38th birthday in Montreal

Weekend in Montreal

Debbi took me to Montreal for the weekend as a birthday gift. I love that city and every time I go there I wish I had more time. We met a fellow blogger, Caroline, and we had a great time chatting and going to milongas together. Yes, milongas. You didn't think I was going to be in Montreal and not dance, did you? That'd be just silly...

We made to the Royal Tango milonga Saturday night. I haven't danced much as it was crowded and the floor craft was marginal at best. Also with just a few notable exceptions, the level of dance was somewhat mediocre. I was told it gets much better after midnight (and the only other time I've been there it was better later), but we left early as Debbi wasn't feeling well.

Sunday was a true tango marathon. We started it at 3PM with the practica at Studio Tango then went to the Tangueria milonga where we made it around 7:30 and then we left around 10:30 to make to "L'Academie" where we closed the place at 2AM.

I'll post some reviews of there venues on my milonga review site later, so I won't go into details now. I'll just write about some of the highlights.

At the Studio Tango supervised practica I danced with Mireille for a little bit, as she was "on the clock" (she was the supervising teacher). I saw her at the milonga the day before, but we left before I had a chance to introduce myself. So I did at the practica. She is a dream to dance with. Unfortunately because the practica was crowded and the movements of the dancers were a textbook Brownian motion, I spent a lot of energy in trying to protect her (and myself) from being crashed into, so that made it somewhat difficult to truly enjoy the experience, but one thing was clear, she is awesome. She masters the "moving like moving through molasses" technique and I look forward to dance with her again in a more favorable setting.

At the Tangueria milonga I had the chance to dance with Laura and she was a blast to dance with. I wish I had the chance to dance with her on some music I really like, instead of Pugliese. Pugliese can be fun to dance to, but I have to be in the right mood, it's a difficult music to dance to and trying to make it interesting the first time you dance with someone can be challenging. Debbi took video of me dancing with her, here are a few fragments. Apparently I picked up this funny habit of dancing with my mouth open, which makes me look like a drooling idiot (which I'm not ... most of the time). I'm thinking I should stop doing that ...


The next stop was L'Academie. And it turns out that that's where all the great dancers were. Marika was there (my first "tango crush" as Debbi calls her) and we danced a couple of tandas. She was just as lovely as always, both as a person and as a dancer. She has this amazing warm embrace that can just make you melt. It just occurred to me, I think she should teach a workshop on embrace, a lot of people would benefit greatly if they learned hers. Or maybe she does that already as quite a few dancers in Montreal have a very pleasant embrace.

A while ago, the second time I was in Montreal, the first time I went with Debbi, at the L'Academie milonga we saw a man and a woman dancing that caught our attention. He is very protective about his partners, at times keeping his arms around her like a shield and he sings as he dances. He is obviously a very good dancer. She had this totally relaxed expression on her face, the "tango bliss" face. Last night I saw her sitting down and went and asked her for a dance. She is a great dancer (she is been dancing for 8 years) and we danced for a while, maybe two and a half tandas (there were no cortinas played at this milonga and it was a bit disconcerting) until a milonga set came along. She asked if I'd like to dance the milonga set, and I would've loved to continue dancing with her, but a milonga set was more then I could handle after dancing the whole day.

Last but not least, I obviously danced a lot with Debbi, she is (quickly) becoming a great dancer. While she's only been dancing since January, she is quite often one of the best dancers in the room. Her embrace, presence and following is often praised by her dance partners and she is quickly improving on the other skills that make someone a great follower (in my opinion of course).

I had a great time, thank you Deb, you're awesome.

Montreal Neo Tango Festival - day 2 - introductions, more people should do it

Earlier that evening, Marika flagged me down and introduced me to a friend of hers, E from Montreal. She said she is trying to introduce people she really likes, Marika is such a sweetheart.

The woman I was dancing with when they started to play "La Cumparsita", the last song of the "Grand Ball" milonga, excused herself to go dance the last song of the night with her husband, so when I looked around I saw E sitting down and I went and asked her to dance. Excellent dancer, very musical and a very warm embrace, reminded me of Marika's embrace. I was glad to find out she was going to the "Midnight" milonga, (which was the second milonga of the evening, going till 6AM) so we can dance at least one full tanda.

DJs and captive audiences ...

Saturday I went to the Tango Potpourri milonga. I had a good time and I might go over the details in another post, but right now I want to talk about the music and the DJing. The DJ was Jackie Wong, from Tango Pulse.

Until about midnight the music was fine. There were some uninspired tandas but overall it was OK. After midnight, it's when the alternative frenzy started. If you've read my blog before you know alternative is not my thing, I find the constant beat and the lack of depth in the music boring. But once in a while, a tanda with carefully picked songs can be quite fun. But not three or four tandas in a row and certainly not two hours of alternative songs, all sounding the same.

By the end of the milonga I was quite annoyed, and I'll tell you why. Murat & Michelle were in attendance as they were one of the visiting teaching guests, and around 1AM when a traditional waltz tanda was played, I asked Michelle to dance. This was the first time I had a chance to dance with her and I was really curious if we can connect, she seems quite athletic on the dance floor and I prefer the "calmer" dancers. But once again, the looks are deceiving, she does have that clam quality to her dance, she is definitely an amazing dancer (see my post about the "Perfect Follow") and despite the overcrowded floor I had a fantastic time. At the end of the tanda I was expecting her to say thank you and move on to the better leads in the room. But for reasons unknown, she kept talking through the cortina waiting for the next tanda. Score! When the first song of the next tanda started we sighed and rolled our eyes at the same time. Yet another slow alternative, the absolute same style that was played most of the last hour. Michelle says, "well, let's try it, maybe it gets better". So we start dancing on the painfully slow, constant beat music and despite having such a fantastic dancer in my arms I find myself wishing the song is over. When it was over we looked at each other, shook our heads and without a word we stopped dancing. That music was incredibly boring. She made a comment to that effect, and then we chatted about some other stuff and I was once again expecting her to move on, go back and talk to the people she was talking to when I asked her to dance, or whatever. But no, we kept talking through the rest of the tanda, and through the cortina and the next tanda starts and ... YET again another slow alternative tanda. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, my eyes rolled so violently I thought I was going to hurt myself. Michelle (shoot ooops, no, she did not shoot anything, I need to proof read better ...) shook her head disappointed and in mutual agreement we decided to give up and go talk to some people.

While my dancing got a lot better in the last few months, it's not often when a "Perfect follow" of Michelle's caliber go out of her way to dance with me, so when the music repeatedly screws up my opportunity to dance with such a fantastic dancer, I get really ticked off. But wait, I'm not done yet. Before I move on however, I want to recommend Murat & Michelle as instructors. I took their Sunday class and I loved it. I generally dislike group classes for a number of reasons, but this was great. Murat explained and demonstrated in detail the mechanics of the move, did not get stuck into teaching some pattern, the class was geared towards getting the "feel" of the movement being taught (I used the word "movement" on purpose, as it was not a figure that was being taught, it was a way of moving that one can use to make their on figure and patterns). I will take a private with them as soon as I can, they're awesome.

Marika & Bulent were in attendance as well, and if you read my early posts about my Montreal visits, you'd know she is, like my girlfriend likes to tease me, my "tango crush". She wasn't feeling good that evening, she had a nasty cough, so I wasn't expecting the chance to dance with her, but we were talking and a milonga tanda was just ending so I asked if she feels well enough to dance a bit. She enthusiastically agreed (she is so sweet), and we went on the dance floor waiting for the cortina to end. So what music started? Can you guess? Yeah, yet another slow alternative, the same style as before. Marika is a nuevo dancer and she rolled her eyes, that should tell you something. I had a great time, she is such an amazing dancer, but I had a great dance despite of the music, not because of the it.

So, if any DJ reads this, please, for the love of God, don't play the same style of music over and over again. The fact that people are still dancing is not necessarily a sign they like the music. Especially at one time events, there are people in attendance that you normally don't have a chance to dance with, so chances are, most people are going to dance anyway, but don't let that fool you. You have a captive audience, we don't have much of a choice, but that's not a license to torture us. ASK people, and ask the right way. Don't ask, "do you like the music?" most people are too polite to say "no". Ask "Would you like to hear more alternative, or would you like to hear some classic tango?" A milonga is not the place to "try new stuff", and if you HAVE TO try something, one "trial" tanda per evening is enough. I paid $20 to come to this milonga to have fun, not to be a guinea pig.

Additional note: while I had a big issue with the music selection in the second half of the milonga, the sound system was top notch. Unlike many other events, I could hear the music everywhere on the dance floor and it was not uncomfortably loud next to the speakers either. Good job there.

Montreal Tango Rendez-Vous '06 - a tango moment

It occurred at a practica, of all places. Tango Fabrika, a cozy venue with a pleasant decor, a few couches, tables and chairs, excellent floor and a good sound system. The place is mostly frequented by the tango nuevo crowd and there was a lot of alternative music which I really enjoyed.

I got to practice some of the sacada/boleo combinations taught in the class I attended the day before and while it's fun to dance in open, it's not really my thing. Most dancers there were dancing in open embrace which I found interesting as they were quite advanced (not to mention the two couples of instructors who were there dancing open as well). But the people I danced with were quite comfortable in close embrace so it was all well.

Half way through the practica I asked Marika, one of the instructors at Tango Fabrika to dance with me. Dancing with an instructor and performer is quite intimidating as a leader, particularly for one with limited experience like myself (on Jan 12 it will be a year since my first tango class). In the past, the most frequent feedback I had from dancing with experienced dancers was to relax. From the first second after we got into the embrace, I could feel her calmness ... flowing from her body into mine. She has a very warm embrace, which I've seen a lot of in Montreal. Any tension I might've had kind of melted away. I could feel her being completely tuned into my body movement. After a few weight changes and tiny steps off we went. At practicas I like to concentrate on one element only, this time was musicality. I’ve been working on my musicality for a while now, but this time, instead of concentrating on the music, I just ... surrendered to it. Using mostly forward, side and back steps I played with the rhythm, stepping on different beats and instruments, enjoying the dance. Tiny steps, shoulder movement to mark individual notes, playful moves, whatever it felt natural at the time. It’s amazing to lead and feel your partner responding to the smallest movements, so tiny they are nearly invisible to anyone else but you two. For me, it was an amazing experience, and seeing a dancer of her stature genuinely enjoying the dance, participating 100%, having fun, it's so inspiring.

But wait, there is more. Many instructors talk about the bidirectional communication between the leader and follower, but this is the first time I’ve really seen it at work. I don’t know how, and I forgot to ask, but she always had a way to let me know when she finished a move or embellishment and she was ready to move again. Not once I had to watch her feet to tell if she’s done, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t cut short anything she did. A couple of times, when there was something in the music that she really liked, she somehow made me aware of it (without back leading!), kind of like "hey, listen to this", but without words. That was pretty amazing.

Lessons learned

- steps/figures are irrelevant
- the quality of the embrace is paramount
- surrender to the music rather then concentrate on it
- being tense really is a tango "killer", conversely, being completely relaxed brings one's dancing to a whole new level
- HAVE FUN!