Tango Padawan - Latest Comments

Re: Sublime

Tango Padawan — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:16:53 -0000

Hi Jantango. Thanks a lot for clarifying your statement. I was curious as to what your understanding of the word milonguero. I did not know Julio was so exclusive in his dancing, thanks for the information.

Thanks for reading the blog! un abrazo.

Re: Sublime

jantango — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:32:04 -0000

It's not about the number of years one has danced tango. It's about how one learned and then created his personal style. A milonguero goes alone to a milonga to dance with any woman he choses when he hears the music that inspires him to dance. Julio Balmaceda dances with Corina, his wife. In my opinion, he isn't nor will he ever be a milonguero. A milonguero improvises in the moment with a partner he may not even know. Julio practices, teaches and dances with one woman.

Re: Sublime

Tango Padawan — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:30:26 -0000

Will he be in 30 years?

Re: Slow and meaningul

Tango Padawan — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:26:41 -0000

Thank you for your kind words about Christopher, I'm sure he appreciates it. I look forward to meeting him.

I guess I have never asked if others ask people I dance with if they enjoyed dancing with me slowly. Now I'm curious... :)

Re: Slow and meaningul

Rachel — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:54:59 -0000

This reminds me of dancing with Christopher (Nassopoulos, from SF). Just about every time I dance with him, another leader will come up to me afterwards and ask if I actually enjoyed dancing with him, i.e. dancing that slowly. And every time, I give an enthusiastic yes--because Christopher dances every single moment of the music. There is a lot of energy in his dance. And he does let that energy release into quick movements from time to time, which is exciting.

Thanks for the thoughts and the video--it brought up these memories and reminded me that this is a quality I really look for in leaders!

Re: Delayed breakthrough

me — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:00:21 -0000

Dear TP,

I take it for granted that the material I learn in class comes to me six months later. :-)

Re: Si soy asi

jantango — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 15:26:30 -0000

I heard this tango on the radio one day and did an English translation for my blog. It explains a lot about Argentine men.

Re: Since when

jantango — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 15:24:34 -0000

Group classes and practicas offer the opportunity to know the teacher(s). They don't give much in group classes so that students will make appointments for private classes.

Re: Sublime

jantango — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 15:22:10 -0000

I don't consider Julio to be a milonguero. His father was.

Re: Praising Tango

jantango — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 15:19:48 -0000

Tango unites two strangers who may become one in the moment. Yoga can't do that.

Re: Since when

Debbi — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 11:46:50 -0000

I so hear you.....

Re: Slow but confident ?

Magdaro — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:31:44 -0000

Thanks for this video. That's incredible! Their foots are amazing!

Re: Amazing dancers

Controtango — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 06:20:36 -0000

Hi,
really nice this post about your thoughts and dreams, uncovering your inner self. Maybe it's too much thinking that only professionals are professional, remember that dancing is having fun, dancing while having fun is much much better than dancing correctly. As you say too, the technique will come with practice too. It doesn't matter to me if I'm looking at a couple of professionals or not, if they like me I don't care who they are. Come and visit my blog and you will see what I about this argument. (http://controtango.blogspot... It's in Italian but you can translate it with the instrument at the bottom of the page.
Hope you like it and we could link each-other's blogs.
Mail me if you agree.
Besos
Controtango

Re: peer pressure

Tango Padawan — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:29:56 -0000

I guess you're right. I just saw too much of disrupting big and bold moves. Don't get me wrong, I love those and they're on my agenda but respecting others is also important :)

Re: peer pressure

Rachel — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 15:24:17 -0000

I don't think it is all about small moves. The bigger or open moves can also be done with musicality, grace and connection. I think it is all about those things and has very little to do with how it ends up looking, big or small, open or close (except in the context of not disrupting the ronda).

Re: Well, better that than pity dances

stilllifeinbuenosaires — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:25:36 -0000

Which tango community do you dance in TP? Just curious, as I assume every community has a different personality.

I don't know which state I'll return to in the U.S., but I look forward to getting the experience of an American milonga.

Cheers~

Re: El Abrazo perfecto

Debor Ah — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:59:59 -0000

Indeed, the elusiveness of such glimpses are the puzzle that feeds us on and off the dance floor. We have an ideal vision of a decorous, kind-hearted society where evil does not exist. But evil abounds. So the dance floor is a venue for potential tenderness. Yet such tenderness is rarely pure. When it is, we exult, we do not have to think, everything is right, and simply flowing.

To step immediately into that perfect embrace requires that all doubt is essentially snapped off, and that is quite difficult. Questions of who is this person, what will our dance be like, persist if the answers are not pleasing. Less experienced dancers are too distracted by trying to "do it right" to simply sink into the moment, the mood of the music, and to truly improvise with the music and one's partner. But more experienced dancers too can become rigid in their expectations of whether or not this partner is good enough to dance with them....

Only when both are willing to let go of expectation, and sink into the music, is there the potential to find a new expression, and to taste freedom for a bit. The embrace is perfect for some steps, then perhaps too wary in others, perfect one day, and another day, due to all the fluctations in the universe, elusive again...

Re: Copycat

noseintheair — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 07:25:59 -0000

A child also copies their parents but in time comes to be their own person; maybe even a very different one; yet the parent's influence is what draws out even that great difference. I notice an EKG tracing ... ? ..I also work in the medical field and dance.

Re: Copycat

Alex — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:58:13 -0000

Your own personal style will evolve in time. Give it about 10 years or so.

Re: Why?

Tango Padawan — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 01:58:32 -0000

Thanks all for the comments. I know I should not take it so personally but if I put my heart on the line, it's always hard to ignore.
I probably over-thought the whole thing...

Re: Slow but confident ?

Tango Padawan — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 01:57:04 -0000

Thanks koolricky, that's a nice insight :-)

Re: Speaking of Tango…

Roque — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:04:17 -0000

Muy bien !!! eso es TANGO !!! una manera de ver la vida. Que se aprende con el tiempo.
Muchas gracias, y a seguir bailando.

Re: "You're musical"

stilllifeinbuenosaires — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:08:02 -0000

That's beautiful. I love those moments.

I need to stop saying, "I'm a beginner," as well. It seems to extinguish a little mystery or initial spark. Good luck to you.

Re: Slow but confident ?

koolricky — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:18:25 -0000

Hi tango padawan:

I remember when I asked Rodolfo Dinzel how he thought tango differed from other dances. His reply was very curious, "Tango is the only dance in which stillness is a move".

Don't forget of a tool which we, leaders tend to ignore so often - breathing. It helps wuite a lot on pauses!

Re: Copycat

koolricky — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:11:08 -0000

Don't we all?