tango lesson 101

Colgada demo by Daniela Pucci and Luis Bianchi

I feel differently about my body and about how to connect my body to another body in tango. This difference did not come from deliberate changes or conscious modifications to my dancing skills. It just came as time goes. Tango does not like yoga. Yoga requires daily or at least very frequent practices (e.g., 3 days a week, 1.5 hr a day) to feel improvement of the body change, which is very subtle and very rewarding, so rewarding that I could smile in the process of getting into a posture.

Tango is not like yoga, although I have previously acknowledged the similarity between the two. In the current stage of my tango career, I found that tango needs time to sink into the center of each muscle fiber and reach the holistic structure of bones and tendons, both of which finely controlled effortlessly but mindfully. Thus, taking a break of a couple weeks does not reduce the dancing sensibility. Actually sometimes my dances were better after a break from the tango for weeks. I thought about tango, watched tango, imagined how to tango, and suddenly I got rid of bad habits after a break. The result is a better dancer of me. I am able to walk onto the dance floor once a week to start a good practice and induce two good smiles, and my body learns.

What my body has learned opens my mind. After many tango workshops, festivals, milongas, practicas, etc., now when I see a good dancer or a great pair of dancers, I know I can definitely reach their levels and be fully comfortable with my body led by a leader to do all possibilities.

Tango dance floors are cruel. Yes, many dancers are judgmental because we all want to have fun. But some dancers care too much about the forms and the way how to get into certain movements. Hey! This is not the international ballroom tango. This is social dance tango! Tango is NOT yoga, in which postures need to be done in certain ways. Tango is about trust, confidence, and great fun. Being creative is one major major reason that I keep on tangoing for years.

See the video at the beginning of this post? They are having fun, creating various movements with one principal topic: colgada -- sharing axis. This is all about trust, confidence, and great fun. They try to teach how to be relaxed and to have fun.

I was in their workshop last weekend of the Princeton tango festival. Luis was quite a character with superb humor and playfulness. I found many young male teachers this way. They make tango floors like a play ground with genuine laughter. I was in fact very surprised by Daniela. Being a tango dancer for almost 5 years, I found workshops more targeting toward leaders and much less toward followers. Daniela was a great follower teacher! Being sensitive is already an established ability in me as a tango dancer. But to respond to a lead with a precise muscle control or "not to control" is something that I have not mastered. Daniela would walk over and adjust me like a yoga teacher, "this muscle, not that one. very good. breathe. nice. feel it?" And I would smile and know I can do it.

Some people just don't get it. They are frustrated and convinced that they cannot do certain moves. So they push themselves too hard on a tiny thing. So they push their partners into a position. Oh, I hate leaders who push me. All followers are judgmental about pushy leaders. Oh, you have to have confidence in yourself and relax and have fun and try again and have fun and smile. Possibilities exist. You just need to reveal them with an open mind and body. AND allow the other body to share this fun.

Or find a good teacher who can open your mind and thus your body.