My plan for the day was simple: work in the morning, a 90-minute private in the afternoon, a suit fitting, the first hour of a milonga in the evening and in bed by midnight.
Some of that happened …
Category Archives: Private lesson
Passing my Spanish pronunciation exam; a great private; the best bookshop in the world; and some missing magic
As is usual this week, I had work in the morning. Getting up at 7am is never pleasant in my world, but it wasn’t as bad as yesterday thanks to me exercising restraint where milongas were concerned.
After work, it was time for my second Spanish pronunciation lesson, dealing with the rest of the consonants …
From tango lesson to feeling like a tango god in three easy steps
Most of my lessons are very technique-focused. The great thing about those is that a small detail can make a massive difference to the experience you give to a follower. The downside, however, is that because you’re always revisiting the basics, it can make you feel like you’re starting all over again.
Today, I went from feeling like starting again from first principles to feeling like a tango god …
Continue reading From tango lesson to feeling like a tango god in three easy steps
Never mind the easy stuff; back to work …
I’d warned Fede and Julia that I hadn’t danced for a week, and would need to see first whether I could remember how. We danced a warm-up song, and Julia told me I could.
She had one piece of feedback to offer and a number of compliments, but I knew that ratio wouldn’t last when we got to work …
A Diego-engineered turn, and no wonder my barrida was messy!
There’s a turn I saw once in a Pablo and Anne video and which I’ve seen several times in milongas, and it always struck me as one I ought to learn as it had three characteristics I liked.
First, it looked like it would feel really nice for the follower. Second, it seemed a very practical tool for a milonga, as it allowed a significant turn in a relatively small space. Third, it seemed rather simple. Two of these things turned out to be true …
Continue reading A Diego-engineered turn, and no wonder my barrida was messy!
Engineering my giro technique, and a great way to end them
My tango engineer, Diego Bado, was back in town, and I had the first of two privates with him today. We started by just dancing so he could give me his current assessment of where my focus should be, and after that we would work on my giro technique.
He complimented me on my musicality, but then we were straight into the long list of technique issues on which I need to work …
Continue reading Engineering my giro technique, and a great way to end them
Finally losing the cross-system battle, and ‘the best you’ve ever danced’
Today I lost a long-running battle with Fede … He kept wanting me to use cross-system, arguing that it would open up a whole new world of possibilities. I kept resisting because I felt like it would open up a whole new world of complications.
But as what I wanted was more simple ways to turn, and he said the answer to this was to be found in cross-system, I relented …
Continue reading Finally losing the cross-system battle, and ‘the best you’ve ever danced’
