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I feel back to normal finally. Had some time to rest and recuperate, and do some cleaning and tidying up. It always makes me feel better to walk into my place with some things in order, instead of things strewn everywhere. Had a pretty relaxing day even though I worked for a few hours. I know this is going to be another busy week of hell, but didn't want to push myself today so I could at least rest up for the busy week. Was itching all weekend to dance, since the last time I danced was Thursday at Starlite, so Martin and I headed over to Alberto's milonga tonight. It was practically empty at 8pm (it starts at 7pm), but around 9pm it got much more crowded. I don't know where everyone's going or if they aren't going anywhere Sunday nights, but a lot of the usual crowd I'd grown used to have not been showing up lately to this milonga which is a shame. Martin didn't do too much dancing tonight due to recovering from 3 full days of Naginata events Frid, Sat, and today, but we got about 4 or 5 tandas in together. I get spoiled dancing with him :) So I did a fair bit of mingling tonight, dancing with some new folks, and got to dance 2 tandas with S, who I'd been wanting to dance with. Danced a tanda towards the end of the night with J. He's only been dancing a couple months I think and is quite good for a beginner. I can already see the improvement after just a few weeks. Plus he takes from my teachers and seems to be absorbing the good teachings of good lead/follow. My teacher, Marcelo showed up towards the end of the night so I got to dance a tanda with him as well. I don't remember all the new folks names, but I have to say these last few weeks I've been really lucky at not having any horrible experiences on the dance floor. It's funny too because I'd been planning on what my etiquette would be if I did end up dancing with someone I didn't enjoy dancing with, but so far I have not had to use it. I am trying to learn the cabaceo, as I haven't really been using that at all up until now. I hear stories of women who overdo the cabaceo and practically stare guys down to death, and I think after hearing these almost horror stories I've adopted the exact opposite and avoided looking at guys at all. I know I should really start trying this out though especially since my trip to Buenos Aires is only 2 months away. Looking forward to entering this new week in a more normal state of feeling/being.Listening to: Delerium - Returning (feat.kristy thirsk)
I feel like I have been living multiple lives: the work one, the music one, the tango one. Of course, my music group knows about tango and vice-versa, and work knows about both hobbies. I am still trying to recover from burn-out, but there doesn't seem to be much time. Almost 7 days a week include full days and nights of either work, music, or tango, and sometimes I barely have time to get to the mundane things. I'm still trying to do it all though and enjoy what I can. Martin and I had a great practice Thursday at Starlite, compared to our iffy practice Tuesday at Bechtel. I think a large part of it has to do with the floor, the music, the people, and all of that which creates the atmosphere. Bechtel is a rather small floor, feeling confined with a different caliber of dancers and some music that is not even tango music. Starlite has a huge really nice floor, where I feel like Martin and I can be more ourselves, whether it be the small intimate nuances of moves, or the larger more energetic movements. Martin has been calling me his tango soulmate from very early on and I'm trying to live up to that expectation. At the beginning I wasn't so sure, having only danced 1 1/2 months before he tried to sell me on becoming one of his tango partners saying he's never felt a stronger natural connection before with anyone. I felt like I had entered a new arena and wasn't sure I was cut out for it (ignorance is bliss!). But just last week he was commenting on how he knew I'd be good when he met and danced with me, but he didn't know I'd be this good. He also said last week that my follow is "phenomenal" :)Went straight from work last night to a quartet rehearsal where we played music until midnight. It was fun and I'm so lucky to be part of such a fantastic group of peeps! 2 bottles of wine later we had accomplished a small chunk of music we'd wanted to play through and determine if we could play them at future gigs, if we could play them with a little more practice, or if they were no's. A big treat was playing through Coldplay's Viva La Vida that she had just re-arranged a couple days ago. It was awesome and we'll definitely play it at our next Byington gig in August. Have a quartet gig in Foster City in a few hours. Hope to get some r&r tonight! Listening to: Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees
I'm still recovery from Tango Week. Not so much my feet anymore, but I've just been burnt out the last couple weeks with tango, work, and music. Friday night was a strange night at Tarragon milonga. I noted that G was correct in what she stated Thursday night at Denny's that it's mostly couples that just dance with themselves. I got a few tandas in before Martin showed up 2 hours later, and then we were guilty of dancing the entire night together. Sunday's milonga at Alberto's turned into a good mlionga, but it seems people like to arrive fashionably late! We got there almost an hour after it opened and it was quite dead. Martin got to dance with around 5 followers he wanted to so he had a good night. It's harder for followers cuz you have to wait to be asked, however I got several tandas in with F, and one each with R, V, and a few others.
It was a very busy weekend for my quartet. We had a hugely successful 2nd of three gigs at Byington's Al Fresco Thursday concerts and got a good response as well as booking a November wedding gig on the spot. That was three hours of playing. Saturday we had 2 gigs for weddings at a private residence in Aptos and then at Clos La Chance winery in San Martin. They had yummy wines (I liked their Chardonnay over their Sauvingon Blanc, while Byington's I liked their SB over their Chard). From the time I left home till when I returned was around 9 hours so a full day! Sunday, we had our biggest gig ever for 4 1/2 hours, which at first we were excited for, but by the end, we were all saying how we can't ever do this much gigging in a weekend again. It was at Mountain Winery though and it was gorgeous. I got home, did hours of cleaning, and then we dragged ourselves to Albertos for a nice ending to a long weekend.
I started getting into the zone once with Martin and once with V Sunday night but didn't know what it was until later when I talked to Martin about it so I tried to shake it loose so I could get back to concentrating while I was dancing. This also happened with Martin during practica last night. If it happens again I'll try to go with it and see what happens although it's a weird feeling since I am usually always very conscious and focused while I'm dancing. This week we go back to our regular practice schedule of Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights, and I'll be trying to catchup on sleep still.
One of my tango classmates had a summertime dance party as part of her birthday. It was a perfect event with great food, company, and dancing. My teachers gave a couple performances which were awesome to see as always. They truly are inspirational people and dancers. I realized I was itching to dance, as I hadn't danced in two days. So after someone asked me about dancing with them, I started putting on my tango shoes after the performance, and patiently waited for some tango music to come on. Meanwhile, loud popular music came out of the nice sound system. Finally, I couldn't wait any longer, so Martin willingly joined me on the dance floor and we got down with the beat. Later we got some tango dancing in which semi-satisfied my inkling. I felt on again tonight which was nice, to make up for Thursday's off-feeling night. I got several compliments, which I attributed to Martin and my teachers. We got several inquiries about where to take classes, and people thinking about starting tango, so it's nice to see the tango community growing, people appreciating our dancing, the interest in Argentine tango, and just seeing the fun and joy it brings to everyone. We didn't get all that much dancing in tonight. It was muggy, hot inside, so we had to take many breaks, and we also danced with the few other tango dancers there. Plus we had to leave early with the thoughts of going to bed early since we have all day tango weekend classes tomorrow! I can't wait!
So, I went to my first tango week milonga, the Opening free milonga last night. It was definitely an experience. Serena, Andreas, and I carpooled up, and Martin met us there later after his class and I rode home with him at midnight. There weren't too many people there when we got there at 7:15pm, so we leisurely looked at shoes from the vendors on display. I really liked the shoes from the guy from Miami, but his smallest shoe, was alas too big for my foot :( It was almost perfect except being a bit too loose. It was a very soft, cushy black shoe, very comfortable, and only $89! The Comme Il Faut were $160 and while they had several size 4 shoes, they were either close-toed, or way too tight for my fat toes, or highly uncomfortable. So... no shoes for me! Perhaps some other vendors will have some shoes that fit my feet, otherwise I'll just have to wait for our trip to Buenes Aires in September.
It was kind of weird seeing everyone I'd met over the last 7 months in the tango scene. I was actually very nervous in the afteroon beforehand, so I couldn't even eat dinner. I had a liquid dinner. But then seeing Serena and Andreas eased my nerves a bit, and once I got there and kept seeing familiar faces every two minutes, it was comforting. Some of the early people I ran into were Ed, Nora, Jerry, Francis and Gina, and Ricardo. Francis and I had two warm-up tandas, and then I danced with Vijay and Ricardo. One thing I'd do differently next year is wear shoes which I have danced in before and am comfortable dancing in. I don't really have a pair of shoes like that right now, which is why I'm so wanting to find new tango shoes. I'd been wearing some street shoes for the past few months, but they aren't very supportive, especially to my ankle, so I think those are worn out and past their time. My old tango shoes, which I ended up wearing at the end of the night are closed-toed so they keep bruising my last two pinky toes. I decided to wear my new Comme Il Faut shoes for most of the night, but I'd only danced a couple songs in them during practica prior, and the bottoms were pretty slippery from being new leather. So, I didn't feel I had a very "on" night dancing. Also, the vibe was kinda crazy weird. The place is so huge! We were all getting hungry around 830pm so Serena, Andreas and I went downstairs to look for food and ended up at the bar having some tasty spring roles and gaining some sustenance. When we were done, we went upstairs and our eyes widened as we approached the Ballroom and saw the floor covered with maybe hundreds of people... not like it was when we'd left an hour earlier. Wow!
Martin arrived soon after, and we ended up dancing most of the rest of the night together. By then it was super crazy jam packed, and I'd never experienced so many collisions in one night before. There were just people everywhere. Every 30 seconds or so I'd hear Martin curse from under his breath, a "f***" or "sh**"! It was very, very cramped, and some people who weren't even dancing would walk right into us on the dancefloor! I didn't have any bad tandas that night, except for my general issues with my shoes and not feeling "on" last tonight. I got to dance with all good dancers: Francis, Vijay, Ricardo, Sergei, Andreas, Martin, and one or two people I didn't know but were really good as well.
Definitely, if I go next year I'll arrive early again, but probably leave early once it gets super crowded. So, I'm no longer a tango week virgin :) I look forward to taking Sundays classes at Tango Weekend with Martin. Again, this will be a really new experience for me and I hope, if my feet will last we can do all of the classes that day, and perhaps there will be other shoe vendors with size 4 shoes! *fingers crossed*
I keep thinking that today is Saturday since it is a holiday, so I keep thinking I have conflicting activities tonight. But it's just a really long, nice weekend! One of my co-workers has got me hooked on my first Korean drama series, Save The Last Dance For Me, so Martin and I stayed up late watching more of that last night.
Well, I'm off to my parents for BBQ, and then going over to Martin's to see fireworks!
I have this red t-shirt that says Inspired on it, but it's nice to know that I'm also inspiring to others as well. A couple weeks ago in class, a guy told me, "You and your dance partner are inspiring to more than half the class." This past Sunday night at Alberto's milonga, I got several compliments from both leaders and followers; from people I danced with as well as just observers. I like to try to connect with whomever I'm dancing with, and one guy I'd danced with a few times at other milongas commented on that and told me, "Don't ever lose that." I enjoyed dancing a couple tandas each with Vijay and Francis, and many with Martin. It's weird because both Martin and I feel like whenever we get back together dancing together towards the end of the night after mingling with others that we feel even better together. We had some "on" dancing Sunday night as well as last night. Of course I am still learning how to say "no" or say "thank you" before a tanda has ended with someone I am having an absolute horrible time with, but I view tango as an arena for all dancers to share and have fun together. I've met some colorful and good people during my tango journey thus far who have been abundantly kind and generous to me and I hope to reciprocate. I also feel I can tell the difference between someone I'm dancing with who is a beginner but is working on the basics, like just walking, versus someone who thinks they're hot shit, when they aren't and kind of taking me for granted as a follower. I will definitely have lots of patience with the former. After all, I was a beginner not too long ago and still am! When I described this brief moment I felt last night to Martin, he said that was the zone. It was weird, because usually things are very clear in my head, and I'm very much in my head concentrating and focusing. When I had this moment, things became unclear and like I had lost control, and was just moving but not fully conscious. I let myself do that for a short amount of time, maybe 20-30 seconds and then took over control and focus again. It is nice that I am able to relax more and have fun now. For the first few months after partnering with Martin I was concentrating on 10 different things at once and remember having a couple weeks of horrendous overwhelm. Tango is a very complicated dance! So one last limelight incident: last night after practica on my way out, this new woman came over to me and told me how beautiful and elegant it is to watch me and how I was such an inspiration to watch. In other news, my quartet had a nice 2-hour gig at this humongous private residence in Woodside Sunday afternoon. It was really gorgeous, but very tastefully and simply decorated. Martin and I finished watching the last half of The Road Home last night which is a very endearing Chinese movie with fabulous cinematography. Today is day two at my company's new location. I am really enjoying the much shorter commute of 15-20 minutes! Also, I'm less than 1/2 mile from Starlite so Martin and I can maybe meet during the day to practice there :)
