On Tango Lessons or I Just Want to Learn to Walk

It's been a while...

... Since the last time I took a Tango Lesson. And hey, NO. Don't even think for a second that it is because I don't believe I need them. Oh. No... No Way. God knows I do...!!!

And yet, several months ago, something deep made me make the conscious choice of waiting a bit before taking new lessons on new concepts. This is not how I was before... There was a time in which I used to take lots of regular classes. Group classes. Later, private classes (though not so many or so often, but still). Whenever big names came to town, or I attended a Festival, I registered for as many workshops I could afford. I was so thirsty, so eager to see it all right away.

And you know what? I was overloaded...

It took me a while to understand that I could only learn practicing seriously, dancing a lot, and taking the time I needed for my body to absorb key basic technique concepts that very often people take for granted at early stages of the Tango Road, when the mirage of the fancy figures catches the eye and traps most of those who are just getting familiar with what Tango is all about. Moreover, even when classes were about concepts, taking too many before allowing those ideas sink in, cook, mature in my brain was often useless, unproductive, or even confusing. Why? Well, because too many ideas from too many great Tango dancers may still be contradictory, and too much to absorb for someone who has not developed the judgement and the understanding that while Tango has rules, in reality it doesn't. It is the one of the most liberating dances precisely because as one knows the dance better, the rules can be twisted in an artful and expressive manner to create something beautiful, cohesive and consistent with the whole dance. But that is too much to absorb early on, I think. At least, it was for me.

It was during my last trip to BAs, last August when I decided that I needed to slow down with the classes and just *focus*. Even a few weeks prior to the trip, I had started to understand that I needed to concentrate on the task of moving right. It was about truly learning how to walk (if I didn't want to be simple, I would add to walk musically, but never mind). Once in BAs, my interaction with some wonderful Tango teachers I was lucky enough to take classes with (Julio Balmaceda and Pablo Inza) made me strengthen my decision that I needed to focus on the simple quality of the dance. It was like when Pablo Veron tells Sally Potter in the "Tango Lesson":

"Now, we walk"

And what the hell, I'm still learning it. Walking right as I dance is not second nature to me (at least, I don't feel it is). When I walk on the street, every morning, going to work, I make a point of practicing my "Tango Walk". I step conscious of my body dynamics, wondering if I finally made this mine. Sometimes I congratulate myself because I find myself walking right without having purposefully done it. But some others, I just don't. And then I realize that, well, this will take some time. To make it unconcious, a part of me. I don't want to have to think about it on the dance floor. I just want to do it.

Anyhow. Worried about this, I decided that I could well take a break from Tango Lessons and just work on it. But I think it's time to try again to challenge myself with the new. I do not have the intention to overload myself with more material than I can truly process and seriously work on, but I also recognize that Tango Lessons are one very good way for keep ourselves on our toes, aware of what else is there, of how much the possibilities of this endless Tango World can expand.

So, here I go again... :)