Notebook. July 15, 2008.

Skipped the private with my primary teacher last week, to catch up the other instructor on one of his volatile visits to the area. The lesson was very educative and productive, as it always is with him.

I had some not well-formed questions in my mind about things I had been struggling with in my dancing. But as usual, I just let him teach and fix whatever he thought was the most flagrant. And as usual, I got several very important answers to the very questions I had. He seems to understand my struggles even better than I do. I think I found myself a great teacher.

First note would be about timing and being late on some steps and pivots. The teacher said that I have to go from foot to foot more decisively, and not end up keeping my weight in between or leaving some of it on the foot I am parting from. That foot has to be completely free of weight, to be able to do an embellishment or a sacada or whatever comes. And to be balanced, I have to arrive completely on my axis. Sometimes I have to go to the point of destination with the hip, as there is no time to make a graduate transfer. That point was already made once by G. , but not fully understood by me at the time, and now it makes perfect sense.

On the turns and pivots, I have to turn my hips to the direction of the movement first, and then make a step. And do not be lazy pivoting, more energy. That brought us to the not-so-new discovery, that my hips and are not completely free and relaxed, as they are supposed to be in tango. I tend to tuck and crook and stiffen, especially on the more complicated moves.

The general rule here would be, the connection between the torso and the hips has to become very very long and relaxed. Everything above the waist grows up, everything underneath drops down. The body is like a tree, the top reaching for the sky, the roots growing into the ground. I have to monitor and eliminate the shortening and the curling in my body.

Another area I tend to close is the left shoulder. I also have to remember about the arms being relaxed, and about the connection with the leader's body coming from the palms, not from the entire arms.

The teacher gave me other images to think about, like my entire body hanging from a skull, or my legs being long like a daddy-long-legs' . Even when I am making tiny step, there is that feeling of my legs and the whole body being long, free and being able to produce the amplitude. I have to make a video and see if imagining all those things translates into the actual changes in movements.

More things to pay attention to: keeping the feet in contact with the floor at all times, looking for that groundness; the right side boleo works better, remember that feeling and seek the same while doing the left side boleo. On ganchos, free and articulate the hip joint, not the knee.

In general, turn, twist, flex the knees on boleos more. The movement has to become more free, more "oily". This is a very familiar refrain. Amazing how I get stuck with the same thing in tango I used to struggle in ballroom with.

On the bright side, I seemed to follow him better than in our previous lessons. So, perhaps, there is some improvement.

To shange the topic slightly, I have been revising my milonga strategies. I have come to the conclusion thatI better just not take certain things close to heart.
After all, they only harm me if I let them. They are not important indeed. Instead of trying to avoid them at all cost, I can chose to laugh them off.