Nick Jones' Tango Workshop

It started on Friday night with an all-levels class and milonga. I had come from a long (but productive) day at the office in Owatonna. I got home with just barely time enough to unwind, eat dinner, and get ready for the night. It was not one of those nights where things were going easily. I couldn't find anything to wear, and tried on 2 dresses and 2 shirts before settling on something; in fact, i was already in my coat and opening the door of my apartment to leave, when i went back into my room and changed one last time. I ended up in my black pants and a black tank top with a green ruffled camisole over that. To be honest, I felt kind of dorky. The all-levels class was OK; not too different from the Thursday class Nick taught; we worked on musicality and quality of movement. Then the milonga started. It was the best milonga I've ever been at. I enjoyed every single dance. it is still happening; a daily awareness of continued improvement.

Saturday's classes were about levantadas; the leader doing a sort of sweep/barrida, to colocar the follower's foot in the precise place he desires; either into a cross, a leg wrap, or out in a parallel step. Extremely important in all of these maneauvers is the balance and controlled shifting of weight. Also, as Nick emphasized to me, keep your leg straight; otherwise it's just not pretty.

Sunday was another good day. The first class went a bit rougher for me personally. I was tired, not entirely focused, a bit jittery from the morning caffeine fix. And my first partner was this very nice fellow, but whom i find annoying as a partner. I just shut down when I try to dance with certain men. It's an unfortunate consequence of learning and improving. I'm becoming more and more snobby, and don't care to dance with people who I don't consider "good enough". I try to balance this, accepting the natural cycle of learning, and remembering the kindness that certain leaders paid me by dancing with me when I was brand-spanking new on the tango dance floor. Anyway, we worked on style; on feeling the music and changing our body's movement and rhythm according to the music; Because you can deconstruct the music into layers, so to speak, and dance according to one of the layers, and then switch to dance to a different layer. A good lesson in musicality.

The last class on Sunday was the Milonga con traspié class. SO MUCH FUN! I just loved it. I loved it so much, it occurred to me that milonga could become my new favorite thing to do (surpassing tango). we shall see.

Take away points for the milonga: try bending Charlie Chaplin style to play with direction! Lean back when moving back (for followers), and forward when moving forward, side for side, etc. Try the teapot spin, wildly mini-stepping around a tight little perimeter...but use these accents sparingly, and only when musically appropriate. Have fun!