Tango de los Muertos - Nov 2-5 2006
Tango de los Muertos was the second festival I attended, the first one was in June. As the first one, it was exhausting and a lot of fun. But this time, as I felt a lot more confident in my dancing, I asked and danced with a lot of great dancers. Most seemed to enjoy dancing with me and I must say it certainly feels nice to be rewarded with sparkly eyes, a big smile and warm thank you at the end of the tanga from a woman that certainly has danced with the best leaders out there. The ultimate compliment was when after dancing a whole tanga with an exquisite dancer, she stayed for another one despite the fact that 3 of the very experienced leaders present were available and scanning for partners. That gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside ... It's true, it happened that I knew all the songs in both tangas and they are among my favorite, but who cares, I rocked!
One thing I learned is that dancing on crowded floors is still a hit or miss for me. Much better then a few months ago, when it was a definite "miss", but even now, when it's really crowded most of my energy is spent on navigation, and I can't really listen and interpret the music, which leads to a boring dance and it's obvious from the reaction you get from your partners. Practice, practice, practice.
I took a few workshops, let's see. The first one was with Tova and Carlos, "Beginning milonga". As usual, their class was a lot of fun and I felt like my grasp on the basics of dancing milonga got better. I even attempted a few milongas at the milongas (this is got to be confusing for the tango uninitiated ...) with a couple of women I know well. I had mixed results (which is certainly better then complete disaster ...) so I definitely have it on the agenda for practicas.
Friday evening there was the Golden Age Milonga, Attire: dress as a 1930s/1940s film star. A lot of evening dresses, some funkier costumes and I went with a gangster look which was a great success. I had a couple of pictures taken with V, but I need to get the files from her. I will post them as I get them. I stayed until the end at 3AM and then I drove home a few friends. By the time me and S we were done chatting and I dropped her off, it was 4:30. I got to sleep after 5AM.
At 11:30 I was back in the game for "Leaders: Body Awareness and Dissociation" with Luis and Daniela. They are a fun couple and they had quite a few great "tricks" for the walk, weight transfer, posture and the dynamics of the steps. I think I finally got the hang of the back ochos. Not that a leader will do a lot of ochos per se, but the dissociation technique is the same for turns, leading a molinette, etc.
Then it was the " Dynamics, Subtleties and Nuances" with Felipe and Rosa. This workshop was very cool. It was about subtle variations on basic things like walking to the cross. Things that are not necessarily obvious to the outside observer, but the follower will certainly notice it (and by the reactions I got later at the practica, they also appreciated it).
I stayed a bit at the practica and then I rushed home to take a nap, as Saturday night there was dancing until 6AM! Two milongas in a row. The first one, the Tango Paradiso Milonga with Live Music by Los Chantas from 9PM to 1:30AM and then the Sleepwalk milonga from 1:30AM to 6AM. Attire: pajamas. That was so awesome to see people dancing in jammies. And there was dancing until 6AM, I was very surprised to see this many people dancing until the end. It was 6:30AM when I got to sleep.
At 3PM, I took the " Single-Axis Turns for the Social Dance Floor" with Robin and Jennifer. This is a cool off axis turn, I'm not sure how will it work if I try to lead women that never took this class, but there is a variant when both the leader and the follower maintain their axis, so I'm thinking might be able to pull it off with more experienced dancers. Robin and Jennifer are very detailed when they explain the mechanics of the turn, and got to practice it a lot. I really enjoyed their teaching style.
The next one was " ...Make Your Partner Go Aaaaaaaaaah" with Tova and Carlos. As one would expect, the entertainment alone would justify the cost of the workshop, but they went over some of their signature moves (not figures mind you, it mostly has to do with unusual weight changes, sudden stops, etc), which can make a simple straight walk a lot more interesting. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
The initial plan was to go home to change for the last milonga of the weekend, but I didn't feel like driving home and back, and since I had a fresh shirt and a jacket in the car, I stayed for the "Vals: Musicality and Turns" with Felipe and Rosa. There wasn't anything new in this workshop, but I got to ... "put a name" on the rhythm I was doing instinctively during the vals, and maybe now I can make conscious choices on doing a 1-2-1 or a 1-3-1 beat step.
At 9PM the Milonga started and I danced a bit but I was so exhausted I sucked. As such, around midnight I bailed. Since I was smart enough to take Monday off, I slept until 11AM ...
Now I'm making stew. Yummy!
One thing I learned is that dancing on crowded floors is still a hit or miss for me. Much better then a few months ago, when it was a definite "miss", but even now, when it's really crowded most of my energy is spent on navigation, and I can't really listen and interpret the music, which leads to a boring dance and it's obvious from the reaction you get from your partners. Practice, practice, practice.
I took a few workshops, let's see. The first one was with Tova and Carlos, "Beginning milonga". As usual, their class was a lot of fun and I felt like my grasp on the basics of dancing milonga got better. I even attempted a few milongas at the milongas (this is got to be confusing for the tango uninitiated ...) with a couple of women I know well. I had mixed results (which is certainly better then complete disaster ...) so I definitely have it on the agenda for practicas.
Friday evening there was the Golden Age Milonga, Attire: dress as a 1930s/1940s film star. A lot of evening dresses, some funkier costumes and I went with a gangster look which was a great success. I had a couple of pictures taken with V, but I need to get the files from her. I will post them as I get them. I stayed until the end at 3AM and then I drove home a few friends. By the time me and S we were done chatting and I dropped her off, it was 4:30. I got to sleep after 5AM.
At 11:30 I was back in the game for "Leaders: Body Awareness and Dissociation" with Luis and Daniela. They are a fun couple and they had quite a few great "tricks" for the walk, weight transfer, posture and the dynamics of the steps. I think I finally got the hang of the back ochos. Not that a leader will do a lot of ochos per se, but the dissociation technique is the same for turns, leading a molinette, etc.
Then it was the " Dynamics, Subtleties and Nuances" with Felipe and Rosa. This workshop was very cool. It was about subtle variations on basic things like walking to the cross. Things that are not necessarily obvious to the outside observer, but the follower will certainly notice it (and by the reactions I got later at the practica, they also appreciated it).
I stayed a bit at the practica and then I rushed home to take a nap, as Saturday night there was dancing until 6AM! Two milongas in a row. The first one, the Tango Paradiso Milonga with Live Music by Los Chantas from 9PM to 1:30AM and then the Sleepwalk milonga from 1:30AM to 6AM. Attire: pajamas. That was so awesome to see people dancing in jammies. And there was dancing until 6AM, I was very surprised to see this many people dancing until the end. It was 6:30AM when I got to sleep.
At 3PM, I took the " Single-Axis Turns for the Social Dance Floor" with Robin and Jennifer. This is a cool off axis turn, I'm not sure how will it work if I try to lead women that never took this class, but there is a variant when both the leader and the follower maintain their axis, so I'm thinking might be able to pull it off with more experienced dancers. Robin and Jennifer are very detailed when they explain the mechanics of the turn, and got to practice it a lot. I really enjoyed their teaching style.
The next one was " ...Make Your Partner Go Aaaaaaaaaah" with Tova and Carlos. As one would expect, the entertainment alone would justify the cost of the workshop, but they went over some of their signature moves (not figures mind you, it mostly has to do with unusual weight changes, sudden stops, etc), which can make a simple straight walk a lot more interesting. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
The initial plan was to go home to change for the last milonga of the weekend, but I didn't feel like driving home and back, and since I had a fresh shirt and a jacket in the car, I stayed for the "Vals: Musicality and Turns" with Felipe and Rosa. There wasn't anything new in this workshop, but I got to ... "put a name" on the rhythm I was doing instinctively during the vals, and maybe now I can make conscious choices on doing a 1-2-1 or a 1-3-1 beat step.
At 9PM the Milonga started and I danced a bit but I was so exhausted I sucked. As such, around midnight I bailed. Since I was smart enough to take Monday off, I slept until 11AM ...
Now I'm making stew. Yummy!
No comments:
Post a Comment