Dancing Soul

Day Two: Dancing

Another day spent with: "Come on, Ely! You used to know this!" and gentle scolding about not taking enough time to practice. It's nice when your teachers want you to become a better person as well as a better dancer ("Take time for yourself!"), so I am not complaining. I know that, by the time I leave, my dance will be better than ever before; but it's hard to do the tune-up part sometimes.

The focus today: finding just the right amount of stretch in the body while keeping the knees softer, so that all my pivots land on balance and don't ever lean toward the leader or move away. This is harder than it sounds, but I could feel the rightness of what they said, even though it took an hour and a half to really nail it. When I went to the milonga in the evening, I managed to dance correctly for about four tandas before I could no longer feel what was right. After that, it came and went for the rest of the evening.

I don't think it's cheating to go to the same place two nights in a row, especially when different folks inhabit the space. We went back to the Centro Cultural Leonesa (Humberto 1, 1462) for the late afternoon to evening milonga. Arriving at 8 PM, we missed the opportunity to sit across from most of the guys, and got put in a corner. However, as the guys had to walk past our corner if they wanted to get to the rest of the room, we were in a good space compared to where most tourists were stuck. I only sat out one tanda for the evening. After a lesson and 4.5 hours of dancing, my feet are tired, but I did all that in brand new shoes (more on that next post), so no complaints there.

Tonight made up for last night: mostly great dances, with the only not great dances being with folks from the USA and Europe. Another goal of mine: make North Americans dance musically!!! It was SO frustrating to feel more competent dancing than many of the old milongueros, but off the music. I prefer dancing the milongueros 4-5 steps, but really, really on the music.

My best musical tanda tonight was with a guy who kept grinning and saying, "Fun!" in between songs (kind of a goofball). However, we had danced one set before, and he told me he wanted to dance again. The music started, and I looked up, accepted his cabeceo from a distance far enough away that I could have said no, and got up to dance. It was Varela! I only started listening to Varela in the past few months (thanks, Vadym!), and I LOVED this tanda!

1. 1. Fueron Tres Años
2. Noche De Cabaret
3. Y Todavía Te Quiero
4. Y Te Parece Todavia

This made me feel wonderful because I knew what the orchestra was, and the old milonguero had no idea. Also, I played a set of Varela this summer when I was Djing, and I played two of these, so I really nailed the musicality for those. I had an amazingly musical set with an OK dancer who got into the energy/feeling of what I was feeling: wow again! I went up to the DJ when I left, and asked what he had played in the Varela set, because I had never heard #2 in the set. I think I like this better than Pugliese right now. I am going to buy some albums!

I missed out on chacarera because I forgot they played it at this milonga, and so did not set up a partner for it. However, I got a partner for part of the tropical set, and merengued my little heart out. I wish we played sets of salsa/cumbia/merengue and "rock 'n roll" (swing) at our milongas. Hmm.

A lovely evening out dancing!

 

 

Day One, Round Five

People kept asking me if I was excited about going to Buenos Aires, and I kept saying, "Not really." I had so much else going on in my life, plus the added tasks to get ready to be gone for a few weeks, that I really only got excited when I walked out the door of the airport into warm, humid sunshine, and thought, "I'm home!" I felt that way the first time I came here, and I still feel that way.

Luis picked us up at the airport and sang us tangos all the way into the city.  Then he said, "Your turn!" and I ended up singing some opera because I don't know any tangos by heart.  HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE??? OK, new goal: learn a few tangos to sing. If some middle-aged guy can do it, so can I!

Call home, unpack, nap #1.

Landed at 10 am, and in the studio dancing by 5 PM. After an hour and a half lesson, I once again feel that I'm never going to get good at this dance. This happens every time, but I don't usually have a lesson the first day, so in a way, the "maybe I should quit teaching this dance and become something else" moment is good to get over right away. I have new things to think about that Oscar and Georgina assure me I used to know, but must have forgotten. Luckily, I am a kinesthetic learner, so by the end of the lesson, I could feel what I was doing wrong and correct it most of the time.

Main problem today (because you KNOW it's going to change each day): I need to turn my feet out just a teensy bit more, and suddenly, my turns work better. Also, I've gotten lazy with having the precise amount of flexion needed at the knees to keep my hips aligned, and I am supposed to be able to lift my abdominals even more at all times, while breathing and fixing my feet, knees and hips. A note to my students: I told you they were going to work on my basics, didn't I?

After that, nap #2.

We headed out and had dinner at Café Victoria: Entre Ríos 114, Congreso. Gayle had a chicken breast with steamed vegetables (squash, carrots, zucchini, etc.). I had tortilla espanol, which I love, and a portion of faina, a gluten-free, garbanzo-based flatbread, and a glass of wine. Prices have shot up in the past 1.5 years, with that kind of meal costing almost double what it did in 2010: 100 pesos this time, compared to about 50-60 pesos in 2010. Inflation here is insane at the moment.

Nino Bien, Humberto 1 (Humberto Primo) 1462, is an old mainstay of a milonga. There were fewer people than in 2010, but still a nice crowd. I saw a lot of familiar faces from before, and we both had some nice tandas. It was Luis' birthday; he's been the maitre d' there since I don't know when, but I remember him in 1999 when he wore jeans, not a suit like now. The entrance cost was 20 pesos in 2010, and is now 30 pesos: another example of price jumps.

My feet and legs are still swollen from the flight, despite getting some exercise and some rest. We agreed to leave early (1 am), grabbed a taxi home despite being teased at the door about going home early by a guy who looked familiar and was just arriving.

That's all until tomorrow, folks. Oh, I mean today, don't I? Time to call my nene (my kiddo) and say goodnight.

 

Oscar and Georgina's classes this week in Portland

I hope that ALL of you get to at least one workshop with Oscar and Georgina while they are here: these are the best teachers I've ever studied with, and after ten years of study with Oscar, I'm still getting new information out of each lesson I take with him and Georgina.

If you only come to ONE class, show up Wednesday night to the Density and Elasticity class at 8:15 PM at the Om Studio, 14 NE 10th (near Burnside, 1 block from Norse Hall). How you use your energy, breath, and balance in tango makes your dance either OK--or amazing. This class teaches you how to use your body like a spring-loaded, gliding, energy-filled tango machine. This is how you stay on balance, all the time, ready to explode into action! I've taken this class about five times, and each time, I learn something new to improve my dance.

BEGINNING LEVEL CLASS: I encourage anyone new to Oscar and Georgina, as well as beginning dancers, to attend the Thursday 6 PM class at the Om. This class works on connection and the embrace with a partner--something we can all benefit from!

FOLKLORE! The 7 PM class on Thursday will be either chacarera or zamba (the two dances we do here at milongas). Oscar was the national malambo champion at 19 (the men's percussive dance) and Georgina is an amazing folk dancer as well. Come learn from the masters these seductive, lovely partner dances!

REMEMBER: if you bring in the flyer for the workshops (or print one off of this blog), you get $5 off the price of the two Thursday lessons. Print some for your friends, and bring them along!

WEEKEND CLASSES: Noon on Saturday, the subject is different kinds of turns. Noon on Sunday, it's walking like a porteno: come find out why Oscar and Georgina's style of walking works better on the dance floor, and how much easier it is to look good doing it! Both of these classes are all levels.

Intermediate/advanced classes will happen Saturday and Sunday at 1:30 PM. On Saturday, the subject is Vals and musicality. On Sunday, the subject is elegant social dancing, putting together some sweet new combinations for us to add into our daily dancing.

ADVANCED class: You asked for advanced classes, where you could work on harder material, delving into the technique more in-depth, Portland, so SHOW UP PLEASE! 8 PM Monday night at the Om. And yes, you can bring a partner and not change partners that night, although you know my opinion that changing partners helps you learn faster ;-)

All of the advanced dancers and teachers who showed up last time for beginning classes, thank you for being great models of how to keep learning, even after decades of dancing. I hope to see you again, and spread the word!

Beginning Argentine tango can be fun: basic building blocks and improvisation II

Learning Argentine tango has to be fun, or students will give up before they even taste the dance. There is a belief that the dance is hard to learn; it takes time to get good, but I can teach the fundamental ideas in an hour or two, and survival skills in about ten hours of class. I've been dancing tango since 1995, and I still am working on making my dance better. My point is: the individual chooses what level of tango they wish to reach; my job as the teacher is make that wish become reality.

I try to make every class have elements of fun, even if we are working hard on technique. There are at least ten minutes of each hour class that deal with pure play, fun and connecting with other people. After all, what do we want for our tango community? I want folks who are fun, who like to play and experiment, who pay attention to their surroundings and the people around them; joyous, kind folk who I want to dance with!

Yes, of course I want to train dancers who are the best in the world, with perfect technique, but maybe not everyone wants to be that dancer; private lessons are the place to do that deep training.

Back to group lessons and teaching beginners to have fun with tango. This is Part Two of this series. You can read Part One before or after this; there will be at least a Part Three, and perhaps more later on.

Pauses and adornos

One of the hardest things for new dancers to do, is to incorporate pauses into the dance. I start work on this the first day of class by providing a REASON to pause: adornos (ornaments)! Until dancers know the music well, there is a tendency to step on every beat, making a very monotone, flat-line kind of dance. Adding adornos in gives the dancers a chance to feel how pauses enrich the dance; it also makes folks feel like they are "dancing"--very important if you want them to head out to the dance floor with confidence.

It takes new followers at least a few seconds to realize that the couple has really paused. Then, there are the seconds devoted to thinking, "Hey! I could adorn here!" After that, time is needed to decide which kind of adorno to do. Only then does the dancer start to actually adorn (the time is shorter for the leader, as that person KNOWS the couple is going to pause).

Unfortunately, most leaders tend to pause for very short amounts of time. By the time the follower figures out there is space/time for adornos, the leader has already begun to move. So, how can beginning followers get practice doing adornos?

On the first day of class, I only show one adorno. That way, the time devoted to choosing an adorno is eliminated. I have everyone stand on one foot and trace their name, in cursive script, on the floor. I encourage them to think that they are leaving a deep mark in sand so that the leg is relaxed and heavy on the floor; this better approximates adorno technique that they will learn later. This also allows all dancers to stop worrying if they are performing the adorno correctly: they ALL know how to write their name (OK, with the hand ;-)). This way, they are able to add an element of personal style to their tango immediately, and a bit of PLAY, which makes everyone smile and keep dancing.

Energy and connection

This is the CENTRAL idea in tango, not a nice thing to add in after you know where your feet are moving. In fact, the steps can emanate from a strong flow of energy--some people never actually learn many steps, but tune into the partner and just dance (this is more successful for following, but it also works for leading).

I build energy exercises into at least every other class, to make sure that students have tools to use to connect with their own body, their partner, and the space in the room.

Self: Axis and breath exercise

Most of my energy exercises are done with the eyes closed, as I find that helps most dancers imagine how energy moves without getting distracted. For people who struggle with balance, don't require them to close their eyes.

Imagine that you have a hollow body, and can breathe up from the floor, through your legs, hips and torso, into your lungs, and then exhale out the top of your head, like a whale spout. Focus on the open cylinder of your body, and fill it with breath. Each exhale, even if you can't feel the energy follow this path, imagine it moving up your body, into your lungs, and out the top of your head.

Now, imagine the path reverse: breathing in the top of your head, expanding your lungs, and exhaling through your feet, as if you are pushing a magnet away from the underside of the floor with your energy (this is an image Oscar Mandagaran taught me, ten years ago).

Feel how the ENERGY of your body, and the BREATH, can be a column straight up from the floor, even though your body has curves and bends and joints. That continuity of energy and breath helps keep you grounded and contributes to your balance while you dance.

Partner: Force field exercise

This exercise usually yields the most immediate results of any of my energy exercises. For many dancers, close embrace tango is scary because "there's not enough room for my feet!" Each person is so aware of their own axis and body, that they forget to connect to the partner with their ENTIRE body.

Now, obviously, it is impossible to touch from head to toe while dancing. However, it is necessary to connect with energy from head to toe; this exercise facilitates that.

Pick your favorite color (i.e., red), or energy source (i.e., electricity), or element (i.e., water, fire) or implement (i.e. laser), and direct it THROUGH your partner, to the opposite wall. I personally like red, laser-beam-like fire; others like blue water, gold bubbles, purple lightening, etc. 

I add this on after the axis exercise. Have dancers face another dancer, close enough for their personal space to touch, but not actually touching. Leave at least 6 inches to a foot between the couple. Close your eyes, unclench your hands, relax your feet and knees (you may need to repeat these instructions during the exercise, as folks tense up sometimes).

Now, every time you exhale, send the [red laser fire] energy THROUGH your partner, to the opposite wall. As the dancers breath, I gradually add additional points to send energy through, until the entire couple is a person-shaped force field directed at and through the partner:

• toes (add one thing every 2-4 breaths)
• knees ("Toes, knees.")
• hips ("Toes, knees, hips." etc.)
• belly button (to make them laugh/relax)
• ribcage
• neck
• head
• whole body

Watch the group, and see which points of focus improve dancers' connections, and which make them revert to old habits. It will give you (and hopefully them) insight into what parts of the body need more/less energy to help balance and connection work best. I've found that often "Toes!" helps 3/4 of the followers: instead of trying to escape from the leader's feet, keeping the energy TOWARDS the leader, helps the follower avoid being stepped on, and is key to many followers improving their balance.

When all the body has been engaged, I do a second part of this exercise (sometimes, I stop here, and do the second part the next time we do the exercise). Without opening the eyes, move towards your partner until you are touching. Make an embrace (practice or actual, depending on level of class). Keep doing the force field exercise, but on each exhale, MOVE somewhere in space (one step). Inhale. Do it again. Everyone is moving slow motion, so there are few collisions. Encourage folks to do this with their eyes closed, rather than to cheat: it changes how they use their force field, extending it AROUND the couple like a bumper!

Group: Solo-couple exercise

Getting into the flow of the dance requires the couple to tune into the energy of the entire room. If that doesn't happen, collisions reduce the enjoyment that comes with tuning into the partner. To facilitate that, I teach a game I call solo-couple.

First, all the dancers move around the room IN ANY DIRECTION, swirling around with the music and tuning into the physical space. If someone is in the way, instead of stopping or changing direction, the dancer will simply turn in place until there is a space to move to. Arms and bodies need to stay relaxed in case of collision (I tell students to exhale if hit, so the impact will be reduced). I encourage dancers to actually LOOK at each other :-)

When I yell COUPLE! everyone grabs the nearest other dancer WITHOUT STOPPING, and keeps moving in space, turning in place when there is no room, and otherwise moving to new spaces. When someone stops, or the traffic starts to get congested, I yell SOLO, and we go back to the first part.

Although in real life, tango does not float around in space without pauses, I have found this exercise very helpful for new dancers. The ongoing nature of the rules imposes moving without forethought, thus removing the analytical block a lot of new leaders have, to responding to the music and available space to make a dance. Also, once this exercise works, a dancer learns to tune into the movement through space of the group as a whole, making it easier to navigate comfortably as more complex issues arise (such as a couple in front pausing for a long time).

Naughty Toddler

Naughty Toddler is my favorite game right now (since I thought of it about six years ago!). It offers benefits to both leaders and followers that allow a complete beginner to get out on the dance floor, have fun, and not hurt anyone else ;-)

Just as it is difficult for the average adult to convince a toddler NOT to do something, but easy to divert their attention to another activity, it is easy for a leader to divert the follower's energy into more positive, tango-like activity, rather than to wrestle the follower into submission. Usually, a follower's mistakes come from not dancing perfectly, rather than not paying attention, but the leader experiences those moments as being out of control. What if we use those moments to reassure the leader that, no matter how badly the dance goes, s/he can make a good/safe dance from the chaos?

Not only that, but a lot of

In Naughty Toddler, the person "following" is NOT following. That person can do anything s/he likes, whether it is to do adornos for the whole song, turns, ochos, walking; or even dancing badly on purpose--hanging on the leader, not waiting, being noodly or too tense, etc. I have NEVER met a dancer who didn't come to love this game; it's a good stress-reducer, too, if folks are frustrated about their dance.

The "leader" hangs on for dear life. I suggest holding firmly to the "follower's" shoulders, just in case of malfunction :-)

Traffic

It is of paramount importance to accustom new leaders to the reality of dancing with people in the way. I start this in my beginner's class with the traffic game. For beginners, I usually incorporate this game into solo-couple, or into the Tete exercise (see Part One). I pretend to be the "bad" dancer on the dance floor, staying in one place for too long, backing up into traffic, cutting across the dance floor randomly, etc. (this also helps beginners understand what NOT to do on the dance floor).

Next, I designate half or a third of the class to be "traffic" and obstruct the other dancers. If the room is too big and folks can escape, I have them use only part of the room.

As the space gets smaller or the amount of traffic increases, the dancers get better and better. This happens in every class. I think that the game helps new leaders turn off their brains and just dance as they are forced to make decisions based on other people's decisions/behavior.

Another variation of this game, is to do the same thing, but with a ring of chairs in the middle ("the doughnut") that prevents dancers from floating across the center of the dance space.

New leaders emerge from this exercise with new confidence (as in Naughty Toddler) because they overcame obstacles and did well. New followers learn the importance of keeping their heels near the floor and staying on axis to allow the leader to deal with traffic; and trust the leaders more.

Alignment

This is the hard part of dancing: not the steps, but standing and moving efficiently.  I teach this along with the fun pieces, one or two ideas each class. In more advanced classes, I cover the same material again, with more drills, more explanation, etc. In beginning classes, I try to help dancers understand that this should feel easy/comfortable/less difficult than what they are doing. For many of us, this will feel "strange" but not wrong.

Nitty gritty about body alignment (skip this if you are just going for the meat; read it if you really plan to get good at tango):

1. The bones of the body hold the body up, with minimal help from the muscles. That leaves the muscles to dance/play.
2. The connection with the floor (hopefully, your feet!) is grounded, relaxed and balanced. Half the body's weight is over the ball of the foot, and half over the heel. The toes are released, not gripped for balance or fear ;-)
3. The ankles are relaxed!
4. The knees are relaxed and slightly flexed. They are used as part of the "spring" from the ground, up through the pelvis, that allows you to move in a balanced way.
5. The hips are back so that the head of the femur is tucked into the pelvis. This allows the bones to do the work, rather than the ligaments and muscles across the front of the hip joint. In other words, the opposite of the North American slouch. This is the hardest part of basic alignment to learn as a laidback, slouching "yankee" (what norte americanos are called in Buenos Aires by guys like Tete).
6. The lower back is elongated and soft: the hips are moved back at the hip joint, NOT by curving the lower back.
7. The whole spine is elongated, so that the solar plexus opens towards the partner, creating an energetic, lively connection.
8. The head is relaxed, balanced on the spine.

Remember, keep the fun factor up, along with the time for each person to really DANCE, and you will enjoy your classes more, along with your students.

Improving musicality through contrast: Milonga/vals class notes

This session of my intermediate/advanced Wednesday night class, we are looking at musicality through contrast. First, we learn a figure. Then, we try it to either milonga or vals music. We explore how many ways the movement can go with the music, especially in terms of slowing it down for adornos :-)  Then, we try the figure to the other music, and make adaptations to make the musicality flow better.

Not every pattern works well in tango, milonga AND vals. There are some moves I prefer in just one dance, or in tango and vals, but not milonga (or vals and milonga, but not tango). I am not in the camp that believes these dances have different moves. Yes, there are some things I tend to do more in milonga than tango, etc., but for me, the deciding factor is: does this movement work to this music? If it does, then I use it. After all, this suite of dances are street dances! Who says we have to follow all the rules?

I'm using a lot of figures that I've learned from Oscar Mandagaran and Georgina Vargas because THEY WILL BE HERE IN A MONTH!!!!!! Hopefully, this preparation will help those of you who are new to Oscar and Georgina, so that you can get optimal levels of information in one short week.

Good for vals: Salida with a change of direction

This figure is on Oscar and Georgina's wonderful Rhythmic Tango DVD (#4).

1. Lead a parallel, regular side step to the leader's left.
2. Lightly lead the follower to remain on the right foot by suspending her/him ON AXIS in place, while the leader shifts onto the right (into crossed system). The follower will feel the leader's chest shift sideways, but no one else should see this; it's slight. The leader's hips and chest change to the side in order to avoid pushing the follower over. The leader is now ready to walk to the outside track (on the follower's left side).
3. Release the suspension, and step. Leader steps forward with the left; follower steps back with the left.
4. Leader arrives on axis on left, with the right remaining behind as a "kickstand" to help maintain balance (if this is not working, remember that you can also bring your right foot up to the left to make your axis work better). The hips need to stay mainly oriented line-of-dance, but the torso will twist from left to right. The follower lands on the left, is led to pivot the hips clockwise, ready to step with the right.
5. Leader takes a side step to the right, follower does a back cross step in the same direction. Suggestion: make this a forward diagonal, leaders! This reduces the angle the follower needs to pivot, making it simpler for a more beginning dancer to succeed in maintaining balance and looking good.
6. Leader can switch feet in place while suspending the follower to exit in parallel, or stay on the same foot to exit in crossed system. Follower is "unwound" to prepare for a back left step, line-of-dance.
7. Exit to steps 6-7-8 of the basic, or to the cross.

Places to mess around to make the musicality work: This pattern takes a nice 8 measure phrase to complete, OR it can take longer if the music tells you to SLOW down: it depends on the song. I like to suspend the follower after #1 and at #6 so adornos can happen, but I try to make this music-dependent.  One of my peeves is to see leaders trying to be dramatic by introducing slow and quick elements into the dance, but without listening to the music!! Believe me, the person you are leading usually prefers the dance to fit the music.

Same beginning, with a simpler pattern to move faster for milonga

The pattern above is HARD to do in milonga unless you have a follower who stays on-axis, on-balance. If you or your follower tend to fall over, . . . change it to make it more milonga-friendly.

1. Do the same salida and switch systems/tracks as above, and the first step (#1, 2, 3 above).
2. Walk a counter-clockwise circle (to the left), either as a regular circle, or as a "back step, back 1/2 ocho"--what I showed as I learned it from Jose Garafolo--that has a less even feel, but is funkier and feels great in milonga.
3. Exit into whatever, moving line-of-dance (end of basic, to the cross, parallel or crossed system).

Musicality variations: You can do little corridas (quick quick slow) in this circle, or walk it in even counts. This also makes an elegant step for vals, by the way, where it can be slowed down and/or adornos added.

Vary the ingredients a little, get another move: boleo milonguero (Rhythmic DVD #6)

This move I prefer in vals (and tango), but several students showed great prowess in making this a milonga move. As a rule, I don't lead boleos in the milonga because few followers can stay on axis while pivoting that quickly, BUT that doesn't mean you can't lead it; be judicious in your choices.

1. Do #1, 2 & 3 from above.
2. Instead of a pivot to the leader's right and an open step, the leader leads a boleo on the ground (boleo milonguero) with the follower's pivot, rebounding into:
3. a back right diagonal step on the right for the leader and a forward step with the right for the follower, through to the leader's right side.
4. Same #6 and 7 as above.

Some notes on leading boleos, as these were new to some of you:

Leader:

• must be on axis to lead a boleo
• use back leg, knees one behind the other, for balance and stability
• knees are relaxed, providing shock absorption
• there is a slight suspension of the axis before leading the boleo
• the boleo feels like a corkscrew motion, down around the axis and back up, if it is working correctly
• hips remain forward, torso rotates
• careful on foot placement: keep your V, and don't let your back foot/ankle turn in

Follower:

• must be on axis
• hips do the pivot work; don't swing the leg
• knees meet and rebound, with the free leg rebounding back the way it came
• the leader's torso leads the hip pivot, which leads the leg release (because of this, the "whip" of the follower's leg does not end when the leader rebounds, but slightly behind, like the end of a whip vs. the handle)
• keep the feet in their V, so that the shape of the boleo remains constant and looks good (remember how inelegant it looked when I showed you the toes in version I was seeing in class? ;-) )
• ankles, knees and hips are slightly flexed at all times for shock absorption, but make sure you don't sink in the boleo: this is a rebound, not a collapse

Again, nice places to add adornos are at the first side step and after the rebound of the boleo (so, at original #1 and #6-7 of the first move. In essence, because all these steps are built off of the same main structural beginning and end, the best place for adornos remains the same. Also, boleos can be different speeds. In vals, I like folks to lead me in a slower, sweeter boleo, rather than a WHAM! movement, allowing me time to really pivot well with my hips, and giving the boleo a more swoopy, vals feeling.

Introducing the quebrada as an elegant, stabilizing element of the dance

As I hear my next lesson knocking on the door, I'll finish here, and go over this step in my next blog entry. Stay tuned!

Beginning Argentine tango can be fun: basic building blocks and improvisation I

One thing I learned when I studied with Alito Alessi to prepare for Danceability  workshops in Eugene, OR, was to focus on the main idea of a movement. What is the essence of this move? That way, no matter what skill level each dancer reaches in class, the main ideas walk out of the studio with each person. Everyone succeeds and everyone has fun.

In tango, the essence of the dance is walking, pausing, changing direction and turning (with some fancy stuff thrown in), in tune with another body/soul. Tango is merely a particular style of moving while doing those activities. That is what I teach in my beginning tango class, rather than a lot of specific tango steps. If a dancer is deeply interested in tango, there will always be time to learn more steps later on. Over the past fifteen years, I've explored many ways to teach tango.  Now, I have changed my teaching style to make tango less serious, more fun, and more based on improvisation right from the start.

I started this post a few weeks ago, and finally realized that I need to publish it part by part, so that I eventually finish it! Here's the first part of what we did in the beginner's class last session.

Getting started

I do encourage new dancers to tell the partner which foot to start on by shifting themselves (and their partner) onto one foot, ONCE. I don't think that treading in place is good way to start a dance; instead, shift weight one time, and then walk. That way, the first step of the dance is smooth, traveling line-of-dance (LOD) and relaxed, which paves the way for a more successful dance.

Walking

My main teachers, Oscar Mandagaran and Georgina Vargas, walk like big cats. When you lead Georgina, you can FEEL the purr of the cat, or the engine, or whatever it feels like to you as the leader. When you follow Oscar, it's almost impossible to make a mistake because his walk has so much power and connection that you are drawn into the dance. What they say is, "Walk like a tiger, not a kitty cat!"

Walking in tango is easy: it's like walking in real life. If you walk heel-toe when going forward; toe-heel when backing up; and remember to breath, you have 75% of tango already! A lot of what I do in private lessons focuses around repatterning the student's body to more efficient, balanced locomotion and stance. In group classes, I introduce the elements of posture and movement, but one-on-one is limited by class size.

Right, left, right, left . . .

You have one choice when stepping: the foot that you have free from weight. You have four choices of direction: forward, backward, right and left. 

There are two systems of movement in Argentine tango: parallel and crossed systems. In parallel system, the leader steps on the left when the follower steps on the right. In the crossed system, the leader steps on the right when the follower steps on the right. It is the changing from parallel to crossed system that gives Argentine tango so many choices, because it is the orientation of the leader to the follower that creates the matrix of possible steps in the dance. For some folks, the plethora of available steps is what makes tango a bit overwhelming at first, rather than freeing.

I encourage new dancers to get into the flow of the music and experiment with intention: tell the follower where you want them to step, using your energy/intention. Don't worry a lot about which foot the other person is on at first; just keep breathing and keep moving. With practice, it becomes much easier to figure out which foot the follower is standing on, and to actually LEAD the follower to take a specific step in time/space. For now, think about accuracy of direction in space and let the follower respond to that.

Changing directions

There are a lot of reasons why tango is made up of direction changes. Most of these reasons are called the dancers in your way in front of you, behind you, and next to you ;-)  Seriously, the dance floor is often crowded, and the beauty of the improvisation that is tango, is that you can make a tiny little dance, almost in place on the dance floor, and REALLY dance! Rebounds (traspie steps, rock steps, check steps, whatever you want to call them) and ochos are basic ways to change direction in tango.

Rebounds

A rebound is any step that returns to its original position on the dance floor. This requires that the dancer move to a new space, release the foot into the floor with weight over it, and then move back to the original foot. For example, if the leader steps forward on the left foot, the rebound brings the leader back onto the right foot, ready again to use the left foot. I think of steps like these as: front/side/back rebounds, named by the original direction of the first step. Other people call these traspie steps, check steps, or rock steps.

Yes, this is technically two steps, but I think of it as one motion; I find that helps most beginners get the main idea: making changing directions easy (whether for navigation, fun, or by accident).

The ball analogy

When you bounce a ball, as the ball encounters the floor, it compresses and widens into the floor, in preparation for rebounding up. Just like bouncing a basketball, the energy/weight of the step needs to press through/against the floor before returning: you can't bounce a ball and have it rebound BEFORE it hits the floor! It's the same idea with the body. 

Stopping the body early, or by tightening the muscles, is like trying to get the ball back before it hits the floor. Use the follower's body (and the leader's body, of course) to gauge the best moment to rebound. Make the step work for you. Playing Naughty Toddler (see below) is a good way to get used to how easy it is to make the rebound work FOR you.

Ochos

Ochos are rebounds with a twist. Front ochos consist of the follower doing two consecutive front steps, making a figure eight in front of the leader; or two back steps (much harder). However, the basic idea is to change directions (here, from right to left, or vice versa), and return to the original location.

Note: This is the same outcome as a rock, but happens if the follower is on the "other" foot and has to cross over to go in the requested direction. That way, the follower has two possibilities to respond to the leader, both of which work, and both of which achieve the needed direction change. If the leader knows what foot the follower is on, s/he can lead more successfully, but if not, the follower can "survive" and still look good.

More on ochos in another post.

Turning

There are only two directions to turn: right and left.

There are three kinds of turns. You can turn in place, around the leader. You can turn in place, around the follower (not usually called a turn in tango). You can also turn while traveling down the floor.

Tete's turning exercise

Years ago, I had the opportunity to take weekly classes from Tete in Buenos Aires. He had an exercise where we walked around the room and did half or whole turns while continuing to travel around the room; he would yell, "Turn!" and we would. He encouraged us to practice turning right and left, and returning to facing forward both by continuing to turn the same we started, and by reversing to the other direction. No specific turns were taught: the followers were expected to keep upright and step as needed to maintain balance.

It turns out the there are only two outcomes of such a turn: the couple is walking in parallel system (leader's right, follower's left, for example), or in crossed system (leader's right, follower's right, for example). That means you are exiting either in traveling back ochos, or in parallel walks. Simple--as long as you don't panic about what feet are being used.

As a complete beginner, most people do this fine, but start stumbling when they realize that the follower is on the "other" foot. Quick fix: turn again! You have a 50-50 chance of ending up in parallel system. If you can hang in there with the unstructured state of this exercise, you will see that there is an organic quality to the movement that works, even when both dancers are beginners, and not sure of what is happening. I encourage that tuning into the flow of the dance: that's what makes dancers look like they know what's happening, and eventually, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy! At some point, the leader DOES start to know what foot the follower is on and vice versa.

For those of you who are more structured (or for the purists in tango), this might make you tear your hair out. However, I'm finding that my students hit the dance floor a lot earlier, and with as much success, as folks who are carefully studying steps and learning forms, but who are too scared to go out dancing. Knowing that it's OK to not know 100% of what is going on, can be very freeing.

A lot of my beginners are afraid to go tango dancing because they feel that everyone is watching, and will judge their dance. I send them to Portland's Wednesday night alternative music dance--and go to dance with them--because that is seen as the least judgmental venue for new dancers to explore tango. I myself notice that I am willing to experiment more to alternative music, while traditional music brings out my best technique; of course, I'm used to the "everyone is watching" feeling :-)

Milonga traspie: rebound steps

Traspie steps; check steps; rock steps; rebound steps: What DO you call those quick-quick thingies that are in milonga, tango and vals?

I call them rebound steps because focusing on the elasticity of this step, rather than the speed of the step, makes for a much more efficient (and thus quick) execution of this kind of movement. Because milonga is faster than tango (and most valses), learning to do the rebound step is especially pertinent.

I was not taught this method when I first learned tango, but my main teachers, Oscar Mandagaran and Georgina Vargas proved to me that it worked better. After arguing about it for a while, they simply led me (and had me lead) their style of rebound and HOLY COW! it was a lot easier. Twelve years into fifteen years of tango, and I completely changed my approach and can easily lead most followers, even beginners, in milonga. And you can, too! (and Oscar and Georgina will be back in Portland and Eugene in August and November, lucky us!)

Rebound steps

A rebound step is any step that moves away from a given point and then returns to that initial location. For example, the first two steps of an ocho cortado for the leader are forward on the left, and then back on the right. Another example: a "traspie" step to the side before moving forward line-of-dance sends the leader to the side and then back to the original location.

Think of each two-piece rebound step as one unit: rather than "rock, rock" or "quick, quick" imagine that the movement in your foot and body is more like bouncing a ball: it hits the ground and rebounds up to your hand as one motion.

Ball bouncing

Nothing on YouTube was exactly what I wanted to show you, but this is close. See how the ball flattens into the ground and then rebounds in one smooth motion? That is what the arch of your foot is doing when you do a rebound step. If you do this while leading the follower to execute the same step, you can easily change directions at any speed.

Using the ball bouncing idea, notice that:

1. The ball does not stop motion when it hits the floor. Instead, it flattens and then rebounds. Make sure you do not stop your motion.
2. The ball does not stop a few inches from the floor and then come back up. Make sure that you do not signal for the follower to change direction until his/her foot has softened into the floor. The follower cannot change direction easily until the moment that the foot softens. Indicating a lead "early" to give the follower time to react, slows this move down.
3. When the ball finishes the rebounding motion, it comes back to center (or back to your hand). Make sure that your rebound finishes back on axis/balance before moving to a new location.

Things that are different from an actual ball bouncing:

1. Don't sink in your knees to lower your body! Stay at the same height while doing this move. The knees are naturally lightly flexed at all times to aid in balance and smoothness of move.
2. Any direction you send your partner, they will rebound back to you. Think of a combination of handball (trying to send it straight back to yourself, however) and bouncing a ball.
3. You don't have to push on the ball with your hand to make this happen: move your body, and the follower will be moved. I hope. If not, play naughty toddler!

How to break yourself of old traspie habits

It's one thing to understand how and why a rebound step works better when done this way. It's a much more time-intensive activity to relearn the step, which is why I've begun teaching this as one of the first steps in tango, milonga and vals classes.

My suggestions:

1. Dance slow motion: slow motion movement will help you find how far transfer your weight before rebounding. Abandon the need to make this move go quickly: as soon as it works slow, it will start to work at faster speeds.
2. Close your eyes: learn to SENSE the movement of the follower, either in close or open embrace. When you can feel the follower's foot hit and soften into the floor, you will be able to reverse the follower's direction without much effort on either person's part.
3. Play naughty toddler: I've noticed that most leaders do a great job leading rebound steps when forced to by a follower who is not paying attention and is full-on dancing. After all, stopping early to "signal" a change in direction won't work with this kind of follower! If they are about to run into someone, most leaders do a wonderful job of using the follower's body and weight to change direction ;-)
4. Ask the follower for feedback: if one of you can feel the transfer of weight and the right time to change direction, you can teach each other the rebound step. If that is the leader, the follower can be told while dancing. If the follower feels it, but not the lead, practice slow motion and verbally cuing the leader ("Now!") until the leader feels confident about leading the step.

Until the new neural pathway is established in your brain, you will need to methodically and slowly repattern your body to access the new pathway first (this is why the new motion feels "weird" or "strange"--it is not the one that feels "right" to the body until the new pathway has been established). I've looked online for a good, short version of explaining how the body builds neural pathways, but most are either too simplistic, or too long. If you are interested in this information, go play on Google, and let me know if YOU find a good article! Thanks!

Inspiration

If you need any inspiration, check out Oscar and Georgina dancing a milonga, and watch their tons of lovely rebound steps! Now, go practice!

The duende of tango

I think of "duende" as the "passion" or "soul" of something.  Merriam-Webster defines it as "the power to attract through personal magnetism and charm."

What is it that attracts people to tango, and then holds them in tango's embrace?

I don't think it's the steps of tango, or the music, although I am hooked on both myself. I think it is tango's demand that both the leader and the follower must interact with another person's energy and spirit, in order to dance well. To dance tango, you need to take an emotional risk and open yourself to another soul.

Beginner's mind

What made me think of this was a joyous, laughing beginner who tore up the floor last night at my lesson.   When I fired up my Naughty Toddler exercise, he flew around the dance floor with a more experienced follower, and led her in moves that I KNOW he does not know. He put his entire heart and soul into that dance, and it was breathtaking. 

Now, tango is not a solo dance, so you need a partner willing to risk all as well. Last night, a quiet, sweet follower turned up the volume, met this beginner's energy, and did the best dance I've ever seen her do in a year of dancing. She looked phenomenal; she took risks I've never seen her take, and it paid off.

It looked FUN! It had passion, it had groove, it had soul; for a moment, the duende of tango peeped out.

Maintaining beginner's mind

All of the tango beginners who showed up quickly got the idea that the shared energy counted more than perfection of steps. As we explored, the more shy dancers started to play, smile, risk more, and began to dance with energy, with spirit, with soul.

More experienced tango dancers were less sure. I saw the skeptical looks exchanged by the "experienced" dancers (something along the lines of "I think she must be nuts" as far as I can read facial expressions). A teacher is telling us that it doesn't matter how well we do the steps?!?!

Some of those dancers did not walk on the dance floor with an open mind. When I left, they were practicing dance moves--without any spark of connection. Well, you can't change anyone's mind except your own :-)

One more experienced dancer took the challenge. Over the course of a few dances, I watched tentatively try out "misbehaving" as a follower. She started to smile. Her dance improved, but it was not easy for her. I honor her for daring to step out of her comfort zone.

My job as a teacher

I used to think that teaching perfection in each step was my primary job as a teacher. After twenty-four years of teaching dance, I no longer believe that. In the past two or three years, I have come to realize that I needed to relearn how to teach, in order to serve my students better.

My job is to release joy, confidence and pleasure into the world; to facilitate personal fulfillment.  For some people, that does mean reaching perfection in a dance style, and I am happy to share my expertise (and my anal retentive nature!).

However, for most of my students, I find that their goal is NOT perfection. They have different goals: find a boy/girlfriend; spend time in our unconnected lives to touch other humans; to express themselves to music; to build balance and flexibility in order to dance into old age; etc. For all of them, they seek those magical moments during a song where two energies meet and two souls touch. Perfect dancing should be perfect connection. Tango entices because it offers an opportunity to reach that perfect connection every dance.

That is what I try to teach. Ask me about the Tiger Growling exercise sometime! Or, come to the Eclectic Dance at Norse Hall on Saturday night (lesson 7:30) and experience it for yourself!

Buenos Aires milongas, tips for 2010

I meant to blog from Buenos Aires, but forgot my blog password (so much for automatically logging in from a different computer).

Although this was my fourth trip to Buenos Aires, it had been a long time since #3. I was eager to spend more time in one of my favorite cities. I was excited about getting to dance seven days a week. I was scheduled for a bunch of private lessons with my favorite teachers, Oscar Mandagaran and Georgina Vargas, and I felt ready to bite off a new chunk of technique.

I accompanied a friend on this trip, so our choice of milongas was a combination of looking for high quality dancing, low numbers of tourists, and an older clientele who would ask women to dance who were older than twenty ;-) 

My choices for milonga attendance were also based on looking for the older dancers who started to dance before dance classes were popular. So many of my teachers have died in the past ten years (this year, Omar Vega and Tete, as well as a few of the milongueros I like to dance with), that I wanted to learn as many steps, tricks, and personal style details as I could by dancing with "the geezers" while they were still around to dance with me.

As the popularity of milongas changes constantly, we relied on advice from our teachers, friends and other dancers to decide where to dance each night. What follows is a synopsis of where we danced and what I liked/disliked about those venues.

Porteno y Bailarin, Riobamba 345, 11 PM to 3 AM

(Tuesday)

Porteno y Bailarin is only a half block away from Avenida Corrientes and 1.5 blocks from the Callao subte (subway) stop, tons of bus lines and millions of taxis, as far as I can tell.  It's centrally located and easy to get to. Cost: 18 or 20 pesos (sorry, I forget!).

Why we went there: I knew that this would not be the crowd we were looking for, but Jose Garafolo (the organizer of P y B) was one of my first teachers, and I wanted to say hello. II enjoyed catching up on the last few years and dancing a VERY fun tanda with him; I wish I had had time to go back and dance there again.

Who was there: This crowd had more foreigners than most of the places we went; perhaps 40-50%. It was a mixed bag of ages, from very young to tottering. There were a few hotshots doing open embrace, many close embrace dancers (square and V embraces), and a few who combined both styles as space permitted. The floor was not very crowded, but it still took navigational skills to dance there because of the small floor size.

How did the evening go: It helped to be greeted with enthusiasm by the host: we started dancing almost immediately. A few men thought I looked familiar and invited me to dance. After I danced a set with Jose later in the night, I didn't sit down much until we left.

Notes: The space was small enough to see almost everyone in order to cabeceo (for those of you who don't invited others to dance with this eye contact and nonverbal invitation: you aren't going to dance very much in Bs As unless you practice!). It was a bit dark, compared to many of the other milongas we attended, so I needed to put my glasses on each time I sat down to make eye contact ;-)

Other places to dance on Tuesdays (recommended by my teachers): Maipu 444, from 7 PM to 1 AM (see review below).

Maipu 444, 7 PM to 1 AM

(Tuesday)

Maipu 444 is close to the Florida subte stop, or the Pellegrini/Diagonal Norte/etc. stop at the Obelisco. It is of course bus and taxi friendly as well. Right downtown, you can go shopping on Calle Florida just a block away if you get there early.

Why we went there: Several friends recommended Maipu 444, and I was curious, as this milonga had not been open the other years I had gone to Bs As.

Who was there: This crowd had some foreigners, but was mostly Argentine, most from age forty on up.

How did the evening go: We had been advised to go early (I suggest reservations here for sure), so we showed up before 8 PM and got decent seats along the front edge. Both of us danced a lot that evening, despite the challenge of a few "pods" of men who would look at us, and then look away for the first few hours. The floor is small enough to be able to cabecear almost anyone in the room (we were at the opposite end from the bar, and there were a few tables at that far end where we could barely see the occupants enough to tell if they were asking us to dance). The lighting is good. The people were nice. The level of dance was variable, and we found that many of the men were at a lower dance level than we were! I'm not used to Argentine men apologizing for their lack of dance level--this was new to me.

Notes: Go early, or you won't get a table.  Also, there is a very yummy pizzeria nearby, on Corrientes as you head towards the obelisk (Palacio de Pizza?) with delicious baked things and flan to die for.

La Nacional, Alsina 1465, 8 PM to 2 AM

(Wednesday)

La Nacional recently reopened, and it was great to see how much nicer they have made this space, especially given the lovely (but slippery, so beware!) floor. This milonga is in the Congreso area, walkable from San Telmo or the Corrientes corridor; near the Congreso subte line and, of course, buses and taxis.

Why we went there: Oscar and Georgina recommended this milonga as a place with good dance level, good floorcraft, and good manners. Also, the seating is men on one side, women on the other, with mixed tables for couples and groups on the ends. This makes it easier to see potential partners, and makes for more possibilities for dancing.

Who was there: This crowd had foreigners mixed in, but I danced almost exclusively with Argentine men. One or two dancers opened up into bigger moves when there was room, but almost everyone stuck to close embrace dancing (both square and V embraces).

How did the evening go: This was one of the most enjoyable places I danced. Even the first night, I didn't sit out very much. We were placed in the third row back of chairs, but both of us are experienced at cabeceo, and managed to get invitations even when being blocked by the ladies in front. Some of the men who invited me to dance that night frequented many of the other places we danced, so I began to build my dance card.

Notes: The floor is quite long, and it is harder to catch the eye of men on the ends of the space if you are in the middle. HOWEVER, being in the middle of the long sides of the room is much better than being stuck in a corner. The floor is slippery, so bring your shoes with suede bottoms! Even with shoes wetted with water, you will slide here if you are not careful. Make reservations with Atilio Veron, the organizer, if you want a nice seat: 15-5963-1924.

Other Wednesday night milongas that came well-recommended: La Milonga, Humberto Primo 1462 (where Nino Bien is on Thursday nights), 6 PM to 2 AM; Sueno Porteno, San Juan 3330, from 7 PM to 3 AM.

Lujos, Riobamba 416 (El Beso)

(Thursday)

Even though the name of the milonga on Thursdays is Lujos, almost everyone just called the space El Beso.  It is a few doorways away from Avenida Corrientes and 1.5 blocks from the Callao subte (subway) stop, tons of bus lines taxis.  It's centrally located and easy to get to.

Why we went there: My teachers said that the level of dance on Thursdays was very high. Years ago, I frequented El Beso with Tete's vals class (we ate dinner after class and went to El Beso each week). In addition, my friend had heard of El Beso, and it was on her list of places she wanted to dance.

Who was there: Tons of Italians, and a lot of portenos, with a sprinkling of a few other foreigners. Mostly the forty to seventy year old crowd showed up, although with face lifts, I figured out ages from the wrinkles on women's backs!

How did the evening go: I felt like a piece of wallpaper. We got stuck in the back row, against the back wall. Because of the shape of El Beso, there is NO space for the tango sharks to circle, looking for partners, except near the entrance and the bar (the other side of the room). Men who happily danced with me at other venues looked right through me at El Beso: not a regular? Forget it. I got some mercy dances from nice guys I already knew, but apart from that, I had to wait until the second or third song of a tanda to get invited to dance. When I described the evening to friends, they said, "Si, El Beso, es un lugar MUY exclusivo" and explained that it was important to be seen there dancing well, so folks didn't take as many risks inviting unknown partners to dance.

Notes: El Beso was the darkest place we danced, and it was difficult to make eye contact across the floor, even though the floor is not large. Take a group with you, or be pushy and try to get a front row seat. I didn't notice that the level of dance was higher than elsewhere, but El Beso has that reputation.

Other recommended places to go on Thursdays: Nino Bien, Humberto Primo 1462 (see review below), from 10:30 PM to 4 AM; and La Cachila, La Rioja 1180 (Club Gricel), from 8 PM to 3 AM (see review below).

La Cachila, La Rioja 1180 (Club Gricel), 8 PM to 3 AM

(Thursday)

Go to Gricel on the bus or by taxi. It's a bit further out than some of the more central milongas, but it should not run you more than 12-20 pesos, unless you are way out in Palermo or Recoleta.

Why we went there: We promised to meet friends, and so went back to Gricel, despite mediocre experiences there the week before (on another night).

Who was there: This was mostly an older crowd (I'd say 50+), with some foreigners, but mostly Argentines out in force.

How did the evening go: This was one of my few experiences in Bs As of becoming one with my chair. We were placed in the back row of a front table, despite the protestations of the Argentine woman in the front row, who had hoped to keep the seats for friends, despite not having made reservations. We had a chilly reception at best. We could see five or six men from where we were seated, most of whom were foreigners also relegated to the corner. After dancing with them, we pretty much sat until giving up. Our friends didn't show by 9:30, so we left for Nino Bien (see below), which happily made up for this early evening experience as a piece of sculpture.

Notes: Gricel is not my favorite venue. It is a bit dark sometimes, and it's hard to see down the sides of the floor due to the pillars between tables. It's easy to see across the room, but not with dancing couples, so you have about one minute to score a dance at the beginning of the tanda, and then you will probably sit until the next tanda.

Nino Bien, Humberto Primo 1462, 10:30 PM to 4 AM

(Thursday)

Nino Bien is a long-running, famous milonga. It has been my choice for Thursday evenings for all of my trips to Bs As; so it was wonderful to walk in on a Thursday evening, greet Luis (the organizer, who looks exactly like he did when I first went there in 1999), and settle in for an evening of dancing.

Why we went there: We tried Gricel earlier in the evening, and had been seated in a horrible place, with almost no men in sight. I looked at my friend and said, "Let's go to Nino Bien" and off we went. We wanted to DANCE! and I knew we would at NB.

Who was there: Everyone was there, old, young, foreigners, regulars, even a camera crew who were filming for something (it was not explained, nor was it obvious).

How did the evening go: Great! We both recognized a lot of people from other milongas, and danced with them. However, we also got invited to dance by men we'd never seen before. By the time we left (right before a milonga set), I'd been asked to save the next milonga set for a specific guy--by four different men! If my feet hadn't been done (too much shopping and milonga #2 for the night), I would have stayed to figure out who to dance with.

Notes: Order dinner at Nino Bien! I had the best calabaza torta (squash quiche-like thingie) that I have EVER tasted. There weren't many choices, but we noticed that many early comers had ordered dinner, and so were encouraged to give the menu a try. Lovely! The difference between dancing at this venue in the "afternoon" and "evening" mainly seemed to be the steering skills of the dancers. Almost no one crashed in the afternoon milonga, but in the evening, I had several people run into me, and had one partner run into another couple. The level of correct manners is higher in the earlier dancers, too.

Entre Tango y Tango, Humberto Primo 1462, 6 PM to 2 AM

(Friday)

Entre Tango y Tango is at the same place that Nino Bien is held Thursday nights. It is walkable from San Telmo or Congreso, but be aware that I saw streetwalkers in pretty much every direction from the building after the sun went down; you may prefer to take a taxi! It's easy to get to by bus or taxi, and the subte is not far away.

Why we went there: I had heard from many of the men I danced with, that this was the best place to go on Fridays. As my friend had stomach flu (I succumbed a day later), I went by myself. I wanted to dance where my teachers said the best level of dance and floor craft were.

Who was there: I was one of the youngest people at this milonga, but there was a fair mix of 30- to 70- (or 80-) somethings. Many were from Bs As, although I saw the Italians from the night before, a few Japanese, and two Oregon guys there.

How did the evening go: I had been told to go early to get a good seat, so I arrived around 6:30 or 7 PM. I was given a front row seat at a table halfway down the room--choice territory. I danced almost every single tanda the entire evening. I was joined by three French ladies at some point, and gamely tried to keep my Spanish and French segregated into separate languages, one for dancing, and one for my table. I left around 11:30 only because I had promised to meet a friend at another dance; otherwise, I would have stayed until it closed. This was one of my most enjoyable evenings of the trip.

Notes: I love Nino Bien's dance space. I know it by heart from months of dancing there, so it feels like home to me. The floorcraft is great, if you avoid the middle row, who play chicken with the oncoming traffic. The floor is one of the best in Buenos Aires, the room is elegant, and the clientele polite but not snooty. I owe a debt of gratitude to the kind waitress who gave me change for the taxi (I tipped her well at the other milongas where I saw her after that).

Paracultural Salon Canning, Scalabrini Ortiz 1331, 11 PM to 5 AM

(Friday)

Salon Canning is only a few blocks off of Avenida Cordoba. It's almost a 20 peso taxi ride from San Telmo/Congreso, but there are many buses that can take you across the city for much cheaper (1.10 pesos at this moment).

Why we went there: I was meeting a friend I had not seen for ten years. Since I had elected not to get a local cell phone, our communication had been spotty, but I figured I'd look for him and dance for a bit if he didn't show up.

Who was there: This crowd was quite different from the one at my usual milongas (a friend had labeled my choices "the geezer milongas"). Many of the crowd were 20- or 30- something, mixed in with the regular up to 80-somethings. There were a LOT of foreigners. There were people trying to dance open embrace in a space designed for close embrace, and there were quite a few traffic issues on the dance floor at any given time.

How did the evening go: The air conditioning was broken that night (someone told me it had burned up?), and it was HOT and HUMID. It was so humid that pivoting one's shoe on the dance floor was difficult--and this is one of my favorite dance floors in Bs As! I came back from my first tanda to find my friend seated at the next table, by coincidence, so I was able to catch up with him and continue to dance with other men. This was the only place I danced where most of the people who invited me to dance were foreigners.

Notes: The evening milongas are a different beast than the "afternoon" milongas that usually end around midnight.  I've done the evening thing for a few visits to Bs As, and decided not to follow that route this time, in order to focus more attention on my private lessons. It felt good to be back in my old routine for an evening, but I found that I prefer dance with the "geezers" more than with beginner- to intermediate-level Europeans.

Other places to dance Fridays that are recommended by friends/teachers: Lo de Celia Tango Club, Humberto Primo 1783, 10 PM on; Sin Rumbo, Jose Tamborini 6157, 10 PM to 4 AM (out in Villa Urquiza, "nice for a group or a couple"); and La Baldosa, Ramon L. Falcon 2750.

La Nacional, Alsina 1465, 8 PM to ? (brand new milonga)

(Saturday)

As I mentioned above, La Nacional is easy to get to on foot, by bus or taxi, and relatively near the subte.

Why we went there: I was out of commission with the 24-hour version of a stomach flu our first Saturday night, but my friend attended La Nacional with some other friends of ours. Despite having a less than stellar night the first time (she estimated that it was 3- or 4- to 1 ratio of women to men), we chose to go back the next weekend, in order to meet friends and go out to eat afterwards.

Who was there: The Saturday I attended, many of the dancers were Argentine, sprinkled with a few French and Italians, as well as a few Americans (mostly us and our friends). The age range probably started at 30- or 40-, but most dancers were probably in the 50-70 range, with an enthusiatic 80-something pointed out to our table.

How did the evening go: I was not in the mood to put myself out and invite dances that night, so I sat in the back row of our table with three Argentine women, and gossiped until they huffily left for other milongas ("Why should we pay 18 pesos to get in, and then not get to dance?!" exclaimed one of them as she left). The male-female ratio was much closer to 50-50 than the week before, and many dancers were now familiar, so my friend danced a lot, and I danced when I felt like dancing.

Notes: Again, beware of the slippery floor! This is a good place to use small steps, even if it is big enough to have space to really MOVE. At no time was the dance floor so crowded that it made dancing difficult, but one foreigner told me he felt intimidated by the lack of space, so take or leave my opinion. They have good empanadas and tostados if you get hungry.

Other places to dance Saturdays: Saturday is traditionally date night, so you often see folks you thought were single, showing up with wives and husbands, or dates. When I was spending longer periods of time in Bs As before, I usually chose to go salsa dancing on Saturday nights, or to go out for dinner with non-tango friends. However, if you are on a short timeline, or just can't stop for an evening, have no fear, dance is still available: Cachirulo, Maipu 444, from 6 PM to 3 AM (according to books, but at 7:30 PM, there was still no music playing when we stopped by to check it out before going to La Nacional); Milonga de las Morochas, Riobamba 416, from 10:30 PM on (I used to go to this in years past); or Lo de Celia Tango Club, Humberto Primo 1783, from 11 PM to 4 AM.

Torcuato Tasso, Defensa 1575, 10 PM to 3 AM

(Sunday)

Torcuato Tasso was my old stomping grounds, being the nearest milonga to where I used to stay in San Telmo, back in the old days. This milonga is no longer free on Sundays, as of a few months ago :-(  but our teachers said they were going there, so we joined them.

Who was there: This was the most mixed group we encountered, all the way from non-dancers who were goggling at the dance floor from their tables, to teenagers in jeans, to full suits and spiffy shoes on older dancers, to tables of foreigners. The level of the dancers also varied from pitiful to amazing.

How did the evening go: This was a very uneven evening. I danced with a young Canadian who was a very new dancer; some Argentines who had danced for many years, but were definitely intermediate; and my teacher, who is one of the best dancers I've ever encountered (maybe the best). I had never encountered an Argentine who yells one's name across tables to dance because of being situated BEHIND me--I ended up ignoring him because it annoyed me, but accepted a very fun chacarera set with him later.

Notes: Torcuato Tasso's floor has not improved over the years: it is still rock or polished cement, or some other surface that gets nasty when wet and makes your feet hurt (funny, I never cared about that ten years ago!). I still like the space because it has so many memories for me. I once danced right next to Shakira on this dance floor, and one of my two witnessed fights on tango dance floors happened here, too. If you are looking for a good dance experience, this is not a sure bet.

Other places to dance on Sundays: A Puro Tango, Scalabrini Ortiz 1331, from 6 PM to 1 AM (see review below); La Milonga de Susana, Ramon L. Falcon 2750, from 6 PM on; El Beso, Riobamba 416, from 10 PM on; and Porteno y Bailarin, Riobamba 345, later on.

A Puro Tango, Scalabrini Ortiz 1331, 6 PM to 1 AM

(Sunday)

Again, Salon Canning is easy to get to by taxi or bus, but it's a walk from the subway.

Why we went there: My friend had not come with me to Salon Canning the Friday before, and she wanted to see the famous milonga. It was our last night in Bs As, and I thought we would be able to get some good dancing in.

Who was there: This crowd seemed to be almost completely Argentine, apart from the gorgeous Brazilian girl and her boyfriend who came in to watch and got dragged onto the floor to try tango (for the first time, I would guess). The age of my dance partners averaged around 60+ and most of the folks there were dressed nicely and started to clear out around midnight to go home.

How did the evening go: This was one of my best dancing nights in Bs As. I had one of the best Pugliese tandas of my entire Bs As career that night, with a quiet, older man who seemed either embarrassed or taken aback when I told him that. The level of dance was better than many of the places we had gone, but the level of "pickup" was higher: in several cases, I considered ending the tanda early because of the deep interest my partner was displaying in me (and not my dance, I don't think). I also had a great chacarera set (three! not two! three chacareras!), which is always a highlight for me, the former crazed international folk dancer.

Notes: This was one of my favorite places to go to "afternoon" dances when I frequented Bs As in the early 2000s, and it still is. Even sitting in the last row before the shark circling area, we barely sat down the entire evening. If you can dance well, you will get to dance here. Over and over and over.

Lunes de Tango, La Rioja 1180 (Club Gricel)

(Monday)

Lunes de Tango is at Club Gricel, which is a bit further out than the other milongas we attended (up to Plaza Miserere and hang a left). It is reachable by bus or taxi, but I wouldn't walk it if I were you.

Why we went there: Mondays are a day with fewer milongas, but we still had two possibilities that were suggested. We agreed to meet our teachers there, but ended up sitting at a women's table, while they sat together at a couple's table.

Who was there: This crowd was mostly Argentine, with a few Americans, Italians, French and one Spanish guy who kept appearing wherever we danced (nice dancer, actually!). The age range was pretty much on the older side, with most folks looking 50-70ish.

How did the evening go: This was not our best evening, but we had pleasant women at our table (Argentines), a table of guys on each side who ended up dancing a lot with us, and a position at one of the entry/exit points for the floor, so the men who wanted to dance with us knew where we were.

Notes: Gricel is long and skinny, with pillars around the edge of the dance floor. This makes it much harder to make eye contact with about half the tables, so, unless you are strategically placed, you have to make so with those you can see. There is space to circulate between the floor edge tables and the ones along the wall, so some men do the shark circling thang, but I still had no idea who was at the other end of the room.

Other places to dance on Mondays: Parakultural Canning, Scalabrini Ortiz 1331, from 11 PM to 4 AM.

Vals and Argentine tango musicality: games and exercises

Each time I get on the dance floor to do a tango vals, I feel grateful that I was a musician for several decades before learning to dance. Timing in music is something I feel and do not have to count. When I started teaching dance, I found it hard to describe how to move to music: couldn't everyone hear what I heard?

The truth is, many people struggle with finding the beat for dancing.  I recently fielded a request about how to be more musical with tango.  I replied to that person, and then realized that this advice might be useful to more folks.

After teaching dance for 22 years, there are only a few things that I've found work for learning to hear and use the music:

1.  Start listening to the music as much as possible; around the home; in the car; at the office, etc.  Even if you are not paying close attention, your brain hears the music and starts processing it better, even without moving to it.  Eventually, when you move to the music, you will REALLY move to the music because of these hours of extra "listening."  This is purely aural learning, but it helps.

2.  In classes, dances and practicas, watch the people who look like they are moving nicely with the music . . . and copy them shamelessly.  I'd suggest getting behind a leader who looks like they are musical, and try to move at the same time.  Again, this is a long process, but in patterning your body to theirs, you are learning to connect visually with the music.

3.  OK, so far, we have aural and visual elements of learning musicality.  For kinesthetic learning, my games about musicality help (see my other musicality posts).  If you are in a class that is about musicality, you experience the movement with the music, connecting #1 and #2 to this body feeling.  You can also do this in private lessons, and I'd be happy to set some up with you if you would like that.  Another way to experience this is to have a musical person lead YOU so you can follow to the music and feel it in your body; we could also do that in a private lesson.

4.  Last part of musicality that I do as another kinesthetic approach (and aural): make sounds!  That's why I make people play my "silly games" about musicality while making noise. For some folks, attaching a sound to a movement helps them to remember how to move.

Different people learn different ways.  I learn mostly visually and kinesthetically.  I have a student who learns best by saying things while moving: sounds and noises that he then associates with the movement.  I have some students who need to hear me explain things as their way to understand.  Another students needs to stand and watch others try the movement, and then can do the movement. If you know how you learn best, you can streamline the process, but this will take some time--much longer than learning steps, but EVERYONE can learn this.

I disagree with people who say that musicality can be learned with a computer program :-)