The simple truth
Over the past weekend, I attended the first half of Hsueh-tze’s Art of Tango workshop series which will run over two weekends. I am happy to say that while some of the materials taught were already familiar to me, I was still able to pick up many subtle technical points. If anything, I think her demonstration of different ways of dancing to D’Arienzo’s “La Bruja” was well worth the price of admission, as they say!
Something that was mentioned in the class really stuck in my mind. A statement which Hsueh-tze attributed to one of her former students went something like this:
A good leader makes everything “simple” (for the follower).
Here the word “simple” can be taken to mean “effortless”. In other words, a key characteristic of a good lead is clarity, so that there is no ambiguity in the follower’s mind and no further interpretation is necessary.
Art of Tango series
This week, one of my favourite teachers, Hsueh-tze Lee, will be arriving in Singapore to continue her Art of Tango series (March 2007, November 2007, November 2008). This will be her third visit in 2 years as a matter of fact.
Looking at the list of workshop topics is like venturing into a toy store with too many goodies to choose from! In particular I am especially looking forward to the following classes:
- Enticing walks
- The two classes on turns
- Swirls and suspension in vals
- The three classes devoted to different orchestras
Can’t wait till the workshops start. Thankfully this comes immediately after a company event that I am helping to organise is over, so that I can relax completely. 🙂
There will also be two “studio milongas” (to use the local parlance) for the workshop-averse people:
- Saturday 22 Nov, 9pm – 1am JJSalsarengue.
- Saturday 29 Nov, 9pm – 1am Abrazos
Cacho Dante
It seems that one of the well-respected milonguero and teacher of the milonguero style – Cacho Dante – now also has a personal website! Hopefully this will make it easier to locate his classes from now on.
For those who have yet to meet him (me included), here is a short scene from the movie The Tango Lessons, showing Cacho dancing with Sally Potter. He appeared from ~0:30-0:58.
ps. I have included this clip so this incident will not repeat itself in future…
Tango fantasy
For a moment, let’s indulge in some fanciful thinking.
Fact 1: Tango has been in Singapore for close to nine years.
Fact 2: Group classes with local teachers started at Jitterbugs, a fairly large dance studio in Singapore, since late 2000.
Fact 3: Size of a typical 8-week beginners classes is around 15-20.
Just imagine, 4 such group classes per year, for all of the preceding eight years. And let’s say that 1/3 made it to at least one milonga or practicas and went on to stay in the community for 6 months. This actually means an annual increase of about 20-25 people! Over a period of nine years, even assuming that only 1/2 of the ones who stayed for 6 months eventually became regulars, we are still talking close to 90 new people in our small community!
What an exciting thought: to have 90 people just from one studio alone!
Alas this exists only in imagination, as this is very far from the reality in Singapore…