Let's talk about goals for 2015. As your Tango teacher (one of them, at least), my goal for this year is to do my very best to help you become as proficient a Tango dancer as I can, given the limited time we're able to spend together. My hope is that you've decided that this year you're going to make a strong commitment to joining me in this process, and that we'll both start seeing positive results of our mutual efforts very soon. 

As a teacher, I can only interact with you on a basis which you decide upon. You might choose a once-per-week pre-milonga class such as that offered at Firehouse Tango. You might opt for greater depth by joining one of my classes, which I teach in New York City. Or you might intensify the process significantly with regular private lessons.

In any of these teaching/learning modalities I (or any competent teacher of your choice) have the ability to offer you my half of the process. What I mean is that my promise is to teach you to the very best of my ability, and to carefully monitor how things are progressing with you during your sessions.

The other half of the equation belongs entirely to you. If you truly want to learn Tango, it's up to you to aggressively commit to the process. This means deciding that Tango is a serious skill that you really want to learn, rather than a once-a-week, show-me-a-step entertainment. It means letting me (or whoever your teacher may be) set the agenda for learning rather than trying to dictate a "dancing-with-the-stars" approach, inappropriately focussed on superficial dance steps.  It means finding quality time to work on the things that you're being taught. And it means deciding that this year you're not going to be satisfied until you've firmly and permanently established the learning of Tango as a crucial, ongoing part of your life.

I know that this is asking a lot. We all have busy schedules. For most of us, Tango starts out as a pleasant fantasy. It's something we wish we could do, but when push comes to shove, we ultimately decide that we really don't want to invest the time, the energy, or the patience to actually learn.

I vividly remember feeling that way myself, when I began to realize the enormity of taking on this hugely challenging, infinitely complex skill. Tango was so alien to my long embedded American ballroom/Latin/swing orientation that it seemed to exist on another planet!

However, somehow, over a period of time, I started to make little break-throughs, often painful, in which learning Tango began to be more and more important to my life as a dancer. I managed to find myself more and more committed to the process of allowing it to happen.

And eventually it did.

I now find that knowing how to dance Tango actually informs and enhances all my other dance disciplines. Because of Tango, I'm now a better Foxtrot, Salsa, and Swing dancer than I was before. I think this has to do with finally learning the art of lead/follow -- something we really never learn properly in the contemporary ballroom community -- which (for what I believe are primarily financial considerations) has now been almost entirely taken over by memorized patterns.

Getting back to the point, will this be your year to really learn Tango? I hope so; Pat hopes so. And we're ready to do all we can to help you.  All you have to do is just say the word.

Please join Fran and Pat for our Saturday Practica at Pearl Studios, 500 8^th Avenue (between 35^th and 36^th Streets; 2-4pm, $10 per person. (Bringing a partner isn't necessary.) Fran and Pat will be on hand to answer any questions you may have about your dancing, and to help you with material you're working on. If you’d like a private lesson, call Fran directly at 212-662-7692, or email him at franchesleigh@mac.com. For the practice, all you have to do is arrive with $10 and your dance shoes in hand.

The following folks helped set up, break down and clean up before and after the milonga. Without them, there would be no Firehouse Tango.

• Debbie Glaser
  
• Sydney St. James
• Elena Titova
• Elena Syrett
  
• Tsipoyra Sartan
  
• Jesse Barton (Welcome back)
  
• Bob Brillo
  
• Barbara Lombardi
  
• Steve Maisch