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
