Friday @ Naranja

The practica

Friday we went to Naranja milonga hosted by Tova & Carlos. For the most part I liked the music and I had a good time. We started the evening with the practica and I was trying to figure out a wrap when Carlos came to see if I needed help. For those unaware, before the milonga there is 1:30 of supervised practica. Tova & Carlos are very dedicated people and the entire time they went from person to person offering their help and advice, After Carlos effortlessly lead Deb through the wrap I was failing miserably to lead, he explained the mechanics and voila, 2 minutes later I was doing a ... rough version of it, but it was (sort of) working. Now I just need to practice it. Towards the end of the practica Tova came by and said, "You must be the only one I haven't danced with at this practica, want to dance?". Uhhh, duh! We danced a couple of tandas and it went better then the last time I danced with her. Can't tell if I got better or she dumbed it down for me.

Slacker

During the actual milonga I danced with some local tangueras, some more advanced, some beginners. Speaking of beginners, there are a few beginners in the community that show promise and I'm glad to see that some of the better leads are keeping them busy. Lately I've been slacking off in my efforts to help the community grow and improve so I'll be trying to catch up. As a more experienced leader, it's always good to dance with people who are not too advanced. It helps refining the quality of the lead, it helps making it clear. Dancing with advanced dancers is obviously more fun, but the good ones are almost reading your mind, so I found that lately some of my leading got less clear, as it didn't need to be. Besides, I have to remember my gratitude to the people who danced with me when I was just starting, and try to pay it forward. Besides, sometimes when you dance with someone who's just starting, you can read from their face when they have a tango moment "Ahhh, that's how that's supposed to feel like!", and that alone is worth it.

A tango moment

Towards the end of the night, I've noticed a leader I've seen a few times during the last 6 months. He used to live in Boston but he moved abroad before I started tango and only came back a few times for business. He is an amazing leader, and this time I know this from first hand experience as I danced with him once in Providence. He lead me though a milonga set. Trust me, if a leader can lead me successfully though a milonga set, that makes him pretty much a miracle maker. In any event, this time he didn't show up alone, he showed up with his wife, which I never met before. I was hoping to get a chance to dance with her, but I was not holding my breath. She seemed the kind of dancer that would not sit too much. A bit later there was an alternative set being played and I look to my left and ... there she was, sitting down alone. Could not help but curse, as I have no desire to dance on alternative music, much less with somebody new, much less with somebody good. I was quite sure someone would ask her to dance before the alternative tanda was over but this time the tango gods were on my side and when the next traditional tanda started she was still there. So I went ahead and asked, she looked at me and for a second or two she looked like she was going to decline the invite, but she got up and off we went. After a clunky start, as I was trying to maneuver around a bunch of people who were talking on the dance floor, things got better and better and better. She is an awesome, awesome dancer. Did I mention awesome? Musicality, embrace, the whole "package". I was kind of hoping for another tanda, as she seemed like she had a good time, but ... it was announcement time! Grrrrrrr. But, she didn't go anywhere and after the announcement I got to dance another tanda with her. And it got even better then the first one. Well, I was happy, this was a "tango moment" and I didn't have one in a while. It was a good night. And they are moving to Boston, so I'm looking forward to dance with her again.