TucsonTangoFestival.com

Getting the Most from Your Festival

The Tucson Tango Festival is full of exciting instructors, milongas, DJ classes, Argentine History Seminarios, and lectures on community building. How can you possibly absorb it all? Simple: you can’t. You will have to make some choices. Here is some advice from a festival junkie named Rusty:

I love tango festivals and here are some things I have learned:
If you over tax yourself you will be too tired to enjoy anything.
Pace yourself.

• First there is a lot to learn so if you are taking classes here this: Take most of your classes BELOW YOUR LEVEL OF DANCE! My Reasons:
  1) We always think we are better than we are, it is the only way we can dance with confidence.
  2) You will most definitely find that the foundational things you have learned else where will sound and feel different coming from the festival instructors. So there will be a lot here for you to re-learn and re-integrate.
  3) You won’t be as stressed if you allow this experience to be more of a refresher than all new material.
• If you have been dancing for more than two years, be sure to save ample time for milonga dancing at the milongas. Do not try to take all three classes and dance all night, your body probably can’t handle it. Take a class or two and stay a bit later at the milongas so you can integrate what you have learned.
• If you have been dancing less you will want more of the classes and less of the milongas.  Take two or three classes, get some rest and come down to the milonga for a couple of hours, but take it nice and easy picking your tandas and partners carefully.
• Drink lots of water. Stay hydrated and keep your energy up with good wholesome meals.
• Stretch – be sure to stretch those hamstrings and your lower back, standing all day can cause some stiffness. Here is a nice PDF for tango stretching.
• There is no short road to tango.
• Relax and enjoy everything as best you can.
• Take advantage of low energy events to save fuel for the milongas.
• Remember when it comes to the milonga, wipe the practice from you mind and dance the best you can without getting too worried about remembering todays figure or lesson. Those things come from practice and use, at the milongas just dance what you know.

Take your time, take it slow and enjoy the moments as they arrise. This event is for your pleaseure and enjoyment, do not move into stress mode by trying to do too much or by trying to learn too much. You will get more from teh festival if you remember it is a big party, so enjoy yourself.

Love, Light and Abrazos,
Rusty

Secrets of Floor Craft

I Promise To Deliver You Good Floor Craft!!

The Plan | Floor Craft Advice

All too often I have seen the crowds grow beyond the capacity of a finite dance floor. Then the crowd blames the ensuing bump and grind on poor floor craft. Too tight dancing might be fun for a song or two, but after very a short while, too cramped is too cramped, PERIOD.

Floor craft is challenging it takes some time and experience to get good at crafting your dance around your dance mates. And since Argentine tango is always growing, there will always be people learning their floor craft as they go. Plus there is an obvious limit to how many can dance in a specific floor space, exceed the limit and it always leads to poor floor craft. I promise to always give you enough space, so all you have to do is dance mindful of the fact you are not alone.

We have plenty of quality professional wood flooring for the main floor, we use: American Portable Dance Floors.

I used the following with permission it is written by my good friend Daniel Boardman CCIM:

Ten Principles of Impeccable Tango Floor Craft

by Daniel Boardman CCIM

1. Maintain a lane.
   When danced socially, tango is danced in strict circular lanes with couples advancing around the room in a counterclockwise direction (called “line-of-dance”). There may be one or more concentric lanes moving simultaneously. Once in a lane, avoid changing lanes during the dance.
2. Look before backing up.
   Never step backwards against traffic blindly. Likewise, avoid other movements that cause you or your partner to suddenly occupy space behind you in line-of-dance because the dancer behind you may have already begun advancing into that space.
3. Avoid passing.
   Tango is not a race. If the dancer in front of you is advancing more slowly than you would like, alter your dance so that it is more circular and less linear. Learn to dance well and happily without much forward advancement.
4. No parking.
   Standing and chatting with your partner between songs is fine, but keep an awareness of when the couples around you start dancing again and move accordingly. If the other dancers have begun to dance and you wish to continue your conversation, simply step off the floor so you don’t obstruct them.
5. Never zigzag.
   Cutting in and out of line-of-dance is very poor form and disturbing to the dancers you are cutting in front of. If you choose to dance in the center of the room, remain there throughout the song. If you dance in a given lane, finish the dance in that same lane.
6. Don’t monopolize the space.
   There are many styles of tango. Some require a relatively large amount of floor space; some require a minimal amount of floor space. All styles are fine under the right conditions. If a floor is crowded, dance small, not taking up any more space than any of your fellow dancers. If the floor is not crowded, and you are so inclined, dance large.
7. Avoid dangerous moves.
   Certain moves, such as high in-line boleos, can be dangerous on a crowded floor. Save them for less crowded conditions.
8. Don’t talk, dance!
   Talking while dancing is bad form, reveals the dancer’s lack of presence in the moment, and is distracting to other dancers. Save the conversation for when the music stops. Teaching or correcting your partner is particularly inappropriate at a milonga. Save it for a practica.
9. Dance with the room.
   Endeavor to dance with an awareness of all of the dancers around you.  Do not allow gaps in the line-of-dance in front of you to form as this will cause a pileup of dancers behind you. When the music begins, start dancing when the majority of other dancers do.
10. Ask before merging.
    Before stepping onto a crowded dance floor, if you are a leader, make eye contact with the leader whom you wish to enter the floor in front of. The leader should understand your request and indicate his assent with a nod or wink, and you may then enter line-of-dance.

Thank you for reading and we look forward to having you at the Tucson Tango Festival!!!
Love & Light,
Rusty

Oscar Casas Is Official

Oscar Casas is now officially on board for next year! Let’s hear a round of applause

Oscar is a fantastic instructor. I can hardly wait to introduce him to the Tucson tango community!!

Love & Light,
Rusty