To all of you that have not heard me rant about how amazing argentine tango is, NEWS FLASH!
Ballroom is fun. Swing is fun. But argentine tango..... tango BEATS ballroom!
This is a video of an outdoor social dance in Hong Kong. This is what tango looks like when I dance at social dances here in Ithaca. Except there are less people. And it's not outside because it's below freezing here at night now.
Grocery store tango. I love it!
I've found that what I've wanted to get out of ballroom is what argentine tango gives me.
Argentine tango is usually danced in a closed embrace and is much more improvisational than ballroom is and the movement is soooo nice and natural.
Anyways, so I bet you guys are like EWWW YOU HAVE TO DANCE SO CLOSE TO YOUR PARTNER!
Well... yeah. If you don't like to hug, you can't dance tango. Sorry.
Tango is apparently attractive to people who are brave and intense. I dunno if I would call myself that.
Point is, argentine tango is my favorite style of dance!
After 4 weeks of dancing it, I've come a long way.
Ithaca has a good tango scene. There is a beginner's class at Cornell taught by the teacher in Ithaca, Joaquin from Buenos Aires, but I am currently not taking that class.
This is a short clip from last nights Thursday tango practica here on campus (a block away from where I live). Sorry the clip is such bad quality and so short, but I was trying to be discrete!
So anyways, Joaquin is the teacher dude. There's an old Dominican guy that does the private lessons. The community is pretty big. I think 30 people come for the Thursday practices. I think 50 came for the monthly fancy social dance, which is called a milonga.
I go to a social dance on Sunday night downtown and a practice dance on Thursday nights on campus, very close to where I live.
Sometimes there are Saturday dances. Last Saturday, there was an AMAZING fancy milonga with pretty much the entire Ithaca tango community. Well, only the experienced people. My friend Sofia and I were the only beginners there.
Argentine tango is the way to go for me! It takes my mind off of school for a couple hours and it's SO FUN! And I've made lots of friends.
Tangueros have to be friendly since it can be an awkward dance at times ;)
I really enjoy your enthusiasm and am happy you've found a way of expression that suits you more than Ballroom does.
ReplyDeleteI am, and feel, the same way as you. Best of luck through your trials and errors, there will be many! And you're right, you DO have to be brace to dance Tango.
Caio,
Pete @ The Tango Notebook