All about Tango in Singapore
With increasing ease plus a zero-cost(!) set-up provided by many free social networking tools currently available, there is suddenly a number of useful online sources (not necessarily overlapping) to tango happenings in Singapore. Together they will be more accurate than the once-reliable website which has been slow to keep up with the updates in recent months. Well, here are all of them in one place:
- Facebook: Tango Singapore
- Facebook: “Bailamos Tango en Singapur” (no longer active, 2012)
- Private domain: Tango Singapore
Of course, there is also the long-standing list of milongas and practicas in Singapore in this blog which I will try to keep up to date.
Foobar as a DJ software
Although I have been using iTunes for DJing for the past two years, I have tried using WinAMP before that and currently revisiting using a free software called foobar2000. Now, despite the rather innocuous name, it is actually a very powerful piece of software which works not only in Microsoft Windows but also under Linux (using Wine). The advantages of using foobar2000 include wide range of file formats (for example I have most of my collection in flac, but occasionally I will receive files in aac and mp3), plethora of customisation options, to name a few.
Here are some resources that I have personally found to be extremely useful, for anyone also seeking an alternative player.
Valuable lessons from BsAs
I have been meaning to write a summary of my experiences of BsAs. This is a quick attempt to try to capture some of the most important lessons (majority below is from the classes I took) I learnt during the one-month stay.
- Dance freely. This is a concept I cannot stress enough. In particular, 1) Not to feel constrained to dance in a particular style and 2) not to be afraid to make mistakes – they may lead to new “creations”. And, as a teacher I respect highly put it succinctly, “to dance you need to move!”
- For leaders: allow your partner the freedom to move and express herself, through your embrace (which by the way does not mean opening the embrace if you are already in close embrace… :shocked:) and the next point.
- Follow your follower – physically, not just some mental delusion…
- Listen to your partner. Respond to her mood, energy and musicality. For followers, assert yourself in this equal partnership we call tango.
- Dance with passion. Move only when you feel compelled to do so because of the music.
- Patience. This applies not only in developing navigational skills in crowded conditions but also in learning and adapting to every new partner you dance with.
- Most importantly of all, have fun in every dance! Go with the energy you feel on any night, whether it’s high or low.
Thoughts on bad posture
Don’t know about your neck of woods, but visiting teachers will generally insist on dancing with a good posture during their classes. However, from browsing clips on YouTube of well-known (usually very old) milongueros and teachers, what I saw during my trip to Buenos Aires, and perhaps the little streak of rebelliousness in me(!?), sometimes I really wonder what’s all the fuss about having a good posture??
I mean, it is not difficult to find clips of the so-called maestros dancing with an apparently imperfect posture and yet able to move musically and perhaps with a dash of showiness. What’s the catch? Why is it that “they” are allowed while “we” (the “uninitiated”) are barred from copying their examples to the dot!? I mean, if these famous dancers can manage to dance well with slouched backs, bent heads, etc., why can’t I do the same… 🙂
Actually, despite the slightly tongue-in-cheek introduction, my conclusion from all this is that good posture is not just for aesthetics but serves important functional purposes. For me at least, the fundamental principle is simply:
Provided that you do not disturb your partner’s axis or balance, slight deviations from the ideal posture are not only permissible but actively encouraged.
I believe that, just as we should walk with our unique personality, so we should dance with as few constraints as possible, or else we will all become mere robots on the dance floor – stiff and straight, able to move to the rhythm of the music precisely, but nothing more.
