Milonga Last Night

DSC_0495a.jpg
Originally uploaded by ianono

this is a photo by "ianono" on flickr...but it perfectly captures a milonga feeling...

i didn't pull out my camera last night...but regretted it afterwards....there was live music....a bandoneon and keyboard....great music to dance to....great floor...new people to dance with....although a few of them "hung" on me too much...too much pressure on my left hand...i should have said something i suppose...

my back was beginning to bother me because of it....so i pulled the roberto disappearing act...and snuck out at 1130...but i had been dancing since 730....4 hours was enough...

back to write more...i know i have a tendency to be a man of few words...and i am hesitant to write about those i dance with...hmmm...

there was to be a beginner and then an intermediate class before the milonga...but no one showed for the beginner class...so i danced the hour away with an experienced follower...nice warm up...(i like to check out instructors...and their teaching form/style/content/context/etc...so that's what i was doing at a beginner class...)

for the intermediate class, more people showed up...but the class ended up not being very organized...kinda dis-integrated...i ended up teaching a young woman and her partner...she was a salsa dancer...with killer comme il faut's...brand new and shiny...and she wanted to skip past all the basic stuff and have me teach her boleos...i taught her the basics...posture...walk...balance...axis...weight transfer...pivoting...heel up...committing to a step/foot...extension...ochos....la cruzada...she did very well...and i relented in the end and showed her a simple boleo...

then later during the milonga i noticed her and her partner out on the dance floor...they couldn't walk...but by god she could do boleos...luckily the dance floor was fairly open...i warned her about that...that we rarely lead boleos in a social setting...because of the danger of impaling someone with a heel...

it's nice to see the young'uns interested in tango...perhaps it is beginning to be "cool"...

lastly...as much as i enjoyed experiencing a new milonga...dancing with new folks...i found myself missing my friends...and thinking about the houston tango festival...