Passions at Present

Juan and Sol perform at Alberto's - beautiful rendition of Poema

2009-06-12T15:56:00.001-07:00

Beautiful dancers. I'd have loved to take some of their classes but didn't have any time in my schedule. At least I got to see their exquisite performances:

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Diego Blanco and Ana Padrone at Alberto's milonga May 24th, 2009

2009-06-12T15:49:00.000-07:00

Please enjoy their performances:

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Back to Tango

2009-06-06T22:46:00.001-07:00

After only dancing a few times in the past couple months I seem to have resumed tango in a limited capacity (2-3 times a week as oppose to 4-5 times a week). I went to Late Shift last Saturday and as I was about to leave, Juan and Sol gave a tango performance. I thought they did an excellent job, but did not capture video of it. They will be at Alberto's milonga tomorrow night performing so I hope to catch some footage then.

Life continues to be crazy busy, and I'm greatly looking forward to the week before July 4th when I'll have a few extra days to catch up on things. Work, hobbies, and classes fill my schedule. I'm a bit excited (and nervous) to get to meet Condoleezza tomorrow when my quartet will get to play through some Dvorak and Schumann piano quintets with her. The pieces really speak to me so they have been very rewarding to practice and very fulfilling to play through with my quartet so far. I love music!

Grand Canyon Adventure

2009-05-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

In less than a week I finally fly out to the Grand Canyon for my big Team In Training event for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I'm pretty excited as this will be my first time traveling to the Grand Canyon, and with the training I've received, I feel very prepared for a full day hike. It's not too late to donate on my Team In Training page http://pages.teamintraining.org/sj/CanyonS309/dalrae I can't believe the huge response and support I've gotten from so many people. It has truly been remarkable. Thanks so much to all of you for making this possible!!

Finally, I can start resting a bit and resuming tango again :)

The magnificent Mariela Franganillo & Cesar Coelho performances

2009-03-25T21:08:00.000-07:00

I took Mariela and Cesar's workshops both Friday at ODC and their two Sunday workshops at Alberto's. Fantastic teachers with a light and fun demeanor. Great exercises and steps were taught (not too crazy, so they can be repeated at milongas and the such). R and I were going to take a private with Mariela Monday but she had to fly back to New York Sunday night, so she gave a little bit of private tips to me both on Sunday's workshops and at the beginning of the milonga perhaps since we didn't get a private with her. Very useful information that doesn't really complicate or get in the way of my regular way of dancing. I definitely wish to study with them again when they return.

Please enjoy the two videos from their milonga performance at Alberto's from Sunday night (sorry Dropshots cuts out after about 2 minutes):

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Team in Training

2009-03-18T01:23:00.000-07:00

As I train more and more with Team in Training for my big Grand Canyon hike in May, I find many correlations with tango. I can see how athletes push themselves and overdo it, much like I experience and see in the world of tango. I can also see how people get that rush, whether connecting on the dancefloor, connecting with a partner, connecting with the music, connecting with yourself, or connecting with a hiking team, connecting with nature, connecting with oneself (mind and body). It feels good having your body doing things, being active, pushing your limits, new achievements and progress, breathing, and having fun. I guess life is all about experiences, and it's funny how some that are so contrasting can actually be so similar in so many different ways.

If you have a few dollars to donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS), it will go towards my fundraising event which will be a one day 8-10 hour hike of The Grand Canyon. Your gift is tax deductible and more than 75% goes directly towards research efforts.

http://pages.teamintraining.org/sj/CanyonS309/dalrae

Thanks, abrazos, and good health...

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The Lovely Alicia Pons and Robert Hauk at Alberto's milonga

2009-03-02T22:39:00.000-08:00

My newest favorite dancer is Alicia Pons, and we've had the good fortune of having her and Robert Hauk visiting for a week. I took her class at La Pista last Thursday which was amazing, and also one of her three workshops this past Sunday at Alberto's before the milonga. Here are their performances from that evening at Alberto's milonga:

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Andrea and Gato at Los Gatos milonga

2009-03-02T01:04:00.000-08:00

I attended Los Gatos milonga Saturday night at Los Gatos Gourmet. It was fun. A lot of the Alberto's milonga crowd which was nice and many out of towners. Warm feeling, almost like BsAs, and old small crowded floor just like BsAs as well! Andrea and Gatos blessed us with 3 performances! Enjoy.

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Diego and Negracha performance

2009-02-06T10:05:00.000-08:00

This is from Los Altos milonga, the Friday before they went back to Buenos Aires:

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Tango Photo Shoot

2009-02-04T16:50:00.001-08:00

Martin and I had some tango pictures taken back in December. Here they are!

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Jorge Torres's visit

2009-02-03T14:45:00.000-08:00

I took all six workshops from Jorge Torres January 24th (Dance Sport in San Jose) and January 25th (Alberto's in Mountain View). He emphasized breathing, relaxation (tension gets in the way of the steps), feeling the earth and using the ground, feeling the music, less is more, sense of self/balance before projecting to another step, and sense of partner. These are all very similar thoughts that my teacher Marcelo has, so it was easy to accept the information. I really liked his style, but wish we could have seen him perform with his wife Chino. Ah well. Please enjoy the videos from the workshops and the last video where he danced at Alberto's milonga with a volunteer from the audience (drats I should have raised my hand!):

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Living Vicariously

2009-01-29T01:11:00.001-08:00

So Monday was my last day of tango for 2 weeks. Giving my feet a rest and will return to tango on Sunday or Monday in two weeks. So, I've been watching lots of youtube videos living vicariously and trying to "practice" by watching. I've been looking up Alicia Pons since she will be a visiting artist in a month and found this great video of her and this suave guy, Osky Casas.

and her feet are absolutely gorgeous in this Vals:

Time off from Tango

2009-01-23T16:39:00.000-08:00

I've been concerned about my feet, since I've heard horror stories of people finally seeing a foot doctor only to hear they must stop tango entirely, or totally revamp how they go about tango. So I finally saw a podiatrist today. It wasn't so bad. My plantar fascias is tight as are my big toe knuckles, and perhaps a bit enlarged. He recommended some inserts for the sole of my feet which I got at the pharmacy and will try to implement into my shoes (both street shoes and tango shoes). He also recommended at some point for me to schedule a week or two of down time so that my feet can rest and recover instead of going through constant strain every couple days. I'd actually been wondering what life would be like if I didn't dance tango for a week or two. What would I fill my time with? So this is a perfect time to do just that! Of course this will be after I take the already scheduled six workshops with Jorge Torres this weekend, go to Alberto's milonga Sunday night and have my private with Marcelo on Monday. Starting Tuesday I will take a week and a half off though and not start dancing again until the following Friday or Saturday. I am actually excited, first to be taking care of my feet and hope they are happier in the long run, and secondly to catch up on some other stuff in my life: projects, friends, cooking, etc. So I really see this as a good thing. I really need to take some of my existing shoes in to the cobbler to have him customize my shoes so that I have better tango shoes to wear once I resume tango after my break as well. I am actually excited about all this!

My tango kind of had a New Year's breakthrough which I am happy about. I feel so much better about my embrace now. I've been working on my posture, my balance (not leaning too much, or just the right amount), and relaxing my body, specifically my right arm, right shoulder, and having my back breathe and be alive/active while still relaxed. From a class I took with Diego and Negracha, I'm also trying to be conscious of the spirit of the music and of my leader, and bringing that energy to the dance. It is a fine balance. I've had comments in the last week from leaders who can tell the difference in my dance, and praised me for it, so I know I'm on the right track! Martin and I also got several compliments from people last night after practica how our dancing was just "great!" and how they loved our style. So that always feels good to be recognized and hopefully inspire others as well.

Tonight I'll be seeing the Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and tomorrow night Gran Torino!

San Diego Tango Festival Performance

2009-01-14T01:32:00.000-08:00

Here it is finally:

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A New Year!

2009-01-06T00:35:00.000-08:00

Lots of changes going on in the last few months in all facets of my life. Both my cat and I are greatly enjoying my new apartment and it's so quiet without having upstairs neighbors and a lot of unshared walls now! My cat is more cat-like now instead of on-edge... she's more affectionate and more relaxed. The New Year is off to a great start!

I've kind of shifted my "branching out" schema. This year I actually want to start leading, so I've just started by taking my second class as a leader in Marcelo's beginning/fundamentals class. It's hard because his fundamentals class usually has more leaders so I often feel like I should be a follower for at least part of the time, but his intermediate class usually has more followers. We need more newbie women and intermediate men! I plan on attending more of the weekend workshops though, especially with the visiting teachers. So that is my new course of action!

The weekend workshop idea formulated while I was in San Diego this past weekend attending the tango festival there, and Robert Hauk was there who I danced with at the milonga for the first time on the first night and enjoyed his connection, intimacy, and smaller unobtrusive steps. Unfortunately I didn't make it to his workshop the 2nd day, but later found out he'd been in the bay area just a month ago, where he recognized me from Alberto's where he'd DJ'd around Thanksgiving. I think we are really lucky in the bay area to get some great visiting artists so I want to take advantage of that more instead of traveling to so many places where it can be so costly paying for airfare and lodging. I do think I'll try to go to the San Diego tango festival again next year though since I had a good time and it's not that far away, plus I have a couple friends I can visit there as well. I feel so indebted to Fabienne who helped Brigitta teach the two workshops I took on the first day. I'd always known my back and arms were a bit stiff and am always thinking and trying to "relax". But she helped me make it happen by telling me to let my back "breathe". For some reason, like clockwork it just makes it relax even though I'm not thinking about relaxing but having my back "breathe". What wonderful results!

Through facebook.com I reconnected with an old friend dating back to elementary school whom I haven't seen in probably over 15 years. She'd just moved back ot San Diego so we had a lengthy dinner together to catch up. Ah, the wonders of the internet!

Over the holidays I watched the entire Season 1 of Chuck as well as what was online for Season 2, so now I'm a Chuck addict. I'm wondering if all of Season 3 of Heroes will still be up online for me to watch this week and next since I haven't watch any of the current season yet!

It was a bit of a shock to go back to work today after being on vacation for 1 1/2 weeks, but in a way it was nice to get back to a groove/routine again instead of having so many unstructured holiday days. Now I just need to transition from going to bed at 3am/4am in the morning and waking at noon, 1pm, etc. to a bit of an earlier schedule! Happy New Year! I'm sure this will be the best year yet :)

Semi-vision and branching out

2008-12-05T10:57:00.000-08:00

So I'm not quite sure what it's called, but for now I will call it "semi-vision". I've noticed in the last couple weeks this is what I tend to do when I dance... closing my eyes, but actually keeping them ever-so slightly open so I can barely see just a little bit or a blur in front of me. I have now become very aware of this because I'm not sure if I really look like my eyes are closed or if I look like I'm in this strange in-between state that probably looks quite odd to people! But that is where I naturally tend to gravitate towards as of late.

Romina has not been around too much lately so I am starting to branch out and try out other teachers. I went to David and Mariana's Monday night class this week in Oakland for the first time and really enjoyed their class. They seem like very involved and dedicated teachers, and I got a lot out of their class and feel I could learn a lot of good functional things from them. Unfortunately it is a bit far for a weeknight and conflicts with my current long-standing Monday class with Marcelo and practice time with Martin, so I probably won't be going to that again. I would like to find a competent leader to go to their Advanced couples only classes Tuesday nights though. Other teachers I plan to check out in the next few weeks are Lisette, Mayumi, and Diego/Negracha. I really liked the Milonga traspie class I took from Diego and Negracha a few weeks back. Have not been dancing much these last two weeks, but will probably get back into full swing next week. I am also moving to a new apartment in 2 weeks so I am busy packing and getting rid of a lot of junk.

My One Year Tango Anniversary

2008-11-27T01:14:00.000-08:00

Today marks one year since I first stepped foot into Marcelo and Romina's Steppin' Out studio for my first Argentine tango class. I remember deciding I wanted to take Argentine tango so I googled all the possibilities in the South Bay that I could attend the following week. Tuesday was going to be Steppin' Out, Thursday would be Starlite, and Saturday or Sunday somewhere in San Jose. At the beginning of the first class I felt very overwhelmed and lost... this is not easy stuff! But even by the end of the first class, with Marcelo and Romina's style and guidance I was able to feel the connection and feel a sense of small improvement over the course of an hour... I was elated with this newfound activity! Thursday's class was a bit discouraging. I suddenly had to learn this "basic ocho" pattern that is used as a teaching mechanism by some teachers... front, side, back, back cross, yadda. I didn't feel as much of the connection that I had earlier in the week. Then on the weekend I actually forget where I went, but it wasn't for me. I couldn't wait to get back to the Tuesday class the following week... but I only had a couple more classes until they went back to Argentina for a few weeks over the holidays. I was definitely in withdrawal already!

I've been one super lucky gal in many ways:

To have discovered Marcelo and Romina from the beginning... I feel I have a strong foundation from which to work. Some dancers have been dancing for years and don't walk away with these essential fundamentals, only to discover and learn them later. I highly recommend them as teachers, and they are also just super nice and approachable people. They teach Monday nights at Alberto's club in Mountain View, but also teach weekly in San Francisco, Walnut Creek, and Lafayette (and no they didn't pay me to advertise for them hehe). Still lots to learn though and work on.

I was also blessed to have been asked and persuaded to be Martin's dance partner after only having danced 6 weeks. It was funny having this experienced dancer trying to sell himself to me and telling me why I was gold to him. His years of experience and expertise on both the lead and follow helped me progress at a rapid pace and helped mold me into the dancer I am now. I couldn't have asked for a better situation as a newbie! I remember I didn't even know the names of steps so I'd have to ask how the step goes where he hits my leg and then it goes around in a circle from front to back, or that thing where my leg whips back and then forward. We had some funny conversations, but he was extremely patient and accommodating and still is.

I remember being really nervous going to milongas by myself last December. I was on my way to Tarragon milonga for the first time, but when I arrived I discovered I'd left my wallet at home! Not having really met anyone in tango yet since it'd only been a couple weeks I didn't know anyone I could borrow money from so I had to drive back home to get my wallet. After retrieving my wallet, I remember driving back to Tarragon thinking, "what the hell am I doing?" See, usually I am not a very social person, but with tango I started to become more social. I kind of had a reality check that night though and almost didn't go back to the milonga... me, being social? and dancing with all these strangers? What had I gotten myself into? Oh, and since it was December, it was also my birthday month, so they had this birthday waltz. I remember boldly going up to the front to help blow out the candles and then was told that people would take turns dancing a Vals with me. A vals?! I only knew a little tango, and quickly whispered to the first guy, "sorry, I don't know waltz, only tango" to which he replied, "you'll be fine... just follow me" and it was alright. Of course now I know that tangos consist of the tango, vals, and milonga :)

For New Year's Eve, I dragged myself alone to Alberto's New Year's Eve milonga. That night was amazing though. I met some dear groups of people that night who have stood by my side as friends to this day. Suddenly I went from being awkwardly alone to gabbing it up with a bunch of gals. Then it was 2009.

For my one-year celebration, everyone was busy, so I went to Cell Space by myself. At first I just sat there, but then after the first tanda I kept getting asked by guys to dance and got a good 2 hours of almost solid dancing in which was great. The music is so-so (not the classics I'm used to) but everyone is friendly and nice there, and since it wasn't as crowded as usual, we could use the space more which was nice. I'd only been to Cell Space once before and it was enormously crowded. I remember several times my foot would wind up off the main floor since we were pushed to the outermost edges of the dance floor!

I can't say things just came easily to me. I put in a lot of hard work, and so did my teachers and dance partner, Martin. From the very first week I danced 4 or 5 times a week, going to every class or milonga I could find in the southbay. The multiple classes quickly got replaced by practice time with Martin. Now I'm taking privates with my teachers twice a month and practicing once or twice a week, plus going to 1 or 2 milongas a weekend. The hardest thing is probably finding balance in my life. So many of us get bitten by the tango bug and it is such a friendly addiction that we don't notice other things in life passing us by. Tango becomes our world. Actually the hardest thing is probably finding tango shoes that fit my feet, but that aside, it's been an incredible year for me and I look forward to another exciting and eye-opening year.

Keep your friends close, but your tango shoes closer :) Breathe, relax, connect, and have fun! See you on the dance floor...

Tango Performance Debut!

2008-11-24T23:58:00.000-08:00

Last night I had the honor of being a guest violinist with Marcelo Puig and Bocha Lopez at Studio Gracia's milonga. We kind of just threw it together last minute so I was incredibly nervous, wishing there'd been more time to prepare, but it actually went really well and I might actually do something like that again! Many thanks to all my friends who showed up to support me (even some non-tango friends!) It was my first time at Studio Gracia and I had a good time. I even took Negracha and Diego's intermediate class on Milonga traspie, which was a lot of fun. And evidentally Studio Gracia always is decked out with food and drinks so no one will ever go hungry! There were empanadas, quiche, croissants, watermelon, and lots more throughout the night. I got a lot of dancing in too which was fun, and helped keep me warm when my fingers started getting cold before playing violin. I have video footage of Negracha and Diego's performances, but I'll post that another night.

Lots to remember from tango tonight: continuing to rotate/turn and not stop in the middle even if the leader stops, keeping my right shoulder forward, continuing my follow even during an embellishment or embellishments (before I think I would stay static until I was done with my embellishment and then move with the leader but I need to continuously move with the lead throughout my embellishment), and of course the omnipresent DELAY. Often it seems the more I learn, the more I see how much more there is still to learn! But it's great, powerful stuff. What was life like before tango was in it?

The Amazing Gustavo & Giselle!

2008-11-23T04:00:00.000-08:00

Had a really great treat to see the phenomenal Gustavo Naveira & Giselle-Anne tonight at La Milonga de Nora at Allegro in Emeryville. Had a fun time carpooling up with 5 other tango friends.

Enjoy!

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Tango and Music Merge

2008-11-15T02:17:00.000-08:00

I went to Lafayette for Marcelo's class and milonga. They had a pretty decent turnout! Another Marcelo who I'd met once before invited me to play violin at Studio Gracia on November 23rd with his group, so we'll discuss more, and maybe I will! This is pretty exciting since it would really bring my love for tango and music full circle. But not sure I'm cut out for it... we'll see.

I've been struggling in my dancing lately with the embrace... to lean or not to lean. That seems to be my question as of late. I've been taught a very milongeuro style with much lean, but now I need to distinguish between when that is good and when I should not lean so much and be more on my own axis. Also, Martin has been throwing much larger steps and gestures at me, which is also a different style of dancing. I've been so used to the small subtle gestures and steps. Anyway, this is all new as of the last week or so, so I'm sure in time it will all settle in.

Tomorrow my quartet is playing for an hour at Barnes and Noble which should be fun, prior to which I'll be seeing my niece's soccer game.

Been listening to Piazzolla's Homenaje Adios Nonino Y Sus Temas Mas Recordados album, my favorite song being the 8-minute Adios Nonino Tango. Genius!

Greatly looking forward to Alberto's 1st anniversary milonga this Sunday in Mountain View - yay!

Palo Alto Milonga

2008-11-10T14:31:00.000-08:00

Here is a milonga video of Martin and Me taken at last Friday's Palo Alto milonga. Finally I can see some of the embellishments I've felt compelled to do. Hopefully we will get more footage today after our privates as well to something a little slower, like tango or vals :)

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Less is More

2008-11-07T10:15:00.000-08:00

I have been dancing a little less lately, but I seem to be developing into my own right now, and it is exciting! Since a week or two ago I have been doing more and more embellishments. I think I go a little crazy at practicas because that's where one should practice them. I think I will be a little more conservate in milongas - but we'll see! It is hard because the follow has to be timed so precisely right in order to know if I can do an embellishment and for how long I can do it. And then sometimes to have it feel seamless to my partner as if I'm not doing anything, although at times I feel like I should let my partner feel that I am doing a little something. I remember the line from Office Space, where Jennifer Aniston is wearing those buttons as pieces of "flare" and then she gets upset and sticks up her middle fingers to her boss, and says "This is me expressing myself!" Well, I feel the same, This is me expressing myself, but not in such a crude way. Last night I found myself doing even newer strange embellishments, and it was kind of like, what are my feet doing? ... Well... ok, sure. I got a compliment after practica though that someone enjoyed watching me dance, and really liked my footwork, so that made me happy. Another person said they really enjoyed watching my footwork at milonga last Sunday as well. Anyway, no new footage in the last few weeks so I have little idea of how I actually look since I have not looked in a mirror or seen myself on tape. My confidence is getting stronger, and I think once I hit my one-year mark for tango dancing I will feel worlds of difference.

Tango is awesome

2008-11-01T14:43:00.000-07:00

Went to Lafayette last night with Martin for class and milonga. It was an incredible night for me. I feel like I reached a new level with my dancing... the next big plateau. Wished I'd grabbed some footage. I dance very differently at a milonga than say at privates, class, or practica, and it's my dancing at a milonga that I'd like to see footage of but have none. Last night the music seemed to just take me and I was doing lots of embellishments, even some I'd never done before, but just got caught up in the music and the present moment and did whatever my feet felt like doing (it did help that the music was awesome... r&m always do an awesome job with that)! I'm actually quite surprised at this. I consider embellishments similar to musical improv, and I have never been good at musical improvisation (perhaps I should give it another shot now). With music, it was always, give me some music to read off of and I'll play the notes on the page and sight-read it quite well, but ask me to embellish and add to the music and sorry, I'm not that kind of person; find someone else. So this is quite liberating for me in many ways. I suppose now I should really hunker down and start listening to tango music to familiarize myself with the songs so I can make the most out the songs while I'm dancing. And then I find myself thinking of tango steps throughout the day and thinking, what kind of embellishment might I be able to come up with to do there? It's quite fun and exciting... and different/new. I think I do have self-confidence issues which I also need to work though with my dancing. I've now been dancing tango for 11 months and while I think I have come very far in those 11 months I can't help but to still feel like a newbie beginner... a very small fish in this very big world of tango. I think having a second consistent tango partner will help with that. For my short tango life, I've only had Martin, while during his longer tango life he's had quite a number of tango partners. I did go ahead and ask one person and while he can't offer a consistent weekly slot until perhaps next year, he did offer some time so I will take him up on that offer :) As long as we are all moving forward with the dancing, life is good :)

Alberto's milonga

2008-10-27T23:31:00.000-07:00

Haven't been dancing as much lately. I need to find more dance partners since Martin and I only practice one night a week now. I have two that I am considering but haven't had a chance to ask them yet. Feeling rusty and like I need more practice time during the week to work on things. Didn't help that I was sick today so missed class. Sunday's milonga was good, but I didn't get a chance to dance with B or S. All my dances were good dances though, which was nice!

Here are some videos of Lisette Perelle and Jorge Torres from Sunday's milonga:

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Good tango practice despite...

2008-10-23T13:46:00.001-07:00

What is up with the ultra slippery floors at some tango venues? Martin and I practiced Tuesday night in Palo Alto, but it was almost like a game of trying to dance without going splat on the floor. It was so slippery, that when we took a break, it was almost amusing watching people step onto their foot and then watch it slide an additional 2-3 inches back hehe. Looked like people were almost ice skating! My feet were going into overtime trying to use the bottom of my foot muscles to try in vain to grip the non-cooperative floor. Anyway, we still got to work on some moves and technique. I have been working on my embrace this week, specifically my right arm with the right amount of resistance. Not too much... not too little. It is always dynamic though, although mine is often fixed and needs to be more dynamic. I guess it's something you begin to feel in time... when it should be more and when it should be less. It really changes the dancing though, and I am liking how much more glue-ey and sticky the dancing can be when utilizing this. You really feel each other and can push off each other and it's actually more fun and interactive seeming. Leslie played more tango songs than usual which was nice, but seriously, how can people dance on that kind of a slippery/slidey floor? Towards the end of the night I changed into my street shoes with rubber soles and danced a few songs in those. Now those shoes gripped the floor and worked out alright for the rest of the night, although didn't rotate and turn as much as my tango shoes.

Good, good tango

2008-10-21T10:54:00.000-07:00

Milonga Sunday night at Alberto's was really good. I'd been missing it so I soaked it all up! Got a lot of dances in (pushed my feet a bit too hard). The highlights of the night were dancing with Martin, S, and O. There was also a new guy to Alberto's, J, who dances a lot in SF but is getting tired with the commute so he tried out Alberto's for the first time. It was nice dancing with him as well.

Class last night was really good as well. It's great because a lot of the guys who used to be beginners a few months ago have really put in the time and effort and it is more enjoyable dancing with them now because their progress is evident. I don't have to worry about them stepping on my toes anymore!

I probably won't be dancing again until Sunday night if I get back from out of town in time, but I'm very happy with how things are now with my dancing and who I get to dance with. J got the first package of custom made tango shoes so it should be any day now that package #2 arrives that contains my pair of custom tango shoes. All my bets are on this pair of shoes, so I will be deeply crushed if they don't end up working out.

Tango & Taiko

2008-10-19T16:15:00.000-07:00

Martin and I had a really good practice last Thursday at Starlite. The highlight was dancing to Oblivion. Martin's musicality was really good (which it usually is), and it was awesome dancing together, feeling the surges of the fast-paced steps, intertwined with slow drawn-out sensitive moments. At one point I said "oops" as I messed up and Martin said, "Aww, I was just getting into the zone". Oh well. It was still great, and as well as we dance together he said after practice how amazed he was at me. I'm still having feet/shoe issues, but thankfully at least I can wear my new dance sneakers in class. My custom shoes should arrive sometime next week so I am holding my breath for that! Looking forward to going to Alberto's milonga tonight. It must be a month since I've been there. I hope all the regulars are in attendance so I get to dance with them :)

Taiko was good today, although I'm not looking forward to missing another class next week since my quartet will be gone in Sonoma for the weekend. I just have to set aside some time to practice and memorize the two pieces. Today, I actually participated in most kiai's, which was fun, liberating, and also hard! Definitely lots of things to focus on, including having fun.

Some pics from BsAs

2008-10-14T23:18:00.001-07:00

Privates and class last night were good. Felt good to be dancing again! Here are some pics from my recent trip to Buenos Aires:

Where Have I Been?

2008-10-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

Well I've been to Buenos Aires and back. It was a great trip... a bit surreal. Things are so much cheaper in BsAs... the hotel, food, clothing, tango. I ended up buying 2 pair of tango shoes from shops, but only 1 I can wear sometimes. The other pair is closed-toed and after wearing them all night at a milonga, the next day my toes and toenails were very sore and bruised. Then I bought one pair of custom shoes. These will arrive in a week or two and I have all my hopes placed on that pair of shoes. If those don't work for my feet, I may have to quit tango as there aren't shoes I can dance in comfortably. I did buy a pair of sneakers which have been very comfortable that I can wear in classes thankfully. They did not have black, so I might buy a second pair in black next month.

I guess after dancing 9 days straight in BsAs I might be a bit burnt out on tango, or have just lost that drive. I remember when I first started dancing back in December I couldn't get enough, going 4 or 5 days a week. That continued until this last week. Since I've been back (one week) I've only gone to practice tango once last Thursday at Starlite. I was maybe going to Palo Alto milonga last Friday (miss dancing with my old favorites), but had a long day sight-seeing with family friends that were visiting from Japan, so decided to stay indoors and watch season 1 of 24 (very addicting show!) Today will be back to normal: privates, practice, class, practice. Should be good.

I'd love to go back to BsAs in a year or two, but next time not just for tango. There is so much more to see.

Practice Video

2008-09-25T02:05:00.001-07:00

Martin and I practicing right after our privates this past Monday at Albertos:

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El Valenciano

2008-09-23T13:36:00.000-07:00

Going to carpool to El Valenciano tonight with Serena and Hitoshi. It will be my first time there and I am really looking forward to it. This will be the last time I dance until Friday when we will be dancing in Buenos Aires! I have been resting my feet more this past week in preparation for 10 days of straight dancing in BA. My feet are thankful and hoping to find some new comfy tango shoes on the trip. Lots to do before my trip... a bit sleep deprived, but all is good :)

Gustavo & Maria at Alberto's Milonga

2008-09-22T00:47:00.000-07:00

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Last Friday's Palo Alto Milonga Performances

2008-09-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

Humberto Decima & Elizabeth Olivera:

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Taiko & Tango

2008-09-09T14:31:00.000-07:00

Well I survived the weekend and it actually wasn't that bad. It was actually kinda nice to start Saturday morning by playing quartet music together, and then on Sunday to start the day at Taiko class. Alberto's milongas have been good ever since they got the new floor, but that's probably just a coincidence. It felt great dancing with Martin, V, and B. I felt really lucky that V asked me to dance 3 tandas with him! Unfortunately the performance was canceled due to illness.

Martin and I saw Bottle Shock Saturday night and really enjoyed it. It's kind of like the movie Sideways in that it deals with wine of certain regions. It was a good mix of comedy/drama. We had really good private lessons yesterday, but my feet barely made it through class and practica. The last song of the night was Poema and Martin came to grab me, but I'd already changed my shoes so I just kicked them off and danced in my socks... not bad! Romina flies to Buenos Aires today, so the next time we see her we will be in Buenos Aires as well. I can't believe the trip is only 2 weeks away. We are so looking forward to it.

Busy Friday and Saturday

2008-09-06T00:53:00.000-07:00

I barely made it to Elaine's Palo Alto milonga tonight. My apartment was a good 90 degrees when I got home from work, and about all I can do in that kind of weather is sleep, so I took a nap. By the time I woke up it had cooled to a mere 88 degrees. I dragged myself out of bed, took a cool shower, and got ready for milonga. Martin didn't get there until around 11pm anyway, so my 1015pm appearance wasn't so bad. I got to dance 2 tandas with B. For some reason he felt really great tonight, not that he doesn't usually feel good, but tonight felt more solid than usual. My first tanda was a milonga with him, and later I danced a tango tanda with him. He's a solid dancer and always impresses me with his musicality. I danced with U for the first time I think tonight. He's a good dancer, although it usually takes me a second or third time to totally feel comfortable dancing with someone. I got one tanda with F and he had some fun new steps. I think because there was also Los Altos milonga tonight it was a small turnout, but that just left a lot of room on the dance floor for the rest of us :) I am really having fun doing embellishments now, and not just with Martin but with almost everyone. Lots of fun!

I'm not looking forward to tomorrow, partly because I can't sleep in, and also because my whole day is shot with 2 gigs, one bright early in the morning, and another one in Watsonville in the late afternoon. We really only have a couple more gigs for the rest of the year fortunately. I'm a bit burnt out, and while the extra cash is nice, I'm greatly looking forward to the added free time come winter.

This Sunday I start a series of 2-hour weekly Taiko classes in San Jose. I'm really looking forward to that since I've had one taiko class earlier this year up in Emeryville. Emeryville is just too far away though so I wait-listed myself for this local but popular class. I think it runs for 2 or 3 months. Then next Saturday I start Spanish classes (ya I'll only get a couple classes in before I go to Argentina, but hey, it's a start and I'll plan on continuing through the levels in preparation for my next trip there). Did I say I'd have free time come winter? Hmm.... 2 1/2 weeks till Buenos Aires. Man I can't wait to get some real tango shoes that actually fit my feet right!

Another great Alberto's milonga

2008-09-01T23:41:00.000-07:00

I am really loving Alberto's milongas partly due to the new floor, and also the great performances and teachers that Dorcas has been drawing to the venue. Yesterday I took the afternoon follower's workshop with Lisette, which was good. She spent a good amount on warming up, which is something I should probably start doing to take care of my body, especially warming up the joints. Then, I didn't really learn anything new, but some basics were reviewed and reminders that I'd forgotten were brought to light. It was a good class, and a great deal as it was only $20, which included the $10 milonga price for that evening.

Despite some of the good dancers being out of town or just not showing up, there was a really good turnout at the milonga. I enjoyed dancing with F, T, and R, and of course Martin. There was one performance by Andrea and Gato/Omar Vega. I really enjoyed watching Andrea dance both in the performance and also just watching her dance with various leaders in the milonga.

Tonight's privates and class were good with our teachers, Marcelo and Romina.

Enjoy the video from last night!

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The Best Alberto's Milonga ever!

2008-08-27T12:26:00.001-07:00

For those who went to Alberto's milonga last Sunday it was a real treat. Usually it doesn't start getting crowded with the good folk until around 9pm or 930pm, but when we got there at 730pm it was already bustling. The ambience was great... warm, glowing, cozy, comfortable, dazzling. And a ton of great dancers and teachers showed up, including my teachers. I think the big draw was Tete, who I'm not really familiar with, but near the end of the night, both Orlando Paiva Jr. & Laura Tate, and Tete & Silvia gave performances of a tango and waltz each. I had higher expectations of the performances, but it was still awesome to be in the presence of such famous people. Martin and I mingled a lot, dancing each with 7 other people besides each other, which is more than usual, and there were still two people I had wanted to dance with that evening but they left before the night was over (Milonga was extended until midnight since it was so happening). Vijay was also the DJ that evening, and the music was incredibly good (not surprising!) Here are the videos from the performances that night:

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Cats

2008-08-18T23:16:00.000-07:00

Some cute pics of my cat

Got this forward from my cousin. It's pretty funny: http://www.sonnyradio.com/treadmillcats.html

Late Shift & Alberto's

2008-08-18T22:57:00.001-07:00

Martin and I went to the Late Shift milonga Saturday night, both for the first time in San Francisco. The jury is still out whether it is my cup of tea, but I'll definitely go back again to give it another try. The dancers were good, although mostly I just danced with the same people I dance with in the South Bay, except towards the end I danced with 2 new dancers to me, but the ambience, kind of felt like a basketball gym decorated with red neon lights.

Last night we had a BBQ gathering at our teacher's place to discuss details of our upcoming trip to Buenos Aires. We're definitely really excited now, especially since it's only a month away!

Unfortunately because of the BBQ, we were unable to see the new floor that was put in at Alberto's in Mountain View until tonight. Wow!! It both looks fabulous and feels fabulous. It's definitely comparable to Elaine's Palo Alto milonga floor. Now instead of just having a fantastic floor to dance on a couple times a month in the South Bay, I will have a wonderful floor to dance on 2, maybe 3 times a week between Albertos' and the Palo Alto church :)

Byington performance

2008-08-15T16:02:00.000-07:00

My quartet performed at Byington Winery last night and it went really well. It was our third time performing there this summer, and they asked us back again next month, which we will do. My work group actually had an outting there earlier in the day which was fun. We had a potluck picnic at the facilities and then went on a wine tour at 3pm. It was a gorgeous day (a bit hot in the sun though). My boss was psyched to hear us play Stairway to Heaven. He would have loved for us to have played Kashmir, but we will need to practice that again before performing it. It's got a lot of tricky time signature changes and counting.

Tomorrow S is going to have Martin and I over for dinner and then we'll all head up to The Late Shift in San Francisco. I've never been there before, so looking forward to it! Martin and I had a great practice last night at Starlite. A few songs I had lots of fun doing little embellishments here and there. I find I have to delay even more in my follow with the embellishments since you really have to know what's coming next and keep on your toes so to speak to be ready for what comes next. I think we're both having a lot of fun now though. Martin has opened up musically this year, feeling freer to do whatever and try new things. I'm just starting to.

Tango & Music

2008-08-12T00:13:00.000-07:00

Eight-months into tango and still going strong. Might start venturing up to San Francisco a couple times a month for milongas to explore that territory. Had a fantastic time as always at Palo Alto milonga Friday night. The floor is silky smooth... I love it! Martin only danced with me and didn't feel like mingling, but I got some tandas in with R, F, and a good milonga with B and V. V was trying to mess me up with intricate fast steps, but I think I got 99% of them! It was a lot of fun.

Sunday had two gigs for weddings at Saratoga Foothill Club, and Villa Montalvo. Was a long day. I think I should not do as much gigging next year as it's really involved, especially since I was the one coordinating both gigs.

Then Martin and I went to DanceSport milonga in San Jose. Something felt off last night, but tonight things were back to normal at our privates. Here is some footage of us practicing after our privates.

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Martin was really tired, but indulged me with one more dance when Poema came on:

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Took a volunteer time off day today with my co-worker K, and we volunteered for Family Giving Tree. It felt good volunteering, despite the hot stuffy warehouse we were stuck in!

Tango Articles

2008-08-06T17:18:00.000-07:00

OK, so I guess I found what I was looking for. Information on the break up between Javier and Geraldine. I guess I'm kind of surprised they talked about it publicly in an interview, but I guess that's how it goes with celebrities and it's good to set the record straight against any rumors.

http://www.tangonoticias.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=87&Itemid=9

Also found this article about tango etiquette, which I found useful and will try to start implementing!

http://alextangofuego.blogspot.com/2008/02/ney-melo-dos-and-donts-of-inviting.html

Non-Tango Night

2008-08-06T00:26:00.001-07:00

Tonight was a non-tango night for me so I took S to dinner and movie for her bday. We went to see Mamma Mia, a good fun movie (chick flick tho!) Meryl Streep was fantastic as always and gorgeous even in her ratty old blue jean overalls, and I always like seeing Colin Firth since I saw him in Bridget Jones' Diary and Pride and Prejudice. Ever since I got burnt out with work, tango, and music a few weeks ago I've been trying to limit my work at home, such as not logging in and checking emails from home, so I am trying to resist the temptation tonight. I was good this weekend and did not login to work once! I have been enjoying some of the benefits/perks at work such as starting yoga a couple weeks ago. I think these have been the only 3 yoga classes I've ever gone to in my life, but it is relaxing, calming, and invigorating; a nice way to break up the day. While those classes are free, they also offer massage that you have to pay for, but it's at a pretty good rate, plus it's so convenient that I have been treating myself to some short massages here and there to get me through the work week.

More Javier and Andrea

2008-08-04T22:57:00.001-07:00

Had a good private lesson, class, and practica tonight at Albertos. I sure won't miss the floor though. It kind of spoils it when my foot gets stuck in a seam or I step on my toe and it falls into a hole, albeit these times are few. I worked on more embellishments tonight which felt good and by practica I was really having fun. One time my foot just did something and I didn't even know what it did!

Anyway, here is another video of Javier and Andrea. This video is more my style:

Javier and Andrea

2008-08-04T16:15:00.000-07:00

I emailed Javier and Andrea and they graciously emailed me back 24 hours later! Marcelo and Romina will take care of setting up some privates for Martin and Me to take with them while we're there. Alas, Gustavo and Giselle never emailed me back, although they will be traveling while we are in BA, but they will be back here in November. One of Andrea's embellishments looks like her foot is on crack!

Floors, Music, and Pizza

2008-08-03T18:42:00.000-07:00

Friday's milonga at Palo Alto was small, but I got to dance with several good dancers. Besides Martin, I really enjoyed dancing some tandas with F and V. You know, the floor at Palo Alto is my all-time favorite floor. Feeling it below my feet feels fantastic... buttery but not slippery. Alberto's floor will be redone and expanded in a week or two so hopefully it will be comparable as well. I first started noticing people's dancing styles Friday. While I can't really categorize them into definitive categories yet, I am now becoming aware of the differences. It doesn't necessarily mean that some people aren't good dancers, it just might not be the style of dancing that I gravitate towards (not talking about Nuevo versus Salon, but within each of those). Anyway, new food for thought for myself...

Yesterday I had a trio gig at Mission Santa Clara for a wedding ceremony which went well. We get the craziest requests sometimes, and for this one, they wanted Consider Yourself from the musical Oliver as the recessional song. The arrangement I did sounded good, but the first time we all sight-read it a couple weeks ago, we could barely contain ourselves from bursting out laughing just thinking of them walking down the church aisle to this!

My favorite new pizza place is called Via Mia. They are very generous with their toppings, and my latest favorite combo is zucchini, mushroom, and garlic.

Spent the afternoon at the Palo Alto Obon Festival where I saw Martin's mom perform Koto, Samisen with a group. I stayed and visited with my parents there later over dinner. Usually we go to both the Palo Alto and Mountain View Obon festivals every summer, but this was the only one I was able to get to this year. Well time to get ready for the Mountain View milonga at Alberto's!

Damn Fine Waltz

2008-08-01T14:59:00.000-07:00

Both Martin and I were a bit tired last night (Martin had his first day at his new job!) but there was one waltz that felt divine. Waltzes are my favorite to dance to. Rene was gracious enough to video tape us last night with my camera (non-waltz). It has been a while since we taped ourselves and I already see lots of things for me to work on! My current focus though is to keep my hips facing towards my partner, which I am not doing sometimes in this video.

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Back to Normal

2008-07-28T00:17:00.000-07:00

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)

Pulled in Different Directions

2008-07-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

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

Patricia and Matteo at Alberto's Milonga

2008-07-23T14:55:00.000-07:00

Patricia and Matteo performed to a few songs at last Sunday's milonga at Albertos. I liked how they danced together and their movements. I will need to study the videos to start trying out some of her embellishments. Marcelo and Romina have been trying to have me start doing embellishments these last couple weeks. I figure I will try to work on one a week. I was able to work on one last night and was able to consistently do it at appropriate moments, and I was happy with that achievement. I think it will make dancing so much more fun (not that it is not fun now) once I get a few embellishments under my belt.

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Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

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Still Recovering

2008-07-22T19:30:00.000-07:00

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.

Gustavo and Giselle are amazing!

2008-07-14T16:13:00.000-07:00

We danced for around 8 hours on Thursday, participating in the four tango week classes, and then the milonga that evening that included the most awesome performances by Gustavo and Giselle. Their last performance, encore was danced to the very moving song, Milonga Three. They also performed that at Celebration Tango on Saturday night which I will post later. They are excellent teachers and performers.

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Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

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Esteban and Claudia Milonga Performance

2008-07-09T13:24:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post from work. After our privates and class Monday night, Martin and I went to Monday night's Tango Week milonga to see Esteban and Claudia. Here are some videos of their performance that night. It was great being back to our old routine Monday. Both Martin and I felt on and good! Unfortunately my digital camera doesn't do video well from afar, so the quality is not that good.

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12 Hours of Tango

2008-07-06T23:19:00.000-07:00

Our day started out at 10am with our first of four classes at Nora's tango week. Then we went to Albertos milonga in Mountain View until around 9:45pm. So, a 12-hour day, granted we did take breaks and had lunch and dinner in between. Brain is in overload. I look forward to getting back to a semi-regular routine with our privates and class with our regular teachers tomorrow. Here are some videos from today's class reviews (yes we did lifts and jumps! I never thought I'd see Martin do those - he even did one at Albertos milonga at the beginning since only a handful of people were there). First two videos are classes from Esteban and Claudia. Third video is class from Nito and Elba, and last is of Eduardo and Marisa.

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Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

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Tango Party

2008-07-06T01:36:00.000-07:00

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!

My First Tango Week Milonga

2008-07-04T15:18:00.000-07:00

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!

No Tango Tonight

2008-07-02T01:07:00.000-07:00

Tonight is a night off from tango. Usually I don't dance 1-2 days a week. I'd forgotten that there's a video of my quartet performing at a Chamber Music concert just this past March. It was a huge effort, playing a movement from Borodin's Quartet as well as from a Beethoven quartet:

We usually perform a real piece around once a year (as oppose to the easy sight-readable schlop we play at weddings, etc.).

I'm glad I was able to catch up on some housecleaning and much overdo laundry tonight. Even made it to the grocery store for some nourishment!

Martin and I haven't video-taped ourselves in a while, but here is a video of us practicing before our privates last night. Later we learned about 5-6 cool new moves, which unfortunately aren't reflected in this video.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Inspiring

2008-07-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

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 :)

Satiated

2008-06-28T01:31:00.000-07:00

I feel very satisfied and tiredly happy tonight.

Tango: Had an excellent class in Lafayette tonight. It was such a small class that every other song I was being led by either Marcelo or Romina, which felt like a mini-private lesson. They seemed to focus on elements that I'd even been wondering about just last night at Milonga, so I got a lot of answers to some questions that had been brewing in my mind. Things slowly coming together and another piece of the puzzle gets added to the big picture. I think tonight was the first time I'd ever danced a milonga tanda with Marcelo and it was tons of fun. I actually realized this week that I'm no longer trepid of dancing milongas. Even while I was usually able to follow pretty well, I'd feel like my brain was going into overtime and I was barely hanging on, breathing a sigh of relief joy that I made it in one piece. I had a few other good dances with other people, and of course got to dance many tandas with Martin, including one fabuloso waltz tanda. Focuses for me today were contrabody, good right palm connection, relaxed right elbow, and ankle-cross-embellishment that lends itself to be done during certain contrabody walks. I definitely think I got more out of tonight than I would have had I gone to Tarragon.

Grilled Cheese: I was super hungry last night after Verdi club, so stopped at Mountain View In 'n Out burger off 101 and Rengstorff, but much to my chagrin they were already closed (1am weeknights and it was 115am). I plodded home and had a less appetizing snack before heading to bed. Tonight however, I got my grilled cheese fix from In 'n Out burger so I'm quite satisfied and happy.

Sentiments

2008-06-27T18:25:00.000-07:00

Work: Well today was our last day at our Redwood Shores office. While many of us (myself included) have been greatly looking forward to this day, since our move down to headquarters will cut my commute by more than half, huge emotions were felt. My co-worker and I popped into the cafe across the street to check out their daily soups, and when we saw they had their Lobster and Crab bisque, we both got a small cup of it for old time's sake despite the fact that work was going to be feeding us in 45 minutes! Many pictures were taken along with multiple glances outside to our gorgeous and soon-to-be missed view. Box labels were double checked and triple checked before the movers came to haul them away. It was a strange feeling, as if we were all leaving the company and moving back east or something, when in fact we would all see each other Monday, just 20 miles south. There were a mix of feelings, both happy and sad, but really it feels like a chance for new beginnings and continuing on this journey called work.

Dancing: I must say I wasn't that impressed with Verdi club. The music was amazing, but the quality of dancers I don't think was great. Not to say it was bad. I had several good tandas, but nothing to write home about. About 1 1/2 hours into the Milonga Martin showed up and we danced exclusively until the end of the night, 1230am. That was the highlight of my night :)

Tarragon has suddenly been canceled as of last night, so I've decided to take class from my teachers, Marcelo and Romina in LaFayette tonight and stay for the milonga afterwards. I've been there once before; it's a pretty far drive, but since Martin has a class in that area tonight, he can pop by afterwards for the milonga.