LimerickTango » Simple Advice

Collecting

LimerickTango — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 11:09:56 +0000

You look better in those moments of doubt, where you have no idea what he wants you to do, with your feet together than apart.

Comfort

LimerickTango — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 14:14:31 +0000

There are a lot of things to consider in tango but one that is rarely mentioned and that should be your foremost concern is that of comfort and your partners comfort.

Yes your initial experiences in tango will take you out of your ‘comfort zone’, possibly both physically and otherwise. The mistake that is made is to presume that that initial discomfort is part of tango. It is not. Tango is fun. Tango is pleasurable. Tango is about pleasing your partner.

So when whoever you are learning from talks about good posture; listen to them. Stand up straight, relax, let your skeleton do the work not your muscles, breath. Then, and only then, embrace your partner. Ask yourself are you comfortable, is your partner comfortable. Even better ask your partner if they’re comfortable. Tango is playtime not work and if you’re making it hard work then you are not doing it right.

A language

LimerickTango — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:45:30 +0000

More than anything Tango is a language. It is not, like other dances, the repitition of certain steps to a certain rhythm. It is not something you do it is something that you say. And so when you start learning it you should place upon yourself the same expectations you would when learning French, for example. After your first hour of French lessons you don’t expect to be able to say much more than “My name is”, “I am so old” and “I live here” in a poor accent.

We are always told to walk before we try to run, well we spent plenty of time tottering before we could even stand.

Edit:
This language thing is catching.

Coupling

LimerickTango — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:09:53 +0000

One of the hidden difficulties of tango is learning as a couple. Every couple I have seen start taking tango lessons, be it boyfriend and girlfriend or husband and wife, has always had greater difficulty than the individual who started at the same time as them.

Pourquoi?

Because the couple think “But we know each other, we should be able to do this”. Yes they may be no stranger to each other but they are a stranger to tango. It is this presumption that familiarity will get them through the difficult bits that causes so many couples to drop out.

Couples, mix, change partners, avoid each other as much as you can for most of the class and when you rejoin work with your partner in the same manner that you worked with those strange to you.