Body Dynamics is about learning to dance tango with elegant, sensuous power. It is about learning to use your body efficiently, so that you have reserves to pull out when your partner and/or the music demand more from you. This class will help you master balance, axis, breath--all the challenging parts of tango. In Body Dynamics, you find your own voice and energy within the dance to make it YOUR dance.
This is a serious class that yields major results in flexibility, technique and dance level, in a short time. We start with about twenty minutes of tango-specific stretches: a combination of what my teacher, Georgina Vargas, has taught me; and other stretches culled from my 25 years of teaching dance. Then, we do drills and exercises for the remainder of class, sometimes with a partner, sometimes solo. Each week, I focus on something that will be used in the advanced class, so that each person has a solid block of technique to apply to the steps taught that week. I also work on something for my students who take my intermediate/advanced intermediate class on Thursdays at 8 PM.
For example, this week the Thursday 8 PM class will be starting six weeks of milonga traspie (syncopated milonga), while the advanced class will begin tackling ganchos, leg carries and amagues in combinations. We will spend part of class working on fast, small steps with elegance; and part on freeing the legs for swingy movements; as well as working on how to lead ganchos. Each week, the material covered varies according to the needs of the other classes.
I can see the results of Body Dynamics: my students who take it improve much faster than those who do not. However, I know it is hard to make time for two classes a week, so I always offer a special for taking it: sign up for Body Dynamics and one of the other classes this session, and pay only $90 (instead of $120 for both); such a deal! Not sure if it's the right class for you? Drop in and check it out for $12. The Om Studio is at 14 NE 10th, PDX, just off Burnside. See you there!