tangoaustralia.com.au - Tango Personalities: Ney & Jennifer

Tango Personalities: Ney & Jennifer

Monday, 12 April 2004

Tango Personalities

Want to know more about the teachers and personalities who visit Australia to share their passion for tango? Want to know how the Australian teachers came to tango? This is the first in a series of interviews with tango ‘personalities’ from both home and abroad. By our tango reporter.

Meet Ney Melo & Jennifer Bratt from New York

Ney Melo last visited Australia in September 2005. He will be here again in February 2007 with his partner Jennifer Bratt.

Ney and Jennifer live and teach in New York for eight months, the other four months of every year they spend in Buenos Aires. Their teachers include Javier Rodriguez (who is expected to visit Australia later this year), Jorge Dispari and Maria del Carmen, and Julio Balmaceda and Corina de la Rosa.

Ney and Jennifer trace the roots of their style of social tango to the tango traditions of the Villa Urquiza neighborhood in Buenos Aires. They teach tango in New York, host a weekly practica, travel to teach at workshops and festivals, and organize tango tours to Buenos Aires.

You will find out more about each of these dancers on their websites (see below) where you will find a fascinating collection of clips on Youtube and a very interesting advice ‘column’, Ask Maleva that is part of Jennifer’s site.

Ney Melo

My earliest tango memory is…watching the movie "Scent of a Woman"
and being amazed to find out that there exists a dance called tango.

The greatest influence on my dancing is…Javier Rodriguez. He has
been a great teacher, friend, and inspiration. Dancing and working with Jennifer has also influenced my dance tremendously. She is one of the best tango dancers out there.

The orchestras I am enjoying at the moment are… D'Arienzo with
Echague (always), Di Sarli with Florio, Troilo/ Fiorentino

What I love about tango the most is…how you can get lost in the
music and the embrace.

I am currently working on … Touring the world teaching and
performing tango with Jennifer as well as producing my weekly tango
show on www.youtube.com/tangotelevision.

The worst thing you can do at a milonga is…correct someone while dancing.

The most exciting thing about tango in New York is…the rate at
which the community is growing and learning. The new crop of
youngsters are learning so quickly. Part of it is due to the
teaching, but the other part is their initiative.

When I came to Sydney last time I…was impressed with everyone's
love for this dance, music, and culture that is different to
theirs.

My advice to someone just starting to dance tango is…go to Buenos
Aires as soon as you can. Don't wait to get more experience or learn
more tango. There is no need. Just go.

When you come to my workshops you need to…be ready to have fun,
laugh, and listen to a lot of music. This dance is all about the
music.

To find out more about Ney Melo visit www.neymelo.com and
www.youtube.com/tangotelevision

Jennifer Bratt

My earliest tango memory is…The first time I ever saw or heard Argentine tango was in a tango class. I had signed up for an unlimited class pass at a dance studio near where I worked in Manhattan. Mainly I wanted to learn flamenco, but the unlimited
pass was a good deal and I was bored so I took a little of everything. When
I first went to the tango class, I thought the music sounded so old and
beautiful and I loved the way the movements felt. It was much harder than
the other dances I was learning because the lead was more subtle, but I
liked the challenge too.

The greatest influence on my dancing is…Like Ney, my greatest influence is our teacher Javier Rodriguez. We´ve studied a lot with him and he´s completely changed the way I dance from what it used to be.

The orchestras I am enjoying at the moment are…I love Calo and Di Sarli.

What I love about tango the most is…I love that when I am dancing, I don´t think of anything else. Tango has the ability to transport you.

I am currently working on ….Answering a backlog of emails for the tango advice column on my web site. Ask Maleva. http://www.close-embrace.com/askmaleva.html

The worst thing you can do at a milonga is…Be afraid.

The most exciting thing about tango in New York is…That there are 2-3 milongas a night that you can dance at.

My advice to someone just starting to dance tango is…Don´t give up!

When you come to my workshops you need to…Laugh at our jokes.

To find out more about Jennifer go to www.close-embrace.com where you will also find the Ask Maleva column and informative articles – including Jennifer’s guide to milongas in New York - and Comme il Faut shoes for sale.