlety. I am afraid you have it or not – it says so much about you, the way one embraces the woman, the way you make pauses.
Tango happens step by step literally, the less you do, more tango it is.
Milonga is more speed and playfulness, but with the same tenderness.

L: Maestro, what is tango to you?
FD: Tango is my life. I live tango, smell like tango, smoke tango.
Tango is the tenderness to hold a woman in my arms.
While I dance with a woman, I have a diamond in my arms, and nobody can touch it or hit it.
Tango says about me more than words.
Posture, technique can be taught, even something of music, but subtlety and improvisation are inside you or not, you must be born with them.
The woman I dance with should fall in love with me during the tanda.

L: Well, I must admit, you are quite an accomplisher . How do you see tango evolution?
FD: It’s good that so many people now started to dance tango, but look also at what they dance. They dance moves, instead of feeling (‘bailan movimiento, y no sentimiento’), they look at the floor, they don’t care about the woman in their arms. Many look like clones. This is sad to me, I learned that tango is respect, maybe I’m old fashioned, but then why so many young people come to my classes?
Nothing is really new, all had been invented already, if you watch Todaro dancing in 1953 you see that I am right.
I have known Chicho since he was a child – he is a creator, brought some structure to tango, but as himself states in a Milena Plebs interview, something has been lost along the way.
The tango essence is embrace and enjoying the music. Don’t lose this!

L: Some piece of advice for students?
FD: Take your time. Tango is too precious not to enjoy the learning.
First learn the technique, then forget about it. The body will have it, but it’s only your spirit which makes the tango. As my friend Gavito used to say “ lo limpio no sirve. Hay que ensuciarlo,(...) tu personalidad tiene que dictar el baile, eso es que le falta al europeo ” – the clean, correct is no good, you have to get it dirty, let your own personality design the dance, this is what Europeans miss.

L: When I have a good moment, when I have a bad moment, when I run in the park, when I wash the dishes, I listen milongas or watch you dance it. How about that?
FD: No need to describe this. It’s inside one’s person, and one should be happy to have discovered it.