He taught me Argentine Folklore, ballet, tango, flamenco, or just about everything I know. I spent so much time with him, my teacher, mentor, best friend and second father. He was very tough. If I got my steps inexact, he would yell: wrong! But at my third mistake, I wouldn't hear him bark anymore, instead I would feel a wooden stick hit my legs!
Today he would get in a lot of trouble with his teaching methods but, back then, this is the way it was. In class he was tough, especially with me, but outside he was my best friend. We laughed a lot and had lots of fun.
When I got home from dance school, I did not get to rest. My mom would say: "Jorge, de nuevo, again!" and made me practice more and more. She watched every class and remembered all the steps… No escape for little Jorge.
I danced ballet professionally at the Colon Theater, in Buenos Aires, and then switched my focus to tango when Libertad Lamarque invited me to join her show. I’ve danced in many tango shows and travelled all over the world. While I was dancing in Forever Tango in NYC, I met my wife, Chino Hara. (Please check out how I met her in the article written by Patrizia Chen* for an Italian Magazine. It will make you smile)
And now I have a confession to make, my wife is great, but we have a tiny little problem: she loves shoes, especially tango shoes. Maybe too much? Maybe a kind of an addiction? (Yes, yes, I know that many of you are nodding and feeling her pain! But please…feel mine too, confined in the few square meters of our apartment, invaded by divine footwear) And that’s why I suggested her to work with shoes, so that she can be around them all the time. Felina Shoes was created. And it was a huge success. See? Husbands can be right. (At times…)
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I’ve danced with Forever Tango for about fifteen years, but my passion now is my family and teaching tango. Lately, I’ve been traveling mostly with my wife and our two babies around the world, teaching tango workshops .
Traveling and being on the road all the time with a two year old and a new-born is pure madness, but I feel very lucky that I get to be with my family.
My dream is to have my own dance company. I feel that in general dancers are being treated unfairly. Once I’ll start my company, all artists will be treated with respect. I want everyone's collaboration to create something really beautiful.
Jorge
*Patrizia Chen , author of "It Takes Two" (Scribner 2010), a novel about two weeks in Buenos Aires.
Chen also blogs for the Huffing Post.
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