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Standing leg dances to the beat, free leg dances to the melody.

and a reminder: dance with the chest.

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Don’t bend your knee.

It doesn’t look good, and it doesn’t feel good.

Stand tall and stand strong.

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One Sunday afternoon, a few years ago, I sat with a friend of mine at Salon Canning. Instead of an international circus ring like any given night, Sunday afternoon milonga at Salon Canning was quite different. Most of the dancers were locals, middle age and older. Plenty of space to dance, and tables to sit before 8pm. My friend came to practice with his portena dance partner. I was there because i was on a milonga hopping spree. (I’d attended four milongas that Sunday.)

While we were not dancing, we shared a table, ordered cafe con leche and chatted. At some point, he made an interesting comment:

Those who dance very well are all abnormal. (Oookay… I smiled) Look at these people (he pointed to the floor to the Porteno(a)s). They come here once or twice a week, dance with the same people to the same music and they go home. They don’t spend thousands to take classes or practice for hours a day. They are normal people who have a normal life.

It is not difficult to become a decent social dancer, if you feel comfortable to embrace someone, have the normal ability to walk, can follow the music reasonably well. That’s all. Sometimes you don’t even need all that. Have you seen a couple in love dancing? Even they are total beginners, not a class under their belts and they bump knees, step on each other’s feet, embrace (hug) awkwardly, they could still connect to each other. I often say, you don’t have to move a step to dance tango, if you understand, you could express everything within the embrace.

The problem begins when we start learning how to dance…

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do not collect and wait. Can’t tell you how annoying that movement feels in the embrace. Open up the crotch. Please, please, do not close it.

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of what I am feeling in this moment. — Sebastian Achaval of an interview from the current El Tangauta issue.

One of my favorite things to do is to hear what others have to say about tango, their understanding, their perspectives and their lineage (whom they have studied with or have been influenced by).  Food for thought. After all, one’s mentality determines a great deal how one dances tango.

Excerpts that I like:

So if I’m dancing very close with her and I need a little distance, the separation will be a caress, not an ” I’m letting you go because now comes a step.”…. If I have to distance myself it’s because the move requires space, not to show a sequence, the sequence will be the consequence of what I’m feeling in this moment.

If I have to stop, wait for 5 beats and then start again, I’ll wait for those beats. … We also try to achieve presence, to ensure it’s clear that this pause is not a down moment. The dance should be seen throughout the body, including during a pause.

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