Defining tango milonguero in terms of a close hold is taking a single aspect of the approach out of an organic whole. Doing so allows the style to be integrated into the standard process of salon style tango, as a sort of sub-genre. So teachers of salon style tango are more than happy to accommodate… Continue reading The milonguero manifesto
Category: Imagery
The tango walk is the main obstacle to learning tango milonguero
The tango walk is the first thing that you are taught when you start learning tango. You are told to slide along the floor and push into it. If you go to a milonga del centro, in which dancers exemplify tango milonguero, this walking technique is not viable. So, with very few exceptions, no one… Continue reading The tango walk is the main obstacle to learning tango milonguero
Paxton’s Material for the Spine for tango milonguero
I am in the process of completing a book on movement learning for tango milonguero. I was planning to continue with a method which I based on the Feldenkrais Method. The goal of this approach was to promote a “long-spine” mental image which I thought this was preferable to the kind of movement into space… Continue reading Paxton’s Material for the Spine for tango milonguero
Mindfullness and multi-tasking
I am currently back to working on classical guitar technique and learning sight-reading, which means playing directly from written music without memorising. It is quite a challenge as the exercises are quite boring, in a way that meditation is boring. You spend a couple of minutes totally focused playing random notes from the sheet of… Continue reading Mindfullness and multi-tasking
When you are looking you are not listening
I have been working on some tango guitar pieces but have been frustrated. I just could not get them to sound as good as I would expect. I tried different techniques but still they sounded rather flat. I tried playing in different ways, with different amount of power, and different techniques. At some point I… Continue reading When you are looking you are not listening
The spatial organisation of the milonga
A conversation with tango dancers with a performance orientation has been very thought provoking. It is pretty amazing how people who apparently participate in the same activity could have more divergent views on the practice. I am not really surprised because I see it all the time. The problem is articulating what precisely is the… Continue reading The spatial organisation of the milonga
Why inefficiency and obsolescence is not a bug but a feature of tango classes
Planned obsolescence is a feature of products so that companies can sell more stuff. If things were designed to last people would continue to use the product they bought and not buy the new one. Companies design products to break or become obsolete even when they continue to function perfectly well. A good example is… Continue reading Why inefficiency and obsolescence is not a bug but a feature of tango classes
Naturalness in tango dancing
“I'm a natural dancer.” Tango teacher My very first tango teacher was an Argentinian who was an above average dancer. In addition to teaching he did performances in restaurants and singles events. He taught in the standard way for the time: paso basico, cross, ochos, ganchos, high boleos. When a new teacher appeared on the… Continue reading Naturalness in tango dancing