... and I keep dancing

Welcome to my Argentine Tango blog! I began this blog about a year after starting to dance Argentine Tango. That year had been both wonderful and frustrating. I started recording my progress and feelings from that point on... and both wonder and frustration have continued, only even more intensely.


Monday, November 26, 2007

Dancing "cheek to cheek"

(Excerpt of an email sent to a tanguera who mentioned in a class that dancing "cheek to cheek" hurts her neck)

The cheek "problem" must have really been on your mind, and I hope it wasn't only me... I do find that most women settle in quite comfortably in some form a head contact, and I haven't been conscious of initiating it... until recently, when you made me more aware of the possibility that it might not be welcome. I did have one "complaint" once from a follower who was much shorter and felt that my head was weighing on top of hers, and I have been very careful with her since then. I will be equally careful with you whenever we happen to dance together again.

Overall I have been feeling pretty good about my dancing, and close embrace has become easy and comfortable, with my steps "tighter" and more secure. I have been getting good feedback from women I hadn't danced with for a while. But then again, there is always that "mystery" connection that may or may not happen, regardless of whether one happens to like the partner or not. There are a couple of followers I've stopped asking to dance simply because it never seemed "easy", but I find it very hard to give up on people I really like... Hope springs eternal that some day it will "click".

Thursday, November 15, 2007

A tighter dance

My steps are getting "tighter" and more confident. I can handle a crowded floor with many quick turns in both directions and quick steps in and out of the cross system. Sometimes I follow some advanced leaders in the line of dance and I find that I can reproduce their steps exactly. I do that that for brief periods, just to check myself, Then of course I go back to trying to interpret the music as I hear it. A friend I had not danced with for a while commented on my improvement, and it felt good.

When the line is crossed

I was dancing in a very comfortable close embrace. The music ended. The embrace didn't. This was a surprise and a realization that the "connection" had now reached beyond the dance. Had tango been responsible or had it just been the medium? How often does this happen?