(Sometimes tanguero(a)s who have danced for a few years come up to me and ask for my advices. They have stuck at a level for a long time and are frustrated.  My advice, most of the time, is simple: go back to the fundamental, the basics: posture, embrace and walk. You might be surprised to see how many have not learned the basics at all.)

When I could actually do that, without thinking about how to dance, the experience was great, memorable. Most of the time, I did what I did the best, I danced: walk, turn, pause, walk, turn… I felt uninspired.

Cecilia Garcia, of formerly Horacio and Cecilia, was in town. I used to be unimpressed by their performances. It was not my kind of tango. So I didn’t take their workshop when I attended Chicago tango festival last year. I didn’t even know who Cecilia was…until I saw her dancing in the milonga with Claudio Gonzalez and Pablo Villarraza. Wow…

Anyway, I took a private lesson with her. The essence of the class was how to use energy in the dance, so it matches the expanding and contracting energy of the music. After dancing three songs to three different orchestras: Di Sarli, D’Arienzo, Pugliese, I worked alone under her guidance. Listen to the music, through breathing, move my axis, connect to the ground, and find freedom by relaxing my body, my mind. As in meditation.

Then we embraced.

Don’t do anything, unless you feel you have to. And do anything that you feel you have to do. She said.

I didn’t take a single step, just changing my axis in place, embracing her and feeling her energy. At certain point, however short it was, I felt that our energy met… together grew and grew, expanded infinitely… it was magical!

What makes one dance? No… what makes me dance? I asked her, at the end of the class.

The music and your energy from music. Her answer was essentially the same as Pedro Sanchez’s.

“Have you worked with other teachers?” She asked me at the end of the dance.

“Not really.  I took some workshops at tangocamp and two privates here. In NYC, I work with you and in BsAs, Javier and Andrea. ” I answered, not sure what she meant. ” Why?”

“Your tango has changed so much. It was really nice. ”

” Oh…” That was nice to hear! ” I have been traveling a lot to dance with good dancers this summer. You know all the festivals. And I’ve been thinking a lot. Trying to find my way…”

” Yes, sometimes there are things best teachers couldn’t teach. You need time to learn…”

” I still remembered what you taught me at our first class.” I said to her ” One year and half later,  now I understand that concept more.  That’s what a great teacher sometimes does. Things they teach could be inspiring and thought-provoking for a long time.”

Experience, however,  c0uld not be taught.

I danced with an acquaintance not long ago. She has danced less than two years. I didn’t dance with her regularly. She greeted me in the milonga, with the usual pleasant smile and good energy, and said ” save me a dance later.” “Sure” I promised.

We had a nice tanda later. She felt so much better and pleasant to dance with. ” Have you been taking classes?” I asked ” you have gotten so much better.”

“No baby, I learned it in the milongas, like the true milonguera.” She said proudly. I gave her a high five…

I still look forward to taking classes with Javier and Andrea again in March. It is important to learn from good teachers. They could help to build a good foundation. And great teachers could teach you something that inspires you life long. Yet nobody can teach you your own experience.

Like the old saying in martial arts:  The master shows you the way, how far you go if entirely up to you.

After dancing one song with Lorena, she first gave me some encouraging compliments: very smooth, dance to the music well, elegant… but… then she pointed out the things that she didn’t like.
I occasionally took her off her axis, my embrace was too controlling at those moments. We tried to dance a little without my right arm embracing. Then we discussed the placement of my right arm. Then we danced a second song.

After that, she asked me what I would like to work on. I asked her what she thought that I should work on. We went through posture briefly, spent a lot of time on walking and leading with the body. I was amazed that the way she explained walking, however different style it is, was essentially the way Javier, Andrea and Silvina had taught me. They all stressed the leg behind, good transition between legs and the pull up from the front leg.

There were a lot of information to be absorbed in an hour. I was too tempted to book another lesson with her next day. Then I realized that I needed time to take everything in. But I thought that this class had taken my dance to another level. I finally realized how to set myself free in the dance.

I don’t know what to expect from the class. What I am trying to do is to just be myself and dance the best I could and have her figure out what I need to improve.