Great News!

Paradise Valley Community College will have a Tango 2 class (Intermediate Argentine Tango class) for spring 2012. I know many of you have waited a LONG time for this momentous occasion so please SIGN UP!  If you have taken at least 1 semester of tango with me, this class is for you! Please register.  DAN125AE #38688. Begins 01/26/2012- 05/03/2012, Thursdays 7:45pm – 9:35pm

Other momentous items!

I love to hear from my students when they have an a-ha.  And many of you know already that I’m a firm believer that “tango comes when you’re ready”.

I think that because tango is so layered and my teaching reveals layers as we go along on the learning journey, that sometimes that top layer, maybe a boleo for example, just hasn’t been able to come out yet.  So that understanding of the function between the torso of the leader and its connection to the followers legs was blurred by the excitement of a follower “finally doing something cool” with their leg.  And then 1 day, a new layer seeps in and poof – a boleo pops out! I had a student come running to me recently “I got the boleo”!

I have had students tell me their a-ha’s for almost everything in tango. I remember the a-ha for Jim’s back ochos. And a beautiful a-ha from a student who discovered their embrace. This particular student finally came to me 1 day and said, “why is it that the women will love a dance with a leader who seems to be doing nothing?” And when that question finally surfaces, I know that this leader might be ready for the answer to tango. So besides hearing me speak, “it’s not about the moves”, a hundred times, I told this leader to embrace me and wait. I told him to breathe, so we stood there breathing together for a few moments.  And I told him not to step or even move until he really felt it was right. We took a few steps, in complete beautiful unison. He separated from me, looked at me, his face filled with emotion, and said, “I get it”.

So I encourage all of you who have been digging into this dance for a little bit of time or a long time to relish in your a-ha moments and trust that they will come and that there will be more!