Carmencita Calderón - Virtual Class 10/11/2020 by Makela Tango

Carmencita Calderón, dancer,

Real name: Riso de Cancellieri, Carmen Micaela

(10 February 1905 - 31 October 2005)

Place of birth: Buenos Aires Argentina

José Gobello defined her like this

«Vos sos la piba sin tiempo / milonguera de alto rango, / sos eterna como el tango que te lleva en su compás. / Carmencita Calderón las baldosas se estremecen / presintiendo tus quebradas, tus corridas, tus sentadas / cuando invitan a bailar». 

“You are the timeless girl/ high rank milonguera/ you are eternal like the tango that carries you with its rhythm / Carmencita Calderón the tiles shrink / foreseeing your quebradas, tus corridas, tus sentadas/ when they ask you to dance”

Her significance as a tango dancer:

* She had 87+ years of tango dancing

* She danced and performed with El Cachafaz one of the most important male Tango dancers.

* She performed in the first Argentinean sound movie “Tango” in 1933.

* She was friends with Carlos Gardel.

* Her dance was unique, musical. She improvised and interpreted beautifully the lead of her partner with adornments.

* Carmencita and El Cachafaz created a new tango dancing style with corridas - sentadas - quebradas (Anecdotally she also says that she is the creator of the tango skirt slit) 

She learned Tango at 13 years old from her brother. Her mother died at her young age, so she went as a chaperone to accompany her younger sisters to the club Sin Rumbo. There, she was introduced to the dancer Tarila who in turn introduced her to El Cachafaz in 1932. From there started her stardom with El Cachafaz - they danced 10 years until he died right before a performance in 1942.

According to her, the tango is not always against the “proper” manners.

When you watch some of the many videos of Carmencita, you can notice her foot work, the use of her knees (how and when she bend them), her musicality and adornments, her head position. She remembers how her mother used to correct her posture in tango: Don’t look down, let them lead you, lift your head, bend your knees.

According to Carmencita there are 4 types of tango: 1) Tango with CORTES (that include canyengue and orillero) 2) Tango Salon 3) Tango fantasía 4) Tango acrobático

The cortes and quebradas of the first tango type are kicks, sudden stops, collapsing one side of the body to move side to side. This tango is danced to 2/4 with the habanera rhythm closer to milonga. 

After El Cachafaz' death in 1942 Calderón continued dancing with other partners such as the Pibe Palermo and Juan Averna. In 2002 she was honored at the Teatro Colón and at the IV Festival Buenos Aires Tango, where she danced with Juan Carlos Copes.

To celebrate her 100th birthday, Calderón performed a tango, with Jorge Dispari and that was her final public performance. She died soon afterwards, on 31 October 2005.