Please don't stop posting about dancing, leading, following, footwork etc. I don't come on here all the time but love reading the posts and thinking about them in relation to my own dancing

I'm a novice dancer and I'm finding it very interesting as well. I must sign up to a dance forum - can anyone recommend one?

I like Dance-Forums, they cover the traditional dance styles, 10 dance, Salsa, AT etc and one of my other favourite sites is Ballet.co.uk which now has new forums.

This is pretty good for Argentine Tango

https://www.facebook.com/groups/440051849346000/

You don't bother with the cabeceo then?

http://youtu.be/qIyzM-wW8co

Thanks, I'll take a look

What have those guys got on their feet?

On the off chance that it was a serious question. It's in salsa I like to do the asking, I don't do it as much in AT. I might if its a particular favourite track try to get a more experienced partner. Or if there is a slow say jazz track there is one older man I always ask because he has a gammy foot as a result of cardio vascular disease and can't really dance any more. He tends to just come as a spectator but he can manage a gentle turn about the floor with a partner who is prepared to hold him up when his foot gives out on him.

However if I am honest I find the idea of importing quaint customs such as cabeceo and cortinas all a bit bizarre really. I don't see the value in fossilising the dance in a by gone age. But that's just me.

AT the more you post, the more I just want to give you a huge big hug

Awww shucks Thank you.

In case somebody goes looking for the "Natalie and Artem AT" thread I have had it renamed "Argentine Tango Talk" to more closely reflect the discussion.

I always follow their timing whatever the type of dance . I'm a very obedient follower Not sure if that's good or bad.

Dilemma:

In (very) close embrace I find myself looking through tresses with my left eye and a mouthful of hair in my mouth.

Now dancing chest to chest and cheek to cheek - or more accurately her right cheekbone embedded into my right eye socket can be quite enjoyable. After all AT is the only environment where a bloke can hold a woman in his arms for a 10 minute Tanda without buying her a drink - or worse - having to listen to her ... Beats rugby as a contact sport.

For the moment I gently tuck hair behind her right ear.

Would it be socially acceptable for me to carry a set of hair clips in my left hip pocket so as to clip hair on her right side? If so would they need to be of different colours to match hair colour? And could I ask for the hair clip back after the Tanda?

I spotted Sofakat's book review on Amazon on

Twelve Minutes of Love: A Tango Story

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Twelve-Minut.../dp/1846272858

I'll have to read it.

Thought you might like to see this video. It's truly amazing. Feet only. And the shoes....

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=622966704444933

Nice footwork. But tango is led.

As simon is dancing it in Blackpool its about time we have a chat about it

Danced AT from 14:00 to 19:00 today pretty much non-stop.

I made a woman cry for the first time at a dance. At the end of an AT Vals (Waltz) she put her head on my shoulder and started sobbing, thanked me through sobs and then dashed off. She was back after a minute or so having composed herself.

Am I allowed to be rather pleased with myself for making her emotional?

I have just borrowed the book from the library.


She was pretty bubbly soon after that and we shared a lovely joyous Milonga tanda half an hour later - and yes i gave a good hug when she left another two hours later and she was fine and happy.

I didn't mean to suggest she was blubbing like a baby. Just sniffing and she didn't have a cold and didn't sniff during the later Milonga tanda.

Heck I very often well up and sniff a bit listening to music. or watching a youtube and not just AT GA music. So I don't think having a cry to music and dance is that big a deal. I welled up and had a sniff to this just yesterday and it is far from emotional AT

http://youtu.be/k5dkwQY-_tk?t=1m42s

This bit in La Boheme usually generates a tear and I have heard it so often.

http://youtu.be/1KZa6RypYO8?t=18s

I have been "dancing" AT for much less than you. Just from early 2013. I've been to too many classes and I find it very difficult to pick up sequences by looking at them demonstrated. Until a couple of months ago I was pretty rubbish and thinking of packing it in.

In September I found a lovely follower at a Milonga who was very kind and positive to me and I have improved a lot since then. But I remain rubbish at replicating set sequences at classes so I devote my energies to interpreting the music and try and get the music list from the DJs before hand and listen to the music.

So pretty much just the basics and few flashy moves from me; for I just haven't got the skills or memory to do them. But hopefully deep and profound musicality. FWIW in the past weeks I am getting feedback along the lines of "few tricks but bags of passion" and "most passionate dancer at the milonga". And on Sunday at the end of a tanda I got with a smile "So it's true what they say" (whatever that meant ). So I suspect my style is somewhat different from most leaders and I am now getting asked to dance rather than having to cabeceo and get rejected as before (head into the smartphone is the new rebote). Good for my ego and therefore good for my dancing.

Off to a Milonga again this evening and I''ll report back if there are any tears

It will be like this Kristina and Jason

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YgAN8bRUgs

Very odd as an AT but great fun to watch - whatever it was. It won 4 x 10 = 40. I can see Simon and Kristina getting 40.

There was no torso connection between them at all which pretty much AT 101. Both had poor upright postures. The place I am going to this evening starts every evening with a walk round the room with torso to torso connections and arms by the sides and leading and following by the chest only. So postures have to be good and inclined to maintain contact and walk.

But Kristina's "AT" will make for excellent viewing and AT beginners classes will be packed for the next weeks.

I'd hate to think anyone would think that routine bears any resemblance to the real thing. It was such a farcical routine. It might well appeal to men who'd like to imagine themselves draped all over the rather obvious Kristina but I'd hope that potenial women AT dancers do not think all that faffing and sniffing that Jason is doing is what is expected of our AT leads! Yuck!

If this insprires anyone to rush off to a class, please bear in mind that for weeks all you will do is learn how to walk in class. Seems such a simple thing, but in AT there is a whole damn science to it. I am sure you will agree HW?

Are you doing Negracha tonight?

For those of you who would like to see what genuine 'performance tango' should look like - here's a vid.

This is not what we do when we go and dance every night. It is an enhanced version for an audience, but it will show you how balanced the hold is, how elegant the movements, how neat the footwork has to be and how utterly focused the dancers are on each other.

Enjoy!

Herrera and Silvana

Yes lots of walking in real life. I noticed that sniffing of the underarms by Jason. What was that about?

I have not been to Negracha yet. Apparently it is a scary place. And they jump on you if you drink your own water I heard.

I have been to Carablanca on Fridays a few times but working from early every Saturday for the next few weeks.

Lots of Milongas everyday. I have been to far too many classes and not enough dancing.

You might enjoy these reviews of past Strictly ATs, written by someone who runs AT classes in London

http://www.learningtango.com/Reviews/Strictly2011.html

Thanks. This is the bit on the Jason and Kristina "AT".

http://www.learningtango.com/Reviews...011.html#Jason

You've got to admire Kristina though... there aren't many people who could stick Zeimpekiko moves into an Argentine Tango routine...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yysIECIGVPA]

(notice the aforementioned "foot slapping" move)