My Tango Diaries

We've danced before - though not often. He visits rarely, and I'm always a little nervous when we dance. He is one of a very few dancers I know with who grew up with tango music. He was not always a dancer - but the music is his heritage and I can feel it. On those rare occasions when he visits Austin, and asks me to dance, I silently pray to the tango gods that every song in the tanda will be one that I know well. Though I know it is the leader's job to shape the interpretation of the music, when I don't know the piece, it feels like he can tell. (Now, this little panic is entirely my own making, as he's never said or done anything to make me think he was being the least bit critical of me - exactly the opposite, in fact.) Despite my case of nerves, I was very pleased to see his cabeceo. As I accepted with a nod and stood by my table, I noticed the dance floor was so empty. I suddenly felt very visible. I was even more nervous than before. My partner for the...

Normally I don't go for workshops that have steps in the title - classes like "The Twelve Ganchos of Christmas" or "Fifty Ways to Lead Your Rulo" tend to leave me cold. However, when instructors have a reputation of teaching steps and combinations that work well on a crowded milonga floor - I'm far more willing to give the class a shot. Georgetown Tango's Special Topics Workshop last month featured Milonguero Dip * & Back Volcadas for the social dance floor. Here are a couple of examples of the Milonguero Dip: Ney Melo and Jennifer Bratt The Milonguero Dip (at 0:55, 0:59 and 1:03): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6YMpeJGg6U and at 0:38 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtQvYQLCbZc Like some of the best stuff in tango, how the Milonguero Dip looks on the outside is nothing compared to how great it feels in the embrace. As the man collects his knees and twists he creates the slight drop which gives a "swoosh" (dip) feel to the resulti...

If we consider volcadas to be inappropriate, as some dancers do, on the social dance floor - how should we view the deep apilado embrace? Both can take up more room on the milonga floor, though both can also be done very small. It seems volcadas are often more stationary related to the line of dance. So would the issue be more about space used - or more about impeding the line of dance by stopping/slowing down? The first picture (in sepia tone) is a volcada example from Wikimedia. The second picture is an example of apilado embrace from Igor Polk's site about Tango Apilado: http://www.virtuar.com/tango/pics/2008/Paiva_DSC_2344.jpg I must admit that one of the reasons I agreed to learn volcadas is because, when done small and fluidly, it's like getting a little apilado "fix" in the dance. By small and fluid I mean I hardly feel them. By the time I think, 'oh wow, was that a volcada lead?' - it's over and I'm already stepping back from the cross. So read...