Tango Nuevo Moderno and Tango Salón, Classes Privadas, DNI, José and Viky

This week was kind of a full tango week although I'm still not going to the milongas regularly because I'm working with technology (sometimes related to "the bottom line" and sometimes... less related).

On Wednesday I went to my private with Cecilia Gonzalez and I tried something out that worked out very nicely. I didn't talk. Cecilia knows me and knows that I ask tons of questions, and before we used to get into long discussions during the classes... now that's fun, but I'm really studying with her to learn to dance (although hanging out with her is awesome too). So I tried a new consigna this week: just shutting up and letting her ask, answer, and basically run the class. We worked on two things. First, how to lead from my lats (and not my arms) which is really the engine behind leading with your torso. Secondly, when one of my legs is bent, the other is straight. This is a general rule that actually works quite well to define quite a bit of tango movement. In fact, if you pause a great tanguero, you'll see that he's almost NEVER got both of his knees bent. Anyway, great class and I feel that if I can get some of this stuff into my body I'll be on the road to decent tango dancing.

Since I had my class with Cecilia at 2pm, I headed over to DNI for the 16.30 class. Pablo and Dana are in Switzerland so Chris and Carolina gave the class. It still pains me to promote Tango Moderno and in that class we did a soltada (opening of the embrace) which is particularly bullshit, but what can I say? The classes at DNI are great. The women dance well, the men are retards, and the teachers really understand body movement. Just to demonstrate: Chris was saying that you have to "traer a la mujer con el dorsal" (bring the woman with your lat) which is basically misinterpreted by all the men to mean that your arm has to move. But that's not right. So I asked Chris what the relationship is between that and what Cecilia says, which is, "traer a la mujer con tu homóplato" (bring the woman with your, um, I can't even find it in the translating dictionaries). And Chris says, first off, that it's not called the homóplato anymore but rather the escápula which would be the scapula in English. Secondly, it's the dorsal (lat) that moves the scapula so you should be thinking about that.

What's my point?

1. That in DNI they are teaching modern bullshit and I don't know anybody who is not amazing who should be worrying about soltadas and all that crap.
   
2. On the other hand, there is 100% convergence between DNI Modern and Tango Salón. Which is why Jose and Viky (http://nuevotangosalon.blogspot.com) claim to be doing tango salón (and have worked with Pablo and Dana and try to dance like them).
3. DNI Tango and Jose and Viky and some other people are really working with some form of Tango Escenario (stage tango) but with everything improvised. I think the Chicho guys are dancing something totally different which looks horrible, but these guys are basically compatible with Tango Salón.
4. If you are paying attention to the right things -- lead, caminata, and embrace -- you can study in a place like DNI (or Grisel at 19.00 on Saturdays) with no problem.

Another point is that I went to a Fabian and Virginia (www.virginiayfabian.blogspot.com) class last night and I have to say it: they are amazing dancers, and I would rather dance like Fabián than dance like Jose and Viky any day of the week. So why are Jose and Viky's classes full and Fabian's classes dead empty and filled with terrible men and women? Because Fabián is not a good teacher. He understands everything, he sees everything, but I think it's depressing for him how badly we suck or something. And Virginia is there and helps, but follows Fabian's lead on the teaching energy. I think that those guys should go to a class with Pablo and Dana to see how good teachers teach, going around, making corrections, etc. I am definitively disillusioned with the classes with Fabian and Virginia.

So I'll be heading back to classes with Jose and Viky, especially since I have scheduling problems with the Balmaceda brothers' classes.

Oh, an about-the-blog (meta) note: I saw an amiga who I know from Maxi and Maricel on the bus the other day, and she says, "vos tenés un blog? Sé que sos vos" and in fact, it was me.... so you know, fame hasn't afected me yet, but maybe soon! Thanks for reading and thanks for your support! And besos para vos Paula...

Fabian and Virginia, Tango Salón

Tonight's class with Fabian and Virginia was great. It's expensive (20 pesos) for Argentina, but it's a 3-hour class so it's all good. And the classes are good and getting better as they learn to teach better. Here's the link:

http://fabianyvirginia.blogspot.com/2008/03/clases-grupales-privadas-y-practica.html

Oh, the floor sucks and is very slippery but yet with rubber it's too sticky, so be careful.

Classes in Tango Salón

Thanks for questions about classes in Tango Salón. I don't feel that the world of Tango Salón includes a lot of people who can actually teach, or perhaps I haven't met them. The big "hits" are Sunderland with Carlitos Perez on Mondays and Wednesdays from 20-22, but it's more of a practica than anything (although a great one, where they make you walk for 15 minutes at the beginning of the class which is good practice). One of the greatest dancers of Tango Salón is Fabian Peralta (his annoying Flash site at http://www.fabianperalta.com.ar/ing/ but man does he teach well), who teaches on Mondays at 20.00 (3 hours) and on Saturdays at 18.00 in Escuela Carlos Copello... the classes are okay, though Fabian does not know how to teach in the least (though he seems to be improving... part of the problem is that it's all so easy for him). However, with Fabian like with anybody else, when you see that they're not helping you as you want to, you have to take the initiative and ask, and ask again, and bother them with your questions (even when you don't have any).

On the only slightly more moderny side, check out classes with Jose and Viky (http://www.nuevotangosalon.blogspot.com/), who teach really well (which is probably the hallmark of the moderny people). Jose and Viky are trying to do something between salón and moderno, and the result is... like DNI, basically.

I have to ask Cecilia when she teaches group classes with Gustavo and I'll put those up here too. They teach well.

Thanks for your readership and comments!