After last week's performance at Norse Hall, many people complimented me on the level of playfulness that Jose Garofalo and I had allowed into our dancing. One person told me, "I can tell it's improvisation because it was so playful!" and the next said, "I can't believe that was completely improvised: it was so playful!" "You looked like you were having fun!" said another, who then said they didn't expect that in tango :-)
Obviously, there are different opinions about what MAKES something playful, but why do we think that Argentine Tango cannot be playful? For me, discovering that I can play in tango saved me from quitting! I would go dancing and complain afterwards to my (non-dancing) boyfriend that I hadn't had any good dances. I realized that I never enjoyed going out dancing anymore, and seriously thought about quitting tango.
But I love tango: what could I do to make it enjoyable again? I started only dancing with people who I thought had nice energy, no matter how beginner. With someone nice, you have a good feeling afterwards that you can carry with you. I then discovered that, if I wasn't just trying to dance with the "best" dancers, I had a lot more fun. I also started messing around and not worrying about mistakes. Sometimes, when I really don't follow, I say, "I made that up!" because dancers usually apologize to me for my own mistake :-)
So, get out there and dance! Here is a second video that is not yet on public on YouTube, so this is the only way to get to it!
Improvisation to live music May 5, 2018 at Tango Berretin in Portland, OR.