Some cool Jennifer Lopez pictures:
Tango in Riverside Park, Aug 2010 – 18
Image by Ed Yourdon
(more details later, as time permits)
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As I’ve pointed out in three earlier sets of Flickr album (shown here and here and here, I do not dance the tango, and I know little or nothing about its history, its folklore, or even its steps and rhythms. I’m vaguely aware that it originated in Argentina in the 1890s, that a new style known as "tango nuevo" began to emerge in the late 1990s, and that various actors and actresses — including Jessica Biel, Colin Firth, Antonio Banderas, Madonna, Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others — have performed the tango in various movies. But beyond that, it never really occurred to me that it played any significant role here in the U.S.
That is, not until the summer of 2009, when I happened to return to my hotel, while on a business trip to Washington, DC, just as a local gathering of tango aficionados was dancing to their music in a nearby square known as Freedom Plaza. I photographed the event and learned from one of the participants that there were similar informal events in New York City. I was reminded of the tango again in the spring of 2010, and discovered that a tango "event" would be taking place on a Sunday afternoon at Pier 45, where Christopher Street runs into the Hudson River in Greenwich Village. The event takes place every Sunday, usually from 4-8 PM, and I made my first visit in mid-April, which led to this set of photos. I returned again on a hot Sunday evening in July — indeed, it was so hot that the music did not even begin until 6 PM. But then the dancers began to appear, one couple after another, until there were a couple dozen couples filling a large space under a sheltering canopy.
Meanwhile, some Internet searches informed me that similar tango events take place at the South Street Seaport, in Central Park — and even in my own neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, down along the Hudson River in Riverside Park South, at 68th Street. That’s where this particular set of photos was taken … with a very small group of dancers who began trickling onto the scene just as the sun dropped below the New Jersey skyline at 7:30 PM. The temperature was mild, the dusk sky was beautiful, and the music was wonderful …
If you’d like to watch NYC tango dancing on your own, check out Richard Lipkin’s Guide to Argentine Tango in New York City.
Tango in Riverside Park, Aug 2010 – 09
Image by Ed Yourdon
(more details later, as time permits)
****************
As I’ve pointed out in three earlier sets of Flickr album (shown here and here and here, I do not dance the tango, and I know little or nothing about its history, its folklore, or even its steps and rhythms. I’m vaguely aware that it originated in Argentina in the 1890s, that a new style known as "tango nuevo" began to emerge in the late 1990s, and that various actors and actresses — including Jessica Biel, Colin Firth, Antonio Banderas, Madonna, Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others — have performed the tango in various movies. But beyond that, it never really occurred to me that it played any significant role here in the U.S.
That is, not until the summer of 2009, when I happened to return to my hotel, while on a business trip to Washington, DC, just as a local gathering of tango aficionados was dancing to their music in a nearby square known as Freedom Plaza. I photographed the event and learned from one of the participants that there were similar informal events in New York City. I was reminded of the tango again in the spring of 2010, and discovered that a tango "event" would be taking place on a Sunday afternoon at Pier 45, where Christopher Street runs into the Hudson River in Greenwich Village. The event takes place every Sunday, usually from 4-8 PM, and I made my first visit in mid-April, which led to this set of photos. I returned again on a hot Sunday evening in July — indeed, it was so hot that the music did not even begin until 6 PM. But then the dancers began to appear, one couple after another, until there were a couple dozen couples filling a large space under a sheltering canopy.
Meanwhile, some Internet searches informed me that similar tango events take place at the South Street Seaport, in Central Park — and even in my own neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, down along the Hudson River in Riverside Park South, at 68th Street. That’s where this particular set of photos was taken … with a very small group of dancers who began trickling onto the scene just as the sun dropped below the New Jersey skyline at 7:30 PM. The temperature was mild, the dusk sky was beautiful, and the music was wonderful …
If you’d like to watch NYC tango dancing on your own, check out Richard Lipkin’s Guide to Argentine Tango in New York City.