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
journey of a trainee tanguero 
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