Three classes on turns
For my group class, we will work on a theme every month, culminating the night before Las Naifas (the second Friday of the month), so that, each month, we can take our class information and apply it to social dancing RIGHT AWAY! Since Jose Garofalo taught my class the past two weeks, we will pick up from where he left off, playing with energy, musicality and making simple steps feel fabulous!
Balance between flow and deep technique
Solo work @ 7 PM
The deep, slow technical work that underlies good tango is hard to see, except in the beauty that it produces. Many times, students say to me, “but I didn’t see that when x (famous person) danced!” You must build the motor pathways that allow you to speed up, flow through and still have the dance work. That takes repetition and mindfulness.
This is the kind of work I taught in my Beaverton noon class. It is also what my students did all during lockdown on Zoom, and every single one of them improved faster than they had in in-person classes where we had only focused on couple technique. It’s not necessarily fun, so come and let me help you get through your tango workout!
Couple work @ 7:30 PM
This part of class looks more like the kind of class you may associate with tango. For three weeks, we will do diverse kinds of turns, entrances and exits to turns, turns in milonga, tango and vals—exploring what you can play with to make circular paths in the dance.
Practice, office hours and just dancing @ 8 PM
There will be time after class to just practice, or to dance for fun, or to ask questions—or just to hang out and talk to people in the class. I am available to give extra help, or to provide you with harder versions of what we did for homework!
Class cost: $15 drop in or sign up ahead of time. Classes are at: 6055 NE Glisan (Shabu Studios).
Mask preferences
I do prefer that you continue to mask. If you want to dance only with one partner in this transition time, I will not force you to change partners. I encourage you to change partners and to change roles throughout the evening. If you are uncomfortable dancing with unmasked dancers, you may choose to only dance with other masked dancers. I am still requiring that you have your vaccinations to attend my class.