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.