GUSTAVO NAVEIRA Y  GISELLE ANNE

 “The evolution of tango  has never stopped”

They spend a large part of the year abroad giving their seminars. Now they
are going for more: they are presenting their own festival in Colorado, USA,
supported by a sponsor from the USA. "The evolution of tango has never stopped... And you can’t put limits on it," they insist.

Gustavo Naveira and Giselle Anne welcomed us in the  revitalized San Telmo neighborhood, at La Manufactura Papelera, one of the many places all over the world where they work as teachers, as well as being dancers and choreographers of international caliber. For years they have devoted themselves to teaching, they have traveled all over the world participating in different tango festivals. Naveira is known worldwide for his talent and style. He is the precursor of a teaching system that has revolutionized tango. Together they are one of the most expressive and virtuoso tango couples tango in which passion and harmony predominate. 

- Where do you two enjoy tango most, at the milonga, onstage or giving lessons?
Gustavo: I enjoy all three. However, I’ve always found teaching goes well for me, I have an excellent relationship with the pupils and I feel at ease.
Giselle: I like all three too. Before, I used to prefer dancing to teaching, but now I enjoy both activities. If I had to choose, I prefer dancing onstage.
- What is tango for the two of you?
Gustavo: Tango is my entire life. All my children are the result of my relationship with a dancer, what’s more, I’m the outcome of two people who met dancing tango. I can’t get away from it, my whole life is related to tango, from the professional to the personal.
Giselle: It’s everything for me. My life began with dance and later with tango, but from when I started with tango it was all tango.
- Nowadays there’s a lot of talk about new tango and the evolution of the dance. What do you think is the limit, if there is one?
Gustavo: Evolution is something that happens inevitably and you can’t put limits on it. The tango that we like, is the tango that retains the essence of the traditional. We can’t separate ourselves from that and we don’t want to, there’s obviously a very big advance. When this evolution is tackled in the dance and technically new things are done, it acquires a different image to the previous one and, lately, they’re calling that “new tango”. New tango is nothing more than the evolution of tango, it’s a process that doesn’t stop and has never stopped and which has been going on for many years and is continuing and we all enjoy all these new images. Tango is giving dance a whole load of new tools and that’s very valuable.
- You were a precursor of a teaching system that revolutionized tango How did you arrive at that?
- Practicing, dancing and teaching in an uninterrupted process for nearly thirty years. It is a process that both for me and for other dancers has made it possible to understand and get to know the technical structure on which tango is organized. At a certain moment, a new generation appears, of which I formed a part, and as such, this generation provided new things because we looked a tango differently. We were discovering more possibilities within the dance. Something that tango has always been lacking is an intellectual analysis of how it works, how it’s constructed, and we take part in that process very intently, so now we have a pretty wide-ranging knowledge of how the dance is put together. In fact, I’m being related to that change, but it’s also true that I was not the only one. 
- For years the two of you have spent nearly the whole year traveling round the world.  Why do you thing foreigners like tango so much?
Gustavo: Tango offers the possibility of a social encounter between people, it serves for artistic development, for personal expression, and even as therapy. I thin for all these reasons it becomes so attractive for everyone, going way beyond the cultural question. Tango as a dance is sensitive to being used by people who are not of the Argentine culture. In order to be able to enjoy the dance, it isn’t absolutely necessary to belong to or have a link with the Argentine culture. It’s possible to appreciate and enjoy tango as an artistic medium and also as a social encounter, even belonging to a culture totally opposed to ours.
- In your experience, in which country do they love tango most?
Gustavo: In the USA there’s almost a desperation for tango. In Germany they’ve been dancing it for over 20 years and there are thousands and thousands of people who choose tango. In Italy, Switzerland, France, Spain, Australia, Japan, all over the world, they love tango and more and more people dance it.
- How many pupils do you have in your classes?
Giselle: In Buenos Aires many people attend because we don’t put a limit on the capacity. We have an average of 100 to 120 pupils per class. Abroad, it’s organized more strictly, so the classes are more limited. We have an average of about 60 people per class.
Gustavo: Although we put a limit on classes they’re always full.

Olga, Federico and Ariadna…

- With your first partner, Olga Besio, you had two children, Ariadna and Federico who are also tango dancers. Do you give them advice, do you influence them?
- Yes, they take advice, they consult me and obviously I try to take care of them. They were born in a practice room, when they were 2 years old they were already sitting on a little seat while we were rehearsing. They lived the tango scene all the time. Even I had wanted to it would have been impossible to get rid of the influence. Ariadna and Federico come to my classes, they take part, they help me and I think that’s wonderful. They have more influence from Olga because they’ve worked a lot with her and they also have other influences from me and from other dancers, like everyone.
- Has Olga Besio had an artistic influence in your life?
- Of course, we danced together for over 10 years professionally. Olga was my first important partner. I think in tango the final outcome is a consequence of the encounter between two people.
- What’s a rehearsal with Gustavo and Giselle like?
Giselle: First we improvise in order to warm up with the music of an orchestra we’ve chosen previously. Generally, we have lists of orchestras sorted and we choose one or another according to the mood. We dance for half an hour and we play around a lot with the improvisation to discover new sequences. We often practice choreographies we have already put together because we have to present them at some milonga or festival, or just to entertain. Then we work on what we have in mind for that day, if we have to put together a tango then we work on the chosen music. Our rehearsals last from four to five hours, all the same they end up being too short.
- What’s the latest news?
- Holding our own festival, which will be taking place from Friday 30 April to Sunday 2 May 2010 in the city of Boulder, Colorado, USA. We’re calling it “G&G Tango Festival - Part 1”, since the second part will be happening next September, from the 7 to 12 of that month.
- What was the purpose of holding a G&G festival?
- It’s an initiative of ours with the aim of promoting the development of tango activity in the region. And it constitutes, moreover, the first enterprise of this type directed specifically by ourselves  abroad.  A local sponsor is supporting this event: Dance of the Heart, a tango company with an extensive track record.
In this first edition we will also have the presence of Ariadna Naveira and Fernando Sánchez. In the second part part, in Spetember, Federico Naveira and Inés Muzzopappa will join in too.
The G&G Tango Festival (1st part) will offer lessons of 1 hour and a half, throughout 3 days. These lessons, with different themes, are oriented to dancers of both intermediate and advanced level. On the Saturday night there will be a milonga with an exhibition by the two dance couples. The whole event will take place in the Grand Salon of “The Avalon”, one of the most prestigious dance centres of the city of Boulder, in Colorado State.  This place owes its fame not only to its close relationship with tango but also to the fact that it ¡has a simply spectacular oak wood floor, regarded as the best for many miles around! Inscription is open, with discounts until 15 April and can be made via Internet:
http://www.gustavoygiselle.com/english/21_G&G_ATF_may_2010.htm  in English
- After so many years as a couple, what was the best thing you received from Giselle and Giselle from Gustavo?
Gustavo: Giselle was an injection of energy and pleasure. From the first moment we danced together I felt incredibly at ease. the most important thing I received from her is that she thinks on a par with me. We achieve an understanding in everything that has to do with the dance really deep down, and we’ve also been able to develop a language together. That’s what allows us to do all we do, create what we create and have a great union when performing, as well as the quality in the movements, the strength for teaching and the goodwill, and as companions in life we’re more than happy and we have two lovely little kids. 
Giselle: I also remember when we danced together for the first time. It was very special and made a great impact because we understood each other very quickly, it was as if I had danced with him all my life. Gustavo is the tango dancing partner I’ve danced with for longest, and the years of dancing together has enriched the partnership. There’s an incredible affinity: often improvising he does a step that I would do if I had to decide, and so I enjoy it a lot, we feel the music the same way. With him I have been able to deepen the analysis of tango, something that had always interested me, but together it’s easier and more interesting and this way we’ve been able to discover many things.

Muriel Rébori - Fotos/Photos: Eliza  Karlson (Phatpencil Company)