Thursday, July 29, 2010

Julio 22-28

Viernes, 23 Julio 2010

The LAN flights to Lima and then Buenos Aires were fine, and they fed me amply (under today´s conditions) and well. However, timingwise, I still prefer the American Airlines flight to Dallas and then Buenos Aires since it works out better to have the short flight and then the long flight during which I can sleep, instead of having a long flight to Lima during the day, and then a short flight to Buenos Aires in the middle of the night. Still, the price was cheaper by $200, and the entertainment offerings were incredible (47 movie options!).

The current exchange rate is about US$1 = 3.94 Argentine Pesos

Dante (Dante´s Airport Transfers, US$35) http://dantesairporttransfers.hazedaze.com/ picked us up at the airport promptly as usual, and it´s very comforting to me to be met by a familiar face who is an expert of the city and the local tango community. It was actually very lucky that Dante met us, because when we arrived at Becka´s Tango House, the manager was not there to meet us. Apparently, there was some mix-up in the communication and he was not expecting us until Martes! Thank God Dante was with us, because he knows Becka, and had her manager´s home and cell phone programmed into his cell phone. So he was able to call him and the manager was able to get us situated after he arrived 15 minutes later. I am glad I tipped him the extra $5, because he certainly went above and beyond the call of duty and always provides excellent customer service.

Becka´s Tango House (Bartolome Mitre 2094 x Junin) has 10 bedrooms and many communal living spaces: 2 shared kitchens, 4 shared bathrooms, several salons with wood floors and boom boxes (which is great if you want to take or give privates). There are many little touches that make it feel quite homey -- like the amply stocked medicine cabinet, and space heaters for every room, which was essential since in the winter time, like now, the rooms were cold. Sharing the kitchens and bathrooms with constantly rotating guests could be problematic with the bathroom shelves easily becoming the permanent land of orphaned toiletries (which could be good or could be bad depending on how frugal you are or skeeved out you are about using the stuff of guests long past), and the refrigerators becoming science experiments a la dorm or office fridges filled with condiments and other food products with foreign labels and questionable age and origin. It can also be quite noisy, just the same as living in a dorm situation. However, it is conveniently located, just blocks away from the Pasteur or Pasco subte stations. Depending on how considerate/clean/neat the other residents are, the stay can be quite pleasant or it can be annoying/irritating having to share communal areas with people who are slobs or otherwise inconsiderate since the maid only comes once a week and everyone is resonsible for doing their own dishes (hopefully in a timely manner and not letting them sit for days on end) and some people tend to explode all over other areas of the house/refrigerator.

After our morning siesta, we decided to scout out the neighborhood, which was very near Callao y Corrientes, so it wasn´t that unfamiliar since we had stayed there during CITA 2008.

I had hoped to have leather put on the bottom of my Sansha dance sneakers, as I wanted to be able to pivot a lot during Luciana´s Valle´s Intensivos, the primary purpose of this trip. So we stopped at a local shoe repair place, Lucas Shoe Repair Shop on Ayacucho 284. Since this place is so close to the Savoy, NeoTango, etc., it´s a great resource for anyone needing repairs if they are here for CITA. Claudio, the owner, repaired our shoes. Pablo bought some laces (5 pesos), and had his NeoTango dance sneakers repaired (gluing the sole, and stitching the upper, and a free mini shoe shine because the leather parts were extremely faded), and I had my dance sneaker heel glued), which cost a bargain 20 pesos for all the repairs. None of these shoe issues were a make-or-break kind of deal, but were little annoyances that were easily, quickly (10 minutes) and cheaply remedied. I asked about adding leather to the bottom of my dance sneakers, and he said he couldn´t because of the way the sole was designed and he didn´t want or risk destroying my shoe.

Since it was still early, we managed to stroll to NeoTango (Sarmiento 1938), where they have lots of new styles and abundant inventory (the most I´ve ever seen at this store).

Jorge Firpo class on Milonga con Traspie at Escuela Argentina de Tango (EAT) at Galerias Pacifico. (35 pesos 1 class; 4 class card 126 pesos; 8 class card 238 pesos; 12 class card 336 pesos. These prices are 30%+ higher than May 2009!) We began the lesson with traspie quick quick simple footwork patterns solely in front of the mirror. Maestro also added some feel good, feel free body movements to them, with changes of height, and to the candombe rhythm. Maestro noted that Candombe is where milonga is derived from (and tango is derived from milonga). The sequece was a side step to the first half of an ocho cortado, to a Leader right front cross step with left foot rock step, while the Follower simultaneously does a left foot back cross step with a right foot rock step, out to resolution. Maestro spoke a lot about keeping the movement small so that it is acceptable on the social dance floor. Big moves are for the stage. It´s more difficult to dance at the crowded milonga than on the stage because it´s not choreography and at a milonga, you are dancing with everyone else on the dance floor, and there are unexpected obstacles that suddenly come into your path. In the context of the sequence, we spent a lot of time drilling so that the Leader´s could do their back cross and rock steps in the line of dance and not laterally across the lanes of the dance floor.

Sabado, 24 Julio 2010

Breakfast was at Piccolino de Proscuitto (Junin 283), a rotisseria and parilla place near Becka´s. The chorizo from here was very yummy, and there are daily specials (meat and potatoes), roasted veggies, milanesa, acelga, etc.

We had hoped to take Marta Anton´s and El Gallego Minolo´s Canyengue lesson @EAT, but Laura Collavini was subbing that day. We both adore Laura, she is such a sweet gal, but we´ve already taken her Canyengue lesson several times, so we decided to skip it and go shoe shopping instead before our next workshops.

Maiten Tango Shoes on Maipu 947. This is the sister store, literally and figuratively, of Todo Tango shoes on Suipacha, owned by the Avalos family. Maiten is daughter Ana´s store, and the brother´s is Todo Tango. Their father has been making shoes for 40+ years. There was a coupon in Punto for 50% off your first item, which I was totally psyched about. Unfortunately, I did not see the fine print, which said the coupon was only good until 23 Julio. Dóh!!! Still, Ana was super nice and good sport about Pablo doing his most charming darndest (unsuccessfully) to get her to honor the expired coupon, and she gave me a 40 peso discount on a shoe that I bought (normally 330 pesos, but I got it for 290 pesos). The six pairs of tango shoes I tried on suggests the fit was a little wider than Comme il Faut and NeoTango, more along the lines of how shoes at Artesanal fit (i.e., a little more wide/forgiving).

Lolo Gerard (Anchorena 607). This is one of my favorite tango shoe stores. The inventory seemed a bit leaner, but I still managed to find two excellent shoes on sale (1 for 210 pesos, another for 230 pesos). I also had arches put in for an additional 40 pesos each. So all in all, it cost a total of 520 pesos for two pairs. I did not ask or try on any of their full price shoes.

Abasto Hiper Coto super market. The heated buffet item selection is even more abundant than before. The portion sizes are also more appropriate and elegant.

Demian Garcia and Noelia Soldera Milonga Workshops (2 hour workshops on 2 days @ 85 pesos per person). During this first class, we explored the different dynamics of milonga timing. We should relax our energy into the floor so that our legs are able to move. First, we worked on QQ timing, walking forward and backward in milonga timing and taking small steps. We were to keep our ankles together in the beginning and as they pass each other. The next timing concept we worked on was walking on half time (as opposed to QQ double time). We can do this if the tempo is very fast. We can also go in and out of regular single time, double time, and half time. In milonga, we should not make our steps too big or two short, no matter what timing we are dancing. Next concept we explored was to walk with more accent, and really "freeze" during the accented parts of the music where it would be appropriate to. Again, we tried to get into and out of walking slow and then walking in regular time, forward and backward. Next, we added more contrabody rotation / disassociation for the Leader on the half time steps to add more drama and flavor.

When we take side steps, it is important to bring the body with the foot, not to drag the body behind or after the foot. It is also important to change the weight when you step, and not just move your leg.

We put all these concepts together with just walking: playing with the musical timing and body (contrabody, sharp steps, freezing stops, and sliding glides) concepts using just walking and side steps.

The Leader and Follower both should have energy and tension in the foot so that you can support the position of the body. Don´t be sloppy in the upper body, but really freeze it (do not reverberate).

On the Leader fast side steps, he lifts her a little, or he can also go down and keep her there. The important thing in the height change is that it is not a herky jerky up down choppy movement, but rather a wave like build, cresting, and subsiding.

Next, we worked on a basic figure that included a Leader left foot sacada of her trailing left foot on her right foot side step. The chest of the Leader must be present and clear to communicate the change in shoulder height / weight change well.

Next figure: Starting from a series of side steps to Follower left, the Follower takes a series of side steps to the left clockwise while Leader does backward paddle with his right foot as his left foot is the standing, supporting, pivoting leg. Here, the Leader is the center of the circle while the Follower walks around him. The Follower adorno as she is pivoting on her left foot, is to drag and leave the right heel, by pivoting on her right sole, transferring the movement to her right heel as she leaves it. The ending to the figure is a Follower left foot forward open step, to right foot forward step.

It was a good lesson. Maestro is a very meticulos, eagle-eyed teacher.

Domingo, 25 Julio 2010

Demian Garcia and Noelia Soldera Milona Workshop (day 2). Since a lot of people opt to take one day or the other and not both, a lot of what was taught today was a repeat of what was taught yesterday. We began with working on traspie footwork, doing Leader side left and Follower side right, and also forward and backward. The "pico" tap adorno during traspie was also taught. The Follower should have a relaxed leg when doing the "pico" adorno. That way the movement will flow naturally.

The Leader´s side step needs to be bigger than the Follower´s step so that he has room to step forward outside the Follower and then back in front of her. The concept of touching the floor being different from traspie was discussed. Basically, it depended on how much the Leader shifts the weight.

Next, we did the forward/back traspie travelling laterally to the Leader´s left, Follower´s right. The Follower´s left foot is at a very slight front cross as it travels laterally. We also practiced this forward/back traspie footwork in a circle with the Leader as the center of the circle and the Follower travelling around him. The Leader should keep his hips level and send the Follower down, to keep the Follower in that traspie forward/back footwork. For the traspie movement, one leg steps in the same spot and the other one steps forward or back. One Follower adorno is to step forward with her heel on this forward/backward traspie. Good technique still applies by keeping the knees together and having the soles of the feet outturned and slightly apart. The Leader adorno is the left foot beat back against his right foot on the forward/back traspie. Here it is important that the Leader keep his body supported forward. We tried to bring this all together with more drilling of the forward/back laterally travelling traspie with Leader and Follower adornos.

Next figure, the Leader as the center of the circle, the Follower does side steps clockwise with the right foot adorno pivot from sole to heel. We also changed the regular Leader footwork to the left foot supporting, standing, pivoting foot while his right foot did a slight paddle behind. Leaders should not compromise their upper body or lose their balance or axis because of what their feet are doing.

Next traspie figure was the simultaneous Follower left foot back cross step to her right with Leader right foot back cross step to his left, to simultaneous Follower left foot open side step to the left and Leader right foot open step to his right. Follower should keep her foot pointed to the ground and keep her knees together. The right, standing supporting leg/foot pivots. With respect to the embrace during this figure, the Leader should not have his arm too low. It needs to be higher up, with his right hand underneath her shoulder blades so that the dancers can connect. Knees should be flexed, and level/height should remain constant. The exit can be to an Americana pivot, so dancers step forward with Follower´s left leg and Leader´s right leg.

To the Americana, we added the low syncopated walk to add flavor: Follower left foot forward step, right foot weight change freeze, left foot forward step simultaneously with Leader right foot forward step, left foot weight change freeze, right foot forward step.

This series of milonga workshops was very good, but I wished there wasn´t so much overlap between the two classes. While I recognize the need to revisit and drill what we learned, it would have been nice if the students were the same on both days so that we could actually further build on the teaching.

Though we had planned to take Olga Besio´s Technique workshop (@EAT, 70 pesos for a whopping 2.5 hours), Maestro personally invited us to his "avanzado" lesson being taught with Guillermina Quiroga later that night. It was a tough decision, but we eventually settled on taking their lesson since I had been curious about Guillermina Quiroga´s teaching.

Demian Garcia and Guillermina Quiroga advanced lesson before milonga Loca! at Club Chalmers (Niceto Vega 5248 in Palermo, 25 pesos for lesson and milonga). This is an upscale, modern space with poured concrete floor, located in the back of a restaurant. We got there early, and so had a chance to see the beginner lesson taught by milonga organizers Marcela Viegas and Demian Fontenla. Even though it was supposed to be a beginner lesson, it looked pretty advanced to me, with the figure being taught including fancy adornos for the Follower ocho/parada/pasada, Leader back and forward sacadas, and Follower ganchos. Maestros were excellent teachers in that when the Leader back sacada proved to be beyond the capabilities of the students, he changed the sequence to one with forward sacadas instead. This lesson appeared more like a group private/practica with lots of individual attention and corrections depending on where the dancers were in terms of skill/vocabulary.

The advanced lesson music was Pugliese and it began with a figure of side steps (Leader left, Follower right), to a Follower left foot back ocho while Leader does right foot back ocho/back cross step***, to a Follower right foot back ocho to Leader parada of his right foot. Here, he pivots the Follower as she fully collects, and then she steps left foot forward ocho, to right foot forward ocho into a clockwise molinete. For the molinete steps, she should make big, strong steps. Leader does a right foot sacada on Follower´s right front cross step of her traililng left foot. Then he does another sacada using his left foot on the Follower´s left foot side step of her trailing right foot. Leader does parada, Follower does pasada, and then Leader does another parada on the other side, and Follower does a pasada. Follower should not hang onto the Leader and should not fall into the Leader. She should also not hesitate on any of her ocho steps. She should pivot at collection completely before beginning the forward ochos.

*** at the point right after the Leader right foot back ocho/back cross step, he does a quick series of three left foot tight front cross steps stepping back, to do his Leader sacadas of his right foot, and then his left foot.

We played with changing the ending of the Leader left leg sacada into a Follower soft right leg wrap of the Leader´s left leg. For the wrap, the Leader shifts his weight into the Follower to lead the wrap. Their goal as dancers is to be smooth. This wrap is not violent or high, so there is no need to kick into or out of it. Follower lifts her leg smoothly as she goes over. The Leader´s foot place as he is leading this wrap is to go out like a side step (stepping at about 9:30 on a clock). This wrap is like a gentle sweep, with a slight raise of the Follower´s leg to get over. Our goal as we drilled this was to do the wrap soft and slow. It is not a gancho becuase it has a light, gentle energy. Follower should keep her legs together on the wrap exit. After the wrap, the Leader does right leg parada on Follower´s right foot back cross step, to send left leg up to a change in driection/suspension up, to step forward counterclockwise with her left leg. Alternatively, he can pivot her so that she can step back with her left foot counterclockwise, and then pivot her again as he paradas her on the close side of the embrace, or he can add a sweep of Leader´s right foot of Follower´s right foot. Maestros showed us many possibilities to change the ending as she goes into her Follower counterclockwise molinete.

This was an excellent lesson. Of the two Maestros, I thought Maestra was the nicer of them. :o) She gave me a nugget to correct in my dancing. It makes me laugh when I do it her way, because I can see her doing what I (used to) do, and I admit it was kind of funny.But it´s hard to change this thing that I do because I was taught/told to do it by Los Dinzel originally, and I believe it´s worked well with respect to being a more responsive follower and being able to connect with Leaders. Looking back, other maestros who have tried to adjust my doing this was Diego Alvaro and Homer and Cristina Ladas. Maybe that´s the thing about learning tango: we are given certain instructions as beginners, and then that takes us so far...then we are given a different set of instructions as we reach different levels in our dance, for more refinement and more fine tuning, which we wouldn´t be able to do if we can´t even do the basic, fundamental concepts proficiently. But it is a little bit jarring to spend all this time really trying to get it absolutely, flawlessly correct and execute perfectly something the way our original teachers taught us, only to be told by a different teacher to do it a another way in order to achieve a more sophisticated level of dancing that may appear to most people to look more natural, even though the path to get there was completely unnatural and at times uncomfortable.

The Loca! milonga afterwards was great. It was decently attended, but not super crowded, so the dancers had ample space to dance freely. Since the dancers were generally at an excellent technical and social level, floorcraft was not too much of a problem. I danced with a lot of international people who were technically very strong, and several locals. El Pibe Avelleneda was there, and danced socially with Guillermina Quiroga and several other very lucky followers (myself not included, obviously, not that I expected otherwise...but a tanguera could still hope...). It was an amazing night...and it was still not over since it was merely two a.m.

A short four-block walk away had me at La Viruta (Armenia 1366), where entry was free since it was after 2 a.m. Many of the same dancers at Loca! made their way over here as well, so dance level was quite high. Since it was a bit late, the floor was reasonably open. Here again I had excellent dances with international folks and a few locals. Musicwise, there are no tandas, and music is played not in sets, so when you need to take a break, you need to say "Thank you" because if you waited for a cortina, you would be dancing with the same person all night long.

Lunes, 26 Julio 2010

La Maria Practica on 4534 Corrientes, near the Carlos Gallardo subte station (15 pesos, includes free coffee/tea/juice and cookies). This facility has a homey feel and the usual stone tile floor. There were many woman leaders and who only wanted to lead (which I personally found very curious). I danced a few tandas with some good and excellent leaders. There was also a mini lesson at 5:10 pm that focused on El Abrazo. Maestra (whose name I didn´t write down) said that en el abrazo, the man should have his right hand right below the Follower´s shoulder blade on her ribs, her right for close embrace, and her left for open embrace. I left shortly after the lesson began because I was starving.

Martes, 27 Julio 2010

Bien Porteno Tango Bar (Rivadavia 1392). I was curious about this place since the ad in Punto said "Free Admission 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.) The deal is that you can have breakfast and lunch here and practice on their nice oak hardwood floor for free during that time. They also have lessons at 2:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. daily. This place is totally about tango, with the usual free magazines and flyers, and art and clothes for sale (they take Visa). It´s a cozy, comfortable place, and heated very well (too well for my tastes). Saturday´s La Marshall (gay/same-sex) milonga is held here. Their milanesa was delicious and made fresh! I believe I had been here before, in August 2007 with Roberto´s y Carolina´s group. But I am not 100% certain since everything was such a blur back then with respect to where we went and the names of places.

Amazing what a difference a month makes climatewise here. It is quite cold now, and places are not crowded because of the worldwide economy, but especially I believe because of the European banking situation. It seems to me only the truly hard core addicts are here in BsAs for their annual pilgrimage, as the beginners are probably thinking twice about it, and watching their Euros/dollars.

Right now, I am also at a different place mentally than I was in the past. Believe it or not, going shoe shopping doesn´t excite me as much as it used to, and it´s not uncommon for me to be unmoved by the entire collection at a store. There are also many new shoe stores here, but I am not ambitous enough to visit them. Right now, the shoes that work best for me are Lolo Gerard and NeoTango. I´ve always wanted to go to the legendary Fattomano, but haven´t yet made my way over there, on this, my 5th trip to BsAs.

Milonga Nuevo Chique (San Juan 244, 15 pesos). I decided to make my way over to this afternoon milonga. Thinking it was low key and since it was in the middle of the day, I did not bother changing out of my jeans and technical bike shirt (albiet leopard print). When I got up to the table, I was a bit chagrined to see that the sign said "elegante sport". Whoops. I was SO NOT dressed "elegante sport". The gal was a good sport though, and she assured me that I was welcome at this milonga and that I should go ahead and give it a go. And so, I did. This is a very nice facility, with large wood floor (powdered? it was a tad slippery.). It was a very porteno flavored milonga, with formal seating of women on one side, directly opposite the men on the other side, and the couples seated at the other two opposite sides of the room facing each other. Floorcraft was interesting. In the beginning, it was modestly attended, so there was plenty of space to dance. There were some light bumps, but nothing that drew blood.

Praktika8 (Loyola 828 en Villa Crespo, 10 pesos). This is a smallish facility with stone floor. The crowd was young, hip, attractive, and technically strong. Floorcrafting was OK (not great, but not horrible). Sometimes the dancers would get worked up into a frenzy, partciularly during the vals tandas. The squeeks of the dancers´ rubber soled shoes could often be heard as the Leaders did their many pivots on the unpowdered floor.

Jueves, 28 Julio 2010

The day was spent at the locutorio and scouting out town looking for "THE" pharmacy to go to (among the seemingly several thousand phamacies in Buenos Aires). I found it.

I also stopped by Bertie´s shoes (Mitre 1394), but that only yielded their signage over an empty storefront. So they must have been a casualty of the economy. I also saw that the Artesanal ads in the magazines show only the Anchorena store (the Riobamba store seems to have been closed).

Dante and Paola asked Pablo to teach them volcadas, so that´s what he did. Pablo showed up late for the lesson, and so I went ahead and began with them without him, giving my thoughts on Follower´s technique with respect to posture and freeness of the free leg, and physically showing them what it meant to "engage your core." It was an interesting experience assisting, and at the end of the three hours, Dante and Paola were doing volcadas with resonable proficiency. I encouraged them to write down their notes later, but of course they just laughed and said they didn´t need to because they had the videos. :::sigh:::

To show their appreciation, Dante and Paola took us to a local pizzaria, where we had their house special pizza, one with everything and the kitchen sink on top of it (sausage, hearts of palm, ham, red bell pepper, oregano, some type of mayonaise sauce, lots of cheese, etc.). It was piled high, 40 pesos, and was more than enough to feed the four of us. Total bill with two litres of Quilmes lager and a diet coke was 65 pesos.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

July 15-21

Thursday, July 15, 2010
Verdi Club Milonga.
I skipped the lesson beforehand. The milonga was nicely attended but not overly packed. There were substantially more Followers than Leaders, but that was OK though. It was a warm evening, and I think the gals appreciated the breaks between dances to cool off and dry out. A lot of the dancers who usually come as couples came as singletons, so it made for a very social evening.

Friday, July 16, 2010
MUSE at City Dance Annex milonga.
I skipped the lesson, which was on walking. The milonga had more people than a couple of weeks ago, so it was nice to see the milonga ramping up and gaining momentum. Like last time, there were several excellent Leaders who were all of the social bent, so I believe everyone had a nice time, like I did. I had a chance to peek at the dance floor space upstairs. It was supposed to be open for alt, but it wasn't necessary since demand didn't support it on this particular night. It's a very nice space with soft wood floor, mirrors on one side of the room, and ballet barres on the other side. There's also an industrial sink and a bathroom on that same level. I think the upstairs space would be a great place to hold a Followers' or Leaders' Technique class.

Saturday, July 17, 2010
Late Shift Milonga with lesson beforehand by David and Mariana.
I skipped the lesson, which was just as well since there were substantially more Followers than Leaders. The milonga itself was a little bittersweet. It was packed, with significantly more Followers than Leaders. Though I sat out more than usual, I still had a good time since I got to dance with a lot of Leaders I hadn't danced with in quite a long time, and some fantastic ones that I had the blessing of dancing with just the other night. Floorcraft was surprisingly not horrible, probably as good as it could be, considering the extremely crowded conditions. Most dancers were respectful, and the vibe was generally quite calm, unfrenzied and unaggressive.

It was sad that this was the last day of the Late Shift at the Cheryl Burke Dance Center. It's always been among my favorite milongas. Maestros did a two-song performance, which was excellent. The food was more abundant than usual, as they planned well in anticipating that everyone and their cousin would be here on this night. For any swing dancers reading this, there will be a free swing dance here on Thursday night, and all are welcome to attend. There's also a RED Wrap Up party on Friday night for just $5, or free if you are a monthly student at Cheryl Burke. Regarding other Saturday night milonga options, a new milonga hosted by Tom at La Pista in San Francisco starts up next Saturday.

Sunday, July 18, 2010
Men's Technique Workshop with Rachel Greenberg on Turns: All Secrets About Turns
, was what the tangomango.org listing said. However, her email, which I got later, said "All secrets about smooth turns (giros) - enrosques, lapiz & others (balance , pivot, dissociation)" -- which was a more accurate and more exciting description of the class.

Originally, I had planned to go to Pampa Cortes's Balance workshop, but I admit I was completely charmed by Maestra at the milonga the night before when she said some entirely unsolicited, extremely kind words to me. Needless to say, I was truly shocked. It was kismet that the subject matter for her workshops the next day was a topic that Pablo wanted to work on, and so I twisted his rubber arm and we went. Maestra has generously allowed me to publish the Men's Technique workshop notes even though I did not physically participate nor pay for the workshop.

The lesson began with some simple physiokinetic/muscle memory exercises.

Exercise 1: Quarter turn with lapice footwork. First, the Leader turns his torso, and then draws a circle with his foot/leg. This quarter turn was done four times to get all the way around in one revolution. For this exercise, it was OK to do a really big movement with the leg, sending it out far and straight, until pulling it back in at the point of collection. (At a milonga or social dance floor, obviously a smaller lapice would be more appropriate.) Leader should keep his solar plexus / torso up and not compromise his upper body because of the movement that occurs in his lower body. He should not tilt his body forward as his leg is behind him, nor his body back as his leg is forward. He should not look down, otherwise he might fall forward. The movement is initiated in his torso, and then the leg goes around. Then he completes the movement as he collects. The goal was to be fluid and smooth. The students did each leg, and in both directions.

Exercise 2: Next, we combined the lapice with an enrosque. Here, the Leaders take one step forward with their right foot, lift the heel up, rotate the torso so the foot/body pivots around, and the left leg tight hooks behind the right leg in an enrosque, and then both heels are put back down. The goal was to get a 180 degree rotation from one side to the other (i.e., like from noon to 6 p.m., or north to south, east to west). Then there is a weight change to the left foot.

Exercise 3: To the above, since the left leg is now the weighted, supporting, standing leg, the right foot is free to do a lapice, to conclude to hook behind the left foot. This right foot lapice is with a pivoted left foot, so that the Leader turns another 180 degrees to make one complete full turn, 360 degree rotation. This was also tried on the other side, using the opposite feet.

Leaders' technical points: The students tried to do an enrosque to get all the way around: 360 degree complete rotation. Wrap the back leg around the front leg. At the point of pivots, keep the heels up, squeeze the adductors (inside thigh muscles, as if you were trying to hold on to a $100 bill there), and set the heels down when the rotation is complete. Always remember to keep the chest/torso up. At the end of the tight crosses, squeeze the heels together. Also, control the finish of the enrosques and lapices. Momentum is key. Take a step, and then turn the torso to get good momentum.

Work on Momentum
To understand this concept of momentum in the context of trying to get around 360 degrees, the above exercises were then done with Leaders' arms outstretched wide like an airplane.

Also with respect to momentum, the Follower defines the speed of the molinete. She needs to catch the Leaders hips and be in front of him at all times.

Work on Lapices
Next, the students did full lapices, broken down 1/2 and 1/2, to collect, and then to a parada. The supporting, standing leg is always pivoting on each move. In the exercise, the left leg was the supporting standing leg (left foot the pivoting foot), and the right leg was the lapicing one. For the first half, the leg would move in a lapice until it is straight back behind the leader. The second half is with the leg extended back the entire time until the point of collection. Keep the body upright, solar plexus/chest up. Do not compromise the upper body by focusing on what the legs and feet are doing. Exhale on the down to be more grounded.

In the turn to the Leader's right (clockwise), the lapice is with the right foot. In the turn to the Leader's left (counter clockwise), the lapice is with the left foot. For the Leader to initiate his lapice at the correct moment, his leg anticipates where her body is.

Work on Enrosques
The students worked on enrosques, initiating them in their torsos, and then following with their hips. They should not move in a block, but in a spiral. They need to squeeze their adductors (inside thigh muscles). At the point of pivot, the heel needs to be lifted. When the pivot is complete, the heel goes down. The knee of the standing, supporting leg needs to be bent so that it is as strong and stable as possible. The students drilled pivoting back and forth, trying to get around 180 degrees, their feet facing the opposite direction from where they started.

Adding Ochitos to Enrosques
The students worked on drawing a little ocho with the leg/foot in front of the opposite leg. For example, drawing a small ocho using their left foot with the place in front of the center of their right foot being the midpoint of the ocho. The goal was to achieve fluidity in opening the knee and closing the knee together with the pivot, synchronizing the pivot with the leg movement.

To the Enrosque movement, the lapice/rulo was added.

Work on Momentum
Leaders need to take the impulse from the right side of his chest, but keep his right arm engaged/connected to the Follower's body. However, this should just be skin contact. He should not use his right hand to push her around or pull her in to compensate for his lack of balance. When he pivots around, he needs to feel the momentum. Otherwise, he will hesitate.

A discussion followed about the Follower molinete and whether or not the back-side steps of forward-side-back-side-forward-etc. was in quick quick/contra tiempo, or whether it was regular time (slow slow). Maestra's belief is that the QQ/contra tiempo in the molinete has to be led, UNLESS (1) the leader is doing a fast turn. Then it's QQ contra tiempo, or (2) it's vals and milonga, where there's a lot of QQ rhythm.

Maestra pointed out, since there were many students who went to Nora's Tango Week the week prior, that Nito Garcia (of the famous golden couple of tango Nito y Elba) has the most amazing, smooth, perfectly balanced turns with fancy footwork of lapices, enrosques, and ganchos, and that we as students should pay attention to how much balance, elegance and control he has during the turn. YouTube can help visualize Nito's movements.

Turns are all about balance. We need to have balance and good pivoting technique.

The next "figure" the students worked on was:
Left foot step diagonally with no weight transfer. Left foot lapice to tight back cross of right foot to right foot sacada.
The next "figure" the students worked on was a simple one, but difficult to write down because it went so fast with lots of rotation (and I started to tire). It was also combined with rulos and enrosques.

Though the only other Men's Technique classes I've observed (I never physically participate) have been in Buenos Aires and were taught by men, I believe this was an excellent workshop. The subject matter was clearly and methodically broken down into bite-size pieces, and there was ample time to drill so that it wasn't completely overwhelming from an intellectual or physiokinetic/biomechanic/muscle memory perspective.



Rachel Greenberg Workshop #2: The turns: Rhythmic & Fun Combinations Playing with Different Endings & Nexus. This next workshop added the Follower molinete to the above Leader's footwork, which gave the Leaders good practice time to implement and employ all the fancy footwork and technique they learned in the Men's Technique turns workshop.

For Follower's Technique, the momentum of the turn comes from the Leader's torso and hips, and the Follower must adjust to the Leader.

First we did a counterclockwise turn
, with the Follower's footwork being two back ochos, to a big left foot back cross step with lots of pivot of her right foot, side right step, left foot forward cross, with a Leader right foot sacada of her trailing left foot on her right side step, to send it into a left foot back cross step, into an ocho cortado. This turn has a logical rhythm and structure, so the dancers need to pay attention the music.

Follower's technical comment: On the side step, she needs to keep her hips in front of the Leader and not step away from him. To help her with this, she needs to have a very big pivot on her back cross step immediately prior so that she doesn't turn away from him on the immediately following side step. She should also suspend the side step a little because the Leader is a little suspended.

Leader's technical comment: The Leader needs to lead the Follower to do a big pivot on her back cross step by having more torsion in his upper body.

At the point of the Leader's right foot sacada, the weight transfer is complete so that he can immediately do a left foot rulo.

For both dancers, it is important not to abandon the frame and establish the connection between dancers. We give resistance to each other from the shoulder blades. It is important to have skin contact between the Leader's right arm and the Follower's left arm. To improve connection, we should try to look for contact in the skin.

Next figure involved a turn to the right. The entrance is like an ocho cortado, with Follower doing molinete footwork and the Leader's footwork taught at the last part of the workshop (where my notes break down), to an ocho cortado with a Leader right foot sacada before her return to the cross in the ocho cortado.

Leaders should be precise in their sacada foot, really meeting her trailing foot.

The next figure was a Follower's forward ocho with the Leader sacadas: of his right foot of Follower's trailing left foot on her right foot front cross step, and then a Leader right foot sacada of the Follower's right leg, forcing her to gancho his right leg, on her left foot side step of the clockwise molinete. To lead this gancho, the Leader takes the Follower down a bit so she understands it's a gancho.

This set of workshops was truly amazing, fantastic, and generously timed at 90 minutes each, so an excellent bang for the buck. Maestra was supportive and encouraging of all the students' efforts, and gave ample individual attention. (Rumor has it that she got the memo about how sensitive we are in the San Francisco Bay Area [too sensitive?], and how well we respond to the warm and fuzzies (have a nice day, everyone!). So obviously, she is a good sport about our needs and desires as [anxiety-filled, insecure, mentally delicate] students, and flexible enough to accommodate them.) Maestra leaves for Nueva York on Thursday, and then South America after that. How blessed we are in the San Francisco Bay Area, because she returns with more workshops in October 2010.

The practilonga farewell party was fun, with two fancy cakes from Whole Foods. The dancers were great, especially Randy because he asked me to mention it :o) and Marshall, too, who seconded the desire. :o) I really enjoy this afternoon practilonga. Maestra and other local teachers were there to give guided feedback on various things that we were working on as students, and there were plenty of serious students who were there to improve their dancing, which was already pretty good or even great. It was truly one of the best afternoons I had ever had at a series of workshops/practilonga/milonga.

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(warning: random rant follows)

I was at a milonga recently where there were many more Followers than Leaders, and unfortunately many insensitive Follower hog ambusher Whack-A-Moles who methodically picked off the "good" leaders for multiple tandas, even when they were in conversation with other Followers and on the verge of asking the person they were in conversation with to dance. This behavior was noticed by many people, and some folks complained to me about it (though I am not a milonga organizer). It was suggested that I should write something about how this behavior is damaging to community-building tango efforts and how it is extremely poor milonga etiquette to interrupt people in conversation to ask someone to dance, but I don't think I have enough time to do the subject matter justice as I have a rather full month ahead of me.

But the Cliffs Note version is that, as for me, the milonga codigos were drummed into me early on, so verbally asking a Leader to dance right up in his face, or to even be more bold and take his hand and lead him on to the dance floor, is something I generally don't do (with the exception of Jodel for milonga tandas, and even then, I haven't done that in a few months now). I personally do not do the Whack-A-Mole thing and pop up and ask/demand that a Leader dance with me because it usually means I am an inferior dancer to him. Frankly, I would rather leave a milonga than ask a leader to dance, and I have done this on more than one occasion. However, I do recognize that in the San Francisco Bay Area, gender differences are a little more blurred, and Followers of all persuasions feel more empowered and entitled and believe it is acceptable to ask or boldly insist that Leaders dance with them.

Honestly, the dynamic at this particular milonga did not excessively irritate me personally, though I mentally registered the behavior and found it mildly annoying but typical for the usual culprits. I am at a point where I no longer need or want to rack up the mileage at the milonga (even the milonga tandas) and I've certainly been to enough milongas by now so that this behavior is unfortunately not new to me. However, I just mention it because it was mentioned to me by several different people who were at this particular milonga. To put it bluntly, I am not any one's confidant or best girlfriend in the tango community-- I do not pat people's arms, I do not soothe ruffled feathers, I do not hand over Kleenex to wipe away tears... so obviously there are some extremely hurt / upset people for them to mention this to me (someone a rather vicious gossip has labeled "Ice Queen"--which I find amusing since he doesn't even know me).

Tango is a commitment, no doubt about that. And it's also a commitment to be a good citizen within the tango community... So it behooves all of us to not be jerks (especially the hog ambusher Whack-A-Moles and the gossips).

One thing that does give me comfort on those nights when I am skunked, is I think of some very famous portena tangueras/maestras who have said that they spent many a night at Buenos Aires milongas not getting a single dance...and they are and were much better dancers than I am, and far more beautiful/friendly/effervescent... so it pretty much happens to us all, no matter how skilled or otherwise appealing.

At the end of the day, the behavior of the hog ambusher Whack-A-Moles shouldn't be taken personally by any of us, since these folks are obviously clueless about how they are being perceived by their fellow dancers (and believe me, everyone watches in tango, and an unfortunate number of people gossip/complain). They have an agenda and no one will get in their way of improving their tango or having a good time at the milonga. It's all about them. Didn't you/we get the memo? And yeah, they probably will never be found at home/in the gym/studio doing the homework all Followers have been given -- to practice doing ochos, molinetes, and walking by ourselves so that when we do dance, it is easy and effortless. Because if they actually did do their homework, it just might be that they find the tables turn and the "good" Leaders are the ones asking them to dance (and not the other way around).

But none of us should be too disturbed by any of this. Because there will always be another milonga, and there will always be many more tandas. (Unless of course we get hit by a bus before then.)

And now, off my soapbox... (end of rant)

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

July 8-14

Friday, July 9, 2010
Palo Alto Milonga at All Saint's with lesson beforehand by Pampa Cortes with Elaine Kho assisting.
Topic: Generous Partnering - Using the Pause & Adornments How leaders can use pauses to give followers time to shine and followers enjoying the moment in beautiful ways. This was an excellent lesson, with a lot of verbal instructions on the wherefores and whys of The Pause. There are many moves we can do in tango. The Leader can and should take his time. The Leader can enjoy the embrace. The Leader can enjoy the embrace of the Follower in his arms. He can enjoy the music. Sometimes the music is so beautiful that it's like you fall in love with the woman for three minutes. DiSarli, Sassone, and Pugliese have a lot of pauses. With Pugliese, there are lots of pauses, long moments where the Leader can shine, too. The point in dancing tango is to enjoy the music, enjoy the movement, enjoy the Follower in your arms, even if she's not yours. DiSarli died in the 1960's, and Pampa remembers him. DiSarli's music was famous for the piano parts -- going back and forth and adding accents. That's because DiSarli was a pianist. With Troilo, who was a bandoneonist, the music, the bandoneon, starts immediately, and is a very prominent feature. We dancers have a lot of time to do fancy things, but we need to learn to take our time. The Leader needs to give the Follower time, she will come to you. Leaders should be courteous to Followers. In Buenos Aires a long time ago, there were 7 men for each women, so the Leader had to be a very good dancer, and respect that the Follower had a lot to say about tango. To practice these concepts of taking our time, waiting for the Follower to shine, enjoy the music, etc., we did a sequence that included a Leader right foot sandwich, to Follower's two back ochos, to another sandwich, to a Leader parada followed by a Follower pasada, another Follower back ocho, and then another parada. At various points, like before the Follower pasada, she can embellish and the Leader must wait for her. In addition, he could actually lead her to do an adorno as she is at their close side of the embrace ready to pasada over with her left leg. She does, and then he leads her back to do a soft beat back (more like a rise) against her standing right leg, to walk out forward with her left leg. It was a very good class, and many of the nuggets of the lesson came out with Pampa sharing his knowledge of tango music and orchestras, as well as the culture and history of tango. His musicality series of lessons on Wednesdays sound like they would be pretty good, and his balance class on July 18 sounds fantastic, where all dancers will do exercises by themselves to help them improve their ability to balance. The milonga was only very lightly attended since it happened during Nora's Tango Week events. I had a pretty good time though as everyone was friendly and social. I also got to take a doggie bag home of the cheese, crackers, and finger desserts. It was a very pleasant, low-key kind of night.

Saturday, July 10, 2010
Late Shift Milonga...sort of...
I figured I was taking a wild roll with the dice since this was the Nora's Tango Week Celebration Tango milonga night.
I cruised on by and peeked in the window. It was only very lightly attended. There were two Leaders I enjoy dancing with, and three Leaders that I do not enjoy dancing with, and several extra Followers, and a lot of people just sitting around and chatting (not dancing). It was only 9:30 p.m., and 2:00 a.m. seemed an awful long way away. So I decided not to go in. Though I didn't go to Nora's Celebration Tango, thanks to mamborich, I got a vicarious thrill at being able to see the excellent show that was put on. I especially liked the last three videos...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmTWyjqfHvA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNMYS-Sbqsg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvP6oTWxkoA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH0B6tbJ6sM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo9JwfFU1iE


Come Join Me!
Thursday: Verdi Club
Friday: MUSE @ City Dance Annex (two dance floors, one traditional and one alt)
Saturday: The Late Shift FINAL MILONGA -- this is going to be an insanely competitive tango night with 5 milongas (Late Shift in SF, Sausalito, The Beat, Lake Merritt Dance Center, and Nora's in Palo Alto).
Sunday: Pampa Cortes BALANCE workshop
Tuesday: Buenos Aires Art Deco lecture and milonga @ Hamilton Ballroom

Thursday, July 8, 2010

July 1-7

Friday, July 2, 2010
MUSE Insomnia milonga @ City Dance Annex.
I don't usually give ratings for milongas, but if I did, this one would get five stilettos (out of a possible five). Wow. What can I say? I had a blast. Just across the street from the San Francisco Costco, City Dance Annex is a beautiful, modern loft-like space with high ceilings, great sound system, and wonderful sprung maple floor. There were high-quality, fingerprintless mirrors on two sides of the large, spacious room, with bench seating on the other two sides of the box-shaped room. Ceiling fans provided extra ventilation. Howard, the organizer, did a fine job DJing and catering (cherries, organic grapes, plain tortilla chips, red and white wine, Coke, iced tea, and water). There were also carne, pollo, y champiniones empanadas by El Porteno for sale ($3 for 1, $5 for 2), made from high-quality ingredients like organic Prather Ranch grass-fed beef, free range chickens, and locally grown mushrooms. Parking could be easily found within a block or two, which was kind of surprising since it's around the corner from Slim's and other live music/dance venues. The milonga was only lightly attended since there were so many other tango events on the same night (especially Nora's Tango Week). But the Leader quality was superb, and the guys were all of the social, community-building school. I had never danced with the organizer before, and I was absolutely amazed at how well he danced. El Russo is back from the Motherland, so whatever milongas he shows up at are much better places because of his presence, including this one. Because the milonga was lightly attended, we all got to dance a lot with each other, more than we usually do at other milongas, where we'd typically dance one or perhaps two tandas in one evening together. So I got a chance to dance several tandas each with several excellent leaders. It was any tanguera's dream milonga. I will most certainly will be back for future milongas. Interestingly, I got to talk to Chino de Nueva York a little bit...well, actually a lot. It's funny, we've danced together for a while now, but I really didn't know much about him at all, other than him being from the Big Apple. Well, he was in a very chatty mood, and it was nice getting to know him a little better. We reminisced about Omar Vega (one of our mutual favorite teachers), talked about the dance scene in Oakland, and tango, tango, and more tango of course. It was a very fun night.

Saturday, July 3, 2010
Late Shift Milonga with lesson beforehand by Rachel Greenberg.
The lesson was a variation on the ocho cortado (a clockwise turn), and also a counterclockwise turn with mini-volcadas. We began with the ocho cortado. Maestra's variation on this was that on the Follower's forward step, she should have more of a tight front cross step where her right foot is pivoted and pointed toward the Leader instead of the usual forward step more parallel to the Leader. Leader also adds more dynamics to this with more torsion/rotation in his chest. From here, the Leader leads her to continue to go around him clockwise with a Follower left foot side step, at which point he sacadas her trailing right foot with his right foot, sending it out to tight back cross against her left foot, and then her left foot coming out forward then back out to resolution. Next, we tried a turn to the right, beginning with a side step to the left for Leaders, right for Followers, into a counterclockwise Follower molinete of left foot back cross step, right foot side step, left foot tight forward front cross to one or two no-hip-pivot tight forward ocho crosses back out to resolution. Since there were many people who were very new to tango at this lesson, we also did an exercise where the Leaders were to get used to the feeling of controlling the Follower's free leg, and sending it out, and then back in in a tight back cross, right leg and then left leg. It was a good class, and we had ample time to drill while Maestra went around and gave individual feed back to every single couple. The milonga itself was quite interesting. It was one of the Queer Tango Festival nights, and they chose to be at the Late Shift. It was great fun to see so many gorgeous, talented, same-sex and lead-follow exchange couples, as well as the brilliant Brigitta Winkler beautifully social dancing with the locals. As for the dancing itself, the pickin's weren't exactly slim for the straight female Followers, but they weren't abundant either. I still had a good time since I managed to have several good and a few excellent tandas, and lots of fun watching everyone else when I wasn't dancing.