February 17-23

Friday, February 18, 2011

MUSE milonga with lesson beforehand by Homer and Cristina Ladas: "From Single Axis Turn to Hurricane Spin in Lomuto Valses”



I got there a little late, but saw that the room was packed with students for the H&C Intermediate lesson and brand spankin' newbies for Howard's "Like a Virgin" class.


EXERCISE: ELEMENTARY SCHOOL HUGGING

We began with an exercise in partnership face to face, imagining that we were back in elementary school, giving the person a nice hug. We got into this by stepping to the side, and the hugging person (usually the Leader) doing waddle footwork around the hugged person (usually the Follower), slightly lifting while whirling the hugged person around.



What is the biggest problem that prevents the colgada from happening? The Fear Factor. This exercise is an attempt to help us get over our fear factor of the whirling feeling. Other things are that the belly button of Follower and Leader come in, or the Follower’s knees come in, or the Follower clamps down on the Leader.



We worked to refine things.

Leader tries to step into the Follower’s space.

Follower pivots on one foot.

Leader waddles around quickly.

Leader and Follower belly buttons should not touch.

Stepping to the Leader’s left is easier, with Follower on her right foot.

As the Leader starts to turn, have belly button go away from each other.



The Follower posture is the same as the Leader steps to the side. She should keep her regular posture. The Leader should find where he can do it, and have a graceful exit when he stops. In stopping, he should pause and then walk out of it backwards into the line of dance. He should not cause the Follower to fall. Follower needs to keep her knees soft but not overly bend them.



We did a lot of drilling of this exercise, with many different partner changes in class.





EXERCISE: KNOCKING THE FOLLOWER OFF AXIS

Next, we did a fundamental, static exercise.



The Leader walks into the Follower, knocking her body off axis, and she falls back into the Leader’s hands. Follower’s feet remain in the same spot. There are three levels to this exercise:

(1) Follower and Leader catch each other.

(2) Leader catches Follower (Follower’s arms and hands do nothing, they do not hang onto or catch the Leader).

(3) Follower catches Leader (Leader’s arms and hands do nothing, they do not hang onto or catch the Follower).



In this exercise, the Leader needs to physically knock the Follower off axis with his whole center, displacing the Follower’s space. She needs to wait for the Leader to do this, not anticipate and not go back too soon automatically with no initial contact from the Leader.



EXERCISE: HIP UNDER COLGADA POSTURE AND COUNTERBALACING EACH OTHER

In the Hip Under Colgada Posture:

Spine is straight.

Hips go back.

We were to engage our cores, and our hips were to be under our rib cages.

The Leader sandwiches (his feet are in a “V” shape) the Follower’s feet (which are in parallel).

Leader and Follower hang onto each other’s wrists, and then move their cores/centers back, counterbalancing each other, using the power of their back and core muscles (not their arm/shoulder muscles).

We worked on this by going out a little first, and then more farther out, working on the posture in an extreme position.



We drilled this for a while, practicing with many different partners (tall, short, fat, thin), to work on being able to counterbalance all sorts of body shapes, weights, and muscle compositions.



BUILDING TO THE COLGADA:

Next, we worked on a Magic Trick.

In the Leader’s parada position, he has his leg out and outturned, and pivots around by kicking his heel around (lifting it). This is the same position as the Colgada position, only instead of weight being on the back foot, it’s on the Leader’s forward foot.



Then we went back to the first exercise, only with the Leader sending the Follower out in colgada posture, and then spinning the Follower around. We drilled this for quite a while with many different partners.



COLGADA KILLERS:

Belly in.

Back arches and upper body goes back like a banana.

Follower bends knees too much.

Follower clamps onto the Leader’s leg, exerting tension. The free leg should be controlled, but free.



COLGADA:

Next, one simple pattern to pull all the exercises and concepts together:

Leader does rock step with his left foot. Right foot hooks behind, so feet are in a perpendicular angles to each other, Follower right foot forward step (front cross step) around Leader clockwise, pivoting and getting 180 degrees around.



Follower should step long and around Leader to make her step compact.



This is like the ocho cortado, except it’s more circular and doesn’t interfere with the people dancing behind you. This is our set-up step.



The Leader unweights his left foot, and starts to walk around the Follower clockwise, after her right foot forward (front cross) step.



Follower should keep her belly back.



Leader should be aware of how he is holding the Follower. He needs to figure out where the sweet spot is. It is usually under her shoulder blades, and since Followers are all different heights, with different shoulder blade levels, he needs to adjust accordingly depending on the Follower height.



Leader releases his right shoulder a little bit, while Follower maintains contact with her back against the Leader’s forearm during the Colgada.



The Hurricane aspect of the Colgada we learned involved going around really fast. To go around REALLY fast, as the Leader steps around the Follower, his left foot sickles, and his right foot turns out and collects to help the Follower spin in axis. So his feet look like /\ < , etc, as he steps around and around on axis.



Both dancers should keep their elbows in so that it doesn’t take a lot of space.



After a class question and answer review, Maestros demonstrated the class exercises and concepts to Lomuto’s Jugando Jugando vals.



The milonga was fun. Despite the extremely cold, extremely rainy weather, it was a packed house, with very experienced dancers and virgin dancers having a ball together. I had a chance to dance more than I usually do since we had more volunteers, and one very happy to man the front desk all night. It was the most crowded its ever been, which was great. Still, there was plenty of dance space with none of the crushing crowds, bumps and jostles. It was great to see everyone so supportive of this milonga, and I hope the momentum and good wishes continue. The food was ample. My chicken and phyllo thingies got snarffled up first thing. Rochelle made some lovely desserts. Fresh fruits, veggies, chips and pretzels rounded out the snacks.



Saturday, February 19, 2011

Workshop Series Theme: "The Colgada/Volcada Experience: Foundation to the Limits!"



Saturday

11:30 - 1:00 Colgada Foundations with Carlos Di Sarli (beg/int)

2:00 - 3:30 Volcada Foundations with Miguel Calo (beg/int)

4:00 - 5:30 Functional vs Aesthetic Colgada Explorations with Mixed Music (int/adv)


Sunday
2:00 - 3:30 Melodic and Rhythmic Volcada Explorations with Enrique Rodriguez (int/adv)
4:00 - 6:00 The Colgada/Volcada Connection with Mixed Music (adv)

Please go to tangostudent.blogspot.com for detailed notes and dance demos.


Overall, I had an excellent time at this workshop series. It was the most well-attended Stanford weekend I had experienced, with about 50 people on both days. Past weekends typically had more people on one day than the other, but this time both days were about even, with a few extra leaders both days. Many folks came for all five workshops, and many stayed around for the Saturday Toyon Hall Milonga and Sunday Music Jam afterwards. Saturday's workshops were held at The Graduate Community Center, which was great since it's a little larger than the Black Center, our usual venue. Sunday's workshops were held at Koret Center, which is a little smaller than the Black Center.


The Toyon Hall Milonga on Saturday night was not as well attended as the one in January, but there were still plenty of people so that it was full but not overly so, and there was ample opportunity to get in some excellent tandas. The food, similar to what was served last time, was generous and well presented. There was enough for me to take a to-go plate of broccoli, tomatoes and cheese, which made for an excellent omlette that Jr. Scout and I shared the next morning. The talk of the milonga was the extremely excellent Tolga's Techie Tango Tanda program (it's unnamed, but how about "Tolgatron" ??) which he wrote over the course of a couple of nights. Basically, it’s a computer program that shows on a graphical display the name of band and singer, pictures of their orchestra leaders and singer, and the songs that are in the tanda, with the current one highlighted. Tolga's computer was hooked up to the large screen TV on the corner wall, so we could could clearly see what type of tanda was coming up next, as well as how many and which songs would be played in that tanda. That made for a more active, engaged course of planning who to dance with next, and also reaffirmed the song titles for our memory and musical education. It also had the unfortunate effect of causing us to be painfully aware of how excruciatingly long a tanda might be if we were stuck with someone we weren’t having a great time dancing with (not that there were many of those). Clever technology tricks were also used elsewhere to increase the enjoyment and ambiance: A computer hooked up to a projector projected the image of a fire burning in a fireplace onto the enormous fireplace in Toyon Hall. The normally empty fireplace’s massive screen was smartly and thoughtfully dressed and draped in a white sheet, which made for a very clever, easy, portable and well-fitting projection screen. Maestros did an excellent two-song performance. http://www.youtube.com/user/msirota84#p/a/u/0/mMyLpTntgho The second one was particularly fantastic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gDPkAI8QgA


I wasn't able to stay for the Sunday Music Jam, but Jr. Scout Extraordinaire wrote this:

The musician's jam at Stanford was fantastic! Homer on bandoneon, violin (forgot her name), Nicholas on cello, Mario on keyboard, Jay on keyboard. Don't forget all three singers: Sasha Alex, Bendrew, and Cristina. What a nice surprise to hear Cristina sing with her rich, deep, voice. Really beautiful. The musicians were all sight reading, they hadn't played together before, and most hadn't played tango music before, but had listened and/or danced to it. Homer led naturally and gracefully. There were about 16 dancers in a small room at Stanford, we loved dancing to this dynamic live music and hope it continues. Calling all musicians!


February 21, 2011
Monday Night Practica at The Beat with lesson beforehand by Homer and Cristina Ladas: "Phrasing to the Transitions & Fills"


Our class consisted of many games and exercises.



Game: Vals Chacarera.

We got into Chacarera formation of Leaders all in one line facing Followers all in one line, making eye contact with the person across from you, and keeping hands in the air, and turning our torso a little diagonally since the room was quite crowded. Then we took four steps forward and four steps back, similar to the Avanzado and Regreso initial steps of the Chacarera. The 4 forward steps were done in 4 beats, and the 4 back steps were done in 4 beats. We were to play in between the sentences of the song, doing pitter-patter or some fancy or playful footwork or bodywork. Our goal was to get back to our original spot at the end of the sentence.



During this game, maestro played a very regular vals, A Magaldi by Alfredo de Angelis, which has some very nice fills and some run-ons in the song.



Next, we tried to dance in partnership, dancing to the fill. Our constraints were that we were to just walk to the end of a sentence, to get ready to dance to the fill. During the fills we were to do playful things like taps, pitter-patters, or shimmies. Our song was still A Magaldi by Alfredo de Angelis. We were to be as creative or as simple as we want to be during the fill. We were to give ourselves room to play.



“Fills” are often transitions between sentences, but they can also be Run-Ons. We should pay attention to the lyrics because they can help us with timing and anticipating when the fills will come. The lyrics don’t come into a song until the entire song does its thing. Vocals are in poetry form, so it gives you an idea of how the sentences will come. The lyrics/song poetry falls directly on top of the sentence/musical structure of this particular vals, as is the case with many valses. Maestro demo’d this concept by dancing by himself, walking forward and back with the musical phrasing, showing that we could hear the sighs, and take a pause to start the next phrase (like a comma). At the comma or the end of a sentence (phrase) is where the Leader should start the turn in the other direction.



Exercise: Follower Musically Educating the Leader

Our next exercise focused on the Follower educating the Leader about what she hears musically. The Leader pretends that he doesn't hear anything (including the beat). We were to only walk. We were not to do any weight changes, rock steps, turns, ochos, double time steps, or traspie. The Follower needs to actively hear the music, as she tries to gently educate the Leader in a subtle way, conveying what she hears in the music. The Follower is not to back lead or take the lead away, but to use subtle things to suggest to the Leader what she hears. This is so that the Follower can empower herself and be in tune with the music. This is an exercise for the process of Leader education. The Follower can use other parts besides her legs to express the fills in the music: She can do these subtle things:
hand signal (slight squeezes)
move hips
move shoulders
soft taps with hand

She should keep her subtle suggestions and signals in her upper body, and not use her legs and feet. Otherwise, she will be back leading. Without back leading, the Follower can add accents to the music.

The secret agenda of this exercise is to empower the Follower. The Follower adds a lot to the Leader’s education if she is in tune with the music. When we really know the music, we will know it, we will own it and it will come easier.



What is the difference between this and back leading? Do the little things with other parts of the body so that they are under the radar. Follower can initiate something independent of the lead to enhance the dance. Be active in creating the dance with the Leader.



To develop our musical awareness, we did four different exercises.



FIRST LEVEL OF AWARENESS:

To Canaro’s Poema, we just listened to the song without dancing or doing anything (although at home we could do something mindless like wash dishes so that we can focus on the music). In listening, we were to sharpen our hearing and try to find and recognize the fills.



SECOND LEVEL OF AWARENESS

Here, we played a game. In partnership, with Leader and Follower face to face, fingertip to fingertip in mirror image to each other, our fingers and hands “danced” to Canaro’s Poema, with the Leader leading first, and then the Follower given the ability to impose herself if she chooses. This was a give-and-take exercise, with our hands and fingers mirroring and talking to each other. This exercise is to help the Leader to listen to the Follower better, and for the Follower to be more vocal in her body movement about what she hears.



THIRD LEVEL OF AWARENESS

To Canaro’s Poema, we danced simply, giving ourselves a set of constraints, which were to just walk during the song, but to catch the fills, during which we could do pitter patter or taps, but nothing much fancier than that.



FOURTH LEVEL OF AWARENESS

At this level we danced with no constraints, being able to do anything, but still dancing to the music and to try to interpret the fills.



Note that fills can be at the middle or the end of a phrase. Maestro asked if we wanted the same song or a different song. The class wanted a different song, so we danced to Rodriguez’s No Se Porque Razon.



In sum, our 4 Levels of Awareness are:

1. Listen to the song and do as little as possible other than listen.

2. Play with a partner to develop listening interaction skills without physically dancing.

3. Dance with a partner with constraints to try to interpret the music. Use simple movements.

4. Dance with no constraints, but dance to the music and try to interpret the fills.



Maestra shared her experience as a learning Leader. She said she is currently stuck at Level 3. She said she tries to interpret the fills, but by the time the fills arrive, she is late in her lead to them and has missed them. For her to get to the next level, she is trying to simplify everything else, but save the “special” movements for the fill. The “special” movements are simple ones like rock steps or weight changes.



After a short question and answer class summary, Maestros demo’d the class concepts to Rodriguez’s No Se Porque Razon.


I didn't stay much longer after the lesson as I wanted to get home to do the notes. Plus I was generally dog tired.



---------------



COMMUNAL EATING RANT

At one milonga I recently attended (unnamed, but it was NOT MUSE), I got completely skeeved out by one tanguera(!) who took a large piece of cauliflower from the vegetable tray, broke a piece off of it, and put the rest of it back for others to eat. Yuck!! Like who would want to eat that after someone else touched it?! Honestly, who the heck raised this person? Obviously not someone who knew anything about communal eating etiquette, germs, hygiene or disease prevention. It also did not help that the tanguera who did this is one who shoves her hand in leaders' hair when she dances with them (yes -- "them" -- MULTIPLE leaders). And who the heck taught her that the embrace is with her left hand in the Leader's hair? And let's face it, lots of men use some type of product(s) in their hair. Yeesh. Now if you will excuse me, I need to go hurl at thinking about this wretched experience. (Anne walks away, shaking her head in absolute disgust.)




WHAT AM I EXCITED ABOUT THESE DAYS?

A few days of rest, actually. :o)

February 10-16

Friday, February 11, 2011
Trio Garufa's $5 donation milonga with Free Parking at the Harvey Milk Arts Center. I admit, the clincher for me going to this milonga was the free parking. Not that many miliongas have paid parking, but there are some milongas in more difficult to park areas that I generally don't go to specifically because of that. And I certainly appreciated the free parking for this milonga, because parking in the neighborhood is difficult. When I got there, Maria Volonte was finishing up her set, and it was packed. The room is large with very high ceilings, reminiscent of a middle school auditorium. Clearly, it is a dance space though, as there are mirrors on one side of the wall, and ballet barres on the other. The hardwood floor was comfortable to dance on, but the room got quite warm during the night, and the two portable fans did little to alleviate the humidity. Still, I had a good time dancing and then resting/cooling off during alternating tandas, both to live and recorded music. The wine for sale was Two Buck Chuck, each glass priced at a mere two bucks. I missed out on the empanadas, they were all snarffled and snapped up by the 23rd hour, as they were bargain priced at $3 for 2 (they were advertised as home made, though I suspect the dough was of the store-bought variety as they looked a little too "perfect", in my opinion...of course I am totally speaking out of school since I didn't have any). It was very crowded at times, as the place was filled with a lot of the local tango community, and lots of folks I had never seen before (newbies, I believe). The volunteers were all super friendly and attentive, giving out the parking vouchers immediately so no one had to stress out about it, and manning the bar and food table to satisfy the thirsty and hungry. Trio Garufa played well, as usual, and Maria Volonte is always divine. I had a nice time, and was glad my drive home was just over the hill.

Saturday, February 12, 2011
La Milonga de Nora at Allegro with lesson beforehand by Eduardo Saucedo y Marisa Quiroga. The lesson focused on the Ocho Cortado. Since there were more Followers than Leaders, I sat it out and just took notes for most of the class until I jumped in at the end to work the material with one of my favorite leaders from the South Bay. For the Followers technique in the Ocho Cortado, be elegant and caress the floor when going into the cross. Pivot on the right foot before going to the cross, but not too much; do not overturn away from the Leader. Followers should collect the feet at every opportunity, and make the pivots with the feet together. The Follower adorno of the right foot shoe show off before going to the cross was taught, as well as the Leader adorno of the left foot heel forward touch to left foot back step was taught. More interesting, more complicated Ocho Cortado variations were also taught: The double to the cross, where Leader does not let Follower completely change her weight. The Follower forward front cross step instead of just a plain tight front cross, whereby the Leader turns his torso in a circular manner, causing the Follower to rotate more on her open/side step so that she takes a forward front cross step around the Leader rather than going into a flat, tight front cross. Here, the Leader opens his right arm a little so the Follower can pivot more, then he rotates her counter clockwise. On the Follower's forward step, her hips should be perpendicular to the Leader. For the Leader's technique, he should not sway his torso up and down. He should just rotate his torso, but not tilt it from side to side. One final variation was a variation on the double where the Leader does a forward double step with the Follower's double back step. It was an excellent class with ample drilling and individual corrections. As usual, the class ended with the super-fun Eduardo Saucedo group circle body movement dance to Tango Negro by Caceres. I don't think I've ever experienced anyone in the entire worldwide tango community who oozes as much good vibes, positive karma, happy feelings, joy and tango love as Eduardo Saucedo. It is positively infectious!

The milonga was OK. For some reason the Bucha Effect/Flicker Vertigo/Photosensitive Epilepsy-inducing light in the corner (the bright spotlight behind the spinning fan blades) really bothered me a lot on this night MUCH more than usual. And rather than tempt fate, I left early, shortly after the very generous four-song performance by Maestros:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZMJ1M19g2E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6WKd2AE_ik

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juQAjwW07Dk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqLmHg2TuFQ


Sunday, February 13, 2011
Studio Gracia Milonga with lesson beforehand by Negracha y Diego Lanau. I skipped all but the tail end of the lesson. The milonga started out a bit sparse, but filled up reasonably later on. After I had danced a tanda with nearly all of the Leaders I wanted to dance with, I left.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011
CellSpace ALT Milonga with lesson beforehand by Homer and Cristina Ladas: Get Your Lead/Follow Spiral On

This workshop was similar to the one held at Stanford in January 2011

Our focus was on the body spiral, connecting to our bodies and having more self-awareness.


WASHING MACHINE EXERCISE

We began with the Washing Machine Exercise.

Here, we turn our bodies to our left and then release the right foot, pivoting on our left foot. Our hips catch up with our chest.

The goal was to do a 90-degree (quarter) turn with our chest, with everything else following, and then do a 180-degree (half) turn with our chest, with everything else following. Then if we could master that, we could try doing a 360-degree (full) turn, with everything else following.

The motion is:
(1) Turn
(2) Release Hips
(3) Get all the way around.

We were to try this on both sides (turning to our left and turning to our right), engaging and then releasing.

We were also to try this on each foot, in each direction, so there were four possibilities:
(1) Pivoting on our left foot while turning to the left
(2) Pivoting on our left foot while turning to our right
(3) Pivoting on our right foot while turning to our right
(4) Pivoting on our right foot while turning to the left

The first level of this exercise is to have the hips catch up to the chest.
The second level of this exercise is to have the hips go past the chest.

This action is called the Washing Machine exercise because it mimics the spin cycle of a washing machine. It is a good oblique workout.

Next, we were to apply this exercise in a real tango move.

BODY SPIRAL IN CONTEXT OF FOLLOWER TURN/HIRO/MOLINETE

In teakettle embrace with Leader’s hands at the small of his back and elbows out so that Follower can hold onto his arms, the Leader steps around the Follower and leads her in a turn/hiro/molinete on either side. The Leader uses a bit of spiral, turning his chest first, and then his hips coming around.

The Follower also uses spiral while she does the turn/hiro/molinete around the Leader. The only point of contact is in her hands on his arms. Follower, be active in making this contact work. Hold on enough. Wake up that part of the embrace. Keep both sides (her left and right hands) awake. Her arms should be like spaghetti al dente, not too hard and stiff, but not too loose and soggy/absorbing. She should feel and be responsive to the Leader’s body so that the Leader doesn’t have to push her around.

The Leader should not overuse his hands. This is why we practiced the turn/hiro/molinete in teakettle embrace with the Leader not using his hands at all.

The Leader’s right foot outside forward step is where his first spiral is. The Follower spirals in her chest in response, to maintain connection with the Leader and to be in front of him. This is not a square move, it is a circular rotation.

We practiced doing this to a slow Di Sarli song on the strong beat.

With respect to Follower’s turn/hiro/molinete technique, she should keep her nose back on the side step, stay near the Leader, and do not float away at all on all steps of the turn/hiro/molinete: forward (front cross) step, side step, back (back cross) step, side step.

The “Rule of the Nose” was introduced. Since we were doing our work in Open Structure (as opposed to Close Structure), the Follower should try to keep the distance between her nose and the Leader’s nose the same at all time, and not get ahead or behind his nose, and not change the level of her nose up or down, or tilt her head forward or back.

More on Follower’s turn technique: Do not rush in the steps. The Leaders were instructed to lead it on the strong beat, so you should know how much time you have and what the pace of steps should be. Each step in the turn/hiro/molinete is worth $100. Do not rush through the side step and short change it. Step long and consistently around the Leader. Make the weight transfers smooth.

For Leader’s turn technique, the Leader opens his left shoulder to get the Follower to go around him in the clockwise turn/hiro/molinete. It is a pull energy. Leader needs to engage his core.

Here, Maestro demonstrated the wringing/torsion a la washing machine with his right foot forward step, and then his left shoulder opening, and as she goes around in the turn/hiro/molinete, his hips come around.

More on Follower’s turn technique: She should collect at the end of the movement where here feet pass each other, rather than throughout, which takes too much time and looks stiff and robotic.

Also, since we are working using the Open Structure, the axis of both dancers is straight.

Going back to the “Rule of the Nose” since there were questions about it, Maestra commented on how to use the nose. Having the nose and head up raises the eyes and head, which opens up the chest. It is a different way of presenting yourself. This is in contrast to looking at the Leader’s chest, which can cause the Follower’s head to tilt forward and break the line of the body and throw her off axis (make her lean in).

Next, onto the more challenging part of the evening.

The Leader’s back sacada.

ADDING THE LEADER’S BACK SACADA TO THE FOLLOWER TURN/HIRO/MOLINETE

Leader does a right foot back to big spiral, into a left foot back sacada while Follower does a counterclockwise turn/hiro/molinete around him. The Leader uses pull energy in his left arm so that the Follower continues to go around him in a turn/hiro/molinete.

There are two options taught in receiving the Leader back sacada:
(1) Follower raises her knees up, collects, and then steps back.
(2) Follower keeps her feet low and down toward the floor, fluidly receiving it with a little fan out, collects, and then steps back.
Either way, the Follower needs to have control of her receiving leg with either option and not let it flail around, our or away.

With the Leader back sacada option, there are three places of Leader spiral:
(1) Right foot forward step
(2) Left shoulder opening up to initiate the Follower turn/hiro/molinete
(3) Right foot back step to counterclockwise pivot

The class concluded with a review and class summary that included Maestra demonstrating the Follower homework of working on the turn/hiro/molinete footwork around a chair with her focus on keeping her spine vertical and using her arms up, like holding a beach ball over the center of the chair, to also work the spiral in her body.

Maestros demonstrated the class concepts to DiSarli’s Don Juan.



WHAT AM I EXCITED ABOUT?

What else?

MUSE...obviously. Hope to see you TOMORROW, this Friday, February 18, at the City Dance Annex on Harrison for the return of MUSE. Homer and Cristina teach a teaser workshop to kick-off the Stanford Weekend workshop series on Volcadas and Colgadas.

Homer & Cristina Volcada and Colgada workshop series at Stanford February 19-20, with Saturday night milonga at Toyon Hall.

Monday, Orange Practica at the Beat. H&C will teach, but most importantly (at least to self-aggrandizing l'il ol' me), we will be celebrating the 100,000 tangostudent.blogspot.com hits with a cake!! Whoo hoo!! Who would have ever thought that this project would evolve to what it is now?!

February 3-9

Thursday, February 3, 2011
Verdi Club Milonga with lesson beforehand by Brigitta Winkler. The lesson was brilliant. I paid for, but did not participate in it, choosing instead to just take notes. The class was follower-heavy and I did not want to be forced into a position to lead, so sitting it out worked out great for me. That way, I could really watch and take detailed notes. This was the first time I had experienced Maestra teach since taking her "Teacher's Workshop" at the San Diego Tango Festival in January 2010. From what I had learned from that workshop, I could appreciate her teaching technique a little better, where I could really see how she employed her philosophy of not "the teacher knows everything and the students know nothing", but rather, "we all know a lot about a lot of things".

I arrived a little late, and saw that the class was doing the random actors walk exercise. Then they were to focus on their weight changes, with focusing on their spine being the center of their standing leg. We should not just move through space, but focus on how we move through space. We use our breath. We have good, smooth weight changes. We should be beautiful. We should be connected with our body and have awareness of the people around us. Our knees are important.

Being at ease with musicality was our theme for the evening. Our first music was with Piazzolla, and their driving boom boom of the bandoneon. First, we set our intention as there are many ways to work it. We need to make space for it. Our goal is to have more attention to the music.

With Leader and Follower together, we were to listen for a moment to the music (this time, a DiSarli song). What is it that you hear? Sweet, rhythmic, instrument, melody, beat, regular, lyrics, voice. We exchanged with our partner what we heard, and asked each other "How do you like the music the best?" "What would the tango be if it were your musicality?" The goal was to be engaged and speak to each other.

Next, we were to focus on our 3-4 musicality ideas: beat, rhythm, melody, and maybe pauses (the most difficult).

To a DiSarli song, in partnership with Leader and Follower not moving anywhere but just doing weight changes, we were to step only on the hard beat, and going to the rhythm, all in place. Then we shared with each other: "What did you think about that?" "Did you like it?" Next, we added the walking to the hard beat, and doing a little rhythmic game (weight change) in place. Then we shared with each other, "How was that?" Then we changed partners to practice with someone else.

Our next work was on Melody. "What are we doing when we dance the melody?" A: Turning. Listening to the Singer. Having more circular dynamics in our dance. swaying, Spiraling. Gliding (like ironing something.). Using space. Here, we practiced the gliding concept by doing side-to-side footwork. To Malena, we were to practice this gliding side step with weight changes, really stretching and squeezing and using slow motion. Then we did it to a DiSarli song. We should take a long time to arrive, because when we do arrive, there's not much we can do after that. We should bend our knees and use our whole bodies when we dance. Again, we were to use the hard beat to walk and do the rhythmic weight changes in a small space, dancing on the spot for musicality. Then we shared with each other: "Was there enough melody?" "Did I do enough melody?" Maestro demo'd in a different system (since I am not a Leader, I have no clue whether we began in cross or parallel or if we switched to parallel or cross). She asked the Follower, "How did it feel?" The answer: "Weird". It s a simple but complex concept, and needs trust on the Follower side. We spoke to each other to exchange the experience: "How was that?"

Our next work was on Pause. "Why is it so hard?" "Or is it not?" "Does it make us nervous?" The Followers told the Leaders what she likes and doesn't like about pauses: They're dramatic. They give us a moment to gather ourselves, feel, breathe, think. To enjoy the moment. It's tantric. Suspense. Carlos Gavito said, "Tango lives in the pauses." Then we danced one tango, dancing the pauses using the parada.

Where in the music would pauses be good? At the end of a phrase. Use the pauses and the phrases. Dance with lots of pauses. Maintain the line of dance. Enjoy. Enjoy the beat, rhythm, melody, and the pauses. "How was that experience?" It's hard to slow down. "What did you learn?" "Anything you want to say?" Followers would like to see pauses a little more. Listen to the music. Choose the phrases. Pause more than you think.

It was a brilliant lesson.

The milonga was OK, not great. It quickly became super crowded, with difficult floorcrafting. This milonga is so popular! Which is why it is so fun! And why it is so NOT fun at times! I left early since I just wanted to sleep more than I wanted to dance in such conditions, shortly after Maestra and Felipe Martinez did a two-song demo ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBRAiqDB6nc and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3piSMyBS5I&feature=related ), which garnered some hoots and hollers from a very enthusiastic tanguero (and who himself garnered some amused glances and smirks from the audience for his hooting and hollering).


Friday, February 4, 2011
Dinner at South Sea Seafood Village Restaurant in SF. http://www.southseaseafoodvillage.com/ About a dozen local tangueros descended on the restaurant to celebrate Chinese New Year's, organized by Howard. Ethnicities were not limited to those of Chinese decent; there were American mutts of Euro and Afro descent, as well as Asians of ethnicities that do not celebrate Chinese/Lunar New Year, so basically we were like a United Nations table, in a sea of tables filled with Chinese folks celebrating the New Year. To make ordering easy, we had one of their set menus, but swapped out a dish and added an additional one. The main dinner food was all very delicious: shark fin soup; appetizer cold plate with jellyfish, chicken, and pressed meat; Chinese broccoli with shitake mushrooms; braised lettuce with pork, oysters [so NOT Kosher!], and black moss [so very New Year!]; Peking duck with meat made into duck lettuce cups; steamed whole fish; deep fried crab; shrimp with peas and macadamia nuts; stir-fried pea shoots. I could have passed on dessert though: purple sand soup (whoops...I mean red bean soup with rice balls and tapioca), and these weird cookie things that were hard and crunchy when you bit into them but which looked deceptively like light and fluffy cakes. Conversation was easy, light and breezy, and didn't touch on tango at all that I can recall. Still, it crossed my mind that the milonga organizers might have been none too pleased that here a near dozen of us were, all of whom they would have been happy to have at their milongas instead. Ah well. Balance, balance, balance. There is more to life than tango!

Saturday, February 5, 2011
The Late Shift with lesson beforehand by Jenny and Tatum Nolan. I got there a little late, thanks to my temperamental garage door (which probably needs to be serviced, but that's another story). The lesson, which was being conducted in the upstairs ballroom, had already started. The Leaders and Followers were separated into their own respective groups: the Followers were working on walking forward and walking backward, doing ocho steps; I don't recall what the Leaders were working on since I was trying to keep an eye on the action while at the same time change into my dance shoes while standing up since there were no chairs in the room and I was wearing a dress. Then we partnered up with the Leader doing a side step while the Follower did a forward ocho (forward cross step), as we built toward the subject of the evening: the molinete. There were a lot of technical tips offered up for the moinete: The Leader's footwork has to be tight as the Follower goes around him. The Leader needs to open his left shoulder on the Follower back step to accommodate her need for space. The Follower has to pivot a lot on her own, otherwise the Leader will have to turn her a lot with his right hand. The Follower should keep her knees together at the point of the pivot. The Follower's forward step should be curved and snakey so she can get around the Leader. We drilled a lot, and really tried to employ the many technical concepts related to the lead and follow in our balance and posture, and in our footwork.

I found both Maestros to be excellent teachers of technique, with very clear and precise explanations, lots of individual attention, including dancing with everyone so that we could feel in their bodies what we should be doing in ours, and much skill at being able to evaluate the dancers' respective levels and giving them more challenging or more basic material, depending on where they were in their development. It was very nice to go back to the basics and work on ocho and molinete technique, and obviously, even several years into this, there are still some important things related to ochos and molinetes that I need to work to improve.

Warning: Rant Ahead
Since there were two extra Followers, when I was rotated out, I immediately went to the barre to continue working on my ocho technique. Maestra looked on approvingly, and came by to give me instruction on what I needed to work on. During the next rotation, she specifically instructed the out Followers to work at the barre, but sadly, they looked reluctant to do so, and only worked there half-heartedly or not at all. Ironically, but not surprisingly, it seemed to me that those Followers most reluctant to work at the barre were the ones who needed to be there, working on the barre on their ocho technique, the most.

I came across a quote a while ago, and it has stuck with me: "The difference between a great player and an average player is the great players will do the mundane things when nobody is looking." I am not sure what below average players do... probably nothing (like not go to or work at the barre). As for me, I've always loved working at the barre, and sorely miss those many hours I used to spend at the very fancy dance studio in the very fancy corporate gym designed by and for former Olympians and competitive jersey wearers at one of the most hard-charging, aggressive firms in a white-shoe industry. What has never been part of my blog is all the hours I used to spend there, just walking back and forth, with ochos and without, looking at myself in the wall of mirrors to see how well I was managing my weight changes, how on axis/balanced (or not!) I was. The mirror is where we perfect the ideal versions of ourselves as well as come face to face with our own horrendous dance shortcomings.

My work at the barre was the most fun part of my workout. It was where I would do all the balance, foot and ankle strengthening and articulation exercises that Chelsea Eng and Jennifer Bratt taught me. At the barre was where I would just play and play and play and do all sorts of crazy embellishments and work on my boleo and ocho technique, again, doing all the homework that was given to me by all of my fantastic Maestras of Follower's Technique. It was a sad day when I was layed off and couldn't go to that gym anymore. :o( But I found suitable replacements for the barre at home: behind the sofa; in front of the kitchen range (the handle on my kitchen oven is quite high since the knobs are on the top of the range), in front of the dresser, against a 6 foot wall, etc. There were about a bazillion places in my own home where I could practice my work at the barre, without having an actual barre to hold onto (though I could have ordered a portable one off the Internet). My very first Follower's Technique teacher, the mother and creator of Follower's Technique, Graciela Gonzalez, teaches students to use just the back of a chair as a barre when practicing ocho technique. Foot and ankle strengthening exercises can be done anywhere: the train/bust station waiting for the next ride, at the microwave or waiting for the coffee machine, in line for the ladies' room (because no matter where you are the world over, there will ALWAYS be a line there).

Anyway, it frustrates me when Followers express the desire to be faster with their responsiveness, more creative and fluid in their embellishments, and more on balance and sure footed, with more spiral and disassocation, and yet they do nearly nothing on their own to make it happen. Instead, they are the ones who become like coats on the Leaders, who they seemingly blockily drape onto as if the Leaders were coat hangers. Lots of them are the notorious whack-a-moles who choose the path of improving their dancing by dancing with "the good leaders", not even noticing that the "good leaders" are cringing at having to dance with them.

I told the one gal in class who enthusiastically joined me at the barre that she will be a great dancer one day (she's already very good), because in working at the barre, we master our bodies, weight changes, pivots, and spirals, and when we can do these things perfectly on our own, in balance, then dancing with someone else becomes super easy, with everything coming naturally and quickly responsive. Adding tango music to the barre work accelerates improvement exponentially, in my opinion, as long as the Follower focuses on doing the exercises TO/WITH the music as her partner (and not just as something in the background like wallpaper). End of Rant.

I had a very nice time at the milonga. El Russo de Portland made an appearance, and he's obviously made plenty of friends among the local tangueras. Lucky for me, we danced two tandas together. I also danced a few tandas with some Leaders I hadn't danced with before. One tanda was absolute magic, and one tanda, closer to tragic. The near tragic one was technically OK, but it was just so UNmusical. I could just feel he was trying out every single thing he had in his tango bag of tricks on me, seemingly without regard to the music, and with his mind more on his feet and footwork, than on his chest and axis/balance or the other dancers and floorspace. This kind of leader makes me feel like we are pole dancing, with him the pole dancer, and me the pole (regardless of who is rotating around whom).

Sunday, February 6, 2011
Studio Gracia Milonga. I missed the lesson beforehand, taught by Negracha and Diego Lanau. I got there later than I had planned to. The milonga was reasonably attended, not too crowded at all and not light. The mood was pretty mellow, almost too mellow for me (were they all Steelers fans?). I danced some tandas with the usual Leaders I dance with. A few ladies showed up dressed in cheongsam/qipao (maybe they missed the memo that last Sunday was the Chinese New Year's celebration at Studio Gracia), while I was dressed to celebrate the Packers' victory, sans the cheese head. I left early, for no particular reason other than suffering from a touch of ennui not attributed to any one or any thing in particular, although I did have a splendid time being a chatty cathy with Cheena, who is quite a hoot.


Wednesday, February 9, 2011
CellSpace ALT Milonga with lesson beforehand by Doruk Golcu. I had been curious about Doruk's teaching, having been blessed early on with an introduction to him by Jr. Scout Extraordinaire when he first arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area, and having had a few dances with him in the months since then. I found his teaching to be clear and witty. He's very patient, funny and clever. The sequence taught was a simple one that included the Follower molinete and Leader sacadas: 8CB to the cross, followed by Follower's clockwise moliente with Leader Sacada of his left foot (after his right foot crosses behind and he shifts his full weight back on it to free his left leg) of her trailing left foot on her right foot front cross step, and another Leader sacada of his right foot on her left foot side step of her trailing right foot. This turn was done in the parallel system.

Next, we switched it to the cross system, whereby the molinete remains clockwise, but the Leader's first sacada is with his right foot, and the second sacada is with his left foot. The resolution is where the Leader steps forward outside partner with his right foot.

There was a lot of technical discussion on what the Leader and Follower needed to do properly, and what struck me the most was how well Doruk could illustrate the Follower's part, both good and what NOT to do, by using Followers from the class and Leaders from the class (while he became the Follower). One example was that the Follower should have a nice, pretty right foot as it goes around after the Leader's second sacada; it should not be up and wild, otherwise she might lose balance and pull the Leader off axis. Follower should also stay around the Leader, and her left side of the hip should be facing the Leader (they are in 90 degrees to each other) on her right foot back cross step.

To make the sequence more challenging, the Follower's right foot back cross step becomes overturned, into a Follower back sacada of the Leader's right foot (on the Leader's second sacada, he remains weighted on his left foot so that his right foot is free for the Follower to do her right foot back sacada. During her step back it is a straight step back, not a crossed step back or an open step back. To illustrate these different ways of stepping back, we felt it on our own bodies with our hands on our butts. We would do the slightly open step back going into the cross, we would do the crossed step back only when being led to do so by the Leader in a non-pivoted ocho, and we do our straight steps back while walking backward regularly. This straight step back is the same style of back step that should be done during the Follower's back sacada.

Then we tried to add the musicality to it with the Follower's molinete code of QQS on the back - side - forward step.

Our homework after the class at home was to write a five-page essay about sacadas and turns. Maestro was just kidding here!!!! The real homework was this: Every turn that happens to the right, can be done to the left. Our homework was to figure out how to do it on the other side.

It was an excellent class. Maestro was concerned that the topic might be a little too elementary for the class level, but I thought it was perfect, and we could always use more work on perfecting our ochos, molinetes, torso rotation and weight transfers.

The milonga was fun. It wasn't too crowded at all, and everyone was reasonably behaved. I actually got into the lesson and milonga for free. I signed up on a whim to volunteer since I saw Barry's friendly face at the door, and chatted him up about volunteering since it's something I wanted to do, but just hadn't found the courage before because I didn't know any of the other CellSpace volunteers well enough. (I know, how silly of me!) He explained to me what I needed to do as a volunteer to get in free that night, which was just sit at the door for 2-3 tandas and take in the entry fee and mark it in the book. Yup, it truly was easy peasy. I think I will become a regular volunteer on those non Homer & Cristina nights. That way I can experience a lot of other teachers, many of whom are new to teaching, or to the Bay Area, and many of whom have been around for years. Plus I think volunteering is a good social/community building thing to do and occupies me productively as I wait for the next traditional tanda ;o) .


WHAT AM I EXCITED ABOUT?

H&C Stanford volcada/colgada weekend February 19-20 with milonga at Toyon Hall. See tangomango.org for the full details. If you dislike all the driving back and forth and have a sleeping bag/blankets&sheets you don't mind schlepping around, you might want to see if a couch surfing buddy will accommodate you for Saturday night. Sorry, Jr. Scout Extraordinaire's couches are already taken!!!

And of course, H&C @ MUSE on February 18, arranged by yours truly. It should be a blast!!! Please do come, and save me a tanda!

January 27 to February 2

Friday, January 28, 2011
Palo Alto Milonga with Chacarera Lesson beforehand by Pampa Cortez. I missed the lesson because I was having way too good of a time to tear myself away from dinner. Who would have thought that Chili's could be so fun?! Still, I arrived just in time to catch the last bit of the lesson, and everyone looked really good doing the Chacarera. The milonga was reasonably attended, with a good balance of Leaders and Followers. So I think we all pretty much danced with each other, and had a good time. Pampa's Folkloric Troupe did a performance, with Pampa doing a solo with these hard balls on string things (obviously I don't know the name of them), twirling them so that the hard balls rhythmically hit the hardwood floors, similar to how nunchucks would perform if they were made of a hard ball and string (instead of stick and chain), and reached to the floor. It was a truly astounding, amazing performance, and it's great to see the progress that the Folkloric Troupe is making and how happy Maestro is to perform and teach Argentine Folkloric dances. The Zapateo footwork that he and the male members of the Troupe do is truly breathtaking in it's sharp precision and elegance. I am not a guy, but I certainly love Chacarera, and if I weren't so completely neurotic about my ankle ligaments and tendons, I would be sorely tempted to join just to learn the intricacies of the Zapateo footwork (and I'd have a cool reason to buy some really some nifty, stylish boots). The milonga was fun. The vibe was mellow and chill, and the crowd blissfully drama-free. I was too stuffed with dinner to even glance at the food table, but I did notice later on that it was vacuumed clean by everyone else in attendance. It was a very nice, pleasant night. And luckily for me, the Palo Alto Milongas hosted by Elaine are now on the second and last Fridays, so they won't conflict with the MUSE milongas, which start up again on February 18 and will be on every first and third Fridays. I am very excited about MUSE, can you tell? :o)

Saturday, January 29, 2011
The Late Shift Milonga grand re-opening at the old space with lesson beforehand by Pier and Debbie Goodwin. I missed the lesson. When I got there around 10:30 p.m., it was already packed. It seemed everyone and their cousin was in attendance to celebrate the return of the Late Shift to the larger (former Metronome, former Cheryl Burke) ballroom. The room is somewhat more austere than it used to be, with all the pictures of the dance teachers and much of the furniture (like the tall bar tables) gone. Still, there were benches around the perimeter for adequate seating, and which happily made for larger dance floor space, which was definitely needed and appreciated on this full-house night. Even the mini practice room space where Tango Con*Fusion held their boutique had no tables, so all the shoes were placed on the floor for display. Still, it was great to see so many people in attendance. I truly hope that the momentum is maintained because this was always one of my favorite Saturday Night milongas, even though several times I went, it was only lightly attended. But absence makes the heart grow fonder, and it would be great to see continued support from the local tango community of this milonga. David and Mariana did a nice demo, as did Tango Con*Fusion of some material they are working on. The Tango Con*Fusion gals had a cake to celebrate their 7th anniversary, and they invited Brigitta Winkler to join them in blowing out the candles, since she was and continues to be a source of inspiration for the troupe (and for lots of dancers in SF -- heck, the world!!! - as well). It was a very nice night and great to see so many faces, old friends and new, and I stayed until the very end.

Sunday, January 30, 2011
Studio Gracia Milonga with lesson beforehand by Paula Gurini & Mariano Bielak. I missed the lesson, but was impressed by Maetros' demo later on. They are extremely elegant, poised, musical dancers, and after their two numbers they blessed us with an encore of one more, which included a few lifts and jumps toward the end to shake things up a bit.

The Milonga was quite crowded, so floorcrafting was a bit tough at times. I had a fun time for the most part, though I did have a small mishap (total Shoe FAIL!) later on in the evening. I was cooling my heels, waiting for the milonga tanda to end because Darrel didn't want to dance milonga. Well, Morena inspired him to get out there and finish up the tanda. So as we were burning up the floor, someone stepped on my heel cap at the exact moment I was pivoting away. At first after the contact, I didn't know what had happened. I knew I wasn't injured at all (no scrapes or bruises), and I could still feel my heel, but I could also feel that it was not sitting properly level on the floor. The physics gods must have been angry at me because the force and torsion combined was enough to dislodge the stiletto from my shoe, breaking clear through the center screw and all the glue on the edge of the stiletto top. Looking at the shoe later, it must have been torqued and twisted in some weird way, because there are two other small screws that go in at an angle from the shoe to the heel, but I can't seem to get them back into the holes properly. Obviously, the shoe doctor is going to have to come to the rescue on this one, as just a squirt of glue is not going to be enough or a lasting fix. Luckily, my shoe bag was still full of other shoes from the milongas I had gone to the two days before, so a quick change had me out on the dance floor just as Morena ended.

Monday, January 31, 2011
La Cumparsita Milonga with lesson beforehand by Korey and Adeline Ireland: "Musical Finess: Adapting for Lyrical and Rhythmic Opportunities". We began the lesson with some body exercises, moving our body parts randomly, but to the music, doing moves like shaking our hands, bopping our heads up and down, tapping our feet, etc. Then we were to do this in counts of four only. Next, we all did a clapping exercise to a song, clapping on the 1, the 2, the 3, and the 4. Then we were split into four groups, and we clapped again, but only during our group's assigned beat. Then we practiced clapping to different rhythms as a group 1-3-1, 1-4-1, 1-2-3, 3-4-1, etc. Next, we applied our rhythmic exercise to the Follower's back ocho using a D'Arienzo song. We were to do the double time when we heard the music accelerate, but also slow down to regular time when the music slowed. Our goal was to work on accelerating and breaking the ocho. The Leader does a rock step and while he breaks the Follower's back ocho (similar to how an alteration or change of direction feels). Directionally, the momentum continues, so left to left or right to right. For the Follower broken ocho, she needs to really pivot on her supporting, standing leg during the break. Next, we worked on our musical interaction and responsiveness to each other, with the Leader asking with his eyes and his head marking the 1 in a nod, and the Follower answering with her hands on his shoulders, tapping out the 2-3-4 (or 2-3, or 2, whatever the music dictates). Then we tried to really put this musical interaction and responsiveness to each other in the context of the broken or half ocho, trying to do a different sort of acceleration (double time). Next, we worked on a different step whereby the Leader does QQS footwork moving his body counterclockwise around the Follower, while she does an ocho calesita (Follower left foot steps back, so she is on her right foot as the standing, supporting leg. Here, the Leader should be ahead of the Follower's hips. A Follower can do an adorno of a front caress of the floor with her left foot big toe bunion area tracing around her standing, supporting right foot as her body spirals top down counterclockwise, to use the time elegantly and gracefully. Next, we changed the music to Demare, which has more drawn-out violin and more wavelike qualities. After drilling to Demare a while, the music was again changed to DiSarli's Bahia Blanca. Maestros demo'd how silly it would look to dance to DiSarli as if you were dancing to D'Arienzo (rhythmic, fast and humorously). Next, we practiced dancing to accentuate the 4-1 in the music, by accelerating into the next phrase. We could do this at the cross, and afterwards respect the pause in the music. The goal of the class was to change the music and our acceleration to give our steps different flavors.

The milonga was fun for me. It wasn't super crowded, but there were some very strong leaders who also attended the musicality lesson (and kudos to them for that, since some of them are local teachers/organizers/DJs), so it made for a very nice time. After I had changed back into my street shoes, Meastro came over and asked me to dance. I was shocked! I quickly changed back into my dance shoes and we gave it a whirl. For some not-so-bizarre and not-so-surprising reason (probably as my mind was screaming to me "Oh my God!!! I am dancing with Korey Ireland!!!!), there was a point in the song (don't remember what it was, but I think it was a DiSarli) where I just completely choked. I lost my balance and started to tip over like a falling tree. I felt Maestro feel me going over, and then I felt him surely, confidently, and strongly properly right me up so that I was straight and on balance again. I laughed and my own horrible dancing and remarked that he could pretty much fix any follower's dancing (including and especially mine). He smiled and said something charming. It was a very fun dance, lucky me to be so blessed with his asking. After that, Brookings showed up, so I danced a full tanda with him, and a few more tandas with a few more people, until I was completely exhausted and really, really had to go. It was a fun night.

WHAT AM I EXCITED ABOUT THESE DAYS?

The next MUSE Milonga, February 18, 2011. I will be volunteering for it, and Homer and Cristina are teaching the pre-milonga class, a precursor lesson to the Stanford Volcada/Colgada Lalapaloosa. Be there or be square.

El Russo de Portland, that Dancer From Soul, coming to town this weekend. The SF tangueras will be very lucky indeed.