When it comes to resolving my tangistential crisis, Filippo had given me a way forward which seemed to be working. Namely, take one element of my less-used vocabulary at a time, and figure out alternative resolutions for every step. Practicing those would then give me the confidence to use them in crowded milongas, knowing that I always had a plan B.

Another aspect of my crisis, however, was feeling unsure how far all my technique work was going to take me …

Different teachers have given me different things. David, for example, was absolutely fantastic at giving me variations on things I already knew. At helping me connect the dots – something which has made my dance both more varied and more fluid.

With Filippo, I’m working almost exclusively on technique. But five hours of dancing on Sunday made me realise there is something rather fundamental missing from my vocabulary, so tonight I asked Filippo to provide a solution. It worked out better than I could have imagined …

I’ve long favoured lyrical tango over rhythmical – legato over staccato. While most songs of course contain elements of each, there’s a huge difference between say Fresedo’s Buscandote and D’Arienzo’s El choclo. The former has me leaping out of my seat, the latter shrinking back into it.

Partly that reflects my musical tastes. My non-tango music is dominated by singer-songwriters, so it’s natural that my tango tastes would lean heavily toward songs where the singer is the focus. But there’s a second factor …

Long enough ago that I can’t find my blog post about it, I did a group class with Winston and Silvia on the back cross. Since then, my hit-rate on leading it has been somewhere around 50%, so decided it would be good to work on this during tonight’s private with Filippo.

Janet said she has no real preferences in what we do – her focus is purely on posture and technique, and she can do that whatever the topic …

Regular readers will know that I am a bear of little brain when it comes to steps. That’s one of the reasons I don’t really pay much attention to sequences – it takes me an age to get the hang of them, and there’s zero chance I’d be able to do them in a milonga, even if there was room and it worked with the music.

My ‘lego block’ approach to learning – where I try to understand the individual components, and play with those – works far better for me. But tonight I did want to have a go at a short sequence …

Long-time readers will know that it took me a lot of time and a lot of privates to reach the point where I felt happy with my giros. They remain basic – you won’t find me doing any lapices or sacadas during them – but I’m happy with them for now.

Clockwise giros are another matter. Turning toward the closed side of the embrace feels a lot tricker, and my track-record with them is patchy …