tango, the comfort food of dance

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Argentine Tango, Comox Valley, Comox Valley Tango Practica, connection, Courtenay, Energy, Practica, Tango, Valley Tango

This is what happens when I watch Top Chef after tango practica….

For me tango is like comfort food served family-style.

Comfort food highlights all the ingredients in a simple, no-fuss kind of way with lots of love.  To have a really simple, delicious dish requires excellent technique.

Sure I like to eat at fancy restaurants every once in a while.  I might marvel at the presentation, amaze at the garnishes, and ooh at desert but I can’t eat it every night.  It would be too much, get too old too fast, and would feel too external for me to enjoy it.

Wrap me in comfort food served tango style any day.

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Diamonds in the rough – polishing our tango technique

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Argentine Tango, Comox Valley, connection, Courtenay, Tango, tango practica, Vancouver Island Tango, walking

We are all diamonds in the rough when it comes to tango.  I believe each and every person can become a great dancer if they constantly have an open mind and are willing to work on their technique, alone and with a partner.  Yes, I am talking about Tango Fundamentals.  Most everyone in my small group gets excited about Fundamentals class.  I think it is because they are starting to realize that good technique = good dancing.  That’s why we call it our FUNdamentals class because it is F.U.N.

Here are three ‘simple’ fundamentals that we practice:

Pivoting.  Such a simple thing yet so hard to do with elegance, balance, and frame.  For me the true testament of a great tango follow is her pivots. Quick, light, and collected is what we strive for.  Leads pivot too and this helps with their walking…

Walking.  Again simple but so difficult to do beautifully.  If both lead and follow walk ‘on the line’ it is easier to a) stay in a comfortable embrace with chests facing one another, and b) stay to the line-of-dance and keep our balance….

Balance.  I find this is a learned skill.  If each dancer is responsible for his or her own balance there is a comfort and connection in the embrace.  If one or both are struggling with their balance -and where their balance is – then the embrace can turn into a tiresome wrestling match.

I have only touched on three fundamental techniques.  What are some essential fundamentals for you and your dancing?

Falling in love with tango

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Argentine Tango, Comox Valley, connection, Energy, first dance, love, tango energy, tango junkie, Vancouver Island Tango

Falling in love.

What does falling in love have anything to do with tango?  Well, it has been described that learning tango is like falling in love and that to really learn tango you must first fall in love with it.

When someone begins he can be dazzled by things that are external; the things of tango are internal… A dancer arrives at the roots of tango when he falls in love…  ~Eduardo Arquimba

For some people tango is love at first sight, head-over-heels, married-in-Vegas kind of love .  For others it is a slow burn.  Maybe they are already dating another dance but wake up thinking of tango and need to be near it.

El tango te espera (tango waits for you).  ~Anibal Troilo

Tango is the kind of gal you take home to meet your mother.   It is a serious commitment not a passing fancy.

Tango is a culture, not a dance. Neither is tango a summer or weekend fashion. ~Jorge Dispari

Learning how to live life and be madly in love can be a challenge, especially to the real people in your life.  A balance must be found and everything needs to be put in perspective.  You have to be able to think for yourself and make good, solid choices rather than blindly following your new found love down any old road named ‘tango’.  It is not a competition about who is the most in love, nor is it a race.

I also think, in certain circles, that tango needs to be grouped into Things-you-don’t-discuss-with-relatives like sex, religion, and politics.  It can get rather heated if Tango-L is any indication.

Falling in love is blissful.

No matter at which stage of love you are with tango, I wish you a long and wonderous relationship.  I welcome you to share you love stories.

Tango Buzz

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Argentine Tango, community, Comox Valley, connection, Intention, tango energy, Vancouver Island Tango

I feel  like airing out the cobwebs (and my Drafts folder)  so bear with me,  for as we all know tango is not all rainbows and lollipops….

There is a buzz in the air lately, a tango buzz.  It feels as though people are just catching on that there is something about tango.  They can’t quite pin it down and depending on who they ask and where they go to learn it, they will get many different and varied responses and experiences.

I am perplexed.  How do I, or anyone else, describe tango to someone who has only seen it on TV?  Or someone who looked it up on You Tube only to get every stage version imaginable?  How do you describe the feeling of the music, the energy of the dance floor, the connection with your partner?  Or even the differences between styles?  Well you can’t describe it and that is my dilemna.

I say, “Tango is like life.” or   “It is a community, a family.” or  “It is about connection.”   “It is something you have to feel.”  Sometimes people get it right away.  They sense that there is something remarkable happening  and sometimes it takes years for that spark to catch.

I see announcements for visiting teachers stating that so-and-so is teaching his or her ‘tango moves’.   Tango moves?  Well, I guess you have to start somewhere but this sets up a vicious cycle with many dancers as they ‘chase the steps’.

Tango is a mirror, not a mask.  Tango is a community, not an individual activity.  I feel you need to ask yourself why you are learning this dance, the Argentine Tango.  Be brutally honest.  How does it make you feel?  What are you really here for?

I’ll go first… I am here because tango has filled my life full of sparkles.  It makes everything better.  Rather than a regular sunny day, which is nice, tango makes my days (and nights) sparkly bright, which is fantastic.  I feel energized, engaged, and truly alive when I dance or even if I just hear the music.  I have no assumptions or personal agendas attached to my dancing. I am in the moment.  I dance for my partner.  I feel the music.

How I feel is how I want others to feel when they dance.  Teaching ‘tango  moves’ or choreography is just a way to cash in on the tango buzz and get people thinking that they are dancing tango but in reality they are just dancing around it.

dance with the tiger

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community, Comox Valley, connection, Tango, Tango music, Vancouver Island Tango

Tango still inspires me, greatly moves me, and my passion has not diminished in the slightest, but I feel something has gotten lost in translation recently.

Maybe more to the point Tango has morphed into a commercial, more performance-based dance.  What do students want to learn and do?  Well, what they see on TV and YouTube, what else?  Can you really blame them?  That is what they think tango is and maybe this first impression is the door that allows them to walk into this wide-world of tango, to get to know the real tango.  I hope so.

Am I stubborn in not wanting to conform and give students the steps and sequences that they see on TV?  Yes.  I feel responsible for my community.  I want a room full of good dancers who have balance, musicality, dance in the line-of-dance, and therefor feel the connection that tango has.

I have to dance and teach my authentic tango, the stuff that reaches into my belly, that moves me, that delves into the layers, tango that respects the roots and traditions.  If I am only teaching a handful of people then so be it.  That handful of people ‘get it’.

I will continue to dance my authentic tango.  Anyone want to come with me?  Anyone want to ‘dance with the tiger’?

‘You’re going to play it too, you’re going to dance with the tiger. Don’t worry, your life is in danger. Remember your instructions. Listen up. And suffer, motherf*#!er, this is the tango.’  From the liner notes of Zero Hour – Piazzolla