Tangodurians

Como el sol hace mucho me alegraba de día hoy me alegra, en la noche, la caricia lunar. Mi bohemia se hunde en su melancolía, mi bohemia la busca misteriosa y fatal. Si estoy solo en mi pieza, en mi lúgubre pieza, soledad que matizan cigarrillo y café, abro bien la ventana y la luna me besa y me besa la luna con un beso de fe. Vieja luna que brindaste la fortuna de tu plata y tu bondad. Vieja luna te quiero como a ninguna, como nadie te querrá. Tú sabes que es un secreto la pena que en noches de luna llena suavemente te conté. Vieja luna te quiero como a ninguna, como a nadie más querré. Cuando ambulo en las noches por mi barrio lejano divagando de cosas que no son ni serán, me da el brazo la luna, cual si fuera mi hermano, y le cuento mis penas, mi desdicha, mi afán. Es la linda de siempre, mi poética amiga, blanca, suave, discreta, soñadora, cordial. Si me ve que estoy triste me acaricia, me besa y le enciende faroles a mi pobre arrabal. As the sun makes me happy day long I am...

Really odd dream that I was dancing with you and I was lead...strange. Role reversals much?

Vagar… con el cansancio de mi eterno andar, tristeza amarga de la soledad ansias enormes de llegar. Sabrás… que por la vida fui buscándote, que mis ensueños sin querer vencí, que en algún cruce los dejé. Mi andar apresuré con la esperanza de encontrarte a ti, largos caminos hilvané leguas y leguas recorrí. Después que entre tus brazos pueda descansar, si lo prefieres volveré a marchar por mi camino de ayer… I havn't poured over tango blogs and critiques in sometime, but as I remember what it was like to discover the dance for the first time, so do I remember what it is like to be so thoroughly entertained by the observations of the people that dance this dance. Not the teachers or world renowned maestros, but the common people that I am more likely to get a dance with somewhere, sometime in the world. The ability to embellish, to express, to connect. A good embrace is like a warm hug, a bed after 18 hours of running around town, early morning gym, day of work...

I tried on, again, my very first pair of proper dance shoes that I had bought early 2010 when Tango started becoming an activity that was very much a part of my life. Back then those shoes were so new, so fitted, and felt to me kinda high. I remember dancing 5 hours straight in them, 1.5 hours of lessons and another 1.5 hours of practica and sometimes Tios after which resulted in stabbing pains at the balls of my feet which I'd try to alleviate by soaking in hot water and propping my feet up. Now as I try on the discarded pair, I realize something. That rewearing them has pointed out how much more centered I am in my balance and how much more dependent I have become on swivelly 3 inch heels, and also just how big my bunions are. The CIF's are unsalvageable as my foot seems to have outgrown it, but this pair. Yes this pair that had gotten compliments from CIF owners is still wearable and danceable in. Albeit a lot lower this time which might actually make it easier for me to d...

Brilliant lessons on connections last friday and volcadas yesterday. Got home after the Shanghai flight and dashed across to carne y vino to take the lesson. Hopefully can now do it without breaking my back. They made it seem so simple! In other news, way better balanced now, toes hurt less, weight is probably distributed between toward the middle rather than the inner side. Beautiful stuff!

A long long time ago, someone once said to me "she's like a feather". Last night someone told me I'd gotten lighter. As in, dancing. Grounding yourself makes you lighter, how paradoxical :)

Converted my 2 workshop sessions into a private with Catarina and Gustavo. Also destroyed more of the Central Market Annexe flooring in the process. Oops. Privates are amazing-total focus on you, spotlight on you, also spotlight on just about every flaw you have much like pimples on bad skin. eeps. The first thing that I had to adjust was the embrace. Now, thinking back to the various ways that I've been taught about embraces, I will recall two people instrumental to the beginnings of 'what to do with your left hand'-Jacob and Dennis. MTango open embrace taught us to place the hand on the person's bicep. When faced with Jacob-I remember him telling me to put it in a position that was most comfortable for me, Dennis said that my open embrace as it was, was good too. Being a beginner then, the challenging thing was and still is to some degree, to figure out  how to adapt an embrace to the person depending on height and stature. Then came the Polish guy whom I had ...