Tango Mentor

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musicality

10 things that will make you better dancer

by Ivica Anteski ·

Pay attention: I imagined this article as the essence of what I think is important for every dancer. Of course, there is no universal formula that can help everyone, but if you search for place to begin – I believe this is the one.

Would have been really great if I had someone told me this when I was a beginner. When you start learning tango and gather some experience you understand that what you were thinking in the past was not always right. I guess it is natural way of development.

There is one trick: you have to be prepared and open to new ideas. If you are not able to see, any advice would seem to you just empty words.

This is why I decided to propose to you an interesting experiment. This is especially important for those who already have some months or years of experience – experience makes us better dancers, but in the same time makes us more confident and less open to new ideas.

So, the experiment…

Take a piece of paper or open word processing document on your computer and make a list of 10 things that would be most useful advice to your less experienced self. Anything, from musicality or technique, to the big picture of understanding tango. Imagine him/her standing in front of you and think what would you say that can help her/him.

After you write down your list, read it! You will be surprised that many of the things are useful to yourself as well.

Before you do this experiment, let me share with you what I believe will help majority of the dancers.

1. Dance differently to different orchestra

Learn how to feel the difference in the energy and the sensibility between different orchestras. You can do that by learning about their character, and you can do that by reading about their history.

It will also help you if you learn something about different songs and their history as well. If you do this, you will notice that when you dance, they will have deeper meaning for you.

2. Respect other couples on the dance floor

All tango codes can be boiled down to one simple rule: “Respect – give it, to get it!” If you want to enjoy and be respected dancer, you have to understand that the dance floor belongs to all dancers and that you have to learn how to respect their space and their desire to enjoy. This means you have to adapt your dancing to the conditions and if, despite your efforts, you collide with other couple, to excuse yourself with a smile.

3. Don’t worry about what observers think about your dancing

We are not show dancers. So why should we behave like we are? The point of dancing in milongas is to enjoy in our dance and make our partner enjoy as well. Leave acrobatic show dancing to the celebrity stars and focus on what you really are – a social dancer. Forget about who is watching and don’t let that distract you.

4. Be comfortable with intimate embrace

Tango is very intimate dance. Some people feel good about that, others don’t. From my perspective, the most magical moments come when you are able to feel comfortable with this intimacy.

5. Learn how to make pauses

Let me make an analogy here: how do you feel about someone who talks non stop, without making any pause? It is completely same with dancing. You should slow down to the speed of calmness and then the door will open. Dancing with pauses is one of the most valuable skill any dancer should learn.

Hey, sorry to interrupt…

Do you like reading my articles? If you do please consider a small contribution to the existence of this blog.

I don’t sell a book or run ads: I share these articles for free. Unfortunately I also have to pay my bills, so if you see value in my work please consider a small donation/gratuity (the same way you tip your favorite bartender).
From my heart to yours!
Ivica

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6. Know what is the best quality of your personal style

You will see on this list items that makes no sense to you. This can mean two things: 1) you don’t care about them or 2) they are too easy for you. If they are too easy – it means that those are your strong sides – the qualities that you should be proud of. Those are good cornerstones on which you should build your personal dancing style.

7. Never complain about the music

Well, let’s be honest, there is a bad music on milongas. But, if you want to have good time and let others have good time as well, knowing how to ignore this fact without complaining is a must. They say good milonguero knows how to dance to any music.

8. Don’t try to please everyone

You can try and try, but sometimes you just can’t please everyone. Some will never dance with you, no matter how hard you try. Also, some will not respect your style and preference and there is nothing you can do about it. Just accept it with a smile.

9. What happens on the dance floor, stays on the dance floor

Don’t mistake intimacy for interest. Don’t mistake sensuality for sexuality. Tango is a game, a romance of 10 minutes and when the tanda finishes – it’s over. Don’t make your partners feel uncomfortable to dance again with you.

10. Never undervalue what you give to your partner

Never say more than one “I’m sorry” per tanda. This is especially important for the beginners. When someone dances with you, (s)he is usually aware of your level. Every dancer was a beginner and knows what challenges you are facing. (S)he chose to dance with you for a reason. It may be something that you are not aware of: good embrace (s)he enjoys in, a positive personality (s)he needs in that moment, musicality… Who knows? If (s)he dances with you, you should never imagine that (s)he expects more than you can give.

Do you like this article? Did you find it useful? If you did, help me spread the word and share it with your tango friends, so they can benefit as well.

Dance with your heart, not with your feet

by Ivica Anteski ·

Do you dance with your heart? The question might be simple, but the answer is more complicated than you think.

My mission with Tango Mentor is to get more people feel what dancing with your heart means. I mean, real dancing with your heart. Metaphorically and physically.

I am not talking here about feeling the music and entering in the state of flow – it is physically dancing with your heart.

Not long ago, one of my most dedicated students wrote me an interesting message where he shared his observation about the tango learning process.

“Why is there no structure? Beginners often get a pile of techniques and steps… knowledge which is unconnected in a logical way. It doesn’t follow a path of logical progression and more often it creates confusion and frustration…”, he concluded.

I could not agree with him more. If you start tango with a teacher who organizes his method well and you don’t change schools, you are blessed. No confusion for you in the beginning.

But, when you start dancing in milongas or international events you discover that often in tango there are opposite approaches side by side. They are not wrong – they are just different.

Why do they exist? This is the case because people are different and they expect different things from their dance. This is the reason why there is no structure. This is the reason why there are so many varieties that people are often confused and frustrated.

In my opinion, this is even the reason for most of the divides and tension in tango communities around the world.

I know, many will not agree with me and it’s their right to have a different view. I know they do so because they feel differently about their dance.

I am writing this article for those dancers who want to dance with their embrace. I dedicate this to the huggers.

1. Dancing with/for the heart

One of the best stories I learned from the book “The Meaning of Tango” by Christine Denniston could be condensed in one sentence:

You dance with your heart. Your legs are there just to prevent your heart from falling on the floor.

It sounds poetic, but it is also a condensed guide to learn how to dance.

Dancing with your heart is an approach mostly used by those dancers who cherish the embrace above all. They don’t care if their repertoire is poor or if they look terrible on the photos. What matters to them is if it feels good – for them and for their partners.

Yes, I am talking about the huggers.

Of course, the moves and musicality is also important, but not if they mean losing your embrace.

Hey, sorry to interrupt…

Do you like reading my articles? If you do please consider a small contribution to the existence of this blog.

I don’t sell a book or run ads: I share these articles for free. Unfortunately I also have to pay my bills, so if you see value in my work please consider a small donation/gratuity (the same way you tip your favorite bartender).
From my heart to yours!
Ivica

Thank you button

Securely processed via PayPal

2. Dancing with the feet

On the other hand, there are those dancers who follow the idea that dancers paint with their feet.
They will open the embrace, use their hands to lead and follow or even use force to do some steps. For them the movement is above all… the movement and musicality.

If you are one of those dancers you will notice that having a good embrace or having good connection is, in most cases, taught as a tool to help you lead/follow the steps.

This tango is often more physical and more attractive to watch. No wonder a big majority of beginners are enchanted by this way of dancing.

I have to add one more observation here. I have this feeling that those dancers who are more focused on the movement need more intensive music, melodies with more drama to feel emotion in the dance. On the other hand, the huggers could feel strong emotions even from the old guard tangos, which might feel dry in emotion.

I’ve done my part of spreading the huggers’ tango culture with writing this article. If you want us to have а better tango world, help me with sharing it with your friends on Facebook or any other way you communicate. Thank you for that!

The mathematics of the dance

by Ivica Anteski ·

photo by Oirad Aguls ©

The mathematics of the dance is a way to understand how do you use your dancing repertoire and what is the value of the steps in your vocabulary.

Have you ever tough about how much steps you learned since you started dancing tango? Did you calculated how much of that knowledge you actually use when you dance?

I do not know if someone actually made that study, but I believe that the experienced tango dancers use just a small percentage of what they actually know. I think that male dancers usually use smaller percentage of their knowledge than the female dances (specially in the later phase of their development).

The form you have selected does not exist.

I know this because I know that tango is similar to the language.

…an average adult native English speaker has an active vocabulary of about 20,000 words, the Reading Teachers Book of Lists claims that the first 25 words are used in 33% of everyday writing, the first 100 words appear in 50% of adult and student writing, and the first 1,000 words are used in 89% of every day writing! Of course, as we progressively move to a higher percentage, the number of words starts to dramatically increase (especially after 95% of comprehension), but it has been said that a vocabulary of just 3000 words provides coverage for around 95% of common texts. (Lingoholic)

The parallel is obvious. There are very useful steps and elements in tango and there are those who are used just occasionally.

I will try to explain in this post what are the factors that limits the usage of our knowledge. This post is mostly focused on the male aspects in tango, but I am sure that many women will recognize the parallels in their dancing as well.

– Does anyone have any question? – I asked as I always do before I finish my workshops.

Silence. I hate when no one has to ask or comment. I need that feedback… And then, a girl rose her hand.

– I have a question. What did you meant ‘The mathematics of the dance”? I mean, it was mentioned in the description for this workshop, but you did not talked about that.

She was wrong. I was talking about it all the time, but I never used the term mathematics – I was teaching them how to make the best use of the repertoire they already have. This was the mathematics of the dance.

[Tweet “How to make the best use of the repertoire you already have”]

Understanding how much of our repertoire we use will give us a perspective on what is important in our dancing and what are the things we should pay less attention to. This will give you a clear direction what should you practice more.

So, here are the factors:

1. Your mood – The way you dance always depends on the way you feel. We often say that tango is a feeling that is danced: than what happens when you feel bad, tired, angry, disappointed, scared? Than your dancing becomes an expression of your bad feeling.

Nothing can limit your enjoyment and your dancing ability like bad mood can. Of course, you can intentionally do some things to improve your mood, but there are situations when it is impossible. Let’s say you did not had enough sleep (which happens often on big tango events with non-stop dancing) – than no amount of good will can help you get in a good mood, you just need a pillow.

The mood also influences your ability for communication. People in a bad mood tend to be closed or they influence others to close up to them, which disrupts the smoothness of the embrace and the clarity of the communication.

But what does this mean for your dancing? When you are in a good mood you can easily enter in a state of flow, when all you want to do just works. When you are in a bad mood, the opposite happens – nothing works. Even things you usually make without effort can be hard to do. Being in a bad mood, you might end up limiting the dancing yourself, without external influences.

2. The music – The DJ can make or brake the milonga. It is wrong to think that if you are in a good mood, no matter how bad the music is you can have a good time. People sometimes can have good time, for hour or two, but eventually constant exposure to bad music can brake even the most positive people.

On the other hand, good music can lift up the mood of the milonga and can inspire even those who did not planed to dance a lot. I have seen people already prepared to go home from a milonga, going back and putting their dancing shoes just because they love the tanda.

Good inspiring music can make you get the best you have and expand your dancing repertoire. You can sometimes actually do stuff that you were not aware that you are able to.

Bad music can make you forget even what you already know, repeating over and over the same patterns in a same way, which will make your dancing boring to you, and boring to your partners.

3. The partner – Lets be honest: tango is dance of two people and the way you dance most of the time can be limited or inspired by your partner. It is not always you who have the responsibility.

Good dancer, of course, can get the most from limiting partner, but it is still a limiting factor. On the other hand, good partner who communicates well and who knows how to inspire you can make you dance like a hurricane 🙂

One of the factors is the right choice of the partner for the certain type of music. I love to dance slow emotional tandas with sensual partners who can connect on very deep levels. I love to dance fast rhythmical tandas with partners who inspire me to add more creativity and dynamics to my dancing.

If you try to mix those you will end up limiting your dancing. I do not say that good dancers can not dance both, but if you want to get the most from your dances you have to consider this factor as well.

4. The crowd – I always prefer to dance in crowded milongas than getting my way on a huge dance floors with few couples. Crowded milongas have this closeness and energy that flows from couple to couple, it has this feeling of togetherness which makes a warm feeling in my heart.

On the other hand, huge half-empty dance floors makes me leave earlier. It brings this sense of emptiness, lonely feeling that drains the will to dance.

But, dancing in a crowded milonga comes with a price. Specially if the people there are not well trained to dance in such close proximity to other couples. Using less space is the first rule of respecting others when you dance alongside others in a crowded milonga. If people do not do that the milonga can become a real nightmare.

If the dance floor is battlefield sometimes is better to go home and watch a movie or go for a drink with the friends than trying to dance. But even when it is not, even if all the dancers dance respectfully you might end up dancing bad because the space is too narrow and does not allow you to do many of the moves in your repertoire. This is why on your practicas you should practice from time to time dancing in a small space.

After explaining these factors we can make the calculations: the mathematics of the dance. This is a hypothetical example but every dancer should recognize some of these limits in his experiences in various milongas he attends.

Imagine you have in your repertoire 20 steps. Because you are in a bad mood or sleepy, five of them are not an option, so you end up dancing with 15. But wait, the music is flat and it does not inspire you to use all your repertoire. Lets say the DJ is not good and decided to play just rhythmic music tonight – and you have to forget about those steps for melodic music with pauses: so you end up with 10 steps.

And then, you decided to dance a tanda with a lovely girl who has limited dancing skills or she is not connecting well. You try to make a step and she does not respond, so you give up that one. You try another one – it works, but the next one, does not. This way you lose another 5 steps from your repertoire and now you are at 5.

It comes around 23h and the milonga is getting more and more crowded – the space available on the dance floor that one couple can use shrinks. From those 5 steps you have, 3 are completely unusable in this circumstances, so you finally end up with 2.

Huh, not a big freedom for expression.

Do you think this post will help some of your tango friends? Share it on Facebook, Twitter or in a private message. Help me in my intention to help more people to improve their dancing skills.