May 5-12

Friday, May 7, 2010

Palo Alto Milonga at All Saint’s Episcopal Church with lesson beforehand by Adolfo Caszarry on the Ocho Cortado. The lesson was basic but good. I sat it out since there were a few more Followers, and I was comfortable with where my Ocho Cortado was. They started with the regular ocho cortado. Then they added the Leader’s right foot stop of Follower’s right foot on her left foot side step before the cross. Then they did a variation which involved no return to a cross, but a paired Americana step, to a Follower pivot, to step forward cross step outside Leader with her right leg, back out to resolution. It was a good lesson. Before the lesson, we spent a few minutes on a Leader Technique thing: From the tight front cross, pivoting all the way around 360 degrees, to be crossed again, with our feet the other way. Maestro gave subtle tips about this: how the feet when they are crossed, should actually have the crossing foot slightly ahead of the straight foot, so that when you pivot around, you also transfer weight to the heel, and then back into crossed the other way, but in a far more elegant and tight manner than if your feet were equal and you had the weight on the balls of your feet the entire time. We all tried this, even though we were not all Leaders.

The milonga itself was surprisingly super fun. The Leader quality was very good (some were excellent, highly skilled), and they were social. So most people got to dance with a variety of people. It was a luxury to be able to dance so freely since there was ample space on the dance floor. Generally, floor craft was not a problem, with only a few light bumps followed by immediate acknowledgement/apologies. The food was paired down to just cheese and crackers and grapes. Interestingly, a hot pot of coffee was available all night. That was the first time I had seen coffee at a milonga on the west coast! There was a birthday vals with cheesecake. I stayed until the end, and had a very good time the entire time.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Gustavo Benzecry Sabá & María Olivera workshop: “Rhythm v. Musicality” We began with walking on a single beat, forward and backward to a Canaro song. We used Canaro because he was among the first composers to have the marked idea of the strong beat. Next, we added syncopation (QQ), forward and back. Music is like a poem with phrases. The phrases are repeated. You will recognize the phrases because they are repeated.

Pugliese is more dramatic. Here, we tried to step only on the 8^th beat, our feet moving during the other seven beats, but not stepping until the 8^th beat, trying to express what’s between every step. In Pugliese, there are strong and melodic moments, such as with the violin. We tried to move our leg for as long as the violin is playing, to slow down our movements more. An example of the simple strong beat is Canaro, the extreme of which is D’Arienzo. In the 1920’s Julio De Caro introduced the idea of strong melodies and harmonies, and the extreme of that is Pugliese. The extreme extreme of that is Piazzolla.

In our class, we changed the music, going from the beat, to feeling more harmonies and melodies and trying to express them in our dance. We were to listen. We were not just to follow the beat. We don’t need to step on the beat, but can let them go by. We danced to the same Pugliese song twice, and then a different Pugliese song once. In Pugliese, instead of regular beats (as in Canaro) the music goes in waves, and there are pauses. The length of the music/sounds are longer than in Canaro (which has shorter lengths). During these long lengths of music, we should stretch our legs to express the music.

Then we changed the music to Canaro’s Poema. First, we danced the way we wanted to dance to it. Then, we played with the different layers of music, isolating the different tracks: piano, violin, lyrics, etc. The music of Poema does not invite you to do ganchos because ganchos were invented later. The music of Poema is made for intimate, close embrace dancing. The violin is the woman. The bass is the step of the man/leader. The piano is the couple walking in the park. We were to dance to Poema, paying attention to the 5 possibilities of what we can emphasize: the rhythm, the harmony/melody, the singer, the accent/effect (piano/bandoneon), or the silence (pause). We then danced, with Leader paying attention to dance only during the violin. Then only during the singer. Then only on the beat. We were to adjust the step accordingly to the partners height, shorter or taller/longer. The Follower was to stay with the Leader and put attitude in her steps, and to add effects to express the music. To improve our musicality, we should listen to different songs, play different types of music all the time.

One web site that Maestros are excited about is Poesia De Gotan, a web site that has English translations of tango lyrics. http://poesiadegotan.wordpress.com/ It is important to know the lyrics of the songs so that we can express them more appropriately. Sometimes people dance to Poema with a look of absolute joy or impishness in their steps, when the lyrics are actually sad. Our feet are paintbrushes. The floor is the canvas. Don’t be worried about your feet. You will dance if the music is in your heart. All the rest will come.

This was a great lesson. Gustavo and Maria were one of my first visiting Maestros. They are friends of Roberto’s, and Roberto strongly recommended them, since Gustavo is a fellow Dinzelito. I had forgotten how beautifully poetic his use of language was, and I had forgotten how precise Maria’s translation was in her extreme fluency. They were a pleasure to learn from again. During the class I had the most amazing dance with Gerry to a Nuevo milonga. I was astounded that his milonga is so great, since he does not dance milonga much at milongas (at least I don’t notice that he does). I asked him who he is learning from right now since Ney and Jennifer are gone. He said no one; he just works from his notes (his notebooks are much bigger than mine). He remarked on what a magical time that was for us when Ney and Jennifer were here, and I agreed wistfully. The practica afterwards was fun.

El Russo de Portland was here in town, to be honored at his employer for being the rock star that he is. I was supposed to meet up with him so that we could burn the floor, but though the spirit was willing, the flesh was weak. I was too pooped, so I didn’t dance on Saturday or Sunday night. El Russo did manage to do an admirable job scouting out the local tango scene on his own. He ran into three fellow Intensivo graduates at Monte Cristo on Friday. On Saturday, the legendary Graciela Gonzalez popped into the Allegro for a visit. Sunday’s workshops with Gustavo and Maria were good, and he had a nice time at Studio Gracia Sunday night, where dancer quality was fine. He had an excellent time here overall, despite us missing each other.

Monday, May 10, 2010

La Cumparista Milonga

I skipped the lesson beforehand. The milonga was fun. I danced with several new people, who turned out to be excellent dancers.

April 22-May 5

Saturday, April 24, 2010

The Late Shift Milonga. I missed the lesson. The milonga itself was lightly attended. I didn’t stay very long, but what I found striking was how the food on that particular night was significantly different, better than usual.

Friday, April 30, 2010

Diego and Negracha Lanau milonga at Lake Merritt Dance Center, upstairs ballroom #2. I missed the lesson. This ballroom is the smaller ballroom on the second floor, with textured pergo floor. Seating is on the two opposite sides of the wall, almost militaristic style. Ventilation wasn’t the greatest, but was much better once the windows were open to let in the cool night breeze. Maestros are incredibly warm, charming, inclusive hosts, and they make everyone feel extremely welcome at their milongas, and so they have more of a family party vibe to them rather than commercial endeavors. There were ample and delicious drinks and food, some of which was cooked personally by Maestra, and some of which was potluck. Diego did a find job spinning the tunes. There was a raffle; the four separate prizes were two private lessons and two TangoZapa magazines, generously donated by publisher Tammy as she walked in. During the show portion of the evening, Negracha sang two tangos, and one simple, regular chacarera, all accompanied by Trio Garufa’s Guillermo Garcia on guitar. We danced the chacarera respectably enough, though oddly, the person I was partnered up with in line very publicly walked away, ditching me before the song actually began…what was up with that?! Rather than slink back to my seat, tail tucked between my legs and face burning in embarrassment, I went ahead and danced to it by myself anyway, with only my ideal invisible partner, who as it turned out since I made him up in my head, was incredibly charming and understanding at my being slightly rusty. Maestros’ buddies maestros Andrea Monti y Gato Valdez did a fine show tango performance of two songs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfTx2OzH3lw and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK23mvAYJ9E Andrea has incredible strength, agility, and technical precision, so it was very inspiring to watch her. Gato, of course, is a great leader. Rachel Greenberg came by just in time to do a performance without warming up with Diego. It was great. You can see it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0nUKEgPxS8 The milonga got somewhat crowded since several of the other usual Friday tango events were cancelled (no free tango movie night and no St. Aiden’s milonga. :o( ), but not so much that floor craft ever got obnoxious. All in all, it was a pleasant night.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

The Late Shift Milonga with lesson beforehand by Rachel Greenberg. I was planning on going to the Free TangoRevolution Concert and Milonga since the price was right, but at the milonga the night before, two local tangueros, whose opinions I respect, made it a point to let me know that Rachel Greenberg was an excellent teacher. Since I had not yet been blessed with experiencing her teaching, the pull was too great to ignore, though I knew it was extremely likely that there would be more followers than leaders at the milonga that night. If that turned out to the case, I figured I could make my way over to the TangoRevolution milonga easily enough, thanks to my handy dandy GPS.

The lesson focused on playing with the Follower’s cross and the Americana. We began with a figure that was the 8CB to the cross, followed by a Follower forward ocho to the Leader’s outside right while the Leader steps back. Then he pivots her bigger than usual to do another forward ocho into the Americana. When the Leader leads the Follower into the Americana, his arm should slide around her, or he should relax his elbow so that they can get closer to each other.

For Follower’s technique, she should always face the Leader’s torso, even during the Americana. She also needs to be complete with her weight changes and pivot a lot into the Americana.

After the Americana, both dancers can walk forward, but eventually the Leader brings the Follower back to be in front of him, and she continues to walk back two steps. Then the Leader can accompany the Follower as he leads her to do back ochos.

In the Americana, the Leader needs to coordinate the transfer of weight of both dancers simultaneously. The Leader transfers the weight forward as he brings the Follower around to do a small right foot side step returning in front of him. Then the Follower steps back with her left foot, with her chest always facing the Leader’s chest.

Sometimes the Follower will do contra tiempo (QQS) while the Leader does tiempo (SS). The Follower should always try to be close to the Leader in this sequence and not float away.

Next, we played with the sequence, with the Leader pivoting the Follower at the point of the cross (8CB to cross), so that they come into the Americana position, and she steps forward with her left foot out. The Leader needs to transfer the Follower’s weight and make her turn forward in the Americana as she goes into the cross.

For the Follower, when the Leader changes her direction, she needs to keep her torso toward the Leader and her feet crossed and collected before she steps out with her left foot.

Next, we played some more with this, pivoting her QQ without the cross. This is a surprising change of direction for the Follower.

Finally, we mixed everything up: The cross to Americana, to back ocho, to cross, to Americana, to pivoted Americana with no cross.

The Leader can add a boleo lead as he takes a right side step with Follower on her right foot back step to lead her to do a boleo with her left foot.

The lesson was good and confirmed that Maestra is an excellent teacher. There was clear explanation and ample time to drill with lots of instructor individual feedback to everyone.

At the lesson, I heard from another two local tangueros, whose opinions I respect, that Rachel Greenberg was an excellent teacher, and they strongly recommended that I go to her workshops the next day. This was kind of strange and surprising in that I had never been told quite so fervently from so many different people – all leaders -- that I should go to a lesson taught by a specific teacher. It made me think that we’ve been visited by La Bruja and she has cast a spell upon the entire Bay Area tango community, from the looks of how many avid fans she has.

The milonga was pretty good. I danced with a lot of my favorite leaders, and some newish-to-me ones, who are beginners but with a lot of potential and no horrendously bad habits/bad posture at this point, and one specifically with a shockingly delicious embrace. Dale & Cathy did a fine job spinning the tunes, and I think they were particularly inspired by milonga that night since there were no fewer than four milonga tandas! The milonga had a very nice vibe to it. As expected, there were more Followers than Leaders, but the crowd was good and most people were very social. So we all got to dance, we all got to rest, and there was no frenzied competitiveness of fighting for the “good dancers” by the tango ambushers trying to rack up mileage on the dance floor at the expense of others.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Afternoon Practilonga at La Pista. This practilonga happened in the downstairs ballroom right after Rachel Greenberg’s workshops that day, which I unfortunately missed. The first one was on the Ocho Cortado (which I was OK skipping since I have had many, many lessons on the ocho cortado), and the second one was on Boleos, which I had wanted to take. Since many of the workshop students stayed for the practilonga, it was clear that the boleo workshop had more followers than leaders. No surprise there, but it was a shame that it was as imbalanced as it was. When I arrived at the practilonga, there seemed to be a ratio of 1:5 leaders to followers. It never quite evened out at the practica, but the leaders who were there were social and danced with all the patiently waiting followers, who seemed happy enough to chat among themselves or watch the other dancers. One of the Leaders led me in the boleo class work, which was a series of 4 Follower boleos, alternating back, then front, then back, then front, out to a back ocho for Follower or forward front cross step for Follower, all while the Leader walked around her. This Leader was pleased that I could execute this, even though I was not in the class. Then I verbally guided one other Leader who was leading me into a back boleo. I just told him to lead me into a back boleo, immediately into a front boleo, and then to keep doing them as he walked around me clockwise. He got carried away and did 6, 8, 10 then 12 boleos while walking around me. That’s when I told him it was enough and that he was backing up traffic behind us. I speculate there was much time spent on Follower boleo technique during the workshop since the mirrors had plenty of fingerprints on them. And I am sure Maestra was very good at explaining the Leader’s side of the intricacies of leading boleos and their timing.

At the practilonga, I decided to give myself a swift kick in the pants, put my money where my mouth was, and actually practice a lesson I took in November 2009 that I wanted to work on. It was an extremely technical colgada that Fabian Salas and Lola taught at Fandango de Tango 2009, and I brought my class notes to the practica. I think I got it back reasonably well, and I think other dancers at the practilonga were inspired to work on their colagadas too, even though it was not what I would consider a Nuevo crowd. I had a surprisingly very good time and was totally OK with not dancing the entire time. It was very freeing to be experimental and creative and work on new material without feeling like a doofus if it didn’t work out. The leaders who danced were all good to excellent, social, creative, and polite, so I imagine all the followers had a decent time, despite the substantial bench warming.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Cellspace Alt Milonga. I didn’t catch the lesson. The milonga itself was just OK for me. Not magic, not tragic. I got to dance with some new-to-me leaders, and several of my usual favorites.

April 15-21

Saturday, April 17, 2010

The Late Shift Milonga. I missed the lesson beforehand by Adam Hoopengardner and Ciko Tanik. The milonga was well attended, but not excessively crowded; it was the perfect amount of people to make it feel friendly and social but not aggressive or competitive. The dance level was pretty good, as was the floor crafting. There were a few more leaders than followers, so I imagine that nearly all the followers had a good time. I certainly had a good time, despite feeling a bit rusty. Adam and Ciko did a two-song performance around midnight. The first one was of a bluesy flavored tango, and the second one was a more traditional tango. As is typical of their style, they did a lot of Nuevo, off-axis moves. It was a very pleasant evening, and the first time I stayed until the very end of the milonga.

So what am I excited about these days?

A brilliant blog I came across:

http://teachingsmart.blogspot.com/

April 8-14

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Verdi Club Milonga with lesson beforehand by Orlando Paiva, Jr. and Emily. Emily was ill, so Andrea Fuchilieri assisted. We began the class with some technique exercises on walking. Maestro’s system begins with feet out turned in a V, not parallel, heels together and knees together. To walk forward, bend the knee, extend the foot out, and be on two tracks. Move the leg first so that you can be able to pick up the foot but not have any weight on it. The leg goes first (as opposed to the body) so that you go downward and get extension, and then extend the knee and ankle. The goal in walking is to move perfectly on axis. The leg goes first so that there is no limit in terms of how much speed you can achieve. Elegance is based on straight lines. We move our legs first because people only see what moves first, so you move your leg first, then the foot, then go. We should have our weight on the inside of the foot where the future bunion will be, so that our knees are always together. The foot gets flat as we arrive to axis and achieve height in our step. We practiced walking forward using this technical concept.

Next, we worked on forward ocho technique. First we step from side to side, then we added the hips and pivot. We transfer weight, bend the knee, put knees together, and then go out. Again, our legs move first, then our body. The secret to being balance is that you are always on one foot, and the back foot has the balance. The standing, supporting, unmoving leg is the important one for balance. In doing ochos, we should overspin the back foot (i.e., pivot it a lot) to get more balance (so foot is out turned a little). Pay attention to the foot that has the weight. Think about the foot during the pivot, with heel over spinning (the back foot) to get good balance.

We also need to pay attention to the upper body when we do forward ochos. When the left leg goes out, the left shoulder goes back, so your body should not spin. When your right leg goes out, the right shoulder goes back, so your body should not spin. If you still feel off balance, it could be because your head is forward (no one falls backward in tango, they only fall forward). Move your head back an inch, and only bend the knees, not at the waist.

In the ocho, the outside, free leg moves faster, to come around the standing supporting leg smoothly, like going around the corner of a racetrack.

For walking backward, we bend the knee, extend the leg back but keep the body forward. The Leader will take the Follower’s body wherever he wants, without stepping on the Follower. We also tried to walk backwards using this technique, only without our heels touching the ground. The back foot is the one that “grabs” the floor and propels the body back.

The Follower should always have the intention of motion so that the Leader does not catch her by surprise with his movement/lead.

The sequence taught was the 8CB to 2, then Leader steps forward outside Follower with his left leg, as Follower left leg steps back. He then leads her to do a counterclockwise molinete, as he bounces back to do a 180 degree turn, to a tight back cross of his left leg, transferring the weight to his left leg to do a right leg sacada of the Follower’s trailing left foot on her right foot side step of the molinete. Leader does another 180 degree pivot to step out to resolution to the Follower’s cross.

Leaders need to pay attention to how they do their tight back cross. The left foot extends out, then does a back cross as his right foot is pivoting 180 degrees. Then he changes weight so that the left foot is weighted, and the right foot can step forward in the sacada and he is able to pick up his knee and not fall. He needs to keep his head back when pivoting so that he does not fall forward.

In this sequence, the Follower should do the molinete on her own, without requiring the Leader to pull her around him. In the molinete, there is a little bit of separation between the dancers because the Follower needs to put her hips 90 degrees away from the Leader on her forward and back steps. So the Leader needs to let her out a little away when he wants the Follower do the molinete, and the Leader needs to be on balance in order to let the Follower go freely. He must not hang on to her or use her for his own balance if he does not have it.

Since this figure had two 180 degree turns in it = 360 degree turn to get all the way around, it should remain in the line of dance.

This figure can also be linked twice, with Leader immediately going out with his left foot forward outside the Follower.

In tango, it is not necessary for the Leader to do so much. He can do just simple things, but do them really well, to make the Follower feel good.

This was an excellent class. I was really happy to see it so well attended, with 40 enthusiastic students, since the last time Maestro was here, it was a very small class, almost like a group private. I sat out for most of it since the floor was so crowded. During class Maestro noticed that I was not physically participating but taking notes, came over and mimed it, and asked if he could have a copy when I was done. I said “Sure, they’ll be on the ‘net.” He smiled.

I found Meastro’s teaching to be very clearly delivered, and the subtle wherefores and whys logically explained. He is one of the best teachers of technique I’ve experienced, especially on the Leader side of the equation (though he is certainly no slouch on the Follower’s side).

The milonga itself was just so-so for me. It was crowded, there were more followers than leaders, and the floor crafting was difficult and irritating at times with a few aggressive leaders, a few thoughtless followers doing air boleos (often unled), a few performance-oriented couples who thought it was a practica, and more than a few weavers. I was happy to sit out a little bit, and just chat and be social with several buddies that I hadn’t seen in a long time. What a treat it was that several visiting maestros put in an appearance to social dance (Negracha y Diego, Alicia Monte).

Friday, April 9, 2010

Monte Cristo Milonga with lesson beforehand by Carolina Rozenstroch and Gary Weinberg on Interesting Volcadas. This class began with a demo of Maestros showing us what they were going to teach us, and a discussion of the word “volcada” meaning “pouring”. In our class, we were going to focus on close embrace, milonguero style back volcada, where the Leader leads the follower to go forward at the point of her back cross. In this type of volcada, there is not much lean /\ as for regular forward volcadas, but the technique is the same.

We began with an exercise of doing back ochos, first using the proper technique. Then we did back ochos milonguero style with no pivot in the hips. So we would step diagonally back (cross back) with one foot, gather, and then step diagonally back (cross back) with the other foot.

Next, in practice embrace, we were to walk in cross system and Leader was to lead this milonguero-style back ocho with a flat, straight chest, no shoulder turning, so that the Follower had no hip pivot. At some point, the Leader steps diagonally back, which causes the Follower to come forward. Since her leg is doing a back cross step, it hooks behind the other standing supporting foot, then the weight changes so that it becomes the standing supporting foot, and the forward leg is free to come forward, and then back out back to resolution. It is important that her forward leg is relaxed and that the knee is slightly bent so that when the other foot crosses back in tightly against the supporting standing foot, the toes on the foot crossing back lands more forward than the toes of the standing supporting foot. Also, in addition to the knee of the standing supporting foot being soft and bent, the heel comes off the floor at the point of the tight cross.

In tango, we need to have a long body, but legs relaxed from the hips down, melting into the floor, but from the hips up, being light and to the sky and being very long.

From this close embrace back volcada, we added more dynamics to the move with the Leader taking an extra step on his right foot, then pivoting her around (like a shared axis turn), to lead her to do the back volcada by stepping diagonally back. After the Follower’s back cross, her weight changes to that crossed foot so that the other foot is free to come out to resolution freely. However, if she for some reason does not have enough room or is too slow, she can do an embellishment of flexing the foot as it comes out so that it can be done close and fast.

The lesson was just OK. There were twice as many Followers, and not very many male Leaders. I sat out a bit voluntarily. I was OK with that since I could chat with Handsome. The milonga itself was saved from being a total loss by the pate I could nosh on as I sat out yet another tanda, and the one milonga tanda I danced with Maestra. She proved herself to be an excellent milonga leader! Other than that… I left very early since it was sparsely attended, half of the few leaders who were there were coupled, and since I was not on the dance card of the other half.

Saturday, April 11, 2010

La Milonga de Nora with lesson beforehand by Ariadna Naveira and Frederico Sanchez.

I got there a little early, and had a chance to chat with El Russo, who had attended Maestros’ Wednesday classes, one of which was on technique. He said it was good, and that he planned to go to the one next Wednesday as well. He, being his typical Russo self, put it bluntly and flatly, “As a Follower, you have to be able to balance on one foot.” I responded, “As a Leader, you have to be able to do the same.” He agreed. I asked if I could write his words on my hand to remember; he smiled and said he was OK with that. Then we gently debated whether the ability was a function of foot, ankle and calf strength or of core strength. We ultimately agreed that it was a combination of all of them. A quick Google search later that night revealed that there are nearly 20 individual muscles involved in being able to balance on one foot!

We began the class with one warm-up dance. The topic of the class was Changes of Direction. We were to try to find our body, relaxing our arms and our legs when we dance. First, we stood, and with our weight on our toes. Then we tried to go as forward as possible, trying to find the limit of where we could tilt, going as forward as possible without falling. Next, we rotated our upper bodies, clockwise and counterclockwise, without moving or turning our hips. Next, we worked on getting torsion and rotation in our bodies, by turning our chest first, then our hips, while being on one foot (which pivoted as a consequence of the rotation in our chest working its way down). To this, we added a step. So first, we step back with our right leg, then begin the turn in our chest counterclockwise, then have the hips and feet come around as a consequence. We were to have soft knees, and be relaxed. We turned with our chest first, then hips. Next, in couples, we worked in practice hold doing this same movement, which turned out to be forward ochos and back ochos. Leaders and Followers did forward ocho and back ochos, with a switch off periodically to change the direction the other way. For the Leader, his arms must go with him when he rotates his chest so that the Follower knows to turn her chest, and he does not lose the lead. The movement starts from the top down, head to foot. The hips will come along, following the intention in the chest. To give a visual image of this idea, you can imagine Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother using her magic wand, tapping Cinderella on her head, and then Cinderella spinning around from top to bottom as she transforms from a soot-covered girl into a princess. We were not to force our rotations / pivots. We were to start the movement in our chests, and have everything come around as a consequence. Both feet signal the direction of where our bodies will go. In the pivot, we were to go, and then our feet come together in collection to keep balance. We spent several songs drilling these forward and back ochos for Leaders and Followers.

To build to the idea of changes of direction, the Leader takes two steps back (Follower two steps forward), does an ocho , and then takes one or two steps forward out to resolution. We drilled this for several songs. Then in the regular embrace, we did the same, with the goal of keeping the movement going. We did a Leader rock step forward (Follower rock step back), into a Leader back ocho (Follower forward ocho) to change direction, but keep moving in the same direction. Here, we were also to understand mentally and play with the concept of our body going forward or backward, in the line of dance. Tango is a dance of improvisation, so it is important to understand different ways to move. This is why Maestros don’t teach a sequence—because we as students should not dance from memory. The Follower needs to be ready to receive any movement, in any direction. The forward cross step can be mixed with everything. The Leader did forward ochos, and back ochos, and walks forward. He was to feel the movement of the turn in his own body, and he was to feel the movement of the pivot in his own body as well.

Regarding the embrace, the Leader leads everything with his chest. The Follower should follow what the Leader’s chest does, so it is not necessary to use his arms to lead. The Followers are not doors, so there is no need to pull and push them. The Leader’s arm movement are a consequence of what his chest does.

Close embrace does not mean chest-to-chest 100% of the time. There is changeability of the embrace. The embrace has to open up a little at the point of the ocho because of the hip swivel needing room. We need to make the space so that the dancers can keep their axes. The intention of the move is most important. The embrace adapts to us (not the other way around). We need to relax our arms, and adapt your arms to the movement you are doing.

Next, we changed the sequence to make it more interesting for the Leader: From his right leg back ocho, his left leg does a back cross behind, and then he steps forward with his right leg (this is the opposite foot as before since there was no cross back behind). Follower footwork is the same as prior sequence.

It was an excellent lesson. Maestro is very funny, and is fluent in English (his English is slightly better than Maestra’s). The lesson was very porteno in flavor, with most of the instruction coming from Maestro and directed at Leaders, with a lesser part of the instruction coming from Maestra and directed at Followers. There were also long periods of time to drill the seemingly simple mechanics of body movement, as Maestros went around separately to offer individual guidance. These long stretches of drilling (3 full songs) were much longer than what we were typically accustomed to, and which made some people feel uncomfortable. I got the impression that a lot of times we were waiting and looking to see and expecting Maestros to do more “teaching” rather than having us do as much “drilling” as we did, though it was clear that most all of us needed to improve our ochos, pivots and being ready to go in any direction, Leaders and Followers alike.

The milonga was quite crowded. DJ Emilio must have been feeling inspired that night, because he played a lot of unusual tangos (not the typical tango Top 40 hits), which made for some strange dance interpretations of the music and at times difficult floor crafting.

Maestros delivered a very generous performance of three tangos (tango, vals, milonga), and then an encore of one more tango in which they did lead-follow exchange, which I thought was really quite bold and innovative of them to do publicly. I wonder if they have ever done that in Buenos Aires. Maestra is a very accomplished leader herself (there are videos of her leading on YouTube). Maybe she was inspired by Tango Con*Fusion’s performance at CITA 2010 (my conjecture/speculation, of course). Maestra had a very elegant hairdo, which we later learned was done on the spot just minutes before by Keiko.

The three performances of tango, vals and milonga:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8CTmGsIa5o

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

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

The encore with Lead-Follow Exchange:

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

April 1-7

Friday, April 2, 2010

Verdi Club Milonga with lesson beforehand by Carolina Rozenstroch and Gary Weinberg on Linear Boleos. I had my doubts about going here, since I didn’t have a stellar time at this milonga the last time I went because of the excessive aggressive followers, and since there was the Palo Alto milonga that same night (and there is no shortage of leaders down that way near Man Jose … oops, I mean San Jose). But I have a deep and profound respect for Maestra and our friendship, and I wanted to support her efforts. And my linear boleos, while they no longer totally, completely, and utterly suck, they still do need more work.

We began with an exercise to get the feeling of grounding into the floor with our leg, and then the other one coming through and being free. We were not to kick the free leg or lift the free leg unnaturally or exaggeratedly, but let it come forward naturally as a consequence of the energy of our other leg being ground into the floor, and our body arriving to axis and being stopped there, not going any more forward. Since our free leg should be free, it goes forward as a consequence of the energy stopping our body from going forward, not because we are forcing the free leg to go up or faking it. Then we practiced walking, and then stopping and grounding, causing our other leg to go free. Leader and Follower did this simultaneously in this exercise. Then we changed to exercise to the Leader leading it, and the Follower following it, but with the Leader not doing any free legwork with his legs. So his job was to be very clear in his stop energy, and the Follower needed to be responsive with stopping her body as well, and being honest in letting her free foot free, but not causing it to have more energy that it should. She needs to keep it honest.

We then worked on linear boleos to the side, where dancers are at a 90-degree angle to each other. For the side linear boleo to the open side of the embrace, it is important that the Follower’s right arm not collapse or absorb the energy as the Leader stops her body from going forward with his left hand. The Leader’s left hand must also not collapse. From here, he can lead her to do an ocho as her free right leg goes up, leading her to pivot in the ocho at almost the point of the apex of where her free leg will go, so that she does a pivoted air boleo, to step out back to the close side of the embrace. Since there were twice as many Followers in the class as Leaders, I sat out a fair bit voluntarily, since it seemed like my fellow follower classmates could probably use more experience working on the exercises with the Leaders.

The significant class gender imbalance had me worried about the milonga, and I questioned whether or not it would have been better to have gone to Palo Alto. My concerns were unfounded though, because the milonga soon became better balanced, and the leaders who were there were free to be their wonderful, charming and community-building selves since their efforts were not hampered by needy, demanding tanguera ambushers. So even though there were several more followers at the milonga, none of us had to sit out for more than a tanda. So all in all, I had a very nice time, and I think most folks did as well. I got a chance to dance with several of my favorite leaders, and some new ones, too.

On Friday, April 9, maestros teach Interesting Volcadas – not the usual regular forward or back volcada -- and the students who were there were all instructed to bring in two leaders each. So any of you leaders reading this, please come to the Monte Cristo Friday, April 9; I need a good volcada class partner (or three) since I absolutely love love love doing volcadas. :o)

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Again, the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak. :::sigh::: I was eyeing the clock, planning on going to the Late Shift, but got waylaid into installing yet another dishwasher. By the time I was done, my body was quite tired from using different muscles and getting down on the floor and then back up multiple times.

Déjà vu? The new dishwasher that I installed a few weeks ago was just plain irritating. The rack design didn’t fit my exactly portion-controlled size Tupperware, and the button functions were downright weird, demanding, and high maintenance thanks to a team of overzealous engineers, and it was noisier than the dishwasher it replaced (a mid-range Bosch, at 52 db). So even though the particular dishwasher (the current entry level Bosch, 57 db) was rated a “Best Buy” by a famous consumer magazine (yes, it’s the one you are thinking of), I thought it was really, shockingly awful. So did the roommate, who insisted I get a new one. So, a few mouse clicks, 45 miles round trip, and half a C note later, I got a really sweet top-of-line Bosch, brand spankin’ new and never installed, but circa 2004, with a couple of dents on the door and obviously completely out of warranty, but which sang a sweet 48 db when running. And so yet another Saturday was spent fussing with dishwashers… removing a current generation low-end Bosch and then installing a previous generation top-of-the-line Bosch. My opinion so far? The older generation is vastly superior. I am shocked at myself at how irritating I found the sound levels of the current entry level one, even though most people wouldn’t notice much difference between 57 db and 52 db or 48 db for that matter. But I absolutely love my new 48 db dishwasher. The gentle swish of the water sloshing around is melodic and soothing, unlike the grinding, whining, gurgling, and clunking of my two other louder Bosch dishwashers. Some people (sound engineers, musicians, composers and the like) sometimes comment on the pitches of dishwasher noises. I am not that sensitive; I just want the darn thing to be as close to silent as possible. And so, for now at least, I am blissfully happy with my new six-year-old dishwasher (and if it misbehaves I will just rip it out and put yet another new-to-me one on in its place). And I am also very thankful that Sears takes appliance returns (less a 15% restocking fee and within 90 days of purchase). So what on earth does all this have to do with tango? Well, not much. But at least I can listen to tango music with nearly no background dishwasher noises. :o)

March 25-31

Friday, March 26, 2010
Free Last Friday of the Month Movie Night at La Pista: “Si Sos Brujos”

We began with viewing two dance clips suggested by students. The first one, suggested by Frank, was of Chicho Frumboli y Milena Plebs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndlNmTVVH9I

The second one, suggested by Tom, was of Gavito
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm90s1uruxY

The movie summary was pretty accurate. “Si Sos Brujo is a heartfelt, inspiring film that could do for Argentine Tango what the Buena Vista Social Club did for the music and musicians of Cuba illuminating an evolving culture, a way of life and the triumph of preserving one of the most intricate musical traditions of the world, following nearly 50 years of relative obscurity. This beautifully shot documentary brings the compelling story of a group of young Argentine musicians racing against time to learn and preserve the elegant and nuanced music played by the legendary Golden Age tango orchestras of Buenos Aires in the 40s and 50s. If you are familiar with the names of Pugliese, Troilo and Piazzolla, this film is essential viewing. Yet it has broad appeal, and anyone interested in the creative, musical process will love this film."

The movie itself was great, very inspiring.

Santiago and Amy were witty, fun hosts. There were passed communal bowls of popcorn, and some people brought wine to share. The seats were the same covered metal and plastic ones from the milonga upstairs. If I ever go in the future and can remember beforehand, I’d bring a cushion. Santiago and Amy won’t be here for the next or subsequent ones for a while since they will be on the road, but they have promised to send a movie every month. It’s nice that there are events such as these that are related to tango culture, but don’t involve actual dance participation. It makes our tango education all the more rich. It was hugely generous of Tom to donate his space, equipment, and time to make this event a success, and I am sure he and Mila will be fantastic regular co-hosts.

This was one of Santiago & Amy’s last Bay Area events before they take their show on the road. Their Goodbye Milonga is this Sunday, April 4, at Café Cocomo. The lesson is free, and if you are one of the first 20 of their regular students at the lesson/milonga, the milonga is free as well. This is hugely generous of them, and a wonderful gesture of thanks to the San Francisco Bay Area tango community.

Saturday, March 27, 2010
The Late Shift Milonga. I did not go to the lesson beforehand. The milonga itself was OK. It was only lightly attended, but had more leaders than followers, so I danced quite a bit. Actually, I think we all did since the dancers who were there were of the social, community building, skill improving bent (more than the couples who dance exclusively with themselves or the tango ambushers who pick off the same few substantially superior-to-them dancers, over and over and over). I got to dance with several new-to-me leaders, who came up from the South Bay. I guess they did not want to make the additional drive over to the East Bay for the other milongas that night. Floorcraft was generally not a problem since it wasn’t crowded, though at times there were some gentle bumps since dancers took the opportunity to enjoy the freedom of having the space to do more real estate-intensive moves.

Interestingly enough, I realized there was a strategy some folks employ of looking into the milonga before they actually commit their $ to attending it. This comes to mind since JSE mentioned doing it last week. Since I got to this milonga late (I usually attend the lesson), I never noticed that a certain number of people who are part of the tango community take the time to look in first, to check out who is dancing inside, and then decide whether or not they want to go in. I have never done this personally, since I can’t be bothered with turning around to go back home (or to a different milonga) when I’ve already showered, dressed, and driven to the place, and made up my mind that this was the particular milonga I wanted to go to (as opposed to one in a different county or across town). But I can certainly appreciate the logic and the luxury of having an “out” before committing, and this would have saved me from going to the few milongas where I’ve regretted going and thought it was a complete waste of time and $.

March 18-24

Thursday, March 18, 2010

The Verdi Club Milonga with lesson beforehand by Alicia Pons. It was an excellent lesson, as usual. It’s funny, I picked up so much more the second time around, and after the ideas she introduced to me had a bit of time to ferment in my brain since she was here last year.


We began with our bodies, because tango is about connection, but first we must connect with our bodies. Our connection with ourselves works within our bodies. Our chest is in, not forward or pushing out. We need to sustain our bodies, but not with our shoulders. We need to think about the centers of our bodies as being a diamond, starting at our breastbone, down through our core and out to the edge of our hips, and ending in a point at our pelvic bone. We should stretch our torsos, and think of having our weight in the middle of the diamond.


Next, we also need to be on our axis, or 100% on one leg, being really “home” on one leg. We need to find the axis in our body when we stand on one strong stable place, on one leg, so that our other leg is 100% totally free.


There are two axes in our bodies: One vertical one as we stand on one leg or the other, and a horizontal axis, like a table top, which are our hip bones being level as a table top is level.


We began with a walking exercise, reaching with our toes, stepping with our heels, and then traveling with our bodies, passing through the heel. Our knees find home, and we sustain our bodies, arriving at home, finding our own home. We walked solo to Canaro’s Poema, focusing on being at home, projecting the step, and then going.


Next, we did an exercise in partnership where the Follower’s hands were on the Leader’s chest, and we walked. The Leader walks forward, but doesn’t collect. His trailing leg is left back as he is 100% on the one standing, supporting leg. His chest is not forward or pushing the Follower forward. For the Leader to walk with elegance, he puts his energy into the leg, going down with energy into the floor and moving the leg.


We do not separate with the chest. The Follower receives the lead from the walk in the pelvis. She should have long legs and short torso, where the Leader should have the opposite, a long torso and short legs. There is no need for the Leader to push with his chest and he should not push with his chest. In tango, the Leader invites to go, but it is not a Follower obligation to go. The Follower, on the other hand, should not put up resistance.


For the next exercise, we worked on how we connect in the embrace. The embrace is a circle, starting at the shoulder blades. First in getting into the embrace, we should separate the shoulder blades and really embrace. Nothing is out—not our chest nor our breast bone. The Leader has arms in a circle, and the Follower snuggles in underneath.


With respect to floor craft, we should not pass each other or zig zag in and out. We need to respect the dance floor. If there is room in front of us, we need to take it. If we do not, we become a space hog and end up backing up all the other dancers behind us, causing a traffic jam and pileup behind us. This is extremely rude behavior. When walking together in the embrace, the energy is down into the floor, not up. We need to have space to express something. The energy is like breathing, or like an egg breaking, where the egg spreads on the floor, around. We need to breathe. We also can play with weight.


Again, Follower should not resist. We have water inside of us, therefore we should not move like cement blocks. With the water inside of us, we should relax.


During our walking together, Maestra noticed that we bunched up a lot, and she encouraged the couples to go, to fill the space, and not get bunched up (and be space hogs).


We first practiced walking to Di Sarli, and then we practiced walking to Biagi, which is a stronger, faster, sharper beat. However, we were not to push. Maestra wanted to she see Biagi in our bodies when we walked to Biagi, and stated that we should not look like we were walking to Di Sarli when we were walking to Biagi. Again, we were to not have any pushing or any lean or pushing forward in our bodies (both Leaders and Followers).


Maestra noted that we always need to respect the line of dance, and that we should not dance the step (thus, she does not teach steps or sequences), but that we should dance the music.


In my opinion, Alicia Pons is one of the best tango teachers in the world. She does not blow smoke up your… body part where smoke shouldn’t be blown up. She does not tell you lies to boost your self esteem so that you will go to and pay for more of her lessons. She is passionately honest, which doesn’t sit well with lesser dancers who do not take correction well. She does not teach you steps or sequences or embellishments. She teaches you HOW TO DANCE. She is amazing. She is one of the best in the world.


The milonga itself was super fun, really perfect in its own way. It got quite crowded toward the end, likely because there aren’t any other milongas on Thursday nights. Floorcraft was difficult at times, but generally respectful. I feel as though the community is maturing in that area. “Who’s J?” was there, so we got to dance milonga again, which was great since the usual “J” was snapped up by the usual culprit. I got to dance the one-song salsa tanda with Mark, who is an amazing salsa dancer, so that was a wonderful treat.


Maestra and Adolfo did a demo to one song later on that night, which was beautiful. She had the most amazing strapless shoes on. No worries about slipping out of that shoe anywhere or any way; the heel was solidly enclosed, with the leather continuing, wrapping around the inside of the foot, and over and across the top of the front of the open toe shoe with lots of support around the ball of the foot and metatarsal joints, so no chance of any bunion slipouts or pain from straps cutting in on the outside of the foot. Delicate looking, it was not, but it had some very couture detailing and extremely thoughtful design. I speculate it was custom made to her specifications, because the design elements were genius for tango dancers who maximally articulate their taluses and who are especially particular about with how their ankle straps feel.


La Portena made beef empanadas, which were for sale on the honor system for $1 each (a bargain; it is the approximate equivalent price you would pay for an empanada at a Buenos Aires milonga). I took mine to go, and reheated some up the next morning for breakfast, and they definitely hit the spot. They had a very high filling to dough ratio, the beef was extremely flavorful, and spotted with delicate bits of diced egg.


Jorge Nel and the beautiful Milena were there selling their shoes, either off the rack ($98) or custom order. The styles were different, more hip and modern, more light and airy, from the last time I saw his shoes in Austin at Fandango de Tango 2009. He had many styles with 6 or 7 cm stiletto or kitten heels in fun colors other than black or red, which I found sorely tempting... On my last trip to BsAs, I was in search of such shoes, and only found one vendor – Taconeando – who had stiletto heels in less than 8 cm. And even then, if I recall correctly, 7 cm was the shortest, and sold out in a lot of the models. Though I personally don’t own any Jorge Nel shoes, I’ve looked at and tried them on over the past several years and have heard good things about them. I am especially impressed with how responsive Jorge Nel is to the current fashion trends and the whimsical and sometimes finicky desires and feet of tango dancers at milongas. Super nice guy; he might be open to giving you a discuenta if you ask nicely for it when buying multiple pairs.


Friday, March 19, 2009

Los Altos Milonga organized by Gato Valdez and Andrea Monti. We began with the lessons with some technique exercises on walking forward and walking backward. Walking, seemingly easy, is the most difficult thing to do with style and elegance. It is important in walking not to abandon the upper body. Collect feet and knees. Relax knees. Keep the abs inside (core engaged). Chest is over the toes; keep your balance. Send one foot forward to the floor, brush the floor, brush the knees, and push with the back leg. In walking backwards, we also send the leg first, brushing the floor. Do not walk weird and do strange things with your feet like show the sole of your shoe. Keep your chest up. We walked together in partnership, man forward and woman back, and then woman forward and man back. The man’s hand is on the woman’s back, not in the air or “sort of” on her back. I really like how Maestra teaches technique first and foremost at every lesson, and how she really emphasizes core engagement.


The first sequence was the 8CB to 3, followed by the side and forward steps of the counterclockwise molinete, into a forward ocho to the closed side, to a forward ocho to the open side, back out to resolution. The second sequence, which involved the Leader having a lot of torsion and the footwork a lot of pivot, began in a similar way to the first sequence. 8CB to 3, to Follower’s clockwise molinete with Leader right foot sacada of Follower’s front left foot as she steps right foot back cross, to the Leader pivoting 180% and takes a long side step with his left foot as the Follower continues around him with her clockwise molinete. Follower forward ocho out to resolution. For the Follower, it is important to stay a little longer on the pivot before reaching back in the back cross step with her right foot. These were both simple sequences, and we had ample time to drill them, with lots of individual feedback to clean it up and get it right. There were a few extra followers, so I was able to have Maestra lead me in several of the rotations. She is a fantastic leader! (as opposed to some female halves of teaching couples who can lead so-so, just enough to illustrate the concept).


The milonga itself was OK. The fun part for me was dancing with many leaders that I had never danced with before. It got more crowded as the night progressed, and so floorcraft wasn’t the greatest, and really should have been better. But thankfully, it wasn’t overly aggressive. Gato did a fine job as DJ, with crowd-pleasing tandas. The finger food was diverse in offering, but not excessively abundant. This food strategy kept us fueled but slim (since there were no plates to load up). There were plain potato chips (yummy Hawaiian style chips), plain tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole, cheese presliced and pre-toothpicked, brie, sliced bread, an egg tart, pound cake, strawberries, cantaloupe, and grapes, water and soda, all high quality and thoughtfully prepared. Folks were welcome to, and did bring their own wine, which they kept at their own tables.


Valeria Carmel and Daniel Rodriguez, who arrived to social dance, also did a demo to two songs. Their first demo had a lot of Double Frente / Al Reves in it, so that was loads of fun to watch since we see that so rarely here. There were two raffles (I love this Buenos Aires milonga tradition that we are seeing more of in the SF Bay Area); the prizes were music CDs made by Gato. A two-song salsa tanda was played, and Maestra showed herself to be an excellent salsera. Her partner was Frank, who I had heard was an excellent salsero, but I had not previously seen him burn the floor with my own eyes.


Saturday, March 20, 2010

The Late Shift Milonga with lesson before by Tony Fan and Ilana Rubin on Fun Soltadas. I was curious about this teaching couple, since their flyer seemed to rave particularly about their special gift of excellent teaching. So I had to check them out. First, they began with a dance demo to show us what it was that they were going to teach us. What they showed was not the usual simplistic soltada of a Follower rotation in front of the Leader with a broken embrace, but rather, a soltada where she walks around him in her molinete of back – side – forward.


To begin, we take a side step (Leader’s left, Follower’s right), then he leads her to do a back boleo of her left leg as she is weighted on her right leg, then the Leader steps diagonally forward away from her with his left foot (she steps forward diagonally away with her left foot), Leader does a right foot sacada of her trailing right foot, rotates her back around to do a second boleo (front cross boleo of her right foot across her standing supporting left leg)—this is a big front boleo with a lot of hip rotation away and out, to rebound the energy into to substantial back cross step of her right foot to begin the clockwise molinete around him. Here, at the Follower’s back cross step of her right foot, with his right foot he meets and hooks her trailing forward left foot. Then with his same right foot, he sweeps her left foot behind him, causing her to continue to take the side step of the molinete, and then to step over his trailing right foot with her right foot on her forward cross step of the molinete. Then he meets her out to resolution, which they recommended as cross steps for both in the Americana (Follower’s left foot, Leader’s right foot), back to step out together.


We drilled this, with ample individual attention, and periodically coming back together to discuss finer points of the lead and the follow.


Before the second Follower front cross boleo, it is important that he leads her away, and then back in in a little bit of colgada energy, to make her “up” on her second boleo before her right foot back cross step. His right foot curls in front her trailing left leg, then he lets go of his right arm embrace to sweep her foot back.


Every step we take, and how we point our toes, prepares our body’s direction for the next step.


As the Follower steps around the Leader, their hands are flat and palm to palm in a horizontal plane, much like swing dancers.


For the Follower, she should have a lot of energy in that second boleo, really overturning the hips to come back around and really be able to take a good back cross step.


For the Leader’s sweep, first he sends his right foot to hook in front of the Follower’s left foot, then he lowers his body at his knee, grounding into the floor, to be able to get freeness into his right foot as it sweeps back toward his left shoulder as she does her side step with her left foot. She then steps over with her right foot back in front of him, and they step together in the Americana (Follower’s left foot front cross, Leader’s right foot front cross.


So, after all this, believe it or not most of the class got it. I think Maestros were terrific teachers, and what a great treat that they made a visit to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is definitely true that they have a very clear teaching style, and their flyer was right …. “with superb analysis and breakdown of individual movements… fun, informative, well thought out and presented.”


The milonga itself was fun. It was a little slow in the beginning and it never got to be super crowded. That was fine though, since the dancer quality was pretty good overall, and everyone was being quite social. Floorcraft was OK, though at times the dancers seemed to dance faster than the music called for. Surprisingly, “Who’s J” was there, and we got to dance two milonga tandas. There was another milonga tanda, and a stranger asked me to dance. Again, like last time, I was a little leery, since I had never danced with him before. But it was OK, he was a fine milonga dancer, so I was relieved. But I wish that these new, unfamiliar-to-me Leaders who ask me to dance milonga would ask me to dance tango or vals first since I’d like to know what I am in for before I say yes. It would just be a nicer place for me to be, mentally. Maestros did a demo to two songs, which was fine. Ilana graciously danced socially with the leaders who asked her. Shorey did a great job spinning the tunes. The food was as it always is. I didn’t bonk at all; I danced a lot and stayed much later than I ever have (5 hours total including lesson). The whey protein shakes must be working for me at these long gigs.


Sunday, March 21, 2010

The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak. I had planned on going to Café Cocomo since I really wanted to take a class with Jorge Nel and Melina. I even got ready for it. But after my shower, I realized how utterly and completely exhausted I was, so I stayed home instead.


Jr. Scout Extraordinaire ventured out though, taking a peek inside Studio Gracia, where it was lightly attended despite having the fantastic Negracha and Diego Lanau teaching and Tangonero playing. Making her way over to Café Cocomo, she said the story was the same over there as well. Maybe it’s the economy, and maybe it’s that Sunday has tango events going on all day long, some of them free, and it’s cannibalizing the attendance at night events… She’s trying to get me to go to a very exclusive tango event that is by special invitation only later on this year… I don’t know if my pocketbook can actually withstand such pressure though (it involves tuition, housing costs, air plane tickets, cabs, shoe temptations, etc.)…and it’s not clear to me whether or not I am entirely welcome at the event, although I do have an invitation from the organizer…sort of…


Monday, March 22, 2010

The Orange Practica at the Beat with lesson beforehand by Homer and Cristina Ladas: “Cristina’s Favorite Moves”


The idea for this class was compact and playful musical ideas focused on the Follower.


We began with a posture exercise, which would apply to how we moved for most of the class. We lifted off our heels, but did not crunch our toes. We should be able to wiggle our toes. When we lift off our heels and with our chest/sternum up, we should not lift our shoulders. The lift is from the heel and ribcage, but we should try to pull our shoulder blades down. Our weight is up front, but not to the toes.


To this lifted posture, we added a little bit of movement, little tiny quick side steps to the left and to the right, the Follower’s tiny pitter patter, which was called “The Typewriter Pitter Patter” (those who don’t know what a typewriter is can Google Image it or visit a museum). When this movement goes forward and back (instead of left and right), we called it “The Bandoneon Pitter Patter” – because the movement is similar to the Bandoneon bellows compressing and expanding.


In doing these Follower pitter patter steps, the steps are tiny, the thighs are together, and the knees are soft.


We worked on these Follower Pitter Patter steps using the same song for the entire class: Adolfo Carabelli’s “Felicia” so that we could really lock into the parts of the music where the Follower’s Typewriter Pitter Patter or Bandoneon Pitter Patter could be led.


Typewriter Pitter Patter

In partnership, we danced with the Follower’s typewriter pitter patter side steps to the Leader’s right. To lead this, the Leader’s lift comes from his chest, with a little bit of compression, at the point in the music where it would make logical sense for her to accent the music with these small, quick side steps. The leader rotates her to his right, and then back to his left. In the song “Felicia” the most logical places for this to occur would be in the piano or bandoneon fills in between the phrases of the music.


For the Follower, she needs to be in tune to the music. The move is compact and the Follower has equal responsibility for the musical interpretation of the song. The Leader can lead the general direction of the movement when he rotates her to his right and back in to the left, but the Follower’s steps are up to her in terms of the timing of each left – right – left –right pitter patter step.


The question came up of how the Follower knew to do pitter patter, quick tiny side steps, rather than regular molinete grapevine footwork. The answer was that there is a definite lead from the Leader for the Follower Pitter Patter. There is more lift and compression than a regular molinete.


Next, we drilled the Typewriter Pitter Patter to the left and to the right on the open side of the embrace.


Next, we drilled the Typewriter Pitter Patter with the Follower and Leader doing it alternately. Here again, there are the lift, hold, and compression ideas, depending on the music. The question came up of how the Leader holds the Follower and ask her not to move or step when he does his Typewriter Pitter Patter steps. The answer is that the Leader needs to isolate the embrace, holding her out there, and the bring his body when he wants her to move. Both dancers here should keep their shoulders down, as it is easy to accumulate tension during the alternate Typewriter Pitter Patter. That is why in between the Pitter Patters, we need to walk it out or do other things, before we start again with more Pitter Patter. The Leader can lift the Follower, and then let her down, and then do his pitter patter. Or, he can just keep lifting her, holding her up as he does his pitter patter.


The Bandoneon Pitter Patter

The next idea we explored was the Bandoneon Pitter Patter. In “V” embrace, we went to the forward promenade (Americana) walk. This is a move from close, to more open in promenade, back to slightly more in, in “V” while the Leader leads the Follower to walk around him with forward steps. To lead the Bandoneon Pitter Patter, again he would give her lift and compression at a place in the music where it made sense for her to do the Pitter Patter. The lift is like a little scoop as the Leader compresses. The Leader should take care that the Follower is comfortable in the lift, and that her left shoulder is not overly lifted or uneven with her right shoulder.


From this promenade Follower walk in a circle, the Leader can lead her to do the Bandoneon Pitter patter forward and back, or right and left, which would be away and back near to him since they are at right angles to each other. For the Follower, her left arm is caged in because of the compressive energy, so the forearm is what expands and shortens when she is sent out to her right and then back in to her left.


The Follower has a lot of choice in terms of how she interprets the music with her hips and body movement. The Follower needs to own her own movement.


Some Followers had trouble following the lead for the Bandoneon Pitter Patter out to the right and back in to the left from the Follower promenade walk in a circle. It was noted that this might be because the Leader had to catch the Follower on her correct foot, to enable the free foot to correctly step out to the right. The Leader also needs to ground himself a bit more to lead the Follower Bandoneon Pitter Patter out to the right and left from the Promenade Walk.


Some Followers responded with Colgada body movement. Maestro noted that there is a different send energy in the Bandoneon Pitter Patter than the Colgada. In the Bandoneon Pitter Patter, there is lift and compression and height change. In the Colgada there is no height change, not a big compression, and the send energy is much larger. There is also a definite sense of planting in the Colgada.


It was noted that there is a Physical Lead to these pitter patter moves, as well as a Psychological Lead (if he starts to do it, she might mimic him at some point, understanding what he is hearing and how he is interpreting the song and inviting her to do the same with her movements). The more you do these Pitter Patter moves, the more natural they becomes. When social dancing with someone who is unfamiliar with this concept, it is best to try The Typewriter Pitter Patter before attempting the Bandoneon Pitter Patter.


Since the class was struggling a bit with the Bandoneon Pitter Patter, maestros decided to back things up a bit, and we tried it in partnership facing each other. Yes, our butts stuck out a little bit. In this embrace, we could do the Bandoneon Pitter Patter with just the Follower, or alternating with the leader, or simultaneously.


She Steps, He Steps

Our last idea was She Steps, He Steps idea. Again, working with lift and compression, the Leader leads the Follower to do two steps, and then he takes one step, eventually leading her into the cross. First, he steps side left, changes weight, and then steps left foot forward in a sneak attack. He leads her to walk using horizontal energy in the lead, to get the Follower to take two steps. Then he takes one, and then she takes two into the cross as he takes one.


Concluding remarks:

The Follower has the freedom and responsibility to be in tune with the music.


The Leader’s lift comes from his chest, and combined with compression, is a scooping idea. He can send her alone on either side, or send the Follower and then go himself. He needs to choose the moments wisely of when to lead these Follower Pitter Patter steps.


Maestros concluded with a demo to Carabelli’s Felicia, which you can see at www.tangostudent.blogspot.com


It was kind of a sad but sweet night since Maestros are going to be away for the summer, teaching in Europe. They will be sorely missed in the San Francisco Bay Area, and hugely blessed on the other side of the pond.


The practica was fun. I only stayed for three tandas, but they were truly excellent ones.


SO WHAT AM I EXCITED ABOUT?


It’s way early…but my eyes are on July / August:


Seattle Tango Magic – so many fantastic maestros are teaching there!! So many difficult choices!! Julio y Corina or Oliver y Silvia?! Ugh.


Antipanico 2010 in San Francisco. Could it truly be that I am the last person in the Bay Area to hear about this? When I took classes at CITA 2008 taught by Chicho Frumboli y Juana Sepulveda, and Sebastian Arce y Mariana Montes, I had absolutely no clue who they were. And if I recall correctly, instruction at CITA 2008 was in Castellano. So hopefully they will be teaching in English in San Francisco, which should be fantastic.


Luciana Valle Intensivos registration open

For those really wanting to work on and improve their physiokinetic understanding of tango and their body, I highly recommend Luciana Valle’s Intensivos in Buenos Aires. Hurry though, enrollment is limited to ~25 students (~15 followers) per session. You will rotate among Luciana’s hand picked assistants, who are all fantastic dancers and sometimes teachers/performers/tango professionals. Take both A and B sessions in one two-week trip, it's the most cost-effective way so that you don't have to fly back and forth, and the material is still fresh.


http://www.danceoftheheart.com/IntensivoSessionsCurrent.htm


When I talk about this to folks locally, a lot of them say the same thing… “Luciana Valle? She’s coming in the fall. I will just wait to study here in SF with her at that time.” The Tango Intensivo experience is on an entirely different level from what you will learn at her regular group workshops in SF, where some of the students you are partnered with are often struggling, or holding back your own learning. This will generally never be the case at the Intensivo in Buenos Aires, since unless you are a truly advanced dancer (do people call you “maestro”?), the skill level of the hand-picked assistants as a group will exceed almost everyone’s. Some of the hand-picked assistants are better at some things more than others. But the beauty of the experience and how the Intensivos are structured are that you get to rotate among them all, so you can experience the wonderful variety of superior dancers. The Intensivo is like having a box of assorted Jacques Torres chocolates in Buenos Aires versus having a box of See’s nuts and chews in SF.


http://mrchocolate.com/detail.aspx?ID=99


And hey, if you buy 10 or 20 pairs of tango shoes, you would break even financially on the trip. ;o) (and believe me, it is shamefully easy to buy 10 or 20 pairs of tango shoes on one trip to Buenos Aires).