The Parades Start Tonight!

The first night time Carnival parade is tonight in New Orleans, starting with the fabulous and raucous Krewe du Vieux.

We learned so much during our first Mardi Gras season in New Orleans in 2000. Sabina was our guide. She told us what to do and where to go. We did not really know what she was talking about, but we did everything she told us to do. She was the best guide and our guardian angel in New Orleans.

We were so enthusiastic, so we decided to form the Krewe of Tango to march in the foot parade that is Krewe du Vieux. I tracked down the leader of the merry pranksters, and was told in stern terms that no new krewes or sub-krewes were being accepted for that year or any year. I had no idea what a sub-krewe was. Not one to take no for an answer I made it clear that we were willing and able to pay any fees or dues. That got me nowhere even faster.

I was quickly learning about the world of clubs and krewes in New Orleans, that no stinking newcomers to the city could interlope. But after a few conversations with the Grand Pooba, he started to realize that perhaps I was not an asshole after all, and he threw me a bone.

He told me that it would be okay to crash the parade, to simply have our group join in, jump in when it seemed cool. No one would bother us. Not realizing then, that he was introducing me to the time honored custom of the second line, I was incredibly excited and proud that the Krewe of Tango was being allowed to roll!

We hosted weekly tango parties and gave classes then, in the upstairs room of Pierre Masperos on Chartres Street in the French Quarter. We lived in the Quarter then too, and to us that was our world.

So I hatched a plan, and got about a dozen tango students to dress up in tango drag, and meet us in front of Cafe Brazil on Frenchman Street. It was an amazing sight to to see Krewe du Vieux.  There were crazy hand made costumes, vulgar and funny, silly and sweet,  and quaint mule drawn wagons as floats. We were so busy watching the parade we almost forgot to get in it.

Some of the original Krewe of Tango at Pierre Masperos

Finally a brass band came along, and there I saw our place, right behind them. Our group swung into the street, led by Alberto with a Kazoo shaped like a little brass trumpet. He blew that thing along with the band, really jamming and stepping. He made such a happy great noise that the band guys had to turn around and see who this guy was.

Valorie Hart and Alberto Paz greet their guests at Pierre Masperos

Now as part of the parade, we graced the onlookers with a show. When we got near Pierre Masperos, we exited the parade and danced tango there all through the night.

My sash and crown from the year I was selected as the Queen of the Krewe of Tango

The Krewe of Tango has since disbanded, but their debut that night will always be part of our New Orleans history.

Please add my NEW address to your blog list:
http://thevisualvamp.blogspot.com
And please become a Follower

Did You Do Your Homework?

Every week Alberto and I teach tango class. I do a 45 minute warm-up, a tango fitness, or a tango barre, type class. It's a great workout whether you are a tango dancer or not. This class was developed from years of ballet training.

Then Alberto and I use the techniques from the tango fitness class and show you how to use them when dancing as a couple.

We rent space in a beautiful ballet studio with a great old wood floor and lots of mirrors and barres. It's so much fun to come in on the end of a ballet class, before our class starts and see all the dancers doing their work. It brings back many memories for many of the dancers in our tango class.

Lelia Haller taught well into her 80's, and she inspires us to do the same

The movie "Benjamin Button" was  filmed here, and it is the studio founded by the legendary ballerina and teacher Lelia Haller.

The ballet school in the movie Benjamin Button is where Alberto Paz and Valorie Hart teach a tango class every Thursday

Every week Alberto puts a video clip together, with a written explanation of what we did in class. He puts it on one of our tango blogs called Gotta Tango, which is also the name of our book that we use as a text book.  This way our students can do their homework, and come prepared for the next class. Go take a look if you want to see what we do every week.

Alberto Paz and Valorie Hart teaching Argentine tango in New Orleans

Alberto is hard at work on our second book called, Gotta Milonga.

See you in class!

It Feels Like 2000 Again

Alberto Paz and Valorie Hart teach tango in New Orleans at this studio - photo Alberto Paz

To say that Alberto and I are excited with the way the upcoming Thursday Argentine tango sessions are shaping up, would be a major understatement. Really. Can't tell if the moon is in the seventh house and Mercury aligns with Mars, but it really feels like 2000 again...

For those of you who might wonder why 2000 is significant, it is because that is the year Alberto and I moved to New Orleans and became the resident tango teachers and promoters. We had our own dance studio (The House of Tango), taught several weekly classes, and over the course of the years right up until Katrina, hosted five acclaimed tango festivals in New Orleans. We also produced tango shows, and performed in many showcases.

Highlights in the tango career of Alberto Paz and Valorie Hart

After Katrina, things changed, even in our happy little tango world. But now, with Alberto's health restored, and the city's rebirth in full swing, we are ready to resume where we left off. We will be teaching weekly classes again at a beautiful ballet studio on Canal Street.

Fundamentals are not something we learn today and then discard tomorrow. Accomplished musicians do scales. Accomplished athletes do drills. Accomplished ballet dancers do daily classes at the barre. Accomplished artists draw every day. Accomplished writers write every day. This is how we use our fundamentals. They are the tools that we use every day as tango dancers. The more experienced we become, the more our fundamentals will look so spectacular that they will not be recognized as such by the untrained eye.

Our classes will be two hours long. Every week we will begin with a warm up, something we call Tango Fitness that drills technique. This session will be led by myself. Then, Alberto and I will introduce a particular aspect of technique which will be pertinent to the topic chosen for the evening's lesson.

Tango is the ultimate touch dance between a man and a woman. It is a safe form for experiencing human connection three minutes at a time. It is an exercise in mutual respect and consideration for both partners as they both embark on a journey that requires full participation and cooperation from both ends of the partnership.


ARGENTINE TANGO
with Alberto Paz and Valorie Hart
Lelia Haller Dance Arts
4916 Canal St., New Orleans, LA

STARTS THIS THURSDAY (and then every Thursday thereafter)

8 pm - 10 pm

$15 per person, $25 per couple
5 lesson pass $50 per person, $90 per couple
No partner needed to learn.
Multiple lesson passes don't expire unless we do first.

For more information, 504.535.3614, or email, planet.tango@gmail.com

You Won The Enamel House Sign!

Thank you everyone who left a comment for the Ramsign giveaway HERE

The sign pictured above is one Alberto and I had made in 1997 in Buenos Aires. It hung on our front gate in California for a few years. If only I had know about Ramsign back then!

The part of the sign with the number on it is an actual enamel house number sign from Buenos Aires, but the artist had to custom paint our number on it, since the only one we found with our house number on it was still attached to a house in Buenos Aires.

So the winner by random choice is: Sarah from La Maison Boheme!

Sarah, please email Tezz at Ramsign to collect your prize: th@ramsign.se

And please send us a photo to show us what you chose!

Your Tango Shoes Under My Bench

Pink monogram plate: V & A
Caroline gave me these for my birthday HERE

When Alberto and I met, it was through the tango. I was a new dancer, and he was quite a few steps ahead of me. We met in July and we were a couple by October. I left my home in New York to move in with Alberto in California. I left behind an apartment, a beach house, a design business, and many, many friends.

I was sick at the time, wrung out and damaged. The tango gave me solace and strength, and Alberto gave me back my life.

To this day we are part of an urban myth in the tango world, the fancy New York woman getting the prize of the Argentine tango man. Many said it would not stand the test of time, that I would have my little tango fling, and get back to New York and my "real" life.

Sixteen years later I am deep into my life with Alberto. I never looked back, but always looked ahead to what we have between us, and what we continue to build upon.




Ours is not a romance of youth, but one started in middle age, and growing into our golden age.
Much comes with the territory that you never think about when you are younger. You never think you'll make it to be the age of grandparents, much less have the romance of your lifetime happening.



Alberto is a romantic. And so this morning he sweetly and shyly asked me to be his Valentine ~ again. And I accepted ~ again. He said I saved his heart, so he he is giving it to me.

Our long time friend Michael Pelkey sent this perfect Valentine

The tango is the back drop to the love affair of Alberto and me. Sharing our dance with one another is still thrilling, and touching, and magical.

Recently I have been updating our at home dance studio HERE
My friend Jack made a gift of the same green silk drapes I have in the living room. We both did out drapes at the same time two years ago, and he is changing his and passed them onto me. This prompted me to spruce things up. I painted some mirrors white, re-hung some art, re-purposed our old dining room chandelier and painted it orange, and added some seating HERE

White patent leather chair at perch.

The last piece for the studio is a bench I covered in white patent leather. I was inspired by the white patent leather chairs at perch. I saw over three years ago. I borrowed a pair for a photo shoot then, but never purchased them HERE


Wishing all of you love and Valentines, today and everyday.

The tango shoes of Alberto Paz and Valorie Hart

Warm and Cozy With Brown Velvet

This is the front door to our house
The Union Jack armoire is our coat closet
This room is our dance studio

I had another old ratty vintage chair reupholstered. I bought it for $20. eleven years ago, and it was in such good shape, it stayed the way I found it, gold velvet with brown wood arms and legs.
The chair has good classic lines, so I decided I would re-up it.

Leonels has done all the upholstery in our home, and we use them at perch. the high end home furnishings shop I work in. They are simply the best for workmanship, and they are fair with pricing.

Leonels is the upholsterer to Visual Vamp
View from the living room into the dance studio

I meant the chair for the dance studio, placed by a window, a nice spot to just sit and gaze, or an handy place to change into dance shoes, or sit and teach from the chair ha ha.

Uh, no. Too "Mr. and Mrs."
So I broke up the romance, & moved Mrs. Brown Velvet Chair

But I got seduced by the "newness" and moved the chair into the living room. It didn't quite fit, and paired with the lime green wing chair, it looked a little too much like "Mr. and Mrs. Chair", too granny even for this granny.

Mrs. Brown Velvet does a tango in the dance studio

So Back to the dance studio it went.

I painted the arms and legs of the chair white, and distressed the paint a bit. The new fabric is brown velvet, purchased from Fabric.com. The old chair had nail heads, but for the new version I chose self-piping. I have nail heads on the couch and French settee, and my breakfast room chairs, and just thought, "enough with the nail heads already."

A place to gaze or change into dance shoes

Then I moved it back to the living room, and moved it this way and that way. Fuss and fidget, fuss and fidget. Oh the silly restless illness of a decor addict. Don't judge/laugh. I know you do the same thing.

I moved the chair this way...

Then I moved the chair that way...

And then I finally moved it back to the studio where I wanted it to be in the first damn place! So now the chairs are all at rest for the moment, cozy on this winter day.

Striped doors in the dance studio adjoin the living room

Visual Vamp living room February 2011
Cozy - Do you see Cholo?

I have some exciting news. The Preservation Resource Center invited Alberto and I to be on the first Shotgun House Tour since Hurricane Katrina. We are so honored and excited. It's Saturday April 2 in case you are in New Orleans.

I needed to snap some photos, and I got a new camera from Alberto for Christmas, so I am experimenting with settings and exposures. I always shoot with natural light which is tricky, since even though our house doesn't feel gloomy, it's not exactly flooded with light.

So these photos are part of the learning curve, and since I had them I thought I'd share them, in hopes to give you something to look at during the MONSTER STORM OF THE CENTURY!

Visual Vamp living room looking into the dance studio - 2011

PS Thank you all for the great response to my project with the apricot silk drapes. Next week I will show you another room....

Sneak Peak: Planet Tango Dance Studio

Planet Tango dance studio

The home studio of Alberto Paz and Valorie Hart

Alberto is feeling really good these days, and we are officially giving tango classes again. To celebrate, I did a little refurb on our dance studio at home for him. A few little things can really add freshness and energy to a room.

I added lime green silk drapes to replace black and tan check curtains. The same lime green drapes are in the living room, which adjoins the dance room, so the continuity of this luscious color is great.

I painted all the mirrors white, and filled an entire wall with them floor to ceiling. We actually use the ones at mid level to check our steps and posture. I also grouped all the tango art on another wall, floor to ceiling. These are vintage sheet music covers of famous Argentine tangos.

Another burst of color is introduced with the orange chandelier. It was our old dining room chandelier that I spray painted this wonderful color.

A bench for changing shoes is at the upholsterer. It's being covered in white patent leather. You know I'll show it to you when it's done.

We are teaching our first tango workshop of the new year this weekend, and the first after the incident in Canada. Wish you could be here for it!

The view from the living into the Planet Tango dance room

Lime green and orange and white in the living room
These colors are repeated in the dance room
The colors are soooo 2009 ha ha - Will I repaint this year???!!!!

Planet Tango dance studio then...

Planet Tango dance studio now...

Another view from the living room into the dance room

A little vignette in the Visual Vamp living room
I spy an Anne Harwell painting

Bryan Batt used lime green and an orange chandelier in is old house
He's moved onto the world of greige in a new home

In Lieu Of A Proper Thank You Note

I want to send each and every one of you a personal handwritten thank you note.

When that seemed impossible, I wanted to make a list of every name of every person who sent prayers (that were answered). I wanted to add to the list the names from emails that were filled with love and concern. And then thank each of you for the comments you left on the various posts I did about Canada.



You blew up Facebook with your heartfelt comments and messages.


Fund raisers were held by tango communities all over the USA for us, including a whopper in New Orleans.

I wanted to list all the bloggers who did a post for Alberto and me ( I have tried to re-post them on Facebook when I find them), and of the many bloggers who held auctions for us, or donated something for those auctions from baking cookies to beautiful works of art, or gave us something we needed from your Etsy shop, or bought our book Gotta Tango.


I so wanted to list the names of all of you who sent fruit baskets and brought over food once we made it home, and of course I wanted to post the names that showed up on the roster for a Paypal donation to boutique@planet-tango.com



It amounts to hundreds of names.

As Alberto recovers, we have spent hours and hours reading each and every name. We cry alot reading these amazing names, so many of which are of people we "don't know". And then we cry harder reading the names of all the people we know, and who love us. We can safely say you are loved, and we are loved.



We have tried to search and acknowledge every blog post many of you did about our time in Canada.

Then we tried to cross reference it all and make a master list. This has been going on since Thanksgiving when I originally wanted to name names ha ha.



Well, we are just not up to it! It is too much for us to do. We need a a blog intern ha ha. But we couldn't let another month go by without saying something, without offering some kind of thank you note, proper or not.



First responders in Canada, doctors and nurses in two countries, family, fellow dancers, bloggers, readers, kind strangers, tangueros, and loyal friends from all over the world:

We can't begin to express our gratitude for your solidarity and compassion, for your words of comfort, love and support along with your prayers, good wishes and most important, generous contributions that helped us raise the necessary funds to return home.

Thank you and let's dance more tango in 2011, and blog, and decorate, and be good to each other.

Valorie Hart and Alberto Paz dancing Tango on Fulton Street in New Orleans

Alberto and I send our best wishes for the best holiday season and a peaceful and prosperous new year.



All of the fabulous hand lettered examples come from Stephen Rapp.

From his web site:

"Word and image are the key components in any graphic campaign. Each must effectively convey the message on both a practical and emotional level. This is where custom type and lettering excel. Hand lettered words express emotion much like the human voice. They can, in some cases, even serve as illustration. In our ever expanding digital environment the sense of human touch conveyed with hand lettering stands out as a welcoming voice.

Lettering and typography are my passion. I’ve studied and practiced lettering and type design for over 2 decades. Along the way I’ve had the opportunity to work in a variety of styles and media. If you have a project that might benefit from custom lettering or type; please don’t hesitate to call or write."

Oh Canada

If you are on Facebook, you may know Alberto had a heart attack in the Calgary airport on our way to teach a tango workshop. He was put into a paralytic induced coma, had his blood cooled to protect his brain, has been rewarmed and he's off the ventilators, and breathing tube, is talking, but not walking.

Alberto is not all there - sort of like dealing with a mild case of Alzheimer's. He is like a sweet newborn baby.

He needed to have an angio gram today, and he refused! He only wanted Dr. Bhansali his New Orleans doctor.

Finally we got Bhansali on the phone with Alberto to tell him to do it. You know the patient has to be awake and cooperate. So Alberto agreed, but with his memory lapses, it was tough getting him there, because it took the hospital six hours to have a slot. I had to be there with him during the angio.

There is a blockage of course. But too close to one of the valves in the artery (left side) for a stent. They are proposing open heart surgery. Nothing will happen until Monday, when a group of heart specialists look at the angio results.

He cannot travel until his mental state is better, and he can walk. He is talking, eating, but is sometimes very difficult emotionally. He just wants to come home, and really doesn't understand that he is in the hospital. I play him tango music to soothe his troubled mind.

Medivac has been mentioned. But how. It is so expensive. If anyone has any connections in this area, please share your information with me.

We could use a good fund raiser.

Dancers in New Orleans, and people from all over the world are contributing to our Paypal account:

boutique@planet-tango.com

For now the blog must be on the back burner. Please pray for Alberto and me.

Una Noche de Garufa!

Tonight's the Night!
Una Noche de Garufa
This is the time we all come together
to break bread, and raise a glass
to the passing year, and the year ahead,
to each other for having survived
another year to dance a tango!
9 PM - ???
Delish Buffet!
The Best Tango Music!
Midnight Champagne Toast!
Hats and Horns!
Woo Hoo!
Una Noche de Garufa!
Please e-mail me today
mizvthe@yahoo.com
or call
504 875-0526
to reserve.
$30. before 11 PM
$20 after 11 PM (no dinner included)
The Country Club
634 Louisa Street
New Orleans

Happy Weekend! It's Hot!

Saturday Night Tango

November 22

The Country Club

634 Louisa Street
New Orleans

Dance from 9 PM - ????

Great place, great music, great people!

We're always there for you!
Alberto and Valorie
Tango in New Orleans

Wednesday Night Tango

Every Wednesday in New Orleans we dance tango!
Come and join us tonight to celebrate the biggest tango of our lives!

Le Phare

523 Gravier Street

Tango Class 8 PM

Dance and Celebrate 9 PM - Midnight!