Tango Mentor

Every great tango dancer breaks the rules. On occasion or often, they decide to go off the rail and do things that are usually not considered recommendable or allowed, and they are not "punished" for that. I agree that it's not what makes them good dancers, but there's something in being bold enough to deviate from the norms that makes them better. Is it the self-confidence? Is it the personality? Is it the act of being different? Before we get into the details, let's clear out some things: 1) What I Mean by "Rules" First, when I say "the rules," what do I mean by that? Well, the codigos are a part, but it's not just the codigos I'm talking about here. There are many widely … [Read more...] about Tango Rebels: Breaking the Rules

I was sitting on the bench (it was not even a chair) and thinking that this event was a waste of time and money. Not that there were no ladies who were decent dancers, but because guys danced horribly... they were not respecting others on the dance floor, doing aggressive energetic moves and leading high boleos and ganchos. The music was mostly acceptable, but the dance floor was a battlefield. The only bright spot on the dance floor was an older gentleman, an Italian who danced calmly and with great elegance. Being aware of the situation on the dance floor, he trimmed down his repertoire to its bare bones - hardly doing any sequences. Unfortunately, that was not enough; I could see the … [Read more...] about Dancing Simply is Not Enough

You can't teach emotion? Yes, I agree, but I strongly believe that isn't everything one can say about it. While teaching someone how to feel in a certain way is impossible, you can help people cultivate what they feel, express it, channel it; you can give them tools to give their emotions a form. I always believed that there is a part of tango that is well beyond the scope of a tango teacher. In fact, I'm not sure if I consider it a dance at all. There's something unique happening between humans when they move together in intimate embrace - so, I would rather say that tango is meditation for two. This means when you dance tango you learn how to better communicate with others; how … [Read more...] about Teaching Emotion in Tango

What I am about to say in this article is not meant to be an insult but well-intentioned advice for all dancers who step on the dance floor aiming to emulate their favorite performers. I am also not trying to make comments about performers. My point is that one should differentiate depending on the context, and more importantly, understand what it means. How performance and social dancing are constructed differently and what things a milonguero dancer should be aware of. A bunch of clowns? When I first saw this comment, it felt like it came from a position of disrespect - and in this case, it's probably right to assume that. "Celia Blanco is one of those blunt, tough-talking, … [Read more...] about The Tango Clown Syndrome

I understand, most of the tango world is not quite inspired by videos of old milongueros. There are many things people don't like about them... they have no good technique, their dancing is not shiny and fancy and for some people it's boring to watch because they can't even recognize familiar patterns they see on videos of exhibition dances. Unfortunately, I must add, ageism plays a significant part in this repulsion - it's not cool to be old. On top of that, most of those videos of old milongueros were really recorded when they were beyond their prime years, when the decline of their physical abilities started and their skill level slowly started to fade away. Having all this in mind, … [Read more...] about What Can You Learn from Old Milonguero Videos?

Understanding how you learned things and why you dance the way you do is very important if you have ambition to improve your dancing. Of course, you can let things grow naturally and let go of a pre-planned tango journey, but there are people like me who have clear goals and know where they want their journey to take them and how they want to dance. If you're like me and want to purposefully guide it, you're like a ship sailing on an open ocean - you will catch the winds that take you towards your direction and disregard others. Doing so will save you a lot of energy and money on useless workshops, help you avoid disappointing events, and allow you to develop your own taste and have a … [Read more...] about Why Do You Dance the Way You Do?