I was awake and out of bed at the crack of noon, as I had a packed afternoon schedule ahead of me: drinking a hot chocolate at Cafe Tortoni, one of the city’s Grand Cafes. While most of the city virtually defines ‘faded grandeur,’ there’s nothing faded about the grand cafes. They’ve been beautifully maintained … Continue reading Cafe Tortoni; Pablo & Noelia class; and a sociable night at Bilongón
Meeting one’s heroes can be dangerous! I’ve long been an admirer of Adrian’s walk, having seen it in countless videos, so there is a certain risk involved in doing a workshop with him – but fortunately it was good! While I love ochos and am now very much more confident with giros, walking remains my … Continue reading Walking and Musicality: a workshop with the Costas
Of course, getting the final piece in my vocabulary jigsaw puzzle doesn’t mean that I can rest on my laurels for a while. Indeed, having made the decision to stick to simple, musical dance, then that puts all the focus on my technique! The idea of today’s private with Julia and Fede, then, was just … Continue reading More basics, more presence, more musicality and one more milonga
The official title of the final musicality workshop was The freedom of expression. The emotional and the human side of musicality in tango. Olga said last week that it would be all about finding our own personality in the dance. I’ve written at length about where I think I’m headed, but I was very curious to … Continue reading Musicality workshop #4 of 4: The emotional and human side of musicality
Tonight’s musicality class was all about collaborative dance: Response to our partner. To agree, to change, to add. To me, the transition from me leading everything to a collaborative dance is one of the most exciting prospects. I’d previously seen this as a very advanced skill, one where I’d have to develop my own dance … Continue reading Musicality workshop #3 of 4: The delightfully mundane secret to a collaborative dance!
Although I’ve vowed to rein-in my tango schedule, there is a slight lag as I complete my booked workshops – including the remaining three musicality workshops. Last week was about switching between dancing the beat and the melody, and this week took things to the next level: switching between the melody and the counter-melody …
It’s amazing how far being able to walk to the beat and the phrase will get you in your very early days in tango. I struggled with pretty much everything else, but I could land on the beat, and I could do a weight-change to mark the end of a phrase. It was this, not … Continue reading Musicality workshop #1 of 4: Rhythm, melody & bridge
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 … Continue reading Ballet fitness, musicality, and a truly shared dance
Well, ok, yes, but ‘best night of tango of my year-and-a-bit of dancing’ is a little longwinded and doesn’t quite have the same ring to it …
Ok, this one, too, might sound a bit like a return to The Crazy Days, with a practica, group class and milonga all in one evening – but it’s not as bad as it sounds. Tonight’s Tuesday milonga was temporarily relocated to O’Neill’s this week due to redecoration at the normal venue. As there was no … Continue reading Tango secrets
journey of a trainee tanguero 
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