Cultural Event

Attending the milonga at the Mercury Café was an extremely unique and eye-opening experience, and helped my understanding of tango come full-circle. The milonga environment was very cozy and inviting, and everyone seemed very happy to be there and open to dancing with a variety of people. For a while I just sat and watched couples dance and observed the movement around the room. I was amazed to see the unique style and movement present in each different couples dance. I was most interested in watching the followers (particularly since that is my role) and seeing the different ornamentations that they used that we haven’t yet learned. Many of the couples seemed so at ease on the dance floor, and some women even closed their eyes while moving around the room. Other couples seemed tentative, sticking to certain steps and moving more slowly around the room. I wasn’t planning on dancing with anyone but I ended up dancing milonga with a man. This was quite difficult because he dances with more complex attention to rhythm and we haven’t work as much on milonga steps as traditional tango. I got pretty nervous and dropped quite a few steps but it was a good first experience and my partner was very patient and encouraging. I really enjoyed the experience and would love to go to another milonga once I build up the courage and skill to do so as well as cabaceo someone.

Never done learning

Today was our final tango lesson. Around this time of year, students are accustomed to the last lesson of the quarter being a wrap up, and leaving that class feeling like they are the masters of the subject in which they took the class. This class was the first class where I left feeling like I was about 10 years away from even beginning to be able to call myself a master in the subject of Tango dancing. Although this sensation left me with an empty feeling right after class today, it is also one of my favorite parts of tango. Nobody is ever done learning, tango really is a lifetime struggle. In tango, there is no such thing as perfect, there is no such thing as done, and that is really the beauty of this tricky dance. I will miss coming to class every friday and to be honest still do not know if I will continue dancing the tango in the future, but it has been an absolute pleasure getting my start in such a warm and welcoming atmosphere where 'perfection' was never an expectation during the start of nearly everyones tango journey.

Dancing With Javier (event)

A couple of weeks ago I went to tango club while Javier was teaching.  He is a very funny Argentine man and his excitement for the tango is apparent.  Javier also has a method of teaching that really makes sense.  Most of the class we spent on technique rather than steps and I think this really helped my understanding of the basic structure of the dance.  He placed a heavy focus on the embrace, specifically how to lean into one another and dance in a close embrace without losing balance.  Also, his explanations on how to follow enhanced my understanding of the role.  He explained that followers should place some resistance on the leader so that the follower does not go until the leader asks her to.  This also makes the leader pay better attention to his signals, ensuring that he gives clear intention before making a move.  The final thing that Javier focused on was how to keep your partner from changing feet so that you can walk outside of her during the basic eight count.  His explanation of slightly lifting the woman while you change feet to go outside of her helped me to again better understand full intention.  Though I was hardly able to dance in a close embrace, this class really helped my understanding of the dance.  

I never thought Tango could be used as a networking event. I was wrong. I am very excited to meet Dr. Newman of the CU Dental School at Anschutz Medical Campus on Friday. So thank you very much to Ann and Steven! I was also very bummed that it was the last Tango Club of the year. I still had a lot of fun dancing with everyone. I think that I am getting better at piecing different steps together so that I am not doing the same thing over and over and over again. I also figured out that I hate the Vals. Its hard enough for me to listen to the Tango music and then to add that on top of it, its just cruel! It will definitely take a lot more practice and a lot of listening to the music to be decent at dancing to Vals music. It was still a fun evening though, and I had a great time!

Week 8

Tango dance is interests me because it is fascinating that so many people relate and share a strong passion for their love of Tango.  I wonder what it is like at other Tango practices and communities in various areas around the world.  I imagine that not one of them is the same.  They each probably have their own personalities, their own style or tweak in how the dance is portrayed and practiced.  I am inclined to check out Tango practices and milongas in the San Diego area when I get home for summer and am done studying the dance.

Week 9

By week 9's class, I have targeted my weakness in my learning of the Tango dance.  I am not quite sure why but I have the tendency to want to lead even when in and practicing the follower's role.  It is not easy for me to always feel my dance partner's inner intention to lead and pick up on their guidance choice of foot to move forward with.  I just came to realize this struggle of mine, and would love feedback of how I can try to fix this minor issue.

The fire

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been inwardly and outwardly expressive of my concerns that the passion that so many tango dancers have raved about on movies and in class might not be experienced by everyone. More specifically, I was worried that I would never catch the Tango bug. I have really struggled dancing this quarter and have quite honestly been pretty frusterated in parts. Yesterday, something amazing happened that made me realize that sometimes patience is truly a virtue, especially when it comes to things that are worth being patient for. I was in the shower and was letting my mind drift and, all of the sudden, I realized I was practicing the 'sandwich' dance move that I had been practicing the day before in class. This moment gave me confidence that maybe I was more right for Tango than I give myself credit for. I sure hope that I experience more moments in the future where Tango infiltrates the out of class moments of my life, and hope to see the passion burn even after I leave Tango class.

Tango and Health (week 7)

I was sort of surprised after watching the link from ABC News in Australia about the recent medical breakthroughs in relation to Tango dancing and health benefactors.  We had talked a little bit about these new studies and findings in class.  From the story linked in the email we received, I learned much deeper detail about exactly how Parkinson's disease patients are being encouraged to try the Tango.  It provides not only an outside support group, but also helps patients deal with their mental health from being on all of the medicines.  I am excited and interested in where these studies will go once more information is gathered to predict what might come next in Tango's progression into societies.

Last Friday, I went to the Mercury Cafe for the 7-9:30 lesson. It was quite a lot of fun! We learned a double time step. I found that it was hard for me to lead the step though. I felt like I was giving the attention to move faster, but  a lot of the times, it didn't work. However there were a few followers who I could do it with so that was exciting. We also learned a pivot step which I thought was cool. It involved giving the intention to move the woman backward, but before she took the step back, pivoting her back around into a front-ocho-esk style step. I stayed after the lesson for the milonga with Jared, Camilla, Carmen, and Maddy. Early on in the night, I asked Carmen to dance a tanda because there weren't too many people on the dance floor yet. It was quite a lot of fun, although I struggled a little bit with the line of dance. After that dance though, the floor got quite crowded and it was intimidating to dance. So I just observed couples dancing and talked with the others in the class. It was quite a nice evening!

Going to the big leagues

Tonight, after eight weeks of learning and studying tango, I finally went to see what the real world of tango is actually like.We went to the Mercury Cafe in downtown Denver, a favorite of Ann's and a hot spot for Tango dancing. Even though I did not think I was ready to dance yet, I was still excited to go to the restaurant and watch other people dance. I was absolutely enthralled by the amazing sense of community that seemed to exist at the Mercury, and the passion was absolutely evident in all of the dancers that we saw during the evening. My experience watching and enjoying the true culture of Tango affirmed Matt's research paper on tango as an addiction. It was obvious that people were hungry for dances, and disappointed if they were sitting on the sidelines. One case that stood out to me specifically that reinforces Matt's hypothesis was a woman who was Ann's friend who was very obviously trying to find a dance partner. After moving closer to us in hopes that she would find a dance partner in a new position, the woman stood up and proclaimed that she was sick of waiting so long and that the night was a lousy one. This strong portrayal of emotion shown in this case is indicative of how badly many of these people need Tango, and the negative effects that come from a night that is not full of as much Tango dancing as they hoped for or anticipated. Although I marveled at the passion that was displayed tonight, I worried that I might not ever have the fire needed to be a good tango dancer. After 8 weeks of dancing and learning about this historic dance, I was absolutely content to sit for two hours and watch every body else dance, without feeling like I was missing out on much. Although I justified this through the fact that dancing in a real milonga is a tall order for a beginner and the reason that I was not dancing was because I was not yet confident enough to dance, I am starting to wonder if I will ever tango fire that I see in my teachers' and classmates eyes.

Struggle and Stride (week 8)

Unfortunately this week I did not make it to tango club.  I was planning on it, but free food and an open bar at the BFA Senior Exit Show left me full and uncoordinated.  When I got home I danced with the imaginary milonguera that inhabits my kitchen, though this proved much less fun than an actual partner.  However, in class I did make some improvements.  There was the obvious improvement of adding to my repertoire of dance moves, but more importantly there was also an improvement in my comfort with the dance.  This comfort allowed me to listen to the music more intently, anticipate its changes, and dance accordingly.  This was a large improvement from last week where I was convinced that the feet attached to my body weren't actually mine... and I did not have the excuse of an open bar to ease my frustration.

There were also struggles today.  When a milounga came on I could not keep a beat, remember dance moves, nor innovate.  I don't think I've ever danced that badly to a milounga before.  I could not be more relieved when the dance was over.  This time I am not going to attribute it to my adding complexity to the dance, but rather just the fact that I was unable to change styles from tango to milounga without over thinking and overcomplicating the dance.  I will work on becoming more flexible in the future.        

What progress??? (week 7)

Last week I commented on how much progress I was able to make in such a short amount of time.  I was ecstatic because I was finally able to bled the complexities of the dance with the harmonies of the music.  This week... not so much.

Tango club did not go as well as I expected it to.  I was unable to re-conjure the the ability to connect music to the dance moves that I could so well the week before.  I was off balance, out of step, and frustrated because it was much harder for me to tango than it was the week before.  Class was similar in that it was not my best dancing.

In my previous post I mentioned the fact that learning does not occur in a linear process.  While I still believe this, I don't necessary believe that the graph of learning should function like a cosin curve (or is that sin... I haven't taken a math class in 5 years).  With that said, I may be being too hard on my self.  Tango requires an incorporation of so many things and maybe my off week shows that I have added new complexities to the dance that will in turn improve my dancing.

Until next time...    

Struggles

This week's lesson was fairly frustrating, as my dancing did not reflect how much progress I feel that I have made in the last few weeks. For some reason, immediately upon starting to dance yesterday, I felt off: I don't know if I had not had enough sleep, I was run down or the dance moves were too complicated, I was just off, and my dancing definitely reflected my affect. As you can imagine, it can be fairly frustrating to dance for two straight hours when you feel like you have not gotten anything right all day, and that is exactly how I felt yesterday for the first hour of the morning. Although the dancing was admittedly much less fun than it normally is due to my hefty struggles, I really appreciated my classmates being so supportive, proving constructive feedback in a polite way that helped spark a better second hour of dancing for me. Yesterday's tango lesson reinforced the importance of support among those that you are dancing with, especially in a dance where frustration seems to merely be a normal part of the learning process.

week seven

This weeks lesson really gave me confidence. Although I am still not dancing the way I want to, I was able to identify what I am doing wrong and can go home and work on  those things. I still find myself struggling with posture, as well as not looking down. However the more I dance the more familiar I feel with the steps and the more I am able to look forward. I also realized how powerful and useful the chest is in the close embrace. You can literally feel your partners chest so it is so easy to tell where one is going with the movements of the chest. I find my tango posture leaking over into my real life posture. I really enjoy this, I feel like overall I have a bad posture so tango is really helping me. The research time was also helpful. It is a real puzzle to navigate through the libraries' data base so it is always nice to have someone who can show you the ropes around. I found some really cool articles and information about tangos African roots as wells the social context of tango during the time when it was primarily danced by blacks.

Week Six

This week Chuck blessed us with his presence. He was incredibly helpful talking through leading. He offered great advice and was really good at identifying specific details of what I was doing wrong. For me it was all on the posture. I am having a hard time keeping my eyes up and looking forward. I find myself struggling not to look at my feet, this is affecting where my head is positioned which is also affecting the way I am standing. When I was following I found it easier to dance when i looked up. Although it was a little nerve wrecking not knowing where you are being led, I realized that while I was looking at my feet, I wasn't really allowing my partner to lead rather trying to predict where his foot was coming and going so I could match it. Talking to Beatriz was a really cool experience. She was so knowledgeable and seemed so passionate about tango. Her answer to my questioned really gave a cool perspective on the gender roles in tango and how women navigate through them.

week 7 blog post

This weeks class was the most enjoyable for me by far.  Being able to interview not just someone who lives in Argentina and is knowledgable about the tango, but Beatriz the author of our book was very special.  I thought she was extremely engaging with us and willing to try and answer any question that we asked her.  I was very curious and wanted to ask more questions about what she had to say about the therapy aspect of the tango.  for myself I believe tango could really be incredible therapy especially somewhere like the United States where in our culture men are suppose to act a certain masculine way, and not really express there emotions.  The tango allows you to connect with someone in a very emotional and intimate way while also letting yourself express another emotions you feel in a very therapeutic way.  This would benefit a lot of people who don't necessarily have someone to confide in, or have trouble expressing themselves emotionally.  Overall I think it is just a different avenue to express yourself, and one that could really benefit a lot of people.  I also enjoyed hearing her talk a little more about the modern culture of the tango, it was very interesting and a little surprising as well.

week 6 post

This week is has definitely been a turning week for me in terms of learning the tango.  One main reason for this is just my understanding of the tango and the different ways we have looked at the dance, and the culture of the dance.  I am also starting to understand the dance a little more and honestly am enjoying the dance more because of this.  The two new steps that we have learned have been a large part of the reasoning for me enjoying the dance more.  The backwards ochos are very enjoyable and help me with my dance because they force me to slow down and listen to my partners body and what they may want out of the rest of the dance.  That concept has been big for me lately, of slowing down and listening, instead of speeding up and trying to look as though I know the dance.  Feeling is everything and the concept of reading your partner and listening to her has made me understand the dance more.  It is not necessarily that the women has less power then the man but more that she gives herself to the dance, and lets the dance lead her to where she wants to go.  I am very excited to keep learning, both physically and also mentally, and hopefully my physical dance movements and my mental learning come together to help me dance.

week 6 blog

This week I enjoyed class and learning from respected Tango experts.  It was interesting to hear someone from Buenos Aires and the United States, and who knows both areas of Tango in the respective areas.  When it came to the practice time of the class, I was confident in being led. I am not so sure that I can say I have the same confidence when dancing the leader's position.

And then it clicked...

For me, and for most people I'm assuming, learning does not happen in a linear fashion.  I will work at something for weeks on end and never quite get it, then one day it just clicks and it makes complete sense.  Friday was that day for me.  My goal from last week was to dance fluidly, creating a dance rather than repeating steps.  I feel that I have made tremendous progress towards this goal.  On Thursday, at Tango Club, I was still struggling.  I was concentrating on the steps so much that my dancing was fragmented and even though it had somewhat of a similar look, it wasn't tango.

Maeve, my girlfriend, came to Tango Club with me last week.  She had a really good time and she picked up on the dance far more quickly that I did.  When she was lead by others she was very responsive, following without thinking about where she was going, truly allowing herself to be lead.  However, when I danced with her I felt that she was very difficult to lead.  She was thinking more about the dance and the steps she needed to take.  She wasn't letting go and letting me lead, rather, she was concentrating on where her feet should be going and anticipating my lead.  I stopped and told her to let go, to stop thinking about the dance and just let herself move with me to the music.

I think some of the best advice for one to follow is that which they give others.  I was not letting go, I was thinking too hard about the dance, and I was removing the dance from the music.  The dance does not happen in a vacuum.  The dancer's attention is focused on so many things, and numerous things can bring the dancer out of focus.  The milounguero is attentive not only to his partner (what foot is she on, which direction is easiest for her to travel) but also the other people on the dance floor.  He also has to focus on what is happening in the music, and this is where my attention was lacking.  Though the music adds another distraction in a list of many, it also helps the milounguero by acting as his leader.

On Friday I tried to let the music guide me to achieving fluidity in the dance.  I believe I did fairly well to achieve this goal but this will continually be my focus in the upcoming weeks for my dancing.      

Week 5

I think I forgot to make a blog posting for week five so here it is.  This was the first week that I made it to tango club.  We learned how to spin around our partners.  I got so dizzy I felt like I was going to fall down.  In class I don't remember exactly what we did but I was focusing so heavily on the steps that I lost the dance.  I realized during the milongua that I was only repeating steps rather than making a fluid dance.  My goal for the next week was to dance rather than just repeating steps.

Week 6

Today, Chuck, Ann's husband, came to class to help both leaders and the followers with the intricacies of this dance. Although Ann is a great teacher, it really helped to have two teachers today, especially since those two teachers have been dancing together for more than a decade. Aside from watching Ann and Chuck dance the most beautiful Tango that I have ever seen in person, it was also really cool to see how passionate Chuck was about Tango, from seeing his emotions every time Beatriz said something he liked, to conversing with any student who was within ear shot about some part of Tango. I felt the passion today as much as I have so far in this course, which really pushed me to extend myself today in the dancing portion and pay attention in a sharp, focused manner, a focus that I have not quite experienced until today.