Poreč: a lovely family-friendly town on the Croatian coast. It takes only 2 hours by car from Ljubljana. It's the height of summer, the air full of salt and scent of pine trees. We arrived at our apartment around lunchtime, quickly decided who gets to sleep where (I've never experienced this to be a long procedure), unpacked the suitcases and packed only our small backpacks. We were in a hurry: I had a class to attend! We jumped back to the car and drove to the hotel resort; the classes were held at the luxury hotel whose name escapes me... At the registration desk I was kindly reminded that I still had to pay for the class I was about to attend. I told the lady I was skeptical, since the programme first said it was an Advanced class. Out of nowhere, Goran appeared and assured me it was actually an All levels class. I explained I'm a beginner, attending the class without my partner and I really needed to be sure it was OK I join the class. Again, Goran said it was perfectly fine and the class was gender balanced so I would find my partner there. I said OK, paid for the extra class and got ready. The rest of the team had a free afternoon, so they went to the beach. Ever since Alberto Goldberg's class on musicality, I wanted to attend more musicality classes. Keeping my focus on music and off my choreography, results in a relief that somehow makes my dance more fluid and my choreography better, not worse. This musicality class was led by Moira and Gaston, supposedly big names in the tango scene. Surely big enough for me! As the class began, my eyes searched the room to find a follower who also came solo. There were a few to choose from. I only saw one, really. She had dark hair, beautiful complexion and smiled expectantly. We approached one another. »Kama,« she introduced herself. Gaston and Moira instructed us to dance for one song to warm up. Kama and I embraced and... well, I could tell right from the start she was not a beginner. And I supposed she could tell immediately I was. I gave my best but the dance was... not good at all. As the song ended and we dissolved the embrace I looked at her face. I keep being surprised how easy it is to read women's faces right after the dance. Even the women with superb social skills can't conceal their experience (or their satisfaction level, to be precise). Nor do they seem to be trying hard to do so. In Kama's case, the truth came in these layers:
I was sorry for her. But she regained her composure and I could tell she was not giving up on me. Surely, she wanted to get the most out of the class. As did I! The class was titled 'Musicality and the quality of movement,' and it was nothing like Goldberg's class. We spent 1 hour to learn a complex sequence. The leader's choreography goes: left side-step, shift weight, 2 accelerated steps forward, lead her into cross, shift weight for her standing foot, lead a boleo and exit to giro, optionally embellish with your enrique :) (or whatever that ballet-like spin was). I was lost at the boleo part, if not sooner. I physically felt my head was not big enough to wrap it around the sequence. But Kama was nice and helped me. Actually, I could recognize she gave in to her fate and transformed into a true christian senior tanguera. Even I didn't feel bad about my performance anymore, so I guess she was doing a really god job! All in all, we kinda did okay. Until Moira approached us. We admitted that something isn't working. She asked us to demonstrate for her, which we did. Moira snarled: »you didn't shift her weight!« She furiously made a pivot and rushed to the center of the room. Then she stopped what everybody was doing and preached that we had a choice: we either work seriously and be totally devoted or we might just as well go home. She found it unacceptable that after one hour of studying the sequence, we would still make mistakes out of carelessness. She was kind enough to not let everyone know who was the inspiration for the sermon. I was angry with Goran and I felt sorry for Kama. She remained nice and friendly till the end of the class. During the next days she would still recognize me, but a tanda was clearly out of the question. I returned to my friends who made camp on a small hill overlooking the beach. They wanted a full report. I gave them one. »Don't feel sorry for her,« Marko said. »It was her gamble to attend a class without her partner. It is not your fault she didn't have a leader on her level.« I felt a bit better about the class and all. Then I suddenly realized I was starving. I had one banana in my backpack. Some relaxing in the shade would do me good. Maybe even a little nap? Tango music started to play from someplace near. Marko jumped to his feet. »Oh, is the afternoon milonga starting already,« Agnieszka said hopefully. Marko looked at Sanja with crazy eyes, then made a pivot with his bare feet and raced down the hill towards the music. »Oh, no... these people are crazy,« I thought. The ladies checked the clock and agreed milonga would start on time. Then they started packing. Marko was already running back from where we heard the music and announced gleefully: »Yup, it's starting. And some couples are already on the dancefloor. Let's go! Quickly, quickly.«
I hoped someone would say 'Let's all just chill, there will be enough tango these days.' But there was no one. I was the only voice of reason. They left, happy like kids off to an amusement park. I decided I would stay on the hill and lick my wounds, hopefully take a nap. I would be so happy to loose my consciousness, even if just for a couple of minutes! Having a mind is enough burden already, but having a mind with an additional tango layer was often just too much to handle. Overheating most of the time. Especially since this guys's particular tango-mind layer came with beginner's software. Why didn't I choose to dance swing? They looked much cooler. I didn't get any sleep. So after a while I packed and went to the milonga. It was a milonga by the pool. A feast for the eyes. I sat and observed. I was reluctant to join the cabeseo game; the dance-floor was so crowded I couldn't even see the floor. What could I do? I needed 4 square meters of space to lead a cross! »How about a proper lunch, hm,« my mind suggested. A brilliant idea. One can not dance on an empty stomach! After an octopus salad and a beer, I felt my spirit restored. I had a good talk with myself and decided I would take it easy and be spontaneous about it all. I was old enough to know that this festival would be a bit of everything: good moments, bad moments, some ecstasy, some dispair. But one never knows which of these is coming up next; statistically, it would most likely be some OK moment. And I would be happy with OK.
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AuthorBlaz B, social tango dancer since February 2015. I'm sharing these posts to inspire future tango beginners, to encourage today's beginners and to possibly entertain those dancers, who have already become regulars at tango heaven.
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