Friday (November 21)
Tango class with Oscar Casas (@El beso)
–another very good class, we played with low and high boleos for close embrace and sacadas with consecutive enganchadas.
Tecnica para tango, intermedio and avanzado with Martin Gutierrez & Samantha Di Paolo (@Tango brujo)
–soltadas, ganchos, piernazos and soltadas – that would be the best summary of the class. We were working mainly on the technique of these movements – having the stability in the supporting leg, appropriate density and relaxation in the free leg, appropriate hip position and the changes in the embrace during the soltadas. Uff.. hard, but great :)
After yesterday’s Nino Bien experience, we decided to call it a day after the classes and headed off to see the new James Bond – Quantum of Solace and enjoy Havanna’s alfajores =)
misia | tango classes milongas in BsAs | Comment (0)Thursday (November 20)
Milonga with Osky Casas (@El Beso, 20 pesos)
– Osky is the son of Oscar Casas. He calls his style as neo-milonguero. He’s regularly visiting Poland to give workshops together with Luiza Pasierowska… We played with different steps for milonga traspie (rock step, enganchadas etc.) – Osky was helpful and positive. Very good class for the leaders, not so good for followers as most of the tips and explanations offered were for leaders.
Tango intermedio & avanzado with Mariela Sametband & Martin Gutierrez (@Tango brujo)
– the class was a third one in a series devoted to giros. This particular class was devoted to the sacadas based on giro and playing with them – double times, backward sacadas, side sacadas in different combinations etc. Extremly clear technical explanation and commitment of the teachers really willing to help the students made the class excellent.
In the evening we went to a milonga – Nino Bien (Humberto primero 1462, 15 pesos). I’ve been there once so I knew what to expect and wasn’t surprised at all…nothing has changed since the last year.
Here’s Peter’s account on Nino Bien (with which I truly agree): It’s really more a place to see and be seen than one to have great dances. The DJ, Mario Orlando, is great, but the poor sound system, the acoustics of the room and the sound level from the conversations at the tables at times unfortunately makes for a barely audible or intelligible musical experience on the dance floor. It also does get crowded, and I mean really crowded. And not with people who have excellent navigation skills. There are the older Argentines — they’d be great at navigation, except that they tend to spend their time on the pista with their head buried in the chest of some foreign tanguera who could be their daughter, which means they can’t really see what’s going on around them. Then there are the younger Argentines and the foreigners who came here on a tango trip, possessed by some inexplicable desire to change lanes, plow into the couple just ahead of them, show off all the steps they’d just learned or leave at least 3 meters of free space between them and the couple in front of them, guaranteeing a pileup behind. The coup de grace is the dancers who decide to start dancing to a song about two minutes or so into it, when the whole floor is already moving, and adding another stationary couple is guaranteed to disrupt whatever flow there was.
The onlookers (the to be seen part) are just as fun. Imagine a mix of women [or men -- Misia], sitting with perfect posture, dressed to kill, trying to catch your gaze, then some local tango legends (or at least fossils) in a suit and a tie, having a conversation at the top of their voice (normal for New Yorkers, shouting for the rest of the world), discussing all the dancers on the floor and banging the table every few seconds for emphasis, then a bunch of young guys in jeans and an untucked t-shirt. Kinda like the Mos Eisley cantina in Star Wars, minus Luke, Han Solo and the droids. We danced until 1 AM with each other, then took a cab home.
In a way, the place is really a miniaturized version of a city where everything from designer labels to household appliances are sold on installments and everyone tries to appear more and better than what they really are and judges other by their appearance. Mala onda, as far as I’m concerned. It was really in stark contrast to the supportive, warm feeling of Tango Brujo, DNI and some other classes we’d taken here so far.
Anyway, we can now say: Nino Bien? Sure, we’ve danced there.
misia | tango classes milongas in BsAs | Comment (0)
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