Tangodurians

Tonight. An avalanche of men. A tanda with a solid dancer. A playful vals with the lilting ochos. A dramatic sweep and trampolining skirt ganchos. A heavy rhythmic Noelia wannabe impersonation for the Milonga. An accented weight change that is not off-putting but very...interesting. Music was divine. All the solid songs strung together. Safe. But a good kind. Weight on point. Mindset on point. You see, Tango. It gives you these moments, these moments of pure fun, of showing off, of enjoying the music and really dancing to it while keeping an eye to what your partner is suggesting. If you stick with Tango you unlock levels as you go. Friends. Lovers. Strangers that turn into the most intimate acquaintance for 12 minutes. Being able to give and receive joy, this is where the true essence is. Forget about hierarchy or rank. Forget about being hesitant or snobbish about dancing with that one who doesn't look that good. Focus on yourself in the dance, even the quietest talker...

Been putting on the hat of a leader over this past week and enjoying it even more. Yeah I have no idea how to do giros or sacadas, and don't talk about ganchos either, but what I've figured is that as long as musicality is there, as long as connection exists, both parties enjoy it. This has made me wonder about something though-I always thought that leaders were having all the fun at the start-in the sense that the steps that are taken in this dance are dependent on the leaders to have trained and learnt them-as a follower you can follow even if you don't know much about what you are doing, as long as the leader does. All the classes then seem to be about the leader's steps. But then I've also come to realise that, as a leader, you are expected to craft the dance to understand the steps through the viewpoint of the lady, and maybe this is where many teachers don't emphasize enough. That every step you take, you have to realise what signals you are giving ou...

Much like any other discipline, once you get past the nitty-gritty of technical details and get to expand beyond worrying whether you're going to step on the other persons foot, you get into the real meat of it. Musicality, feeling, sense, intuition. The essence of Tango, the intent, these things are told to us over and over again from the start, disassociate, strenghten your core, stretch! All these are not steps, but they are way more important than a dictionary of moves, because all this, creates the most magical feeling even within the simple walk. The angle of your foot, the power and precise distance of a side step, the weight change and landing in time to the music. Sends shivers up my spine when done well. It's an art, in the manner of a canvas, paint and a painter. Only thing is that the brush strokes are invisible and so is the paint for that matter, oh and there's more than 1 painter-you, your partner, the music, the floor-. Beautiful mess.  

  Mauricio y Javier The Singapore Tango Festival was magical. Absolutely magical, mainly because of the presence of Sexteto Milonguero for two of the nights. Dancing to live music is SUCH a treat and it seriously made me feel like my soul was soaring. Some amazing dances were had. I got told by a lead who I hadn't danced with in over a year that I had changed my dancing style (better I hope), and I agree with him. Very happy with how I'm dancing right now, but obviously more to improve! Taiwanese guy made me so so happy by saying that I danced really really well =P. Self promotion I know, but it was a very smooth dance and there was a particular move that fit the music so well and with so much precision that even I was surprised. The final saturday at UP from 4-7am took the cake though. Beautiful environment, soaring ceiling, springy wood floor, gorgeous and friendly hosts. One not to be repeated unfortunately since UP is shutting and they're moving countries. ...

I can go on for hours about Tango. Seriously. I can talk about connection, music, lessons, experiences, analogies, memories, love. Sometimes I wonder whether people who haven't been bitten by the bug, who have no interest in seeing, listening or participating in this madness, view me as being insane. I guess I don't mind? As long as they TRY it. See this is what annoys me about people sometimes, when they whine and moan and groan about how life is so boring, but when asked to put in 1)Time  and 2)Effort into trying something, they immediately freeze up and make up some crap excuse about being untalented, or being too short, or unfit. Or something. Anything. Anything but to try. TRY DAMNIT, MAYBE YOU'LL LIKE IT. Ok lah, biased here, try Tango, Salsa/Swing/Ballroom, wtv. =P But sometimes you fall in love, you fall in love with the music in a store and take 8 years to realize you can actually DANCE to this. You fall in love with the elegance, the intrigue of 'h...