Another week full of tango has gone by. On Monday, I finally had some practice time with my partner. It was unexpectedly great. His lead feels smooth. He tries a lot of new fun steps, and his musicality is really enjoyable. We had such a mean milonga, I couldn't help but dance with all my body. A couple of other good leaders were in attendance, and took me for a spin on the floor. All in all, a good practica.
Tuesday, a class in the city and the milonga afterward. In class, I had to concentrate on making two separate, perfectly straight trails with my feet (toes, really) while walking forward and back. Also, not to forget to straighten my leg at the extreme back position without arching the small of the back at the same time. When a leader pivots me back and fourth in place on one foot, the other foot should not go in front of the standing foot. Even if I am making a circle/arch as an embellishment, it should not become an amague.
The Tuesday milonga was super busy for me. I was a little tired to begin with. But I danced for 3 hours almost non stop. It went very well with my new sweetheart, as well as with a few of my other favorite leaders. The older gentleman whose milonga was so fun at the last all-nighter asked me for a milonga again, and we ended up dancing valses and tangos. Those were great sets, upbeat, energetic, and full of fun.
I think I got a massive overdose of tango that night.
Wednesday and Thursday, practice with my other partner. I kept working on my feet position and action, on releasing my legs, on the posture, but above all, my following. I have to remember waiting for the lead always, longer, let the leader play with the inertia, and use the rubber band connection myself. I think I managed to stay on the task, and it was effective.
Friday I took the night off tango. I was exhausted, physically and morally.
On Saturday, my Happy Place turned out not be so happy. I was still a little tired from the previous tango nights, I believe. Nothing went really wrong, though. I had nice dances. Fewer sets than usual, granted. Well, fewer than an overdose amount I got on Tuesday when I didn't sit out one entire tanda in 2.5 hours. But for some reason, I didn't feel psyched. On the contrary, it felt a little lonely, and even sad. I had a bumpy start, when I couldn't figure somebody's lead, and extricated myself from dancing with him in a clumsy way. I think the guy might have got offended. Then I got an impromptu practice session with one of my favorites. I wasn't really in the mood for practice that night. The most enjoyable was dancing again with a guy I met for the first time last Friday, in the Chapel. Lovely small weight shifts, great musicality. The rest of the night was uneventful, and colored by my somewhat dysphoric mood.
But what a sweet revenge I had on the next night, at our local once-a-month Sunday thing. I danced with my favorite leader, and it wasn't a practice session this time. Then, I danced with a local instructor whose style I normally don't dig. But this time, it went better than usual. Might it be me the improved, I wonder? And finally, I was transferred in a wonderful tango zone by my partner. It is so much more enjoyable to follow all those steps in a milonga! We had great sets of music, in addition, all the songs were definitely among my favorites.
Dancing with him made me very, very happy. That's tango.
I am to remember, though, not to drop my posture and plop my feet while in trance. That is what the practice is for, to make it all -- posture, feet action -- a second nature.
Update on April 23, 2009: It is amazing, actually, but only a few days ago I practiced with one of my abovementioned partners ( I do not practice with the other anymore), and both of them put me in the zone while we were dancing at the last milonga!
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