Fandango de Tango Festival

The Tango Festival

A few days of living a fantasy tango life,
for me it was a (short) milonga life.
Eat, dance, sleep, dance. Repeat.
Dancing with friends, old and new. Dancing with strangers.
Unfamiliar music, and old favorites.

The fiercest, raciest Pugliese tanda I've ever danced - was that really me?
Hair in my face, breathless, heart racing - flying over, and yet still sinking into, the dance floor . . .
yeah, that was me.

A Hugo Diaz song that seared my heart and made me feel like I was dancing several inches into the ground.
(That feeling of rough, wet soil under your feet, sinking a little,
surrounding your toes, holding you to the earth . . .
that's what Hugo Diaz feels like for me . . . )

Heart-melting vals sets,
Joyful milonga tandas that pushed away every care and worry.
The freedom to dance and dance and dance until I could hardly stand up.

But the world, my non-tango life, marched on.
It knew I would have to come out some time.

Thank you to Dearest, Darlingest Husband, and to Patrick, Mardi, Mark and Marcus, for making it possible for me to participate in Austin's Fandango de Tango. I wouldn't have been able to do it without you all.

And to friends and dancers, near and far, I hope to see you all again at the Austin Spring Tango Festival.

Comments

Tim Ferriss and the Myth of Tango Mastery

Dear tanguero, I feel I should explain my reaction to your comments about Tim Ferriss. It touched a nerve and I didn't really explain my apparent hostility. It was certainly not meant for you. Several people have brought Tim Ferriss to my attention over this past year. I can usually make it a month before his name pops up again. For readers who are unfamiliar with him, he's the author of "The 4 Hour Work Week". He set a Guinness record for the most consecutive tango turns and has competed with his partner, Alicia Monti, at the Tango World Championship . As a social dancer the idea of a tango competition seems absurd. I don't think I will ever understand how something like tango could be judged - or why anyone would want it to be. But I digress. I think the most crucial detail of Ferriss's history, as I relate it to tango, is his winning Wired magazine's "Greatest Self-Promoter of All Time" . If there is any concept more out of synch with social ...

"Proper" Tango Shoes

Periodically someone, usually a man, will be bring up the topic of "proper tango shoes." If he's referring to the problem (and dangers) of trying to dance in flip-flops, or mules, or platform shoes etc., those are definitely valid, and very helpful points to be made. The likelihood of damaging your feet is very high without the proper support of high quality shoes. My problem comes with the idea that the *only* proper tango shoes have 4" stiletto heels on them and fetish-worthy embellishments. (Okay, I'm pretty keen on the embellishments myself.) "goofy ballroomy shoes are a turnoff... get rid of them..." - Alex Tango Fuego (granted this is from 2007), http://alextangofuego.blogspot.com/2007/10/to-dance-or-not-to-dancebrutally.html And, in the comments on a blog post, Anonymous said... " This is a controversial one. If a follower isn't wearing tango shoes then it's usually a good sign she's not particularly good." From Ms. Hedgeh...

Expressing music or dancing for tables?

Too much of a good thing? As sort of a follow-up to my thoughts on technique, I've run into a little snag I'd like some feedback. When I get compliments about my embrace, I'm absolutely elated. When someone compliments the way my walk feels, I feel accomplished. Compliments about my musicality - ditto. When I start getting lots of compliments about my foot work, however - I get worried. I shouldn't right? A compliment is a compliment, and should be taken graciously. It's certainly meant as a positive thing. It's a good thing if a dancer's feet are pretty - why else would everyone wear those silly, yet gorgeous, shoes? But like Richard Dreyfuss staring down his plate of mash potatoes in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, I can't help thinking it means something. Something not good. I don't mean like a backhanded compliment - but more like a fear that my priorities have unintentionally shifted. Maybe it's a community thing. Online I very often r...

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