Tango Mentor

I understand: all of us want to become perfect dancers, but what many don’t realize is that the perfectionism is exactly what stops you from approaching that goal. When Tango Mentor started five years ago, my message to the readers was “Discover your dancing perfection”. Few months later I learned that the word “perfection” was source of confusion: my idea of perfection was often opposite of what some of my readers had in mind.. My intended message was to tell people that the most important lesson a tango dancer should learn is that he should focus on the connection. Unfortunately many are using the connection as just another tool to achieve what they have in mind when they say … [Read more...] about 5 ways perfectionism destroys your dancing

Bad news! Looks like for most of the world tango is going nowhere. As vaccination efforts are rolling out, countries are still holding tight to their lock down policies – in some they are getting even tighter and, as a result, tango communities are getting in the worst shape than they have ever been. In this survey I’ve got answers from over 150 dancers from 37 countries. I want to thank everyone who contributed and helped me to put together this article about the results. If your country was not included in this survey, be sure to sign up to my Newsletter, so you will be notified when I send my next survey. I plan to do my next survey in April or May 2021. The vaccines are here, … [Read more...] about Dancing tango in February 2021

As I read what dancers from around the world are saying in my survey about tango during coronavirus pandemic, this question “is tango an essential activity?” pops up in my mind. Is it essential for the society, and is it essential for your life? No. Tango is not considered an essential activity. According to authorities in different countries around the world, essential activities include things like healthcare, transportation, communication, food and water, defense, energy etc. Tango schools and venues are not considered critical infrastructure that can assure safe function of society in crisis. Maybe I’m biased, but there’s a big problem with this answer: tango is not an essential … [Read more...] about Is tango an essential activity?

Dancing milonga is pure joy and happiness. Unfortunately there are many communities where the the milonga tandas empties up the dance floor. For one reason or another, the group of dancers who love and enjoy milonga is often minority. "I want to dance with you", she said over the table during our dinner with a group of milongueros after the daily milonga. This goes against all invitation rules of traditional milongas, but who cares... I also wanted to dance with her and even without this I would have invited her. That evening I came late! I spot an empty chair next to her and I happily took the opportunity. "Let's dance!", I said without even thinking of cabeceo. "Oh, but it's … [Read more...] about Milonga masters you should see

They say being out "in the nature" without understanding it is like being in a museum where all pictures are hanged faced towards the wall. I don't remember who was the wise person who said that, but I get the point: without understanding we are destined to see just the surface of things. It's like looking at their shapes and forms without truly having a grasp of their meaning and the content. Many people come to tango without being properly introduced in the meaning of what it's all about and many feel need to find it (because we are meaning searching animals). They try to find it or, if they can't, they create it. I am talking here about the meaning of all things we do in tango: … [Read more...] about Five articles every tango dancer must read

Our worldview is often limited by the status of our environment: if people don’t dance in our community, we assume that that is the norm everywhere… But this can’t be any further from the truth! This is why I decided to make a little survey about where people dance and what they do to protect themselves and others during these crazy times. I started in October and since I've got great feedback, I decided to repeat it every few months. My little survey have just four questions: I asked the participants about tango classes, practicas, milongas and international events in their country. They had to check these answers for each category: As normalOnly with safety precautionsOnly … [Read more...] about Dancing tango in December 2020