Carole Edrich Weblog

are editors worth their weight or volume?

When Nicki announced that Christine Denniston was at the Crypt to sign and sell her new book on tango I carried on taking photos and dancing. I assumed it was one I had missed, that others had known about it well in advance and that there’d be no opportunity to write any more. Some days later it came as a surprise to discover that Katie (editor of Dance Today) had put a copy in the post for me to review.

Letters to my place are always late and the book was no exception, arriving a scant day before a trip to Moravia on a wine travel assignment. Had Katie given a deadline I’d have missed it through no fault of my own. As it was I planned to read the book for relaxation during the trip.

Prague, Golden City
(c) Carole Edrich 2007

Known as the Golden City of Spires Prague has an interesting history and exciting future. This City of Kafka is a gold mine of stories to discover and tell, with vibrant conventional and alternative cultures, opera, puppetry, marionettes, and a wonderfully opulent and photogenically romantic Gothic architectural style. Today's plans (to look for stories on adventure and dance) were scuppered when, in the car between Prague and the Sedlec Ossuary in Kutna Hura I received some significant news.

The triumvirate working on Lucia’s case had finally recommended that the court process was ‘unsafe’, that the Dutch Supreme Court consider a retrial and even suggested that Lucia be let out of prison on bail.

Marionette from shop in central Prague
(c) Carole Edrich 2007

While other countries might indeed release her as a result of such findings, Holland did not. The Powers That Be did however release a summary in English. It seems to be carefully worded to downplay the injustices highlighted by the full report of her case. That makes a coherent translation of the whole thing very much more urgent but it's in progress as I write.

Marionette from shop in central Prague
(many call Lucia's case a modern day witch trial)
(c) Carole Edrich 2007

Lucia’s my friend. Editing translation of the big documents to English is more important than money. It’s not just the book review that suffered – there was no time to research those stories on dance.

Luckily Katie had already told me there was no hurry for the review. Such understanding editors are worth their weight in gold… or their volume in wine.

ocampo contingency

While I was in Argentina in May my website went down. I had made some important pitches for work and lost them as a result. So when I had problems accessing Monica and Omar Ocampo's website I told them and offered to post their schedule and contact details on this blog just in case.

Their front page is back up and running but I still can't access the English Language pages.

If you're interested in classes or their schedule you can reach them on mobile number +44 78 555 97 546 or at losocampo @ hotmail.com. If you know it check it again - since my last entry they've revised their schedule as a result of a late request from Barcelona:

UK
Sat Oct 20 Windsor, UK Show
Sun Oct 21 Windsor Workshops / classes
Mon Oct 22 Bournemouth Workshops / classes
Tues Oct 23 Southampton Workshops / classes
Wed Oct 24 London Private classes at the Polish Club
Thurs Oct 25 London Private classes at the Polish Club
Fri Oct 26 London Workshops / classes at the Welsh Centre
Sat Oct 27 Leeds Workshops / classes
Sun Oct 28 Liverpool Workshops / classes
Mon Oct 29 Maidstone Workshops / classes and performance
Tues Oct 30 London Private classes at the Polish Club

BARCELONA, SPAIN
31 October to 5 November
Festival of tango in BARCELONA Barcelona Tango Festival

LARNACA, CYPRUS
7 - 12 November
2nd festival de tango in cyprus

TURKEY
13 - 20 November

SYRIA
21 - 26 November
Lattakia Tango Festival Ember Ember

JORDAN
26 - 30 November
the Arthur Murray School in Amaan

LEBANON
30 November - 12 December

LONDON, UK
12 - 16 December

USA
16 - 30 December

If someone had done this for me back in May I might not have lost that work. I hope that this helps them.

75th anniversary celebrations

The English Folk Dance and Song Society celebrates the 75th anniversary of the merger between the English Folk Dance Society and the Folk Song Society in October and November. Between October 19th and 20th a variety of dances, lessons and events are scheduled and November 10th sees a national gathering and AGM. Events include children’s folk dance workshops, lectures and films, a concert by Rattle In the Stovepipe and the annual Glowworms’ Ceilidh. Everything will be held at Cecil Sharp House, the EFDSS HQ, which uses its halls used for a wide variety of folk events all year round. http://www.efdss.org/

tango maths

Last night I took some shots of Monica Romero and Omar Ocampo at the Crypt in Clerkenwell. One of them came out so well I showed them the image straight away. I had already promised any good images from the evening and they'd offered a lesson in return.

Feeling that my photographs might not be good enough to warrant the lesson, I suggested that we schedule an outdoor shoot too. Pictures taken in iconic London locations would surely useful and with better light I could be surer of good quality images. Monica would only consider it if I accepted another lesson first!

Los Ocampo at the Crypt
(c) Carole Edrich 2007

Tango's very complicated. It can be elegant, humorous, assertive.... Good dancers can convey whatever they choose. While each movement is controlled, the body is relaxed. The passion comes from the link between lead and follow which (when it goes right) is both focussed and intense. Despite the discipline required there is huge opportunity for self expression.

During class Omar kept saying "In tango, one plus one equals one". He meant that two people dancing well together will perform as a single, integrated unit. That level of communication between two people calls to something deep and ancient within us. It's an incredibly sensual feeling which can make the walls seem to spin or the rest of the world disappear.

Los Ocampo at the Crypt
(c) Carole Edrich 2007

I'm happy to send shots off to editors who can decide what they want to use and whether they want to publish my images at all. But private tango lessons are very expensive and I don't want to let Monica and Omar down. Their dancing combines intimate, controlled and sensual communication with excellent stagecraft. It draws the audience in. As if that's not enough, they're really nice, genuine people. A good photo should show all of that. It should also be clear, well composed and interesting Quite a challenge considering I've had a digital SLR for just four short months.

The pressure's on. Can I deliver?

We'll just have to wait and see.

Monica and Omar will be performing and teaching dance in the UK for 3 more weeks.

- Go here for a short bio,
- Find public lessons and workshops at The Tango Club
- For private daytime lessons with the Ocampos contact Kele at Kensington Dance Studios
- They will also teach and perform on:
October 20th and 21st in Windsor,
October 22nd and 23rd in Bristol
October 27th in Leeds
October 28th in Liverpool
and on Sunday October 29th in Maidstone.

Their site is here, you can also reach them on +44 78 555 97 546 or at losocampo @ hotmail.com