2007.Mar.20 Tuesday - DNI and Practica X

1pm DNI
Barely arrived at DNI after my hectic night at Canning and then a trip to Belgrano. The class with Sebastián y Eugenia was incredible, and the figure was really cool. The problem is that it didn't "work" in the Practica, so I still have to figure out what I need to do to get it to work. They're trying a new teacher, Pablo, out, but he's really okay but not the kind of fantastic dancer that DNI is famous for. He taught/confused the figure they were teaching.

The original figure, which was kind of nice, involved several rebotes to change weight while the woman simply does a front ocho with a rebound to the man's right, and then a front ocho to front ocho on the man's left. The only interesting stuff is how the man rebounds. I don't know when I'll get to work on this stuff. That's what home practices are for, I guess.

9.30pm Práctica X
Práctica X was absolutely amazing and two couples danced (in a desafío or battle) and it was absolutely brilliant. All the information on the desafío is here and you can find more information on Practica X here. The dancers last night were:

Pablo Inza y Moira Castellano VS Horacio Godoy y Cecilia Garcia

both of which were amazing, but I have to say that Horacio and Cecilia BLEW ME AWAY. Beautiful movement, very nuevo but very obviously tango, and amazing understanding of the music they were dancing too (which was picked at the last minute: maybe they got lucky? Nah, it was obviously improvised).

Práctica X has the best dance floor I've seen ever, and they don't even sell drinks, and it only costs 4 pesos. Brilliant that things like this exist.

Checking out the site for Práctica X made me realize that I should stop by the class beforehand.

Almost forgot, aside from chatting with all kind of beautiful and ugly people, I also talked to the bass player for Trío Garufa. Gente copada. We talked about how funky (or not) Milonga music is, and how to find the groove in that.

It's one of those nights that makes you realize how many great people are dedicated to tango, how friendly and open people are, and how wonderful it is to be participating in such a big thing in the most important place for it. Learning to dance tango in Buenos Aires is like learning to blow up stuff in Bagdad, I guess. I mean, imagine all the bonding that goes on during those all night explosive-recipe sessions.