For those of you who know that I was injured last March, you know how hard I have worked to rehab my foot and body after a long period where I could not dance correctly. I am still limited in my ability to go out dancing for fun, but I have my foot back--and improved flexibility and strength.
I am periodically making videos to show the exercises that I do. I am pretty sure that I am not the only person who dances tango and can benefit from more strength and flexibility!
When Guillermo di Fazio was in Portland for Valentango, I had the chance to study privately with him. I am very interested in the style of the old masters, so when he announced a class on Todaro's style/combos, I was very excited. Unfortunately, I had to work at the time of the class, so I contacted him, requesting private lesson time.
During my lesson, Guillermo taught me:
I really enjoyed dancing with someone who could lead me in the combo, and then follow well, so that I could try the same thing that I had just followed. I learn best this way, and am happiest with a strong teacher who can do this well.
My brain completely full, I sat with my camera, rewatched the lesson and took notes until all the info was on paper and on film. Although I lose some of the information, that way, the maximum that I CAN retain can be found :-)
As is my habit, I share all information I learn with my students. I don't see a purpose in withholding information to make people wait, or pay more, or to keep my level higher. That's my main complaint about dance schools with prescribed levels--you know what I mean.
Anyway, by teaching new information, I can see how much of it works for dancers at beginner or intermediate or advanced levels, what other material they need in order to be able to do the movements; and how I can best explain it so that more people get it faster. Body Dynamics (for those of you in Portland, this is my 7 PM Monday class at Om Movement Studio) gets all my new material, as it preps for all levels of my group classes.
The men in the class were taken back by Guillermo's suggested instructions of "Crack balls! Knife!" to explain how to swing the leg across the body, pivot, and stop abruptly, on balance. The women just thought it was funny. I have since changed how I describe the movement.
As the Todaro combos proved too difficult for my students to actually do, I started to look for other applications for these drills. I broke down the exercise into easier parts, and working up to the full effect.
Immediately, I noticed that these drills were really about having good balance while one leg was completely relaxed and moving quickly, followed by pivoting on balance. Hmm...this seems to be the same info needed for doing good follower moves that require loose legs! I made last week's video to show how this can benefit followers.
In addition, there are a lot of possiblities for the leader to add into other moves, if s/he is sooo on balance that flicking the free leg around does not inhibit a clear lead. We have recently been playing a new game I call "Crazy legs" that incorporates the leader playing with this while the follower does turns.
Go watch the video, do the exercises, and come to class!
I just spent the weekend singing, dancing and listening to music from the Balkans. Last time I went, I learned some great teaching tips for dance teaching from Michael Ginsburg, who I really respect as a dance teacher. This time, my reflections on tango and teaching came from taking Turkish and Greek singing from two fabulous teachers, Bob Beer and Ruth Hunter.
This may seem far from tango, but stick with me!
Bob's approach to teaching us Turkish songs made me wish I could do this for tango:
I am dreaming of huge amounts of video footage, nightmares of editing, etc. If only we could have the same thing on YouTube as the songs, where the same words (mostly) are in a song, and you only have to search for the name of the song. Instead of carrying around a phone with crazy amounts of music stored on it, I would need a monitor, computer, speakers, etc. Whew.
If only we could do this in dance class! Imagine having footage of three or four great tango masters, doing the same combination; and showing them back-to-back in class! Then we could talk about what neigborhood they grew up in in Buenos Aires, who taught them, etc. THEN, we could try out the combo and get the main points down. After that, we could look at typical adornos that could be done in the combination and/or variations in speed/flavor of the movement. We could try the different variations from each master, and then decide what to do ourselves.
Great idea, not easily achieved.
People have written about tango and rebetiko music already. Both are art forms from the underbelly of society. Both sang about drugs, crime, poverty, loss, love, etc. Both were censored/banned by the authorities who felt that they glorified the seedy side of society that the government wanted to ignore. Both had their lyrics cleaned up, removing slang, drug references, etc., to make it palatable to the upper classes.
Among the songs we learned this weekend, we learned Anikse, Anikse. She told us stories about a famous rebetiko singer, Sotiria Bellou, who sang the song. She told us about the singer's difficult life, and then we tackled the song, and worked on getting the melody (with ornamentation EVERYWHERE) down enough to sing it.
Ruth and Bob both made an effort to get us to sing real songs with feeling in them. Bob said singing it with perfect, urbanized pronunciation was like singing the Rolling Stones song as if it were called "I cannot get any satisfaction" :-)
In the case of the rebetiko song, we needed to make one part sound like we were crying/sobbing. In another part, we needed to slide off-key a bit before taking a breath. On another song, we needed to try to make the harmony NOT match: there were at least three acceptable versions to sing under the melody!! Crazy-making to beginners probably.
These songs are not about perfection: they are about FEELING and life.
Shouldn't tango be about the same things? The lyrics are sometimes cute or sweet, but usually they are intense, full of feeling and life. Why not dance that? Even if you don't understand the lyrics, you can enter into the music. Even better, take a moment and look up the lyrics of your favorite tango, and add more depth to your understanding of that song!
This idea is easier to achieve, and can be done by the dancer: you don't need a teacher to do this! Go DO it!
For those of you who don't like to read, here is the video, right at the top where you can find it!
Thanks for all the nice /website messages about my last video! So nice that all of this work learning to shoot and edit video is helping other people. As a shy person, it is VERY hard to turn that camera on. Don't be fooled by how much I talk: I talk a lot more when I am nervous! For me, this is almost as awful as those dreams where you realize you don't have clothing on in a public place...
It's been fun to (re)connect with dancers from all over the country. I was thinking about working on my ocho video, but a viewer asked me about ankle strengthening exercises (Hi, Lisa!).
For those of you who don't like to read, I will try to talk through most of this on the video; but some of us still like the written word!
As a child, I was always the person twisting/straining/spraining my ankles. I constantly rolled over the sides of my feet and hurt them. For those of you who know me well, you know I have almost zero stereo vision, so part of this was due to not being able to see very well. However, I also inherited my mother's weak ankles. I remember Mom driving to school to tape my ankles so that I could run track (my school required all of us, even us slow folks, to take part in track meets). I always seemed to have ace bandages on.
I didn't get stronger ankles until I took about six years of West African dance in grad school and afterwards. By the time I got serious about tango, I had strong ankles.
Now, after my foot injury, I am just beginning to put my 9 cm. tango stilettos back on, and I notice that my ankles are not as strong as previously. In the video clips that follow, I will show you how to stretch and strengthen your ankles so that YOU can wear tango heels and not get injured.
A complex system of bones, ligaments, tendons and muscles holds us up and moves us around. No wonder we have so many foot and ankle issues!
Get the blood flowing in your system before doing stretches and strengthening exercises. Even if you just go walk around the block, that will help you protect your body while improving your tango. I usually do arm and legs swings, as well as twisting around my body, before I start stretching. If I don't walk to warm up, I do ankle circles right and left before stretching.
The first part of the video shows gastrocnemius and soleus stretches. Those are the two big calf muscles. They share the Achilles tendon across the back of your ankle. If your issue is lack of flexibility, spend MORE time on this, and less on the strengthening exercises. Remember that it takes 1.5-2 minutes for the microfibers in your muscles to allow for a full stretch: they are there to make sure you don't tear and rip muscles.
Use a massage ball or golf ball to get your plantar fasciae in gear. That's the layer that encases your muscles on the bottom of your foot. You can also massage your feet: we do this in Body Dynamics almost every week. Consider doing this also when you take your heels off after dancing, ladies!
Notes: keep your foot over the massage ball, so that the weight of your leg helps apply pressure to the sole.
The video shows the first of three parts of a leg and ankle stretch that we do in Body Dynamics. The rest of the stretch addresses other leg muscles, so I left it out for brevity. You will see it some other time!
I spent a lot of grad school going to PT and getting my feet taped so I could dance as much as I needed to for my M.A. in Dance. I have learned a lot since then: in my 20s, I saw that as a necessary evil, but never really did my strengthening exercises. I just thought I would have weak ankles my entire life! My feet and ankles are much stronger now in my 50s, thanks to hard work!
Fine muscle control in your feet will help you do fabulous adornos and have precision in your tango. Drawing the alphabet with your feet works the muscles you need for that. Have fun: do different alphabets, draw them upside down or backwards, write whole words--whatever works for you. I usually try to remember the Cyrillic and Arabic alphabets from my grad school studies.
You need a friend or a heavy piece of furniture for this one. Loop a stretchy band under a chair, sofa, bed, or have a friend hold the other end. Make sure you get enough tension on the band to have a good workout, but don't overdo it. I almost always end up moving closer to the piece of furniture than I start.
The most important part here is to STABILIZE YOUR KNEE. You don't want to work the whole leg. The better you line up your knee, the more the ankle gets focused work.
Hope this is helpful!
As I come back from my foot injury, I am noticing that MANY parts of my body are more out of shape than before. I have made a commitment to stretch more as well as to work out more; at least until I am back in shape!
Stretching my hips was one place where I was slacking, so now I am back on it. Here are a set of hip stretches that I learned from Rita Honka when we were in grad school. It's an oldie but goodie.
Try this and let me know how it works for you!
This stretch sequence takes about 16 minutes if you do it correctly. Many days, I don't have that much time, so I only do one or two parts of the stretch. I am very stretchy in two of the four stretches, so I only do those when I am leading the stretch for other people.
I have found that most people are stretchy in at least one part of their hip. If you find that the stretches in the video are too easy in places and really hard in others, concentrate on the hard ones, and let the easy ones go for a while. This saves time and also focuses on problem areas.
I am trying to do a weekly vlog, as sometimes it is MUCH quicker to show something, than to try to explain it in words!
This week, I wanted to show a quick body alignment reminder, followed by some foot stretches and foot care ideas to help you dance longer and more often, without foot pain.
For those of you who are local to the Portland, Oregon area, I teach a class called Body Dynamics, where we do stretches, exercises and games that help build body strength for tango, while practicing tango technique. I teach at the Om Studio, 14 NE 10th Ave. (off Burnside), and class is at 7 PM on Mondays. Both women and men are welcome, and I tailor the class to the people who take it. Please bring socks and your dance shoes, and dress in clothing that allows you to sit/lie on the floor.
When I looked at my blog, I realized that you can't look at the pictures in a way that makes the arch exercise clear that I described in my last blog entry. Here is a short video that I hope will make it clearer!
I am officially allowed to PUT ON MY HEELS!
I am not allowed to dance in them yet, but my PT gave me permission to start wearing my heels to do some of my exercises! Yay! It's been three months, and folks, maybe this sounds girly, but I just don't feel my normal self wandering around in flat sandals with toe separators on.
I have lost a lot of balance and strength in three months. My PT says that every two weeks of not exercising/dancing/whatever results in an appreciable change in the muscles. I am not even going to count this in sets of two weeks, or I would cry.
I use the phrase "magic metatarsals" to describe where to focus the work of the foot for dancing, walking, standing--everything. If you get off your toes and into your arch, you are moving the way humans are designed to move naturally. This makes your movement more graceful, organic--pretty!
Tango (and tango shoes) require that you use your foot correctly when the weight is off the heels (pivoting)--or else you will suffer in your toes. I love it that Seth Watterson, my chiropractor and physical trainer, thinks my feet are in great shape for a dancer. "You must being doing something right!" he said when I told him how many hours I spend in heels (before the injury).
Pivoting on the injured foot (my left), as if for a back ocho or any back cross step, still doesn't work right, so I am focusing on fixing that. This exercise does not pivot, but it prepares my foot to be in the right position for pivoting. These photos are steps 1, 2 & 3 below. Yes, the changes are subtle: this is a tiny move!
Starting with my heels touching the floor,
Step 1: Just starting to lift the heels off the ground: notice the knees stay soft!
Step 2: notice I am still aligned over the center of my metatarsals/my arch.
Step 3: When I dance tango, I NEVER lift my heels off the floor this way because it is inefficient, but the exercise allows me the strength to stay over my arches when I pivot with my heels skimming the floor.
If you grab a straight edge and line it up on the pictures, you will notice that my bone alignment stacks up over my arch, not my toes (compare with below).
At the moment, I can only do this exercise with my hands on a support (notice, furniture works great as a ballet barre!). When I am in top form, I can do this unsupported. Ladies, if you can't do this without support, that means you are leaning on the leader: do you want that to happen? NO! This is why I am mostly leading when dancing right now :-)
Mostly of us tend to lean onto our toes, bring our hips forward, and grip at the knees to get our heels off the ground.
Can you see how my alignment is now over my toes? Take a rule & line me up to see better.
OK, folks, more later!
Six weeks in a boot certainly affected my foot and ankle strength! A month after getting out of the boot, I am still not back in my beloved heels. Luckily, my chiropractor and trainer (same person) understands that heels are in my future, and has given me strict instructions about what I will have to be able to do before he OKs stilettos.
Even if you have not had a foot injury, if you have had trouble wearing heels before, you might try the exercises I have described below, to build your foot and ankle strength. If you tend to roll in or out, or end up on your toes when you turn, these will help build your arch muscles up to help with stability.
The first exercise was to balance for a minute on the half roller, on one foot. No problem! I do this all the time...before the injury. It took a week of doing this to be able to get up to a whole minute without pitching off.
The important parts:
Balancing for 1 minute on the half roller, easy side up.
Once I could balance on the easy side, I turned over the roller. After two weeks of practicing, I can now stay up for a minute. As you can see, my big toe is still not spreading out the way it should, so those muscles are not completely back to where they were before. I am wearing Correct Toes (toe separators) to help train my toe back to a good position, but not in this picture.
Important points:
Balancing for 1 minute on the half roller, hard version.
Now that I can balance with one foot, I have added some kind of surfing thing to the mix. This requires me to get a good lineup for my feet, and then to (eventually) be able to touch my back knee down and stand back up while doing this. THAT is not happening yet, although if I use the flat side of the roller against the floor, and can do about 10 reps of knee half-way to the floor.
BOTH feet on the roller, hard side up.
This was fun to try to photograph solo. You can't see the mouse on the table :-) I had to balance, hold the stick, get aligned AND shoot the photo at the same time. This is the same exercise as above but showing the whole picture
Important points:
VERY important to keep the head and butt on a plumb line, perpendicular to the ground.
About a month ago, I got kicked by an enthusiastic dancer. It hurt a lot, but I carried on teaching. The next day, another student (a doctor) felt my toe and told me she couldn't feel a fracture. I kept on teaching, but mostly danced in socks for the week.
I went dancing a week later, in heels as usual. After about three tandas, I couldn't dance anymore. I figured that, after teaching five hours, I was just tired. However, another week in socks, and another attempt to dance in heels after the second week, ended the same way. I felt a sharp snapping feeling in my toe, and couldn't pivot anymore.
My husband insisted that I go to urgent care, where they xrayed my toe, told me they didn't see a break, and sent me home in a boot with my big toe buddy-wrapped to my second toe.
The next day, the doctor called to say that the radiologist "might" have found a fracture of my toe. Two days later, they confirmed that my toe was broken. My chiropractor, who works with Oregon Ballet Theatre dancers, read me the riot act, and made me promise to cut down on teaching, as well as to wear this (stupid) boot for six weeks.
I am two weeks into the six weeks. I figure that I probably re-broke the toe at least once before wearing the boot, so I am counting the break from the Xray day, rather than from being kicked. I am NOT a good patient. I push my body. I am still teaching about three hours a day, six days a week. Being self-employed means that I don't have workman's compensation for injury on the job, and I don't have sick days or paid vacation; so I work.
I am getting a lot of help from my students. Some are coming to classes with a partner instead of solo. Some have switched to every other week to rest my foot. Some are helping out with my dance classes. I really appreciate it!
That's the only good part when I'm in a grumpy mood about my (stupid) foot.
All of those years of learning moves to the right and to the left, using either foot, have finally paid off!
I can't pivot on my left foot, and the boot doesn't let me articulate my left foot BUT I have found that I can mostly lead as well as without the boot. When I need to pivot, I use my right foot. If I need a really good VROOM! of energy to get the follower to do something, I start on my right foot. I don't even really have to think about adjusting moves because of years of training lead and follow, on all my moves. I know
Simply from having learned to dance from elderly Argentine men on the dance floor, I can see how less than stellar posture and technique can still make a good dance. I focus on the follower and being clear (as usual), and I adapt my dance as needed.
I like that my core strength and my balance allow me to do a lot of my giros and other pivoting moves, on one foot. All those hours of balance training have paid off too!
I don't think this is always the case, but without a left foot that pivots, I have to work a lot harder to get to where the leader needs me to be, without causing trouble for the leader. I have developed ways to cheat that I have not had to ever use before. It's not as easy as leading, where I have the choice of where the dance is headed, and can avoid pivoting when needed.
The injury certain shows me that I have been dancing over the center of my arch, using my metatarsals instead of my toes. If I danced on my toes, I would not be able to dance at all right now. Thank goodness for healthy technique!
My chiropractor said that he was surprised that I wasn't out of alignment, between the broken toe and the awful boot. He said it must be due to my good walking technique. He also said he is always amazed at how healthy my feet look despite wearing heels a lot, and agreed that my technique must be strong.
Go out and dance a tanda for me: I can't go out social dancing until this is over. It's just too painful to watch everyone else dancing when I can't. Sigh.
At least I can still teach! I think I would go crazy without any dance. I have four new class sessions that start this week. Lots of plans, lots of enthusiasm, lots of frustration that I can't show everything the way I would like to show it.
This is not your normal group tango tour! This tour is designed for people who don’t want to go to Buenos Aires alone, but don’t want to be shackled to a group 24-7. As folks are signing up, I am incorporating their requests into my plan. If you want to go everywhere together in a group, this is probably not the right choice for you. If you are more adventurous, or looking for something really special, this is for you.
This tour will be limited to twelve people. I feel that you deserve quality work from me, and that means individual attention and help. One spot has already been reserved. There is no minimum number of people: we are going!!
I have been going to Buenos Aires since 1999. Those visits have provided me with a lot of local information, friends, contacts, knowledge of the dance scene, and love for the city. I am putting all of that experience to work for YOU!
This is a tour tailored to your personal goals for Buenos Aires:
· Do you want to dance every day/night? I can help you choose the best places for you to dance, based on your level, your dance goals, etc., and help you make reservations to get decent seating.
· Do you want to find group or private tango lessons? I will help you make appropriate choices, get you there, and even help you locate a practice partner/dance partner if you want one.
· Do you want a “taxi dancer” (Buenos Aires dancer who accompanies you to milongas)? I have several good sources for great folks who won’t cheat you on prices.
· Do you want to see the sights? I will organize daily excursions to fun places that you can choose to do, or do your own thing. I will also be organizing trips to folk dancing, museums, Teatro Colon, and other cool places you don't want to miss!
· Do you want a Spanish tutor? I will find one for you!
· Do you want to a cultural exchange? My friend (who is an English professor) is coordinating with me to give her students chances to practice English, while YOU get a native tour guide around the city.
· Do you want to shop until you drop? I can aim you in the right direction, go to shoe stores with you and translate for you, etc. The “outlet mall” area and wholesale district are nearby!
I am timing the tour to coincide with the National Day of Tango is December 11 (Carlos Gardel’s birthday). To celebrate, they hold a huge street party between the Congress building and the Casa Rosada (the president’s house), with live bands, dancing in the street and performances. I went in 2012 and 2015, and had fun both times. As it occurs right before summer solstice, everyone is out celebrating the start of summer as well. If you want to come a day early, or stay after the tour, etc., that is up to you; the dates can be semi-flexible.
Last year, I spent two weeks in Buenos Aires, researching hotels, locating the best current milongas, trying out teachers, and finding a good neighborhood for us to stay. I will be available 24-7 during your ten days in Buenos Aires, as well as making shoe shopping trips, milonga excursions, etc. available each day for you! It’s a lot of work, but I am excited to share my favorite city and dance with all of you, and I want you to have the best possible experience of Buenos Aires, so that you want to go back on your own!
The cost is $1200/person for my services during the trip, my pre-planning, and any individual scheduling and help that you need before and during the trip. You will pay the hotel, airfare, food, tango shoes etc., on your own.
If cost is an issue, please talk to me before deciding not to go.
I usually fly through Houston, as that is the fastest flight time. Usually, Economy is fine. However, I suggest that you DO NOT buy Economy on the United Dreamliner: I upgraded to Economy Plus on the way home, which was OK. I know some of the people planning to go have miles saved on various airlines. I willmake sure you get from Ezeiza Airport to the hotel, but it's up to you to get to Argentina :-)
There is no visa needed to visit Argentina as a tourist for under 90 days, BUT it is now required that you pay a reciprocity fee before leaving the USA. Luckily, this is much easier than it used to be. You can buy it via the Argentine Embassy online. The cost is $160 USD, and it is good for ten years. You will need proof of buying your visa in order to board the plane to Argentina. Lots of information is available from the U.S. government online.
I will make sure you get picked up at the airport by a reliable person. If you can arrange to fly at the same time as someone else, you can split the cost. It cost $45 in 2015, and will probably be about that. You can pay in dollars or pesos. I will also set up your return trip to the airport when you leave, unless you prefer to do so yourself.
I will be staying at 5 Cool Rooms in Palermo. I suggest you also make reservations at 5 Cool Rooms (Honduras 4742, C1414BJV Buenos Aires, Argentina) via Expedia or another travel website. It is air-conditioned, has free breakfast (which can be gluten-free), a Jacuzzi and 24-hr. front desk security. It is near Starbucks for those of you who need your American hit of home (& second free WiFi spot). We can walk to 5-6 milongas in the neighborhood. There is a gluten-free restaurant/bakery nearby, and tons of little restaurants! If you prefer something more exclusive (there are some very lovely, very expensive hotels nearby) or something cheaper (AirBnB), I can help you make good choices about locations.
I often find newer, younger dancers who lead, obsessed by making "hard" combinations of moves, either to showcase their technical vocabulary, or to show off how they can use the music. Sorry, guys, I agree your dance is interesting, but I'm not looking for interesting. I am on the search for sheer pleasure. I want to walk off that dance floor FEELING good, not thinking about the moves you know.
My main criterion for choosing new movement for my leading is organicity. The combination must feel good to the follower and the leader for me to incorporate it into my dancing. What do I mean by organicity? It has to flow, to make sense to my body, and to feel sensually enjoyable.
Your brain is wired to repeat the things you have practiced the most. How hard can it be to break out of the ruts you have created in your dance? Speaking from my own experience, it's not easy.
I know tons of moves. One day when I tried to write down how many moves I know, I got past 100 before giving up. That wasn't even counting combinations of moves! And yet, I find myself doing the same few things, over and over if I tired. "You just did the same ending for that dance as you've done most of the evening!" I scold myself. "Find something new to do!"
I'm not the only one. I danced with one of my students at practica last week, and he kept accidentally trying a move that we had already established doesn't work well for him. He repeatedly tried to vary it, and we laughed about how difficult it is to change one little detail of his usual routine.
When I'm stuck in my habits like that, I know it's time to bring out the tool that I use to construct new movement, find new combos, and shake up my tango: a piece of paper!
BTW, if you are coming to the advanced class tomorrow night, here's your advance notice of what we are doing! We will be playing a game that I stole directly from Merce Cunningham and John Cage's work (thanks, grad school!) that I use to create new material for my tango.
Cut a piece of paper into strips. One each piece, write one move you want to work on. The more precise you can make the description, the more you will get out of this exercise. Then, dump the papers into a hat. Draw three strips out at a time. You must find a way to do the moves, in the order you drew them, with as few steps in between as possible.
If the combination feels good after a few rounds, write it down to work on later. If it feels REALLY good, highlight it or put it at the top of the list. If it feels "eh" or plain old awkward, either forget it, or make a "don't try this" list. Remember that a move might feel bad because one of the partners can't execute that move well; but usually you can tell the difference between "needs more work" and "don't do that" or even "try with another partner later" lists.
Remember, the only criterion for this list of new vocabulary should be: does it feel good?
Last week in class, I asked people to choose moves to try out in the next hour of class. Some of these are nice and detailed, while others will probably be too open-ended. I found it interesting that the women mostly wanted to do front boleos, while the men chose drags, sacadas, etc. A few of the women in class do some leading, and several of the men follow, but mostly the moves were voted on with a male-female divide! Hmmmmm.
Usually, I ask everyone to switch partners during the class, but this would be a very useful exercise to work on with one specific partner, so if you bring a partner to class this week (we will probably do this for more than one week), you can stay with that person.
Because I came to tango from a M.A. in dance and a background in teaching dance, I have a different approach compared to many tango dancers who happen to teach. I am constantly experimenting with ways to make class work better for more people. I tend to create tango "games" that help dancers find new creative space in the dance, rather than focusing on teaching combinations of steps.
When I did my thesis research in the late 1990s in Buenos Aires, several of the older dancers I interviewed bemoaned the loss of a collective groove in the milongas. They told me that before, there were fewer collisions and that everyone on the dance floor seemed to be in sync with each other. "Now," one guy told me, "It's everybody for themselves, running all over the place, crashing into people."
When did we lose the part of tango that tunes into the GROUP, as well as the self and the partner? I have thought a lot about this since those interviews.
I have been playing games to train awareness of the group as well as of the couple, since those interviews. My Solo-Couple game has everyone dance through the space, finding the shape of the available room, how much space you can take as a person, and then teaming up with various partners to explore the space. This game works well and I've used it for years.
I yell "Solo!" and let people get in a groove with the music. They can dance in any direction, and I encourage going against line-of-dance and through the middle of the group. Then I yell "Couple!" and everyone grabs the closest person and keeps moving. This is not the time to stop, introduce yourself, and carefully find an embrace. Grab and go! And yes, often two women who haven't led, or two guys who have managed to avoid following end up together for 30 seconds or a minute. Everyone survives.
A side effect of the game, is that everyone tunes into the music better because they have to move as a group.
Last week at Luisa and my milonga, Las Naifas, I walked in prepared to teach a beginner lesson, and most of the people who came were intermediate and advanced dancers. I wanted to challenge them to dance more tuned into the music and to the group, so I improvised wildly on my planned lesson; and found something much better!
First, we played with the music. We stepped on the beat. Then, we found the double-time (quick quick) parts of the music. Then, we added half-time (step, pause, step, pause). Then, we found the pauses in the music and adornos to ornament the spaces created (different lengths of pause). Then, we added slow motion parts to the dance. After that, we did milonga, vals and tango, and felt the differences in the music.
OK, so now we have both the idea of solo-couple, tuning into the group, and focusing on musicality to play around within the available space. I asked people to try to dance the music WHILE tuning into the entire group groove. "And you could even steal partners," I joked--and then realized this could be really interesting!
It turns out that, to steal someone's partner, both couples have to be almost completely in sync, dancing very close together. There were moments of syncing up, stealing the partner, and moving into a new connection with a new partner and the music. The best was when two couples were obviously doing this, and a third darted in, synced up, and stole dancers right under the nose of the other people! We ended up with everyone dancing in about one quarter of the available space, dancing well with the music and the partner and the group.
It was fun, too, with lots of giggling. I think that fun is the most important component of learning to dance. If you have fun, you will keep doing it. If you have fun, it helps balance the fact that you are an adult learner, not used to being a beginner, and the awkwardness disappears when you are laughing (not at someone).
It is easier to make beginners play tango games. More advanced dancers sometimes get stuck in tango-mode, and are not willing to take risks in order to improve their dance. A few months ago, a person who had danced for a long time walked up to me, told me, "I'm not going to get SLOPPY in my dance after working this hard all these years," quit the lesson, and stalked off to their table, instead of trying something new. Be prepared that some of the more structured dancers may freak out quietly (or loudly) about pushing their comfort envelope.
The reason this first trial worked so well was that most of the dancers who showed up enjoy playing with their dance. One dancer in particular made this more fun than I could have dreamed (Thanks, Jay!). I hadn't expected that, as I don't know him well, and I would have guessed he was more conservative in his approach, but he got a gleam in his eye, and charged off to make as much trouble as he could. The game needed a ringleader to encourage misbehaving amongst the others. If you are this kind of person and no student jumps into the fray, you can join the game and help rile things up, but it helps to have a rabble-rouser in the group (or several).
We had the most success stealing partners while dancing milonga. Musically, it was less complex (regular and double-time only). Then, we moved on to vals (adding half-time and short pauses). When we expanded to tango, and I asked them to add slo-mo and looooong pauses, it was harder for couples to sync up with each other. After a few tangos, they adjusted, but it would not have worked to do this first in tango.
I tried to combine this game with also finding your partner's breath during pauses, and everything fell apart. The dancers couldn't do the space/group awareness game and tune in deeply to their partner at the same time--yet. My guess is that advanced dancers would be able to add this part as well. When things start to fall apart, take it down one level of complexity and try again.
Have fun trying this new game!
Next December, I will be returning to Buenos Aires, but not by myself. I am organizing a tour.
I have lived in third world countries and traveled by myself to several continents. I am not brave by nature, but I have found that buying a non-refundable ticket prevents me from freaking out and cancelling my trip. I have been lucky to have had many opportunities to step out of my comfort zone.
I studied in Germany during college, and traveled around Europe by myself afterwards. I found that I could survive on my own (even if I mainly ate tangerines, cheese, bread & chocolate as a poor student). Starting off with a group and studying German, gave me a focus and some practice before I headed off alone.
I signed up for Peace Corps on a whim, and spent two beautiful years in Morocco. Again, being with a group, receiving orientation and language training, and knowing that, if anything bad happened, someone would help me get home--helped me on an adventure that I would not have tried alone.
I traveled to Buenos Aires for the first time in 1999. I went alone, but I knew several people who would be there. A friend picked me up at the airport and let me stay overnight until I found a pension. Another friend went to milongas and classes with me until I felt more relaxed.
I returned to Buenos Aires on my own, and then ventured to England and Spain by myself. Now I tend to travel by myself, but going with groups and then with a helping hand, aided my globetrotting.
I learn languages easily, which helps me meet people during my travels: if you like to talk as much as I do, not being able to communicate is way more frustrating than tripping through a new language. It has helped me meet new friends on each trip I have taken.
Many people are hesitant to venture into a new place by themselves. Whether it is a language barrier, a preference to travel with other people, food issues--it can be scary to just into an adventure alone. Going with a group of people can ease the stress of a new place, giving you more time to enjoy your trip.
I love this city! I love these people! I love tango!
I have now been to Buenos Aires seven times. This tour will be my eighth trip to the city.
This city is mine! The first day I spent in Buenos Aires, I just walked around all day, feeling at home. This city runs the same speed that I do. Each time I visit, I try out new milongas, go to new cultural events, walk to new neighborhoods, and have new adventures. There is always something new to do in such a large place. I don't get bored.
Having lived in the third world, when things don't go smoothly in Buenos Aires, I can stay calm. The lights go out in the milonga because too much energy is powering the air conditioners? No problem! Let's go to a different milonga! The bus doesn't come, and then four come in 5 minutes? Yes, that's how it always is, so let's walk! The subway is inexplicably closed? OK, it's taxi time. This is not the first world in some ways, so a sense of humor is needed when things go awry, but I am used to it.
I want to foster a love of the city, of tango, in you. I would love it if you use this as a first step to traveling alone! I am not trying to build a group who will need me to take them every year :-) I hope this will help you explore things that would be too scary on your own (or more fun with me!).
For those of you who have been reading my blog, you will know that I just got back from a few weeks in Buenos Aires, which were for the sole purpose of setting up the tour in 2016. I have group classes set up, a hotel, cultural exchange with students who want to practice English, connections to set up Spanish tutors for those who want to polish their language, a list of places to visit, and a bunch of fun milongas to go to, either together or in small groups.
I have helped dozens of people prepare for their first trips to Buenos Aires. Now it's time to TAKE people there myself. If you want to have fun, go somewhere with someone who absolutely loves that place. The enthusiasm rubs off.
I am only taking 8-12 people with me. I am still figuring out the pricing, but I am aiming to make it as cost-effective as possible. I hope this weekend to sit down and hammer out the details more fully, so that you know what to expect. The plan is December 1-14, perhaps leaving the last day of November to make a full two weeks in Argentina.
Come with me!
I missed part of the Gran Milonga because I went . . . to a different milonga first! It looked like rain, and everyone said, "Oh, too bad, the milonga in Avenida de Mayo won't happen this year." So I made a backup plan: go back to Los Consagrados for a few hours, then see if the weather cleared up. The milonga was really empty compared to normal: some people had bet on the weather being better than I expected, and were off dancing outside.
Five hours later, I staggered out of Los Consagrados, having danced more than enough. That place is really good for my ego. On the way out, three men stopped me to ask my why I hadn't looked at them, and wouldn't I like to do one more tanda? Ah, fame.
Kent, Sara and I went to La Continental for a quick dinner because all three of us had just danced for about five hours. Then, we headed out to the milonga in the street around midnight. There were not that many people, but it HAD started four hours before (oops!), and the rain had only sprinkled, so nothing had been cancelled after all.
We listened to a few singers, did silly Rudolph Valentino imitations in the street, and then danced a bit. However, the choice of pavement or plywood stage, after hours of dancing on a really good floor, made us choose to only dance a little bit and to listen more. I joked that my minute of fame up on the stage in 2012 was enough for me!
However...
Next year, Portland, let's go wreck our shoes out there at the street milonga!!! Have I got a tour planned for you, and we will be out there dancing!
My video editing skills are still super-beginner, so please forgive the strange glitches :-)
I went to 4 Corazones because the ladies at Neotango suggested that it as a place to find tango clothes for us middle-aged, middle-sized people. They seem about my age, and about my size, but I don't think they dance tango. I have since checked with women I know in Buenos Aires who dance tango, and they agree that only tourists would spend as much as the tango stores charge for clothing; they just buy nice things they find in regular stores.
4 Corazones is nicely laid out, with two dressing rooms and a pretty salesgirl. I told her what I was looking for (matching tops and skirts, which I prefer for teaching). No, we don't have that. Well, can I see what you do have? She showed me a few skirts and some tops that were not anything like what I wanted. I picked up a much more conservative, pretty top, and asked to try it on in size 3 or 4. No, we only have size 1 and 2. Nothing "big" in that style.
Well, what DO you have in size 3 or 4? "I don't know." Well, what about in dresses? I picked out a few nice ones. "No, we only have that in small," she told me. She did find one dress that was big enough to fit that was pretty, and I bought it despite her attitude because it fit perfectly.
I wear a size 8 in the USA, so although I am not small, I am not large either. I asked her where tango dancers who are bigger go, because not all the Argentine women are teeny, skinny folk like her. She shrugged and walked off. "You will have to look around." No *^#%. That's what I have been doing.
I am not going back there. Ever.
I went back to Neotango to tell the ladies what had happened. and tried on the clothing that had seemed too small before. I found a lovely dress that I bought. It was a bit over my budget, but I appreciate their smiling, cheerful help. What other store would have suggested other stores? Nice people.
I don't know why I like this place so much, but I tend to go every time I am in Buenos Aires. It was beautiful on Sunday. I went early, so there were almost no people. Just beautiful. It did seem strange to be walking around in 90 degree weather, listening to the churchgoers singing Christmas hymns. I have spent three Decembers in Buenos Aires, and I am still not used to Christmas being in summer.
Entrada: Free.
Hours: 2-8 PM Thursday-Sunday.
Tours: Thursdays 3-6 PM, every half hour; Fri-Sun. 2:15-6 PM, every 15 minutes. The tour takes about one hour. There seem to be huge numbers of workers available to direct you to get tickets, find the bathroom, follow the tour, try to answer questions, and lurk in groups in corners.
My friend, Silvana, and I met at the new cultural center. It was the central post office for 90 years, and just opened this year as a cultural center. All the activities are free to the public, so check out the website to plan when you want to go. It's pretty impressive. It was worth going on the guided tour, so I suggest doing that.
The building is on the historical buildings register, so they returned it to its former beauty. It reminds me of East Coast train stations: beautiful windows, marble, wood, careful craftsmanship.
The back section, ten floors high, has been gutted, and completely remodeled. Suspended in the center is La Ballena Azul (The Blue Whale), a state-of-the-art concert hall with incredible acoustics. It is so large that I couldn't find a way to photograph all of it from where we were allowed to go.
This next picture shows how large this building really is. The bluish structure at the top is called La Lampera (The Lantern), and houses an art gallery. The large mesh thing below it, is the outside of La Ballena Azul. This inside is the photo above this.
You can get free tickets online for concerts, according to our guide. Three disgruntled tour participants told the tour guide that they were unable to do so. Tip from the guide: when you can't get tickets online, come down the day of the concert, stand in line, and pick up tickets that people have not claimed. Apparently, there are always unclaimed tickets.
We were starving by the time that we finished going through the cultural center, so we headed to nearby Puerto Madero to eat. This is NOT my part of town: our lunch cost what a steak, salad and glass of wine cost in Almagro. However, it was air-conditioned on a very hot day; and although I couldn't eat most of the food because it is an Italian restaurant specializing in pastas, other people's food looked marvelous. The assortment of breads that I couldn't eat looked marvelous, and Silvan said the flatbread was still hot when it came to the table. The waiter was bored, as it was after the usual lunch hour, and chatted with us. He brought us complementary limoncellos, perhaps because we were so friendly? Ah, it's fun to be female in Buenos Aires :-)
Puerto Madero was being built back in the late 90s when I started coming to Buenos Aires. It is so strange to me to see tons of ritzy hotels, huge skyscrapers and restaurants, a yacht club, etc., where it was abandoned land. I agree with Silvana that it's not right that the coast area does not belong to all of the people, but instead is private property.
"Celebrating 12 years of the milonga. Dance performance by Augusto Balizano & Claudio González."
La Marshall is one of the gay milongas. There is a mix of young gay men, older women in couples, and people who like to switch lead and follow. Note to the Portlanders: the Lumbersexual style has hit Buenos Aires, but I only saw it at La Marshall: full beards, suspenders, work jeans and checked shirts!
The dance performance was FABULOUS! Two excellent dancers, good choreography, and very touching as a theatre piece. Two seemingly old guys, shuffle out on stage, take quite a while to adjust themselves, figure out who is leading, etc., and then dance a tango in the grotesque tradition: moves just slightly out of control or staggering, catching themselves at the last minute from falling, etc. I know how hard it is to dance like stiff old men when you are a good dancer, so this was impressive.
THEN, when I thought it was over, they played a romantic song that several of the guys (the lumbersexuals) next to me sang along to, with a chorus about remembering a year of love. While the music played, the dancers took most of their clothing off, wiped the old-guy makeup off, and put stretchy muscle tees on.
And THEN they danced an incredible, acrobatic duet. WOW. Lifts, boleos, lightening fast turns. WOW. As a dancer, I know how much work went into that choreography. It looked seamless, beautiful, and muscular at the same time. It didn't seem just sewn together like a lot of tango performances do to me. I'll just keep saying WOW.
Some of you know that this Buenos Aires trip is in order to set up a tour next year for my students and other tango folk. Instead of going to my favorite milongas where I get lots of dances, I have been venturing further afield, looking for a good mix of places that might be less intimidating to the intermediate/advanced intermediate dancer.
I hadn't been to El Arranque since about 2000, so I thought I would check it out. It used to be a place where friendly, elderly dancers hung out in the afternoons (this was when there were fewer early evening milongas).
The first time I went to El Arranque, the hostess, Delicia, seated me at a table with a stately older woman. I don't know her age, but I was guessing somewhere in her 70s. Her hair was perfect. Her nails were perfect. Her outfit was awesome. Wow, I thought: I want to be like that when I am older! I was a bit intimidated, but after I placed my Altoids on the table with my fan, she pounced on them. "American candy!" she exclaimed, and from that moment we were friends.
That woman pimped me out to various acquaintances the first day, and after that, I didn't need any help getting partners. She was invaluable as a source of advice ("Don't look at the guy in yellow! He is awful! Look at the guy next to him in the suit!" Etc.).
So...I arrived about 4 PM AND IT WAS CLOSED FOR THE DAY! The presidential change-of-power has caused a lot of closures because of huge crowds in the Avenida de Mayo. Since El Arranque is very close to the Congress building, perhaps that's way it was closed. The guy at the kiosk next door just shrugged when I asked.
OK, so I'll go dancing somewhere else! El Beso is only a few stops away by subway from where I am staying, so I thought I would go early and go home in time for dinner and bed.
I didn't have a reservation, and El Beso can be a difficult venue to get dances if you get stuck in the back row, so I showed up about 7 PM, half an hour after it opened, but still very early. I got a good seat, settled myself, and danced the tanda after I arrived. The place was still pretty empty, but I recognized some of the older guys who have been going there since I first went in 1999, as far as I can tell :-)
For the next tanda, the music kept crackling, and they would go back to playing the cortina, and then try again. One man was trying to cabeceo me from behind someone else (always acrobatic!), when the lights when out. Poof!
For the next half hour, they gradually opened the huge curtains across the windows so that we had some light to see by. Some guy played his phone and one couple danced a song.
The woman sitting with me told me that she had gotten a ride from one of the guys who I remembered as an excellent milonga dancer, and wandered off to talk to him. After about 15 minutes, she came over and told me they were going to Gricel: did I want to go too? Sure!
We got to Gricel just as it was opening, so we got good seats even without reservations. That was partly due to my new friend, Miriam, flirting with the guys who organize the dance.
I got lots of dances, as did Miriam, but we struggled with the level of dancers. Neither of us knew most of the people there, so we ended up with a few dances each with difficult leaders. It was the first time I seriously thought of telling a guy, "I am NOT a truck, so could you please not lead me as if I were a truck?!" Geez.
I had two great tandas in the evening, both the the man who drove us to Gricel. We did a kick-ass milonga traspie set as my first tanda; and a kick-ass Pugliese set as my last tanda. You can really tell the guys who know the music and really FEEL the music. A bunch of the others were just dancing in time to the music, which just isn't the same. Starting and ending with a musical set, made up for getting dragged around by a few guys who had no clue about the music and were trying to do moves. Thank God for old, short, fat, milongueros!!!!!!
Yesterday, on the way to the subte (the subway), a woman passed me wearing this:
"I am a flamingo in a flock of pigeons"
I think that about says it, doesn't it?
