Biking Buenos Aires: Heart of the City

The weather was perfect for the tour: sunny and not super hot. We took taxis to San Telmo, and had breakfast across the street from the bike place at Le Blé (Carlos Calvo 601).

Olaf and Ricardo were our tour guides. We learned how to prepare mate and ate alfajores; visited Caminito and the res of La Boca; ate homemade empanadas on the street; tooled through the nature reserve; passed through Puerto Madero, the Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada, and then back to the bike place.

When I found out that Ricardo danced tango, I turned on Spotify right there in the Plaza de Mayo and auditioned him—good dancer! I don’t have any footage because I was dancing, but he moonlights as a tango tour guide for tourists

Empanadas made while you wait

Boca Jrs stadium

Stately old buildings around the Plaza de Mayo

Reminders of history

Caminito in La Boca!

The dream of football

The Casa Rosada

Biking Buenos Aires tour: Parks and Plazas

This year marks TWENTY years since I first went to Buenos Aires for tango. Back in my tango youth, I ignored anything that was not directly linked to dancing. Now, I make room for non-tango activities every visit.

The Parks and Plazas was a new bike tour for me and it took me to places in Buenos Aires I had never been: the green parts of Palermo and Recoleta.

The weather was perfect, and we had a great time with the New Zealanders who shared our tour. Raymond, our guide, was informative and witty, and got us through in good shape. We even all went out for a beer at the end of the day!

Representing Carleton!

Mmmmmate!

Evita’s family burial space

Herons in the trees at Lago de Regatas

Jardin de rosas—lots of rosas!

Campari at the end of a lovely day!

More rose garden beauty!

Learning from teaching

Hello folks! Just a short thought today: I learn so much from teaching! I doubt that I would be as good at tango without spending time daily working on the basics with other people. I also have noticed it rubs off on the rest of my life.

Today, I ran six miles for the first time in fifteen years. I have been building up my running capacity for the past few months, hoping to get back to where I was before I gave birth almost fifteen years ago. What helped me get past five miles? I focused on the ideas I taught earlier today with one student, and the work I did the night before with another student!

Use your feet correctly!

Last night, I helped a student work on her walk, her running and her swimming at the same time! I pulled out Irene Dowd’s Taking Root to Fly (check out my summaries of her work on foot structure and breathing) and showed her Irene Dowd’s amazing drawings of movement. Then, we talked about how the body spirals for running and walking, and worked on incorporating that into her dance.

When I ran today, I thought about how the path of energy through the foot runs through the center heel, curves around the arch, and eventually rolls out the big toe. I could FEEL that path, and it helped me run further correctly.

Lift your pelvic floor and move from your midline

Today I taught a student who is getting back into shape after a forced break from core work. We worked on engaging the deep core muscles and lifting the body through the midline, in order to take pressure off the outside of the hip (where she was experiencing discomfort). Her dance looked much more elegant and slinky working through her center.

When I ran today, I consciously lifted around my midline, just above my hip joints and below my belly button, and it felt GREAT! As I got tired, it was harder to keep doing it, but I kept re-initiating it when I noticed I had slumped a bit.

The takeaway

You don’t need to practice tango to practice tango :-) If you are struggling to find time in your busy life to practice, you can double- or triple-dip to use your time wisely. You can walk, run, swim, do tai chi—whatever—and if you move consciously in your body, ALL of your movement forms will be enhanced!

Class topics for this week: turns, boleos and musicality

Please join me for class this week!

Beaverton Tango Toning and Technique (Wed.)

Choose your boleo! Work with the music! We will explore linear/circular, front/back, high/low and con/contra boleos as we have time. We will also talk about how to let the leader lead, but also how to shape your own boleo within the music and space constraints.

Noon on Wednesday @ Global Art of Dance, 12570 SW Farmington Rd., Beaverton

$15 drop in or $120/10-class punchcard ( Parking in the Arthur Murray lot if space, or on the street)

Tango PDX (Thursday)

We are finishing out our month of turns and boleos with a day on musicality!

7 PM (Beg. & up): Musicality: Turn speeds & exits!

8 PM (Int. & up): Musicality: Boleos con or contra?

14 NE 10th Ave. PDX
$15 drop in or $120 for 10-class punchcard (Intermediates and advanced may take 7 PM for free!)

Beaverton 1st Friday Quickstart and Practica (Friday)

November is coming up soon: FRIDAY! 1st Friday Quickstart and Practica (then over to Ex Novo after for beers & great food)

7 PM - 8:30 PM
Global Art of Dance, 12570 SW Farmington Rd., Beaverton

$15/person, $25/couple (yes, your class punchcards are good for this!

The class is a one-room schoolhouse: aimed at the beginners with things to do for the more advanced (or just practice and ignore us!) for an hour, then practica with help available.

Using core sliders to improve your tango technique

You know me: I get a new idea and I start playing with it. If it seems to help my dancing, I try on my students, and if it helps them, I try to make a video about the new idea.

We have been using core sliders in Barre 3 for a while, but I didn’t think about using them for tango until I had a student who would NOT put their “free” leg down and connect with the floor. In desperation (where I get a lot of good ideas), I put a core slider under their foot and told them to move it around on the floor. Voila!

It’s been a month. I am now the proud owner of enough sliders to use in my group classes, and I have promised my Beaverton Wednesday Tango Technique and Toning class that I will video the exercises we have been doing, so that they can do them at home.

Try out the sliders and let me know if you come up with other exercises!

BO and bad breath: tactful approaches to embarrassing problems

Last week, the acro-yoga people who have class before my tango class left, but their odor stayed. I had people decide to leave class for the day rather wait for the fans to move the air out. I had to email the managers of the studio to ask them to speak to the group. After all, I don’ t know these people, and they only started using the space two weeks ago. Luckily, the studio manager spoke to them for me and the situation should be resolved.

But what do you do when it’s the person dancing with you that is the problem? Tango dancers dance VERY close to one another. If someone has strong body odor, or has bad breath, it affects the dance partner. Extra perfume, heavy pot smoke (this IS Oregon), a couple martinis on the breath—sometimes it is overpowering.

Addressing these problems can be tricky. How can we help each other out without deeply embarrassing the other person?

The difficult conversation that didn’t work

One time, I had a student with very strong body odor. Several students talked to me about it; some refused to dance with the person; some threatened to skip class unless I did something about the issue. Even with all that pressure, I avoided the situation for several weeks, as I had no idea what to say to someone that would not be taken in a bad way.

I took the student aside after class, when everyone else had left, and talked face-to-face about the situation. I told him that some people had asked me to talk to him, and stressed that they wanted him to be in class: no one wanted him to leave. He thanked me for bringing up the subject gently, and we discussed it a bit. However, he never came back to class after that. I felt badly, because I wondered if there could have been a way to resolve the situation where he did not feel embarrassed.

The tactful spouse/friend

I love to eat garlicky foods. I also get bad breath when I am stressed out. I depend on my husband for tactful feedback. He will say, “After this tanda, you may want to get some water at the fountain.” That means, “Go wash out your mouth! You have bad breath!” but in a very kind, helpful way. I know that he will tell me the truth about my breath or my body odor in the same way that he helps me with fashion decisions: kind, but truthful.

I would appreciate this also from a stranger, but I think that comes from living with a very direct person with Aspergers. I don’t think most people would take bad breath feedback from anyone but a close friend.

Would you like a mint?

Another good approach for bad breath is to pull out your mints and take one, offering them to the other person. There is no deep message of bad breath—and the sugar does not help long-term—but it will make that tanda go better.

The winning approach

I told my husband I was writing about this, and he told me that the best way anyone ever approached this subject with him was by tactfully mentioning herself, and hoping he might get the message: “Oh, I ate a lot of garlic tonight. I hope that my breath isn’t very bad.” She said it in a way that he knew she was trying to tell him about his bad breath, but it was gentle and polite.

This is a great approach! I vote yes!

What’s the best way you have heard?

Tell me about the times people have helped you about with potentially bad situations (“Excuse me, I think you have toilet paper on your shoe!”). What did they do that worked well? Share it with me!

Tips for regulating social anxiety while dancing tango

For those of you who don’t know, I have a “twice-gifted” child. He is very, very smart—and is diagnosed with high-functioning autism, formerly called Asperger’s syndrome; as well as anxiety disorder and ADHD. In the pursuit of good parenting and fighting the school system, I feel I have read enough for a third master’s degree! A lot of the literature on neurobiology, self-regulation, anxiety disorder—all seems to cross-pollinate with my tango teaching.

For those of you who are introverted and/or suffer from social anxiety, here are a few tips from my reading for helping navigate the choppy waters of Argentine tango dancing.

Breathing to reset the vagus nerve

The body responds to the mind, but the mind also responds to the body. This is not a one-way road! The vagus nerve connects the brain to most of the organs in the body. This nerve communicates both in- and out-going communication to/from the brain. In a nutshell, if the brain evaluates a situation as safe, stress hormone levels are affected, and the entire body relaxes. However, we can trick the brain into relaxing by starting with the body.

In order to reduce anxiety, we need to breathe a specific way. Exhale ALL THE WAY until you reach apnea. You can tell if you have exhaled all the way because you can no longer make noise if you try to talk. The brain interprets this body feeling to mean that no danger is nearby, and subsequently, lowers the level of anxiety in the body. If you would like the 300-page version of this, Stephen W. Porges’ book, The Polyvagal Theory, is a great read, but takes a while as it is very dense.

When you work on reducing anxiety at tango events, consider taking a moment between tandas to breathe. After all, having someone exhale strongly and then hold that for a few counts, could make your partner panic! Try doing your vagus nerve reset before you leave the house; in the car before you enter the milonga; while you change your shoes; or in emergency trips to the restroom to refocus yourself.

An added bonus to breathing this way: you access your deepest core muscles, which makes you dance better!

Find your anti-panic button

For a lot of us, making mistakes while dancing causes us to freeze up and panic. Our bodies have an older survival mechanism than fight or flight: it’s immobility. Think of a lizard frozen, not moving, trying to avoid the notice of a snake! We go to this place under stress.

It’s not that tango creates all the trauma, but we store trauma in our bodies, and tango uses our body—in close proximity to other people, and so can trigger body memories. Also, the wish to dance perfectly can get in the way and make us panic as well. In order to get better at tango, we have to work through these panic moments, rather than running away.

What’s your silver bullet?

What is the sense that helps you relax the most? Smell? Taste? Sight? Feel? Sound? Pick something that you REALLY like, so that you have that ready to help you relax. For example, I have a friend who loves the color of lavender flowers. It would help her to just think of lavender flowers to relax in the moment. Perhaps you have a favorite scent? Mmm, chocolate! Whatever works for you as an instant relaxing cue will work.

There are a lot of useful ideas in Trauma-Proofing Your Kids by Peter Levine and Maggie Cline. You can trauma-proof yourself! Also, The Revolutionary Trauma Release Process by Devid Berceli is an interesting read.

Wiggle your toes!

Being present in your body is a real gift. It can be hard to just stay present and “be with that” if what we feel is uncomfortable/panicky/freaking out. What I do is get into my body, balance, and into my grounding, is: I wiggle my toes. That helps me relax, gets me on balance, and reminds me I am moving in my body even when not traveling around the room. It’s my shorthand to get me back dancing instead of freaking out or processing what I just did wrong. It doesn’t matter: we are on to the next move. Time to enjoy being able-bodied and present!

How do YOU stay present, in your body, in a relaxed state? Other people might benefit from your suggestions! Comment on the blog so that folks can try YOUR ideas!

Appropriate leader behavior and tango manners

Dear You Know Who You Are,

I learned to lead in Torquato Tasso in Buenos Aires, when the guys decided they didn’t like a woman leading in the milonga, and tried to nudge me off the dance floor. I am used to that on a crowded dance floor. You are the only one who seems to feel he has a right to ALL the space on the dance floor at Norse Hall, where you could fit in five times the number of couples to recreate Buenos Aires.

You have crowded me on the dance floor weekly, making me spend the bulk of my dancing time protecting my partner, rather than being able to enjoy dancing. I feel like the playground bully has decided to pick on me.

However, you went too far last week when you ran into me while my husband spent all his time trying to protect me when I was following, and I feel it incumbent upon me to point out several points of tango etiquette that you have apparently not learned yet.

1. Do not use your partner as a ramming instrument or a shield! Tango and the world have evolved, but the leader of the couple on the dance floor is supposed to protect the follower, no matter what.

2. When you run into someone, you apologize. If the hit is hard, BOTH leaders should check in and make sure everyone is OK. On a crowded dance floor, small bumps are expected. On a largely empty dance floor, running into people either means you are oblivious or don’t care about other humans—and if you consider yourself a teacher, you should model correct behavior.

3. If you DO run into someone, you don’t tell them you didn’t run into them: that’s insane! Just say you are sorry and move further away where you have more room. If you can’t lead in the amount of space available, come earlier when it’s empty and dance then! We have all been beginners, but when it’s the teachers being dangerous on the floor, there is something wrong.

4. If you have not been introduced to someone, don’t curse them out on the dance floor. I didn’t appreciate being told I had a “shit-assed look, Elizabeth” when you have never been introduced, just hit me and my partner, and pretended you didn’t, and didn’t apologize; I think my glare was appropriate in this case. What you did is NOT APPROPRIATE on any dance floor, even at a bar; and certainly not when directed at a woman you just hit when her partner was trying to protect her from your dancing.

5. There are lanes on the dance floor. There is an outside and inside lane, and sometimes a third or fourth lane if the floor is really crowded. There is no lane 1.5 (your favorite), and it is not appropriate to weave in and out of the outer lane like a race car driver.

It is doubly important to follow these guidelines if you consider yourself a teacher in the community. You triggered my fight or flight mechanism by crowding us and then hitting me and then getting in my face. I did not punch you out despite having the adrenaline reaction to you because that is not correct behavior. Believe me, it took self control.

It is not OK to bully me because you are a man and bigger than I am, but I am NOT going to back down and be docile to your inappropriate behavior just because I am a woman or smaller. You picked the wrong person to intimidate, mister.

So, step up and act like a gentleman and a tango dancer,

Sincerely,

Me

First Friday Quickstart and Practica in Beaverton

It’s time to dance in Beaverton! Beginning lesson, practice time, and socializing/food afterwards! One hour of tango basics, another half hour of practice time (or 1.5 hours of practice time if you want to come and do your own thing)—and then let’s go across the street to Ex Novo for socializing! I think it’s important for people to enjoy some non-tango time together to get to know each other. I have checked, and Ex Novo allows minors, has some gluten-free options (yay for me!) as well as drinks and regular food. Please come!

• September 6th, October 4th & November 1st

• 7-8:30 PM

• Global Art of Dance, 12570 SW Farmington Rd.

• $15/person or $25/couple

• Everyone welcome, no age limit

• No partner needed

• Just show up: no preregistration needed

Hope to see you there!

Weighlifting for the toes

I asked my Pilates teacher what else we could do to strengthen our feet and toes to improve our tango technique—and Heidi suggested this Pilates exercise she calls weightlifting for the toes! At the end of the video is a stretch for the arches of the feet to add to what you already do to keep your feet in prime tango shape!

If you are in Portland, Oregon, I suggest that you schedule a session or two with Heidi to identify what YOU need to strengthen your tango body. She is also a nutritionist, so you can work on your muscles and your diet to help you maintain the best health that you can (and that’s not just for tango). You can reach her at her studio to make appointments.

Enjoy the video!

August classes: Micropivots, microadjustments & Body English

It's the first week of the month, so it's private lesson give-away on Thursday! Come try your luck!

Theme of the month

August will be dedicated to incorporating useful/fun moves into our dance, focusing on the transitions between moves: what I call micropivots, microadjustments, Body English--the stuff we don't tend to talk about, but that every dancer needs to use!

Class schedule

7 PM Thursdays (beg. & up) @ Om Studio, 14 NE 10th PDX

• Medialunas, ocho cortados & other changes of direction

• Fundamental moves that need little tweaks to help them do their best navigation work

• Follower and leader microadjustments that help balance and connection

8 PM Thursdays (int. & up) @ Om Studio, 14 NE 10th PDX

• Let's look at ways for the leader and follower to help each other make the dance FEEL better!

• More challenging turn combos & ocho cortado off-shoots that only work with Body English

• Follower challenges: maintaining balance and grace when you don't know what is being led

Beaverton Tango Wednesday noon class

• (@ Global Art of Dance, 12570 SW Farmington Rd.)

• Using adornos as a functional tool in the follower toolkit to solve balance problems

• Making your dance REALLY DANCE instead of just following

• Fixing your alignment AND YOUR PARTNER’S in subtle ways to make the dance better

Put the classes on your end-of-summer To Do list, and come dance with us!

Foot and ankle exercises to help your tango

Strong feet and ankles are a must for good balance in both tango and life in general. Many of us sit all day at work and have not built up our standing/walking muscles as much as we think. In my Tango, Toning and Technique class, we spend a lot of time working on improving how we use our feet and ankles—and the improvement always accompanies a boost in tango level. Plus, working on your feet and ankles helps you dance longer when you are out dancing, and cuts down on foot discomfort during and after dancing.

My Pilates teacher, Heidi Weiss, also dances tango. She graduated from Reed College, and has moved back to the area to open her business. If you haven’t introduced yourself to her on the dance floor, you should!

Heidi is the owner of Portland Pilates Collective and is a Pilates teacher as well as a nutritionist. I work with her privately to improve my full body strength and muscle efficiency. I appreciate her eye for detail and her calm teaching approach. My own goals for 2019 are to do a pushup and a pull-up (yes, one of each, don’t laugh).

I asked Heidi to talk about what exercises and stretches she needed to add to her regime when she started tango. Here are some suggestions from her about exercising and stretching that will improve your tango and your foot health.

Pilates foot exercises and stretching tips for Argentine Tango

Adornos, Part I

“Pretty feet!”

That’s the second-best compliment I ever received while dancing. A woman I didn’t know tapped me on the arm as I left the dance floor at La Nacional when I passed her table. She smiled at me, nodded in approval and told me, “Lindos pies.” I almost fell over! I was not used to compliments from Argentine women on my dancing.

“You adorn with your soul”

A few years after that other compliment, I was dancing at Los Consagrados with someone I didn’t know, and even the first dance was amazing. I forget what orchestra was playing, but I was really enjoying the music as well as the leader, and my feet just did their thing as part of my dance. When we finished the first song, he accused me, “Hey, you are a teacher!” And I replied, “And so are you!”

After the second dance, he told me, “You don’t just adorn with your feet, you adorn with your soul!” That is the best compliment I have ever received on the dance floor in Buenos Aires, and I treasure it. I don’t think of adornos as a separate part of my dance: they are integral to my body and to my tango. I loved it that someone noticed.

I didn’t think adornos were important

I didn’t work on adding adornos to my tango for a long time. I started tango in 1995. There were very few tango teachers around, and if I wanted people to dance with in Eugene, I was going to have to teach them. I already had an M.A. in Dance and was teaching ballroom and folk dancing at University of Oregon. I jumped into tango, and most of my time was spent ensuring that I understood the lead and follow parts of each step I learned, so that I could teach it correctly.

Eventually, I realized that my feet were the part of my tango that needed the most work. I focused on my adornos, foot strength and elastic use of my legs for the next few years, and it paid off with those compliments about my feet.

Adornos are functional

I have come to understand that adornos are a functional part of my dance. They allow me to keep my body relaxed and ready for any movement the leader might suggest. They help me keep a dynamic balance, rather than trying to lock into a complete stop. They use the natural margin of error that we have for balance (the amount our feet and ankles can adjust to help us maintain balance) as an inspiration for small, but full-body, movement.

These days, I teach beginners adornos from their first day in tango. I find that people who learn this way feel more empowered to express themselves in the dance. They are more relaxed because their body is moving, which makes them breathe more fully. They understand that balance is dynamic, and that they don’t have to have a perfect dance.

I encourage people to use “too many” adornos in class to explore what a good level of movement would be. If someone is worried about movement being “wrong” they will dance more stiffly. If dancers are afraid to adorn, they struggle to find a comfortable balance between doing what the leader asks and what they hear in the music themselves. Finding a good balance and understanding that each dance and each partner will differ, is a huge relief to most learners: it’s ok to experiment! Plus, it’s fun to play with your feet and the music, and learning should be fun!

What adorno should I do?

This is the question most learners ask me. There is no should in adornos. I tell my beginners to write their name in the sand. Put energy into the big toes, but don’t spend a lot of time thinking of what to “write” or your time in the pause will be over.

Adornos are filigree to fill in and beautify the dance, commenting on the music/mood/partnership that is happening at that moment. We learn specific adornos in order to train our legs so that we can improvise in the moment.

What is in the video?

This video reviews the adornos we have been doing in my Tango: Toning and Technique class. So far, we have done linea (line), lapiz (pencil), front and back crosses (which I was taught as “amagues” but I just argued about this with a friend, so we will just call them whatever and move on; and an adorno I call “the elevator” because no one ever told me a name for it. When I say elevator, everybody gets the right idea :-)

Improving your axis awareness by working with dowels

Shameless stealing of ideas

My chiropractor (who is also a personal trainer) was demonstrating how to correctly lift kettlebells while I watched and took notes. I had a moment of brilliance and noticed that the exercise could help my tango students use their gluts better to maintain balance and alignment. I showed him my idea, and he agreed that the alignment was solid. Here is the tango version of the exercise!

Core and leg exercises for more elegant tango

I use a lot of different approaches to improve my tango technique and that of my students. For a lot of people, the wish to move quickly overrides paying attention to how the body actually wants to move. I think it’s important to take time to train your body to feel how the muscles, bones and connective tissue are constructed. If you use your body in an organic manner, the movement will look more elegant and smooth.

The video version

Chair drill: connect the core and upper leg

The chair version of this drill allows you to focus on using the deep core to work your legs, rather than the quadriceps. Yes, the quads are still working, but we want to see the long line of the entire leg for tango. That means the core needs to work a bit harder than we are used to in our sedentary lives :-)

Note: Assume that you are cheating on the drill, and reset each time you complete a leg movement. Eventually, you will start to be able to maintain your alignment for the entire drill. At that point, add the standing version to your tango workout.

Standing chair drill: adding balance to core strength

If you can do the chair drill, move up to the standing drill. It takes more focus and balance, but the concept is the same: trace the connections from the deep core out and down to the foot. Allow time for each movement signal to travel down the body!

Note: Be careful with your back. Make sure your core, not your lower back, is doing the main lifting work for this drill. If you can’t do it correctly yet, do the chair drill until you have more core strength.

Bird dog and dead bug

Core strength exercises to boost your tango

Here are two exercises that I showed in my Tango Technique and Toning class last Wednesday in Beaverton. Try them at home in between classes to keep working on your core strength!

Idea clouds, drop-down menus and leading tango

So many moves, so little memory

One of my students asked me, “Why can you remember to do so many more moves than my husband can when we dance?”

The question made me pause, as I had just been reading about how people retain information. I knew that my short-term memory did not have more storage space than another person, so why DID I remember more moves while dancing?

Short-term memory

Most of the research I have read suggests we have five to seven slots for short-term memory. A good leader uses several of those for more than just moves:

1. Make your follower feel secure: NAVIGATION is most important.

2. Where is YOUR body? Make sure you are on balance, ready to move.

3. Where is your follower? Make sure they are on balance, ready to move!

4. Musicality (some people put this higher on the list, but as a follower, I would rather that both of us are on balance than off-balance but on the music).

5. Room for a move

6. Room for a move

7. Room for a move

Chunks, not items

I remember more information because I chunk vocabulary into categories, and each short-term memory slot holds a category, not just one move. As I learn new moves, I figure out where they fit in my move storage, and then it’s easier to find and use those moves.

Idea clouds

Some people think better in idea clouds, where the information is chunked, but perhaps not in a completely systematic way. For a relatively new tango dancer, we might start with the categories of: traveling, turning, other things; or something like that. Here is an example from yesterday for one student:

For him, that is the sum of the moves he knows. He knows the concepts of volcadas, ganchos, etc., but doesn’t know how to lead them yet. I introduced the idea of categories so that, as he learns moves, he can figure out how HE thinks of the moves, and use his own categories to store and retrieve information.

Drop-down menus

Other students prefer a drop-down menu approach to storing information. That way, as more and more variations are learned, they are simply plugged into the existing system further down the menu. That way, the leader can think “ocho cortado” and choose “linear” and THEN choose “multiple traspies/rebound” and then pick “lateral cross” as the exit move. Each part of the process is ONE decision at a time, working down the menu, choosing each part of the move.

Here is an example of one category (traveling) from a student who is just figuring out how his categories work (rather than mine).

The advantage of the drop-down menu is that our brains use these every day on our computers, and we are already trained to look for information this way.

Make your categories/method work for you!

Everyone has a different approach to how they classify tango moves. There is not one right way: grab a piece of paper, or a thought-cloud app, or a white board and markers, and see how YOU chunk the information. I have found that some of my students categorize the way I do, and some of my students have very different thoughts about what fits together; give yourself time to develop your own system.

Remember: Try to limit yourself to 4-5 categories, as you will always need to prioritize navigation/safety and musicality over moves. Once you know where your body is, and where your partner is, you don’t have to spend so much energy and time on that, and you can expand your movement list a bit.

Does this work for everyone?

In the course of 23 years of teaching tango, I have only met two students who did not categorize information easily. For both of them, each separate move was a separate thing. An example: for most people, Phillips screwdrivers are in the same family as a regular screwdriver. For these people, there is no “screwdriver” category, and each tool goes into a separate box or drawer, unrelated to the other tools.

If this describes how you approach category-making, be comforted that these guys did manage to learn tango and did manage to dance more than five moves; but it was a struggle. Be kind to yourself! Be patient with yourself! Sigue luchando! (Keep fighting!)

Inspired to stay active

I am feeling motivated to get into better shape and be more active. It’s not the fear of aging, but rather, seeing different alternatives a few decades down the road. Who inspires me to stay active? Older athletes in stellar shape—and my older students!

Use it or lose it

Several of my students read a lot more than I do, and funnel interesting articles to me. One sent me a Wall Street Journal article about Gail Roper, an 89-year-old former Olympian and Master’s medallist who still swims and keeps very active. She had seven children, worked as a marine biologist until 82, and attaches herself to the pool ladder with a bungee cord so she can work on resistance training!!!

I have older students who have won medals for their dancing in the 80-and-over category at the Washington Senior Olympics; who still fly planes; who hike, bike, swim, dance—I want to be like them when I grow up!

I know that I am not on track to do that. Yet. However, I look at my active students in their 80s and non-dancing 80-year-olds, and it is clear that I MUST keep up my level of exercise if I want to be like them in thirty years. Use it, or lose it!

My current “recipe” for staying in shape

Barre 3

At 50, I added Barre 3 to my workout schedule. A combination of yoga, Pilates, weights and ballet barre, Barre 3 has definitely helped me keep in shape. It was hard at first, but now I can run to work out, as well as run home; so I am getting stronger. Barre 3 started here in Portland, Oregon, but has expanded. I was able to take my sister to a class in Doylestown, PA last summer.

Chiropractic work and physical training

At 51, I suffered a broken toe from a “helper” in one of my classes. That set me back a bit, but the person who is my chiropractor and physical trainer, Seth Watterson, helped me gain a new understanding of the structure of the foot, ankle and lower body that I have been able to apply in my workout AND to my teaching. I have used my injury to help other people avoid injury and rehab after injuries, so that year out of shape was still well spent.

Yoga

I had done a lot of yoga before I had my son: three to four times a week doing Ashtanga and Anusara styles of yoga in Eugene, Oregon. I did prenatal yoga, and then stopped for a long time. Why? I don’t know.

Two years ago, I added yoga back into my schedule. I have to credit my husband with this: I am too lazy to get the mat out and do yoga by myself; I need a class. My husband and I do yoga at home with Do Yoga With Me on YouTube. I would not recommend this if you have not done yoga classes: it’s too easy to hurt yourself when you don’t have a teacher helping you, but it’s a great way to get back into yoga, or add in a session at home if you can’t make it to class.

Pilates

Last year, I added Pilates into my schedule. Heidi Weiss at Portland Pilates Collective, is a great teacher and an avid tango dancer. We are working on strengthening my body so that I get fewer injuries from the repetitive stress of teaching beginners, as well as keeping me in my best alignment and shape. I can tell I am a lot stronger than before.

I avoided PIlates for many years because I took some workshops in dance graduate school and didn’t like them, but I have more understanding about the body now, as well as more drive to stay healthy and in shape. I wouldn’t say I find Pilates “fun” but that is not my aim. Heidi is patient and a good teacher, and I enjoy my sessions a lot.

Nutrition

This year, I have added nutritional coaching with Heidi Weiss to my regime. I am gluten intolerant, and probably some other digestive issues. In my mid-50s, I can no longer eat whatever I want. We are adjusting my diet to eat more protein, more vegetables, and to take some supplements that help my body absorb nutrients better. This is a new work in progress, so hopefully I will continue eating better!

It is never too soon—or too late—to improve your fitness and health! Happy Spring!

Trial by audio

A reader with poor eyesight asked me to do an audio file version of my blog. I am not terribly comfortable with talking to myself, so this is a work in progress! Feedback is appreciated :-)

Improvisation and performance

For me, when Jose Garofalo comes to town, I get a chance to perform. Usually, he plays a song, asks me if I like it, and I listen to it that day. Then, in the evening, we dance to it. One hour of getting used to dancing together after a year NOT dancing together, plus a song I have never heard before—it’s a challenge!

On the other hand, improvisation demands your full attention. You can’t think about whether you are doing the “right” thing with your foot or your body or the audience. Everything is focused on dancing WITH your partner, creating something ephemeral that will never be repeated.

Here are our performances for 2019. They are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination: that’s not what improvisation is about. However, we were not just going through the motions, sleep-walking through a choreography. For better or worse, each is a new creation; and some are beautiful :-)

Note: I just noticed that the titles on the two last videos are on the wrong videos—must get that fixed!

Jose Garofalo is back in PDX 12-20 March 2019!

I am very pleased to announce that Jose will be back in Portland NEXT MONTH! He is one of my favorite teachers because he has a huge vocabulary from the Old Masters with whom he studied; and as one of the people exploring tango in the 1990s, he was part of the creation of tango nuevo as well. 30+ years of tango in one person—let’s take advantage of his presence in our community!

The other thing about Jose is that he is FUN! Performing with him is a joy: I never know what is coming next, but he always takes care of me as his follower, and makes me feel secure. After 30 years, he is still exploring, looking for new information and open to new ideas.

Workshop Topics

Investigation of Roles for Tango Dancers (Friday & Saturday)

We will work on the idea of tango role (leader/follower) as a dialogue of movements between people. These classes are not about learning the “other” role, but rather to generate a more playful communication. Register for classes!

3 Sequences, 3 styles (Thursday & Sunday)

We will explore several different styles of Argentine Tango, using sequences from the Old Masters, as well as elements from non-traditional and stage tango, that have been incorporated into current-day tango. We experiment with different types of: embrace; axes; music, etc. Register for classes!

The details

Private lessons

Jose is available for private lessons from the evening of March 12th, to March 20th (I don’t have his plane times for his departure, but I will know soon). The cost is $120/hr or $550/5 lessons. If you take the weekend workshops, there will be a discount on the lesson price and the 5-lesson block price. Private lessons will be at 4315 NE Garfield Ave. in Portland. Contact me to schedule!

EXCITED!!!!!