Carlos Gavito

Carlos Gavito (1942 - 2005)
He was a great tango dancer who I know has had a great influence on some of my tango teachers who were fortunate enough to have met him. For some a very moving experience. The biggest impact he had was bringing the power of simplicity to the dance. How doing one step with the utmost care and detail was more rewarding then any high kicks or other. Personally, I find this a little ironic since Carlos was equally a creature of the stage as well as the milonga. I don't want to belittle any achievements, afterall it shows greater flexibility and understanding than many could ever hope to reach.

For me, what I get out of the videos of his teaching on the net is questions. The questions are not of what should I do, or what sequences are good. It is questions of why I do what I do. What quality of movement am I bringing to the floor? What is the music saying? The realisation is, you have far more time to do something than you think. One step can have lots of qualities and lots of timings.

Here are some videos of the two sides of him.











Finally, a question every argentine dancer should answer, proposed by the maesto himself: "Do you listen to the music?"



The secret of tango is in this moment of improvisation that happens between step and step. It is to make the impossible thing possible: to dance silence
~Carlos Gavito

“A good dancer is one who listens to the music…We dance the music not the steps. Anyone who aspires to dance never thinks about what he is going to do. What he cares about is that he follows the music. You see, we are painters. We paint the music with our feet..”
~Carlos Gavito

TJ