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.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

September 29-October 5

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Today was the best tango day of my East Coast life.


I signed up earlier this week for Oliver Kolker’s workshops at Dardo Galleto. The first workshop was on Saturday, 3-5 p.m. With that in mind, it gave me the impetus to get up early enough to go to Mariella Franganillo’s La Practica at Dance Manhattan, which I had been curious about since meeting her in San Francisco a few years ago. Though I had made several trips to New York since then, I could never fit it in schedulewise (impetuswise?) to go. Since I had to be in NY early anyway, I figured it was finally time.

I didn’t want to get to the practica the minute the doors opened in case it was going to be sparsely attended. Instead, I had planned to arrive around noon. I picked up a footlong at Subway, and had the gal cut my sammie into three so that I could have lunch (in case the practica food was nonexistent or sucked) and something to eat before and after my workshop.

Emerging from the 23rd Street subway station, I marveled at all the wonderful stores that were open on the walk to the dance studio, and it occurred to me that when I come into NYC for tango, it’s usually at night, and the only stores open at that time are places like Duane Reade, tourist t-shirt shops, or places found in most any mall. Here on a Saturday afternoon it was different and amazing: all the local, artisanal, unique non-chain places were open. NYC sure is a super-fun shopping town (like duh?!).

On Broadway, there was a street fair with wonderful purveyors of food, scarves, computer and phone cases and skins, artisan crafts, jewelry, etc. Walking along further, I was very excited when I saw Muji, and made a mental note to stop in after the practica.

When I finally arrived at Dance Manhattan, I was surprised the practica was so crowded. When the gal at the door took my entrance fee, she wrote down my name, and I saw that I was guest no. 68.

The room is spacious and the floor is oak, even and nicely finished. There is air conditioning (although not the greatest/most powerful or even), supplemented by fans all around. However, since it was quite crowded, it was still on the warm and humid side. Since this is an early Saturday practica, the food provided was quintessentially New York: bagels, cream cheese, and jam and coffee. I noticed that a lot of folks brought their own water or non-alcoholic beverage, and I made a mental note that I need to do that too since there was no water provided in the practica room, and I didn’t notice a fountain outside in the lobby either (though I just might not have seen it).

I danced with many new people, nearly all of them very good or excellent dancers. One in particular was among the best dancers I have danced with yet in NYC. When I asked him why I haven’t seen him at any milongas, even though he lives in NYC, he said he never goes to them because they are a mess. So I guess I am not the only one who thinks the floorcrafting could and should be better here, considering NYC’s reputation of having high-level dancers. I was happy that the floorcrafting at La Practica was far better than I experienced at most NYC milongas. And it was also much friendlier, with lots of folks happy to dance with strangers. The tandas were on the short side (3-4 songs), and divided by cortinas.

Interestingly, around 1:00 p.m., Maestra gave a mini-lesson that lasted about 10-15 minutes. It was a simple step, done in the line of dance (that was emphasized so that we could gauge where we started and where we should end). I sat out the lesson, even though I could have just grabbed the nearest available leader, and didn’t take any notes as it totally caught me off guard and I didn’t have my student hat on or mind frame. I was happy to just sit it out and watch. Maestra is an excellent teacher of the Leader side of things with clear instruction on torsion rotation, foot placement, etc. She did the leader’s part, perfectly strong, stable and balanced in her sky-high platform stilettos.

After the short lesson, we all got back to dancing. Much too soon, the 2:00 p.m. hour rolled around and it was time for the practica to end, marked with the traditional concluding song La Cumparsita. I had a fantastic time, and will be sure to work this into my schedule of events. It’s a bargain afternoon, only $10 for 3 hours of quality dancing, a 15-minute mini lesson taught by the amazing Mariella Franganillo, and bagels to nosh on. Who could ask for anything more? La Practica has inspired me to add more practicas to my NYC scouting tour.

Since I had an hour before the Oliver Kolker workshop, I was able to drop by Muji. I was not disappointed. It’s a beautiful store, and the items sold are wonderfully, minimally but effectively designed, and the space fiercely curated. Interestingly, there was even a book about Muji, published by Rizzoli (high-end art/design publisher). http://www.amazon.com/Muji-Jasper-Morrison/dp/0847834875

The street fair was also fun, but the only thing I got was a very sensible, very cheap $5 black umbrella because it suddenly started to rain really hard. After that, I booked it to the subway station and made it just in time for the workshop.

Oliver Kolker Workshop on The Basics – Structure of Milonga (open level).
This workshop covered much of the same material as his workshop I attended last month. However, it was 2 hours instead of 90 minutes, and we spent a lot more time on musicality, specifically working on defining all the notes/beats, working with a single beat, then half, then quarter, and then the habanera rhythm of milonga. The musicality portion was excellent.

As usual, the orchestra for our workshop was Canaro.

Then he went on to teach the basic six-step milonga box, breaking it down so that we could play with the 1 and the 3 (cutting out the 1-2 altogether and just doing 3-4-5-6 followed by another 3-4-5-6), and also playing with the QQS in various places in the six-step milonga box (at the 1-2-3, 2-3-4, 3-4-5, 4-5-6, 5-6-1, or 6-1-2). One interesting thing Maestro taught, also congruent with his goal to get us to think beyond just doing the step, with an interesting variation on the step, was that on the 1 to the 2, the Leader can actually change his footwork to do a forward cross (forward ocho) or back cross (back ocho step) (I think he needs to sneak in some quick weight changes for him only, so that he uses the correct foot/leg on the 3 while keeping her on her usual footwork).

We also added the Follower's forced connected cross on the open side of the embrace (the Follower’s left leg/foot crossing against her supporting, standing leg). The prior workshop taught the Follower’s forced connected cross on the close side of the embrace. The foundational concept of these forced crosses is that two parallel lines never meet, never intersect. When we dance in parallel, which we often do in tango, the two lines will never meet. So in the forced cross, the Leader changes the angle of the Follower by rotating her, so that she pivots, setting it up so that his line and her line will intersect, forcing her to cross as he walks toward her.

Maestro also taught a Follower embellishment of the beat back on the 6 of the basic milonga box, which I found a little weird timingwise and wasn’t able to do well or prettily. Then he switched it so that the beat back happens after the 3, which was a lot easier.

Maestro concluded with a very good, thorough summary that he allowed to be videoed.

It was a fantastic class as usual, although I was pretty exhausted afterwards (and I was a little mad at myself for getting overtired as I really wanted to give this workshop all my best). There were twice as many Leaders as Followers, so all Followers worked with two leaders and danced 100% of the time. I also wore heels during the entire class, and they were on the high side as they were the same ones I wore to the practica earlier. I wanted to travel very lightly as I had planned to go shopping after the workshop, and then onto another milonga.

But though the spirit was willing, the flesh was weak. After the workshop, I was way too pooped to do much more than grab a soda from Mickey D’s (and a large one at that!, which I don’t think I’ve ever done in my entire life!), and catch the next train home. It was such a wonderful afternoon that I didn’t want to press my luck. I thought it would be better to just end things there, dancewise, on a nice, happy positive note.

Sunday, October 2, 2011
I arrived early to Dardo Galletto for the practica. It was an open house day, so it was free to get in. When I got there for the last hour, there were about 30 people there, apparently mostly improvers. I helped myself to some wine and peanuts (in shells) and popcorn, as I was starving. After I had my fill, I danced a few tandas.

One Leader asked me to dance, and I swear I had no idea if he was asking me to dance, or the gal next to us, since he never looked at me directly in the eyes when he asked. When they both made it clear that it was ME he wanted to dance with, I accepted. (I admit I am miffed about the whole NYC eye contact aversion thing, which isn’t just limited to uncabaceoing, it also happens in floor crafting, that is, not only do folks not apologize when bumping into each other, they also don’t even LOOK at each other or acknowledge that a bump occurred.)

As we made our way to the dance floor, I said that if he wanted to ask me to dance properly, he needed to look me in the eye and not away and around. Then he apologized and told me he was blind.

Of course at that point, I just about died from embarrassment and my own idiotic rudeness. The Leader, however, was the epitome of charity and kindness. He said he asked me to dance because I was a good dancer. I asked how did he know, if he were blind? Then he explained that he was legally blind with macular degeneration. (For those of you who don’t know what that is, or what a person who has it “sees”, go here: http://www.ohiolionseyeresearch.com/simulati.htm#Age-related%20Macular%20Degeneration) So I guess my blurry whirly figure looked good whirling. I guess the bright colors I was wearing prevented me from fading into the walls. Anyway, we were probably way too chatty during the tanda, but I was fascinated about how he learned to dance with the condition (challenging, of course, but the teachers have all been wonderful). Honestly, in dancing with him, I could not tell at all that he was legally blind.

During the rest of the practica I had a couple of really amazing tandas, which was totally unexpected and delightful.

Oliver Kolker Workshop: A Step Beyond – Musicality & Enhanced Skills (Beg/Int)

In this class, which built on yesterday’s class, we would see more complicated stuff.

We began with a review of the Traspie Rhythm. The music of milonga is based on the Habanera pattern. When we dance to it, we do QQS because it fits perfectly within the Habanera rhythm, always in sync.

Another way to dance milonga, instead of QQS, is with quarter notes, that is, combining a counterbeat with two quarter notes, or 1+ QQS.

What is QQS? Picking three quarter notes from the 4. QQS (2, 3, 4).

We then worked on an exercise of the Leader shifting the Follower’s weight such that she steps with her left foot forward or back. This is so that the Leader can plan if he leads it correctly. The Leader can change weight, but not the Follower. It’s like playing the drums. The Leader has to shift the Follower’s weight all the time.

If the Leader lifts the Follower and keeps her up, it means side steps. We practiced this, with the Leader letting the Follower go just before 4, to do 3, 4, 5, 6 of the milonga box. The Leader needs to be sure to drop her back down to get out of the side steps.

The next thing we worked on was the Follower back steps while the Leader weaves in and out, so her footwork is a series of 4, 5, 4, 5, etc.

Then we changed this to a connected forced cross by the Leader pivoting her and then walks inside of her and keeps going. His leg needs to make contact with hers to make her cross.

Next, we did a free leg exercise of the Follower’s right leg, to send it out to it’s maximum, then pivoting the Follower so that it lands in a tight back cross against her left foot. Then we added to this with the Leader stepping backwards so that the Follower’s left foot steps forward and the right foot steps forward to another back cross against the left foot. To lead this correctly, the Leader needs to keep the angle the same, he needs to manage it so that he keeps her hips behind so he will lead her to do sequential back crosses to the side. Timingwise, we were to do it in QQS, and then pivot her out of it. To make this into an interesting sequence, we added the connected forced crosses on the close side.

The Follower’s embellishment on the 6-count milonga box was introduced whereby on the 6, the Follower does either a tight right foot back cross or a tight right foot front cross.

Then we worked on another Follower’s embellishment of the right foot tight back cross, with her left leg opening up, foot pivoting away counterclockwise (60 degrees maybe?). The Leader also had some interesting footwork that involved a pivot. For the Follower, it is important that the cost of the embellishment shouldn’t be a loss of axis (wow, is that profound and eloquently stated, or what?!).

Our main takeaways:
1. The Follower doesn’t change her weight unless he Leader shifts it.

2. Just because the Leader shifts weight, doesn’t mean the Follower shifts her weight.

3. The Leader makes the Follower move her left foot/leg all the time.


Maestro concluded with a very good, thorough summary that he allowed to be videoed.

After class, the usual chatter ensued, and Maestro mentioned that he was now living in Chicago and that they have a nice community there. I was a little disappointed by the news, but I guess I will have to just be happy with his regular visits to NYC.

One gal who was able to take a private with him this trip strongly encouraged me to do so as well. (We had spoken about it at the last Oliver Kolker workshop where we were both students.) She said it was wonderful and amazing and left her newly inspired about tango, at a point in time when she was strongly considering giving it up.

I really do want to take a private with him, but I fear that it will just leave me even more spoiled than I already am. There is this concept of diminishing returns in tango, where the better you get, the less satisfaction you get from dancing with average dancers (and let’s face it, most dancers are “average”). I’ve been very, very blessed to be able to dance with as many great dancers that I’ve danced with, and if I add Oliver Kolker to that stable, well, geeze, maybe after that, I might as well just stop dancing tango forever because it would probably be the best hour of dancing of my life, which would render everything else after that, comparatively a letdown. Gosh, don’t I sound like a silly schoolgirl? And shame on me for not just living in the moment in each and every tanda.

My problem with my taking privates with male teachers is that I just don’t feel that I’d be taking them for the right reasons. I just feel as though if I really wanted to improve my tango from here, I would take instruction from women Follower teachers (and even then, my desire at this point is limited to those named Luna, Alejandra, Veronica, or Carolina), not men Leader teachers who dance divinely and with whom I would love an hour-long dance massage. So I guess I would feel like a fake. It’s one of those things I am mentally wrestling with, and I guess I have another month or so to figure it out (or not) before Maestro visits again.