Tangodurians

Well well well, here we come again to the end of another Tango year in 2019. Granted, this year was a lot more muted for me, just one Tango Prelims Championship, one Fame Tango Weekend extravaganza, one Tango marathon (shit, just one?!). This years tango centered very much around home, no crazy travels (thanks to change in job), no multi-country tango events (thanks to no budget + no time), a smattering of lessons. But internally, centeredness, duende. Next year, Taipei Tango Weekend, Singapore Tango Marathon + Lisbon for food, travels and Tango. Where is my tango this year? 10 years since that fateful day running to Michigan Union in shorts and t-shirt with flipflops, hair wet from a swim on a balmy end of September day, 3 to 4 weeks into the new semester. Not knowing this would kickstart one of my greatest passions in this life. The one that brings me into the world of friendships, arguments, travels and meetings. All sorts of people, friends, acquaintances, annoyances. The

Off the back of a weekend that required me to leave work early and sleep cray hours to finally get back into a semi-human mode of work and sleep. Thoughts? When I first started tango, I jumped straight into a Fire & Ice festival in Ann Arbor January of 2010. That was my first taste of a tango festival which was relatively social and a good scene in hindsight. Coming back to Malaysia I've participated in the KL Festival every single year, Singapore festival twice, Taiwan festival once (24 hour on a whim - fuck it all flight), Shanghai festival once. Other than that the flavour of the day nowadays is definitely geared more toward marathons/encuentros, and for a good reason. Festivals in this part of the world are seriously so tipped toward a certain "type" that it is far more worth my money and sanity to go for the social dancing rather than the festival format. Granted, lessons were good, always learning, picking up new things. Competition was, so-so for me, was

Goals for this Tango year: - Continue to improve leading - Get deeper into the movements and music - Starting again with foundations (feet placement, weight, balance, transfers) Always and forever a noob. Training for the first ASEAN Tango Championships, more about process than outcome really but have always been a competitive spirit so part of me really wants to make an impact. We definitely are not at the stage of winning but if improvement continues then it'll at least make a dent in the social dancing. Training. Why is it that Tango doesn't inspire the same practice spirit that a lot of other activities require (tennis, swimming, basketball, piano..heck anything I've ever picked up, or been dragged into, in my life so far)? Maybe it's the fact and core of what makes it so appealing, that we rest on our laurels because we depend so much on what the partner is giving (50-50) hence...we think that if we give 50 and the other person gives 25 then we might a

How do you take feedback? Do you immediately raise your hackles and act defensive? Do you throw back insults that are a bit more heavy handed than necessary? Positive feedback of course is what we are aiming for. Pleasant surprise having multiple experienced visitors at last nights milonga which I was DJ-ing - great dancing overall and even I was surprised at how well the tandas were flowing after a quick construct his week. <3 .="" blessed.="" p=""> Good feedback too on the music choices, cortinas (emo chinese songs from the 80's/90's). As close to a perfect reception a DJ could wish for. This is why I dance. This is why I DJ.