Notes or flow?

I am deeply worried about the counting based training for musicality. The only way offered to students.

To count the music is as rigid way to learn musicality as the salida-based training was for movements.

I prefere to develop and strengthen the emotions which are carried to you by the composer, singer and the orchestra.

You can also develop the listening ability so you can hear and be aware of more about the things going on in the music! Even this is teasing the brain and should NOT be done so much!

My timetable for the weekend!

This is my timetable for the weekend I have been seeing forward to since March when it was booked! This Encuentro is one of the strongest cabeceo holds in Europe so it will be interesting to find out how we two go together deep in to the nights! 

The only thing making some worries is this:

It will be HOT hot HOT!

A summer milonga

This is our summer venue and this summer we have regular milongas there on Tuesdays. Additional milongas can be arranged every now and then!

Last Saturday a new team, Kim and Jessica, organized a milonga on this warm night!

We had a short break when the King's sheeps were passing by on their way to the night stable. Take a look how the sheep dogs are working to keep the group together!

The #5 - a generation divider

When we were working with some of my friends I said - Take the #5! and he just looked at me and said: WHAT's that?

He is my junior in tango and has been learning in a different way. Me and my peers started with SALIDA, 8-Step Basic where the leader's steps are

1. Right back
2. Left side
3. Right forward
4. Left forward

5. Collect the right and change weight while the follower does the cross

6. Left forward
7. Right side step
8. Collect the left


So the issue on our training session was the cross for her and collecting & shifting weight for the leader. Most often I use the #5 term when I want the follower go to cross!

I belong to the SALIDA-generation and he & Co do not. Some of them I think can not do the salida at all. 

Check here! and take a look on the backbone of the earlier tango!

Clear and basic - Figures with Diego and Ana

When I need to know about a basic performance for a figure one of the places I look is the Diegos and Anas playlist for Argentine tango.  I thought that it maybe could be helpful for you too! This is for sacada my favorite figure this summer!

Link to the playlist!                 

(There is difficulties with videos so you get only a link.)     

Here you find a copy of the playlist window. You see that they have 47 items on the list! :)

http://youtu.be/zsiG6syustM?list=PL29FA8532E914DD98

Outdoors in Stockholm

Outdoors every Wednesday in July 

@ Årstaliden

The kicks in the Golden Age

In her book Christine Denniston writes that most of the advanced moves we use today were actively used even during the Golden Ages.

"Modern Tango dancers are sometimes surprised to find that the social dancers in Buenos Aires in the Golden Age danced these same kicks and flicks on the social dance floor."

I am reading the words - on the social dance floor - again and again.
Who did start the talk about to exclude these moves from social dance floors?

 Christine Denniston: the meaning of TANGO, The Story of the Argentinian Dance
 (p. 152)

Dancing during the war

A copy of a friends FB status at Tel Aviv, Israel

Life during the war. DJing at almost empty practica.

You know, dear people, it's Ok to feel fear.
Believe me, I know, I've been there.
I was afraid almost of everything.
Mice, darkness, water, high places, performance...

No, I mean, really afraid.
Up to the point of fainting.
But I never - and I mean never - allowed this fear to rule my actions, to decide what I will or will not do.

And this is the difference between a person who is afraid - and a coward.

What happened to us?
People used to dance under a real - and I mean, real - bombing.
What happened to us?
Are we too safe in our usual life?

There is further comments on this status I appreciated. Check here:
https://www.facebook.com/xenia.mikhailov/posts/10152596188572952

The local or worldwide barrio?

In the old days the dance styles evolved in the neighborhoods of Buenos Aires & Co. The main  feature keeping the group together was the geographical aspect; the people, dancers near you will develope the same way of dancing. People met weekly and watched how the skilled peers were dancing, get inspired and let their own dance change to that direction

In the worldwide barrio the teachers have become the central feature for a community. The peers in the community around a teacher will travel to the workshops, watch the videos and communicate in the net with others and develop their movements in that teachers style.

I suppose a person belongs to different barrios. 

What are your local barrios and the characteristics there?
Are you a member of a worldwide barrio, following a teacher and a style?

Teachers or Youtube?

Today we are living in the expert world so we don't believe on our own ability to see, understand and apply our own ideas on our dance. We want quite exact guidance from a teacher and we want to get forward at racer speed. This gives us a very strong from outside to inside learning and we create a more homogeneous pista, less variation on a figure.

In the old world the dancers were watching the skilled local dancers and then tried to do something similar. The learning was from outside to inside but I think that the results were more or less individual.

There are also stories how a dancer wanted to go around and found a way to do so. All the results were different creating a jungle of movements and an utterly diversified pista.The learning was from inside to outside.

To learn from youtube is a kind of modern variation of this old type of learning!

Shoulders or Feet?

I think one of the biggest differences between the dancers of earlier days and the ones today is the place, where people primarily focus the dance. The old milongueros told that they looked at the shoulders, the upper part of the body to find the DANCE. 

Today the the attention is mainly focused on feet. This phenomenon you can easily discover on youtube! If the person behind the camera cannot get the whole image in same window they will move downward and show you the feet. The same on workshops where people will eagerly learn the consecutive steps and only after that pay attention to the movement of torso.

I think this shift of primary focus has an impact on our dance and dance experience!

The lost cravings for tango

After all these years of dancing 4-5 nights per week or whole weekends with short moments of sleep I do not go out anymore. Or more correct I go out but the process to get out is a risky one with many moments for failure. I do not have any desire to dance, I have no cravings today.

This means that I must do the preparations more carefully today. I need to have all the clothing ironed and ready that afternoon. The food needs to be planned and ready to cook after I have taken the shower. In that order! If the meal comes first there is enough time to get relaxed and I will stay at home on the sofa! It has happened.

If my friends are traveling I will stay at home - the promise to them is motivating.

I am thinking of this quite a lot.

Earlier the clothing was not a problem. I ate what I found and had time to. There was always people to dance with if my favorites were on vacation. I walked to the bus stop at an hour of my usual bedtime - not a slightest problem!

I am happy to say that WHEN I get to the milonga the dancing can be as joyful happening as ever! Greatful for that!

Get a personal Tango Doctor!

Every now and then a follower comes to me at a milonga and asks for a recovery dance. Her body is out of order after a dance with a nice but unskilled leader who is shaking her body to chaos. During our tanda she recovers and can go home with memories of a nice milonga.

When I was still following I had a similar problem caused by rough words from some leaders. During that period I had a tango friend who was an easygoing, experienced dancer. His dance was not demanding but still spiced up with some moves and he could have some small talk going on even during a song. When my world was smashed down by someone I went to him and asked for a tanda. This playful dance let me recover and go home glad for the nice parts of the evening. I called him for my Tango Doctor in my mind.

Please take this advice and get your own Tango Doctor, a man or a woman! Your milongas will become a much better place in that way. Become friend with someone who has a healing effect on you. Become aware of this effect and keep this friend!

Who could be your doctor?

Tango moves on wikipedia

This site is a good place to start when looking for a correct name for a tango move. You find here the names in English and Spanish and quite explanatory pictures as well.

Figures of Argentine tango

Tango Lesson seems to be involved here because most of the figures are shown by Cristina and Homer Ladas.

I suppose you can find some videos at their channel on several of these figures.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figures_of_Argentine_tango