After loving Diego Bado’s teaching in the Follower’s Liberation class, I knew I had to get a private lesson with him before he left London.
It’s amazing how much a good teacher can pack into a one-hour lesson! But let’s start at the beginning …
Monthly Archives: February 2019
Connections
After rather too little sleep last night, I was feeling very tired, but didn’t want to miss a second Tango Space class, so decided willpower would make an adequate substitute for energy.
The theme was the back ocho, and the improver version ended in a new-to-me version of a Medio-giro, with a parada to complete the sequence …
Geometry lessons
An experience common to most beginners in tango, I suspect, is learning something in a class, feeling somewhat comfortable with it by the end of the lesson – and then struggling to remember it later.
Bridgitta recommended creating drawings as aide-mémoire for myself. There is, she suggested, something about the drawing process itself that helps embed things into our memory …
Follower’s liberation – and this leader’s too!
Every now and then, my now-ex tried to persuade me to do a class which is clearly aimed at a much higher level than my own.
It’s not normally as crazy as it seems, as I’ve noticed that advanced classes run by visiting teachers are often wholly or mostly technique focused, so it wouldn’t be a show-stopper if I couldn’t do any specific sequence they happened to use as an example. But on this particular occasion, the class that seemed to apply only to some dimly-imagined point in my far-off future …
Continue reading Follower’s liberation – and this leader’s too!
Tango stories, musical secrets – and emulating an untalented three-year-old
I’d set myself some musical homework, and Bridgitta had set me some more.
Bridgitta’s was to listen to some tango songs and dance only one instrument at a time. Express only what that one instrument is doing, and when the instrument is silent, be still …
Continue reading Tango stories, musical secrets – and emulating an untalented three-year-old
One of the many mysteries of tango, and the power of socks
One of the many mysteries of tango is the way one’s available talent can wax and wane for no apparent reason. The tango gods seem to randomly dish out highs and lows for no better reason than that it amuses them to do so.
Yesterday was a 3; today was a 10 …
Continue reading One of the many mysteries of tango, and the power of socks
Many mediocre ocho cortados, and one great moment
This week’s Tango Space theme is the ocho cortado. I’ve done this before, so had the basic idea, but that was at such an early stage that I was very happy to meet it afresh.
I wasn’t on my best form this evening. Not terrible or anything, I just felt a bit clumsy. Also, the ocho cortado felt to me like it should be a snappy movement, so I was finding it harder to get the feel to slower music …
Continue reading Many mediocre ocho cortados, and one great moment
The lady is for turning
Tonight’s Tango Space workshop was an intensive one on the giro. This is something I could do in a rather clunky fashion, but wasn’t anything like confident enough to consider trying it in a milonga, so two hours devoted to it seemed like an excellent plan.
After a little dancing to warm up, the leaders and followers separated while Pablo and Anne respectively taught us our own parts. For the leaders, we started with a 180-degree pivot, then a 270-degree one, and finally a 360-degree one …
‘You think you can embrace; you cannot’
Today’s lesson with Mariano felt like that Tango Cynic infomercial – only my version would be ‘you think you can embrace; you cannot’ …
Deciding in future to stay far from the madding crowd
Saturday was the 6th anniversary of the Tango Garden milonga, and it seemed as though everyone who has ever been there had turned out to celebrate.
It was great to see so many people there from a social perspective, but from a beginner dancer one, it was challenging! For five reasons …
Continue reading Deciding in future to stay far from the madding crowd
Planeo playtime, and back into the tango high!
Well, that was a quick transition from ‘WTF?‘ to ‘Oh! Fun!’ …
I spent half an hour before work this morning practicing the leader movements for the beginner version, fixing one issue at a time. After about 20 minutes, everything felt right – and I even videoed myself to be sure it looked right. (No, you can’t. We’ve had this conversation before.)
Of course, without a follower, there was no reliable way to be sure, but it gave me sufficient confidence to brave the improver’s class tonight …
Continue reading Planeo playtime, and back into the tango high!
Puzzling over Planeos
Hang on, that’s a planet. No wonder I was getting confused.
Monday was the first Tango Space class of the week, this time on the Planeo. A movement in which the leader lowers his height to lead a pivot, and the follower drags one foot on the ground in a semi-circle.
In the version we were doing, I was finding there was rather a lot to think about at once …
Ballet fitness, musicality, and a truly shared dance
Ballet fitness class
You’ve got the tango bug pretty bad when a friend talks you into doing a ballet fitness class.
Bridgitta’s argument was that ballet training offers a lot of benefits for dancing tango. It was hard to argue against this given that I’d already booked a ballet taster class next month for exactly that reason.
I’d expected the class to be all women. As it turned out, a third of the class was male. But that third was me …
Continue reading Ballet fitness, musicality, and a truly shared dance
Three things
I tonight did both the beginner’s and improver’s classes again – though the order is reversed on Tuesdays. All four classes taught a different version of a 180-degree turn:
- Monday beginners: Three rebounds while pivoting
- Monday improvers: Three back ochos into a pivot, ending with both leader and follower in a cross
- Tuesday improvers: A cross into a medio-giro
- Tuesday beginners: A rebound into a medio-giro …
Changing direction
Tango Space sends out a weekly email letting us know the theme for that week’s lessons. Usually these reveal the actual figure we’ll be learning, but this week’s email invited us on more of a magical mystery tour! The beginner’s description revealed only that it was on changing direction, while the improver’s class merely added that it would involve a cross …
What goes up …
That was a long tango high! But what goes up …
Today’s lesson with Mariano wasn’t a full-on tango crash. It wasn’t like I couldn’t do anything any more. But I just wasn’t feeling it. My movement felt clumsy. I was getting mixed up with a simple sequence of steps (a new-to-me form of ocho cortado). My pace was off. And I was really inconsistent …
Dancing the corrections
Saturday saw me at Tango Garden for some guided practice with Bridgitta in the practica – plus a floorcraft exercise in the milonga.
Bridgitta started the latter by discussing some scenarios – like someone walking backwards into our space – and different ways to handle them. Then we just walked arm-in-arm so we could focus purely on floorcraft, with Bridgitta having the same view of the ronda as me.
I felt somewhat self-conscious about this strange arm-in-arm thing we were doing in a busy milonga, but it was obvious from quite a few knowing and approving smiles that this was a recognised and appreciated technique …
ben lovejoy 