"You want to put woman into sleep in the music with you." Javier said and Andrea translated. Hence the adjustment on the embrace, the posture and the walk; get rid of the little nuisance that disturbs the tranquility and learn to respect her space and her balance.
Use the body to lead, use the mind to dance, listen to the music, listen to her body. Keep these in mind, then one would not fixate on leading the steps but the quality of each step. It may sound abstract and it is difficult to do. One's body has to develop the muscle and strength to move smoothly.
If you watch old milongueros dancing, their upper body maintain at even level regardless what they are doing with their feet. Upper body movement is smooth, circular and calm even though D'Arienzo is playing. Less is more: less movement, deeper connection.
"Let her dream in your embrace and in the dance. Don't wake her up..." ---Javier Rodriguez
A lot of people say and teach close embrace as two persons hugging each other, like friends, lovers and family. That is probably the biggest misconception. Granted, there are many different ways to embrace in tango, and the embrace is changing and readjusting throughout the dance. If you watch a lot of youtube clips and pay attention to the best (or ex best) dancers' embraces, you will find similar characteristics.
This is the embrace that is taught by Javier and Andrea. Man, the leader, opens his chest, feels it expand grande but not to stick out his sternum; left palm faces his left ears, relaxes his shoulders and chest; tucks his navel in, tightens his abs and rib cage (requires works on your core); and breathe in your chest. Then he invites the woman to come to his embrace, by holding her right hand up and over without any tension of pulling, embrace her at the level of the bottom of her breasts line, as if he places her breast over his chest and lift/support them by natural expanding his chest.
The woman, the follower, comes to the man, places her chest over his, as if she hangs herself on his chest with hers; and her left arm places naturally over the man's shoulder or upper arm, sometimes her left palm presses in and upward to allow better connection with the man without weighing on him.
In this embrace, the contact and connection is on the chest and no other parts of the body. I find more freedom for both to move. And the woman gets much better sensation which I will talk about in "Don't wake her up". This is just the technical aspect of the embrace. It is just half of embrace.
A perfect embrace starts with the cabeceo, through the eyes, which also called windows of the hearts, of two persons. The man takes her right hand and invites her to the embrace. At this moment, he should show his confidence that he is the best of the floor and he could take care of her in the crowded pista and give her two wonderful minutes. The confidence is so strong that the others on the floor feel it too, so they will respect his space when he dances around.
It is when the woman feels the confidence in the man, she takes the last step towards him and allows him to embrace her. Then she completely surrenders into the embrace and waits for him to show her two blissful minutes.
"I can teach you how to dance, but I can't teach you embrace." Maestro Carlos told me once."...I am glad that you've found your own."
Shy, intimidated of dancing with one of the best, and nervous of making mistake or causing injury to her. Not until I put away those emotions and started envisioning myself as the best, did Andrea Misse tell Javier and me that the embrace was "Perfecto".
" keep this embrace. Don't lose it." Javier nodded at me.
A man does not automatically embrace the woman. Instead, he takes her hand; invites her and waits for her acceptance. The woman takes the last step to allow the man to embrace her.
Steps were/are/ will be created by dancers, mostly the leaders. If you fixate on the steps, spend much of your mind of memorizing the steps, and try to recreate these steps in your dance, then you are forever trapped in the tango labyrinth. At a certain stage of your tango journey, you would realize that you are the creator of the steps, not the slave of them.
"How to do a nice(perfect) giro?" I asked Javier after my imitation of one of his moves. "What's a giro?" He answered. Instead, he had me standing relaxed, feet together, in practice hold.
"Close your eyes" Andrea translated "now try to remember this movement."
Javier slowly drew a counter clockwise circle with my upper body. "This is the sensation. Remember that." Then he and Andrea danced to show me the body movement and energy, but not the steps...
I used to be fascinated by Javier's unique footworks (steps). I had spent hours loading his Youtube clips in Flash and watched them frame by frame, tried to break down his steps. I wanted to dance like him.
After the private lessons with him, I realized that I didn't want to dance just like him any more. I want to dance like myself. Of course, I will carry certain distinctive/signature Javier features, ones which he probably learned from his maestros: the embrace, the energy... It was what he taught me, however, freed my mind, my fixation of those fantastic steps of his.
The repertoire of tango is muy grande. But it is also very simple: natural: listen to your body, your body will tell you how to dance...
Your mind tells your body how to move, your body then tells your feet...
Think of whereabout of the fellower's foot (always on one foot), not your feet during the dance.
---Javier Rodriguez
Understand how to dance elegantly, how to dance sensually, the essence of tango, the connection between the two.
Think of the feet as paint brush, the floor as a canvas. You dance as painting on the floor with brushes.
---Maestro Carlos De Chey
Understand these, I begin to dance with more freedom.
your lead, follow your musicality, execute your figures. But most importantly listening to the woman, in the embrace, in her figures, in her embellishments, what she wants." excerpts from Lonewalk's , who by the way is a damn good dancer himself (cream of the crops by American standard), latest post about Javier Rodriguez talked about musicality.
A very interesting post, the way Javier talked about musicality in a deeper level. I will let you read about it from Issac's blog yourself.
Tango, at a higher level, is very intriguing, to say the least.
"Its not all about trying to do what you want anymore. Its letting her body and her emotions lead you..."
is no Nirvana. BsAs has average dancers, even bad dancers too. BsAs' milongas can be very crowded and hard to dance for some. BsAs has hot and humid summer days. BsAs has problems like every other city in the world...
But in BsAs, you can dance tango 16x7 (save 8 hours a day for sleep, eat, drink and go to the batroom). In BsAs you can dance with just about the world. In BsAs, you can dance with the best, if you are strived to be the best. In BsAs, you can experience something magical...
So if you are serious about knowing tango, make a trip to BsAs. Maybe you come back with disappointment, maybe you come back with depression, maybe you come back with different perspective of tango, or maybe you come back and quit...
Then one day you would say this: I('ve) dance(d) tango, I've been to BsAs...
I probably need help but you are supposed to live only once. Non? So I just bought another ticket to Buenos Aires leaving on the 22nd of February for three weeks. Great price: $782. Hotwire.com. Now I am settled.
I actually slept the whole afternoon, now it's 2:15am Tuesday morning in New York, 12:15am in Buenos Aires. I would be at El Beso right now, and going to Porteno Y Bailarin in another hour; came from Maipu444 this afternoon. Only that I am at home in my apartment, listening to Alfredo Gobbi, with the hissing sound from the radiators on the background...
My whole body is aching, especially my calves. I think I will stop blogging till I go back to BA again. There is nothing to talk about here. And I've spent way too much time on blogging.
Time to focus on things that are more pragmatic, such as making money for my next longer visit in late Feb and march, starting to learn some Spanish so that next time I can converse during the break and the beginning the song, dancing a little less and thinking tango a little more.
I need time to digest, revisit and practice what I've learned. Anyway, three months will pass by before I know it. Much to do before the next trip. As a matter of fact I feel like I never leave Buenos Aires, a city that I get to know.
1. Had my first dance in Nino Bien with Cherie. I was a bit nervous at the time but gained confidence as the night went on. Ruben y Cherie are wonderful to be around with.
2. Danced behind Javier and Andrea at P&B. Nervous of bumping into them.
3. Had a great night with L-A-F-S at P&B. It was great feeling though nothing happened.
4. Danced with Andrea Misse for the first time.
5. Watching the French woman dancing with the blind man.
6. Met with Sally. You are a wonderful woman!
7. Dinner with F&E at Cafe del los Angelitos. Talks about meaning of tango.
8. All those private with J&A.
9. Met with the fellow NY tangueros and tangueras and had a tanda or two with them.
10. Knowing that I will be back to BsAs very soon.
From Ideal, I went to Club Gricel. Nito was teaching there. NDM was there too. He is a great teacher. Learned a few things by just sitting and watching. But I was tired and sleepy.
Dancing two tandas with NDM and we decided to leave. I went to P&B by myself. Saw the waiter at P&B and he got me a decent table. P&B tonight was dead. I danced with a German and a French. Both had problem with their own axis.
By 1:00am, I was ready to leave for El Beso, crowded, which I was told by the German. I loved the crowd, more dancers, better level of dancing and most of all great energy.
Saw Javier's friend M, gave her a big kiss on the cheek. And walk down the block to El Beso.
The place was packed. A lot of hot chicas, great dancers. Saw Gustavo there, so was Issac from crossroad. They both danced like Javier, very good dancers, especially Gus.
I thought I made a mistake to get in to el beso at 1:30am. Should have come here first. I would get a lot more dances. But I was extremely tired and my whole body was stiff. I danced with someone from NY and LA, then I walked out there around 3:00am in the morning.
On the way back to the apartment, I was already planning my next visit.
It happened at Ideal, sans the dips and the open embrace.
I was continuing my tango marathon on Sunday. After a trip to the flea market at the cemetery, I went to Ideal. It was quiet then. A few old milgueros and milogueras were dancing on the floor. I was quite tired. For a moment or two, I dozed off. I was debating if I should go back and take a nap before heading to Club Gricel.
I had been sitting there for about an hour, didn't even put my shoes on. Finally I decided to leave. Then I caught the sight of this woman with short hair. She seemed to know every one, and had been getting dances.
I cabeceoed her. And we had a lovely tanda. She understood the embrace. She is from Paris (french again).
My sense of tango had come back after the tanda. Then I saw this petite pretty woman whom looked like Eva Longoria. Cabeceoed her, she responded, but another guy mistook it and walked towards her. She looked away and chatted with the woman sitting next to her but the guy was so eager to dance that he actually asked her. Oh, only if people followed the code.
He was a lousy dancer and a Pugliese tanda was playing. Saw the look on her face, eyes wide opened, thought that it was not a very happy one.
Then I saw the French woman was dancing with this guy who had no sense of direction and wore a pair of sunglasses. Why would she dance with the dude? She had got all the good ones to choose from. Her eyes were wide open. She danced with her eyes closed with the others.
Then I realized this was the blind guy whom someone had nmentioned to me. I watched her being careful with the people around, yet at the mean time tried to enjoy the dance with him. At that moment, I felt my eyes were watery. I was touched by the sight of a wonderful woman and a courageous man.
At the end of the tanda, she walked him back to his seat, which not far from mine. She walked pass me and I touched her elbow. She stopped, I told her that it was emotional to see her dancing with this man. I had tears in my eyes, and she said that it made two of us.
We danced our emotion away with a milonga tanda. After that, I had my dance with the Eva Longoria looking woman. And that was it for me at Ideal. I had witnessed something special. And that moment will always be remembered. A kiss and a wave goodbye to the French woman, I walked out of Cafeteria La Ideal.
That was not the best milonga I've been to, but definitely a special one...
Went the Barrio Chino in the morning with NDM. Had nice lunch and got ready for my planned milonga marathon.
First stop Nino Bien's Saturday martinee: Los Consagrados. Got there around 5:20pm. Saw the waitress, she recognized me and we greeted with a kiss on the cheek. I went to Ruben y Cherie's regular table. It was empty. No one was there yet. I changed my shoes and ordered a cafe con leche. This is a porteno's martinee milonga. All the regulars have their regular table.
I cabeceoed a lovely lady at the table to our left. She was there last week but we didn't dance. The floor was roomy at the time. We had a nice tanda. She was really light on her feet. No wonder she danced tanda after tanda.
The young and pretty chica came shortly after, same dress, same table, same time. I waited she settled down and cabeceoed her for her first dance. We had a lovely tanda, and the floor wasn't crowded yet.
Cherie came around 6:30, rougly the same time that she said she would be there. We had a nice Pugliese tanda. I danced with the chica again, and with two more portenos. And it was 9:00pm. Time for the next stop.
I said goodbye to Cherie y Ruben. Thank them for their good company. They are wonderful milonguera y milonguero, genuine people. It was a great pleasure to have known them. I will miss them.
Second stop: Maipu 444. Had dinner at the restaurant next door, Asador and spaghetti. Food in the stomach, I went up to Maipu 444. The place was packed, a lot of young chicas. No star tonight, but very good dancers on the floor. The host was warm, handshake and all that. But I was stuffed to the worst chair in the room: in the back between the men's and the lady's room.
No matter, I would get my dances once I got on the floor. The floor was small, a little bigger than P&B. DJ was good, great control of the flow with selection of tandas.
My first dance went to a Porteno,who is petite and just barely up to my chin. She was clearly a pre-intermedite. I had to cover a lot of her steps. Then again, it must be my lead (90% is leader fault.) She kept saying " muy lindo." during the break. I couldn't say the same about her though.
Second dance went to a LA native who is going to spend a year here.(how fortunate!) She seemed to get a lot of tandas. Other than another dutch woman, all six of my other dances were with portenos (some cute ones too). I am really getting good with this cabeceo thing.
I would have stayed to the end if it weren't for my planned mission. By 12:20pm, I was ready to hop to the next milonga: Italia Unita.
Third stop: Italia Unita. Cost of entrance: 20 peso!!! The most expensive one. The place looked very classy. The floor was nice, not crowded at all.
That also presented another problem, there wasn't enough energy on the floor. The milonga felt dead. I stayed for about twenty minutes then moved on the last stop, El beso.
El beso was crowded at 1:30 am. I kept working my cabeceo and danced with five portenos. There was this lovely blond who is petite and very cute. I cabeceoed her. She came over and i was quite taken by her beauty.
But she was very nervous. Mayb I am too handsome, :). She told me after one song:" you dance so so." I was surprised. "you're very nervous." I told her with some body language that imitates nervousness. She relaxed, then we had two very nice song. At the end of the tanda, she smiled (beautiful teeth):"muy lindo."
I danced with two more portenos and a dutch. And it was the la Cumparita. It was only 4:00am in the morning. Sharing a cab back to the apartment with the dutch, she talked about not getting the dances at Maipu444. I was surprised: "Maybe it is your cabeceo." I told her. (another subject for another time.)
The night was still young and I haven't danced for 12 hours yet. Outside, the street was still very busy. Young people were walking ups and downs. Trendy clubs still got long lines outside. Cafes and pizzerias were still opened with many customers.
I love this town, where you can tango from dawn to dust.
Had a nice buffet dinner with NDM with a bottle of wine, cost only $20 each. I think I will go back again before I leave.
Went to Canning after. It was supposed to be the milonga for Friday night, but what a f@#$^!g nightmare. The level of dance was so bad while we got there. I just sat there most of the time and made snide remarks with NDM.
We went on to the floor and danced one tanda. During one song I was bumped four fucking times. It felt like back in Monday's DM luna milonga. You got people dressed in jeans with holes and sneakers. Most of the women didn't even know what cabeceo is. I looked and looked, no response (not even a signal of "NO"). I was frustrated.
Comparing to Nino Bien, the floor craft on this Friday was terrible. You got f@#$^!g old men who got no sense of direction, flinging the women with 4 inch heel around as a weapon and danced to every foot of free space possibly found. There was no flow of the floor. It reminds me NY, with actually some of the milongas in NY have better flow that one of Canning this night.
Saw Gustavo with his friends and Issac from Crossroad, it was interesting to see how they danced since we all studied with Javier.
Every single girl whom I danced with got some sort of flaws. Most of them don't have their own axis or wobbly, stiff embrace with the gringas. I danced with one Porteno. She told me she just danced in the milonga, and never took any lessons. No wonder she felt weird.
I was bit disgusted. We spent thousands of dollars to improve our dance. And you just come to milonga and dance. What the...!
Even my favorite Italian girl was felt rushing the steps. But she's got a good embrace. Plus I like her a lot. Other than that, the night was almost disastrous.
Sat with Javier's friend M a bit, and went over to Italian girl's table and we exchanged e-mail addresses and names. And hopefully will meet at the milongas some where.
I was feeling sore heels. I hadn't felt the wears on my heel for a long time. I know it was from dancing with these women whom don't f%$#@!g know how to embrace a man, don't f%$#@!g know how to stay on their axis, and don't f%$#@!g take any lessons.
There you go, Women don't get to be the only ones who b%^&*.
Hopefully Maipu 444 is going to be as good as last week.
