Montreal - International Tango Festival (@Tango Libre) - Monday

I'm not sure why we went there Monday, as we knew the DJ (same as Saturday) and we knew there was going to be live music (which I don't like). Monday was a complete bust, except for dancing with Debbi at the beginning of the evening on an empty floor. When I say empty, it's not just a figure of speech. We danced for at least 20 minutes alone on the floor, with everyone else sitting down. Don't know why, didn't care. I like empty floors. A few tandas felt really good, particularly a milonga one (milonga still being my nemesis).

With one exception, I have not danced with anyone else. While there were a few people there I would've liked to dance with, the music was atrocious. I thought Saturday was the worst music selection one could hear. Apparently I was wrong.

The one exception was Soledad, one of the Argentine instructors with whom I danced one song. After the performances they were on their way out, but a waltz was playing and Soledad had restless feet, she looked like she wanted to dance. All the other instructors were heading for the door, but I went for it anyway. I walked up to her and said something along the lines of "Oh, are you leaving already? Would you care to dance one song before you go?". So off we went. Not surprisingly she is a fantastic dancer. Light but steady presence, warm embrace, amazing balance and musicality.

Practica - why some people learn faster then others ...

Monday I went to a Practica in P, I guess I was starting to feel the "withdrawal" effects. Once I got there and said hello to everyone I noticed O was there. I only danced with her once maybe 3-4 months ago and I remembered enjoying it quite a bit. So, I asked her for a dance and off we went.

The first dance (song, not tanda) was ... ok, the second one was better, the third was even better and ... you get the idea, we ended up dancing together for two hours, an hour and a half of it was completely non-stop.

So, as I was talking with O I noticed she had the same attitude about dancing. One, she asks for feedback (for real, not like some other people do in search for a compliment) and she listens to it. Then she decides if it's something she would like to apply or not. She gives real feedback when asked. She is critical of herself but she's not putting herself down. She doesn't get defensive when one makes an observation about her dancing. She is SERIOUS about getting better. While she technically started a year and a half ago, she only danced a third of that time.

But more importantly, SHE HAS FUN doing it! Soon she will be going to Argentina for about half the year, I bet when she comes back she will be one of the best dancers in New England (at least).

What I like about her dancing is :

- she is relaxed
- she has FUN dancing! whether the "figure" works or it was a total disaster, she doesn't lose her composure. I think being able to "sail" out of disasters gracefully is just as important as learning the skills required to avoid the disasters in the first place.
- after trying a few (close) embraces, we settled on the "right cheek to right cheek" style which along with it's "cousin", the "right cheek to left cheek" styles (a-la-M from Montreal, one of my other "beginner" favorite dancers) are my favorite.
- she has a presence (as in, she doesn't hang off my neck, nor she acts like she's afraid to touch me). This is SO important, so much more important then fancy figures and steps. The embrace feels so much better when it feels ... settled. The exact opposite of that would be the kind of embrace one uses to "formally" hug a person (like when you meet business partners you sort of know but not really).
- she doesn't anticipate, and I have a feeling that is at least in part the result of the embrace. She can easily feel the lead so there is not need for guessing.
- she is a fast learner