The 3D Marathonga was a 12-hour milonga running from 4pm Saturday to 4pm Sunday. I had no plans whatsoever to still be there at 4am, but the opportunity to do some dancing early on, have some dinner and return for more later seemed like a good plan.
3D is named after the three original DJs: David, Diego and Daniel. I’m told Diego is no longer involved, so strictly speaking it’s now 2D …
Continue reading Dancing with the cool kids at the 3D Marathonga
This week had looked like a solid plan for refining my ocho technique: a 90-minute private on Sunday, beginner and improver lessons on Monday, and improver lesson on Tuesday.
As things turned out, I had to work on Monday evening, so lost those two lessons. Still, I practiced in front of the mirror and it did seem like my side-steps were to the side, I wasn’t collapsing my inside shoulder to any notable degree, and I was giving a nice (if virtual) hand-push for the pivot. All that remained to be seen was whether this was a solo practice fiction or whether it manifested itself with a partner …
Yesterday, I felt 0% competent; today, I was officially declared 30% competent.
I had a private lesson with Federico and Julia, who run the Monday Tango Space classes, and the focus was on my ocho technique …
You know I was saying I was enjoying my delusions of competence, and expecting to continue to do so until Sunday? Yeah, not so much …
In a group class today, my delusions left the building. It was doubly frustrating, as it was a class I was really looking forward to: Understanding the Vals: rhythm and phrasing – how to keep it simple but ‘vals’ to it …
Continue reading My delusions of competence left the building
I began my tango journey at the end of October of last year, making today 8 months AT. In that time, there have been private lessons, group lessons, workshops, practicas, milongas, books, videos, forums, Facebook groups … YouTube pretty much assumes I only want to watch tango dances, and my Spotify playlists contain tango, the whole tango and nothing but the tango.
As for my schedule …
I talked before about the delusional phase most tango dancers get to enjoy.
In conversation among experienced dancers, someone said most people make it through the first couple of years of tango thanks to a healthy dose of self-delusion. By the time they realise they weren’t anything like as good as they thought they were, they are over the hump – or at least, too far in to escape.
I was complaining that having an advanced tango dancer as a life-partner meant that I never got to enjoy that myself …
Wow!
I’ve absolutely loved Romantica Milonguera ever since I first came across them, so leapt at the chance to see them when they made their first ever visit to London. They were doing two live sets during a milonga, with recorded music the rest of the time.
Very few people I knew seemed to be going, so wasn’t expecting to do much dancing, but I was going to be more than happy just viewing it as a live concert …
Continue reading Romantica Milonguera live, and a whole-evening tangasm
Just under two months ago, I wrote my six-month appraisal. The bottom-line of what I wrote then hasn’t changed:
By one measure, I’ve come a huge, huge distance. From zero to being able to lead an enjoyable, if simple, dance … for a fellow beginner.
By another measure – the standard I see in milongas – I’m almost nowhere. I watch people effortlessly do these amazing-looking things, and I can’t even tell you what they are doing.
But three things have changed significantly …
Continue reading Two months later, and disclosing my internal dialogue
With Hamdi and Amy still away, the improver class was again being taught by Federico and Julia. When they arrived about 15 minutes before the class was due to start, he wanted to know what the leaders had done to the followers yesterday!
There were about a dozen men and only one woman present …
The beauty of being in the second cycle of the Tango Space beginner classes is that I’m no longer having to learn new steps, and can instead focus on my technique. Tonight’s topic was the back ocho, and I can lead workable ones, so I wasn’t going to have to worry about the what, and would be able to instead focus on the how.
That’s needed because, as I mentioned before, I’d been cheating in my ochos …
After the Hyde Park bandstand milonga, Sunday provided another opportunity to dance outdoors. Rene and Hiba from Tango Fever organise Tango@Spitalfields, held in the Amphitheatre Canopy outside Patisserie Valerie.
It felt strange to be going there to dance: I’d passed several of these milongas in my pre-tango days, and always thought of them as a really fun idea. I never imagined I would one day be participating!
Continue reading Venturing once more into the great outdoors
Saturday was the monthly Tango Space workshop. This is usually in Farringdon, but this month was at Browns, Covent Garden, and with a guest teacher from Argentina.
The guest was Pepa Palazón, who organises the Viva la Pepa milonga in Buenos Aires and also runs the excellent Pregunta para vos website featuring interviews with famous tango dancers – thankfully with English subtitles …
Continue reading A Very Un-British Workshop, and trying a new milonga
I realised something after yesterday’s class, in which I wasn’t on great form despite my hopes that I’d really be able to work on my technique with a familiar figure.
I wasn’t stressed about it, but that’s not new: I’ve long accepted that the random ups and downs are just part of the deal. The realisation was that, actually, I still enjoyed it …
Continue reading Enjoyment, addiction and dim memories of a time Before Tango
The tango gods decided to amuse themselves this evening. The theme for the Tango Space classes is the ocho cortado, and I was already feeling comfortable with that, so felt like it was going to be a great opportunity to work on refining my technique.
Ha …
The first time we did planeos in the Tango Space class, I had been puzzled by them. After some solo practice and an improver’s class the following evening, they made more sense – though it still wasn’t anything I was going to attempt in a milonga.
This time around, the bank holiday meant no Monday classes, which gave me one improver’s class to see whether I might get comfortable enough to try it in the milonga which followed …
If I were in any doubt about my addiction to tango, this evening would have dispelled it. This was the first week since I started dancing in the milonga after the Tuesday class that I was unable to do so – and I really, really missed it …
Tonight’s improver’s class was on using the cross to change direction.
We started by practicing the cross. I had, the first time around, found that deceptively difficult for some reason. I subsequently got the hang of it, but I know there’s a vast chasm between a cross that works and a really good one, so I was more than happy to get more practice at it.
We then moved on to using it to change direction …
I wrote about one major milestone earlier this month: finally feeling like I have enough vocabulary to cope with a milonga where there isn’t much movement. That was followed by my first tangasm, and another really good experience in the Tuesday milonga a week later.
I realised afterwards that another milestone has been achieved …
Tonight’s Tango Space lesson was on the medio-giro, and with no class on Easter Monday, it was straight into the improver’s class.
But I felt comfortable with the beginner’s version from last time, and it’s something I use a lot in milongas, so didn’t mind jumping in at the deep end this evening …
Continue reading When tripping over each other’s feet is a good thing
Warren Edwardes runs regular free milongas in the bandstand in Hyde Park. These are semi-official: held with permission, but without actually hiring the bandstand, so they rely on other park users cooperating. Normally, they also wouldn’t have the lighting, but the Royal Parks people kindly switched them on.
The space is small, and tonight was popular, so things were absolutely packed. All of which left each couple dancing in about three square feet, leaving room for precisely one step forward and one side-step …
I’d mentioned on a tango Facebook group that I was looking for tips to help me avoid leading with my arms. I got lots of helpful responses, and Mark Phoenix also suggested I join the Strictly Practica event they were running on Sunday so he and Nozomi could offer some help.
The afternoon began with a workshop from a visiting teacher, Martin Ojeda. The phrase ‘visiting teacher’ is normally code for ‘stuff way too advanced for me,’ so my plan had been to attend the practica only, but Mark promised Nozomi would work with me on simpler versions, so I took a deep breath …
I said that I was prepared for a disappointment after last week’s amazing milonga, and I think if things had been terrible this week, I’d have shrugged and figured that tomorrow’s another day.
Instead, it was just puzzling …
Be careful what you wish for …
In conversation among experienced dancers, someone said most people make it through the first couple of years of tango thanks to a healthy dose of self-delusion. By the time they realise they weren’t anything like as good as they thought they were, they are over the hump – or at least, too far in to escape.
In reference to my six month appraisal, I complained that I hadn’t been supplied with the self-delusion to which I was apparently entitled …
Continue reading My legally-mandated dose of self-delusion was delivered after all
Today was going to be more following, this time with Bridgitta, in the practica at Tango Garden. As things turned out, we switched back and forth, me leading something and then Bridgitta having me follow the same thing to illustrate how different versions feel …
Tonight was my best tango experience yet!
The evening began with the Tuesday improver’s class, on the cross in cross system. Yesterday I’d been having mixed success with this, as I’m new to walking in cross system anyway. Tonight was still mixed success, but weighted more to the success side of the scales …
While I felt like I’d learned a lot about leading from my three hours of following, the proof is in the pudding – and tonight the pudding was served. Two of my regular followers in the Tango Space classes asked me what I’d been doing as they could really feel a difference.
I also got a little more unexpected following practice …
Sunday’s tango-related fun kicked off with a 90-minute talk on Troilo by Michael Lavocah, author of Tango Stories, Musical Secrets.
I couldn’t even begin to do justice to the talk in a brief blog post. Lavocah clearly has an immense breadth and depth of knowledge, and boundless enthusiasm for sharing as much of it as humanly possible …
Continue reading Michael Lavocah on Troilo, and more learning about leading through following
I may have mentioned once or twice <ahem> the difference between the theory of tango as a walking dance, and the reality of crowded milongas with lots of people doing endless circular movements. All good fun if you have any, not so much fun if you don’t.
I devoted not just one but both of my private lessons with Diego to this, and today’s Tango Space workshop was the perfect complement: Dancing in small spaces …
Continue reading Finally feeling like an improver (and beginner)
I mentioned last time my plan to spend a little time learning to follow in order to help inform my lead. The question was: could I, within say 4-5 hours of private lessons, reach the point where I would get ‘aha!’ moments about my leading?
The initial idea was to devote a two-hour lesson with Maeve to following, then see whether we both felt I might hit that 4-5 hour deadline …
Continue reading One of the most valuable lessons I’ve ever had
Tuesday evenings are straight into the improver’s class, as that precedes the beginner’s one. After a warm-up dance, we started with outside walking and then moved onto the cross.
I hadn’t been happy with my lead of the cross. It felt sloppy, and followers often ended up in a kind of half-hearted one. But tonight it clicked into place, and the key was fairly obvious in retrospect …
This week’s Tango Space theme is dissociation, and my week began as usual with the Monday beginner’s class followed by the improver’s one. The difference this week is that the 10-week cycle is starting again, so this time I’ve done everything in the beginner’s classes once before. I was hoping that would allow me to focus less on the ‘what’ and more on the ‘how’ …
Glamorously attired in the bottom half of a Virgin Atlantic sleep suit and a loose-fitting Nike t-shirt, I looked entirely unlike any ballerino the world had ever seen. Me, one other bloke and about 15 women, waiting in a dance studio in a Kings Cross college for a one-hour ballet taster class to begin …
Continue reading A ballet taster class, and a simple dissociation tip
My usual approach to Tango Space lessons does seem to do the trick: do beginner, Practica and improver classes on Monday; then the improver class on Tuesday (with the follow-on beginner class in reserve if I’m still struggling).
The two classes tend to take different approaches …
Continue reading A plan to move beyond my Minimal Comfort Zone
Back into group classes after my illness-enforced absence, and the theme was the calesita. A movement in which the follower pivots on one foot in the centre while the leader walks backwards around her.
In the beginner’s class, we did a sidestep entry, the calesita itself – and then the idea was for the leader to stop, but not stop the follower’s pivot. If all went to plan, her momentum would see her continue to pivot for about another 1/4 of a turn, by which time she should be facing the leader once more …
Diego recommended her. She isn’t the most responsive of followers, but does have a few advantages. She has a very strong core and holds her axis well. Pivots very nicely on the spot. Doesn’t do anything I don’t lead. But most importantly of all, she’s always available.
She’s currently helping me practice a couple of key things …
It’s been said that it can be a good idea to take a break from tango every now and then, to allow things to consolidate,. I could see sense in that, but the fixed cycle of the Tango Space classes complicated matters. I wanted to wait until I’d completed the full 12-week cycle, and then pick a week with a topic where I felt sufficiently comfortable to skip a week.
As things turned out, I didn’t get any say in the matter …
The theme of this week’s Tango Space lessons is the Americana. A figure in which leader and follower end up walking side-by-side.
Even the beginner version had a lot to think about. Rebound forward on left foot while dissociating to the left. Then during the spring back, dissociate right while stepping back with the left foot, and keep opening to the right while taking a side step. Then one Americana step forward together, the leader taking a slightly shorter step, then re-associate right and keep the follower’s weight on her left foot so you can walk out …
My expectations of today’s lesson with Mariano were very definitely not met …
I’ve mentioned before the ‘endless ocho’ issue I’ve encountered, where I either fail to lead an exit, or followers go onto auto-pilot, or some combination of the two.
I think Diego gave me a solution that should work regardless of the cause, but tonight I got to enjoy endless ochos of the useful variety …
Continue reading Endless ochos of the useful kind, and the social in social dancing
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 …
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 …
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 …
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!
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 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
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
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 …
Today’s lesson with Mariano felt like that Tango Cynic infomercial – only my version would be ‘you think you can embrace; you cannot’ …
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
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!
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 …
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
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:
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 …
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 …
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 …
Tonight was the second Tango Space class of the week, again on the medio-giro. In hindsight, I should have gone to the improver’s class rather than the beginner’s one, as that would have further developed my skills; it just didn’t occur to me in time.
But the beginner’s class was still great to get lots of practice, and in a rather crowded room that included adjusting the size and angle to suit the available space, so that was really useful …
Continue reading Awarding myself achievement points for three things
Regular readers may remember that the Monday Tango Space classes have a beginner’s class, a 30-minute practica and then an improver’s class. The topic is the same for both beginners and improvers – the latter doing a ‘variation’ on the theme.
You may also recall me deciding last week to stay on for the improver’s class, with what might best be described as mixed results …
After last night’s drunk tango, I had the kind of hangover commensurate with the amount of wine consumed. Which made for a somewhat more challenging two-hour lesson this afternoon than would otherwise have been the case.
In principle, we were just working on technique, and I’d asked Maeve to work with me on two things: improving my dissociation in ochos, and aiming for some fluidity in giros. However, in my hungover state, the lesson included some remedial material too …
I’ve never drunk alcohol at a milonga, partly because wine-breath doesn’t seem a great idea in a tango embrace, and partly because I have a finite quantity of coordination available even when stone cold sober.
But I had dinner with a couple of good friends last night, one of whom was a follower who hadn’t danced for a long time. So after way more wine than is reasonable between three people, she and I danced …
This week’s Tango Space class theme is the forward ocho. Although I have spent a … certain amount of time working on ochos, it was going to provide me with one thing I’ve consistently wanted: practice at pivots. I diarised two classes this week: Monday and Thursday.
Getting some practice really was great. It was a luxury to be doing something where I didn’t have to think about the logistics but could just focus on technique. I was comfortable enough that I was able to play around with the both speed and size of the ochos, and to begin to get a sense of the flexibility available in expressing quite different things with the same core movements …
I’ve mentioned before Iona Italia writing something that really resonated with me, written as advice for giving feedback to a practice partner …
Tonight was the monthly Tango Space workshop, this one on the three rhythms of tango: tango, vals and milonga. For those new to tango, see this backlink.
I was already familiar with the theory, and a little of the practice. But it was great to get some concrete tips and to have an opportunity to try to put them into practice in a milonga environment; when the workshops are as busy as tonight, you effectively get a crowded milonga for the exercises …
Continue reading The power of pausing, the three rhythms of tango – and fun!
Walking to tonight’s Tango Space lesson, it occurred to me that I could use ordinary walking as practice. Not a full-on tango walk through Waterloo (though I have been known to do that on an empty DLR platform, which I’m sure amused someone on the other end of a CCTV feed), but just practicing really pushing into the ground. And in doing so, I solved a mystery that had been bugging me for a while.
The first time I ever really got that part of the walk right, Mariano could immediately see it. Yet I couldn’t figure out how that could be. How could something that happened purely inside my own body be not only felt but seen … ?
When I started this blog, I was mostly doing it as a diary for myself. I figured a few tango friends might enjoy reading it, hence making it a blog. It’s much the same reasoning as the Journeys section of my website: mostly I enjoy reliving the experiences, and interested friends effectively view it as a kind of extended Facebook post.
So I’ve been surprised to see from the logs that the blog gets over a thousand visits a month. I think readers fall into one of four categories …
Continue reading Enter the parada (with a glimpse of sacada in the distance)
… one giant leap for his tango!
Today I had a 90-minute lesson with Bridgitta, in which I worked on the medio giro, then into a full giro.
Everyone told me that once you have one pivot, others become far easier – and they were absolutely right. Everyone also told me that from a medio giro to a full giro is really straightforward, and that too turned out to be the case …
Another lesson with Maeve, as usual starting with working on my walk, and then moving on this time to the medio giro.
I’d been introduced to three different versions of this between Mariano and two Tango Space lessons. One of the three was easier to remember than the other two, so we worked on that one. (Oddly, it wasn’t the simplest version.)
This reinforced my previous learning: it’s not about the exact steps; these can vary. Whenever I stop worrying about exactly what my feet are doing and focus on the overall shape of the movement, things work much more smoothly. Which is a paradox of tango I’ll return to shortly …
Continue reading A tentative tick for the medio giro, and the missing ingredient
The above is a simplified representation of the impression I’d always had of the steps involved in milonga. But by the end of yesterday’s lesson with Maeve, things were rather clearer.
The two-hour lesson covered three things. First, refining my walk, aiming to get more dissociation into it. Second, introducing the cross-system walk. Third, some simple milonga steps …
… you can’t tango but can milonga.
Ok, both are exaggerations, but all the same …
My then-gf and I rented the Tango Movement studio in Moorgate for a couple of hours (a really lovely space). Lessons are fun, but also work. It requires concentration to focus on something new, so I thought it would be good to spend a couple of hours just playing. Not trying to learn anything new, not practicing, just dancing …
The Royal Festival Hall regularly offers free social dances in the Clore Ballroom, a wonderful open space at the back of Level 2. Tango with a live orchestra takes place every year on 27th December.
It all sounds delightfully romantic. A festive time of the year, an amazing location, a fantastic live band, lots of friendly people. And it is all of those things …
Continue reading Playing tango dodgems at the Clore Ballroom
Our Tango World, 1: Learning and Community is an oddly prosaic title for an extremely poetic and impassioned book. I couldn’t help but feel that it deserves something more akin to Twelve Minutes of Love.
But the fact that I’m writing this review a little over 24 hours after taking delivery of the book is testament to the fact that this was my sole disappointment …
I’m doing lots of reading about tango, and one thing I came across was someone quoting an Argentine tango teacher when he was asked should you do x or y? His answer was often: yes. There is value in both. Try them both. Use whichever feels right at the time.
That’s how I feel about private and group lessons …
Tonight was my final group tango lesson of the year: the Tuesday Tango Space lesson, also on the medio giro. (I have one more private lesson this year, with Maeve).
When I first decided to do two Tango Space lessons each week, I thought they were the exact same lesson, so I’d be doing each twice. For anything I found difficult, that would give me a second shot at it; for anything that worked the first time, it would be an opportunity to work on improving my technique.
In fact, the theme is the same for each class in any one week, but the exact lesson varies. So both yesterday and today were the medio giro, but the two classes taught two different versions of it – both of which were different to the one Mariano showed me. There are, I’m quickly learning, endless variations of everything tango …
Continue reading Last group lesson of the year, and the journey so far
Monday evening was the first of two Tango Space lessons this week on the medio giro.
One thing that has really fallen into place with me now with pivots is realising that it’s not about the precise steps – it’s more about thinking about the direction and energy and feeling you want to impart. When Federico and Julia were demonstrating the medio giro, I noticed his exact foot placement varied, and as soon as I realised that, it became much easier to do it myself – because I was now focused on the objective and feel rather than whether the angle between my feet on the back cross should be 75 degrees or 90 degrees …
Last lesson with Mariano, we just briefly tried the medio giro at the end. Not enough to get a feel for it, but just a taster. So I was rather expecting to pick up this evening where we left off, but no, Mariano decided we could dive straight into the full giro.
Amazingly, he was right …
It doesn’t take long learning tango before you become intimately acquainted with what appears to be a universal phenomenon among dancers of all levels: tango highs, and tango lows.
But according to a great diagram created by Steve Morrall of tango school Bramshaw, seen below, I should feel pretty happy to experience either. Both peaks and troughs represent stage two of the learning experience …
Continue reading Perhaps entering stage two of the learning process
A new day and a new class: my first taste of the Tango Space Monday class. I’m not the only person to go to more than one lesson each week, so I was pleased to see a few familiar faces.
As with all Tango Space lessons, it starts with the walk. Federico had me lead him, and I again found that my walk comes together nicely when I really concentrate on all the elements – but doesn’t when I don’t. Oddly enough …
Continue reading Ochos: aiming to move beyond passable imitations
Saturday saw me first at the beginner’s class at Tango Garden, and later at a Tango Space workshop.
The Tango Garden class has a constant influx of first-time students, so often doesn’t progress beyond the walk in practice embrace. This was the case again today …
Continue reading A two-year journey, or deceptiveness in advertising
I’d made one claim, and Mariano had made another. Mine was that the multiple lessons spent struggling to do an ocho were actually learning the principle of leading pivots. His was that, once one pivot clicked, others would prove massively easier to learn.
The evidence so far is that both claims are justified …
In my final lesson on Sunday, a 30-minute one with Mariano, I had one perfect moment.
My then-gf wasn’t happy with my lead. ‘More chest!’ So I stopped. Mentally ran through my checklist for the walk. Feet grounded. Knees soft. Upright posture. Shoulders relaxed. Head up. Push back against the floor. Lead with the chest. Arms doing nothing other than maintaining the embrace. Then I began walking.
Everything came together. ‘Yes!’ she said, emphatically. ‘Now you look like a milonguero,’ declared Mariano. Just for that moment, I felt like one too …
Continue reading One perfect moment … and many imperfect ones
My tango torrent commenced with four lessons in a weekend, so this blog post will be a long one …
The group lesson at Tango Garden again had some complete beginners, so didn’t progress beyond the walk. In most activities, redoing the very basics – starting with changing weight – would be annoying, but in tango there is so much to learn and refine even in something as simple as changing weight …
Continue reading Four lessons in a weekend, or ‘Ochos: what was all the fuss about anyway?’
Here is my idea of how learning a new skill should progress:
Start at the beginning. Do one thing at a time. Progress in a series of logical steps from ignorance to competence.
Here is a photo of what learning tango looks like in real life …
Today was the beginner’s group lesson at Tango Garden. It was supposed to be on the ocho, but turned out not to be as there were several people there for their very first lesson, so we instead just did the walk. But practicing the walk with a partner suits me just fine, and it was actually a great confidence boost to successfully lead two first timers.
I went back later for the practica, and instead found myself dancing one tanda in the milonga …
When I started writing this blog post, this was my original opening:
I look forward to the time when I can stop writing about bloody ochos. I’m hoping this will be at some point within my lifetime. It is, however, not yet.
By the end of it, I’d realised that, actually, it is. This is, despite appearances, not another damn blog post about that damn ocho …
I have a one-thing-at-a-time mentality when it comes to, well, most things, actually. When it comes to learning tango, my theory was to stick with one figure until I felt I had a reasonably good beginner’s version of it – and only then move on to something else.
But in line with my determination to ‘be more ocho,’ instead of insisting doggedly that we stick to the ocho, I left it to Mariano to decide how we spent today’s lesson. Which turned out to be a practical demonstration of how, in tango, everything is connected to everything else …
Another Saturday, another beginner’s group lesson at Tango Garden. Except today, a family emergency meant the teacher was unavailable. What was available was a class for ‘beginners+,’ a small but significant suffix I’d most definitely not yet earned.
But I was there, and Maral and Mariano seemed confident no-one would die. The goal, for those legitimately in possession of a plus sign, was a sequence of steps I couldn’t even hope to accurately describe, let alone imitate. Feet flashed and bodies whirled. It looked like an Olympic dressage event while I’d gone there for a seaside donkey ride …
I throw myself into things. Between lessons, daily practice … books … blogs … videos. Why Tango. Tango & Chaos. Twelve Minutes of Love.
They give me a feel for the passion and romance. But also show me a world so far removed from my seven-lessons-in walk that it seems a crazy, absurd, impossible idea that I could ever aspire to set foot in a milonga in Buenos Aires, that year-away-goal designed to inspire and propel me forward …
Yeah, I know it means why rather than where, but I never let facts stand in the way of a cheesy title.
One word. One move. You’d think one lesson might be enough to get me to the point where I could produce something which might bear a rough approximation to an ocho if viewed from a distance on a dark and foggy night. But no …
A recent experience made me appreciate just how much is involved in a great teacher-student relationship.
It starts with compatible goals. A student who collects moves in much the way a philatelist collects stamps will need a different teacher from one who wants to achieve a certain level of proficiency with one move before embarking upon another …
Judging progress can be difficult. People talk about a kind of zig-zag in tango. One lesson, everything clicks and is perfect and you feel you’re doing fabulously. The next, everything feels terrible and nothing works and you feel you’re a lost cause.
I’ve been doing pilates for only a little longer than tango, and there it feels even harder to see progression. Maybe an exercise feels a little smoother here and there, but mostly I rely on our teacher’s assessment.
But every now and then …
I can balance really well on a bicycle or motorcycle: I often used to win ‘slow races,’ which are all about balance. But I’ve never had great balance when standing on one foot. I generally carry out a site survey and formal risk assessment before putting on a sock. I knew I’d have to improve my balance for tango, so asked our pilates teacher for one lesson focused on that.
Aside from standing on a balance board for a while, it didn’t feel like much of the lesson was overtly geared to that, and trying a balance ball at home afterwards, I could see and feel no visible progress. I looked rather akin to a yacht being tossed around the ocean in a force ten gale.
But side-steps in my next lesson did feel more solid. And putting on my sock the next day, I discovered something amazing: I was able to stand, almost perfectly still, on either leg! When I got back on the balance ball, I was almost stationary on that too.
I could even manage a yoga move, lifting the other leg up and alternating between holding it in front of, and behind, me. That’s something I could never have imagined would happen so quickly. I was so surprised I almost fell over.
A tango dancing friend protested I was having it all too easy. Private lessons and a highly experienced follower on tap. Not like in her day, when you had to (tango) walk 43 miles through the snow in your bare feet, listening to scratchy music through a crystal radio with a broom for a dance partner …
Tango is just walking in time to the music.
The lie is compelling because we all know how to walk. Most of us have been doing it since before our first birthday, and like to think we’ve got the hang of it by now. The deception is of course revealed in the very first lesson.
‘Push from the floor with your rear leg, don’t reach out with your front one.’
‘Walk with a swagger, but not pushing your hips forward.’
‘Lead with your chest, but take your power from the floor’ …
Curiosity and obsession …
I get curious about anything and everything. I flirt with understanding everything from the construction of modern skyscrapers to how DLR trains know where they are. But every now and then, I take an intellectual lover.
My bookmarks were packed full of articles on everything from floor-craft to musicality. Our cleaner was bemused by my practicing my walk in my home office before work. YouTube had virtually stopped recommending anything that wasn’t a tango video. From flirtatious glance to tango leaving her toothbrush in my bathroom had taken but a few weeks …
‘Love music, can’t dance’ had had for so long been a part of my self-identification that the very notion of this not being an established fact seemed hard to imagine. And yet it was an illusion shattered with a single evening of ceroc.
I discovered, to my great surprise, that when you combine a halfway decent musical ear with some well-taught fixed steps, the result is something which looks not entirely dissimilar to dance …
ben lovejoy 