Thursday, December 8, 2011

November 24-December 7

Sunday, November 27, 2011
Milonga Roko @ Manhattan Ballroom Dance.
I went to the lesson beforehand, taught by Brigitta Winkler. The lesson was good, focusing on Milonga. We began with a musicality exercise, first individually, and then partnered.

The meat of our lesson focused on the traspie movement, and disassociating.

The milonga was fun. It was my first night out dancing since I got back from Buenos Aires, and before that I was away on the weekends with Homer and Cristina. So in actuality, I had been gone from the community for about a month. Surprisingly, I was missed. So it was a very full night of dancing for me, as I caught up with my usual favorite leaders. I also got a chance to dance with several new people (very skilled dancers), so that was a nice treat, too. I danced nearly every tanda, and during my last one, my feet really started to hurt (I was starting to wonder if I had a hairline fracture at the sole of my left foot), so much so that I heard the coaching voice inside my head insist that I stop dancing (because it was silly and unwise to dance while I was in that much pain, being no stranger to turning minor injuries into major ones by overstressing, kicking myself afterwards that if I had just rested, I would have healed quickly).

After I had changed my shoes, a performance was announced. A visiting couple from Poland, Katarzyna Czech and Tymoteusz Ley, did a nice two-song Nuevo performance demo. They were good, and are in town for a while. Video is at http://www.youtube.com/user/Tangobro#p/a/u/0/2Rho6Zfzruo

Saturday, December 3, 2011
Mariela Franganillo’s La Practica at Dance Manhattan.
I got there on the early side, as this is my favorite tango event in NYC, so I wanted to pack in as much dancing as possible in the event’s three hours. That being said, it was reasonably full but not overly crowded, with more Followers than Leaders. So the Leaders had a full plate, and most Followers sat out at least some of the time. I danced with several new people, so that was great. One of them was very good, and I asked him why I had never seen him at any of the NYC milongas. He said he didn’t have time to go (and he also whispered to me that he was not happy with the night milonga experience, which seems like not a unique experience among the folks who go to La Practica). I danced a Pugliese tanda with someone new to me, and I blew his mind (and mine, too). I feel like I had a Pugliese breakthrough.

My buddies from NJ were also there, and they greeted me warmly. We made plans to go to Boqueria afterwards for brunch. And that’s what we did after the practica was over, all of us getting the burger (we were hungry). I had mine with egg and bacon; the bacon was excellent but the egg not done quite enough. Next time I will skip the egg and ask for the burger medium instead of medium rare. As usual, we had a blast at brunch.

Though I was planning on going to Triangulo afterwards, I had forgotten that this was the first Saturday, and last month I had promised to go to Michael and Angeles’s Fernet Milonga in NJ. So after brunch we went our separate ways, with plans to meet up later that night.

Milonga Fernet at Alluring Ballroom in New Jersey. My NJ buddies said that this milonga would be where a lot of NJ’s dancers would be, as it’s an event that draws all of the NJ tango communities. When I arrived, my buddies greeted me warmly and made it a point to introduce me to all their friends, which was super nice. I got there early enough for the lesson because I have been curious about Maestros’ teaching since I had arrived on the East Coast, but hadn’t had time to make my way to any of their NYC lessons.

The intermediate lesson was a very simple sequence focused on the male lead in getting in out of walking in cross system to parallel system and vice versa, and leading the Follower to pass in front of him from side to side, inside and outside so that he could walk in parallel or cross. It was a good lesson, very detailed in its technical explanation, and ample time for drilling, with Michael and Angeles going around to offer corrections and technical pointers to individual couples. The ending of the sequence involved a forward step and then a side step (a half molinete) for the Follower, one direction and then the other, so our work involved collecting completely and prettily at the left foot front cross tuck, then taking long reaching steps around the Leader, and also have spiral energy going from top down on the last left foot front cross step to right foot side, pivoting well, and then taking a good side open step. Maestra emphasized being musical in every step we take, at every inch of the milonga dance floor. There was also a beginner lesson taught by Marcelo “Chulo” Manfredi.

The milonga itself was OK. Though Maestro emphasized that we should dance with many people, not just the ones we came with, most people did just that, unfortunately. There were many couples who did not change partners at all during the night, lots of folks who only danced with 2 or 3 different people, and a minority who danced with lots of different people.

I only danced with one other person besides my buddy. This person was a skilled dancer, and I enjoyed dancing with him, though he shook the entire first tanda. And no, I did not believe he was shaking because he thought I was super scorching hot and he was excited (in more than a tango way) to be dancing with me. If anything, I thought maybe had too much caffeine, or that had early stage Parkinson’s, or needed a change to his meds, or that he had a massively demanding upper body weights workout at the gym earlier. During our second tanda there was substantially less shaking (though still a little bit).

Tonight was a special night with live music with Octavio Brunetti on keys and Machiko Ozawa on violin. They were brilliant together, playing off yet complementing each other well the way very skilled (usually jazz) musicians do. I think she was a part of his orchestra at Tango Factory’s Drom a few months. Watching them at their craft up close and in person was wonderful, seeing them make music with such passion and with their entire beings, and mesmerizing to watch their fingers and hands flow so beautifully, expressively, quickly, and agily over the keys and strings, and with Machiko’s masterful command and strength with the bow. They are also very good tango dancers, and it was fun seeing them dance during the DJ’d portion of the milonga.

Alluring Ballroom is a ballroom in a strip mall, with a pergo floor, which I found OK for the lesson, but a little to slick for social dancing. Food was Doritos and salsa, bite-size black velvet cupcakes, olives, and maybe some other items that I didn’t see since I didn’t wander over to the food table until late. There was also bottled water and apple/cranberry juice and ice. Many folks brought bottles of wine and shared. The hosts’ table had a bottle of Fernet-Branca and regular Coca Cola (not diet).

This milonga was a combination of live music and DJ’d sets, with the cortina being a very funny polka-esque song Fernet by the Sultanes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgtgBJbNrSI . Fernet (usually con cola) is extremely popular in Buenos Aires, and there you can get many different brands and flavors of Fernet (1882 is another famous one), some extremely cheap. In SF, you don’t really see any Fernets beyond Fernet Branca and Fernet Menta, and it’s usually drunk by the bartending crowd in shots. But good luck finding it in CT (I haven’t looked, but overall the spirits options are pretty basic and mainstream here, and only sold at specialty retail stores, not supermarkets, which only sell beer. And on Sundays you can’t buy booze at all at supermarkets or specialty retailers, only bars and restaurants). So what does Fernet taste like? Well, it’s a very high alcohol herbaceous bitter, like Jagermeister only not as sweet and more licoricey. It’s an acquired taste, that’s for sure.

The drive to and from Allure was 3 hours round trip (150 miles = 6 gallons of gas=$22), with total tolls coming to about $24 ($4.95 + $0.60 + $4.85 + $12 + 1.75), which I hadn’t factored into my budget. On this, my first time driving to NJ, I found the whole toll thing/process very strange and irritating (there were places where you take a ticket, then drive many miles on the road, and pay for the toll based on mileage later when you gave them your ticket). After getting all tapped out of cash and feeling tolled to death, I had to pull off at the Vince Lombardi service area in NJ for their ATM. When I got there, there were big signs on the front door noting that they sold EZ Passes. So obviously, there was significant enough demand from EZ Pass-less folks like me to make this a strategic sales outpost. I went ahead and got one so that I wouldn’t worry about not having enough cash for all these tolls that seem to pop up everywhere on the roads in NY and NJ, and for totally random amounts.

Sunday, December 4, 2011
Carlyn Afternoon Milonga at Smith’s Dancing School in Hawthorne, NY.
I went because I wanted to experience the growing community in Westchester County. The facility is easy to get to with ample parking (and thankfully no toll roads along the way), and the Hawthorne train station is right by the school. The building itself is quality new construction, with a nice hardwood floor. There were ample sodas (9 different two-liter bottles, with back-ups!), juices, and water, but nothing alcoholic. The snacks were varied (carrots, sugar snap peas, ginger snaps, Pepperidge Farms Milano cookies, triscuits, crackers, cheese, pretzels, pfeffernusse cookies, and candy). It was striking that people kept talking about the flan (or more accurately, expressing disappointment that it wasn’t there), suggesting it must be pretty amazing.

Carlos, one of the hosts, was very gracious and danced with everyone. Many of the other folks came as couples and danced with just their usual partner. The space is very large relative to the size of the community (there were about 30 people at the milonga). There were no cortinas, and it seemed the custom to change partners after every song or two, likely reflecting the strong ballroom background of the dancers/organizers. It was fun watching the dancers, although I did get a chance to dance with three different leaders.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

November 10-23 (from Buenos Aires)

Viernes, 11 Noviembre 2011
The first leg of the flight to Santiago, Chile, was nice: the plane boarded and left on time, the movies (52!) were great, the food was well proportioned and tasty. I was annoyed at myself for not checking my flight kit beforehand, so I didn't notice I had forgotten my eye patch and earplugs. Thankfully, Lan passed out some, and I was thrilled, as I would not have managed well without them.

I watched Angels and Demons, a fast paced, entertaining flick. Then I slept somewhat uncomfortably, but reasonably well. I didn't even notice when the person next to me switched seats with another passenger. As far as 10-hour flights go, this one was pretty good.

Then I got to the Santiago, Chile, airport. What should have just been an hour wait for the connecting flight turned into five, which was a total bummer. But at least I got to knock back a couple of Pisco Sours at a place called "The Last Pisco Sour", which was a part of the La Sabastiana Restaurant there at the airport. Pisco Sours are tasty, but a little too much on the sweet side for my taste (I tried not to cringe when I saw the bartender put two heaping teaspoons of powdered sugar into the mix). Since it was a shockingly early hour to be drinking (OK, not that shocking, but still early by most standards), I had an empanada de carne to accompany the libations. The carne was heavy on the cebolla, studded by a large black half-olive, and one 1/8thish chunk of hard-boiled egg. The dough was on the dense, pasty side, which wasn't exactly my cup of tea, though I ate the whole dang thing.

I still had four hours to kill, and needed to contact everyone waiting for me in Buenos Aires (my driver from Eziza, my hostess, and JSE) to tell them I would be very late. I had my laptop, but getting Internet access from the airport was a confusing chore. I made my way to the VIP lounge, and thankfully the receptionist had mercy on me and let me use their computer for 5 minutes. This being South America, I went along with the usual custom and 5 minutes turned into 2 hours (it was a sumptuous lounge, one of the best I've ever been in, and I was in no hurry to leave, and no one asked me to).

Finally, it was time to catch the flight to Buenos Aires. Boarding was late, and after we left the airport, we had to get on to those shuttle buses to the airplane itself. When I got to the top of the stairs and onto the plane, I looked for my seat in row 25. The last row on the plane was 24. D'oh!!! And passengers after me had rows 26-30! Needless to say, confusion ensued and people were stressed out and angry. Fortunately, it all worked out and there turned out to be exactly enough seats. If y'all can envision Southwest Airline style seating when we've paid Lan prices, you can see why people were very hot under the collar about the whole situation. Someone even wrote a complaint letter by hand on the back of a large envelope, ripped it open and sent it around for everyone to sign, and by the time it got to me in the very last row, it seemed the majority of passengers signed it.

Getting through Eziza was relatively easy, but getting a cab to Buenos Aires was kind of a hassle. Dante and I agreed that I should just take Taxi Eziza (cost: $180 pesos), but it was a 25-minute wait. I asked at other remise desks about the wait, and they all said 25 minutes. So I did as Dante said and took Taxi Eziza. We had to queue up, and there were a bunch of flakey people in front of me who missed their call as they wandered off to shop or going to the restroom, etc., and then they would come back and then get first priority in line again. I was told several times that mine would be the “next car”, only to be bumped by some flakey airheads.

THE EXCHANGE RATE IS ABOUT 4.3 ARGENTINE PESOS TO US$1.

The drive to Buenos Aires was smooth and quick, but the Taxi Eziza driver got a little lost in the neighborhood, so we had to circle. When I finally arrived to the place where I would be staying, it was already 8:00 p.m. (which was amazing to me since my plane landed at 4:30 p.m.).

I was pretty bummed that my flight was so delayed since I had a burning desire to go to P.H. today, Friday, since I missed it the last several times I was here, and this the only free day I could get there easily since they're closed Saturdays. I'm curious to see what Lilliana has done fasionwise, as the last time I went it seemed the styles were becoming more on-trend. With my move to the east coast, I only brought the shoes I wear and am comfortable in, and the majority were P.H. and Lolo Gerard.

After arriving home, I tried to make it over to the Ferreteria to get an adaptor for my laptop electrical cord. I got confused about the time because no Ferreteria is open at 8:00 p.m. on a Friday night, so I went over to the Abasto Coto instead to pick up food (where I was a little disappointed with the selection). Afterwards, I stopped off at Maossage (Aguero 616) to get a full body massage (60 pesos for 30 minutes). It was great. Very firm, very relaxing afterwards though painful while getting it. My masseur, one of the owners, was very nice. He spoke in Mandarin primarily, then in Cantonese to me, and after he figured out that that would be an epic fail, plain old English. Turns out he learned his craft in Los Angeles!

After that, I made my way home, arriving around 11:00 p.m. I marveled at how long it took just to get around to do things in Buenos Aires (granted, I did walk everywhere and take the Subte instead of cabbing it as I wanted to move my body after being on planes for so long). Anyway, sitting down to eat, I checked my email, read one from JSE but didn't respond because I was distracted, and then my laptop battery ran out (which was why it was so urgent to get to the ferreteria in the first place). By then I was truly exhausted, so I took a shower and went to bed.

Sabado, 12 Noviembre 2011
There were a million things I wanted to do today, so I was out the door by 10:15 a.m.

My first stop was the Ferreteria (Sarmiento 4380). I probably could have gone to any one much closer, but this one I knew...so I made my way over to it, where I pulled out my laptop cord, showed it to the guy, and he gave me a universal adaptor ($10 pesos). I asked for two, just in case (which now seems silly, in retrospect).

Still in search of a replacement of my beloved pair of Negra y Portena shoes that were mortally victimized, I tried to go to Asignatura Pendiente (Corrientes 2176), but when I got there, another store was in its spot, so it must have moved. Since I was so close, I walked over to Tango Leike (hoping to pick up some free tango magazines and a tango map) and NeoTango (both on Sarmiento 1947 and 1938). Both stores have been remodeled and look more boutique-y and upscale. NeoTango is much more efficiently laid out to try on shoes; stylewise, the shoes are much the same and remain as pretty as ever. The styles at Tango Leike were surprisingly more edgy and fashion-forward. I only managed to pick up a copy of Diostango and was surprised at how slim and light it was.

Saturday afternoons in Buenos Aires usually mean for me Marta y Manolo's Canyengue class at EAT, and this was no different. Since I had an hour to spare, I went via Suipacha (200 block), hitting all the shoe stores beforehand (Flabella, Darcos, Scarpe Mahara, etc.). On the train ride over, I browsed through Diostango and saw that Asignatura Pendiente was now located on Suipacha as well. Just doing some window shopping on Suipacha, shoes started around 380 pesos and went up (how high I don't know because I didn't try on or ask about any specific shoes). Some of the stores have moved around and consolidated a bit. The place next to Darcos seems to sell a mish-mash of all different stores (including Asignatura Pendiente, but they only sold their clothes, no Negra y Portena shoes), and the awning is that of Todo Tango, which used to be down the block. Lucky for me, EAT had a coupon there for 25% off one class.

Making my way over to EAT, it occurred to me that Buenos Aires is really coming together for me geographically, as I can navigate better and more confidently, even though I didn't have a map as insurance. I was happy to see the classes were the same price as the last time I was here (45 pesos), and with my discount coupon, the Canyengue class came to 35 pesos.

Happily, the class was pretty full. Marta y Manolo look strong and healthy. As usual, the class was split into two groups: those with Canyengue experience and those without. Marta worked with the newbies while Manolo led the guided practica for the rest of us. The gender balance for both groups was perfect, so no one switched (and we weren't asked to). I partnered with a porteno who as also in class last time I was here, so it was nice to see a familiar face (actually, several). As usual, I struggled with the posture and connection, and keeping my steps small. The Canyengue work is basically the exact opposite of the Luciana Valle work, although in my mind Canyengue can be viewed as the original off-axis form of tango since there is such extreme lean.

In the starting embrace, I need to remember to bend the knees and keep the heels off the ground in order to connect with the Leader from chest to belly. The Follower's right hand in the Leader's left hand enables the Leader to open and close the embrace depending on how much pivot he wants the Follower to do based on where he wants the Follower to step.

After class, I was famished, so I went over to Galauno. Unfortunately, a choripan is now 9.99 pesos (gotta love the .99 bit as an attempt to keep things in the single digits), which I thought was steep. So I went a few storefronts down to the Arabic place and had a cordero shwerma instead (very tasty).

Originally, I had planned on going to the afternoon milonga at Confiteria Ideal but I was just too pooped. So I went over to Anchorena instead, to hit Artesanal (Anchorena 537) and Lolo Gerard (Anchorena 607). At Artesanal, I was shocked to see that they had a shoe in the window that was 650 pesos! Going in, I browsed a bit and then went upstairs to see their sale shoes. I didn't find anything compelling. As I was heading down to leave, who would I find coming up the stairs but Linda from Idaho! I knew she might be here as she emailed me a few weeks ago telling me this would be viaje numero ocho (I am only on siete), but what a kick that we'd bump into each other at Artesanal on a Saturday afternoon. I met her beau, who is a charmer. After catching up and confirming contact info with a promise to get together at some point while we are both here, I made my way over to Lolo Gerard.

At Lolo Gerard, I found 4 pairs of sale shoes in my size, and bought all 4 (290-360 pesos). I hadn't planned on buying so many, and only had enough pesos for part of the purchase. Thankfully, she accepted US dollars as well (which many stores seem more open to doing this time around as the Argentine peso continues to sink versus the US dollar). Before coming on this trip, I decided to bring only one pair of dance shoes (besides my 2 pairs of dance sneakers for the Intensivo), and the ones I picked were Lolo Gerard. And that got me to thinking that of all the shoes I reach for, the bullet-proof, most reliable, most long-lived ones for me have been Lolo Gerard. So I kind of wondered why I even bother going to any other shoe store when I've found the brand that works for me.

After my purchase, which took all of 5 minutes, I was really exhausted and made my way home. I plugged in the laptop using the new adaptor and was pleased it worked (although plugging it in the first time it kind of sparked, so i did say a little prayer as I plugged in the other part into the computer itself). There I found an email from JSE suggesting she was worried that she hadn't heard from me, which sparked a flurry of emails from my end, apologetic, etc., about my flakey silence. Anyway, we made plans later on that night to dine at Cafe Vinilio.

Cafe Vinilio (Gorriti 3780) is only about 1.5 miles away from where I am staying, and it was reasonably easy to catch a cab. There JSE was already waiting for me. It's a very nice space, with jazz influences all around, and an authentic 1960s hi-fi console with lots of vinyl to choose from. JSE asked the waitress to put on tango, she happily complied since at that early hour of 8:30 p.m., we were the only ones in the place. We both had the beef stew in chocolate sauce, which came with some french-fry like things (I think it was made from a tuber other than the usual potato as it had a slightly sweeter taste and a stringier but firmer texture). We spent much time just being chatty Cathy's and catching up.

JSE must have read my mind because she brought a bunch of tango magazines for me (now isn't that thoughtful?). I think the economy has taken its toll all around, even at the tango-related businesses since it seems some shoe stores, milongas and practicas have either closed or are just not advertising as much.

Domingo, 13 Noviembre 2011

On Sundays, there's not a whole lot to do in BsAs as most of the shops are closed. So I spent the morning writing. Then I ate breakfast, and went grocery shopping. I went to the Coto on Corrientes closest to home, rather than Abasto. It was OK, smaller but well stocked. The rotisseria (prepared food) section was smaller but serviceable enough.

Something weird happened at the checkout, which made me feel a little ookie. Basically, the checkout gal didn't give me all of my groceries, holding back a bag that was filled with my most expensive items. Fortunately, I realized I was a bag short just after leaving the store, so I immediately went back in. She gave me my items straightaway, but I thought it was weird that she knew exactly why I came in and hesitated a little in giving me that bag, which if I recall correctly was not the last bag she packed.

It was just a very weird experience overall, and I was reminded by something someone once said to me about trips to Buenos Aires: It's very easy to be happy and relaxed, because here we are working on something we (supposedly) love (tango), but some event usually happens that mars the vacation from being perfect, whether it is getting ripped off by a cabbie, losing something at the outdoor milonga, being "mischarged" for shoes or other items, or whatever... something almost always happens. Fortunately, I've been pretty lucky overall, since I don't think anything bad has personally happened to me since the first trip and my unfortunate incident as a sole passenger in a shifty driver's cab (where he accused me of giving him fake money and then proceeded to turn several of my 100 peso bills into 10 peso bills because I foolishly let him get his hands on them...).

Lunes, 14 Noviembre 2011
Luciana Valle Intensivo Al Cuadrado Day 1


We began with a 1/2 hour warm-up, dancing 2 songs each with 3-4 different Leader assistants. During the warm-up, we as a group were instructed:

Followers: keep the heels on the floor; slow down; take each step; take the time to take each step.

Leaders: wait for the Follower; wait for the Follower to give feedback in her dancing; be careful of the arms taking the space of the body. Arms should come from the back, Our connection is body to body, and the arms are a continuation of our bodies. Lead the motion from the push of the standing leg.

Our work today focused on:
(1) Ganchos and Leg Wraps
(2) Shared-Axis Turns
(3) Sacadas

We began with Follower's back cross gancho, open step gancho and front cross ganchos from the point of view that the Leader is the center and the Follower is the circle.

For the Leader, the gancho leg is free of weight and there is no axis of the Leader involved. The lead for the gancho is the lead for the turn. Just as the Follower goes, it is an interruption of her step. It is the step that never happens. Follower needs to arrive to axis first, and then move her feet. The gancho comes from the standing leg pushing off, not the free leg. It is the Follower trying to step, but not being able to step.

The Leader goes down with his standing, supporting leg when he asks for the gancho. The Leader's gancho/sacada leg is straight; the standing, supporting leg bends and thus so does the gancho/sacada leg too as the Leader leads/receives the Follower's ganchoing leg, with his weight always on the back foot on axis. With the Leader's leg straight, he can always Lead the Follower to do either a gancho or a sacada.

For these back cross ganchos, the Follower should keep her top with the Leader, but activate the gancho from the bottom. The Leader should keep his chest with the Follower, until the point of the gancho, where he rotates his chest to lead the Follower's gancho. The Follower has to feel no invasion into her space.

It is important for the Follower to have good turn/hiro/molinete technique, as the back cross step is overturned to keep equidistant from the Leader as she goes around the Leader, same as the previous step. She should also activate the standing leg, and not fall after she does the gancho.

We drilled with four options the Leader receiving the Follower's back cross gancho on his inside leg or outside leg, noticing the direction of their hips: away from each other or toward each other.

Follower should not anticipate the gancho or make it wide (have air between her legs). She should just step normally. We do lots of things from the gancho, not just the gancho, but sending it out in a boleo afterwards, for example. Follower should keep foot on the floor, striking it like a match.

Gancho Leader Options:
(1) Gancho only
(2) Let the Follower drive you
(3) Receiving the gancho, then sending it back out.

For option (3), the Follower gets the dynamics of the free leg and her body gets the spiral.

We drilled all these possibilities to improve our gancho technique (both Leaders and Followers). It is important that the Follower leg her left arm/hand slide so that she does not jam the Leader when he tries to lead a gancho on the close side of the embrace. Connection is the Follower's responsibility.

Next we worked on Follower front ganchos of the Leader's front leg. All of these possibilities are with the Follower spiral from the top down.

The lead is like that of a parada, but the Leader moves the axis by stepping around the Follower, and as she comes in, he moves opposite to lead the gancho/leg wrap. The Leader does not lead a pivot, but leads a spiral, going from top down.

We drilled Follower front wraps to the Leader's outside leg (front/forward).

The Leader walking around he Follower is what leads her to spiral from the top down. His contra motion is what leads the Follower to do the wrap (front to front).

In the front-to-front wrap, the Leader changes from being the center of the circle to the Follower being the center of the circle and the Leader walking around her, so the lead is more like for a boleo interrupted, as it starts from the Follower spiral on down. The Leader needs to think circularly and step around the Follower, but don't transfer weight fully, as the lead for the wrap is in the contra energy.

We drilled this on the close and open sides. The open side is more difficult.

The Follower needs to know when she needs to pivot, and when she needs to spiral. She should not dance by memory because the Leader might lead many different things:
(1) barrida
(2) wrap/gancho
(3) sacada

Next, we worked on Front Wraps to the Inside of the Leader's legs (still front-to-front):
Leader left leg receives, Follower left leg ganchos
Leader right leg receives, Follower right leg ganchos

The Leader's timing is important; he should not enter her space too early and lead the wrap, otherwise, the Leader and Follower are fighting for the leg space. Follower needs the time to arrive and spiral.

For the Follower, the gancho is in the "out" motion, not the "in" motion. The "out" motion is led by the Leader's contra energy.

Then we did a quick review of the similarities of the communalities and differences among:
(1) sacadas
(2) ganchos
(3) shared-axis turns

Sacadas & Ganchos: Leader's footwork of reaching with a weightless free leg is the same for both, but his target is different:
Sacada: Follower's free leg
Gancho: Follower's weight leg

Ganchos & Shared-Axis Turns:
Shared-Axis Turn: Leader goes around the Follower with his own body, his whole self (Follower is the center of the circle, while Leader is the circle). Leader is already turning as he goes in.
Gancho: Follower is circle, while Leader is the center of the circle.

We drilled these options, trying to be clear in the lead and maintaining control, with the Leader doing the take (footwork) for a sacada, and then changing the direction to make it a gancho.

Follower: on the close side, she needs to come in at the point of gancho instead of keeping the Leader away. There needs to be distance for the sacada, but not for ganchos.

We drilled the control aspect with the Leader leading a back cross step and then stopping the Follower to change the direction but NOT lead the gancho.

END OF DAY 1

I wanted to go across the street to Don Niceto Parrilla for lunch, but sadly it wasn’t open. Instead, I walked down to Serrano y Niceto Vega to Shwerma King and had one of their Shwermas (+ gaseosa = 19 pesos). It was yummy, and I snarffled it up right quick. With the extra time on my hands, I walked up to Cordoba and went to Dia, a local grocery store. Sadly, that one was disappointing, but i did marvel at how close we were to Villa Malcolm, just across the street.

After class, I made my way over to Negra y Portena (Lavalle 820, #C9), which, thanks to JSE's thoughtfulness at giving me her La Milonga magazine, I was able to see their ad with current address, basically in the heart of the Florida shopping area. Negra y Prortena's shoe selection was small, though they had shoes for men and women. One silver pair caught my eye, and luckily they had my size. So I tried it on and it fit, so I set it aside. Then I asked the shop gal for all the shoes in my size, and she showed them to me. Amazingly, they all felt really good, so I ended up buying all of them (only 3 total). The shoes are normally about 350 pesos each, but since I was buying 3 (in about 3 minutes), I bargained her down to 1,000 pesos. We were both happy with the transaction.

By then I was starved, so I went to the Pizza place on Lavalle right next to Galauno, and had a calzone (18 pesos, and a tad salty) and copa de vino (8 pesos, gigantic: 8-9 ounces). Then I made my way home as I wanted to rest before heading out to El Motivo @ Villa Malcolm that night.

But as usual during these Intensivos, the sprit was willing, but the flesh was weak. So after showering and laying down to rest, I became one with my bed and that was pretty much it. Although feeling guilty, I did type out my notes, with my feet slathered in Ben Gay and toes being stretched out in my pink yoga toes.

Martes, 15 de Noviembre 2011
Luciana Valle Intensivo Al Cuadrado Day 2


We began the day with a review of all of the ganchos/wraps we learned yesterday, with the goals:
Leader: Make a decision from the same place
Follower: With for the real lead from the Leader (do not guess or go on your own)

From the Followers back cross with the options:
(1) gancho
(2) gancho with send out dynamization in the opposite direction
(3) driving the Leader's leg around
(4) change of direction
(5) shared-axis turn
We drilled this with each leg and in both directions

From the Follower's open step:
(1) gancho
(2) sacada
(3) sacada converted to gancho
(4) gancho with send out to other side (dynamicized by walking around Follower)
(5) sacada with change of direction into gancho
(6) shared-axis turn
We drilled this with each leg and in both directions

In the dynamization, the Leader's knee flexes so that he can play with the options in terms of how much energy he gives.

From the Follower's front cross step:
(1) sacada
(2) sacada into gancho
(3) gancho
(4) gancho with send out to other side (dynamicized)
(5) shared-axis turn

For this gancho, the Leader's foot goes in front of the Follower's front cross step as she is moving as a boleo. This gancho happens on the pivot, not on the step, on the way to the front cross, so the movement is like that of a boleo, interrupted.

We drilled this with each leg and in both directions.

The Follower should not guess what the Leader is going to lead. The Follower should keep her top with the Leader and go around the Leader in a molinete/hiro/turn.

We then drilled managing the difference between gancho and shared-axis turns on the Follower's open step by doing ganchos only or shared-axis turns only, or doing ganchos and then converting them into shared-axis turns.

Then we moved on to rebotes/changes of direction, combining the take (tomar) of the sacada plus a change of direction.

First, we reviewed the fundamental techniques of changes of direction:
Leader: receives the back cross of the Follower, changes it into a front cross in the other direction while he does open steps.
Follower: keeps bra line to Leader, even though her hips face elsewhere.
Leader: should be behind Follower's axis (foot placement is key) so he is not in the Follower's way when she changes direction so she can really turn, pivot, and reach for a new place. The Leader does this by overturning the Follower so she can step close to the Leader, towards the Leader.
Follower: Needs to maintain connection in her arms and hands.
Follower: At the overturned back ocho, she should not go down low, but keep knees soft, remaining upright. This is so she has speed on her pivot. If she goes down, it slows down her pivot. She should use the floor, push into it, but not push into her knees. She should not use her knees if it is not necessary. She should push with the foot on the floor to get a deeper pivot. The sensation is more up than down energy, as if emerging, not submerging. She should use the down to up energy, using the floor to give speed to her hips.

With the Leader's open-to-open footwork, the Follower did:
back cross to front cross
front cross to back cross
front cross to back cross to front cross
open to open step
open to open to open step

All of these options should be circular in how the Follower steps, and she should really step around the Leader.

In the Follower open to open step to the Leader's open to open step, the Leader and Follower are doing opposite circles, concentric circles going in opposite directions, which creates linearity.

We specifically worked on the musical timing, with the Leader's footwork being 1-2-4-1, and the Follower's footwork being 1-3-1, so all the beats of the tango rhythm were hit (1-2-3-4-1).

Leader does not do full weight transfers to get to another place as he leads the rebound.
Follower connection is key. What brings her back in the rebound is the Leader's motion. Thus, she has to have ton in the embrace so she can feel the send and the receive. Follower's steps are circular and with torsion. She should not be flat, otherwise she will go out too far and will be too slow in coming back.

We spent a lot of time working on the feeling of elasticity doing an exercise of Leader sending the Follower out to do a big side step with their arms extending away from each other as their bodies move away, and then coming back in to understanding the stretchy, elastic, but connected feelings in the Follower's arms/embrace.

Note that the change of direction is not a rock step with each dancer going in the same direction. The difference is the elasticity in separate directions: the motion is "counter" -- not together at all, going the opposite paths, not the same path at all.

Leaders need to work on separation of:
-torsion
-reach
-transfer of weight

END OF DAY 2

Miercoles, 16 Noviembre 2011
Luciana Valle Intensivo Al Cuadrado Day 3


We worked on the three changes of direction for the Follower:
Front cross to back cross to front cross
Back cross to front cross to back cross
Open step to open step to open step
both on the left side and right side, with different Leader footwork of front cross to open or back cross to open.

Follower needs to take good, long steps around the Leader.

Again, we reviewed the elastic sensation exercise focusing on Follower's arm work and connection and also how much she uses her legs. Follower should face the Leader and not disconnect her arms. The Leader's foot placement next to the Follower's is also a point of connection. We did a lot of work with this exercise to get the feeling of elasticity in the move to make it tasty/juicy (not dry). The Follower does all of the work to give the feeling of elasticity.

From here, we added the Leader's back sacada. Note that the Leader's back sacada leg is unweighted because there is a change of direction immediately following. The Follower needs to have good, open, elastic steps on her front cross and open steps. The Leader needs to have a good setup for his overturned back cross step (back sacada step).

We worked on various Leader footwork options:
(1) open step
(2) front cross
(3) back cross (on the left side only)
(4) back open step (4th sacada)
in the Follower's open step and the Follower's front cross step

Note that for some of these options the Follower does not collect in between her steps. She should also use flex in her knees to give energy to the steps.

We drilled the mechanics and dynamics of Leader back sacadas with his various footwork options on her front and open steps.

One exercise we worked on:
Leader's back cross step to Follower's front cross step, with Leader counterclockwise pivot (down to up) to do a left foot back sacada of the Follower's open step, to an immediate Follower back cross step.

Again, it was reiterated that the Follower go around the Leader in an active way and not fall on her side step.

END OF DAY 3

For lunch, El Italiano and I went across the street to Don Niceto Parrilla (Niceto Vega 5255). It was good and inexpensive. Since he is fluent in Spanish, he had no problem asking questions and specifically ordering whatever would come out fast. I had a choripan con lechuga y tomate. Since the bill was combined I am not sure how much it was. But I think 10-12 pesos. We had a nice time catching up. Lucky for me, he is going to Nueva York after Al Cuadrado, so we will be able to do some homework. It will be really nice to have someone familiar to dance with that the NYC milongas and practicas.

Jueves, 17 Noviembre 2011
Luciana Valle Intensivo Al Cuadrado Day 4


We reviewed the Leader's back sacadas that we did yesterday: to the Follower's trailing foot of her front cross step and to her trailing foot of her back cross step, on both sides and with each foot of the Leader (left and right).

As a reminder, the Follower needs to have good generous steps with energy on her front cross step and open step. We should keep our tops quiet (Zen), as all the movement/energy happens in our legs.

We explored different applications of the same technique.

We focused on the Leader's back sacada into the trailing foot of the Follower's back cross step. The Follower needs to give the Leader time to decide how he wants to do the back sacada, with energy or without, walking around, or into a boleo, etc.

The Leader needs to send the Follower to step, then change his feet to do the back sacada. He should not disconnect his arms from his torso, which would cause the Follower to be behind the Leader. He needs to keep her in front of him.

For the Leader, he needs to be careful with the take and not enter with his heel.

Next, our worked moved to Follower back sacadas.

We defined:
Actor of the sacada: always the center
Receptor of the sacada: always the circle

The Leader has to position the Follower so that she is the actor of the sacada, the center of the circle. The Follower takes an overturned position, led there by the Leader by using the Leader's preparation step:
Leader front cross step simultaneous with the Follower's back cross step, into a fierce Follower pivot clockwise with more rotation and energy in the Leader's chest/torsion. For the Follower's fierce pivot, she should use the floor with down to up energy and not go down with her knees.

The Follower uses the Leader's step around to adjust to accommodate for the position of the sacada. She pivots first (from the floor up) then spirals (from the top down).

The step of the Receptor needs to have a larger radius from the center than where you are coming from.

The Leader needs to use his torso.

Follower: energy of the pivot is strong, but the energy of the back step is quiet and smooth. It's a regular back step, so push off the standing leg and do not fall back.

The Leader needs to make space for the Follower to step back, so his sacadaing leg is unweighted and his body is out of the way.

Follower: Do not absorb the Leader's energy in her right hand. He is using more torsion and energy there, so there needs to be a solid, strong connection (not a loosey goosey one). It's a very dynamic move. She should release the left hand connection at the sacada.

We also worked on Follower back sacada combinations to the trailing foot of the Leader's open step, back cross step, and front cross step. We also worked on the Follower's 4th sacada (the open back sacada).

The Follower does a back cross step, pivots clockwise, to do a right foot back step. Instead of a Leader's front cross step, he does an open step (side step). The Leader needs to go around the Follower and follower her with his body.

We tried a combination of the Follower back cross step, to clockwise pivot, to a right leg back sacada, immediately into a counterclockwise spiral.

We drilled endlessly.

END OF DAY 4

I know y'all are wondering about the prices of Comme Il Faut shoes. I asked one of the Intensivo students, who said she got 4 pairs for 2100 pesos (you can do the math @ 4.3 pesos = US$1, and I think that was the cash price, not credit card). I personally can't be bothered to go to the store since their shoes just don't work for me, and it would require a cab ride a ways away.

Viernes, 18 Noviembre 2011
Luciana Valle Intensivo Al Cuadrado Day 5


We reviewed Follower back sacadas (with left and right leg, going clockwise and counterclockwise), with the Leader receiving them on his open step, his front cross step, and his back cross steps.

We especially drilled the ones with change of embrace adjustments as those were our weakest.

We then focused on the 4th sacada (open back sacada), with a Leader change of direction of the turn, meaning that instead of doing a front cross step, he does an open step (side step) to the opposite direction of where he normally would have gone if he took his front cross step. This Leader side step is still circular around the Follower, but not too close because she does need room to step back in her sacada. We practiced the Follower's 4th sacada with soltada arm work. The Follower's hips get fast if they are light with good connection to what the Leader's chest is doing.

The Follower's forth sacada with soltada option involved pivoting from bottom up, and then spiraling from top down. Since it looked like we weren't great at this, we backed up and just really disassociating doing first pivoting from the ground up, and then spiraling from the top down (which all Followers needed to work on more), directly into pivoting from the ground up.

For the Follower 4th sacada, we drilled the following arm options, led by the leader:
(1) connected
(2) half soltada
(3) full soltada

We continued drilling all the 4th sacada options for both Leader and Follower.

CONTRA BOLEOS - circular
Our focus after lunch was contra boleos, exploring the difference between linear and circular ones.

Maestra chose this topic because it seemed like Followers seem to do either linear or circular boleos depending on which ones they like rather than which ones the Leaders lead. This is incorrect, because the Leader must lead everything.

So our worked focused on cleaning things up so that the Leader is able to lead ever piece of the contra boleo, which is based on his step around the Follower.

The Leader tends to replace all the work in the torso/body/legs by asking for a boleo with his arms. This is the wrong technique (and very poor technique). The Leader should be able to lead contra boleos from the push of his standing leg (and assuming his legs are attached to his body and torso).

Our work focused on circular contra boleos, which start from the Follower's top, spiraling down. It is important that the Follower not compensate with pivoting and doing a linear boleo when the Leader asks for a circular boleo.

For the Leader, in circular boleos he needs to change the front, turning 90 degrees.

END OF DAY 5

Summary Thoughts on Al Cuadrado 2011
Now some of y'all may have wondered why I was in BsAs again, so abruptly, without an advance word to anybody (except JSE) and for such a short amount of time. Part of it is that I haven't had a day off in 5 months and definitely needed it, and another part of it is that my Al Cuadrado 2010 experience was so horrible that I really needed to have a "do over." On Monday I decided to come, and on Thursday I was on a plane.

Al Cuadrado 2010 was not horrible because of anything Luciana or her assistants did. On the contrary, they were all wonderful, as always. But there was an extreme amount of discord going on in the background that made learning impossible. Some people are just needy and narcissistic train wrecks compulsively addicted to creating drama in their own lives and those of others with very destructive consequences. Thankfully and joyfully, none of that noise and horrendous drama ("tawdry tango tale") are part of Al Cuadrado 2011. So this time around I felt happy and light, mentally and physically ready for the intense, rigorous training.

I cannot say enough good things about the Al Cuadrado assistants. They are all superb dancers, and their English continually improves, so their corrections get more accurate and eloquent. Plus they are all so patient, and just very nice people, I could not ask for a better group of people to work the material with. While all of Luciana's assistants are fantastic, the Al Cuadrado ones are the crème de la crème, which somehow escaped me last year.

It struck me many times throughout the week what an amazing teacher of the Leader's side of the equation Maestra is. I heard and understood her more clearly than I ever have. I am not sure if it is because I am happy and relaxed and can absorb it all, or if it's because I tried to focus more on the Leader side of things (even though I don't lead), or if she communicates it better, or if it is because I was not so overwhelmed by her rapid-fire delivery. Funny though, one of the Leader assistants was out ill one day, and so Maestra herself took on the role of assisting with us. Now that was pretty nerve-wracking, dancing with the teacher! She had good pointers for me, as usual, and I feel like such a tool, because there I was, in this program for something like three years, and still getting the same dang corrections as I did the first time around!

San Francisco was well represented, comprising more than half the students.

* * * * *

Madero Tango Dinner Show (240 pesos, plus credit card fee and tip).

JSE and I snagged some tickets, after we made sure Jose was performing. It was a great show, improved from last time with Jose y Selena more prominently featured. They were the dancers for the ribbon segment, which highlighted how amazingly strong (muscular) both dancers are. It was a wonderful way to spend a 4-hour dinner.

Salon Canning Milonga (30 pesos)
Afterwards, we went to Salon Canning because one of JSE's buddies was performing. I had a good time there. I got many dances with portenos, and it was easy to cabaceo them. Interesting, I've gone to Canning many times in the afternoon and would try to cabaceo the portenos, only to be asked to dance by the many international folks there. So there must be something about a Friday night that makes portenos more open to dancing with international folks (at least more so than the afternoon portenos at Canning.

La Viruta Milonga (free because it was 3:00 a.m.)
Afterwards, we walked over to La Viruta, and because of the late hour (3:00 a.m.) entry was free. I had some good dances with several portenos and several international folks. JSE said I was lucky to get asked since I am not a regular there. We stayed until the very end.

Super delicious panaderia/confiteria with secret door (closed because it was 6:00 a.m.)
Afterwards, as the sun was rising, JSE brought me to a lovely little panaderia/confiteria that looked closed, but which had a secret side door. She rang the bell, and it was opened pretty quickly, after which she ordered some facturas con dulce de leche y medialunas con jam. He appeared later with her order, all wrapped up. We opened the package right there on the doorstep of the shop, sat down and gingerly snarffled them all up, taking care to not get too covered with the ample powdered sugar. I normally do not eat facturas (it's the whole white flour/white sugar thing), but I did have one with dulce de leche, and it was delicious, still slightly warm from the oven. So there we sat, happily eating facturas y medialunas, on a quiet Saturday morning on a Buenos Aires street.

Sabado, 19 Noviembre 2011
After getting 3 hours of deep sleep (it's amazing how total exhaustion can be an effective cure for insomnia), I headed out for my last shopping day before I left. Earlier in the week I had mapped out my strategy of which shoe stores I wanted to go to, and they all had to be open on Saturday morning/afternoon (which many aren't).

La Vikinga (Entre Rios 469, 2*)
Owned by Helen, a Viking who speaks fluent English. She has women's and men's shoes, and most women's shoes were 450 pesos. I really liked the foam cushioning, and the fit was on the average/medium side of the equation (i.e., not narrow). In her shoes I am a 35 (usually I am 36 or 35 everywhere else). I found her shoes very comfortable, nicely but sensibly designed, and well made. I would have purchased a pair had she had a specific style I had my eye on in my size. Unfortunately, she didn't. She said she could do custom orders in about a week. This is a good place to shop for those with average or wide feet and who would be more comfortable doing the transaction in English. I will definitely stop by on a future trip. There is no signage on the building, so it's important to know the address. She also gives classes at her shop.

Raquel (Bolivar 554)
Very beautiful, very well made, but very expensive (590-690 pesos) shoes. Sizing was very inconsistent, but generally ran on the narrow side. I tried on about 10 pairs of shoes in 35 and 36, and I found the 35s to be narrow (although one fit perfectly and I was sorely tempted to get it but the 590 peso price tag stopped me), and in all the 36s I slid forward. The shopping experience is reminiscent of Comme Il Faut, their obvious direct competitor.

VB (Independencia 389)
These are the same folks who used to make Tango Brujo shoes. Very nice cushioning, interesting styles, 100% flexible all chromo soles. This style of shoe is not my cup of tea, but I know lots of folks loved Tango Brujo shoes. Their shoes are similar to Alanis's in terms of feel and how they perform. Viviana, the shop owner, was incredibly nice. She loaded me down with very useful literature on San Telmo and Buenos Aires, which I appreciated. Pricing was also very clearly marked: Women's shoes were 400 pesos/470 credit card/US$95/70 euro, and men's shoes were slightly more than that.

Delie (Piedras 843)
The store is closed on Saturday.

Naranjo en Flor (Anchorena 430).
The shoe selection was smaller than last time, and relegated to the back of the store. It seems the focus of the store is now more on clothes. The window signs said sale shoes were 250/300/350, but in reality, most were up to 390 pesos, and they looked like everyone and their cousin had already tried them on. Most of the non-sale shoes were 550 pesos, with one interesting model 600 pesos.

Lolo Gerard (Anchorenta 607).
A trip usually begins here and ends here, and this one was no different. I managed to pick up one more of their sale shoes for 360 pesos. The regular-priced shoes were around 490 pesos.

At all of these shoe stores, it is wise to ask about a cash price versus credit card price since they can be different by a large amount.

After that, the lack of sleep from the night prior and the heat was starting to get to me (it was in the upper 80s), so I booked it home. Then crashed for a few hours, waking up with terrible allergies. Then it started to storm heavily, so I stayed in, looking through the pamphlets Viviana gave me. Interestingly, an art/design brochure on San Telmo featured a shoe store called LiberTango, which I had not heard of before or seen any ads for. A quick google turned up Judy's posting that the store was open on Sundays (from 10:00 a.m.)! -- a true rarity among tango shoe stores in Buenos Aires. Since it was right by the Plaza Dorrego, it made perfect sense to swing by on my last day in Buenos Aires.

Domingo, 20 Noviembre 2011

I got up, ate breakfast and made my way over to the Plaza Dorrego. When I got to the place where LiberTango was (Bolivia 1111), it was obviously closed. So I spent a while walking around the Plaza Dorrego antiques open air market, admiring all the silver wares and vintage (or vintage looking) jewelry. As it neared 1:00 p.m., I decided to go as I wanted to get to the Abasto Coto for a foot massage. So I passed by LiberTango again, and it was still closed. So that was disappointing, but understandable since the clientele for the antiques open air market isn't exactly the same one as for tango shoes. Still, they are a new store, opened just last year, and it seems like the store hours are still very flexible.`

Maossage at the Abasto Coto (Aguero 616). I got a 45-minute foot massage that was divine (85 pesos + 10 peso tip). My feet didn't seem as battered, ripped, and stiff as last time, which is amazing considering the rigors of the 20-hours of training on Chalmer's cement floor.

After that, I made my way home, stopping at La Catalana Panaderia y Confiteria (Corrientes 5466) to pick up a milanesa sandwich, chock full of lettuce just the way I like, and a bunch of facturas and medialunas. For my hostess and her daughter, I picked up a batch of mini alfajores. Total cost of all the goodies was a mere 45 pesos.

Checking my email at home, LiberTango responded to my email from the night before and confirmed they were open on Sunday, but from 1:30 p.m.! D'oh!!! Next time...

After a quick shower and eating the last of my food in the fridge, Dante (http://www.dantesairporttransfers.com/) picked me up promptly as usual (actually, he is always 5 minutes early, but I know that and expect it). It was very nice catching up with him, and he says "Hello!" to all of his SF Bay Area clients. The drive to Eziza was easy on a Sunday night, as it always is, and I had ample time to cool my heels and burn my keyboard at the airport.

Random comments about this trip:

So what happened to all those privates I was going to book with Chino? Conejita had him booked solid the entire time I was there, so that nixed my plans. Oh well...next time...

Why didn’t I go to more milongas? I wanted to save myself for the Intensivo. I know, boring, huh? I wanted to give my best to every dance I danced with the assistants, as they are professionals in Buenos Aires, so in short, the best dancers in the world: way better than any professionals in any place other than Buenos Aires (that includes all the places with reputations of having very highly skilled dancers; you can fill in the blank on that one).

What was I drinking? Bonardo wines. A varietal you haven't heard of, you say? Me, neither. Which is why I picked up a bottle. And then another.

I get a lot of questions about Buenos Aires, where to stay, etc. And after seven trips, my answer is this:
If you are coming here for an Intensivo or Festival, stay in the neighborhood where it is at. Those coming for CITA 2012 should stay in San Telmo, preferably at the Dandi or close to it. Those coming for LV Intensivos should stay in Palermo, either near Malcolm or Chalmers. After a full day of tango training, it really is physically exhausting just getting around, hoofing it on the concrete/granite floors, or taking a cab in traffic. Really, do yourself a favor and stay in the neighborhood where the festival/intensivo is. Staying anywhere else is a huge time and energy suck. Second option is to stay somewhere along the red (B) subte line.

Where is the best place for steak? "They" all say Don Julio (Guatemala 4699) or La Cabrera (JA Cabrera 5099). I haven't been to either as, to me, all steak in Buenos Aires tastes pretty dang good, head and shoulders above the agribusiness meat that most of us eat in the US.

Where to get the best shoes? That's a tricky one. It's whichever one fits your foot best. Which means it's a trial and error thing. To optimize your time here, many shoe places are located either on Suipacha 200-400 or Anchorena (near the Abasto mall). Visit both streets and you can probably hit a dozen shoe stores in a short amount of time to get an idea of style, price, fit, etc. I recommend you start from there to get a general idea of things and then visit the other more out-of-the-way places (like Comme Il Faut, where the only other shoe store close by is Taconeando...so maybe visit Taconeando first...?)




Here are some items that I would include in my Buenos Aires survival kit for those coming for festivals (like CITA) or Luciana Valle's Intensivos:
Ben Gay or blue ice or both
Yoga Toes (this goes for men and women)
Ibuprofen or your pain killer of choice
Band-Aids
Water bottle
Electrolyte powder
Dance sneakers with suede soles (suede soles are key, and not just on the ball of foot like some Sansha models have, but on the entire sole)
socks to wear with your dance sneakers
2 ATM cards (in case one is a fail, and do notify both banks so they can put a travel alert on your card, don't have more than several thousand dollars in each account)
2 credit cards (in case one is a fail, and do notify both banks so they can put a travel alert on your card)
Laptop is optional. I personally love having mine with me as it can be kind of a pain trying to find a locutorio with a non-ancient computer open whenever you want to check your email. On the other hand, you have to be sure where you are staying is secure (if I were staying at a hostel, I wouldn't bring my laptop), and several (not just one) of my friends have had their laptops stolen while in Buenos Aires. So beware.
If this is your first trip, fill only one suitcase with all your clothes, toiletries, etc. Pack it into the other one, which will be effectively empty. You will fill it with all the shoes, CDs, and clothes you buy here. Pack fewer clothes than you think you will need. You can always have your clothes washed here, cheaply and same-day or next-day service.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

November 3-9

Saturday, November 5, 2011
Mariela Franganillo’s La Práctica @ Dance Manhattan

I got there a little late, but so did everyone else. It must have been one of those days. I only danced with two people, but that was OK since one was a truly amazing tanda, and the other one was with a beginner who has only been dancing a year, but who I think has excellent potential. I chatted away with this budding tanguero about his tango development, and it was striking that there are vast differences in how Leaders and how Followers learn to tango.

Maestra stopped the practica twice to do her 5-10 minute thing (she does not call it a “mini lesson”, she calls it exposing us to “ideas that we can work on”). The first time she stopped the practica, it was early on and just for a 5-minute review of last week’s idea (which few people seemed to remember).

Maestra is an excellent teacher of the Leader’s part, but since this is an intermediate/advanced practica, and she only dedicates 10 minutes to the idea, it is taught at a very brisk pace in a typical heavily BsAs style where she demonstrates it, and the students are expected to do it (although she does verbally walk us through it in more detail than the typical BsAs teacher). And they are fun, fluid, interesting steps that I haven’t seen before. The 10 minutes she dedicates to the idea are extremely challenging, even to my learning abilities and I have to make a real concerted effort to put to words what I see. Her 10-minute ideas for us to work on really stretch us all as students, no matter what our learning abilities. It takes all of my concentration to get the step she is teaching.

For the main 10-minute idea, I wanted to really focus on the Leader’s part since I realize that most of the value of my H&C work is how well I can convey the Lead (which is a challenge for me since I am a Follower). And actually, for this particular step, it worked (I was able to verbalize accurately what she did), but I was so focused on the Leader’s part that when someone pulled me up to practice it during the 10 minutes, I totally blew the Follower’s part. So basically, I got the Leader’s footwork down, but not the torso lead, and I couldn’t compensate for it because I wasn’t focused on what the Follower was doing, or what the Leader’s chest was doing.

After the practica, I made my way over to Boqueria again. Gosh, I really love this place. I took a seat perched at the bar, and ordered two of the special tapas dishes and a glass of wine. Soon afterwards, a few people from practicalonga came in, one couple for just drinks, and the other for some nibblies, too. The couple who came in for nibblies sat next to me, and we had a blast chatting away about his wife (the couple was a married man and a friend of his wife’s who is a great wing woman/c*** b****** [who laughed when I christened her with the moniker]), tango royalty and tango rogues (some of whom are one and the same person), and various milongas in NY and NJ, where they are from.

They asked what my evening plans were, and I told them I was heading over to Triangulo for the afternoon/early evening milonga, just a couple of blocks away. Since they are at the early stages of tango addiction, they were up for it and decided to join me, all the while trying to get me to go to the NJ milonga that night, hosted by Angeles Chanaha and Michael Nadtochi. (I bumped into Michael several years ago in BsAs at NeoTango, not knowing who he was, but knowing he was somebody by the way he moved with such natural elegance and ease. After chatting with me, he gave me a business card, which made my eyes grow wide. I’ve never met Angeles, but always though she was incredibly beautiful). Despite their persuasive efforts, I declined since I wasn’t in the mental frame of mind to go all the way to NJ, but I promised I’d go next month.

My meal at Boqueria was delicious. I even had dessert, which I usually don’t, and it was A-MA-ZING. I told my dining companions that had we come at any other time (instead of the culinarily whacky slot of 2-4 p.m.), the place would be packed and we’d have a long wait to get seated (the bartender confirmed this). This will probably be my usual stop after Mariela’s since the food is sublime (yet reasonably priced).

The Afternoon Milonga @ Triangulo was fun. I danced with several new people, all excellent dancers. There was one Leader who had such an extraordinarily sweet, sensitive and gentle but clearly articulate musicality, that I just HAD to dance with him. Fortunately, he must have picked up on my vibes without my having to resort to a forceful, insistent, laser-beam cabaceo (did I mention he was sensitive?), because he asked me to dance (woo hoo!). The dance was very nice. I’ve never encountered such a sweet way of hearing the music through a Leader’s interpretation. It was a real treat. It would be really interesting to dance with him again, especially for a D’Arienzo, Biagi, or Pugliese(!) tanda for a total musical head trip. :o)

I decided to go after that since I was very tired and seemed to hit a brick wall energywise.

SO WHAT AM I EXCITED ABOUT?

My spur-of-the-moment trip to see JSE, where I will pack in as many privates with Chino as possible (now there I’ve done it. I bet she is going to hold me to it if she’s read this far, which she probably has). :o)

Thursday, November 3, 2011

October 27-November 2

The Providence Tango Tricks and Treats Weekend with Homer & Cristina Ladas:

Friday, October 28, 2011
"Something Scary Spins This Way"I (Int)

For class notes and video, go to www.tangostudent.blogspot.com

The drive to Providence was much easier and smoother than the drive to Northampton the week before, so I managed to make it to the place where I was staying right on time.

Thanks to airbnb.com, I snagged a room (in the home built by the Gorham Silver Company president back in the day) for a very modest sum, with just a week’s notice. Located in downtown off the main street and now nestled among very modest track homes, it served as an ideal location. On-site parking was provided, which is important in Providence since you get ticketed when parked on the street after midnight.

The home, in short, was love at first sight. It has a wonderful presence, patina and proportion (though slightly out of context for the current surrounding neighborhood). It reminded me of my former home in San Francisco, though mine was far more modest and 50 years younger. Still, there is something about homes with creaky old bones that I find extremely charming and comforting. It just really resonates with me and makes me feel as though I have arrived *home*.

The owner of this Victorian mini-manse is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, has a wonderful eye and sensitivity toward furnishing and remodeling it with period-appropriate details with a few dashes of spunk to keep things lively and interesting. And what a treat to be shown to my room with a welcoming afternoon snack laid out (cookies, sliced seedless orange, poppy seed cake, carafe of whiskey with period shot glass, Perrier, ice bucket filled with ice).

Though the bathroom was shared, I never noticed anyone else’s presence, and there was also a small kitchen area with minifridge, coffee pot, microwave and sink, which was perfect since I prefer to take my meals at home if I can while on the road.

The room itself is clean, slightly on the feminine side as it is sweetly decorated (but not overly so), and the bed extremely comfortable. And though the house is quite old, modern technological amenities were provided: wifi, cable TV with remote control, Bose sound system. It was the kind of room where I could stay for a very long time and be extremely happy, extremely alone.

In the morning I was greeted with the smell of freshly brewed coffee, and there it was all prepared for me, seemingly by an invisible elf who knew exactly when I woke up to have it at the perfect temperature and state of readiness to be consumed. Sadly, since I don’t drink coffee, it went untouched. Still, I was floored that the effort was made.

Going downstairs for breakfast, I separated the very heavy Eastlake pocket doors to the Morris-papered dining room, where I found the Federal dining table already formally set for just me, with a small jug of cranberry juice, French pressed coffee, butter, toasted bagel underneath a cozy, softened cream cheese, and a bowl of sliced fresh honeydew melon and strawberries. It was cold that morning with snow in the forecast, but a fire in the wood stove was already at full blaze, making things cozy and bathed in a warm amber glow.

Having a fetish for all things tabletop, I could not resist turning over the plates. Needless to say, I was extremely impressed by the Limoges and Rosenthal pedigrees I saw, which complemented the Community silver flatware perfectly. It was just one of the many, many lovely meticulous details that made my stay here so wonderful.

It was one of those magical experiences where if you could write your own story about how you wanted to live and the kind of environment where you wanted to live, and actually do it, well, for me, this would come very close. That’s the thing about people in design: they are masterful at creating vignettes for people to actually live in, albeit sometimes just temporarily.


And what, exactly did all that have to do with tango? Well, not a whole heck of a lot, actually. But it was a wonderful, beautiful refuge, sanctuary that I called home for the weekend.

* * *

The Friday night milonga was fun. The food was all provided via community potluck, so it had a wonderful family feeling to it. The food was very gluten-free/vegan/vegetarian oriented, so it was an extremely progressive crowded. The water was filtered, and mate, along with gourd cups and metal straws, as well as an assortment of coffees, teas, and hot chocolate were provided.

Saturday, October 29, 2011
"The Art of Surprise - Part I" (Int)
"The Art of Surprise - Part II" (Int/Adv)

For class notes and video, go to www.tangostudent.blogspot.com

All during the workshops food was provided: breads and quick breads (pumpkin, banana with and without chocolate chips), along with spreads (peanut butter, nutella, almond butter), chocolate-dipped anisette biscotti, chips and cheese cubes, and my personal favorite: hard-boiled eggs.

The workshops were excellent, as usual. But afterwards, I decided to go back to the house since it was a few hours before the milonga.

After resting for a bit, I made the way back to the facility for the milonga later on that night, driving in snowy weather. On the way over, I thought I was truly out of my mind. But when I got there, it was kismet that I snagged the last spot in the parking lot, trudging gingerly through the snow in flip-flips.

The food provided at this milonga was mostly made by Ellen, although some folks provided potluck items, and it was all divine. Lots of salads (loved the green bean with wild rice one—so New England!), and quite a few quick breads (pumpkin, banana with and without chocolate chips). Someone even made whoopie pies, which of course were a hit!

Sunday, October 30, 2011
"Cool Tricks and Traps for the Social Dance Floor - Parts I" (Advanced)
"Cool Tricks and Traps for the Social Dance Floor - Parts II" (Master)

For class notes and video, go to www.tangostudent.blogspot.com

Again, before and during the workshop, ample food was provided, more breakfast-oriented in nature with toast and a toaster appearing, along with items similar to yesterday.

I did not stay for the practica after the workshops as I wanted to get home to catch up on chores that went undone while I was on the road the last two weekends.

SO WHAT AM I EXCITED ABOUT?
Dancing in NYC this weekend.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

October 21-26

Friday, October 21, 2011
Homer & Cristina Ladas Workshops in Northampton, MA: The Tango Body
The Feet (All Levels)

Class notes and linked videos can be found at www.tangostudent.blogspot.com

The drive from Connecticut to Northampton took slightly less than 3 hours, but I managed to get there an hour before the lesson, which took place at Thornes Marketplace mall. This mall is an excellent one, with lots of artsy, artisanal, crunchy and funky purveyors of lots of fun things, needed or not. And it was fortuitous that left-click (http://www.left-click.us/) was there, so I could pop to quickly check my email on one of their Macs, since I am still one of the last Luddites on the planet with a dumbphone.

The lesson was very well attended. The workshops were structured such that participants needed to register with a partner, although for this one all-levels class, we rotated.

Jackie, the organizer, did a superb job. I’ve been to plenty of tango events near and far, and none of them come close to how organized and thoughtful these were. It was also very clear that this was a highly trained group in that after our drills, every leader returned to their exact same spot on the dance floor, follower in tow, so that the rotation went very smoothly, with no skipping or cutting (of course this was such a tight-knit, highly skilled community, I didn’t sense any exclusionary behavior).

When the class got a bit noisy, many students in unison did the DNI clap to get us all in line again. I’ve only taken a few classes at DNI in BsAs, but don’t remember the clap. The organizer told me that that is what it was and where she got it, and how it was very effective at the DNI lessons also. So what does the DNI clap sound like? Well, it sounds like “Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits” with one person starting with clapping the “Shave and a Haircut” part, and everyone else responding with clapping the “Two Bits”.

The food provided during the lesson and practica was green and red grapes, apples, bananas, trail mix with M&M’s, and right in front of the door as you entered the ballroom were mints (individually wrapped Life Savers) and chocolates (mini Reese’s PB cups, Hershey’s kisses, York Peppermint Patties). Even the water, in a large spouted cooler, was nicely flavored with fresh lemon slices.

I also got the impression that this was an extremely intellectual, studious group, as many of the students had seen the tangostudent notes, and during the Q&A period concluding the lesson, they answered enthusiastically and correctly. And many folks came up after class and thanked me for my efforts, that night and in the past. So that was nice.

The practica afterwards was fun. The dance level here is surprisingly high, very high as a group overall. The community seems very tight-knit. I had a blast, as I had several tandas with some truly amazing dancers, current and future.

I also got to meet my host couple who I would be staying with: a very nice, loving couple (married 30+ years to each other!), who kindly opened their home to me as I was a total flake and way behind the 8 ball in terms of getting rooming accommodations in advance. Who’d have thought that getting an inexpensive hotel/motel room in Northampton would require a fair bit of advance planning. Totally my bad, but Jackie the organizer came to the rescue and connected me with this wonderful couple.

Saturday, October 22, 2011
Workshop 1 – Int/Adv – The Legs
Workshop 2 – Int/Adv – The Hips
Premilonga Class on Floor Craft, Navigation and Etiquette

Class notes and linked videos can be found at www.tangostudent.blogspot.com

It was a very full workshop, and I was extremely lucky in that the organizer partnered me up with a very skilled dancer from Ithaca, NY. So I had an excellent time working the class material with him.

Again, the organizer provided ample healthy snacks and water available the entire day, so no one bonked or starved.

The costume milonga at night was fun. Most people did an excellent job of getting dressed up/made up for the event. I missed the boat on that one, which was kind of a bummer since I like dressing up for Halloween. I didn’t dance a huge number of tandas, but the ones that I did were great.

Sunday, October 23, 2011
Workshop 3 – Int/Adv – The Upper Body
Workshop 4 – Int/Adv – The Embrace

Class notes and linked videos can be found at www.tangostudent.blogspot.com

I had a different workshop partner for this day, but again, he was excellent, one of Northampton’s finest, in my opinion. And again, these workshops were also packed. Like yesterday, people came from all over, some from several states away or the other side of the country. I was pretty amazed by that.

Overall, I had an excellent time at these workshops. Jackie the organizer did a superb job all around, making the experience fun and extremely welcoming. It is a wonderful community they have in Northampton, and the dance level as a community among the highest I’ve ever experienced. Though I only came to Northampton by chance since Homer and Cristina were teaching there, I will certainly be back again to take in some more workshops taught by others or just to dance at the milongas. Northampton was just the shot in my tango arm that I needed to get reinspired and enthusiastic.

The practica afterwards was fun, with pizza for all. I stayed a little while, but left early enough to go to the Yale Practica. Not sure why there would be a traffic jam on a Sunday night at 8:00 p.m., but 95 being what it is…well, there it was.

Yale Practica in New Haven, CT (Free Event)
When I finally got to the Practica place, I was glad there was easy parking. The facility itself tricky to find, as it’s down a long walkway between two buildings. The “doorbell” is a real bell attached to a cord hung from an open window. I rang it gently, and was soon let in. The building is a charming old-world building with patina and presence. I got to the Practica pretty soon after it began, so there were just a handful of people, and more Followers than Leaders. I put on my stiletto tango shoes, much to the protest of my aching feet (I thought I actually heard them scream). Soon a steady trickle of people came in, so that it became reasonably full. Still, there were more Followers than Leaders, and perhaps two or three Leaders that I would have liked to dance with. So after only getting one tanda with a beginner in the hour or so I was there, I left, as I still had another hour’s drive home and my body and brain were starting to feel the effects of the full weekend.

SO WHAT AM I EXCITED ABOUT?
On the road with H&C:
Halloween weekend, Providence, RI, with totally fun costume-themed milongas to get us all in touch with our inner drag queens (or kings).
Be

Thursday, October 20, 2011

October 14-20

Friday, October 15, 2011
Homer & Cristina Ladas premilonga lesson at Dancesport

Class notes and linked videos can be found at www.tangostudent.blogspot.com

Getting there to the dance studio early enough for the lesson, it was surprising that there were lessons still happening in the other ballrooms. Still, it was great to see the lesson so well attended, especially by some folks who came from a state or two or three away.

The milonga was fun. I had a chance to dance with some students who took the lesson, as well as several new people.

Maestros did a nice performance, which left the milonga goers wanting to see more.

Saturday, October 15, 2011
Weekend Theme: "The Body-Spiral and Body-Axis with Homer & Cristina"
Saturday Theme: "Exploring the Body-Spiral"
SAT 2.30pm: The Overturned Gancho/Sacada Experience Made Easy (Intermediate "Foundation" Class)
SAT 4.30pm: The Overturned Gancho/Sacada Odyssey (Advanced "Exploration" Class)

Class notes and linked videos can be found at www.tangostudent.blogspot.com

I had a good time, although it was a little tough to work on the class concepts since the floor (spanked-down Pergo) was a bit sticky. I had to take off my shoes early on and just work the material in socks. Others soon did the same. Some of the impromptu class assistants were amazing tango royalty (the folks with their own videos, or who are invited to DJ/perform at festivals all over the country). It was downright humbling.

Nocturne Milonga @ Dancesport, with premilonga lesson taught by Homer & Cristina Ladas.
Class notes and linked videos can be found at www.tangostudent.blogspot.com

This was an extremely well-attended lesson with nearly twice as many Leaders as Followers. Still, I think most everyone had a good time.

Funnily, as I was warming up with a local tanguero buddy, who didn’t know of my note-taking online identity, he started chatting away. He had wondered whether or not he knew the teachers or had taken lessons with them. But when he saw Maestros, he commented about how they are real U.S. tango royalty and how they were really good at leveraging the Internet and how they must have a marketing team employed on to promote them. I just let my buddy talk and talk and talk while I smiled silently. Of course after Homer introduced me and touted the blog so that the students could refer to the notes, my buddy and I got back together in the rotation and we laughed about how he was going on and on and I just smiled and said nothing. He took it all in good stride.

The milonga was crazy-super crowded, and I ended up spending a good bit of time in the back, less-crowded room, just perched on the overstuffed arm chair with my legs curled up underneath me. I was happy just watching the dancers, as I was dog tired from a very full day.

Maestros did a fantastic demo that left the audience wanting more.
Videos can be seen at Luis’s YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/lafabricadeljazz#p/u/3/K9hcUuTeHFo

Sunday, October 16, 2011
Sunday Theme: "Use of The Body-Axis"
SUN 2.30pm: Building One Social Dance Step-Over Colgada (Intermediate "Foundation" Class)
SUN 4.30pm: Exploring Stylistic and Functional Use of Colgadas (Advanced "Exploration" Class)

Class notes and linked videos can be found at www.tangostudent.blogspot.com

The workshops were great, with many of students from the day prior in attendance, as well as lots of folks I had never seen before. Tine Herreman, the organizer, did a wonderful job trying to make the workshop experience as fun, productive, and fulfilling as possible by calling in some local tangueros/tangueras (who could all both lead and follow) to work the material with the workshop students.

Having the half-hour practica during the break, which Maestros generously supervised, was a real bonus.

After all our work was done, I was too pooped to go to Roko, though lots of the workshop students went.

SO WHAT AM I EXCITED ABOUT?
On the road with H&C:
This weekend, Northampton, MA, with interesting new content.
Halloween weekend, Providence, RI, with totally fun costume-themed milongas to get us all in touch with our inner drag queens (or kings).
Be there or be square.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

October 7-13

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Mariella Franganillo’s La Practica at Dance Manhattan.
I got there right when the practica started as I had such a great time last week that I wanted to pack in as much dancing as possible in the 3-hour event. This practica was not as full, but that was fine with me. After I put my shoes on, someone new asked me to dance. He was a very good dancer, and after that, I was able to dance with several other new people, also very good dancers. So I was very happy and the practica got off to a great start for me.

Then one Leader I cabaceo’d for weeks but gave up on surprisingly came over and asked me to dance. Needless to say, I was floored and thrilled. He was great, as I thought he would be. In watching him dance, I could glimpse suggestions of his skill, but he often danced with lesser-skilled Followers, so I wasn’t certain of how well he could dance. Anyway, it was a great dance, and afterwards he told me I was a good dancer and that he really enjoyed the tanda. So that made me happy (dare I say triumphant?!).

The blind leader was there, and we chatted a bit. He asked me how the Oliver Kolker workshop was, and I told him fantastic, of course. Then I told him about my dilemma of whether I should take a private, even though it wouldn’t be because I actually want my dance to improve, but because I know I’d get an amazing one-hour dance massage (he laughed at that description). He said I should go ahead and do it since Maestro would probably be happy to have another private student, and if I had the money to do it, it’s good for the economy (and Maestro’s finances specifically). He saw it as strictly an economic event: Maestro is supplying something and I could afford to do it. He said it doesn’t matter what my motives are or how pure my heart/dance intentions are. It’s just good business.

The rest of the practica flew by, and I danced nearly every tanda. People were friendly and relaxed. It is a great event, much better than a lot of evening milongas. I danced so much my feet were sore afterwards, which honestly hasn’t happened in a while.

After the practica, as I walked to the subway station, I passed a restaurant (Boqueria, 53 W19th St., boquerianyc.com) with hanging jamon in the window, just like in Spain, and I could not resist the aromas wafting from the restaurant within. Looking in the window, I saw a sign “Michelin recommended”, and my curiosity got the better of me so I stopped in for a late brunch.

Since it was a weird hour to be eating (2:15 p.m.) I was able to be seated easily. I chose to sit at the bar so I could watch the charcuterie guy cut all the tasty salumis, gourmet cheeses, and artisanal breads. I ordered the Bocato Boqueria ($12), an egg sandwich with the soft scrambled eggs cooked with Spanish chorizo and mushrooms, which came on a thick slice of airy, crusty bread, with a side of salad and elegant, thin fries, flavored with pimienta, I believe. It was delicious, and I had it all washed down with a nice glass of wine (the wines by the glass were $10-15 each). I will certainly be back, but I think a more fun experience would be to share several tapas dishes.

There was a store I wanted to go to after that, but it was closed for Yom Kippur.

After my rest at home, I made the hour-long drive to New Haven. The C.A.T.S. (Connecticut Argentine Tango Society) was having its 10th Anniversary milonga, moved from the prior weekend so that it could coincide with the Fernanda Ghi and Guillermo Merlo weekend workshops. I thought about going to the workshops too, as I have always enjoyed Maestros’ workshops when I took them at Fandango de Tango, but as a single follower I didn’t want to show up and possibly be left standing a lot without a partner, even though the organizer assured me that she and a number of her female students who also lead could step in to fix any gender imbalance.

I arrived on the early side to the Whitney Arts Center, which is a nice old historical building with lovely hardwood floor. Upon paying my entrance, I chatted a little with the organizer since she was happy I was new to the state so she added me to her mailing list. Since this was their 10-year anniversary, they also gave me (as well as all the guests) a 22-song CD, which I thought was a very nice, festive touch.

During the milonga, a couple of leaders were kind enough to give me a whirl early on. Afterwards, I decided to check out the rest of the space. In a separate adjoining room, the food was laid out. On a low table at the front of the room was a nice box of pepperoni and sausage pizza (maybe that was for the set-up crew as it looked a few hours old, just the way I like :o) so I helped myself to a slice), while the main table had an assortment of cheeses and crackers, olive spread, water, sodas, a plate of M&Ms and pirouettes, and a bowl of crinkle-cut potato chips.

The other room had the masseuse and his chair, and clothing set out for purchase. I was impressed with how beautiful and well made the clothing was, and the designer was there herself, Eloise de Gardel (also a fantastic dancer). There was a super-bargain table of clothes $10, $20, or $30, while the racks of dresses were around $100. I am no clothing shopaholic, but her designs were compelling enough for me to try on several frocks (that is really saying something). Interestingly, it was mentioned later on that all profits from clothing sales go to the designer’s efforts to build a school in Colombia, where she is from.

After that, I made my way back to the milonga, but sat out the rest of the time. That was OK though as my feet were still a little sore from the afternoon and there was no one I had a burning desire to dance with, and it was great fun just watching the group. There was a joyful exuberance and a relaxed happiness on the pista, and it seemed like the community just really likes each other. It was kind of weird in a good way. One couple danced Canyengue, so obviously there are some extremely serious, deep tango students in the midst. Several followers, including the organizer and her volunteers, were indeed strong leaders. And still other leaders were among the most creative I had ever seen (not in a technically perfect way, but in a fun musical way).

Before the performance, the organizer said some words of thanks to her volunteers an the community, along with a little history of tango in the New Haven area (basically, she started it, along with lots of help along the way from her volunteers, who are all women, and Fernanda and Guillermo, who now reside in Boston), which ended with a birthday-like dance of the organizer and core group of volunteers, followed by the October babies birthday dance.

Finally after that, Fernanda and Guillermo did a 3-song performance (one of their performance rain coat tango, a tango, and a milonga), which was fantastic. Afterwards, Fernanda spoke about what a nice, growing community it was. After that, they did a mixer dance starting with the core folks who were around 10 years ago, who would dance a while, and then each partner would go get new partners, etc., until everyone was dancing on the dance floor (a la Clay Nelson’s festivals).

Then the milonga started up again, although as usual everyone rushed out to get some refreshments. Foodwise, a huge bowl of fruit salad was whisked in a little earlier, and after the announcements and fantastic performance, three cakes to celebrate the decade of milongas were brought out: a Costco chocolate cake, a grocery store cheesecake, and a humongous (4-5 inches tall, 15-18 inch diameter), divine chocolate mouse hazelnut cake made by a local artisanal bakery. I normally don’t eat much more than a forkful or two of any cake, but this one was so good that I ate the whole slice, it was THAT delicious. I am sure it cost a pretty penny, too.

After I had my fill, I made the drive back home, listening to the party-favor CD part of the way. I found it to be very good, having lots of songs I don’t have in my collection.

Sunday, October 9, 2011
RoKo Milonga at Manhattan Ballroom Dance with lesson beforehand by Cesar Velasquez and Jenny Nolan.
Of course, since Maestra was teaching, I had to go. The focus of our class was turns, and we began with a warm-up dance. Then we did an exercise to work on the technique of the turn, specifically, the Leader’s torsion and how he produces circular energy from his chest/scapula/shoulder blades so that the Follower does the back cross step, side step, and forward cross step footwork. The goal for the Follower was to be more sensitive so she could stop. The goal for the Leader was to transfer the energy in his arms, from his right to his left, and his left to his right, as the Follower went from one side of him to the other during the cross. He could also experiment with leading her to do a back cross step first or forward cross step first, depending on how much he rotated his upper body and allowed space for the Follower to move.

Then we moved on to the simple sequence:
Follower’s part:
Right side step
Left back step
Right side step
Left foot front cross (forward ocho) step
Right foot front cross (forward ocho) step, diagonally away from the Leader so that it opens up room for him to do a left foot sacada of her trailing left foot
To pivot a lot to do a left foot forward step in the Americana position to the Leader’s right foot forward step
Out to resolution

It was a good class, with lots of technical detail and individual attention given to all the dancers. Maestra is very good in that no matter what your skill level, she gives individual feedback specific to where you are in your dance.

The milonga was fun. It wasn’t as packed, but it was still nicely crowded enough to get plenty of good tandas in. Since it was a Sunday before a Monday holiday, the boys downstairs were again having their usual heavy-on-the-bass thumpin’ rave party. Thank goodness it was not as loud and distracting as the last time.

Maestra and Cesar Velasquez did a nice three-song performance, which can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/user/Tangobro#p/a/u/0/uggMsCB0uoI
Apparently, Cesar is Maestra’s dance partner in England.