January 20-26

Saturday, January 22, 2011
Alberto Dassiau and Paulina Spinosa Workshop at Studio de Akari.

Mamborich had always raved about Maestro, but I admit, the kicker for me going to the this workshop was the line at the end of the description: "After Class Pot Luck Argentine Style BBQ" I was intrigued by that since Akari was hosting, and I had heard that her Two Left Feet milongas had THE BEST food. I was kicking myself that I had missed them! Since the workshop required preregistration, I emailed Akari beforehand, signed up for the workshop, and asked what I should bring to the BBQ. She suggested a salad. Well, that afternoon I attempted to make a salad using some picked peppers I had. It was a disaster. Complete FAIL, to use the YouTube vernacular. I had never made a salad so bad in my life. I had pulled out every culinary trick up my sleeve to try to fix it. But every addition/attempt yielded an impossibly worse result. So the whole thing, which turned out to be overwrought and completely inedible, eventually went into the trash (compost bin...it is San Francisco, you know, home of the extremely militant refuse police). Oh well. These types of complete, colossal failures are what keep us (me!) humble in the kitchen (and elsewhere in life). Seeing that I was already almost late, I jumped in the car and made my way over to Danville, thinking that I could always circle back to a Trader Joe's or Safeway near her house and get salad fixin's if need be.

The traffic gods must have been smiling on me, because I made it to Danville from San Francisco in record time (~35 minutes). There was shockingly little traffic for a Saturday afternoon. Studio de Akari is the social room in her home, right off a patio that is perfect for outdoor entertaining. It is spacious for a social room, but not so spacious for a dance class. Still, it is beautifully appointed and has a nice hardwood floor and mirrors on one side of the room.

There were 6 couples in class, and luckily for me I got to partner with Mamborich for the whole thing. We were split into two groups of three couples since there were space limitations. We began with dancing two songs. After each group danced their two songs, Maestro gave comments to the group. Maestros spoke only in Spanish (Castellano), but we fortunately had the lovely Rachel translating, which was great since she is a tango dancer and could explain the subtle nuances of what Maestro was saying (I've been in other classes where the translator was not a tango dancer, and thus, the translations were a little off).
(1) Regarding the embrace, in close embrace, the Leader should hold the Follower close, as if she were his wife. She is there to dance. In close embrace, she feels protected and will go wherever you put her.
(2) There was one woman who danced with both her legs bent (like she is getting ready to sit). Maestro emphasized that when dancing and walking and doing everything in life, we do it with one leg straight, but the other leg bent, not both legs bent or both legs straight (which would look really strange and robotic).
(3) Follow the line of dance, which is always counterclockwise. Do not cross across the floor, otherwise you create an ugly situation. Dance spaced out appropriately between couples, not bunched up together. Do not pass anyone. It is not a race. Maintain your distance. Continue at the same rhythm, even if you need to dance in place.
(4) Don't dance too fast.

Next, we all got into a circle and walked with maestro showing us the rhythm to a D'Arienzo song from the 1930's.

The step he showed us was a simple one:
Follower check step right foot back and right foot forward, outside Leader, followed by a diagonal box step.
We worked on this for a while, each group going two songs at a time.

Next, Maestro changed the song to a Pugliese song. The music is different, so you should dance slow, with different velocity in your step, respecting the pauses in the music.
We worked on dancing these concepts for a while, one group at a time.

Since there were many beginners (first timers) in the class, Maestro showed the Leaders footwork for the 8CB. Maestra showed the finer points of the ocho technique and pivoting just hanging onto the banister, demonstrating that Followers don't need a big space to practice and work on their technique alone.

Next, Maestro changed the music to Vals.
He commented that the Leader's right hand needs to be under the Follower's right shoulder blade. The Leader needs to lead the opening and closing of her ocho. The Leader uses his right arm to transmit the opening.
When dancing to Vals, walk in the vals. Do not do "steps" all the time during the vals. If you do, one day you will run out of tricks in your step bag. The ideal is to walk, do one or two steps, go back to walking, do one or two steps, go back to walking, etc.

Use your whole body when you dance so that you look engaged to the music. Some dancers dance with their upper bodies completely still and lifeless with their lower bodies doing everything. There should be some movement up top, to illustrate the life in the music.

For the final last three valses, we changed partners and danced with someone totally new since we had no partner rotations in this class prior to this.

It was a good class.

After our lesson, we went outside and fired up the barbie, using an electric starter. Some folks chose to baby sit the grill, while others decided to dance, and still more decided to go upstairs to the kitchen/dining area to start on the appetizers. When we got upstairs, we found everything layed out. The appetizers were:
steamed pencil-thin Asparagus
roasted potatoes
roasted brussel sprouts
pasta salad
chicken salad
steamed artichoke hearts with horseradish sauce and mayonnaise
assorted olives
smoked salmon
flax seed chips, plantain/yucca chips, salsa and guacamole
beef taquitos
green salad
spinach salad

Desserts:
ambrosia salad
candied apple salad
gluten-free zucchini bread
chocolate cake

In short, a feast had been prepared.

One of the students was kind enough to man the grill, cooking the beef that Akari provided. Akari also pulled out some salmon from her freezer in case there were some pescaterians in the mix.

Throughout the night, various guests arrived for just the BBQ. It was like a who's who of the Bay Area tango community, and they brought wine, other dishes for the potluck (DJ Emilio brought some precooked Safeway tri-tip, which turned out to be surprisingly very yummy), and then grillmaster Marcelo showed up. He quickly got to work, taking some accoutrements from the pantry and donning his very professional looking chef's hat and apron. When I went out later to watch him grill, I was amazed by his prowess -- bringing his own mesquite (now THAT is hard-core when you bring your own charcoal to a potluck BBQ!), and often times moving the meat (chorizo, pork, beef) around the grill with his bare hands (Ouch! Yikes! Were his hands made of asbestos?). I had been to many, many parrilla places in Bs As, but watching Marcelo take the slabs of pork right out of the brown butcher paper and slap them right onto the grill reminded me that it usually just was excellent quality meat, roasted over a charcoal grill -- with none of the usual marinades, sauces, and rubs that we in the U.S. tend to slather over our meats when we BBQ.

Needless to say, the evening turned out to be a feast for the stomach, the mind, and the eyes. It was super fun socializing with everyone, many of whom I had never met or seen (noticed?) before, and it was really nice just sitting down and chatting (and not having the pressure to dance with anyone). Glancing at the clock, I wanted to leave many times. But then more guests would arrive, food/drink in hand, along with another great conversation. So I ended up staying much later than planned (I had originally wanted to go home to shower and then to the Malleable Milonga benefit).

I told Akari that if she had always hosted lessons with these types of BBQs afterwards, that I would go to them all, regardless of who the teacher was. ;o) She laughed.

Sunday, January 23, 2011
Natasha Birthday Celebration at Studio Gracia Milonga with lesson by Negracha and Diego Lanau. I did not attend the lesson beforehand, but saw that it was packed. The milonga, too, was packed. Many folks must have been lured by the enticing description: "For the birthday celebration, there will be Peruvian Chicken made by Hector, homemade Salvadorean Tamales, cakes, wine & champagne", and planned ahead to have dinner at the milonga, because by the second tanda, the usual food (croissant sandwiches, fresh fruit, etc.) was almost completely gone. The Peruvian Chicken was a chicken and rice dish in a green sauce. It was very tasty. Later on, the Salvadorean Tamales came, chef unknown. Three massive aluminum baking trays held the banana leaf and parchment paper-wrapped pork, chicken, and beef tamales, with enough to serve everyone at the milonga (and their cousins). I am no expert on the subtleties, nuances and differences among South American tamales, but these Salvadorean Tamales were very creamy in texture, almost gelatinous/custard-like. The beef one had cheese in it, so I think cheese was an ingredient in all the tamales (not sure if that is specific to El Salvador, or just the chef's preference). The food on this night was a big draw, in my opinion.

The dancing at the milonga wasn't the greatest. It was fun because there were so many people there, but the floor was very slick on this night for some strange reason. More than one person commented that it felt like dancing on ice (yes, it was that slick). Floorcraft was not great, on account of the heavy crowd, and also because the slick floor made us all dance a little faster (whether we wanted to or not). After each tanda, my legs ached since I had been unconsciously engaging every single muscle in my legs out of fear that my next step would slip and slide. I think a lot of us felt that way because it seemed after every tanda, half the dance floor made their way over to the food table. I am not sure if it was the lure of the tamales and cake and champagne, or if we were just looking for an excuse to rest a bit before dancing on that floor again.

Natasha had a birthday vals to two songs since there were so many leaders who wanted to dance with her. She was definitely the belle of the ball. Afterwards, Negracha and Diego did a two-song performance. They seemed to dance more joyfully and freer than they had the last time I saw them at Studio Gracia. DJ Emilio skipped the usual salsa tanda, much to the delight of the non-salsa dancers. I left shortly thereafter since I got stepped on HARD by someone. It seems to me that I had never gotten stepped on that hard before, and waking up the next morning, foot still aching after icing it before I went to bed, confirmed this suspicion.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Tim Ferriss Egg Experiment, Part 3. I got around to eating the last egg around 1:00 p.m., taking it directly out of the fridge, where it has been since last Thursday. I cracked the two ends, and peeled them off. The narrow empty end came off easily. The fatter, bottom end had a lot of adhesion. This led me to believe that it wouldn't be cooperative with being blown out. Still, I gave it the old college try, really blowing as hard as I could. I heard cracking, but the egg did not budge. So I ended up peeling it in the normal way, and found that the shell easily slipped off. Taste and colorwise, everything else was fine.

My conclusion: I need to look at the YouTube video again. Jr. Scout Extraordinaire said she put the baking soda in the boiling water; I only put it in the cooling water. Maybe Tim Ferriss said something special about his technique that I didn't quite catch. I am not sure if I am ambitious enough to boil eggs exactly has he does, with the 2 inches of water on top and a whole 12 minutes, both of which seem a bit excessive and unnecessary, but maybe that might actually cause the experiment to be a success.

WHAT AM I EXCITED ABOUT THESE DAYS?

Brigitta Winkler in town. She is awesome.

The return of MUSE! I'll be volunteering for it. Hope to see you there on February 18, 2011

The Late Shift back at the old, original, much larger ballroom.

Homer & Cristina @ Stanford February 19-20: Volcada/Colgada Lalapaloosa (my words, not theirs). Be there or be square.

Marcelo and Natasha highlighting etiquette as a class topic.

January 13-19 Anne & JSE's Excellent Stanford and Egg Adventure

Saturday, January 15, 2011

WORKSHOP THEME: "THE LEADER'S AND FOLLOWER'S BODY SPIRAL".

Saturday

11:30-1:00 All Levels (not for novice dancers) - Fundamentals of Body Spiral for Leaders and Followers

1:00-2:00 Lunch Break

2:00-3:30 Beg/Int - Get Your 'Pivot' vs No 'Pivot' Ochos Defined with Edgardo Donato

4:00-5:30 Int - Rebotes (switch steps) for Tango, Vals and Milonga with Juan D'Arienzo

Sunday

2:00-3:30 Int/Adv - The Boleo vs Overturned Gancho Connection with Roberto Rufino

4:00-6:00 Adv Couples Only Seminar - The Body Spiral Explored with a CELLspace Inspired Music Mix

All the videos will be uploaded at www.tangostudent.blogspot.com

WORKSHOP 1: FUNDAMENTALS OF BODY SPIRAL FOR LEADERS AND FOLLOWERS

We began with Cristina leading several warm-up exercises to help us do twisty moves to the best of our ability.

Exercise 1:

We all stood in a circle, with feet hip width apart (6-8 inches), with feet parallel, trying to look like the letter H.

Keep knees soft, don’t lock them.

Be nice and tall.

Inhale four counts, raise shoulders, swing arms from side to side like a monkey or May pole.

Exhale, drop shoulders.

Do this twice

Begin again, swing arms, exhale, drop shoulders

Exercise 2:

Turn head to the right.

Keep shoulders parallel.

Turn head a little more, trying to look behind you.

Turn head to the left.

Keep shoulders parallel.

Turn head a little more, trying to look behind you.

Return head to center.

Bring your chin to your chest.

Roll shoulders back.

Lean head back.

Roll shoulders forward.

Exercise 3:

In partnership, with one person's back facing the other person’s front, the person behind has his hands on the front person’s hips. The front person twists to the right to see if he can turn his head to face the other person. Then he twists to the left to see if he can turn his head to face the other person.

Next, the back person’s hands were changed to the front person’s shoulders, and again the front person tried to turn his head all the say way around so that he could see the other person behind him. Again, we did this both ways.

Next, the back person holds the front person’s head up by the ears, so that the front person’s head was more floaty. The front person tries to twist his whole body around, including his feet, to see how far he can go. We did this on both sides.

The freer the joints, the more twisty the body, and the larger the range of motion one is able to achieve.

Exercise 4: Introduction of One-Legged Concepts

It’s hard to be just on one leg.

We began with being 100% on one leg, our left leg. Do not sit on the leg, keep the knee soft. Be upright. Keep shoulders even, ribcage open, and spine long. Be rooted into the floor. We held this for several counts, and tried it on the left foot and the right foot.

Exercise 5:

Next, we stepped forward with our right leg, raised our left leg, and then take our right arm/shoulder and twist to the right, while standing on one leg (our right leg). We held this pose/position for four counts. Keep shoulders level. Try to raise the arms higher. Hold for 8 counts.

We also tried this on the other side, stepping with our left foot, raising our right leg, and twisting to the left.

Exercise 6: Disassociation Exercises Led by Homer

Walking in a line, turn our body toward our forward walking foot with our arms stretched wide like in exercise 5. Try to look all the way behind you. Keep chest up. Stay tall. Be balanced, elegant and controlled. The idea is to do this smoothly and with flow. At the time of collection, you should be looking back.

We also tried this walking backward.

We drilled this for 1-2 minutes. Practice this at home to improve your tango spiral.

Applying the above Exercises to our Walk:

In partnership, we walked, in line or outside partner in open embrace. We should keep facing each other, but the Leader should try to exaggerate his twisting toward the Follower as he walked and changed from inside to outside partner. We should feel the twist in our core and spine.

Building our Simple Walking Pattern to Leader’s Grapevine Footwork:

Next, in partnership, open embrace, the Leader does grapevine footwork, in and out. Here again, the Follower and Leader should keep their chests toward each other, and try not to move just their shoulders, but their entire bodies, with disassociation. The Leader was to hyper exaggerate leading with his spine.

In kettle embrace (leader’s hands at the small of his back, Follower hanging on to Leader’s arms), we did the Leader’s grapevine footwork, and the Follower needed to mirror the Leader’s body. The Leader should focus on the smoothness in between the transitions. He needs to know when to twist his spine, and coordinate the turn with when he steps on the floor. He should keep the size of his steps consistent, so that the timing is also consistent.

The Follower should mirror the twist in the Leader’s spine when she feels it, and keep consistency and good reaction in her own steps. She must not fall into her steps. In walking back, Follower should take care to walk back straight, with one foot behind the other in one straight line (track). Follow the direction of the Leader’s hips, even though your chest faces the Leader.

The point of this class is to maximize the torsion in our body, but still be balanced in our walk.

It’s is not just a twist in our front. The core has to soften a little to allow range. The back has to be soft enough to accommodate the twist and to allow separation from what the lower half is doing from where the upper half is.

Leader: Do not tilt and let your shoulders become uneven when you twist back.

Part I: Going to the Follower’s Cross

In tea kettle open embrace, the Leader tries to lead the Follower into the cross. He does the spiral in his back/body to lead it. Here in class, we were to exaggerate this.

Leader: Keep upright, do not lean forward.

Follower: Do not do automatic crosses for this exercise. Make sure you follow the lead. Be with the Leader. Follower’s cross should reflect how the Leader spirals and how his back twists. The cross should be tight. The cross, shallow or wide, depends on how much your right hip opens out and how well the left foot comes back (it should mirror the Leader’s torsion).

The Leader and Follower should be well connected to make this a very sophisticated, elegant move.

Leader: If you can make this feel good, you are on the right road.

Leader: Keep thigh close to the Follower’s. It might even touch. This is so you line up with Follower at the point of her cross.

Part II: Follower Forward Ochos While Leader Stands in Place

In tea kettle open embrace, the Follower does forward ochos while the Leader stands in place. The Follower should stay close, but don’t bump into the Leader. She should take long, snaky steps around him. The Leader really spirals in place. The Follower should have a good, engaged embrace.

Bonus:

Leader parada on either foot.

Follower can embellish before she steps over with a fan or rulo, but she should always step over long and snaky.

Putting It All Together In A Simple Sequence:

8CB to 5 (cross) to Follower forward ochos, to Leader parada on either side.

Followers: Because Leader is in tea kettle embrace, he can’t hold you up or twist you. The Follower has to amplify what the Leader is doing. She needs to be very smart about where she steps. It is very important. She should have tiger hips and snaky steps. Do not knock the Leader over or off his axis. Be near the Leader. The Follower’s whole body is involved in snaking around. Use your curves.

The Follower’s right thigh should brush the Leader’s pants. That’s how close she should be to the Leader.

The class concluded with a summary review of Q&A.

Maestros did a demo dance to Donato’s Sinsobar.

BONUS MATERIAL GIVEN DURING THE BREAK:

Leader’s Parada Exercise:

We worked on the Leader’s footwork.

Stretch the right foot forward with no body spiral.

Stretch the left foot forward with no body spiral.

Start in one direction, pivot 90 degrees. The twist is in the abdomen, and is like ringing a towel.

Release it to kick heel around.

The foot is out and curving 90 degrees around. Shoulders are twisted even more, about 105 degrees.

WORKSHOP 2: GET YOUR 'PIVOT' VS NO 'PIVOT' OCHOS DEFINED WITH EDGARDO DONATO

Our music for the second workshop was Donato: rhythmic, playful and sweet.

We began with a review of the simple sequence learned in the Workshop 1, focusing on applying the concepts we learned to be as twisty as possible:

8CB to 5 (cross)

Follower forward ochos

Leader parada, with his hips turning 45 degrees.

Follower should keep her chest turned toward the Leader, even though her hips face away (she can pivot away as much as she can manage it)

Follower’s embellishments to the Leader parada (done on either side):

(1) Syncopated stepover.

(2) Rulo

Syncopated Stepover

The syncopated stepover is used to accent the strong rhythm. The Follower steps a little back, then a little to the side, and then around in front and over the Leader’s parada foot like a little boat. It’s a little like tricking him.

On the close side of the embrace, it’s left foot back, right foot side, left foot around in front and over.

On the open side of the embrace, it’s right foot back, left foot side, right foot around in front and over.

Rulo

Maestra demonstrated the rulo, where her hip opens out and away from the Leader, and then she draws a circle on the floor with her foot, while she pivots on her opposite foot, so that when she is done with her rulo, her body is oriented toward the Leader at a right angle so she is ready to step over his parada foot.

Parada Pointers:

Leader: Touch the Follower’s foot in the parada. If there is no foot contact, you will trip her. Have contact in the feet, but do not jam her pivoting foot.

The “Rule of the Knee” was introduced. The “Rule of the Knee” is that the Leader’s knee needs to be lower than the Follower’s knee, otherwise she can’t pass.

The “Rule of the Embrace” was introduced. It says that the Follower wants to hold on. She can pivot as much as possible within the constraints of the embrace. Our goal was to have the Follower pivot as much as possible.

The Follower's pasada step over is a forward step, long and around the Leader.

Now, the meat of the class material:

Follower Ochos with Leader Side Step

In partnership, we did Follower ochos, working in a slot, with the Leader doing a side step (versus the earlier ocho with Leader standing in place but rotating his upper body).

Follower: She does a 180 degree pivot, so that she does the ochos linearly, in a slot. She should rotate as much as possible without breaking the embrace. She can adjust her hip so that she is in the line of the Leader. She should amplify the Leader's energy 2-3 times with her hips so that she can get a good pivot. Be good in your embrace, have elasticity and tone, to take the lead energy and transport it into the hip.

Leader: Don't be asymmetrical in your torso rotation. Most beginner Leaders do uneven torso rotations, turning more on one side than the other when leading ochos. Our goal was to have the amount of rotation the same, at 30-45 degrees. The Leader should not compensate for the asymmetry in his torso rotation by cheating and fixing it by using the embrace (his arms). Timing is key with respect to torso rotation. The Leader's energy into the floor helps the Follower pivot. Along with trying to be even in the 30-45 degree torso rotation, he should also keep his axis up (not tilted forward), when leading the Follower ocho. Otherwise he will pull her in.

For the leader, the side step is like a martial arts chop, adding impulse to the ocho lead to make the ocho more exciting. The Leader should attack the floor at the right time, to release the pivot from the Follower's ocho factory (hips).

"No Pivot" Ocho

Leader: Pretend you are rollerblading down the boardwalk in your feet, but have NO shoulder rotation in your upper body.

Follower: Back cross steps with no hip pivot. Open the hips without pivoting the supporting, standing leg so that your shoulders do not rotate.

Vanilla Bean Ocho

In tea kettle open embrace, the Leader does the roller blade footwork while the Follower does no-pivot ochos. The idea for both is that neither should have any torso or shoulder rotation. In the tea kettle embrace, it's easier to be symmetrical. When you add the normal embrace, it's more difficult to be symmetrical. In class, we were to work on the ideal of being symmetrical. At the milonga, you should do what fits in the space.

The Leader's footwork is in cross system. He gets into it with a side step left, holds the Follower's weight in place while he does a quick weight change, and then he roller blades forward.

We also tried this in double time, as it is very fun to do musically. In single time, the Leader collects at the ankles in between the strong beats as he would normally, but in double time he does not since there is not enough time. Instead, his legs are open and it might look more like a waddle-- admittedly not very elegant, but all eyes will be on the Follower anyway. Since all eyes are on the Follower, she should always collect in between her steps.

Pivoted Ocho: Baby Back Ocho

In this ocho, the Follower has a lot of torsion in her core.

Leader releases his right arm so that the Follower's hips have room to rotate. The Leader transitions to open embrace with both Leader and Follower at vertical axis.

We tried doing this in partnership, doing it in normal time and double time.

The class concluded with a summary review of Q&A.

Maestros did a demo to Se Va La Vida by Edgardo Donato.

WORKSHOP 3: REBOTES (SWITCH STEPS) FOR TANGO, VALS AND MILONGA WITH JUAN D'ARIENZO

The goal of this workshop was to continue our work on spiral energy, applying it to our vals and milonga. Thus, the introduction of the switch step, or "rebote".

In partnership with no Leader or Follower, we did forward ochos, pivoting as much as possible, but not breaking the embrace. We were to step toward our partner's trailing leg and really work the spiral in our bodies. Our shoulders should be relaxed and down. Our lats are engaged and support our back. We should stretch and reach our foot, and then go in our step forward. We could also practice this on our own.

Rebote Footwork and Bodywork

Next, we did a solo exercise, where we stepped forward, pivoted 90 degrees, snapped back, and stepped back. So we did it with right foot forward, pivot forward (clockwise), snap back (counterclockwise), step left foot back. Left foot forward, pivot forward (counterclockwise), snap back (clockwise), right foot back.

Tai Chi Tango Exercise

Next, we did the Tai Chi Tango exercise, which is an exercise to help us work on our connection, really mirror and match our partner’s energy, and feeling compression.

Leader and Follower face each other and are hand to hand (or palm to palm). The Leader does a circular motion with each of his hands, and at some point, he stops and gives compression. The Follower's job is to mirror and match the circular motion and to give resistance when she feels the Leader compress.

Next, the Leader's tea pot embrace (with his right hand behind him at his lower back like the handle of a tea pot, and his left arm and hand up like the spout of a tea pot, for the Follower to hang onto) was introduced. Leader should be sure that his left arm/hand (spout) is solid and stiffer. His left arm/hand (spout) should not telescope forward into the Follower.

The Point of No Return

When Leader’s and Follower’s hips face each other, that is called the "Point of No Return." In leading rebotes, the Leader starts compressing before the Follower reaches the Point of No Return. He compresses at the right moment so that the Follower has a wall from which to bounce back off. The Leader should bring his legs together at the point of the rebote to be a more solid wall and have better connection with the floor.

The rebound/rebote can be smooth or snappy/violent.

Adding the Weight Transfer to the Rebote

What happens when we add a weight transfer? The rebote travels linearly. Here, we travel, rebounding forward, linearly. Our hips are turn the same way.

The Leader leads the weight change by simply dropping the weight onto the foot.

This can be done circularly too, with either the Leader or Follower as the axis / center of the circle.

There are four possible variations:

If you can make the linked rebotes with weight transfer go in a line, you can also turn it, with either the Follower as the center, or the Leader as the center. But first, you should start it as a line. The Follower follows the Leader's direction and energy. Usually the Follower walks around the Leader, but the Follower can be the center and do her rebote steps. Maestros demonstrated, but the students did not attempt, doing rebotes using back ochos.

We were to work on getting the first, simple rebote down into our bodies before we attempted the other variations. Again, it was emphasized that the Leader keeps his left arm solid. We also did this in single time and double time. The Leader needs to be able to lead the weight change.

Push and Pull Aspects of the Embrace

In the embrace, there are two sides, or left hand and our right hand. For both Leader and Follower there is push and pull, using the palm of our hands or our fingers, both in our left hand and our right hand. To understand this concept, Maestra demonstrated what the push/pull would look like on a ballet barre. There is push/pull resistance/compression energy. If the Follower pulls the Leader off axis, she is doing the push/pull too strong or at the wrong timing.

"Surprise" Step

The Follower does ochos, and the Leader leads it such that the Follower kicks her leg through the Leaders open legs.

The Rules for the Follower:

The "Surprise Step" has the same feeling as the rebote, with the Leader giving you the wall, but he stops the rebound energy of his hips with the Leader compressing into the floor. This frees up the Follower's free leg to kick through.

Pendulum Leg Exercise

We backed up with an exercise, the Pendulum Leg. Here, the Follower's leg swings from the hip, large and full, not from the knees. Her knees should stay low, but be a part of the entire leg during the swing. It's a controlled leg swing, not a floppy one. Thus, it is a Tai Chi moment where you need to have freedom and also control.

After the exercise, we attempted to drill some more of rebotes with the surprise step kick through.

The class concluded with a summary review of Q&A.

Maestros did a demo to Nada Mas by D'Arienzo.

WORKSHOP 4: THE BOLEO VS OVERTURNED GANCHO CONNECTION WITH ROBERTO RUFINO ON VOCALS TO DISARLI

We began with a review of yesterday's material to warm up our bodies. Today, our focus was to explore the benefits of having good body spiral, which enables us to have better connection, better communication, more technique and more fulfillment in our dancing.

Ocho Exercise

We began in partnership with no Leader or Follower, and we both did forward ochos, stepping around and toward our partner's trailing foot. We tried this doing back ochos as well, which required even more torsion on our partners. In doing these ochos, the hand that goes to the forward foot will use a little bit of the pull energy to help give lots of pivot in the hips and feet. Again, it was emphasized that we should use our back muscles to keep us up, and our elbows should be pointed down.

Switch Step Exercise

Next, we did the switch step exercise in partnership, which is similar to the Ocho exercise, except we added the switch step pivot forward and snap back. Here, our work focused on how we rely on each other in a positive tango way, as we rebound off of each other and are the other person's wall. So we needed to focus on how we engaged, when we engaged, using our back, core, and connection to our floor. We were not to use our arms and shoulders to lead as if steering a bus.

Next, in Tea Kettle Open Embrace, the Leader's were to do the switch step lead. Leader should have symmetrical (30-45 degree) rotation in his chest/torso.

Building The Forward ("With") Boleo

Foot Trace and Caress the Floor Exercise

We began with an exercise to loosen up our hip. We were to caress the floor with our big toe, tracing the shape of the front of our opposite, supporting standing foot. We were to see how much we can rotate the hip, one foot around the other foot. Our feet began in a "V" position with a little turnout. At the end of our caress with our foot on the other side of our standing foot, our feet will look like the top of an arrow "/\".

“Thwack” (Front Boleo Legwork) Exercise

Then we did the "Thwack" Exercise, with our leg going all the way up and hitting the outside of our opposite hip in a whip action. The goal was to get a good thwack so that you can hear the snap of the pants. The Follower controls the shape of the boleo leg, even though it's the free leg. The quality of the boleo is in how well her leg does the whip action. Keep the knee as low as possible, as long as you clear the other thigh. Knee can lift a little at the end. Follower should keep her hips even, with an even pelvic floor. The Follower needs to have a solid standing, supporting leg for the boleo to work.

Leading the Boleo

With the Leader in Tea Kettle Open Embrace, the Leader was to lead this by doing a side step to the left, attacking the floor, changing weight, and then stepping again in a counter step without transferring the weight completely, but keeping it in the middle while sending her past the point Point of No Return.

The most important thing is timing to stabilize the step and the stop energy. Leader should not be too early or too late. The goal of this class was for the Leader to figure out where that point is and how to lead the boleo at that exact moment.

The Follower needs to be able to pivot on her standing leg, and the Leader needs to keep the Follower on her axis and not pull her off as she does her boleo by rushing her through her completion as her leg returns to exit. Thus, he must be patient and wait for the Follower to finish and he must wait for her hips to get back around after her boleo before he leads the next step, which could be a back ocho or regular back step after her normal collection. Leader must not rush the exit, otherwise he will knock her off axis.

Send Energy and Rebound Energy

Every Boleo has a send energy and a rebound energy to varying degrees. It could be 50/50, or 90/10 or anything in between. Maestro commented that Fabian Salas once demonstrated this by throwing a tennis ball at a wall.

Throwing the ball = send energy

Ball Hitting Wall and bouncing back = boleo

Ball Hitting No wall = ocho

The most obvious way to block the energy is through the embrace. The Leader's counter step reinforces the wall. The counter step can be a little away from the Follower.

Timing is key. The place where the Follower is ready to hit the wall is when you want to give her the block energy.

Our music was DiSarli with Rufino on vocals because the music is obvious with a good strong beat where we could employ the send energy, and also a good strong beat where we can feel the rebound energy.

Exits:

(1) Regular exit is a collection and foot returns back down to the floor.

(2) Knee goes up and around, then back down. Do not knee the Leader. This is for slower, more melodic and flowy music.

We could also do double or triple boleos before exiting.

Maestros showed us the overturned gancho, which is like the idea of the Follower kicking through the Leader's legs from the forward ocho, only it is done on the back ocho instead. The Leader gives the Follower a lot of send energy and also over rotates her so that she does an overturned back ocho and pivots a lot on her supporting, standing leg, such that her toes are pointed completely away from the Leader. Then he creates the wall energy to change it from circular to linear, compressing the energy and being like a wall or statue, as her boleo goes through his legs.

The class concluded with a summary review of Q&A.

Maestros did a demo to Corazon by DiSarli with Rufino on vocals.

WORKSHOP 5: THE BODY SPIRAL EXPLORED WITH A CELLSPACE-INSPIRED MUSIC MIX

Since this was an exploration class, Maestros asked what we wanted to work on, and it was decided that we continue our work on the Overturned Gancho.

Pendulum Exercise

We began with the Pendulum Exercise with the Follower swinging her leg, being really big and strong in her swing, really opening up and toes pointed forward, and the knee only bends when it has to.

At the right moment, the Leader puts his leg behind the Follower's supporting standing foot/leg, with his heel lifted from the floor, and his thigh opening up, exposing the soft part of his leg to receive the Follower's swinging pendulum leg in a gancho. This is called the "Captain Morgan" (of rum fame) position. Again, the Follower's bend in the knee happens at the maximum height of her back leg swing, and she should have good flesh contact with the Leader's thigh.

On the Pendulum Exercise, the Follower should be tall, lengthen the leg, point her toe.

The Leader's foot goes behind the Follower's far away foot, unweighted, with just a little bit of pressure to keep it steady, so perhaps 10% of his weight is on it.

If the Follower is much shorter, the Leader's knee needs to bend, so that he goes down like an elevator.

For the Pendulum Exercise, we had three levels:

(1) Both dancers with both eyes open

(2) Follower's eyes closed.

(3) Leader's and Follower's eyes closed.

If the Follower can do the exercise well, they are almost there.

The Overturned Gancho

The Leader plants his foot, but keeps rotating the Follower so that she pivots a lot and to the point where she can't rotate at all anymore. As he stops and plants, her free leg will go flying. The Leader's right hand needs to let her go so she can go. The Follower will still be hanging on with her left and right hands. The Leader's right hand just provides support on the Follower's left side rib cage/waist. The Follower can drop her left hand, completely letting go of the joint, to get 4 more inches of spiral so she can turn more. If she keeps hanging on, it will be more difficult for her to get around. The Leader's left shoulder joint needs to be relaxed too, to provide space.

Double overturned ganchos can also be done.

Again, as for ochos, the Follower should stay close to the Leader while doing her ochos (including her back ochos). If she needs to lean, she should hang back, not forward. She should not do knee ganchos.

Variation with Leader Back Ocho:

One easy adaptation is with the Leader doing a pivoting back ocho, while leading the Follower to do her overturned ocho so that the Follower ganchos through the back of the Leader's leg, so that her foot ends up at the front of the Leader when she ganchos.

To maintain the connection, the Follower should keep looking at the Leader.

Back Gancho Versus Follower's Back Sacada

The rule of the Follower's forward ocho is that the Leader does nothing at the point of no return, does not do any blocking or any rebounding.

How does the Leader lead a gancho/boleo? You stop turning at the right time to create a wall for the Follower. There is a block energy versus a continuous smooth energy. The Block energy has a suddenness, strong send energy to it.

For the Follower's back sacada, the Leader needs to be able to keep turning smoothly and keep the energy continuous and smooth with no block energy.

For either the Back Gancho or the Follower's Back Sacada, she needs to pivot a lot on the back ocho step, otherwise she will be too far away and hit his foot. She needs to pivot enough to walk around the Leader on the back ocho.

Since this was an exploration class, we drilled a lot to try to figure things out, mixing up Back Ganchos or Follower's Back Sacadas, both on the left and right sides.

Next, Maestros showed us a simple sequence, which we were to replicate in our bodies.

From the idea of the Leader's back ocho Follower overturned gancho through his legs from the back of his thighs to his front, he does a right leg parada. Follower does a reverse pasada, stepping back with her right foot, to a Follower left leg barrida of the Leader's right leg counterclockwise, to a Follower right leg gancho of the Leader's right leg. Our goal in recreating this sequence was the apply all the concepts we learned in all 5 workshops. Leader should drop his knee and keep turning the Follower at the point of his parada/her pasada. At the point of the barrida, the Leader has a soft knee and his weight is on his back left foot so that his right leg is free enough for the Follower to sweep easily and he doesn't block or resist her.

The class concluded with a summary review of Q&A.

Maestros did a demo to White Flag by Dido.

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Random Comments about the whole H&C Stanford Weekend Experience

Saturday and Sunday Lunch at The Treehouse

For lunch, I went over to the Treehouse, the on-campus food purveyor just 200 yards away from the Black Center, where the workshops were being held. It has a California-interpreted international menu of burgers/tex-mex/pizzas/rice bowls, with brown rice options. The first day I had a beef burrito bowl with brown rice for around $6. It was good, very hearty and filling and reasonably healthy. The second day I had the Fish & Chips for around $6. For some reason, on Sunday the portions seemed noticeably larger, with plates piled high. The Fish & Chips came with a whopping 6 pieces of fish! Granted, they were of the frozen, processed variety, but they were still tasty enough in all their salty, crunchy, deep fried glory, and the dish could easily serve two people.

Saturday Dinner

After the Saturday lessons, Jr. Scout Extraordinaire, Brookings and I went to her home, where she graciously allowed us to couch surf. Brookings made a delicious dinner of pasta with sauce, while JSE and I attempted to turn her Hard Boiled Eggs a la Tim Ferriss into a square shape using her nifty canape gadget. The eggs were a disaster. For some reason, the shells REALLY stuck to the eggs. So they looked gouged, mangled, and just plain sad after they were peeled. And they were stubborn about being shaped into squares since that was supposed to be done when they are warm. Still, it was an amusing, engaging thing to do as Brookings very charmingly cooked us dinner. It was a very companionable, happy evening, stubborn eggs and all (complete with a discussion on the technique and merits of adding vinegar to the egg-boiling water versus adding baking soda [acid versus base] as Tim Ferriss recommends, and how it might affect the shell's permeability and adhesion of protein, and also wondering why neither of us has ever run into Tim Ferriss at any local milongas. I guess after the World Championships and Guinness record, maybe just plain old social dancing with us Bay Area hacks would be a bit of a letdown.).

Saturday Night Stanford Milonga at Toyon Hall Lounge

The facility is gorgeous, built in the 1920s in the Mission (Spanish Revival) style. Coming from San Francisco, and with my former home of the same genre, I was delighted. To me, it was like coming home, only in a far grander style, with the room's spaciousness and height. To give you an idea of the scale and cost that went into construction, the beams and joists were at least a foot wide. Even the radiators, in all of their cast metal glory, were exquisite. This is what they looked like: http://www.charlesandhudson.com/archives/2007/12/steam-radiator-tips.htm. I had never been to Toyon Hall, but if all the Stanford Milongas were here, I will be sure to be back, even on non-Homer visits!

The milonga was fun. It was full but not excessively crowded. Lots of students from the H&C Stanford workshop were in attendance, along with folks coming in from as far away as Sacramento and as far south as Monterey, along with the usual San Francisco Bay Area pilgrims and tango gypsies, and a good contingent from the Berkeley Tango Club. The food was good. It was not sophticatedly presented, but was satisfying and ample, with assorted sliced cheeses and cold cuts, veggie platter, sliced fruit, bag of cherries, hummus, pita chips, cream puffs, Hersey's miniatures, and various sodas and water. It was a youthful interpretation of milonga food, fresh in its ease and unpretentiousness. I had a good time dancing, putting in floor time during most of the tandas. By the end of the night, my feet felt like raw, bloody stumps after several hours of dancing after a full day of classes.

The milonga went later than its official 12:30 p.m. end time, and at 1:15 p.m., Brookings and I were ready to call it a night. But because Jr. Scout Extraordinaire is THE social butterfly and hotly in demand, an invitation was extended to the Very Exclusive After Party. So even though Brookings and I were dog tired and really wanted to go, it was clear that Jr. Scout Extraordinaire wanted to stay and keep partying like a rock star. And so, we went to the Very Exclusive After Party, with Brookings and I as the 5th and 6th wheels. Brookings and I couldn't leave because we had carpooled and we were both staying at Jr. Scout Extraordinaire's home, so there we were, virtual prisoners. Not that you had to twist our rubber arms to stay. It turned out to be an extremely fun night.

Now here, I could tell you exactly what went on at the Very Exclusive After Party, but then I'd have to kill ya. ;o)

OK, since you twisted my virtual rubber arm, I will give you a little taste: there was alcohol ("REALLY good $h*t"), cream puffs, more food and more dancing -- only in socks! Carlos Gardel was there in spirit (when was the last time you heard one of his songs played at a local milonga?), and a couple of different versions of Por Una Cabeza were played and the lyrics and movies in which it is played were discussed, along with a discussion on Entropy (but not in the same breath), local current and aspiring Ph.DJ's, and the usual random things people discuss after spending hours and hours together. JSE wanted me to write something about: "The group circle tribal dance jam that wrapped the party (to what music I wish I remembered). I found it to be wonderful that we were all so freely expressing ourselves to music together yet differently with acceptance for all --- deep in the mysteries of the night environment. ... Watching you have a blast was what ultimately drew me in." but her words more adequately described it, so there you see that I just stole them from her. ;o)

We partied like rock stars until the wee hours of the morning, and I was truly thankful that the Sunday classes didn't start until 2:00 p.m., and even more thankful and relieved that I didn't get a parking ticket since JSE's very exclusive town prohibits overnight street parking of any kind, anywhere. When I heard that, I thought it was truly bizarre, me being scruffy riff-raff from San Francisco.

Couch Surfing at JSE's

Couch surfing at Jr. Scout Extraordinaire's was fun. Her couch is long, so I had no problem sleeping comfortably on it. Her home is very nice, clean and efficient. The pièce de résistance is the combined living space/dance room, with a dance floor and full length mirrors along one wall. In short, it is a great dance practice space, which is what we did. JSE asked me about the rulo before the follower pasada that maestra demo'd earlier in class, so that's what we worked on. I explained in excruciating detail exactly what I was doing, showed it slowly a couple of times, and then made her do it, captured on video so she doesn't forget. I recommended that she get a portable ballet barre so she could work on all sorts of embellishments and see how they look, but then I spied a piece of furniture that was a good stand-in, and recommended that she just use that as something to hold on to but also see through to the mirror since it would mean one less thing she would need to get. Much better to give an item she already had an additional purpose. I also showed JSE one of my new tango adorno toys. Funny thing, I used to do this years ago, and for some reason I dropped it, but I picked it up again recently and have been jamming it in non-stop whenever and wherever I could fit it into the dance, much to the surprise (and I hope delight) of some Leaders. JSE was sworn to secrecy not to disclose what that toy is, though you might see her do it on the dance floor one of these days.

Both JSE and Brookings are neat, clean, thoughtful and considerate people, so it's no surprise that we all got along well, as usual. Actually, because we were a little out of our element and yet quite familiar, it felt like we went away for a mini-Tango festival. The workshops were nice in that a majority of folks took all 5 classes, and attended both days. So many of us were quite friendly with each other by the end of the day Sunday.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Tim Ferriss Egg experiment, Part 1. I admit, watching the YouTube video had me intrigued. So I boiled the three eggs using my own quick method rather than the one Tim Ferriss recommends in his video (I boiled for 8-9 minutes; he recommends 12. I also do not use as large a pot, nor do I cover the eggs with a full 2 inches of water). To the cooling water (no ice), I added about one teaspoon of baking soda, as recommended. Then I swirled the eggs and baking soda in the water a bit and waited for it to cool down. When it did, I took off the two ends of the shell of one egg. Then I blew. and....drumrolll please... I heard cracks. The shell body started to crack, but the egg did not pop right out of the hole like in the video. I wonder if it was because I used pastured eggs a week or two old. Maybe if I used superfresh agribusiness eggs from styrofoam cartons they might have had thicker shells. I decided to keep the other two eggs for some later experimentation so I put them back in the fridge, not in water. I ended up peeling the first egg normally, and found that the shell almost slipped right off with no resistance or adhesion. So even though the blow part was a failure, I was very pleased with how the shell just slipped right off.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Tim Ferris Egg experiment, Part 2. Since Tim Ferriss's video suggested that these eggs were to be brought into work and eaten for lunch, that's exactly what I did (well, breakfast). So the other two eggs were refrigerated overnight, and then one made a 90-minute journey at exterior and train temperature (about 55-65 degrees). When in the office, I took off the two ends of the eggs. Then I blew. and....drumroll please... absolutely nothing happened. The egg would not budge out of the shell. The shell didn't crack either. I tried blowing again. Still nothing, nada. I ended up peeling the egg in the normal way, and found a little bit of adhesion on the ends, but overall the egg was very easy to peel (but not as easily as the night before when they were still slightly warmish).

Come Join Me!

February 19-20, 2011. Homer and Cristina Ladas at Stanford Weekend: Colgada/Volcada Lalapaloosa. It's not too late to begin working on building up your core/back muscles before the weekend. :o)

January 6-12

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Verdi Club Milonga. The place was somewhat full when I got there early on (watching the tail end of the lesson), and got more crowded as the night went on. It got so crowded that at one point, a friend who arrived later told me that he had to park three blocks away -- unheard of! Seth Asarnow Sexteto Tipco played two excellent sets. Floorcrafting was difficult, but kudos to all the leaders who did a reasonable job of keeping things safe and sane on the dance floor.

One wacky thing that happened was that it started out with me being asked to dance by a person I refuse to dance with. We have known each other for years and have taken many of the same classes and workshops, more than I care to count. I was specifically attentively fussing with my shoe as I saw him approach. For whatever strange, truly bizarre reason, he came bounding up to me and enthusiastically asked me to dance (no cabaceo, it was more like a dive bomb invitation). This was the first time he had ever asked me to dance. I politely declined, saying "No, thank you." Then he had the audacity to ask "Why not?". I was taken aback with having to explain my reasoning, since no one has ever asked it of me, so I said whatever first came to my mind, "I'm too cold right now." Now, those of y'all who actually know me know that temperatures have to be near glacial for me to be even slightly chilled, so even though it was quite cold outside and I was still covered in my wrap, this was basically a baldfaced lie and counter intuitive to warming up.

Afterwards, I had truly wished I had told him the real reason why I won't dance with him: "Because I find your behavior exceedingly rude during all classes and workshops where you talk and teach on top of the teacher while he/she is speaking, and I also find your behavior exceedingly rude to other dancers on the milonga dance floor the way you take the poor helpless beginners and proceed to "teach" them on the social dance floor. Never mind that most of what you "teach" is blatantly WRONG." It's pretty obvious that he never googled "dance class etiquette" or "milonga etiquette" and found the following articles (among many, many others) http://www.danceranddrummer.com/articles/etiquette.htm and http://www.tangoconcepts.com/etiquette.html , which has an entire section dedicated to warning against "Teaching on the Dance Floor."

The milonga itself was fun, and I stayed until nearly the end. I danced a lot, but started to bonk around midnight. A trip to the food table yielded only a few cubes of cheese and some baby carrots, as everything else was snarffled up by those more sensible to fuel throughout the night, long before midnight. My last several tandas were not so hot, and by the time I called it a night, my feet felt like raw, bloody stumps. Still, it was hard for me to stop dancing because I had so many excellent tandas, what with all the great dancers in town (CJ from Chicago is a dream to dance with! How I wish he would extend his vacation so that the San Francisco Bay Area tangueras can be further blessed to dance with him! And of course there were my usual favorites, ever faithfully in attendance as well).

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Nora's Milonga at Allegro. I skipped the lesson. The milonga was fun. It was colder than normal outside, which made them a little hesitant to turn on the a/c early on. When they finally did, when the room was obviously quite warm and stuffy, the arctic blast from the ceiling made some dancers and spectators quite chilled. I hope that their ventilation system doesn't only function on two modes: completely on (high) or completely off (none). The entire cast of Forever Tango made an appearance after their San Francisco show. Three individual couples performed. Then the entire cast sans Cheryl Burke performed. No song solo by Martin de Leon. It was nice to get such a huge taste of their show, which had two additional dates added. Afterwards, it was great fun seeing the cast social dance with each other and not their usual partners, and with those brave and bold enough from the local tango community to ask them to dance. I had a very good time at the milonga, finally getting the chance to dance with some tango dancers I met outside of the tango community, whose dance paths I hadn't yet crossed.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

CellSpace Alt Milonga with lesson beforehand by Homer and Cristina Ladas: Beginning Class: Novice Material and Introduction to Turns.

The music for our class was elegant and easy dancing DiSarli.

We began the class with partnering up, and then giving each other a hug. The first social barrier in tango to get over is hugging. So during the class, we did a lot of hugging in between partner changes.

Human Metronome Game
Next, we played the Human Metronome Game. Leader and Follower stand face to face, with knees soft and feet together. Ankles should be together like Dorothy's in the Wizard of Oz. The Follower puts her index finger on the Leader's body in an appropriate spot, such as on his chest. The Leader shifts weight and the Follower stays with him with her finger, feeling the weight shift and matching it with her own weight shift. The Leader should imagine waving like a tree and swaying gently side to side, so the movement is small and subtle, but grounded. Leader does not need to move a lot. Next, the Follower changes the spot where her finger is to another appropriate point on the Leader's body, such as his belly. Again, she should follow the Leader's weight shifts with weight shifts of her own. The Leader's goal is to communicate the weight shift, and he can vary his speed, slow and fast. Next, the Follower again changes the spot where her finger is (maybe to the Leader's hip), using her other hand. Wherever her finger is, or whatever hand she uses, it should feel the same. The Leader can go fast or slow, but his movement should be narrow, as if he is moving in a coffin. Next, the Leader changes tempo. We tried this while Maestro snapped his fingers on the strong beat to Di Sarli's Don Juan. The goal was for the Leader to try to tune into the music, and translate that into his body movements.

After the song, we hugged and then rotated partners.

Introduction to the Embrace
We began with the open embrace.
The Follower should put her right hand on the top of the Leader's left hand. The contact is soft, and her right elbow points down to the floor, relaxed.
The Leader should have his left hand not too high or too low; it should be somewhere between the Follower's shoulders and eyes.
The Follower's left hand can be on the Leader's shoulder, around his triceps, or around his bicep. It should be floating, not pushing down on the Leader.
The Leader's right hand scoops the Follower.

Junior High Sweetheart Dance
In the open embrace, we tried to change weight as we did at our dances in Junior High School, like young sweethearts, where we separate our feet by a few centimeters or inches, and both dancers take little steps, going around in a circle. It could take 20 steps to get around in one revolution. We did this clockwise and counterclockwise. The Junior High Sweetheart Dance is used as a tool to stall/wait, or to navigate.

Walking in the Line of Dance
The Line of Dance is the way the dance floor's order is maintained, with the Leaders facing counterclockwise (and walking forward) and the Follower's facing clockwise (and walking backward). With Maestro calling out "step" "step" on the strong beat of the song, the Leader would step forward, doing little steps. He could also do weight changes in place, or do the Junior High Sweetheart Dance to the left or to the right. We should not cut corners, otherwise we could wind up in the middle of the dance floor, which is a scary place. We should also not bog down the dance floor, but keep it moving.

Next, we changed partners and hugged our new partner. To a new Di Sarli song we again just practiced dancing, doing just:
Weight Changes
Junior High Sweetheart Dancing
Walking to the music, stepping on the strong beat.

The added instruction was to put this all together and do it all in the Line of Dance, and use all of the space by walking into the corners. Beginner dancers often cut corners to get around the dance floor. We were specifically instructed to not cut corners, but to walk into them, so that we all have more space to dance. We were to stop dancing when the music stops.

Social Etiquette, Part I: Thank You
Besides the Line of Dance, there are two other things that we should know about Argentine Tango social dancing.
The first thing is: "Thank You"

What does it mean when you say "Thank You" to someone you've been dancing with?
It means, "That's It."
It can be used many ways. If you enjoy dancing with someone, you can say it at the end of the tanda (a set of 3-5 songs) with sincerity and enthusiasm. You can also say it after the first song or in the middle of a song if are not comfortable, and don't want to continue dancing with the person.

Next, we changed partners and hugged our new partner. To a new Di Sarli song, we again just practiced dancing, doing just:
Weight Changes
Junior High Sweetheart Dancing
Walking to the music, stepping on the strong beat
In the Line of Dance.

The added instruction was to work on our floorcrafting a little more with the specific instruction on Not to Pass Anyone.

Also, if the embrace didn't feel comfortable to the Follower, she should ask the Leader to change it. Here in class, this is OK to do.

After the song ended, we thanked our partner, gave him a hug, and then changed partners.

Introduction on the Side Step
We all got into one big circle, holding hands. We began with a weight change, stopping with our weight on our right foot, compressing our knees, stretching our left foot, going over and transferring weight to the left side, and then coming up completely onto the left foot and the right leg pulling in to fully collect as a consequence. We also did this to the other side, changing our weight, settling on our left foot, compressing our knees, stretching our right foot, going over and transferring weight to the right side, and then coming up and collecting. Energywise and feelingwise, we mimicked the letter "U" of the alphabet.

In partnership of Leader and Follower, we went from the Metronome Game to the Side Step. In open embrace, the Leader settles on his left, compresses his knees, stretches his free foot, transfers the weight, comes back up and pulls the free leg in. It is important that when the Leader arrives to his new weighted/standing foot/leg, that he draw up in his body. The Leader should try to match the Follower, and not out step her, especially if he has longer legs than she does. Leader should keep his ankles together even while just changing weight in place.

Pointers:
A: On the side step, the footwork for both Leader and Follower should be more like a dental squeegee (non-dog owners should Google Image that), with the focus on the inside of the foot, rather than like a Hoover vacuum cleaner, with the whole foot moving flatly across the floor.
B: Leader: Don't go too far down, otherwise you will knock knees with the Follower. The Leader can control his knee so that it cuts to the inside or the outside of the Follower's knee to avoid contact with her knees. Thus, he should be aware of where the Follower's knees are likely to be.
C: Leader: Do not out step the Follower.
D: Follower: Stay with the Leader.

Next, we did a partner change, hugging our new partner.
To a new Di Sarli song we again just practiced dancing, doing just:
Weight Changes
Junior High Sweetheart Dancing
Walking to the music, stepping on the strong beat
In the Line of Dance
Using the Corners of the dance floor.

To this we added: The Side Step.
When doing the side step, the Leader needs to be aware of his/their orientation. If he is doing the side step across the line of dance, he should be sure he has room because he will be changing lanes. If he does it perpendicular to the line of dance, he should know whether his side step goes forward in the Line of Dance, or backward. If he chooses to go backward, he should be sure he has enough room and time to do so, and that he doesn't crash into or disturb the other dancers moving forward in the Line of Dance, possibly right into him.

The Leaders were also instructed to step forward more confidently, taking bigger steps. They could also vary the size of the steps, big and small, to practice their intention. It is important that the Leaders not compress the embrace unconsciously, but that they should be sure to keep it open.

Social Etiquette, Part II: Eye Contact
Q: How do you ask someone to dance?
A: You use eye contact. Be as subtle as possible.
This is called the "Cabaceo".

For the Follower, if she does NOT want to dance with a Leader who is trying to catch her eye, it is not enough to just not look at the Leader. She should look at him, acknowledge the eye contact, and then purposefully look away.
If she DOES want to dance with the Leader, she should look at the Leader, acknowledge the eye contact, and slightly nod a little bit (not hugely with head bobbing frantically up and down). Here, after he sees the Follower nod at him, the Leader should walk to the Follower and verbally ask, verifying that she does indeed want to dance.

More on Eye Contact:
How to get into the Line of Dance.
Leaders: Do not run into the Line of Dance.

Followers: Do not let the Leaders run into the Line of Dance.
Leaders: Establish eye contact with the couple you plan to cut in front of into the Line of Dance. If they don't acknowledge you, don't go in. Wait for them to go by, and then try with the next couple.

The class was split in two, with Leaders on one side and Followers on the other, and we tried to cabaceo each other, and then the Leaders walked over and verbally confirmed that the Follower wanted to dance.
Then we danced one song using all that we learned so far in class, again paying attention to dance in the Line of Dance, using the corners of the dance floor space, and not passing anyone.

Introduction to the Turn/Hiro/Molinete
The tango Turn is just as vital as walking. The Turn allows us to do everything else.
In one big circle, we all held hands. Then we took a side step right, forward cross step left, side step right, back cross step left so that we went around in one big counterclockwise circle.
We also tried this in the opposite direction: Side step left, forward cross step right, side step left, back cross step right so that we all went around in one big clockwise circle.

To put this in the context of social dancing, in partnership, the Leader does Pac Man with his feet, where his ankles are together and his feet are in a V, opening and going around like Pac Man (the 1980s video game), while the Follower does the Turn/Hiro/Molinete footwork of side, forward, side, back.

Usually, the first step is a side step. The Leader was to practice "capturing the Moon" -- with the Leader being the Earth and the Follower being the Moon. The Leader "captures" the Follower side step with a side step of his own, getting out of Pac Man footwork. For the Leader's Pac Man footwork, he should keep his ankles close together, taking care to not let the jaws of Pac Man open up too much.

Next, we did a partner change, and hugged our new partner.
To a new Di Sarli song we again just practiced dancing, doing just:
Weight Changes
Junior High Sweetheart Dancing
Walking to the music, stepping on the strong beat
In the Line of Dance
Using the Corners of the dance floor.

To this we added:
Leader Pac Man footwork, opening to his left while Follower did grapevine/Turn/Hiro/Molinete footwork of side, forward, side, back
Leader was also to capture the Follower's side step.
And then repeat.

The class concluded with a filmed question and answer review. No demo dance was done.

The milonga itself was fine. It was quite cold at CellSpace on this particular night, and I danced the first of several tandas still in my fleece jacket (which for me, is unheard of). Lots of folks looked like they were ready for Alpine excursions rather than tango dancing. It was nicely, but not hugely crowded, and floorcraft was generally OK. Energywise, things were pretty mellow and relaxed, which was really just groovy.

Why I Haven't Been Taking As Many Lessons

During the milonga, someone asked me about my lesson taking dropping off a bit, and if I am only taking Homer's lessons at this point. I am being much more selective about which lessons I take since my financial situation is much leaner than in years past. In addition, I am also still going through all the homework from the hundreds (thousands?) of lessons I've already taken. Generally I take all of Homer & Cristina's local lessons since I am comp'd into them because of the tangostudent project. Anything above and beyond that has to be truly compelling. And "Truly Compelling" is a tough nut to crack after several hundred (thousands?) of lessons. I am scrutinizing all the expenses, and questioning the value-added proposition of even the additional premilonga $5 lessons toward improving my tango development.

One thing I questioned recently in some classes I took was whether I was really the best follower to be partnered with. I found myself doing my part as perfectly as I could do it, based on what the teachers did/showed, rather than what the Leader actually led. Thus, I was not being a completely honest follower. Was I helping that leader student by dancing better than he led? Should I have just followed his lead exactly as he led it, even though it was hesitant, imprecise and not totally correct (which is completely understandable and acceptable since we are all students in a class and there to learn and figure things out)? Certainly, he could feel in my body where and how he should have led me based on where I went and the way my body torqued, but would he have learned better, more solidly, deeply, and confidently, if he had figured it out on his own how to lead me to go where and do what I was supposed to? So I just wonder ... and question my own value to others in a group class...

That being said, if there are any teachers/organizers reading this who want me to take notes of their classes and publish them for all the current and future tango students to see, or if they have a need for a follower assistant volunteer in their leader-heavy, imbalanced classes, they should definitely contact me. ;o) Same goes for any leader students who want me to partner with them (on their dime). ;o)