In Fran's absence, Carolina Jaurena did a wonderful job teaching our beginner and intermediate classes.

Carolina will also teach at Milonga Los Pitucos this Saturday night.  It's a great milonga run by our friend Felix Pacheco.  See details in this newsletter under Tango in New Jersey - Milongas.  I urge you to try it.

Should Fran not be able to come next week (July 18), Carolina will teach in his place.  For more information, here is her web site: http://www.andresycarolina.com/carolina-jaurena.html

Hello everyone, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. If you've taken any of my classes at the Firehouse, you've no doubt heard me say on more than one occasion that Tango occurs in increments of one step at a time. When I say this, I mean it in two very specific ways. The first is functional, literal; the second is aesthetic. Let's talk about each one.

Tango is not a dance that is taught in sequences - or what most of us call "steps." Functionally, we learn to dance Tango one step or movement at a time. Each movement has a beginning, a middle, and an end. So, for example, the leader initiates, let's say, a forward step by offering his follower a lead (he lowers his body by flexing slightly at the knees in order to indicate the fact that he is about to travel, and then he begins to move forward with his entire body). Next, both partners travel through space independently. Finally both partners find balance at the end of the movement, bringing their legs and feet together and stopping. This completes one element or movement. Once a single movement has been completed, the leader may or may not choose to invite an additional movement. Since the follower has no idea what's going to happen after the completion of every element, she stops at the end of the step which has been invited and waits for whatever may happen next. Thus, Tango occurs functionally in increments of a single movement.

From an aesthetic standpoint dancers in Argentina are also thinking in terms of one step at a time. Elaborate sequences are for the stage, for performance, maybe for various kinds of Tango competition. But they have no particular place in the social dance. When an Argentine man dances with his partner, he tries to make her feel as comfortable and as cared for as possible within every step of the dance. The only way this can happen is through careful, measured, controlled movement in which the leader is paying absolute attention to what his follower is doing with each movement he leads. At the end of each element he notices whether she has achieved balance and is therefore ready for the next lead - or perhaps she takes a bit of time to finish what she's doing, and needs him to wait a beat or two before continuing. Sometimes, it may feel appropriate to the leader to invite his follower to take several movements in continuous sequence. At other times, he will lead her to take one step at a time. It all depends on his intimate reading of her responses to his lead, and, of course, to the music and to the conditions they find on the dance floor.

If you would like to dance more in the manner of Argentine dancers, try to think of Tango as one single movement at a time. Try to lead each element with great care, making sure that your follower finishes the step you're leading in comfortable balance before you ask for the next step. At the same time, try to avoid stagy, athletic sequences that are designed for venues other than the social dance floor. We all know that such behavior is tempting at times, but it demonstrates to those who know better that you aren't ready for the milongas of Buenos Aires. And that's where I want to you to be as soon as you can find the airfare.

See you in a week or so!

• Terri Lopez -
  
• Tony Mele
  
• Tsipoyra Sartan
  
• Eva Roth
  
• steve turi
  
• Stephen Maisch
  
• Debbie Glaser
• June Stahl
• Eva Roth
• Barbara Lombardo
• Jesse Barton
• Mary Epiphan
• Lynn Gross

• Bill Krukovsky
• George Ngo
• Jack Messing
• Meryl Shapiro
• Charles Moorman
• Horatio Piccioni
• Frank Reisch
• Bob Brillo
• Eduardo Campos
• Terri Lopez