Add healthy hips to your body map

Whether you are dancing tango, doing yoga, or just walking and taking part in your daily life, you need healthy hips. Let’s look at how the hip moves, what issues affect it, and how YOU can enrich your understanding of how you need your hips to move to balance flexibility and strength for lifelong mobility.

Hip joint structure

Most of us will touch the outer edge of our pelvis when we think about our “hips” instead of focusing on the joint that connects the leg and the pelvis. To feel that spot, flex your leg up towards your body, and put your fingers into the crease that creates. Your hip joint, or femoral joint, lies only a short distance from your midline.

The shape of your femur and your pelvic bones affects the shape of your hip joint. Also, the ring of fibrocartilage (labrum) that helps hold the femur in place, can vary in shape, making the depth of the joint different. There are three big ligaments that hold the joint together as well. On top of that, the angle of the head of the femur, compared to the shaft, varies as well. This will affect how much you can move your leg laterally out to the side (abduct). It also affects how much you can rotate your leg in the hip socket.

How does this affect you? All exercises that increase the range of motion at the hip are limited by the shape of your body parts: there is no “right” visual shape, so you need to learn what the “right” shape is for you by becoming more aware of your own body, building your proprioception. Learn about YOUR body, map how it can move, and then make sure you are using your hip correctly: don’t just depend on your teacher!

Ways we can move at the hip joint

You don’t need to remember the names for each way you can move the hip but go through these and move your body. Feel what is possible at the hip joint.

  • Flex: make the angle smaller between the front of the leg and the front of the hip (pulling the leg into the body, or folding forward over the leg)

  • Extend: Make the angle between the front of the leg and the front of the hip larger (reaching back with our leg)

  • Outward rotation: Turning the front of the leg open towards the outside edge of the body (think ballet, turnout)

  • Inward rotation: Turning the front of the leg in towards the midline (think of how some kids sit with their knees together and their feet out next to their hips—I can’t do this :-) )

  • Abduction: Bringing the leg out from the midline to the side (think of standing with a stretchy band on your legs and then standing on one leg and pulling the other leg away to tighten the stretchy band)

  • Adduction: Bringing the leg in towards (or past) the midline, across the body (tango people: the cruzada does this)

That’s a lot of different movements at one place! When you add the idea that most motion combines at least two of these ideas, you can see why the hip joint is so complex. Plus, you can’t walk or sit or jump without it: you NEED this joint to work well! A terrific book that can serve as a reference for you: Anatomy of Movement by Blandine Calais-Germain. The book has clear drawings, basic information and easy to understand descriptions. I use it to teach and I recommend it as an informative book to own.

This is NOT at the hip joint!

Many people move at the lower back when I cue movement at the hip joint. A lot of us think arching our back or tucking our pelvis under, is the same as moving at the hip. This is a main reason I teach yoga classes to find the hip and lower back and to build body awareness. Many people (often women in heels) complain to me that tango hurts their body, and I can see that they are trying to hold/stretch in the lower back instead of balancing at the hip joint—that’s much harder on the body!

Tight jaw, tight hips

If you have tight hips, check out your jaw health! I know that sounds crazy, but the two are very linked in the body. As the fetus develops, the jaw/mouth area and the pelvic area are the opposite ends of the digestive system, of the spinal system, etc. Chains of fascia connect the two: if one is tight, it affects the other section of the body (this is a gross simplification: if you wish, go down this rabbit hole on the internet).

Try releasing your jaw, mouth, and lips as you stretch your hips, and see if it works for you. If you are feeling tense in your jaw from stress, try some hip stretches and see what happens! I only found out about this a few months ago, and I find it extremely useful for my own body.

To get more flexible

Many people spend hours per day sitting in chairs and getting tight hips. Remember all the ways that the hip joint can move? One stretch won’t fix your flexibility issues. I use a set of four stretches per leg, 2-3 minutes per stretch (so about 20 minutes of stretching) that I call the pretzel. I stole this from Rita Honka, my West African dance teacher (thanks, Rita!). It stretches the front, back, lateral, and central sides of the joint. For many people, one or two or even three sides of your hip joint are flexible enough to function. By stretching in this “pretzel” you can discover which parts are easy and which are challenging and then only focus on the challenging parts to save time. This video shows the four stretches.


If you are a person who has tight hips, I recommend yoga to untangle your lower back and hip joints. Doing a little yoga every day will help you develop more long-term mobility and flexibility and strength and balance: what’s not to like?

Hypermobility: balancing flexibility with strength

For those of us who are hypermobile, we need to strengthen our hip joints, upper thighs, pelvic floor, and lower back, rather than stretch further. It took me years of injuries to understand that I need to hug my muscles into my bones to support my joints. Someone like me has more passive flexibility than I can use given my muscle strength. If you are hypermobile, you MUST learn your own body map and protect your joints because many teachers do not understand hypermobility and don’t teach to this flip side of not-flexible-enough.

I keep learning

I am learning a lot about building body maps from teaching my yoga class. We range from hyper-flexible to very tight bodies—and everything in the middle. I love that everyone feels they can ask questions, try different modifications, and find what works for them. That’s why I am keeping my class small right now: no big class can provide that level of focus on the individual. My goal is to have people learn enough about their bodies that they can join bigger classes in dance and yoga and continue moving in their optimal way.


Balance around your axis

Balance is a dynamic quality in both tango and yoga. Can you stand perfectly still on balance? No! Your heart is beating (I hope!), your lungs are moving in and out as your breath, and your body consists of many moving parts that all must adjust to each other to remain balanced. But that’s a GOOD thing! Who wants a statue when you can have a person?!

Start at the feet

Build the basement first: the arch

There are nineteen muscles involved in your foot and ankle. Add to that a system of arteries and veins, fascia, and bones, and you have a complex system that connects your body to the ground. There are three arches in your foot that need to adjust for optimal balance. Think of this system interacting with the ground: there is always something moving: trying to grip for balance will not help. Instead, embrace the equilibrium dance!

The ankle

The ankle helps the foot to balance your body. It has mechanical receptors that communicate with the brain to constantly adjust your balance. There are other parts of the body that also relay balance information to your brain, but the ankle plays a key role in proprioception. For many of us, we tend to count on what our eyes see and not listen to the rest of our body. However, if you train yourself to listen to your feet and ankles, you can fix balance problems right at the base, which is easier than making bigger corrections higher up from the floor.

If you have ankle injuries, it’s important to strengthen and retrain your body to regain optimal balance. I have issues with hyper flexibility and injured myself often as a child and teen in sports events: I was always the kid in an Ace bandage. However, I have collaborated with trainers and physical therapists, and strengthened my ankles through dance, yoga, and exercises, and now I can easily wear stiletto heels. I understand the challenges of learning to (re)balance.

If you would like more in-depth information about the ankle, I found The Role of Ankle Proprioception for Balance Control in relation to Sports Performance and Injury an interesting read.

Steps to the first floor: Wobbly knees

When I started working on my tango balance, I put too much work into my knees. Instead, I found that, if I ignored my knees and focused on my ankles and hip joints, my balance and dance improved. Let your thigh bones balance on your tibia and fibula, with as little tension as possible. Your knees may feel wobbly, compared to the gripping that you may have been doing. When that happened to me, I got a lot of positive feedback from my leaders: “Wow! I can feel your feet really well!” That’s because, when you clench at your knees, the partner can’t feel from there to the floor (and that goes for leading too!). So let those knees wobble!

First floor: Find your hip joints

Now, balance your pelvis on your femoral joints, or hip joints. On either side of your pubic bone, your hips joints are not located at the sides of your body: they are only a few inches apart. As a ball and socket joint, the hip has a lot of flexibility and give. That also makes it more difficult to figure out where to position your pelvis on your leg bones. I will go into more detail about the hip in the next blog. For the moment, lift your pelvic floor and your deep belly, creating a little space at the hip joints. Then play with the balance at your joints until you find a spot that feels like you have a lot of room. Again, this might feel less secure than dropping into your knees and clenching your gluteals, but it will provide better balance even if it feels more variable.

Second floor: Stack your spine on your pelvis

Your spine stacks on your sacrum, which is part of your pelvis, so there is less of a dilemma about how to connect from pelvis to your core. There are a lot of ways to put too much strain on the lower back in tango, and I will address this in a future blog. For now, let your deep core muscles and your breath hug into your spine and support it in your natural alignment. Adjust lower down so that your spine feels comfortable.

Attic: Balance your skull on your spine

Your skull attaches to your spine at the level of the upper palate in your mouth. Put your tongue against the roof of your mouth and your thumbs at the sides of your skull. Adjust it until your neck feels comfortable and stretchy both at the front and back. I find this easier to do with my eyes shut so that I don’t readjust to where I am used to looking. FEEL the new position.

Even if the rest of your alignment is not “fixed” yet, training your neck to stay long and lifted to balance your skull will cut down on neck pain and headaches, as well as aid in improving your balance for tango and yoga.

Homework

You can’t build the attic without first constructing the second floor. The second floor won’t work unless the first floor is solid. The first floor won’t be stable until the basement construction holds up the building that is your body. Be patient and give yourself time to build your balance and your body map, piece by piece. Eventually, it will all work together, without you thinking about it! I promise :-)

HOWEVER, sometimes there is a piece of the puzzle that makes the most sense to you and it’s not the foot or ankle. If some other element that you understand, run with that. Build up/down the part that works, rather than trying to do from the floor up. You know yourself best, and you can use that knowledge to improve your alignment, balance and endurance in the way that works for you.

See you on the dance floor and the yoga mat!

Note: There will be no yoga class on Wednesday, April 6th. It’s my birthday and I’m taking the day off!

Small group yoga class Wednesday at 12:30 March 23rd

I will teach an in-person, small group yoga class @ my house, 12:30-1:30 Wednesday. Limit of 4 students. Cost: by donation. I will give any donations to Direct Relief as part of the milonga fundraiser this coming week, organized by Linda Remes-Machtelinckx.

The class will be beginner level yoga, focusing on the breath and alignment as you move through the poses. All of the yoga that I am teaching will benefit your tango as well as your general flexibility, strength and balance. This is not a power yoga class, but rather a Hatha session that gives you time to align.

Please bring your own mat. I have knee pads and yoga blocks, cushions and some straps available for use if needed.

Please reserve a space ONLY IF YOU PLAN TO COME. I will be teaching yoga classes on a regular basis as spring gets underway. There will be vinyasa/flow, as well as hatha classes. My certification is from a program that is based in Iyengar and Ashtanga traditions.

Dancing beautiful turns in Argentine tango

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.

Experiment, polish, play: Workshops with Jose Garofalo this week!

The world news is really grim right now. I feel very powerless about horrible situations all over the world. The best I can do right now is provide us with a positive, happy set of workshops with Jose Garofalo this week and next week in Portland. I hope you can come dance, be in community together, and rejoice in small things, like a great dance!

I feel that Jose’s strength lies in his ability to experiment, play and explore tango, both traditional and more modern forms. He is open to many ideas, many ways of doing things. On top of that, he is kind and playful: just what we need right now to lighten things up.

Come explore your dance. Find new bits to add, old bits to unearth, polish up, and use—or just come to play! All the information is on the flyer below. You can preregister, or pay at the door. To schedule private lessons, contact me directly: there is very little room left for privates, but plenty of room in the workshops.

The more I learn . . .

…the more I know I don’t know.

This is the space I am in today. I finished a year of yoga teacher training: 200 hours of instruction stuffed into my head. I am now qualified to teach yoga. What does that mean? I have taught tango for 26 years and if you don’t count my master’s in dance, I only had a few months of teacher training and no certification process to do that! For teaching English in Peace Corps, we had three months of training. I suppose that means I am better trained as a beginning yoga teacher than I was to teach anything else in my life! It helps that I have taught since 1986, so I know that I will eventually feel more competent.

“Nothing to prove, everything to share.”

I have been pondering the feeling of having NO IDEA how to incorporate all of this new information into my life (apart from sharing it with my tango and other dance students, which has been happening all the way along). I feel that there is so much I still have to learn! When I started teaching tango, I was very open about being a new tango dancer and my students and I learned together. That’s what’s going to happen with yoga as well. As my teacher trainer, Rachel Scott, said, “Nothing to prove, everything to share.”

In that spirit, I will soon be offering yoga classes at Shabu Studios where I teach tango on Thursday nights. I am grateful for Shannon’s confidence in my abilities. Stay tuned for days/times (probably in March or April).

Off of Mount Stupid

When I explained where I am in my learning process, one of my friends nodded and said, the Dunning Kruger Effect! Take a moment and click on this graphic. Every tango student I have shown this to laughs and points to the Valley of Despair part of the process of learning. I think that each of you knows that everyone goes through the same struggles as a learner and a tango dancer, but doesn’t it feel better that EVERY learning process works this way? It also explains that new college graduate at work :-) When you are on Mount Stupid, you DO feel that you know everything!

Slope of Enlightenment

Let’s climb up that slope together! Let me know if you are interested in yoga classes and I will add you to the list. Let me know if you are interested in tango classes and don’t already get my newsletter, and I will add you to the list.

Group classes are back!

Tango classes start again next week, February 17, 2022. The level is adventuresome beginners up to advanced intermediate. If you want class but feel that’s below your level, remember that you can always learn “the other” role, and that deep learning requires repetition of the fundamentals :-)

Here is the plan:

  • 7 PM Warmup and solo technique for balance, flexibility and strength

  • 7:30-8:30 working with partners to apply the technique to moves, musicality and different dancers (we start with easier and move into harder moves throughout class)

  • 8:30-9 PM Time to dance, chat, ask questions, etc.

  • $15/class or $140/10-class punchcard, masks and proof of vaccination required

I hope to see you in class when YOU feel comfortable dancing in public. I understand that some people never stopped and some are being more cautious. You may bring a partner and keep them if that makes you feel more secure, and I encourage hand sanitizer between different partners. Let me know what I can do to make class as safe as possible for you!

Gratitude

Not about tango or yoga

What are you grateful for? Right now, my son is refusing to go to school, and wants to know why school is not designed for kids who are gifted and also learning disabled. Why can’t he learn in an environment that works for him? Good question.

I just got off the phone with a teacher who worked with my son four years ago as a home instruction tutor one of the other times that school wasn’t working. He is the the only person who really GOT my son, who can be challenging. I knew the first initial of the teacher’s last name and no first name, as all of the arrangements had been through school, so it has taken a few months for me to find him.

This teacher is taking an hour to drive to my house, talk to my son, and see if he can brainstorm any ideas to help ameliorate the situation, despite having a full caseload and working four days a week after school already. And he offered time in the next 24 hours to come meet on the porch, masked, with my teen.

I am so grateful that I am crying. In this trying time, kids have been hit even harder than the adults trying to deal with a COVID world that is falling apart and failing. We need to remember that even as we struggle with our own burnout and daily battle to keep going.

I would like you to think of someone who has helped you in the past at a low point in your life. Reach out to them and thank them.

Back to dance and yoga topics next time, I promise.

Group classes cancelled until February

The authorities predict that the end of January will see the crest of the Omicron wave, so I am going to cancel group classes until the beginning of February. I HOPE that we will be able to restart at that time. In the mean time, private and Zoom classes will continue. I may go back to group Zoom classes if we cannot restart in February. Stay well!

January is my month to complete my yoga teacher training, fingers crossed. I hope to start yoga classes at Shabu when we can return safely to meeting in groups. Wish me luck!

What are your tango plans for 2022?

Despite Omicron closing things down again, I am feeling optimistic about 2022 and tango. We have survived almost two years with limited dancing with our friends and favorite partners, and we are still here. My friends and students have shared their post-COVID plans with me. They are heading for Spain, Italy, France, Hawaii, Costa Rica, and Buenos Aires. Everyone is wildly excited about putting into action plans made years ago that were postponed due to COVID and life.

Some of these plans involve tango! Every day I hear plans about “when I go to my next milonga” or “when the practicas open again” from someone. Unlike a few months ago, most of these plans sound hopeful and enthusiastic. I can’t count the number of people who have asked me when my next tango tour to Buenos Aires will happen. That is not set yet, but it will happen, I promise!

My tango plans involve yoga

I know that sounds crazy but it’s true. If all goes well, I will be certified to teach yoga by the end of January. I have spent my lockdown doing yoga daily and studying to be a yoga teacher. The strength and flexibility I have gained through my yoga training have helped me maintain my tango technique. My balance is better than before lockdown as well.

As is my habit, whenever I learn information that helps for tango and wellness, I have shared it along the way. I taught tango while learning tango, and I have taught yoga while learning about yoga. Thank you for my yoga guinea pigs who patiently allowed me to video their “lessons” with me so that my teachers could critique my teaching!

Going forward, I will be offering yoga classes at Shabu as well as private yoga classes (and I will continue to do mini yoga classes as part of tango private lessons). If all of us could do yoga along with tango, we would have fewer injuries in the tango community—and we could dance longer, with better balance, strength, and flexibility. Sound good? It’s possible!

Las Naifas is back, but not for January

Luisa Zini Fortuna and I are back hosting our matinee milonga, although JANUARY’S MILONGA IS CANCELLED. We hope that COVID numbers go back down so that we can return in February. Fingers crossed! Our regular time will be 2nd Fridays at Norse Hall, 111 NE 11th in Portland. The lesson will be at 5:30, with dancing 6:30 to 9/9:30ish.

Group classes at Shabu will be back soon

I am watching the COVID numbers, and my classes will restart (again, sigh) Thursdays from 7-9 PM at Shabu, 6055 NE Glisan in Portland, as soon as it’s safer. The few classes I managed to hold between Delta and Omicron closures were really fun and I enjoyed seeing some new faces and returning dancers!

What plans do YOU have for tango in 2022?

I would love to know what you plan to do for improving your dance for the future. What dance plans do you have? Are you going to Buenos Aires? Attending dance festivals? Starting gyrotonic or yoga or Pilates or ??? Are you studying Spanish, or delving into tango music? Have you decided to DJ or host a new milonga or practica in Portland? Let’s put our energy to work and rebuild our dance community, bigger and better and more friendly!

Las Naifas milonga cancelled for January 14

Luisa and I have decided to cancel January’s Las Naifas to be cautious: the Omicron variant is definitely here and we don’t yet know what the effect will be. Hopefully, the numbers will be heading downwards by February and we will be able to have that milonga. Stay tuned!

Group class cancelled 12/23 and 12/30

Based on how most people feel, I am going to cancel group classes for the next two weeks and then re-assess in terms of Omicron levels. I hope to restart class January 6th. My private lessons are continuing, since I have medical-level HEPA filtration in my home studio. Happy holidays! Stay well!

Zoom lessons for snowy days

As we get ready for winter here in Portland, remember that I am still set up for Zoom classes. After almost two years teaching online, I have learned how to teach remotely, and I am ready for the snow!

Private and small group lessons

Some of my students have continued to study on Zoom throughout the lockdown, so all I need is a 5-10- minute head’s up to turn your private lesson back into a Zoom class. What are the advantages of a Zoom class?

  • It’s easy to record the session so you can review during the week.

  • If the roads are bad, you don’t need to venture out on them for a lesson.

  • A Zoom class is the perfect time to work on solo technique: balance, alignment, and strength. That may not feel as fun, but it’s the key to improving your tango quickly.

  • If you have your partner/friends at home, partner work is just as easy as in person :-) Make your house party a dance party! One student had girl’s night tango technique weekly during lockdown with her bubble of friends.

Group classes

If weather is too bad to make it to Shabu Studio, I will offer an online technique class at 7 PM on Thursday, just as I did for the first year and more of COVID lockdown. The class will only be one hour long, however, as more than that for solo work can be exhausting. Think of it as going to the tango gym: you will have better technique for every hour you focus on your solo tango, unhindered by partner issues.

Hope for mild weather, but…

If we don’t have it, we can still have tango!

Las Naifas is back! December 10th (2nd Fridays) at Norse Hall

Please join Luisa Zini and Elizabeth Wartluft as we host the first Las Naifas since lockdown! We will be hosting our monthly milonga on 2nd Fridays of each month at Norse Hall. Although we miss our old location, which has closed, we are very happy to dance once again at Norse Hall and support this wonderful dance venue that is dear to the hearts of most Portland dancers!

  • 5:30 lesson with Elizabeth

  • 6:30-9:30 dancing with DJ Jerry Wallach

  • upstairs at Norse Hall, 111 NE 11th Ave., Portland

  • $15

  • update: YES! The bar WILL be open!

Proof of vaccination required and you must mask inside Norse Hall, no exceptions. There will be hand sanitizer and we will request contact tracing information, just in case. Please help protect your community! If you are sick, don’t attend.

Invite your friends!

Use video as a self-study tool for learning movement!

I am finishing my yoga teacher training in the next month, and I had to video myself doing yoga and then critique my technique. Although this was NOT fun, I could see a few places where my brain was sure I was doing the technique correctly—but I was not, especially at my weak spot: my shoulders. I was so sure that I had hugged my shoulder blades down my back, but they were headed for my ears in several poses. On the other hand, I was happy to see that parts of my technique look really good and have improved a lot in the past year.

I have scheduled a private lesson for today to work on arm balances and see if I can get my shoulders to do what they are supposed to do. As you build your movement body map, your teacher helps by being the video camera. They can point out where things are not working. They can suggest ways to approach the problem areas. In fact, this is a big part of private lessons: getting to an advanced level as fast as possible via learning how your body moves and using correct technique.

Seeing is believing

Watching yourself dance is also important. Someone can tell you twenty times what you need to correct, but if you can’t FEEL what you need to do, it is difficult to correct. Also, your brain likes to talk back, telling you that it knows what to do and that you are doing that thing the teacher described.

When a student vehemently argues that they ARE doing what I said, I often offer to video their movement so they can see what is really happening. I also video when I want to show someone how lovely their new alignment/technique/adornos look :-)

So, pull out that phone!

We are lucky to have technology in our pocket. Unless you are a Luddite, your mobile phone has a decent camera on it. You can prop your phone somewhere, video, and watch it. You can ask your partner or a friend to video for you.

One more thing: you must watch the video!! This is the painful part of self-study. Approach this as a problem-solving exercise. Try to avoid the “I suck!” reaction that will hit first. This is not about if you are good at bad at tango: it’s about improving.

I have to submit my video with a critique of my technique as part of my certification process. I give you permission to erase yours.

See you in class!

Quick update about classes and Las Naifas milonga

Many of you told me it was too difficult to remember which day would be the milonga, which days class would happen, etc., so……

Las Naifas milonga will be 2nd FRIDAYS, starting December 10th

Please join us at Norse Hall, 111 NE 11th Ave. in Portland, for the beginning a of monthly matinee milonga with great DJs, nice people, and the joy of being back at Norse Hall for tango! You must show proof of vaccination and remain masked while you are in Norse Hall: it is their policy AND our policy to keep you well, as well as the Portland city policy. No exceptions.

Group classes will be EVERY Thursday, 7-9 PM

My group class will be EVERY Thursday from 7-9 at Shabu, 6055 NE Glisan St. in Portland. At some point in the new year, I will return to a separate 7 PM of deep basics technique, with a continuing class at 8 PM. For the moment, the whole deal is $15 for 7-9 PM, with a half hour of warmup and drills, a regular class 7:30-8:30, and practice/time for questions/just dance until 9 PM. Please join me. That is also vaccinated-only, masking at all times in the building. Thank you for following municipal, building and my personal policy. If you have already shown me your vaccination card, you don’t have to show it again; I will keep a list to simplify matters.

I hope this makes it less confusing :-) Have a good Thanksgiving!

Group classes start at Shabu Studio, 6055 NE Glisan, Portland

I am excited to announce my first public group classes since lockdown on December 2nd! Please join me for a fun, challenging evening with a group of friendly dancers on Dec. 2, 16, 23 and 30!

Here’s the plan:

  • 7 PM: Warmup and solo technique work

  • 7:30 PM: Apply the solo technique work to the dance, focus on working with partners

  • 8:30 PM: Mini-practica: dance for fun, work on class content, get help from me

  • $15 for the whole thing!

  • Proof of vaccination and masks required

If you are a beginning tango dancer, please feel welcome to attend class. Many of you have dance experience in other dances, and tango takes time to learn. Feel free to take class at 7 PM and stop to watch if it gets past your bandwidth :-) If you are an adventurous beginner, go for it!

If you are a continuing tango dancer, you know that the fundamentals are the building blocks of ALL tango. We all need to practice the basics. I encourage you to attend the solo practice section of class to build your proprioception, balance, and strength before joining the more “traditional” part of class at 7:30.

Advanced dancers: There is always something more to learn about tango. That’s why I have not put a level label on this class. I will be happy to give you additional layers of work to do if what we are doing feels too easy. If you want to do more difficult versions of what we are doing, I encourage you to bring a partner in crime who dances at your level to collaborate with you. Or learn the “other role” in a safe environment. I will not require partner switching or role switching, but I encourage both.

I will switch over to two separate classes sometime in 2022, but for now, I think this serves the community best.

Note: On 2nd Thursdays, Luisa and I will be hosting a milonga upstairs at Norse Hall on a regular basis, so join us there December 9th and subsequent 2nd Thursdays at 5:30 for the lesson, 6:30 for dancing until 9(?) We are still in the planning stages :-)

Upper body alignment cues to protect your back

Dancers often feel that they must remain “connected” with their partner above all other elements of tango. While I agree that staying connected energetically with that person is extremely important, sticking chest-to-chest but off-balance will NOT help your dance and may cause injuries. So, what can you do when the other person grabs you around the neck and hangs on you; locks onto your shoulder blade; or grabs the center of your spine and pulls? Here are some things you can do to protect your body.

Keep your shoulder blades anchored

Take your shoulder blades and squeeze them together on your back. The main muscles that do this are your rhomboids. Now widen your shoulder blades away from each other. The main muscles that do this are your serratus anterior. If you aren’t sure where these muscles are, stand with your hands against a wall, in front of the outside edge of your shoulders and your feet under you (not leaning). Move your shoulder blades together and apart. Think of this as shoulder blade pushups :-)

We are looking for a place where both sets of muscles are working to ANCHOR your shoulder blades, which helps keep your entire shoulder girdle in a healthy position.

Why does this help your tango?

  1. For any move where you need to rotate your hips (ochos, boleos, etc.), you will have more mobility in your pivot because of the stability offered by your own upper body, even if your partner is not helping you remain stable.

  2. If you are leading, you will step on your partners much less if you align your axis all the way from the floor through the crown of your head. Good shoulder position keeps you on balance and gives you more time to react to navigational and partner needs.

  3. Your heart/chest area opens up and makes your partner feel that you are more connected. Try dancing hunched over vs. open at the heart: which feels better?

  4. You breathe better when aligned better, which will help you panic less while leading or following. If you keep your calm and breathe, so will your partner!

This will not be easy to maintain for some time if you are weak in your middle back (I speak from experience). When you are at your lesson, feel free to ask me for exercises to help you.

Stabilize your lumbar spine

I can’t count the times that dancers have complained to me that their lower back hurts after dancing.

There are a couple of ways to approach lower spine stabilization.

  1. Hug your belly button into your spine. Your transverse abdominus muscle hugs your middle like a corset. If you engage it in your deep belly, your lower back takes less of the load. The balance between front and back of the body also helps you with balance while moving and standing.

  2. Kegels, Kegels, Kegels: lift your pelvic floor! Don’t clench your butt! If you can do this and hug your belly in, bonus. Remember, hug/energize/gently lift! this is never a clench/grip kind of movement!

  3. Put your heels down! If you dance on your toes, you will eventually hurt your back.

Why does this help your tango?

  1. It hurts less! Really, that’s the most important reason.

  2. Your partner can feel your core and your legs and your feet better when you stabilize your lower spine, improving communication.

  3. You have more space in your hips for movement, so your technique works better, freeing your legs for more difficult moves as a follower and helping all dancers balance better.

Fix your own dance first

I often hear people criticize other dancers for hurting them. Before I speak to someone about their dance, I try to use my best technique to protect myself. If that fails, I broach the subject to my partner (and not on the milonga floor). Only if that fails do I avoid dancing with that person. 95% of the time, we can make it work.

Walking, stopping and balancing

Some thoughts on walking, stopping and balance

I have started running again (finally!) now that my ankle ligament tear is well-healed, and that gives me time to think about how tango is different from normal walking and running. When you run or walk, you have the expectation that forward motion will continue, so if you are slightly off-balance, you can continue on your way. In a way, running is both a controlled fall and a maintenance of axis and balance.

In tango, the expectation is that you will have to change direction often, and so being all the way on axis ALL THE TIME is part of the walk. Your direction is determined by the movement of other people. Perhaps there will be couples in your way, a missed communication from your partner, or other unexpected obstacles to moving forward. Being slightly off-balance has more consequences, so the emphasis on balance and axis are super-important.

That is not to say it is easy to always be aware of your axis and control your balance. The body is a complex system, so stabilization and balance have many moving parts. However, if you focus on a few key points, you will improve your ability to remain on balance and therefore change direction with grace and elegance!

Start at the base

Your feet and ankles do most of the stabilizing—NOT your partner :-) Luckily, your built-in system of proprioception keeps your brain and your joints connected. Your brain automatically maps your body, so your tango technique merely brings that awareness to your voluntary movement level.

Ideas to keep you dancing with a strong foundation:

  • ROOT your feet into the ground at each step.

  • ENERGIZE your big toe mound on both feet.

  • SPREAD your toes out to use more space, not less, for pivoting.

  • HUG the outer heels in while lifting your inner arches up to get even ankle support.

  • BALANCE just behind the heads of your metatarsals, on your arch, not your poor toes.

Knees

Your knees are not a pure hinge joint, but it you treat them as pure hinge joints, you will protect them from injury. That said, your knees are mostly shock absorption in tango. You don’t want to dip up and down like a camel; but locking your knees also looks funny and takes a lot of muscle tension. General guidelines:

  • If you dip up and down, pretend you don’t have knees and focus that energy on your feet and ankles.

  • If you hyperextend or lock your knees, microbend them and engage your pelvic floor to lift up without as much work at the knees; keep them soft enough to respond to your feet.

  • A good knee position is very lightly engaged muscles hugging into the midline—as little work as possible.

Hips

By the time you get up as high as your hips, you are hopefully building on the foundation work of your feet and merely stacking the rest above. However, there are a few points at the pelvis that can make or break the work below:

No slumping! If you tip your pelvis posteriorly (if you were a bowl, is the water falling out to the back?), your body fights to balance your ribs and spine over your feet and your back probably hurts. Think about sending the upper thighs BACK just enough to feel your core lift up and start working.

No arching! If you tip your pelvis anteriorly (if you were a bowl, the water is falling out the front), your back and toes probably hurt when you do tango. Practice moving your pelvis at the hip joint (dipping bird), keeping the back long; rather than adjusting where your spine connects to your pelvis. This should feel MUCH better on your back, and will allow you much more luscious tango movement!

Normal hip movement: it’s normal to allow side-to-side pendulum movements of the hip as you walk because your body needs to balance your head on one foot and then the other. That either means tipping your head/shoulders from side to side like a metronome, or adjusting at the pelvis—and it’s ALWAYS better to adjust closer to the ground! Think of your pelvis pointing towards the inner thigh of the standing leg—your “free” leg has a “free” hip that is LOWER than the standing side of the pelvis! Check your walk to feel what you do: are you keeping a leg “free” by hiking your pelvis higher? Then don’t ;-)

More later

There is obviously more to the body, which I will address in the next post!

Hang in there, grasshopper!

With the Delta variant, all of the opening up of venues, plans, etc., are on hold. I know it’s hard to keep waiting for dances, to keep waiting for favorite partners, but keep the eye on the prize! We WILL be back to dancing, and we have good masking skills, habits of hand washing, etc., so we will be able to avoid the flu as well as the usual festival crud that everyone seems to get after a big event. I need to buy/make masks to match my outfits! Plus, we will have to get good at cabeceo and la mirada, making eye contact to dance from across the (eventually) crowded room. Stay well.