Crossroads
After returning home from another reasonably successful (averaging about 20-25 people these days) weekly practica-milonga at the Porridge Club, cannot help but ponder this question: how best to take advantage of this momentum we seem to be building in order help our Tango community grow? Although it is satisfying to see people enjoying themselves, and at a regular venue, one thing is for sure, there is still much room for improvement in many of the basic techniques! In particular, most of the leaders have yet to acquire the proper navigational skills on the dance floor (myself included, at times) and show more consideration for other dancers sharing the same space.
Gladys/Ricardo workshop
Tonight was the final session in Gladys and Ricardo’s workshop in Singapore. The main topics of discussion were boleos, contraboleos, and the dynamics of movements. As usual, quite tiring (and especially so since this is the end of the series), physically and conceptually challenging but inspirational at the same time!
Milonga at Raffles Hotel
Just returned home from a full night’s Tango at the Raffles Hotel (one of the oldest hotel in Singapore by the way). The Milonga began at about 9.30pm and finished shortly after 12.30am. Well, can almost say that the dance started as early as 6pm this evening, since that was when today’s workshops began. 🙂
This special occasion was initiated by the Argentinian embassy in Singapore. It was meant as a sort of welcome party for our Tango teachers, Gladys Fernandez and Ricardo Barrios, who arrived this week to conduct workshops. Needless to say, the performance they gave was truly inspirational!
Another memorable incident is that a German friend whom I have not seen for a year also managed to come to the Milonga!
ps. With all the exercises this weekend, did not get a chance to upgrade the MT server to 2.5. Some other time then…
Organising Milongas
Recently, on the Tango-L mailing list, there has been a discussion on the hosting of milongas. Since I am also organising the weekly Wednesday practica-come-milonga* (for the differences between the two, please see Rebecca Shulman’s clear article) in Singapore, much of the discussion is directly relevant for me.