El Firulete 
The Argentine Tango Magazine 
Dec 1998

Tangazos

A Very Good Year

This was the year when doors were kindly and generously opened for us to allow us to meet flesh to flesh with hundreds of Tango lovers across the country. For that, we are very grateful to have had the opportunity to teach, practice and dance the Argentine Tango all over the fruited land. From the paradisiacal islands of Hawaii to the heartland of America, the essence and nuances of the music of Buenos Aires resounded in halls, ballrooms, living rooms and converted garages. More faces and names occupy our thoughts as we rejoice in the blessings that the Tango keeps bringing.

This has been a year of flattering (and some not so flattering) imitations of the style, look and feel of El Firulete, the publication that you have helped forge into a fresh, original and contemporaneous sounding board for all Tango happenings around the nation. As we roam around month after month sharing our dance with people all over, each monthly issue is conceived on the fly. In spite of the accolades that we have received and the recognition that El Firulete has obtained all over the world, it continues to be a friendly way to keep in touch with our friends, a hard copy reminder not to take ourselves too seriously, and above all a necessary quota of good humor, a relaxing way to have some quality time to stop and smell the roses.

It is also comforting to return time after time to places where we have been and rekindle the good times we spent living the life of the Tango. One of the great destinations turned out to be Reno in Nevada during the Labor Day weekend. We are already focused on 1999 and as many of you have asked us, we will not wait until everybody has had their Tango weeks to pass the word. We want you to make your plans now. As it has been in the past, it will be the best getaway to celebrate your dedication and devotion to the Argentine Tango. We are also itching to go back to Buenos Aires. They tell me that the scene has changed over the past two years. There are some friends who want to go together as a group. It looks like it may just happen this way. The curious thing is that now we will have to work around a busy teaching schedule that gets underway right after the new year when we first fly to the extreme cold of Alaska and then to the sunny shores of Florida.

All along, we continue to manage to be in the Bay Area most Monday nights to greet people from all over the world atop the nineteenth floor of the Mark Hopkins Hotel for a very special evening of Tango.

Indeed, it has been a very good year thanks to the appreciation and support of a great many Tango lovers like you. That’s why as it comes to an end, we will have you in our thoughts and our hearts when the strike of midnight on December 31 finds us negotiating the sounds of Carlos Di Sarli around a dance floor somewhere on the Planet.

To all of you, our warmest and sincere wish for a wonderful Holiday Season and a Happy New Year!.

Alberto Paz
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