"The most important dance is...

... the one that happens inside us."

I stole this title from a lovely and beautiful tango friend of mine. I've meant to write something about this for a long time. Words had escaped me.

A few months ago, I was in my worst tango slump. My favorite music didn't inspire me. I was on auto pilot most of the time, doing just steps. I felt I was repeating the same steps/sequences over and over again, and with the same partner. The energy was flat and I rushed to chase the music. I felt bored of myself for not being creative. I thought I didn't know how to dance any more. Some told me that I'd reached a plateau. I felt I was regressing.

I went for a private lesson with my first tango teacher.

"There is nothing wrong with your dance. Your technique is good, walk is nice, embrace is comfortable, and very musical..." She said to me, after danced a song or two. " What's wrong is up here. " She pointed to my head, jokingly.

"I had been there before. I understand. You need to forget about having the perfect technique, posture and steps. Try to find the tango within when you dance..." Break the mode. "and take your time, like tasting wine, sip it...like tasting chocolate, let it melting in your mouth."

Find the tango within...I chewed on it.

The next few weeks, every time I stepped onto the piso, I took a moment and looked inside. It was like a self meditation (or inner gaze). What moved me? Was it the woman whom I was about to embrace, the music or the energy of the place? I tried to find my own presence before I embraced the woman.

Then something magical and powerful happened. The connection was amazing. When I danced with beginner/intermediate level women, I felt that they were calm and following well. With good dancers, I felt like I was into their minds (hypnotized them) and their feet doing what I suggested. When I had the pleasure to dance with great women, I felt completely free, like they say, one body four feet.

I didn't think about how to move or what steps to take any more. Like Pedro said, just listen to the music, it tells you how to dance. I let the music and the woman inspire me. From time to time, I was pleasantly surprised by myself from the move or steps I did with music, sometimes things that I had never done before...

These days, I dance much less, two or three tandas a night, once or twice a week. If I don't find an inspiring partner in the milonga, I just sit and listen to the music. When I do dance, I rarely feel unsatisfied afterward.


"I am more interested in what moves people, than how they move." Pina Bausch

(posted by my first teacher when Ms.Bausch passed away not long ago)

Being turned down.

There are so many reasons for a woman to turn down an invitation. I used to ponder and speculate them after being turned down. Then I realized I was wasting my time and energy.

What's the big deal? Look for those whom are looking for you. Go find the woman whom is willing to be in my embrace rather than wonder why this one doesn't want to. And these days, I rarely get turned down because:

a.) I adhere to cabeceo when I am in a festival.
b.) I am contented to have a great tanda a night, rather than take a risk to have ten mediocre ones.
c.) I am an excellent social dancer. Shameless brag yet it is true... haha.

Still, I get ticked off by this rejection: a woman turns me down by saying that she is tired and needs a rest. OK, fine and understandable. But the next song, she gets up right in front of my face and accepts an invitation from another man.

This, in my book of tango etiquette, is the biggest offender.

For sure, she will not be getting another look from me as long as I remember this episode. Not that she cares, Nor I.

The music is same old...

I often hear people complaining about hearing the same music over and over again. They get bored.

I have been listening to the same old music over and over again for the past three years; more so recently as I started DJing. Sometimes I could listen to the same song over ten times a day. I never get bored, on the contrary I find something interesting and different each time I listen to the same song.

Then it occurs to me that the music isn't boring, just that people who complain never really listen.

The same piece of tango music has always been here, interpreted by different orchestras, sung by different singers and danced by thousands of dancers from various backgrounds in numerous ways. How could it be boring if there are thousands of different interpretations?

"Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music."

Why People Quit Tango?

Who cares!

The mentioned survey was circulating on FB a while ago. I took a glimpse and decided to skip it. What's the point? I have heard enough whining and bitching for the past three years, nothing new, and it is not going to change.

People quit everything: jobs, relationships/love, hobbies and sometimes their own lives. Things don't work out? Quit. Easiest solution. In this culture, few people seem to understand "no pain, no gain.".

Tango bliss doesn't come like a snap of fingers. Just because once out of blue moon, some dreamy dancer comes from other planet dances a blissful tanda with you by accident, then you are entitled to that blissful moment every time you dance? Wake up, people.

People demand a lot before they pay their own dues. Have you learned to stand on your own foot without losing balance? Have you learned how to embrace a person? Have you learned how to walk grounded without your partner feeling like hitting a pothole every step of the way?

The thing is that in order to truly enjoy tango, one has to invest a lot of time, mind, energy and money. You want to dance the top level in three years, you better have a athletic body, decent musicality, learn astutely from a few excellent teachers and dance four times a week, 52 weeks a year.

Otherwise, just accept the fact that you would be dancing with the rest of the people in the milongas, at your level. If you think that dancing with the others at your own level is a torture, an unpleasant experience, then strive to be a better dancer and work harder and smarter to get to the next level where dance experience is better. Too much work and not worth it? Then quit.

You are not going to be missed by anyone.

Cruelty? Yes, but also reality. Or maybe it is a blessing in disguise. You stop wasting your life on some hobby that you are not cut out for. There are more important and meaningful things in life than a stupid dance, right?

Listen to the music, it tells you how to dance.

I was playing a tanda of De Caro in the milonga. The music started and she looked at me and said: " I am not sure I like this music." I smiled and said: " Let's give it a try." At the end of the tanda, I asked her how it was. She replied: " very interesting."

I used to stay away from the 50s or the early 30s songs, too orchestral or too simple. Lately I enjoy dancing wider range of music. Maybe it was the result of constantly listening tango music a couple of hours a day, seven days a week for the past three years. The once strange and hard to dance ones become interesting and inspiring. Or maybe I finally learn to listen to the music and look for what moves me in the music.

"Those who dance, are considered crazy by those who can't hear the music."

Chicago Tango Week 2009 Recap

Just got back from Chicago Tango Week, all in all I had a pretty good time. Although the hotel is bit far in the suburb, I guess that it kept the cost down. One note for future reference, to save 28 bucks from the airport, take the Blue line to loop (stop Jackson) and transfer to Red line (Howard), at the end of Red line, take Yellow line and call the hotel for a shuttle pick up at the end of Yellow line. The whole trip takes about hour and half to two hours and the cost is only $2.50.

Class

The lineup of teachers was great, good balance of traditional and nuevo. I took two classes of Julio y Corina: milonga and vals. Their classes were fun to be in. I thought I learned more from the milonga class than the vals class. Maybe it was because I loved milonga but didn't like vals in general. In the milonga class, Julio y Corina had explained the principle of dancing milonga and then worked on a sequence excercise which later was demoed with different flavors and varieties. In vals, we mainly worked on two sequence, that required adjusting my embrace. I sat most of time just listening and watching.

Milonga

The Friday night milonga included live music by Otra Aires. The first part of the night was held up on the top floor. The ambiance was very nice and classy. I would have enjoyed it if it weren't because:

• I started my dance with an almost beginner who was uncomfortable with embrace.
  
• It got very crowded later when Otra Aires started playing and it was impossible to enjoy dancing on the floor. Besides, most of the pieces they played were probably more suitable for listening than dancing.
  
• I was tired and cranky and didn't get into the rhythm.
  

The second part of the night was moved down to a big ballroom at the bottom floor. It was a nicer space for dancing. It was around 3:00am in the morning. I left soon after I had a nice tanda with an acquaintance. For Friday night, I had three tandas, went from bad ,to decent, to good.

Saturday night was a night of great dances. I had a very good time at the afternoon practilonga and continued the good fortunate into the night. Every single tanda I had danced was very good, except one being just decent (from someone I met in the practilonga who asked me for a dance).

Sunday night was slow, while a lot of people had gone home. I should have saved a night of hotel and left on Sunday. I enjoyed more watching all the masetros dancing socially. I had a few decent tandas and went upstairs packing for the early AM flight back home.

DJ

I thought all DJs had gone a very good job. Friday night, Adam was consistently good. Saturday night, Horacio was bit funky, just like the way I had experienced at La Viruta. He played 5 tangos and 4 milongas very often. The selection of songs was sometimes surprisingly good. The mixing of alternative, traditional and modern orchestras was smooth. And it was a good party all night long. Sunday night, Pablo Inza played cortina only occasionally, and within hour and half I had heard Pugliese played twice. But there wasn't a moment that I felt disliking the music. The energy was well controlled throughout the time I was at the milonga.

Next one on the agenda: Tango element in Baltimore and then Moscow Tango Festival in Moscow Russia.

Poema

The first time I felt the woman's heart beat, I was dancing to Poema. I haven't danced or listened to it for a long long time. Although I have three tandas of Canaro con Maida, Poema isn't in any. It was like some old memory, being put aside and forgotten. Alex's recent post about eleven performances of this particular song brought it back. When some one from tango-l claimed that it was too precious to be interpreted by Carlos Copello and LunaPalacios, I laughed.

It was just a song. As a matter of fact, I know someone whom grew up listening to tango music dislikes it. I don't dislike it, but it isn't my favorite any more. It doesn't have the same effect to me as that time I danced to it and felt the woman's heart beat.

Maybe it was because I had felt many heartbeats since, or even better I felt the woman melting in my chest and I was out of this world dancing to different songs. Or maybe Roberto Maida's voice is less appealing to me, the music itself isn't that romantic. Or maybe it is so overhyped that turns me off. Whatever reason it might be, it is just another song, which doesn't even make into my tandas.

It is funny how things have changed as I progress. The once favorited and loved are no longer the favorited and loved. The once mattered is no longer mattered. As long as I am connected with the woman, any song sounds just like Poema, as I first felt the heartbeat of the woman.