RODOLFO A WINDHAUSEN
RODOLFO A. WINDHAUSEN
Rodolfo A. Windhausen has been dancing tango for several decades now. His interest in the music stems from his Argentine family tradition: his father, his mother and his maternal grandmother were all passionate tango dancers.
His father, an inveterate milonguero, had learned to dance in Buenos Aires in the late 1920s. (He was instrumental, while he was studying in Germany in 1930, in arranging the premiere of Enrique Santos Discépolo’s famous tango “Yira, yira,” whose first performance was offered in Berlin by the orchestra of Spanish bandleader Juan Llosas.)
His father’s extensive collection of tangos (78rpm records) included many gems by Rodolfo Biagi, Aníbal Troilo, Miguel Caló, Osvaldo Pugliese and other tango greats. Rodolfo grew up listening to those masterpieces, and learned the basic tango steps from his father.
His mother used to win amateur tango contests and his grandmother, a classically trained pianist, was a consummate tango performer and dancer until her death at the age of 93.
In the 1960s, Rodolfo saw some of the great Argentine tango bands perform, among them Pugliese and Troilo, and was among the many youngsters who adhered fervently to Astor Piazzolla’s innovative “new tango.” (Many years later, as a journalist he interviewed and befriended the maestro.) In the early 1970s, while working as an arts writer in Tucumán, Argentina, he produced a memorable tango concert by Piazzolla’s Quintet in that Northwestern city.
As a reporter, he interviewed many tango figures, including de Caro, Piazzolla, the Sexteto Mayor and Amelita Baltar. He reviewed the cast of original “Tango Argentino” show in the mid-1980s for The Associated Press (AP), as well as reviewed other Broadway and off-Broadway dance productions like “Tango Pasión,” “Forever Tango” and “Tango Apasionado.” He also reviewed the now-famous 1987 Central Park concert by Piazzolla’s Quintet.
He writes regularly for El Once Tango News of London, ReporTango of New York and El Milonguero of Miami, and had a tango column at www.exploredance.com of New York. He has also contributed tango pieces to El Tangauta magazine of Buenos Aires, and to other publications in Latin America.
In the 1990s, he translated and adapted into English the liner notes for several tango CDs issued internationally by Milan Records, including three by Piazzolla’s group.
In recent years, he has covered Cosmotango, the annual international tango conference in Buenos Aires, and other festivals worldwide.
He can be found at most milongas in New York, Buenos Aires and Miami, which he promotes extensively through his tango information list and has been organizing private tango events, milongas, tours and parties in those cities.
His most recent productions were at the Novecento, Nascimento and Pravda restaurants in New York, at a Cape Cod, MA social club, at Novecento and Tapas & Tintos Restaurant in Miami Beach, and at the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts (Miami), in all of which he has performed with various partners.
Rodolfo A. Windhausen
Cell. (786) 486-1194 e-mail: windha@gmail.com or windha1@comcast.net
posted by Rodolfo at 10:41 AM
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