April 26 - May 31

Friday, April 27, 2012

NYC Milonguero Weekend 2012

Susan Miller Fundamental Principles of Milonguero Style Workshop: Posture, embrace, balance, and rhythm.  After some confusion on a lot of the dancers' part regarding location of where the Workshop would be held, we finally made it to the place, just a few minutes late.  The workshop had already started, with Maestra instructing us to stand as if waiting for the bus, with our hips down, with weight fully on one leg, and then shift to the other.  We were to keep our chests up though, with our shoulders back and down.  With this posture and heaviness in our hips and legs in mind, we danced.  We danced for 4 songs with Maestra going around to each couple to give individual feedback to the Leaders. She spent about half a song per leader, dancing with them so she could feel their posture, focusing mostly on the upper body.  After she went around and worked with all the Leaders, she asked the Followers for feedback regarding the feeling before and after.  When we give feedback to each other as dance partners, we should not take it personally, but take it technically.  We should also speak nicely to each other.  (Maestra made a comment, remarking how funny it was that people thought tango would make them happy [the implication being that it will not, and that tango will instead make you suffer]).  

Leaders need to really embrace Followers, as if they are hugging someone hello.  Maestra asked the Followers if it felt better than before (with the Leaders doing their usual embraces).  The Followers were also to hug the Leaders as if they love them.  The Follower's back should be relaxed and go up.

The ambiance of tango is that there are never all the people at the milonga on the dance floor at the same time.  The population changes, and people come and people go.  People get bored with tango.  It's tango's nature (and a statement to a natural state of being in tango).

To reiterate on posture, our upper body goes up, and our hips and legs go down.  Her goal was to make us go to our bodies.  When dancing with Followers, she should feel like water.  Tango is a river.  

The Leader's chest is for the Follower, and the Follower's head is for the Leader.  The Leader should keep his eyes forward as his body and his steps will follow his eyes.  So steps are fluid as the eyes and the muscles of the leg go together.  We should not look down.  Followers should keep their heads up too and not look down.

The Leader changes the axis with forward intention in his chest, then his belly button goes after.  We should have soft knees when we walk to be strong, elegant and fluid.

The energy of the milonguero is that water behaves with water inside. Put your muscles to sleep, then you can move.  

For Followers' connection, chest is up and forward while shoulders are back and down.  Overall, the upper body should be relaxed. Do not be hesitant about embracing Leaders or with your embrace.  Keep your right arm open (not locked), and open your chin (do not have it down).

Overall, I had very high hopes for this lesson since I had heard about this legendary Maestra for years, but never had the opportunity to take classes with her.  That being said, for me, it started out on the wrong foot with the confusion about the location and being late for class.  I found that during class she was largely a physiokinetic teacher, and it took a long time for her to go around and work a half song with each Leader.  So maybe the Leaders got a lot out of it, but as a Follower, I did not.  I was disappointed and mentally so agitated about the whole experience that I decided to skip the night's milonga (though it was part of my festival pass).  Plus the weather was freezing and my dress was skimpy.  So I decided to head straight back home after the lesson.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Gustavo Benzecry-Saba and Maria Olivera Workshop on Vals: Challenging sacadas and counter sacadas.

We began the workshop with some walking and pivoting exercises.

For walking, we were to do it on the balls of our feet, with forward intention in our chest and with stretched torso and leg reaches.  To this, we added 180 pivots at various point when Maestro called them out.  Then we  pivoted even more, 360 degrees.  For our pivots, we were to start them in our shoulders/torso/upper body, so that our hips and feet came around pivoting as a consequence of what our upper bodies did.  

Next, we worked on doing the molinete footwork of Forward, Side, Back, Side, Forward to the right and then to the left, again, working on the concept of pivoting.

For the sequence, we did the 8CB to 5 (cross), to a Follower's clockwise molinete with a Leader Sacada of his right foot to the Follower's right foot, and then with his left foot to the Follower's left foot.

The Follower should work on her molinete technique such that her hips do not bother the Leader.  She should not tilt her hips, but keep them level.  Her core should be engaged (Maestra's verbiage was that she should lock her abs, contract her abdominals), she should have even hips, and not wobble. She should always stay around the Leader.  She should not fall on the back step.  She should be on axis and collect before the back step to control her axis.  

Maestros spoke a little about the milonguero idea.  To them, there is no specific embrace (unlike Monica Paz's instruction of the Follower having a parallel left forearm).  It just needs to be a close embrace.  And the quality needs to be there.  It needs to be an "experienced tango dancer embrace.".  Basically, it feels like butter, with no stiffness, and a feeling that the Follower can melt into the Leader's body.  The Leader revolves the Follower and his chest surrounds the Follower.

In class, if you use more floor space, for example when working on exercises where you don't quite get it yet and are thinking about and working the concept, it is still important  to not look at the floor.  If anything, we should always be precise in our footwork.  The Leader should always know where the Follower is.  

For the Leader, he should have his left foot step diagonally forward to create space before leading the Follower to the cross.  The Leader's chest movement creates the illusion of the sacada.  He should also pay attention to the line of dance.

Follower: Do not pick up the trailing left foot and have it go up like a high boleo when the Leader does the right foot sacada.  Do not do this because it's not socially acceptable, nor is it what the Leader has led.

Follower should use the legs, extend them all the way with long reaching steps to create space for the Leader to do sacadas.  

Maestros emphasized the importance of practicing.

Then we changed this, adding to it to make it more complicated with the Leader's left foot touching the Follower's left foot, then doing a series of weight changes to do a right foot sacada of the Follower's trailing right foot and then a left foot sacada of her left foot.  We also worked on the usual molinete timing of the QQ on the Follower back and side steps.

Maestra's tip for the Followers on how not to get dizzy when doing a lot of molinetes: look at the middle of the Leader's chest because that is where his axis is.  If he is shorter, look at your left elbow.

Next, we changed the pattern a little bit, stacking the molinetes from one side to the other and the Leader doing sacadas on both sides with his right foot and left foot.  The concept of which was that the same sacadas can be done with either foot on either direction molinete, clockwise or counterclockwise, 

Follower should try to occupy the space the Leader provides for her.  She should not be shy about taking her steps.

Leader should lead the turn fluidly. 

Maestro had two different colored shoes, blue and purple, so we could determine which was his left and right foot.

Someone, a not very good leader, who noticed I was taking notes by hand with paper and pen, asked me why didn't I just take videos since it was easier.  I just looked at him (perhaps unsuccessfully hiding a look of sheer dull pity) and said absolutely nothing.  And if anyone wants the short form of the answer, it's because Rodolfo Dinzel (who is also one of Gustavo's teachers) told me to.  But next time someone asks I am just going to say it's to be in solidarity with those porteno/portena dance students in Buenos Aires who do not have iphones or cameras with which to take video and actually do spend lots of time writing down their notes from classes.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Oscar Casas & Ana Miguel workshop on Unorthodox Turns for Vals and Tango 

Working from the cross system, we were to use the possibility of the ocho.

There are lots of triangles in tango:

2 legs of the man, 1 leg of the woman or

2 legs of the woman, 1 leg of the man

Organic movement is where the energy goes in one direction.

Ladies walk forward, using the heel because it’s the nature of walking forward, to any front cross step.  We pass with our knees together.

Stretch the lines.

You can walk on the balls of your feet, but you need to respect the knee flexion.

Collection is from the groin to the feet.

We did a back cross to a front cross: a cadena or alteration.

We also did a shared axis turn from the Follower’s right foot back cross step, with the Leader going clockwise around the Follower. Follower should have her left leg a little behind the right leg.

The Leader’s right foot is about one third of the Follower’s right foot toe tip.

Leader’s compression creates emotional lines by lifting.

Playing with the energy of the Follower right foot back cross step to practice communication and musicality.

Barridas:

There is an up energy to lead the Follower to step over.

There is a down energy to lead the Follower to do a drag.

Follower’s sweep: be strong in the left foot standing leg with the knee bent.  The right foot needs to have no weight and be free to sweep.  Same goes for Leader’s feet/leg: Have a strong left foot and a weightless right foot.

If men touch the Follower’s feet, she needs to maintain contact with his feet.

Followers: collect, pivot, and bend the knee at the same time.

From the right foot front cross, we can change the energy for the Follower to do a counterclockwise molinete of left foot back, right foot side, left foot forward.

Follower should keep her legs close together.

Leader sacadas wrap with a weight change on the Follower’s right foot side step of the counterclockwise molinete.

Thankfully, I had a superb partner for this class.  It was totally random, but our skill levels were well matched.  I had heard of Oscar Casas and saw his videos on YouTube for years but had never taken any classes with him. I tried to when I was in BsAs, but he was always traveling during those times.  I thought he was an excellent teacher in the BsAs style.  So there was lots of showing us stuff, then having us drill it while he and Ana went around providing individual feedback. Ana speaks only Spanish, so Oscar translated her class instruction.  When she went around to provide individual feedback, many students spoke and understood Spanish.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

I had signed up and paid for two other Milonguero workshops (one with Gustavo & Maria, and Susan Miller's Pugliese workshop), but my lunch engagement ran late so I skipped them altogether.  I wasn’t particularly heartbroken about that though.

Roko Milonga with lesson beforehand by Robin  The focus of class was on musicality. We were to try to fill the music with our bodies.  We began by leaving our foot behind until four, with our heel off the floor, but having a little bit of turnout. We should keep our head in alignment on top of our spine.  Your body doesn’t stop moving.  The movement should be continuous.

We danced to a DiSarli song, on the beat, in half time, and in double time, just walking, leaving our leg behind until the last moment, and then moving.  The Follower steps onto a straight leg as the front leg bands as you push off. She should keep her torso with the Leader.

In close embrace, do not fight your partner. Hips are over heels. 

We worked on pauses. Doing back ochos, followed by side steps, and then waiting and waiting (and still moving minutely while you are waiting).

We danced to a slow D’Agostino, doing two back ochos, and then two pauses.  Let some slow beats pass (wait to pause).

Follower should bring foot arch to heel at point of pivot.  The back beat adorno was taught.

Followers were instructed to embellish like crazy to realize how much time you have. 

Leaders: be dynamic: do a side step, wait, wait, move.  Have contrast in your steps:  Q-Q-S-S-1/2-1/2

It was a good class.

I had a nice time at the milonga as well (though writing this weeks later, I don’t remember anything particularly remarkable about the night).

Friday May 11, 2012 to Saturday May 12, 2012

Providence, RI Tango with Homer & Cristina

Friday, May 11, 2012

7:30 - 9:00pm Universal Tango Technique for Both Leaders and Followers - All Levels - Homer Solo

Saturday, May 12, 2012: 

2:00 - 3:30pm Elegant Turn Transition Class (Close to Open Embrace) with Leader and Follower Embellishments (Int/Adv)

3:45 - 5:15pm The General Theory of Blending Leader's and Follower's Sacadas (Very Advanced) 

Specific class notes and videos can be found at www.tangostudent.blogspot.com

The organizers did a fantastic job, as usual. I had a great time the entire weekend, the best time I’ve ever had in Providence!  Everyone was super nice to me, the food was great, and the dancer quality at the milongas and workshops was superb, with folks coming from far way, just like last time.  It was a very friendly weekend.

Friday May 18, 2012 to Sunday May 20, 2012

Northampton, MA Tango with Homer & Cristina: A Weekend of Innovation and Exploration 

Friday May 18th   Intermediate/Advanced Level

7 – 8pm  /  Class Explore Alternative Music  Part Lecture/Part Dance

8 – 10:30pm 100%  Alternative Practica with DJ Homer

Saturday May 19th   Intermediate/Advanced Level

1 – 2:30pm Workshop 1: Finding your Style “MO” vis Leg Wraps

2:45 – 4:15pm Workshop 2: Putting the “Neo” in your Tango

8 – 9pm  Pre Milonga Class:  Something New, Cool and Simple

9pm -  1am  Milonga w/ performance

Sunday May 20th    Intermediate/Advanced Level

10:30am – 12pm  Workshop 3:  Volcadas and Embellishments

12:15 – 1:45pm   Workshops 4: Easy social Colgadas

7 – 9pm Practica with DJ Homer

Specific class notes will eventually be posted at at www.tangostudent.blogspot.com  once the videos are up.

Jackie did a fantastic job, as usual.  The focus of these workshops was on Nuevo, as Northampton is a strong bastion of Alt in the US.

The Friday class was fun for me since Who’s Jay? was there, surprisingly.  So it was a fun treat to be able to dance with him to all Alt music.

The workshops were excellent, as usual. I didn’t fully participate in them physically since there were more Followers than Leaders, but that was fine with me though since I attended as a volunteer and could focus on taking the notes.  The Saturday night milonga performance was truly fantastic!  I really enjoy the community as I get the distinct impression that everyone is very intellectual, academically oriented and also very community-building oriented.  It’s a very nice, loving place (which cannot be said for a lot of tango communities). 

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Roko Milonga.  I got there late since the drive from Northampton took longer than expected, and I had a burst of ambition to do the laundry, go grocery shopping, and prepare my food for the following week.

The milonga was not super crowded, apparently because lots of folks spent the afternoon at two outdoors milongas earlier.  It was actually nice though as Roko was full but not obnoxiously so, so there were enough people to have a good time with reasonable floor crafting.  I was very surprised to see Miguelito there.  He told me he had just moved out here, so I am sure I will see him around.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Roko Milonga.  I was hesitant about going since it was hot and humid and I was tired from running around in Westchester all day, but I got the call to volunteer.  So I drove back home, took a quick shower, and jumped on the train into NYC.  Surprisingly, the AC was working just fine and the milonga wasn't excessively crowded. Since the following day was a holiday, I was able to stay almost until the end, which I have never done. I had a great time, and broke one of the milonga codigos that by golly, I don't think I've ever broken.  I won't say which one it was; I'll leave it to your imagination.  But it didn't go unnoticed, and I got a bit of a whiney dressing down over it.  But thankfully, I was forgiven after a tanda or two.

April 1 - 25

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Vintage Milonga in White Plains with lesson beforehand by Ney Melo.  There were more Followers than Leaders during the lesson, so I just watched and had dinner, which was much the same as last week (pasta, salad, bread, and a tomato/cheese-based entrée – this week was chicken).  The milonga was fun, and I got to dance with more of the locals.  We had a birthday vals for Maestro and a local tanguero.  I did not cut in, but just enjoyed watching from the bar.  We also had some yummy chocolate cake.  Later on, I actually won one of the raffle prizes!  My first!  I had a choice of a very fancy silk shoe bag (I passed); brunch for 2 at Vintage (I passed, which in retrospect, I shouldn’t have); a bottle of wine (the one I chose).  My last tanda was with the birthday tanguero (not Maestro), who said our tanda was the best birthday present he got.  Aaaaww… now isn’t that sweet?  Who would have thought those Westchester county men could be that charming.  :o)

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Mariela Franganillo’s La Practica @ Dance Manhattan. It wasn’t super crowded, and a lot of my usual favorite dancers weren’t there. That’s OK though, as it meant I got to dance more with people I don’t usually dance with, and some new folks too. I met one person who turned out to be terrific.  He encouraged me to stay for the next practica afterwards, which I did.

Fundamentals Practica @ Dance Manhattan. This practica was lightly attended, but instead of being absolute beginners, there were some folks who stayed from the practica earlier, and some folks who came who are actually borderline teachers but who wanted to actually practice their material on a spacious dance floor, and others who were just plain serious about practicing with their dance partner and did not switch.  This group was rounded out by beginners who needed to work on their fundamentals before they were unleashed onto the milonga dance floor.  What was nice about this was that the organizers recognized that there were more Followers than Leaders and encouraged the Leaders to switch so that a good time could be had by all. There was also a raffle, with three prizes: (1) and (2) refund of the $ 10 entry free; (3) free entry to a future practica.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Milonga Roko @ Manhattan Ballroom Dance.  I got there late, and saw that the lesson was very leader-heavy.  So I jumped right in, even though there was only about another 15 minutes to go. The lesson was on ocho-parada variations, and had a lot of detailed technical points with respect to the lead for it.  Robin taught the lesson, and it was a good one as usual.  The milonga was not as full as it usually is, on account of lots of locals being in New Haven for the Yale Tango Festival.  Stevie wanted me to go, but it was closed to Followers by the time I wanted to sign up, way late earlier in the week.  But I am sure he had plenty of people to dance with since the Leaders were all at Roko.  I volunteered for a double shift at Roko since many of the usual volunteers were also in New Haven.  I danced with a few new people and had a good time overall.  

One guy asked me to dance, and I had danced with him once in the past and had an absolutely miserable time at a milonga where there were no cortinas (so the "tanda" was painfully long until I finally got up the nerve to say "thank you.").  I had uncabeceo'd him, but he insisted on planting himself directly in front of me and asking me directly verbally if I wanted to dance.  So I said no thanks, eye to eye, with no excuse.  The reason why I had a miserable time that first time was because he was completely oblivious to the music, to the other dancers, and to me as a follower. I felt like he threw me around the dance floor, using me to show off his fancy moves (which were poorly executed).  But most of all it was clear to me he was completely oblivious to the music and other dancers.  And I am at the point in my tango life where I'd rather sit out a tanda than suffer through one where I'd be miserable and angry at him and at me for not declining. It's clear from his self-confidence that he thinks he's a great dancer. 

That all being said, my last tanda of the night was with a beginner.  I have seen him for months, as it was striking in the beginning just how painfully bad he was. But man, he has stuck to it.  And you can just see in his essence that he really loves tango and that he is determined to improve.  He has worked extremely hard these last few months, and has gotten to the point where he doesn't completely suck.  Granted, he is still a year or two away from being good, but he is reasonably musical, and very respectful of his partners and the other dancers.  When we accidentally bumped into another couple, not only did he acknowledge them, but he sincerely apologized to them too! So I tried to follow his lead as best I could, and I did reasonably well despite his hesitations at times. I tried to perfectly follow everything he led without any extraneous embellishments. He seemed very appreciative that I had danced with him, and I found him to be a very pleasant, polite person.  Granted, the dance did not knock my socks off, but I think he is a nice addition to the NY tango community, with the potential to be great one day (years down the road).

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Vintage Milonga in White Plains with lesson beforehand by Ney Melo and Rosa Corisco.  What a treat to be able to take lessons from Rosa!  I think I had only experienced her teaching once before, and I found her to be a good teacher, though her partner at the time had a larger presence in the instruction.  Tonight’s lesson was on milonga. 

Maestro’s philosophy is that the Leader moves the Follower with his embrace, his body, so he needs to move the Follower, not just his own body. (He compared this to a lot of teachers on the West Coast, who advocate more of an opening up of the space to allow the Follower to move into it).

There is not a lot of cross-system footwork in milonga, most of it occurs in parallel system (mirror image). 

We first did the 6CB milonga box, with our goal to find the beat of the milonga music.  Maestra taught the Follower’s adorno of the tap in between the steps of the milonga box, using either our toe or our heel.  Our goal was to find where we felt comfortable and not be in the Leader’s way when we adorned.  We did this to milonga lisa time (SSSS). 

Next we worked on milonga traspie timing, speeding up and doing QQQQ at some points, in the context of the Follower’s left foot front cross, right foot weight change, left foot side step, right foot weight change, left foot back cross, right foot weight change step (and Leader doing his front, side and back steps with his right foot, with his left foot doing the subsequent weight change).  When doing milonga traspie, or anywhere where there is QQ, take shorter steps because the step is not about the length, it’s about the rhythm. Maestra taught the Follower adorno in this traspie front-cross, back-cross step of doing a right foot beat against the left foot, which can occur on the left foot back step and also on the left foot forward step.

Then we added a change of direction, with the leader leading it by doing a right foot back step, left foot side step, turning the Follower, and stepping forward with his right foot.  We drilled this, along with the other steps we learned (milonga box, and traspie timing with front cross, open, and back cross), with a focus on the musicality, really trying to hit the rhythm especially during the variacion.  Our goal was to have our upper bodies be quiet (still, steady), and our lower body moving (somewhat chaotically, but controlled). 

Maestro mentioned that a lot of beginner dancers dance with a lot of elaborate, showy steps like ganchos, boleos, etc.,  throwing it all out there at the beginning. He said that more experienced dancers save their energy and wait until near the end of the song to do more elaborate steps.

It was an excellent class, and lucky for us we were perfectly gender balanced.  I had a good time.

The milonga was nice, not particularly from a dance perspective (though I had some decent tandas), but it was super fun catching up with Maestra, who currently lives in Spain but was visiting NYC. 

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Mariela Franganillo’s practica at Dance Manhattan.  I got there early, as I wanted to get in as much dancing as possible since I missed the last couple of weeks.  Many of my usual favorites were not there, but that was OK. I got to dance with some new-to-me dancers, so that was fun.  The weather has been unseasonably warm, and this facility gets to be more humid than I would like. Still, the dance quality is nice and the floor crafting better than at many milongas, despite it being a practica.  So I keep going, despite my (and others’) perspiration issues.

I tried to sign up for Monica Paz’s Saturday workshops, but they were already full. These were the topics:

3:00PM-4:15PM Dynamics, changing of energy

4:30PM-5:45PM “Cadencia”, Simplicity and Sophistication

Apparently, Maestra comes to town about once a year, and has for a while, so she has a nice local following.  I was told by several different dancers whom I admire that she was an excellent teacher. So my curiosity was piqued.  They had room for me on Sunday though…

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Monica Paz workshops at Champion’s Studio in NYC:

3:00PM-4:15PM Musicality, Interpretation of different orchestras

4:30PM-5:45PM “Pivot” dissociation and timings

Musicality, Interpretation of different orchestras Workshop

Maestra is known for being a milonguero teacher, so the emphasis is on connection and musicality.  Tango is connection, with our partner, and with the music.  The connection with the partner (the embrace) changes with the style of tango you are dancing.  In the milonguero style, the Follower’s left arm is parallel with the Leader’s shoulder, and her right arm is perpendicular to the floor.  This is so that the connection is all in the chest, and not in the arms.

In terms of music, there is the beat, the double beat, or the half beat.  All are correct. With respect to the timing and length of steps>

Regular beat: regular length

Faster beat (double time): shorter step

Slower beat (half time) : longer step

We walked individually around the line of dance to a song doing regular time (regular beat).  At the points during the slower beat (longer time), we need better balance because we stay on one leg for a much longer time.  When walking, the focus on the foot should be at the big toe (inner ball of foot), so knees will naturally come together and be more elegant. 

For the Follower, it is especially important that she stay in one line. When the Follower is precise with her footwork and stays on point (her feet are very close together at the point of transferring weight from one side to the other or when her feet pass each other) when she dances, when the dancers are in a small space, the Leader has mores possibilities to move and shift her or to move around her.

We walked individually to two different songs, both DiSarli, but one more rhythmic, and one more melodic.  We noticed that in both songs, there is still the beat. However, when walking with the melody, the movement is slower, with the opportunity to do interesting pauses.  We then worked on musical phrasing, with our goal to know when it’s the correct place in the music to stop.  Maestra demonstrated musical phrasing to a song showing us the melody, starting at the beginning of a phrase, and stopping a little bit before the end of the phrase. 

When we start dancing tango, we dance to the rhythm.  But at some point it has to change, where we can express with the melody.

If you pay attention to the dancing at Buenos Aires milongas, when the crowd moves at the same time, where everyone steps at the same time, and stops/pauses at the end of a phrase.

All songs have both rhythm and melody.

Next, in partnership, we danced doing simple things, even just walking was fine. Our goal was to try to dance the melody, and perhaps doing back ochos in double time during the rhythmic portions of the music.  It’s not how many steps you do, but it is very important to do it according to the music.

Next, dancing to the melody, at the slow portions of the music, the half time, we shouldn’t collect immediately (or go fast into the cross), but move in slow motion. We were to practice doing other things in half time, such as shifting of the weight, or just stretching everything out in slow motion to wait for the musical phrase to complete.  If a musical pause is long, then you can do more than one weight shift in place.  The important thing is the weight change transition, with our goal not to be flat, but more circular in our movement (as in doing ochos).  Here, the Follower needs to have a relaxed chest and the Leader has to have circularity in his chest rotation.

To work on melody, we danced to Pugliese.  Pugliese is harder to dance to because there are pieces of the song where there is only melody.  The melody can be expressed in the upper body, with walking, shifting of weight, and with pauses. What’s important is to have feeling in our bodies.

Next, we worked on rhythm, dancing to Biagi, with the step of the Leader going outside, then doing a left foot rock forward and back, and then coming back inside, giving more energy.  Our goal was to do this step with the musical phrase.  Leader and Follower should both keep their chests with forward intention, even when you are pressing forward.

Next we worked on what Maestra calls “Pendulum Intention”.  It is one of the most difficult things to master.  The feeling is more like a “U” or “UU” energy, where we are not flat.  We need to relax our knees.  The step she showed to illustrate it was a very simple one, just a side, together, back, brush, and continuing it.  The Leader’s intention can be exaggerated in his shoulders and torso to get the “U” feeling. When the Leader goes up, it’s not a stressed weight super up sharply movement. (That would be too much.)  The knees are soft, because tango is grounded.

Next we tried this Pendulum Intention in forward and back steps (earlier one was a side and back step), where the Leader walks on the inside, so that the Follower’s right foot takes the spot where the Leader’s left foot was.  This is easier to do with short steps.

This was an excellent lesson.

“Pivot” dissociation and timings Workshop

Pivots are like the choke on a manual car: you can use it to dance or not. 

To pivot, we should generate energy from our chest so that the direction of the step changes.  We create energy in our upper body to create the pivot as a consequence.

We began with very simple walking, and then pivoting at the end of the phrase, with the goal of starting our pivots with the change in energy and direction of our chest.

Our focus of the class was actually the Leader’s pivot, first beginning with the Leader being in a good position to do the pivot when he leads the Follower into the cross.  For the Follower, the weight should be on the balls of her foot.  Maestra’s style is that her heels never touch the ground (there is no weight on her heels).  To be always ready to pivot, the Follower’s weight should always be on the ball of her foot. The Follower should always try to brush her ankles and knees together to look elegant and to keep her balance.

For the Leader, to generate intention to move, he should go down and forward, down to generate intention, and to pivot also.  He should use momentum to do the pivot.  The pivot has to be at the time he does the step.

In crowded milonga conditions, the Leader can lead pivots from his chest (not from/with his arms) on rhythm, or with the melody on the musical phrase.  The Follower will pivot all the time as long as there is rotation in the Leader’s chest.

For the Follower, when she goes into the cross, she should pass with the knee first, then the foot, for more sensual elegant, rather than schlumping flatly into the cross with just her foot. 

It is harder to pivot in slow motion, but the Follower has to do it at the same time as the Leader moves his chest.

Next, we worked on the ocho cortado, with the Leader’s left foot pivoting on his right side open step to get his weight in the middle (split weight, 50%/50%). Otherwise, if the Leader doesn’t pivot, his weight will stay on his left foot.  Then he pivots back.  Follower also pivots with Leader.  We drilled doing the ocho cortado in a melodic, slow way, changing it so that the Leader slowly rotates his chest from his open side step to get the Follower back into her cross.  This is a slow motion step and the Follower should follow the rotation in the Leader’s chest and not be ahead of what his chest is doing.

Remember, the intention of the pivot is created by the Leader creating the energy in his chest rotation (not his arms) and relaxing his knees. 

We can dance with the rhythm or the melody, but the important thing is to enjoy the music.  Try to listen to tango music with lots of singing as it will make it more clear where the musical phrases are, and when the phrases are over.  We translate these musical phrases into our body, into our dancing. Don’t forget tango is about connection: to our partner and to the music.

This was an excellent lesson.

Other thoughts on the Monica Paz workshop experience:

Many of the students had attended her Saturday workshops except me and few other students.  This was the first non-Homer non-premilonga workshops I had taken in NYC.  What was striking about it was that the Leaders all seemed to be very good to excellent, and all students understood the tango individual instruction given in Spanish (the main instruction was in English).  So I was extremely impressed by the Leader level in terms of dance and in dedication to learning tango to the extent that many became somewhat bilingual (at least when it came to tango instruction in Spanish).  It kind of made me kick myself for not going to more local workshops to learn with these excellent Leaders.

Roko Milonga at Manhattan Ballroom Dance.

Our lesson began with the Leader exploring moving his axis to get the Follower’s foot/leg to move.  So the Leader moves his body forward to move the Follower’s leg back.  The Follower should keep her standing, supporting knee soft and flexed while the reaching leg is straight and extending.  This way the Follower has a long line. The Leader should not lean forward and tilt his whole body, but move his axis forward from his hips all the way up.

We drilled the concept while the Follower did back ochos going through space (not just side to side, but slightly forward).  The Leader takes a step to try to get the Follower to extend her leg.  The Follower should be strong and solid on her standing leg (with knee bent), keeping the area stretched between her ribs to her toes.  The Leader should have minimal chest pivot so that the Follower does not pivot too much when doing her ochos.

We continued our exploration of changing the Leader’s axis to move the Follower’s leg with the Leader trying to lead the Follower to extend her leg back periodically by stopping moving, and then moving his axis to send her leg back.  We further worked on this exercise with the Leader just trying to play with moving the Follower’s leg (causing her to extend her leg by changing his axis). 

The Follower should be a super high performance, with 1:1000 energy amplification in terms of the Leader’s axis movement to her foot/leg extension.  Follower should have a bit of turnout and do a tight cross, so the Leader should lead a tight cross.

Next, we built on the axis change, Follower foot leg extension in the context of no-pivot ochos, with the goal of the Leader leading the Follower’s right foot to cross behind the left foot.  The Leader does this by moving his body forward, a bit to the side, and then slightly diagonally back.  These types of no-pivot ochos were the first types of ochos.  These no-pivot ochos could also be an entrance into the ocho cortado, and they can also be stacked with the Leader stepping back and diagonally away. He can also try linking the back cross with front crosses.

It was a good lesson.

Since I had volunteered for two shifts at the prior week’s milonga, I was off tonight and was able to dance the night away.  It was crowded but not horrendously full as it was raining cats and dogs outside.  I had a good time, dancing with several new people as many of my usual favorites were not around tonight. I got a chance to dance with a couple of people who had attended Maestra’s workshops earlier in the day, so that was fun.

****** 

In case y’all are wondering why I’ve kind of been slacking with keeping up this blog, it’s because life has a way of intruding on our hobbies.  Seriously though, I’ve had to really concentrate on my career, which now entails learning a brand new area. This blog started at a time when I was doing very little in the way of reading and being involved in the creative process with respect to painting with words, getting the subtle nuances of meaning, while ensuring accuracy and conveying logical thought.  So in a way, the blog was a way of keeping me in shape, mentally and careerwise.  Since I am now back to reading for a living, and doing all those things, I find it more difficult to get motivated with writing.

Still though, I need to get back into shape with respect to taking notes since Homer & Cristina are coming back to the East Coast next month (May 11-12 Providence, RI & May 18-20 Northampton, MA) with some exciting new content that will be taught. So I am excited about that, and need to get ready for that.

And, lucky for me, in June I will be going to a festival where I will work on what I love best, with the Maestra I’ve been absolutely dying to take lessons from.  So I am super super super excited about that!!! And I plan on recording practically every single word that comes out of her mouth.  They say she is a very tough (among the toughest) Maestras out there, which means she is probably brilliant!!! 

February 21 - March 31

I was away on vacation in late February/early March, and while the place I went to had tango, the directions were something like: "Take the subway to XYZ station, leaving from exit #5. Walk 5 minutes until you get past the Dunkin' Donuts, and we are three storefronts past it. Go down two flights of stairs and down a long corridor. Ours is the second door on the left." So it was just way too complicated to get to, in the dark of the night, so I didn't go dancing at all, despite schlepping some dresses and tango shoes to the other side of the planet.

Saturday, March 17, 2012
It seemed every Irish person in the tri-state area was on the train into NYC. Still, I decided to brave the crowds and go into town anyway with the goal of hitting three milongas.

Mariela Franganillo’s La Practica at Dance Manhattan
It was a lovely afternoon, as usual. I got to dance with some of my favorite leaders, though the warmish weather made things a bit humid.

Afternoon Milonga at Triangulo
I spent the couple hours in between milongas just wandering and shopping. At the milnoga, I met and danced with a beginner who shows lots of excellent potential, so that was exciting and inspiring. During the milonga, I tried to just stay curled up in the corner and not dance too much, since I wanted to save my energy for the La Argentina Milonga @ Dardo Galleto, but people kept dragging me onto the dance floor. So it was fun, but very exhausting and by the end of the milonga, my feet felt like raw bloody stumps. So I was just too dog tired after that to make my way over to Dardo.

I really need to rethink the Saturday tango thing. On one hand, I adore Mariela's practica. But on the other hand, I get too exhausted staying in the city either shopping or dancing at Triangulo (or both), so that by the time the night milonga rolls around, I have absolutely no mental or physical energy left.

Sunday, March 18, 2012
Roko Milonga. I skipped the lesson, but had a great time dancing and volunteering. I met a new-to-me dancer, who has been part of the community for years, then left, and is now back. He's a great dancer, and we are well suited in height, so we have a lot of fun on the dance floor.

Sunday, March 25, 2012
Roko Milonga. The lesson focused on connection and the ocho cortado. I had a great time dancing and volunteering. Stevie from San Francisco was there, so it was nice to see a friendly face. He’s improved a lot since I last danced with him! And lucky for the NY and CT tangueras, he will be here for couple more weeks!

Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Milonga in White Plains with lesson beforehand by Ney Melo.
Vintage Milonga with lesson beforehand by Ney Melo in White Plains, NY ($17 for lesson, milonga, and light buffet dinner). Since I don't know the area very well, I circled for parking, completely missing the fact that there was a municipal lot right across the street. Then I had to dig around my purse for enough change to feed the meter until 9 pm. I didn't quite have enough, but decided to take my chances. Vintage is a nice restaurant with a bar, and a separate room in the back where the tango event was taking place. The room was very spacious, with a nice hardwood (maybe high quality Pergo?) floor, high ceilings with a copper-painted faux tin ceiling) and contemporary lighting. There was ample seating and tables on the edge of the dance floor, and at the front part of the room where people could comfortably eat dinner. The full bar and attentive bartender was there to satisfy people's lust for libations (wines were $5-7, bottled water $2, beer $?, cocktails $?).

I had already eaten dinner, so didn't want to partake in the light buffet of Italian food (the main dish was a very thin slice of meat [I think] rolled with ricotta inside, then baked in a cheesy tomatoey sauce, with sides of steamed mixed veggies heavy on the carrots, cheesy rigatoni, mixed green salad, bread and butter). But the bartender was kind enough to give me a small to-go container so that I could enjoy the fare at a latter time. Other Followers had decided to sit out the lesson as well, and they were having dinner and wine.

For the lesson, there were more Followers than Leaders so I decided to just watch and take notes, especially since I got there a little late. The lesson focused on the rhythm of tango, with the Follower's adorno of tap footwork in the cha cha cha rhythm. Maybe the Leader had cha cha cha footwork too, but I wasn't paying close enough attention. Ney was assisted by Viktoria, the lovely and friendly co-hostess of this event. They did a lot of drilling to D'Arienzo's Pensalo Bien, with the Leader leading the Follower to do forward steps, and the Follower embellishing with cha cha cha footwork. Maestro made the point that you can't adorn if you are not on balance, and that the whole lean thing was BS. He also commented that there are two points of embrace in tango: (1) the head and chest area and (2) the Follower's right hand in the Leader's left hand. The students also worked on going in to the cross, and the Followers were instructed to really make the Leader block your cross by him going inside. The Leaders and Followers were all to be on the beat, and not rush into the cross (as is done by a lot of dancers, but is incorrect). Then they added the Follower cha cha cha adorno footwork as she is in the cross. Maestro said that at the point of the cross, it is a ball of foot to ball of foot technique (not flat footed on either foot). Again, they spent a lot of time drilling to Pensalo Bien, for the Follower to get used to doing the cha cha cha in her cross.

Then, to work on the concept of realizing how much time we have in the cross, the music was changed and we were to dance plain vanilla to Remembranzas.

Then, to work on our connection and embrace, there was a class exercise with men in circle formation in the middle of the dance floor facing out, and the women rotating among them, embracing them only with eyes closed and no steps. This is for the men to realize that the Follower IS a woman, and the Follower to really embrace the Leader with an attitude of no foolishness, ad we are going to be on the beat, and he is going to take care of me. So Maestro put on the music, and the couples embraced for about 20 seconds, and then switched partners so that all dancers had a chance to embrace different people with different physical characteristics and be open and accepting of them.

Next week, the lesson topic will be: "The Secret of Love, Life, and Relationships" and at the milonga we will celebrate Maestro's birthday.

It struck me once again how Maestro is an excellent teacher, teaching real, fundamental tango concepts like connection, musicality, physical expression, and women having a voice in shaping the dance, much like those concepts strongly emphasized by Los Dinzel. There are some teachers who just teach steps, while other teachers truly teach you how to dance. I believe Ney is in the latter camp (along with Los Dinzel).

The milonga itself was fun and entertaining. There was a raffle with three prizes: (1) brunch for 2 at Vintage; (2) a bottle of LoTengo wine; (3) a bottle of Sensual wine. Though there were more Followers than Leaders, I didn't mind sitting out as much as I did, as my time warming the bar stool was punctuated with some very nice tandas, with Maestro (fantastic!) and Carlos the organizer (also fantastic!) and a few locals from the community.

I am kicking myself that it took me so long to make it to this event, as it fun and an excellent value. But it's great that they had Maestro there as that was the final pull that I needed to get me out of the house on a Wednesday night. Thankfully, this event happens very efficiently at the dinner hour (and includes the buffet), and ends around 10 pm, so getting up refreshed and inspired the next day was not a problem. Carlos and Viktoria are wonderful hosts, with Carlos having a very busy night dancing with all the ladies so that no one felt left out.

Saturday, March 31, 2012
All Night Milonga at Stepping Out. I don’t usually go to this milonga, but since I had a dinner engagement beforehand that was somewhat nearby, I decided to give it another go. It was full, but not insanely crowded, which was nice. Still, it got quite warm in the main room, which means I spent most of my time in the now-larger alt room. I had a good time in that room since the fan was blowing, and several windows were open, letting in the refreshingly cool night air. Stevie was there, too, so we had a nice time dancing. I also had a chance to dance lots of alt tandas with dancers I usually dance traditional with, so that was a nice change. I was stuffed from dinner, so didn’t even look at the snacks table. There were shoes for sale, and they included a brand I had heard of, but not personally checked out in BsAs: Soy Porteno. The shoes appear to be well made and style wise comparable to NeoTango, so I think they are worth tracking down in BsAs on a future trip. Here’s their web site: http://soyporteno.com/english/home.htm , which shoes an address in BsAs of Adolfo Alsina 1886, so it appears to be nearish La Vikinga.

January 12 to February 20

Saturday, January 28, 2012
Mariela Franganillo’s La Practica at Dance Manhattan. I got there early as I felt guilty that I hadn’t danced in ages and wanted to pack as much in as possible. The practica started out a bit slow, and the DJ didn’t show up until noon. So before that, the music was from CDs with no cortinas, which made it even more difficult to get time in on the dance floor if you weren’t already dancing. But noon soon rolled around, and the DJ got things going with tandas and cortinas. I felt a bit jittery and sluggish, unsure. My mental game was obviously very shaky. But thankfully some of my usual favorites were there and they asked me to dance, working off a bit of my rust. I must have been doing OK because later on, one tanguera came to me from across the room specifically to tell me I had beautiful footwork. She was so genuine and earnest in her compliment. Needless to say, I was floored by her charm. I was dancing with more precision in every little thing that I did, but with fewer embellishments since mentally I wasn’t there, didn’t feel free. So that was really nice of her to say, it made me feel happy, more confident and secure. Only the afternoon experience was spanked down later on by a leader who seems to have put me on his list, who made a comment that I had not been around much, and that it definitely showed in my dancing. :::sigh:::

After La Practica, I made my way over to Qdoba (www.qdoba.com, 12 West 23rd) because I was dying for a fountain soda. I figured that would sharpen my wits a bit more, make me a little less sluggish, and hopefully a little less jittery (which seems counterintuitive). The menu looked interesting, but I wasn’t hungry, so I just enjoyed my caffeinated soda and cooled my heels, people watching out the front window, which was pretty interesting since it’s right next to Home Depot. So it was very entertaining watching these stylish New Yorkers with their fashion forward high-heeled boots, sunglasses, spot-on current winter coats, perfect hair, perfect makeup, and cute little dogs schlepping pots and plants, shelving, and lumber down the street. It was a very different scene from the Home Depots in California.

Triangulo afternoon milonga. I was warmly welcomed by the hostess, just like last time. I also noticed that they had floor craft cards at the counter, which I remarked on positively. It was great to see that at least one milonga organizer/school is obviously emphasizing the need to educate the community about floor crafting. The milonga started out a bit slow, and there were more followers than leaders. So I had quite a bit of time warming the bench. That was OK though, as I wasn’t that keen to dance; I was having a good time just watching, plus I was a little tired from dancing that afternoon. Still, I did manage to dance with several new and newish to me dancers, so that was nice. This milonga has ample yummy snacks, a little heavy on the sweets with all the cakes, cookies, and candy, but there was a nice pile of triscuits and pepper jack cubes to satisfy our savory desires. There was also ample water and wine. It’s a nice, mellow Saturday afternoon milonga.

Sunday, January 29, 2012
Milonga RoKo. The lesson, taught by Robin Thomas and Jenna Rohrbacher, was excellent as usual. We began with an walking exercise to improve our connection. We walked together with chest-to-chest contact only, no arms. Our arms were held up in the air. Leader makes right foot back step, and Follower needed to maintain connection and make a left foot forward step. For the movement, the Leader needed to extend first, and then transfer the weight. Same goes for the Follower. Then we tried to do the six-count basic box with just this chest-to-chest connection with our arms up in the air. To make sure we weren’t cheating and there were no bubbles in the embrace, a lesson prop was used: a piece of paper was placed between the Leader’s and Follower’s chest. We practiced walking, weight changes, and doing the six-count basic box with this paper between our chests. It was difficult. Then we added the Leader’s right foot back step and Follower’s right foot forward step rock step to this box. Then we added a different rock step of the Leader’s right foot forward step and Follower’s left foot back step, then out to close. Then we made this more challenging by changing the Leader’s left foot side step close into a left foot forward step. Again, we did all of this with the paper between our chests, and using no arms, so that we could improve our connection with each other. This was one of the most difficult lessons I have ever taken, but was also one of the best I’ve ever had, really great!

I had an excellent time at the milonga. I think I danced nearly every tanda before I bonked around 11 (I am such a lightweight these days). It seemed everyone and their cousin had noticed my recent absence, and welcomed me back warmly. Yes, I know the weather has been a lame excuse, but I am just not used to such cold weather, or having to schlep from a state away to go dancing.

Sunday, February 12, 2012
Milonga Roko. Lesson by Robin Thomas and Jenna Rohrbacher. We worked on an ocho-parada variation, cleaning up the details. The Leaders were to lead and the Followers were to execute linear, no-pivot ochos, to a Leader’s right foot parada on the close side of the embrace, after which the Follower pasadas over with her left foot. We worked a lot on cleaning up the details, improving the quality of movement and adding nuance to our steps. It was an excellent lesson, as usual.

Again, it was another great night at this milonga. I danced with Christobal, someone who I had seen around at the premilonga lesson but had never danced socially with before. When we did, he felt oddly familiar. When I asked who his main teachers were, he said Luciana Valle! As far as I knew, I don’t think LV has taught much if at all here in NYC. Turns out, Christobal had been to as many Intensivos as I have, even the most recent Al Cuadrado. Blissfully for me, he is serious student, very skilled and drama-free! Woo hooo! So it was great to be able to practice some of the things we’ve been slogging away at these past few years, and the LV style is quite unlike any seen here in these parts. My body had not been as spirally and pivotally worked, my free leg hadn’t been made so free, since my last trip to BsAs and many hours practicing with LV’s assistants.

I danced so much my feet started to hurt. Since I was volunteering, I was very happy to have my shift end the night.

Saturday, February 18, 2012
Mariela Franganillo’s La Practica at Dance Manhattan. I wanted to get there right when it opened since I wanted to get as much floor time as possible. When I got there, there were a few more Leaders than Followers, so I started dancing immediately. Soon, a steady stream of people came in, and we were a full house. I danced a lot, but had a chance to sit out as well, which I welcomed. This place seems to get quite warm and humid no matter what the temperature is outside. On this particular day it was a bit warm (40s/50s?) for February, so the fans were turned on and the windows open. But still, many folks were sweaty messes (including your truly), and as usual, I dearly wished they had turned on the AC. People were also hungry as the breakfast goodies were snarffled up right quick (shockingly to Mariela). I danced with several new people. I especially liked dancing with this visitor from Chicago.

I usually hang out a bit in the city so that I can go to another milonga later that day, but this time I had to get back home because I had a bowling date that night. Some of my fellow dancers expressed disappointment and surprise at that, but hey, a girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do. I had barely enough time to make my way home before it was time to drive to the bowling center. And my bowling buddies were shocked that I came in full drag, false eyelashes and all, since I didn’t have time to shower, and just barely enough time to change out of my tango attire into my bowling clothes, on top of them used to seeing me on our hiking jaunts with not a stick of makeup on.

Extreme Bowling @ Nutmeg Bowl in Fairfield, CT. What does bowling have to do with tango? Well, actually quite a lot. To get good at bowling, it takes a lot of doing the same things over and over and over again, thousands, tens of thousands of times. Being very methodical in how you pick up a ball, how your fingers are perfectly placed in the ball, getting up on the lane and knowing where you are standing, walking forward in a straight line with even steps, taking the same number of steps each time, bringing the ball back with a straight arm, staying behind the ball at all time, and keeping your hand at exactly the same angle on release, and having the same amount of squeeze or gentle roll off the middle and ring fingers and having the thumb be completely free on release. Pay attention to the results of how your efforts carried the ball down the lane. Adjust footwork accordingly to lane conditions. It’s only after you’ve mastered all these these things, these major details but small, minute movements, that you realize that you have mastered your own body, and hopefully by then you’ve seen your bowling vastly improve along the way. Which is pretty much how tango is, IMHO.

Sunday, February 19, 2012
Milonga Roko. The lesson taught beforehand by Robin and Jenna, was a good one, focusing on the circular ocho cortado, with much discussion on the technical aspects of the Leader leading it through his torso rotation. This step was preceded by an interesting footwork of Leader’s right foot back (Follower’s left foot forward), Leader’s right foot to the side a little bit (Follower’s left foot to the side a little bit), Leader’s right foot forward (Follower’s left foot back), Leader’s right foot to the side a little bit (Follower’s left foot to the side a little bit). For the most part, the Follower’s did all of her part with her eyes closed to increase her sensitivity to the lead and so that the Leader was required to be very clear in how he communicated the lead. It was a very good lesson, very rich on technique, and taught to a full house.

It was packed at the milonga, as is usual on the day before a holiday. So while it was fun seeing everyone, it quickly became very warm and floor crafting was a little hairy at times. The food was snarffled up right quick. I got a chance to dance with Christobal again, and asked about his friend Susana, as she was at the Intensivo too and is an excellent leader. He told her about me and she’s excited too because eventually we will all be able to work on the LV material together. It was a very happy night.

December 8, 2011 to January 11, 2012

Sunday, December 11, 2011
Milonga RoKo at Manhattan Ballroom Dance. I took the premilonga class, which was excellent as usual. I had a wonderful time at the milonga, staying much later than I intended, and only stopping when my feet started to protest. I danced with many new people, some of whom were local (woo hoo!). I had a few amazing tandas that just knocked my socks off. For some reason some Leaders were trying out things like piernazos and off-axis ganchos with me, which are extremely atypical here. My first piernazo sucked, but then we readjusted to get into correct position, and then it worked OKish enough; the Leader was happy since it worked; I think he thought I had a good time as I laughed in nervous embarrassment. Piernazos aren’t something I like to do, but after numerous workshops on it I can at least recognize the lead and execute it not horrendously. Still, it’s good to be stretched in our dancing, and I appreciated that we did it so my Piernazo technique doesn’t go entirely to pot. The Leader who led the off-axis gancho is a truly amazing dancer, new to these parts. Honestly, he is so good that I asked if he was a teacher. He is the most technically skilled social dancer that I’ve come across in the U.S. He easily led me to do things (with perfect timing and perfect musicality) that I learned in workshops taught by the likes of Carolina del Rivero, Donato Juarez, and Fabian Salas, things that no one ever does socially, or if they attempt to, certainly not as smoothly or with such confidence and skill. It was a very nice night, and even after my feet started to protest loudly, I floated out the door and back to Grand Central.

Saturday, December 17, 2011
Mariela Franganillo’s La Practica at Dance Manhattan. I got there reasonably early, as I missed going the week prior and really wanted to get my dance fix. When I got there, it was reasonably full, with a good gender balance. I danced with my usual regulars and a few new people, locals, which was surprising since I have been going to this event regularly for a while and have seen some of these Leaders at other events, too.

Maybe that’s the thing about the NYC community: it’s not as open as other parts of the country, perhaps a bit slow to warm up, or maybe I am so unremarkable and unmemorable that it takes a while for me to register on the radar. Then again, I understand all of us hacking away at this thing called tango for a long time, so for the most part people in the community dancing with each other for years at milongas, practicas, and learning together at workshops and practicas, and growing and improving together, and everyone having developed their list of people they like to dance with by the time someone new arrives.

You know, it’s funny. Some people say the same about San Francisco (it’s not very friendly to strangers), and I always saddened by the comment, and also thought they were wrong. But that’s because I had been part of the SF community for years and earned my chops there so never suffered from lack of dances unless it was a really slow night overall, or if the event was infested with whack-a-moles (which fortunately do not exist in NYC. [The deportment here is different with followers not so anxious about racking up their mileage, and more selective about who they dance with and leaders more direct and focused on who they cabaceo, and not easily swayed, interrupted or blocked by those trying to steal or intercept his cabaceo]).

Maybe we should all take a chapter from Clay and the Portland tango community and have mixer tandas to break the ice and get us all interacting and dancing with people who are new to us.

Anyway, back to the La Practica. I had a good time. I danced a lot, but was also very happy to sit a few tandas out, as I didn’t want to wear myself out before my private with Oliver Kolker (whoo hooo!). Earlier, I was so excited about the afternoon, I had butterflies in my stomach. It took a lot of consideration to figure out which shoes I would wear (I ended up brining three pairs, and wearing one of my bulletproof old faithfuls, beating out two new pairs). Thankfully, here was a two-hour break between the end of the practica and before my private started, so I had ample time to meander up to midtown.

My private was at Champions, which is a dance facility full of individual rooms (rented for $15-40 per hour, depending on size) that people rented for privates, group classes, or auditions. So the hallways were filled with dancers of all genres, sizes and persuasions, and the walls full of notices of classes, voice workshops, headshot photographers, etc., basically services for those who hope to be professional.

I have chosen to keep the detailed notes from my private lesson with Oliver Kolker exactly that, private.

After my lesson, Maestro was very appreciative. He said I was a good dancer, but also a very open student, pretty much doing whatever he told me to do (instantly correcting) and not having attitude about it or hurt feelings when he pointed out my shortcomings. Doing the work with him reminded me of Luciana’s assessment that I am lazy in my dance at times. I can do the work, I am intellectually and physically capable of it, but often just don’t. :::sigh::: Honestly, I think he was surprised that I took a private since, as he confirmed, I am already a good dancer.

Maestro asked me how many hours a week I dance, and I told him 4 (obviously, I miscalculated, as it’s really closer to something like 6-8), and he remarked that that’s because I have a life and other priorities, and that balance was good. However, it did remind me that this is a far cry from how much I used to dance (20+ hours a week). So maybe now that I have access to the corporate gym again with beautiful dance studio (although no barre), I should spend more time there, walking backwards until I get to China, and pivoting until I bore through to the center of the Earth.

This private was amazing because generally, people think my technique is pretty good (among the best is what I’ve been told from social dancers) . . . but maybe that is not saying much when most people's technique sucks. It kind of reminds of when you take a few ballroom, Latin and swing classes and go to a wedding where there’s dancing and folks think you are a teacher somewhere because they think you look great. Then you go to a dance event, and everyone else is so much better than you know and you realize how badly you suck.

It was a very eye-opening, humbling lesson, which is a very good thing.

Since I usually dance with mere mortals, most folks think I am good or sometimes great or excellent. It is an amazing opportunity to be able to take privates with Maestro, since he is Luna’s former partner and has danced with Alejandra and other dancers of their caliber—basically, the best tangueras in the world, ones that I admire and the ones who are regularly called “Diosa”. Since Maestro usually dances with diosas, he can point out what I need to do to improve and perhaps in a thousand years, get to diosa level.

Sunday, December 18, 2011
Milonga Roko and Manhattan Ballroom Dance. It was a difficult night dancing for me. I was way off. It’s a good thing I sat out a lot.

Saturday, December 31, 2011 to Monday, January 2, 2012
Providence Tango New Year’s Celebration:
3 milongas over 2 days.

New Year's Eve milonga, Saturday, 9 pm to 5 am.
Includes appetizers, buffet dinner, desserts and performances.
According to Homer, this was the place to be on the East Coast during New Year’s. Since Providence is centrally located, it draws dancers from New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and lots of other states on the East Coast. Ellen’s food is legendary, as is the hospitality of the local Providence community, and this New Year’s celebration was no different. Since I was staying in the Providence area rather than driving back and forth, I defrayed my costs by volunteering. And I am glad I did as I got a chance to match the names to some faces I had seen around the New York tango community, and I am glad that several of my favorite dancers were there that night. I got to dance with a few dancers that I have seen for months but had not yet danced with. The dancer quality was extremely high, and though it was crowded, floor crafting was generally not a problem. Lots of folks were also happy to sit out and enjoy the evening, chatting and eating with friends old and new. It was a fun night.

New Year's Day milonga, Sunday, January 1: 11:00 am to 6:00 pm, includes brunch. I got there early, since I was part of the setup crew. When my shift was over at noon, I spent the next two hours straight dancing. It was fun, more fun than the night before as the floor was less crowded and I got to dance with a lot of new folks, some of whom are teachers or DJs in their local tango communities. So that was a real treat. But around 2:30 pm, my body (suffering from not quite enough sleep) and my feet started to protest. So I left early because I needed a disco nap before the night’s milonga and my final volunteer shift.

New Year's Night milonga, Sunday, January: 6:00 pm to 1:00 am, includes light snacks. The milonga was more lightly attended, but still a lot of fun. Many of us were more familiar with each other since we had seen each other or danced together at the prior two milongas. I got a chance to dance with an old Luciana Valle Intensivo alumni, so that was kind of funny, actually, since his own community is quite small and not as technically skilled. To give an idea about the draw, he came all the way from South Carolina just to attend this event. It was a good night.

Overall thoughts: Homer was right. It was well worth the trip to go to this event. The dancer quality was high; the food was amazing, ample, and gourmet. Some folks from New York defrayed their costs by rooming together. Others, like me, volunteered. Housingwise, I found accommodations through airbnb.com. I won’t say exactly where I stayed because I loved it so much and I want it to be available when I am next in the area. Suffice it to say my experiences with airbnb.com thus far have been overwhelmingly positive; it truly has been a game changer with respect to how I travel.

Saturday, January 7, 2012
Mariela Franganillo’s La Practica at Dance Manhattan. The practica, as usual, was a blast. The quality of dancers in New York at this milonga is truly amazing, and it is quite a pity that these dancers are not found at the night milongas. It was nice to welcome the new year with friends old and new. It was an oddly balmy day in NYC, and the milonga was warm and humid. Afterwards, I walked around in just my thin dance shirt (no jacket or coat) and a floaty skirt. I looked very spring, and some folks walking down the street commented on it. I was trying to kill time before the Triangulo afternoon milonga, but the though the spirit was willing, the flesh was weak. So I started to bonk after lunch (at this good Korean place), so just went home instead.

Monday, January 9, 2012
Game Dinner at T&J Villaggio Trattoria in Port Chester, NY. Apparently, game dinners are way more common out here than on the West Coast. What is a game dinner, you ask? Do we play Scrabble/Monopoly/Charades all night? Why no, silly! We dine on venison, pheasant, rabbit and the like. Think shoot and kill. That kind of game. Apparently, game dinners are quite common in places where people hunt. This particular one had an Italian spin on things. There were 235 people, 96% male, 90% Italian, many local celebs or politicos.

So what does all this have to do with tango, you might ask? Not a whole heck of a lot, but the tie-in is that our attendance at this particular dinner was organized/coordinated by none other than the cousin of the San Francisco Bay Area’s (and Buenos Aires’s) Jeff Schneider! Which was a funny coincidence, revealed after the usual dinner chitchat among strangers (it was a Meetup gourmet foodie dinner). Since the organizer had Jeff on his cellphone, we were texting throughout the night. So though Jeff was not there physically, he was there electronically every now and then.

Dinner began with a huge platter of antipasti, and I had the pleasure of sitting next to Mr. Coldcuts himself, the provider of the salumi. (He was not part of our Meetup group; the table was set for 12 diners, and our group was only 7 people, so we had the pleasure of Mr. Coldcuts’ company along with his son and his son’s buddy.) There was salami, sopressata, capicola, mortadella, cubes of provolone, olives and pickled peppers galore. This was followed by a nice green salad that was not overly dressed. The unlimited red wine was Zonin Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, 2010. There was a white and a rose wine offered as well, but no one at our table partook of them.

Mr. Coldcuts and I had a very interesting conversation about the Bronx Italian linguistic tendencies versus other parts of the country (like North Beach in San Francisco), because I had trouble understanding what he meant by my having to try the “gabagol” (which is what I know as capicola). Apparently, they do often drop the last vowel (mortadell for mortadella, for example), and the verbiage is a lot more casual (cold cuts for salumi, cutlet for milanesa or Milanese, or gravy for pasta sauce, macaroni for almost any type of pasta including but not limited to the small hollow curled pasta).

The first of the game courses was a Venison cannoli. Here, the Venison was ground and the pasta freshly made. It was delicious, and I finished the whole thing. It was not a mini portion, and I know that I should have paced myself, but it was just too darn good to not finish.

Next came the rest of the venison dishes: Venison meatloaf with mashed potatoes (divine!), Venison Stew (OK), and Venison cutlet (what I would consider milanesa, so of course I loved that too). There was ample food to go around, all served family style, and everyone took as much as they wanted with plenty left over.

Next was the raffle portion of the evening, where the prizes were a cross bow, an air gun, and some other weapon to hunt down dinner with (which I didn’t quite catch). Our table had 4 of the 6 ladies in total attendance, and 1 was chosen to be the picker of the raffle ticket winners. She was gorgeous, bubbly and vivacious, and certainly up to the task of hamming it up on stage. And so it was good to see that the men appreciated our presence.

After the raffle, they brought out the Pheasant, which was prepared in their famous pimiento scarpariello sauce, and the Rabbit (I can’t remember any special sauce; it seemed like it was just baked or braised). Both these dishes were good, but I liked the Venison much better. I guess I am just a red-meat loving kind of gal. Just like they say, the rabbit tastes like white meat chicken (it is extremely low fat) only with a lot more small, splintery bones, so given the choice, I would just eat chicken (and reach for the dark pieces).

OMG, I totally forgot, and actually posted this and had to amend. They also served quail, which looked good in all its roasted glistening glory, but which I left untouched. I have a hard time eating any fowl smaller than a chicken due to an unfortunate childhood incident. So I just passed. Other diners snaffled the little things up like there was no tomorrow. I was not even tempted. But that's just me.

Dessert was a plate of delicious Italian confections, followed by coffee or espresso, with or without white Sambuca. I had Sambuca neat, which raised an eyebrow or two. But hey, what can I say? I never touch coffee.

It was an amazing event, a totally new foodie experience for me. This is the kind of thing that really should be put on FoodTV.

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.