Having experienced both moving and childbirth, I can safely say that moving is harder.  I shall never move again!    My cell number is still 201-826-6602.  My new address is 31 Mulberry Court, Paramus, NJ 07652 (about four miles from the Knights' Hall.)  I love it!  I'm overwhelmed.  I haven't touched Duolingo or exercized (except for carrying boxes) since before the move. My life is topsy-turvy.  Thank goodness for tango.  

Hi everyone, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. If you've been following our ongoing discussion of fundamental linear movement in Tango, you're waiting (with bated breath, no doubt) to read our final installment of this mini-series, which consists of Pat's thoughts about how a follower responds to the lead for a pivot. This week, however, I'm going to ask for your indulgence, while I attempt to address (not for the first time) what seems to be a chronically entrenched idea among leaders. It's the notion that dancing consists of a repertoire of memorized figures or "steps."

Here is the gist of a conversation I overheard at the Firehouse just last week between two leaders:

"It's really hard for me to get here by 7:00 p.m. for this milonga class. I wish it started later."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much. He doesn't teach the steps 'til later."

"What does he do in the beginning?"

"Oh, you know, just how to lead, how to move, stuff like that. I already know how to do that."

"Okay, I guess I shouldn't feel so bad about getting here later then."

Here is my response to that conversation:

Aaaaaaaaggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!

All right, I feel calmer now. Let's talk about this idea. From the time I started learning to dance Tango back in 1986, my (Argentine) teachers ALL said, "There are NO steps in Tango." What they meant is that Tango is a way of dancing, a technique, a unique movement skill -- not just a checklist of memorized steps. Unfortunately, dance students in this country simply cannot seem to get the idea out of their heads that learning how to dance consists of anything other than accumulating figures and sequences.

Why is this misconception so prevalent in our dance culture? If you've ever taken dance lessons here, you already know the answer. Go to any dance school, and what are you offered? Ten steps in bronze, ten steps in silver, and ten in gold. Get yourself through the program, and presto, you're a dancer. What about lead/follow? What about basic movement? Well, we'll get to that later (meaning never.)

The truth is that nobody can learn to dance by memorizing steps. To be a dancer, there's just no substitute for the work we do in the beginning: Learning and practicing balance, fundamental movement, lead/follow partnering -- things which are absolutely crucial to the process of learning how to dance. Why do dance schools put these things on the way way back burner?  Because those things are not sexy. Because those things are really difficult, and take time to get good at. Because dance schools are aggressively selling the idea that dancing is easy, that anybody can do it, that it can be learned in an hour, in a half hour, in five minutes, now! Just fork over the do re mi, and you can be an expert dancer in seconds!

Not true today, not true tomorrow, not true ever.

Leaders, please try to stop thinking this way. I beg you. Please try to recognize that to become a decent dancer, you have to put in the work in order to go from ground zero to where you want to be. There are no shortcuts. Yes, dance steps are fun, and once you've learned how to dance, the big secret is that they're actually easy. But if you think you can master any complex sequence of movements without gong through the preliminary process of developing the skills necessary to handle it, you're just kidding yourself.

Which means, please get here by 7:00 for the beginning stuff. It's really important.

Next week, Pat will pick up where we left off last week, and share her thoughts on the follower's role in pivoting, and in following a skilled leaders' invitation.

A Special Workshop with Fran Chesleigh and Pat Altman

REGISTER NOW at franchesleigh.com

$35 in advance, $40 at the door

Checks and cash also accepted. No refunds. No exchanges.

12:00 -- 3:00 P.M.

Pearl Studios, 519 Eighth Avenue (between 35^th & 36^th) 12^th floor, Room C

All levels welcome

·      Add the "best of the best" turns to your personal step list

·      Learn how to "keep it together" during even the most complex turn

·      Beef up your crucial balance skills as a leader or follower

·      Enhance your adornment profile

·      Show the world that aguja, enrosque, rulo, and lapis are more than just fancy words

Don't miss it!

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

• Steve Maisch
• ​​Steve Turi and Lynn Gross 
• Rafael and Hilda 
• Tsipoyra Sartan
  
• Elena Titova​ ​​