I'm man enough to be open to the possibility to possibly admit I might be wrong, perhaps....or, it's always the leader's fault...

Because I complained about getting the "thumb guillotine" sometimes, where the woman grasps my thumb like a baby chimpanzee, even to the point of the tip of it turning bright red, and thought it was a follower axis/balance issue, where she was "hanging" on for dear life kinda thing...which I do more commonly get this with beginning followers...

I've been getting some feedback on the position of my left hand in this photo ::



I looked at all the photos I have of myself dancing, and my hand is pretty much in this position in all of them...okay, scratch the "pretty much"...

Here's the "excuse" I offered ::

98% of the time I get a "normal" hand situation with the woman, where her fingertips are up in the crook of my thumb and index finger, with my fingers lightly clasped around hers...this follower always does this (with me anyway)...there's another woman here who always does this, but lets her hand slide down to my wrist, which always feel problematic to me...

I was using the photo to illustrate my thumb position (in space) more than my hand position...usually my wrist is cocked back a bit, but not into the full waiter with a tray position, which is unnatural to me...

But, all that said, I will be more aware of what's going on in that department...


[more excuses before my full blown "guilty" admission}

But see, the guy in this photo has the same hand position [palm perpendicular to his body...mine is perpendicular or facing my face a bit], and she has sweetly slid her little soft hand up into the crook between his thumb and forefinger...that's what I get, or end up with, most of the time...

I don't know who the dude is, but he's gotta be good, and gotta know what he's doing, because he's dancing at Canning, right? (grin)



So, I'm man enough to be open to the possibility to possibly admit that I might be wrong about the position of my left hand, perhaps, maybe...and, that the thumb guillotine could actually be my issue, and not a follower issue...or, "it's always the leader's fault"...(grin)

I'm dancing tonight at the first milonga of the Fandango, so I'll pay attention to what's going on...and report back...

Check out Johanna's post on this subject (of my hand position), and the resulting commentary here....

More on volcada technique...

Here's a video from our buddy Miles - Homer & Cristina demo'ing some volcada technique/vocabulary. In spite of Homer's "ever so slight" nuevo-esque stylistic influences, their volcadas look like the real deal. I have no doubt that Homer falls in the class of "good", or even "great" tango teachers.

They even do one that I have in my bag of tricks but had forgotten about - I'll call it the "volcadafollowedbyadoublepivotingcalesitaresultinginawoundupcontratensionreleaseintoanothervolcada" or perhaps the double pivoting double volcada. Whatever.

Also note that you can lead a volcada at almost any point the woman's leg is free (from a pause/stop obviously). A cool version is to get one as she unwinds out of the cross on the close side. Always a nice little surprise for her.

Note that the juiciest volcadas are tiny, milonguero volcadas - languid (my new favorite word 8) ), lush, sweeping, juicy - fluid. At least that's the feedback I've always gotten from mine.

Again, don't try this at home without some good instruction. Try as you might, you won't learn it from these videos, and you could endanger/injure her lower back.

By the way, the song is "Sin Rumbo Fijo"... sung by Ángel Vargas... Orquestra Tipica Victor... recorded in 1938...

On the volcada

I just saw a rather terrible video from YouTube (on another blogger's website) on leading the volcada...terrible in that it was a terrible example of how to lead (and follow) the volcada...

Here's how you do it...

Take the follower's axis...and make a little tiny "J" with it...

There's a lot more to it than that, but I'm being deliberately/overly brief, because you can't learn it from a friggin' YouTube video...

Here's a good example (in the first part of the video, to "El Once") of more languid, fluid, elegant volcadas, although these are "big", "non-social" volcadas with rather extreme apilado. The lower backs of most women I know can't take the stress of big volcadas. Plus there's the trust issue. Gustavo has a penchant for counter-clockwise rotating reverse volcadas, but they are volcadas nonetheless.

Have a look, but hire a really good teacher to show you how to properly lead and follow a volcada.

Repost from 02/29 :: I think I got my walk last night

I'm not sure if this was ever "out there". I was about to write about how I feel like I have not only lost my walk, but lost my tango altogether - because of a pretty much solid three months without any tango - two or three milongas - two or three tandas, but that's about it.

Anyway, was going to link back/reference a prior post about "I think I got my walk last night", when I found that I had pulled it by changing it to "Draft". Bloggus interupptus.

I'm not sure why I pulled it, so here it is again. I'll write the "I lost my walk/tango" in a day or two. It will make more sense then.

So, without further adieu, here's the original post from 29 February 2008...

I was dancing last night at a huge new studio with these cool mylar film panels on wheels in lieu of mirrors. Anyway, I was focusing on walking a bit - back and forth in front of the mirror (mylar) - and I noticed that my/our walk was looking pretty damn good. More importantly, feeling good. Really good. Natural, comfortable, relaxed.

I went from bitching and moaning a few months ago about not enough tango in my life - not dancing enough - wanh wanh wanh. To now.

As it always is with tango, the change was gradual...almost imperceptible. It's like one day - "boom" - it just hits you. At least that's what it seems like. No good, nasty walk one day, the next day you've got it nailed. Of course, we all know that it doesn't happen like this, even though this is what it can feel like sometimes.

I'm going back to the very beginning to tell a story about the evolution of my tango "walk". After my second divorce, I wanted to take dance lessons. I wanted to be a better dancer. A dancer, period. I didn't really dance much for all those years in my various (two) marriages. If I would drink, my inhibitions would come down and I would get out there and do okay. But, I didn't want to have to drink in order to dance. I reasoned that if I took lessons, then I would "know" what I was doing, would feel more comfortable, and would dance more...right?

Lucky for me, the only dance lessons I could find in Aspen were Argentine Tango lessons. A friend I worked with had planted the AT seed two years before. She had always been going to this tango class and that tango festival - so I called her to find out more about it.

I was such a dancing mess, that I couldn't even take group classes at first. I took four (or was it six?) hours of privates before I started the group classes. Also, I have to say that I met a woman at a party - we were dancing - she was showing me how to swing dance - and I was doing my best at the Texas two-step. I told her about my plans to take Tango classes - and she was up for it.

So, we start the group classes in September - in the usual format of beginner first and more advanced students in the second class. I was going to just sit and watch the second class - but Heather grabbed me and said that since I had taken so many privates - that I could join in - that I would do fine. I figured that more was better, right? Jump in the deep end with both feet, right? Totally immerse myself in tango, right? Big mistake...HUGE mistake!

I did okay for a while - until we got to the molinete (grapevine) a couple of months into it. I just could not get it. My basic vocabulary and fundamentals were just not there - not in place yet. Plus, this woman quit in frustration (with tango, not with me) and I began to convince myself that I was rhythmically retarded or something. If you are beating yourself up, tango doesn't work. Tango is all about confidence - especially in the early days. Remember the story of the little train - "I think I can, I think I can..."?

So I quit after 4 months or so. Gave up. Wussed out. Didn't look back. Been there done that.

Don't worry, stay with me...the part about my walk is coming...soon...

Then I met another woman. We met through work. I was doing consulting work for a yahoo/jerk/prick and she was working in the office. One day, the casual office chitty chat touched on tango. Of course, I chimed in "I've taken tango lessons!" And we were off...starting group classes in September.

This time, it helped to have someone encouraging me to stick with it. She encouraged me, I encouraged her. There were tough times in the early months when we both wanted to quit. But we stuck with it - persevered - supported each other - practiced with each other - and practiced more even when we didn't feel like it. We were at each other's throats at times...but we came out the other side eventually. (It wasn't just the two of us...our little group of five/cinco...three followers and two leaders...we all stuck together...advanced together...practiced together...lamented together...wined and dined together... we talked of tango and sex and the weather...our little cinco...magnifico...I miss those times...)

My partner and I took class after class, workshop after workshop in Aspen, Glenwood Springs, and Denver. Every chance we could get we were dancing tango. We went to every Denver Tango Festival. Then we reached that point where you realize more is not always better. My retention (of workshop material) was zero. My mind was full. So we would go to the festivals just to dance - sometimes no classes at all - sometimes one or two classes. There is an osmosis with tango. It has to seep into your pores, your thoughts, your muscle fibers. The neural peptides have to get reworked and rewired. Hardwired. Muscle memory. Brain ingrained. You reach that point where you are dancing without thinking. The Zone. The Tangasm. The Tango Trance. Whatever you call it, it feels good.

But (and there always is a "but", right?), my walk sucked. From that September, through April or May, my walk sucked big time. Now I say that "I had a fucked up walk". I danced for close to a year with a fucked up walk. The pisser is that NO ONE TOLD ME! Or maybe they did and I wasn't hearing it. Luckily, through YouTube, I could see what the walk was suppposed to look like. It began to dawn on me, then waylaid me like a ton of bricks - "my walk sucks!". It sucked to realize that I sucked. Suckage. I love that word.

The fact that my teachers never told me was source of concern for me. If I am walking like this (with fucked-up-ed-ness) week after week, month after month and no one tells me - especially my teachers - that's not good. I made a decision that I needed outside help - outside of our little box canyon of a valley. So it was off to Santa Fe for a workshop and privates with Cecilia Gonzalez. Good god was I star struck. What a putz. More workshops and privates in Denver. Privates at festivals. Blah Blah Blah.

Then my tango partner moved away in August...2006.

But my walk continued to improve. It was gradual. (Remember that in small towns we don't get to dance much - one year in a small town is like three months in a big city...) It was "okay" enough for me to feel "okay" about going to Buenos Aires a year ago - last April ('07). Six days of intensive study with Gustavo y Giselle. Then G&G gave a workshop in Atlanta last summer - four more days of intensive work.

2007 was the year of tango osmosis for me - everything started to sink in. Even though there really wasn't that much dancing. Eleven days in Buenos Aires, one day at the Denver Tango fest (I almost quit tango again after that - all bad/unpleasant/heavy dances), five milongas in five nights at the Fandango de Tango Festival in Austin, some good practicas & milongas in Austin during the month of November - and that's about it. A few milongas and practicas in Aspen and Denver during the year - once a month maybe.

It was at a practica in Austin in November that I first tried dancing an entire song with nothing but the walk. No side steps, no nothing, just walking and pausing to the music. Of course, you need the right song to do this - something like DiSarli's Verdemar. It also helps to have a follower that you feel inspired to "only" walk with. She said "it's nice to dance with someone who has the balls to only walk". That was three months ago. Just in the past two months of dancing did my walk really come together. And just last night - watching us walk in the reflective mylar - did I realize that it had.

The journey to rid myself of "my fucked up walk" started almost two years ago. And now, I only have another eighteen years to go to perfect it. 2026. I will be 66 years old that year. I'm looking forward to the the perfection of the perfect walk.

[Postscript: One point I failed to make...tango cannot be rushed...more is definitely NOT better...it may even be worse...you can't take classes/practice/dance 50 hours a week for a year and expect to learn tango...it can't be learned in a month...or a year...take a few classes...dance...don't think....let it soak in...take more classes or privates...dance...don't think about it...don't worry about it...don't fret...let it seep into your bones...into your soul...be patient, and it will come to you...]

Everybody knows this, right?

here i am
Originally uploaded by leone.

I was talking to a friend the other day and she was telling me about a guy who is teaching now with his partner. I used to call him "Rico Suave", but that was before I knew him. He's actually a really nice guy - a kid really.

My friend had danced with him at a milonga and was talking about the lack of connection with him. She attributed it to the fact that his dancing is all about him. His steps, his sequences, his embellishments, the way he looks. She can feel that he is focused on himself and his dancing and not her. He's dancing with himself.

It struck me after our conversation that everyone (leaders - especially beginners) might not know this - that this will screw with your tango - it's the me/ego mindset.

Tango is all about the woman. It's about making her feel good and safe and making her feel beautiful and special in those nine minutes on the floor. Leaders have to focus on the "her" and the "now". Her. Now. This moment. This connection. This dance. This tanda.

Focus your thoughts and energy on her. Think about her feet, not yours. Think about what you want her feet to do. Beginners have the disadvantage of having to think about steps and sequences and weight transfers and the minutiae. Being able to think about her will come, in time. Try it some time though, even if just for a minute of one song. Focus your thoughts and energy on her. See how it feels.

For me, when I realized this a couple of years ago, and when I was able to manifest this all the time in my dance, it was a breakthrough. A defining moment. An epiphany.

Sometimes we forget about the basic, underlying principles, and just have to be reminded.

With a heavy head...

This just popped into my head because I happened across a YouTube video of one of the Seduced by Tango audition tapes. The guy was really sloping his neck forward.

Ya know the expression "heavy handed"? "With a heavy heart." "Don't be the heavy." "Heavy D."

We leaders need to watch out for being "heavy headed". The tell tale sign is the dramatically sloping neck - as if the leader is holding a bowling ball by his teeth (with a string or sling or something or other...it's the only heavy imagery I could think of...) and trying to keep his face vertical...not looking at the ground in other words...although that is a whole 'nother problem in and of itself...

I think it also comes from wanting to (or unknowingly) make contact with the follower's head. Ms. Hedgehog recently wrote about a variant of the forward slope - "the sharp incline to the right".

Neck straight (in the X and the Y axes)...head up...chin up...gaze to the horizon...like there is an invisible string supporting your head...

Here's Pablo Veron ::



Here's Adrian Costa ::



I'm focusing on the positive...the best posture, in my view. I'm sure you can find some good examples of heavy headedness on your own. Unfortunately, it's pretty common.

Follower Energy :: Deep Tango Thoughts

Colbay over at The Tango Hours mentioned it. Debbi at An Ever Fixed Mark touches on it in her private with Shorey.

You might call it follower energy. Or perhaps power. It's the concept of the follower not being passive at all. The absence of energy is what I have called a lazy follower. Not passive, active. Relaxed, but listening. Poised.

The leader leads with intention, the follower should follow with intention. Her intention to "take" the step. Not just take the step, but "TAKE" it. I'm having a hard time verbalizing what's in my mind on this. I will have to leave it at this - it's not just stepping. There's more to it.

Jaimes Freidgen has us do an exercise at a workshop once. In particular, it was on the molinete, and it was intended to illustrate the follower's energy level when taking her steps - back-side-forward - around the leader. He had the leaders stand on one foot, with the other leg extended out to the side, with a block frame. The follower was to take her steps around the leader, and pivot him on his active (standing) foot. First one way, then the leader changes feet and the follower goes the other way.

This energy level can be extended to walking and most/all other steps I would think. The crux is the delicate balance of it all. Not to seem lazy/flaccid, yet also not to seem too athletic, not to be backleading, or to feel like the follower is "getting away" from you or overstepping the lead.

I wonder, is this concept the difference between a heavy (feeling) and a light follower? Some followers (regardless of their physical stature) feel like a ton of bricks. Some feel like a feather mounted on ball bearings. These would be the two ends of the spectrum. I like it somewhere closer to the feather - but not too light.

This is a topic that I struggle with, when dancing with a few particular practice partners. Used to struggle with, since I no longer practice regularly. Eventually, I just gave up on it and kept my mouth shut.

Ladies? Your thoughts?

Followers :: The step "is" the embellishment...

I was just looking for some audio of Osvaldo Fresedo's "Vida Mia" - the long, slow, really orchestral version with Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet - when I ran across this. Gustavo y Giselle Anne dancing to another Fresedo song "Araca la cana".

I was watching and noticed that Giselle Anne doesn't do much in the way of embellishments - a tap here, a flourish there - that's about it.

The quality and character of her step, her movement. The "way" she moves - is in fact the embellishment. The extension and reach of her leg - embellishes and brings attention to her leg. The angle and attitude and trajectory of her foot - her ankle - brings attention to her feet.

Her waiting for the lead and not anticipating is a beautiful embellishment in and of itself.

Am I making sense here?

The quality and character of motion through time and space...

The Volcada :: Homer & Cristina

Brought to us by m i l e s of tangobliss...Homer & Cristina's very, very smooth volcadas. I get alot of hits from folks Googling for "volcada technique" so I figgered I'd post this as part of my "Tango Blogging/Googling Enrichment Program". There's not a lot of technique discussed, well, not any discussion of technique, but this is what they are supposed to look like.

Personally, I like the volcada on the close side cuz hardly no one duz it...(volcada with her right leg)...

Cool new tango product :: The one step cross

Leader's weight on left...lead follower to take a small side step onto her left...now you are in crossed feet...leader takes one big(ish) forward step with his right...effectively leading her to cross...(she takes a back step with right, and crosses)...

Important for lead to be very straight/linear with forward (right) step...not diagonal in any way...

Resolve/exit however you like...

It's cool...try it...

I can feel your cabeceo...

While I'm on the subject of thinking...and not thinking...and being able to feel it either way...I can also feel your cabeceo...

To me, it is a big, big, big, really big, "no-no", a faux pas - to cabeceo or otherwise scope out other leaders while you are on the floor dancing.

It's only happened to me once, and she has been blacklisted. She knows that I know. She was surprised to find out that I could tell. That I could "feel" her doing it.

First, it tells me that she is thinking...thinking about something else besides dancing with me. I want to dance with followers who are "there", "present", into dancing with me. If they are taking the time out in a dance (or tanda) to be scoping out potential leads, or worse, actually engaging in cabaceo, then they are not there with me.

Engage with me, not with other leaders.

I can feel you thinking...

Inspired by a comment I made to a post over at The Tango Hours...

It's really, really, really important for followers to "not" think when they dance. I can feel it when a follower is thinking, especially when dancing milonga.

My hat's off to those of you who "don't" think already.

For those of you who might be having difficulty with this concept, I'm not sure what to offer, not sure that there is much that I can offer. Except this. If "not" thinking (and relaxing) is something you have difficulty with, then perhaps you should "practice" "not" thinking. Practice relaxing. Meditation, deep breathing, I'm sure there are a host of vehicles and techniques and classes and therapists/practioners and such.

Practice your tango, practice your "not" thinking.

The thread on Tango-L about followers who automatically cross (when not led) is evidence of this thinking, when there should "not" be. If she is crossing herself, without my lead, that tells me she "thought" to do it.

I realize that this is an advanced concept, dancing "in the zone", but I just wanted to express it.

Clear your mind, "free" your mind, relax, enjoy...just don't think about dancing tango. Just dance. Surrender...and dance...

Any thoughts/comments/ideas from followers on how they manage to "not" think are greatly appreciated, as always...

And now...for the "strangest" segue ever...my "quotes"....my " "... come from Chris Farley doing his "Matt Foley" motivational speaker character...although I couldn't find any video of him doing the "quotes" thing...do you guys remember this from Saturday Night Live? Hilarious stuff...

On Tango-L :: The subject that never dies

A thread about followers automatically crossing without being led...

Here is my post to the list this morning....

Subject: The subject that never dies

Re: Keith’s latest response to Floyd on the subject...

I would venture to say that the key to leading the cross is in the torso. I might even go so far as to say the cross is led entirely with the torso.

I doesn’t really matter (in a kinda/sorta way) what the leader is doing with his feet. I can lead the cross standing still, with my feet together, led entirely with contrabody/torso. I don't ever lead it this way while dancing, obviously. Granted, there are the “norms” of where the lead’s feet are when leading the cross - I just wanted to illustrate my point.

I just wanted to mention this because Keith's post didn’t – the importance of contrabody and the torso in the lead to the cross.

There is no “autocross” in my experience - I don't really "get" a cross unless I lead it. Unless she is a very basic beginner in the first month or so – and has just learned the cross. Sometimes they will self-lead themselves to the cross, by accident. That generally goes away with a good lead, and as the follower begins to understand what the lead feels like.

The “auto” that I struggle with in the cross is what I will call the “autopop”. It's where the follower “pops” her crossing left foot into place, without any regard to lead, musicality, or timing/rhythm.

To lead the “superslow” cross can be challenging – with the leader leading the rate of travel of her left foot – to the music - as it caresses the floor into place.

Here are the mechanics behind it as I understand it:

While walking, the normal travel distance of her left foot (from first placement to second placement) is between two and three feet, unless she is being led in very small or very large steps. When being led to the cross, that “normal” travel distance is cut in half – when her left ends up beside her right in the cross. So, if the left foot is traveling half the distance in the same amount of musical time, then it has to travel at half of the normal speed to end up (in the cross) on the beat.

So, it's very important for the rate of travel of the left foot to be led by the leader, not automatically done by the follower.

That fast pop (of the left foot into crossed position) is only applicable in the superfast cross, where she crosses and you walk right through it. But again, this is led. With the torso.

Try leading the superslow cross when the music is appropriate. It’s also a good exercise for both parties. But especially in eliminating/mitigating this unpleasant habit - and it shows her something new in the realm of possibility.

And what I edited/deleted before pressing "Send"...

"But especially in breaking the followers of this unpleasant habit.

Breaking them like a cowboy saddle breaks a young filly.

How's that for throwing gas on the fire?

I'm joking! I'm joking!"

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. Everyone is so touchy...

Crossed system entry

Ways to enter (get into) crossed system... I just wanted/needed to make a list...

1] Walking straight - "sneaky" wt change inside
2] Walking straight - wt chg outside (close side)
3] Side step - "sneaky" wt change
4] Side step - stealth/slo-mo/milonguero wt change aka "little foot"...sim to milonguero salida
5] Rock step (left) + side step + wt chg
6] To cruzada with no wt chg by leader
7] Cross footed start - leader changes follower's weight while standing, with no weight change by lead
8] Cross footed change - same as #7, but in the middle of a song, from a pause, or walking (more difficult)
9] "The Stermitz Fake" - while walking fake/feint/trick follower to switch to crossed feet, but leader does not change...very difficult to impossible to lead...
10] Ocho cortado with no weight change in final step by leader...
11] In ochos (already in crossed feet)...straight walk out of ochos to stay in crossed feet...
12] Traspie "side step" to right - leader changes weight by traspie step...
13] Any resolution where leader normally changes wt to walk out in parallel - don't change weight to walk out in crossed system (tends to infinity...infinite possibilities)...
14] In molinete (counterclockwise)...lead extra side step by follower...walk out in crossed feet on close side...

Underlying structure....1] leader changes to crossed system...or 2] leader changes follower to crossed system...

Am I missing any obvious possibilities?

For the ladies :: Veronique Boucasse

Check out her embellishments...very nice...very nice indeed...

I think I got my walk last night...

I was dancing last night at a huge new studio with these cool mylar panels on wheels in lieu of mirrors. Anyway, I was focusing on walking a bit - back and forth in front of the mirror (mylar) - and I noticed that my/our walk was looking pretty damn good. More importantly, feeling good. Really good. Natural, comfortable, relaxed.

I went from bitching and moaning a few months ago about not enough tango in my life - not dancing enough - wanh wanh wanh. To now.

As it always is with tango, the change was gradual...almost imperceptible. It's like one day - "boom" - it just hits you. At least that's what it seems like. No good, nasty walk one day, the next day you've got it nailed. Of course, we all know that it doesn't happen like this, even though this is what it can feel like sometimes.

I'm going back to the very beginning to tell a story about the evolution of my tango "walk". After my second divorce, I wanted to take dance lessons. I wanted to be a better dancer. A dancer, period. I didn't really dance much for all those years in my various (two) marriages. If I would drink, my inhibitions would come down and I would get out there and do okay. But, I didn't want to have to drink in order to dance. I reasoned that if I took lessons, then I would "know" what I was doing, would feel more comfortable, and would dance more...right?

Lucky for me, the only dance lessons I could find in Aspen were Argentine Tango lessons. A friend I worked with had planted the AT seed two years before. She had always been going to this tango class and that tango festival - so I called her to find out more about it.

I was such a dancing mess, that I couldn't even take group classes at first. I took four (or was it six?) hours of privates before I started the group classes. Also, I have to say that I met a woman at a party - we were dancing - she was showing me how to swing dance - I was doing my best at the Texas two-step. I told her about my plans to take Tango classes - and she was up for it.

So, we start the group classes in September - in the usual format of beginner first and more advanced students in the second class. I was going to just sit and watch the second class - but Heather grabbed me and said that since I had taken so many privates - that I could join in - that I would do fine. I figured that more was better, right? Jump in the deep end with both feet, right? Totally immerse myself in tango, right? (Big mistake...HUGE mistake!)

I did okay for a while - until we got to the molinete (grapevine) a couple of months into it. I just could not get it. My basic vocabulary and fundamentals were just not there - not in place yet. Plus, this woman quit in frustration (with tango, not with me) and I began to convince myself that I was rhythmically retarded or something. If you are beating yourself up, tango doesn't work. Tango is all about confidence - especially in the early days. Remember the story of the little train - "I think I can, I think I can..."?

So I quit after 4 months or so. Gave up. Wussed out. Didn't look back. Been there done that.

Don't worry, stay with me...the part about my walk is coming...soon...

Then I met another woman. We met through work. I was doing consulting work for a yahoo/jerk/prick and she was working in the office. One day, the casual conversation touched on Tango. Of course, I chimed in "I've taken tango lessons!" And we were off...starting group classes in September.

This time, it helped to have someone encouraging me to stick with it. She encouraged me, I encouraged her. There were tough times in the early months when we both wanted to quit. But we stuck with it - persevered - supported each other - practiced with each other - and practiced more even when we didn't feel like it. We were at each other's throats at times...but we came out the other side eventually. (It wasn't just the two of us...our little group of five/cinco...three followers and two leaders...we all stuck together...advanced together...practiced together...lamented together...wined and dined together...talked of tango and sex together...our little cinco...magnifico...I miss those times...)

My partner and I took class after class, workshop after workshop in Aspen, Glenwood Springs, and Denver. Every chance we could get we were dancing tango. We went to every Denver Tango Festival. Then we reached that point where you realize more is not always better. My retention (of workshop material) was zero. My mind was full. So we would go to the festivals just to dance - sometimes no classes at all - sometimes one or two classes. There is an osmosis with tango. It has to seep into your pores, your thoughts, your muscle fibers. The neural peptides have to get reworked and rewired. Hardwired. Muscle memory. Brain ingrained. You reach that point where you are dancing without thinking. The Zone. The Tangasm. The Tango Trance. Whatever you call it, it feels good.

But (and there always is a "but", right?), my walk sucked. From that September, through April or May, my walk sucked big time. Now I say that "I had a fucked up walk". I danced for close to a year with a fucked up walk. The pisser is that NO ONE TOLD ME! Or maybe they did and I wasn't hearing it. Luckily, through YouTube, I could see what the walk was suppposed to look like. It began to dawn on me, then waylaid me like a ton of bricks - "my walk sucks!". It sucked to realize that I sucked. Suckage. I love that word.

The fact that my teachers never told me was source of concern for me. If I am walking like this (with fucked-up-ed-ness) week after week, month after month and no one tells me - especially my teachers - that's not good. I made a decision that I needed outside help - outside of our little box canyon of a valley. So it was off to Santa Fe for a workshop and privates with Cecilia Gonzalez. Good god was I star struck. What a putz. More workshops and privates in Denver. Privates at festivals. Blah Blah Blah.

Then my tango partner moved away in August...2006.

But my walk continued to improve. It was gradual. (Remember that in small towns we don't get to dance much - one year in a small town is like three months in a big city...) It was "okay" enough for me to feel "okay" about going to Buenos Aires a year ago - last April ('07). Six days of intensive study with Gustavo y Giselle. Then G&G gave a workshop in Atlanta last summer - four more days of intensive work.

2007 was the year of tango osmosis for me - everything started to sink in. Even though there really wasn't that much dancing. Eleven days in Buenos Aires, one day at the Denver Tango fest (I almost quit tango again after that - all bad/unpleasant/heavy dances), five milongas in five nights at the Fandango de Tango Festival in Austin, some good practicas & milongas in Austin during the month of November - and that's about it. A few milongas and practicas in Aspen and Denver during the year - once a month maybe.

It was at a practica in Austin in November that I first tried dancing an entire song with nothing but the walk. No side steps, no nothing, just walking and pausing to the music. Of course, you need the right song to do this - something like DiSarli's Verdemar. It also helps to have a follower that you feel inspired to "only" walk. She said "it's nice to dance with someone who has the balls to only walk". That was three months ago. Just in the past two months of dancing did my walk really come together. And just last night - watching us walk in the reflective mylar - did I realize that it had.

The journey to rid myself of "my fucked up walk" started almost two years ago. And now, I only have another eighteen years to go to perfect it. 2026. I will be 66 years old that year. I'm looking forward to it.

[Postscript: One point I failed to make...tango cannot be rushed...more is defintely NOT better...it may even be worse...you can't take classes/practice/dance 50 hours a week for a year and expect to learn tango...it can't be learned in a month...or a year...take a few classes...dance...don't think....let it soak in...take more classes or privates...dance...don't think about it...don't worry about it...don't fret...let it seep into your bones...into your soul...be patient, and it will come to you...]

Alex's Deep Tango Thoughts

Howzabout the "turning cross footed rocking crossover"?

More later...actually, it's a Gustavo workshop thing...not an original thought on my part...more like a deep, dark memory that just bubbled to the surface like swamp gas...

Alex's Deep Tango Thoughts

Side step left...but weight on both feet equally...then a subtle weight shift back (this part is not real clear - kind of a hippy/swishy feeling)...then forward left cross...(she steps forward with her left like a front ocho)...when she transfers her weight to the left foot...a quick torsional pivot by the leader...her right foot pendulums around in an arc and hooks (ankle to ankle) the leader's left...keep the ankle to ankle contact, the leader then crosses her right over her left (in front)...(right over left cross)...shift her weight to the other foot...volcada...and then walk out...

It came to me in a dream last night...

Got it?

The whole thing prior to cross and the volcada is a milonguero-ish downleading twisty torsional thing...a counter clockwise torsion in the lead's upper body...

Tango Technique :: Enganche/Enganchada Combo

This stuff sometimes just pops into my head....like when I order a non-fat triple mocha at Starbucks.

You can do an enganche (leader's left to follower's right leg) immediately followed by the enganchada I talked about in a prior post.

When you are practicing it, it helps if you use the following sound effects: "boom, boom".

I will try to post some video...but it may be a week or so...my partner is "on holiday"...

Tango Technique :: Back Ochos in Parallel

Normally, we do back ochos in crossed system - the lead changes his weight - so lead and follow are right/right & left/left in terms of their foot placement. In parallel system - the normal walk is right/left & left/right - in terms of which foot/leg we are stepping with. (This basic primer is for the beginner/readers.)

It is possible to do back ochos in parallel - essentially the leader is doing a front ocho to her back ocho - stepping with the right to her right (outside) and then pivoting and stepping with the left to her left (outside).

The key for the lead is not to change weight - at the moment when you lead her into the first back ocho (to your left) - step across (in parallel system) with your left - placing your foot on her left side - then as you lead the next ocho - you pivot on your right foot and step across with your left foot.

I had forgotten this. It's kinda cool. Try it.

I didn't really try it in close embrace. Our students here have been dancing salon/open for the past year. We're going to have to gradually introduce them to milonguero/close embrace.

I think it's possible in close embrace, but with a very fluid/dynamic embrace. I'll have to give a try.