My Tango Diaries

(Image courtesy of Emilie Boudet: http://www.emilieboudet.com) From the Facebook comments on my "Expressing the music or dancing for tables" post: "But adornments can become problematic when they interfere with something I'm trying to do. (I have enough trouble as it is). Some of these are basically harmless and don't really bother me that much. Like some ladies insist on doing a gancho whenever I lead them to step over my leg. I'm mostly amused by this. Some girls just like their ganchos and will seize any opportunity to do one." Predictably, I have several problems with the above behavior. First of all, they aren't "their ganchos" ! The gancho for the follower is led. It is my (nearly fanatical) opinion that it should never be an adornment or something the follower just decides to do on her own . As someone who is now attempting to learn to lead, the last thing I want to see, or heaven forbid feel, is a stiletto heel near my crotch ....

You like potato and I like pot ah to, You like tomato and I like tom ah to Potato, pot ah to, Tomato, tom ah to, Let's call the whole thing off. --- "Let's call the whole thing off!" by George Gershwin You like salon, and I like apilado. You like nuevo, and I like traditional. You like ganchos, and I like cunitas. So we meet in the middle. You come a little closer, and I stand a little straighter. We dance. We turn. My temple rests against your jaw. I step through your ocho cortado and feel it coming - you lead the gancho. I follow it. This time without hesitation. Through my lowered lashes, I see you smile. I smile back. And I think, 'okay, I'll say potato with you.'

I seem to be developing a pattern. Take class or a private. Work on something and start to see some improvement. Find out something else has started to suffer. Multitasking has never been my strength. For example, my instructors were able to help me work on breaking the habit of pulling my shoulders back away from my partner. But then I found I was using my hip (and collapsing my torso) to complete giros - especially when I got tired. When did I start doing that? Have I been doing it all along? When I focus on my musicality, my posture slips. When I strengthen my core, direct my energy - suddenly I'm walking on the outer portion of feet (and looking rather pigeon-toed.) Same answer as always, I know. Keep getting feedback and keep practising, practising, practising. (Special note to leaders reading this - please read the post all the way to the end.) In other news, I found out that lately there have been more workshops and classes on volcadas, ganchos and boleos. Unfortunately for ...