September 16-22 + special report on Oxygen Milonga in L.A.

Thursday, September 16, 2010
Verdi Club Milonga. I skipped the lesson, taught by Judy and Jon, who did a two-song performance later on. The milonga itself was OK. It was a humid day in San Francisco, and the floor was sticky. The organizers were a little late and a little overzealous with the powder, which eventually spanked down the stickiness. Carlos Rivarola was there visiting. It was nicely but not overly crowded, and everyone seemed to want to dance a lot. Floorcraft was OK with only light bumps. There was one gal though who got severely stepped on, to the point of having pierced skin and a shocking very blue, huge bruise on her foot. She was a very good sport about it, not knowing who had done that to her, and after icing her foot, getting up to dance a few more tandas. I had a nice time, but bonked around midnight since I had danced every single tanda while I was there.

Friday, September 17, 2010
MUSE Milonga at City Dance Annex. Since I was manning the door, I couldn't participate in the lesson, which was fine with me. The lesson focused on Follower and Leader disassociation. The milonga itself was fun. It was even more humid than yesterday, so the floor was really sticky. This was remedied somewhat by the modest sprinkling of powder in the corner, which the dancers targeted stepping in between songs. It was a nice crowd, with many skilled Leaders, so when I did dance, I had a good time. Mix Mistress Z was there again to spin the tunes, and did a fine job. The empanadas (beef and mushroom) from El Porteno were exceptionally delicious on this night, being delivered still warm and of course mighty tasty. Lots of folks were content just to socialize around the food area, in between their dances. It was a very pleasant evening, and it's nice to see the momentum building for this new milonga.

Saturday, September 18, 2010
Milonga Garufa at Askenaz in Berkeley. This is the milonga organized and music provided by Trio Garufa. I skipped the lesson taught by Andrea Fuchilieri since I was at my supper club dinner instead, and couldn't possibly tear myself away earlier. For some reason, I had the mental image of this place as more of a ballroomy type dance studio. Boy was I ever wrong. It's more like a cafe/club. The weathered floor has a lovely patina to it, much like Jelly's in San Francisco, only without the mojito and beer residue. It was very crowded, and quite warm. Lots of people just came to watch and hear Trio Garufa play. A treat later on was when Maria Volonte came by after her gig to sing with the band, which I unfortunately missed. Dance quality was reasonably good, and it was nice to see people come from all around. The refreshments were strictly cash only, and included a wide selection of bottled and on-tap beer, wine, and non-alcoholic beverages, and mostly organic vegetarian light fare (bagels, sandwiches, tamales and such), cookies and cake. Lots of people, including me, brought in their own water bottles, and we were not discouraged from drinking our Hetch Hetchy 2010 (or EBMud 2010 as the case may be for those living on that side of the Bay).

Sunday, September 19, 2010
Studio Gracia Milonga. I skipped the lesson. The milonga started out a bit slow, but with good quality dancers. It filled up during the night, with dancers who seemed to be ravenous since we vacuumed up the food in no time flat, and not because it wasn't ample (it was). Earlier on in the night we got to dance quite freely with so much extra space, so we could do more real-estate intensive dancing that would normally annoy our fellow dancers under more crowded conditions. It was a very pleasant evening, though I did find myself getting very tired somewhat early.

SPECIAL REPORT FROM THE FIELD BY JR. SCOUT EXTRAORDINAIRE:

I visited the Oxygen Milonga hosted by Mitra Martin and Stefan Fabry in LA recently. Thumbs up! I wondered how inclusive the atmosphere would be to new people, and I’m happy to report it was a friendly experience.

Here’s a link to Oxygen’s tango etiquette, it’s very well done:

http://mitramartin.com/1times1circa2002/Manners/EtiquetteIndex.htm

The floor was reasonably sized for the group there, although it has potential for being too small with a larger crowd. The floor was nicely smooth, with one asymmetric corner that kept the leaders on their navigation toes. The hosts completely transformed the space with wall hangings, lights, a slide show (tango) /clips (The Matrix) playing continuously on one 1/4 wall, still photos of tangeros/tangeras on walls, an abundance of high quality food (cheeses, crackers, salami, grapes, strawberries, carrots, tomatoes, another veggie I forget, dip, bags of really good cookies, various fruit juices, mixed nuts), walking and sitting space around the dance floor. Ample water and cups and sharpie pens. Signs and receptacles encouraging recycling. Aromatherapy with tea candles in the (one) bathroom, tea candles and decorations in the sitting room where the food was.

The hosts were very welcoming to me, and the entrance fee was discounted for out of towners. I got there a bit early, but kept busy meeting the few people there before it started and helping set out the food and candles. To my pleasant surprise, Stefan burned sage and went around the space and the few people in it as a cleansing moment before many people started arriving. The milonga was not too packed, but just about to be. Sometimes it was better just to sit out a bit and watch or mingle. It went on until 3:15am, with Shorey Myers' excellent as usual music choices as DJ. The dance quality was high, and the etiquette was good. Yes, there were some floorcraft issues, about the same as SF. There was a competing milonga across town that night, maybe that's why it didn't get too crowded.

The best non-dancing part for me was during Mitra's brief announcements. She thanked everyone for coming and supporting the Oxygen milonga for two years. They donate a portion of the $$$ to The Nature Conservancy for planting trees, and 6,732 trees have been planted so far with the donations from this milonga. Mitra encouraged people to be inclusive and offer a welcoming smile and greeting to someone you don't know (in a very sweet and genuine way that I am not doing justice to) not just at the milonga but anytime. Next, she announced that Shorey would play 3 Vals and asked dancers to dance with someone they hadn’t danced with or met yet, and to switch partners every song. Most people danced this tanda; we all had fun switching and meeting new people. It was a great way to keep the atmosphere friendly, open, and balanced. I stayed until the end and was amazed at the deconstruction of the milonga set up, and how much was involved. Volunteers filled a minivan with all of it.

The quality of the hosting of this milonga was so high; I couldn't help compare it to SF. I ended up feeling like we could do better. I haven't heard of any charitable donations linked to milongas, I hope there are some I don't know about. If not, why not? Yes, we are all trying to make a living, but can we find a way to do more? When I think of all the long announcements we sit through that consist of nothing other than "here are the next classes/milongas/workshops we'd like you to come and pay for" compared to Mitra's announcement themes of "here's what we all have given to the environment together" "here's what we can give each other" "let's all meet and dance with three new people tonight" “let’s try to be kind to others” "let's make new friends"- I ended up feeling inspired by Oxygen, and a little, I don't know the right word slightly peeved? used? shortchanged? at announcements that are not like Oxygen's. . .

Plus, no salsa tanda thank goodness. (Anne's note: HEY!! I LOVE the salsa tandas!!! I was a salsera way before I was a tanguera, and I have to keep myself from getting too rusty!!!! Now, back to JSE's excellent report...) Brief high quality announcements, then back to dancing tango - a really nice experience.

End of special report from the field.

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Some of you asked about the Pampa Cortes folklore series. See the flyer here:

http://www.pampatangosoul.com/classespage.html

and

http://www.tangoandmore.org/1041/108801.html

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September 2-15

Friday, September 3, 2010
MUSE Milonga @ City Dance Annex. It was my first time volunteering for this event, and except for an initial miscommunication, everything went smoothly. I was quite happy to be the registration gal, and also had ample time to dance, switching off with Howard, the organizer, who was also able to dance. The milonga is gaining momentum, with a decent crowd that night of a wide range of skills but no shortage of strong dancers. El Porteno generously donated some empanadas, and Howard generously passed on the kismet by giving free empanadas to the first 16 people who registered. Mix Mistress Z did such a fine job spinning the tunes that we all begged her to play on. She graciously complied, so that we could all party on a half hour more than the original milonga end time. It was a great night, dancewise. Shoewise, it was a little sad. I realized that one of my favorite pairs of shoes really and truly needed to be retired, once and for all (but mostly for me). I have completely blown out of it, and there is just no way that this shoe is safe to dance in any more. So sad, because it is a really beautiful shoe, that during its prime, fit like a glove and performed like a champ. Those days are long gone though. :o(

Wednesday, September 8, 2010
CellSpace Alt Milonga. I did not go to the lesson. I had more fun at this CellSpace milonga than I had ever had previously. I stayed to the very end, which I never do. Floorcraft improved, I think because of the fine DJing of Bobbie and Luz. They played a lot of moderately tempo'd songs, so there was no frenzied dancing. Not too many milonga tandas though, unfortunately. It was really nice dancing with so many people that I hadn't with in quite a while.

Thursday, September 9, 2010
Verdi Club Milonga with Chacarera lesson beforehand by Pampa Cortez, assisted by Gigi Jensen. I just adore Chacarera, and like to attend any lesson I can on the subject, since with every teacher, I get some new nugget of how to do it right. I missed the very beginning of the lesson, and since the class was perfectly balanced, I sat it out but took notes. They split the groups up with Leaders with Maestro and Followers with Maestra. I paid a lot more attention to what Maestro was teaching since it was more captivating to me. When I got there in the middle of the lesson, Maestro was teaching the Leaders the basic Zapateo footwork (called the Hammer). But then he went on to teach a much more complicated (at least to me, anyway) Zapateo footwork (called Volcada) of a left foot step, then a right foot toe tap, followed by a right outside edge of foot foot tap (and then the opposite: right foot step, left foot toe tap, left foot outside edge of foot tap). The Zapateo footwork happens quite quickly. The lesson was good, because all the dancers came together at the end, and did the Chacarera reasonably well. Maestro ended with a demo of the different types of complicated/artistic/dance footwork that can be done to Chacarera, and then Maestros demonstrated several other Argentine Folklore dances, some of which use the elements of Chacarera (like Gato) and some that don't (Chamame, Zamba, etc.). The milonga itself was very nice. It was perfectly attended: not too crowded, and not empty. Floorcraft was also pretty good. I got a chance to talk to the bartender Red for a few minutes. If you are a foodie, you should chat him up... Fascinating guy! I really like this milonga since it's the only game in town on Thursday, so a decent crowd is almost assured, and the food is thoughtful and ample. Red has even upgraded the agua de Hetch Hetchy 2010 by adding cucumbers and lemons to it. Pampa will be giving a series of Argentine Folklore dance lessons in October and November for the screaming deal of $80 for 8 weeks Sunday afternoon. It should be a blast.

Friday, September 10, 2010
All Saints Milonga with Chacaera lesson beforehand by Pampa Cortez, assisted by Gigi Jensen. The lesson began with us walking briefly to the 1-2-3 Chacarera rhythm. Then, like last night, we broke up into Leaders and Followers separately taught by Maestro and Maestra, respectively. Maestra taught us pretty much our part in its entirety individually, and then we all got together and did it. It was great fun, and I had a good time partnered up with La Russa, who was surprisingly extremely friendly and nice toward me. Interestingly, Maestro did not teach the same Zapateo footwork: he taught the usual basic Hammer footwork (slap, heel stomp, heel stomp), but didn't teach the volcada footwork. He taught some other footwork, whose name I didn't quite catch, that even mimicked more the footwork of a horse (more than the Hammer footwork). It was also announced that Maestro is moving back to the Bay Area, and will be starting a new Argentine Folklore Dance Company; the kick-off of this endeavor will be the 8-week series of folklore dances taught in October and November in San Francisco. They concluded the lesson with a few quick demos of the Argentine folk dances that they will teach. The milonga itself was really fun. It was nicely attended, but not overly crowded, which was good on such a warm evening. I got a chance to dance with someone I hadn't danced with in years and have sorely missed, so that was a nice New Year's present to me. Maybe it is just my imagination, but I felt everyone was a lot friendlier and warmer. (Not that anyone was ever cold, but gosh it just seemed like everyone was unusually warm...or maybe it's just me being happier and more relaxed than I have been in a long while).

Saturday, Sepember 11, 2010
The Return of the Late Shift Milonga with lesson beforehand by David and Mariana. I missed the lesson, and got there quite late to the milonga, around 11:30 p.m. The milonga now takes place at the former Cheryl Burke dance studio space above World Gym. It's a smaller space than before, and tends to get quite hot and humid in there. Tonight was no exception since there was a strong turnout, from local SF people, as well as folks from the South Bay, East Bay and North Bay. It was great to be back again, and I think everyone was happy to see this milonga return. I had a good time. I danced with several visiting dancers who were great fun, as well as my usual favorites. Many of us stayed all the way until the end.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Orange Practica at the Beat with lesson beforehand by Homer and Cristina Ladas: Understanding the Follower “With” and “Against” (4^th/Quattro) Back Sacadas.

The basis of our work was to focus on the Follower having an energetic pivot and the Leader leading it in a nice way. Since the recent local Bay Area lessons have focused on alignment, posture, and hip pivot, Maestros decided to teach something different from, but related to, those topics. Hence, the choice of the Follower Back Sacada.

Exercise 1: Couples Ocho Exercise

We began with the couple’s ocho exercise, where each person does ochos; there was no leader and no follower, we are equal partners. Our goal was to stay close to each other, and take long steps, and step around each other while doing a series of forward ochos (easier) and then back ochos (a little more difficult). There is no Leader and no Follower, and both dancers were to do their respective ochos together simultaneously. The goal was to be able to create balance with each other. If the dancers need to find their balance, their orientation should be backward (not falling forward).

Good posture is key in being able to do good ochos. We should think about spreading our “tango wings” by keeping our chest up, compress our shoulder blades out wide and down, and expand in our rib cage. We should not compress or slouch or curl forward in our shoulders. For the exercise, we were to pivot as much as possible, over rotating, with hips facing away from each other, but stepping around each other to stay close. We should stay with our partners and articulate the femur to really step around each other and add to the spiral, which is what we were after. We should step in an arc.

For the back ocho, which is a little trickier, it is important to step close to your partner, but also work on keeping your balance at the same time. Again, you should be on axis or oriented slightly back if you need to.

Building Toward the Fourth/Quattro Sacada with Leader’s Teapot Embrace

Next, our work on tonight’s subject, the Quattro or Fourth Sacada, began. It is from the Follower back sacada, so the Follower needs to develop a good back ocho. We did this by moving to another exercise where the Leader uses his body (his chest, not arms) to lead the Follower back ocho. For the exercise, the Leader Teapot Embrace was used, with his right arm is behind his back, and his left hand holds the Follower’s right hand. The Follower maintains the connection in her left hand on the Leader’s right arm, but his right hand does not touch her, remaining behind his back.

This exercise was to help us develop the Leader’s lead, where he turns both shoulders, left and right, evenly when leading her to do back ochos. He should not turn one shoulder more than the other, and he should not rush. The Follower receives the communication through the embrace and adds her own energy with her hip pivot through her connection to the floor. The goal of this exercise was to improve our communication with each other, and really communicate the pivot and for the Follower to pivot a lot. The lack of the Leader’s right hand/arm gives the Follower the opportunity, empowering her to get in touch with her relationship with the floor to power her steps and her pivot.

Adding the Soltada and Follower Back Sacada

Next, we added to this, with the Leader’s left hand with the Follower’s right hand, leading a half turn (inside/loop turn) soltada change of embrace on the Follower’s right foot back ocho step, with the Leader then stepping across her ocho path (slightly at an angle, away from the Follower so he doesn’t jam the Follower) with his right foot, while the Follower pivots, to do a Follower left foot back sacada through the Leader’s legs. The Follower should always try to look at the Leader, or for the Leader, so that she knows where to go, and to keep track of him to have an idea of where the space is.

Adding the Leader’s Right Hand to the Embrace

Next, we added the Leader’s right hand embrace to this. He should not raise his hand too high, but keep it safely low since his hand should go around the Follower’s waistline during her pivot as he leads the soltada. The Leader needs to lead the pivot first, before leading the half turn soltada (change of embrace). The Follower stays in the same back ocho line with her steps, and then takes a step back with her left foot.

Leader Needs to Lead a Good Follower Pivot

We drilled a lot on the Leader deeper idea of leading a good pivot. For this concept to work in our dance, the Follower should not fall into her ocho, and not fall forward. If she needs to fall to keep her balance, she should fall back or be backward oriented. The Leader needs to communicate the energy he gives as he “attacks” the floor. The Leader feels like he is pushing more into the floor when he leads a big pivot. The Follower needs to have the confidence to pivot a lot and completely, and not truncate the move or cut it short because she feels a change in the Leader lead or that something is coming up and going to happen.

The exit for the soltada figure is for the Follower to take an additional step back with her right foot, to a clockwise molinete of left foot side step, right foot forward cross step.

The “With” and “Against” Follower Back Sacada

“With” Sacada:

When the Follower’s and Leader’s hips go in the same direction (clockwise + clockwise or counterclockwise + counterclockwise), it is a “With” Sacada.

“Against” Sacada:

When the Follower’s and Leader’s hips go in opposite direction (clockwise + counterclockwise or counterclockwise + clockwise), it is an “Against” Sacada. An example is where the Follower’s hips turn counterclockwise, while the Leader steps clockwise. The Fourth/Quattro Sacada is one of these, with the Leader stepping counterclockwise (right foot open side step), while the Follower does a clockwise hip turn with a right foot back sacada between Leader’s legs.

Why Does the Leader Sometimes Get in the Way During the Follower Back Sacada?

For the Follower back sacadas, the question of the Leader getting in the way of the Follower came up. He gets in the way because he tends to over lead and get in the way. He needs to know (1) where to step and he needs to know (2) when to let go of the embrace.

The Leader can let his right hand/arm go, and the Follower should still hang on and remain connected to him with her left hand on his right arm. She needs to hang on because he should be leading a big, dynamic pivot with lots of energy, and she needs to use everything to protect her standing, supporting, pivoting leg. The Follower needs to be able to have active elasticity in her embrace, with her left arm being able to have a large range of motion, extending back to create a big energetic pivot. Here, she feels like she is being thrown out and led back in.

For the Leader, he steps half a foot back with his right foot, opening up the space for the Follower to do her back sacada. She aims for his left foot during her right foot back sacada. Follower needs to be precise where she does her back sacada.

Maestros concluded with a demo to Orquesta Tipica Victor’s Coqueta. See the video at www.tangostudent.blogspot.com

COME JOIN ME!

Friday, September 17, 2010

MUSE milonga at City Dance Annex.

August 19 - September 1

Friday, August 20, 2010
MUSE Milonga at City Dance Annex, with lesson beforehand by David & Mariana. I sat out the lesson since it was otherwise perfectly balanced with Leaders and Followers. The topic focused on the back volcada with a forward step for Follower, and also included the no-hip rotation tight back cross step with no lean (they called this a mini volcada but there was no off-axis to it). The lesson was good. The milonga was fantastic. It was more crowded than it had been, and the Leader quality was excellent. Maestros were very good sports, spending a little while social dancing with us all. Jr. Scout Extraordinaire was there, and she gave me a very nice present (a way cool kitchen toy...oops. I mean tool). I was planning on leaving before the last milonga tanda, but Mix Mistress Z, who did a fine job spinning the tunes, and Jose convinced me to stay to dance with a local tanguero (they called him "milonguero" -- but I respectfully beg to differ...). We did, and were rewarded with applause. So I guess that was my YouTube moment (though no one was filming). The Leaders were all incredibly charming, and I got three offers of walks back to my car at the end of the evening. :o) I accepted from El Jefe. It was a really fantastic evening. I totally believe in this milonga and want it to be a success, so I will be volunteering for it in the future.

Sunday, August 22, 2010
Gabriel Misse y Natalia Hills workshops @ Alberto's. They were good lessons (on technique and figures in close embrace). Gabriel Misse is an excellent teacher on the Leader side of the equation. I just totally flaked on my notes.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Negracha y Diego Milonga Argentina @ Lake Merritt Dance Center…sort of… Parking was very difficult (meaning I had to park a whopping one block away) since there were four different dance events at the Lake Merritt Dance Center on this night. Walking into the facility, I saw the schedule of events, and could not resist checking them all out. Event No. 1.: Ballroom dance party in the main gorgeous ballroom with mostly seniors. Event No. 2.: The Smokin’ Hot Lesbian fundraiser dance for the Humane Society with mostly smokin’ hot lesbians. Event No. 3.: The very crowded Salsa party hosted by (and lesson taught by) Juan. Event No. 4.: Negracha y Diego’s milonga. As much as I adore Negracha y Diego, when I arrived around 9:30 p.m., there were significantly more followers than leaders at their milonga. So rather than warm the bench for a good part of the night, I decided to go to the other LMDC event that tickled my fancy the most. And that event was…drum roll please…the ballroom dance party with mostly seniors (though I was sorely tempted by the Smokin' Hot Lesbian party)! I think they, too, were a little shocked that I decided to go to their party. Unfortunately, I only had my insensibly-high-for-ballroom tango stilettos, but I decided to give it a go anyway. The leaders took it easy on me, since I prefaced nearly every dance with a new leader with the disclosure that my ballroom was quite rusty. They were all super nice and understanding. I had an excellent time. It was a very strange sensation, which is always how I feel when I dance at other social partner dances, where we are done after one song. It seems almost uncivilized, like we can’t wait to get away from each other after one song, starkly in contrast to spending an entire tanda with one person and getting to know them on a dance level during that time. There was also this almost sort of personal mental anguish with trying to reach back into the far crevices of my brain, trying to remember how to dance nightclub two-step, rumba, and fox trot. Thank God they didn’t play any Quick Step, because I would have messed that up for sure (even though I used to be decent at Quick Step). My East Cost Swing and Waltz are still respectable, and thankfully, the live band played quite a few of them. But all too soon, the night was over (the ballroom dance party goes from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.). After that, I decided to make my way back upstairs to peek in at Negracha y Diego’s milonga. I saw the last 3 seconds of a milonga performance by visiting maestros Tomas Galvan & Gimena Herrera, which looked good. I decided not to join in on the fun of the milonga though since there were still substantially more Followers than Leaders. And quite frankly, I was mentally and physically exhausted from trying to remember all the ballroom dances, and dancing them in insensibly high shoes. The thought crossed my mind to stop in at Tango Magdelana, where the milonga was scheduled to go to 3:00 a.m., but I just kept driving on Grand Avenue, and back onto the freeway as soon as I saw the theatre.

Come Join Me!

September 3 - MUSE milonga @ City Dance Annex. I'll be at the door. :o)

What am I excited about these days?

September 11 workshop with Gabriela Condrea. 4-hour workshop on Learn to Listen, Learn to Play, for the bargain price of $25 prepaid. Location TBA. I have no idea who she is (other than what's on her web site), but what excites me is that she is a Dinzelito!!! Those few group privates I had with Los Dinzel in 2007 completely changed the way I danced. And they were the ones who started me on my note-taking tango journey. :o) I am hopeful that Gabriela will teach something along the lines of what Los Dinzel teach, and in their style of teaching.

Here's what the tangomango.org listing says:

Workshop-LEARN TO LISTEN; LEARN TO PLAY
Improvisation in Argentine Tango
Level: Intermediate-Advanced

Feel rather than think, see possibilities rather than sequences, seize each moment of every tango, and play. This workshop will help you leave your plans behind you and focus on the moment before you - on yourself and your partner and the conversation that is tango that you create together. LEARN to LISTEN to each other; LEARN to PLAY.