Taboe Tango

I've just finished some of the most enjoyable dancing I think I've ever had, thanks to my friend Manon, who invited me, and Paul and Paras, who organised Taboe Tango. I'll be putting up pictures soon, when I get home and am in touch with other people who I know took pictures of the dancers, something I didn't do, since I was far too busy dancing! Everyone was wonderfully friendly and welcoming, and as a consequence of the classes and the dances every night I really felt my style improving, to the point where I felt comfortable going out on the dance floor with most people in the room. There were some intimidatingly good dancers (there always are!), and I have to say that in the first two days I sat out a lot of dances, just watching, and even despairing a little. It was only really after a workshop on the second day led by Paras and Paul that I started to feel more confident in asking people to dance, since taught how to find the connection with your partner, and the way that simple moves can feel wonderful when done right.

It wasn't so simple in the next workshop, where we were taught sacadas - these are lovely moves where the man steps forward before the woman has quite completed her step, giving her an extra swing in the movement, and often lifting the woman's leg so she can make a flourish, kicking up behind her, to her side, then using the return momentum to swing her forward into another move. I'd seen people doing them the previous night, and had been very impressed with the way that people would seem to step through their partner's legs, flicking round each other with their legs intertwining but never tripping up. Isolde taught this class, and we all had a great time - it's easy for the man to lead the woman in a more complex series of flourishes when you're both balanced, and experimenting with different places to lead the sacada, and with which foot the man's weight is on leads you to just have fun with the movement.

Another interesting class was Liselot's. Hers focussed on the different ways that leader and follower should dance, the leader almost stepping under and through the follower, while the follower almost steps up and away from the leader. It was an exercise that really made you think about the seemingly simple act of walking, and how to create a connection between leader and follower.

With some of the classes, they taught us complex moves that I couldn't lead on the dance floor (and I tried, several times in some cases), but I really enjoyed Paul and Paras', and Liselot's classes because they focused on how to find a connection with your partner, and led me to the point where sometimes moves flowed out of the interaction between me, my partner and the music.

I also had a private lesson with Paul, and this really was fantastically useful. He had nice words to say about the way I led the dance, but also identified ways in which my lead might confuse - I need to lead by opening out my shoulder, which pulls my arm and my partner round naturally, and I need to relax more. If the arm is rigid, my partner can't tell what I'm doing, and the connection between us gets lost. Then, he led me dancing round the room, which was wonderful - for the rest of the weekend I tried to visualize leading my partner like he led me, very subtly, but absolutely clearly, getting through moves I didn't know I was capable of. If I go to Taboe Tango again, I'll try and get another lesson with him, and one with Liselot in milonga style - I really struggled in her class, probably the only one where I felt completely out of my depth.

The dancing over the weekend, as I said, improved hugely for me - the first night I was pretty unsure of myself, and had some pretty awful dances. The second night was better, and the third night was wonderful, getting four straight dances with one of the teachers, Isolde, which I was (am!) awfully proud of, since she was smiling with pleasure a good deal of the time, and we had a nice little conversation at the same time as dancing, about her surname (Kanikani, from her Maori grandfather), her workshop, differences between the way tango was taught/danced in the Netherlands as compared to the UK (she teaches/dances in Bath). Later, I chatted with her in Spanish; she'd just come back from Argentina, and was anxious to keep it up. I also had some lovely dances with Natalia, who was the first person with whom I could lead some of the more complex moves with that I'd learnt but been unable to do until Paul showed me how to lead more clearly: it was the first time I'd danced with someone who seemed to respond to my thoughts rather than my movements, and having danced like that gave me a huge confidence boost for the rest of the evening. I also liked dancing with Ilona, a Lithuanian now resident in Germany, because I could feel her improvement in dancing over the weekend as well - we'd both started quite unsure of ourselves, but with continued dancing and good advice came on to the point where I could lead her in some lovely little kicks and flourishes that she could follow. There were so many people I danced and talked with, I can't possibly list them all, as this post would get even more unreasonably long, but to remind me of names let's just go with Daniel, Kagan, Charlotte (Kagan and Charlotte both knew how to polska - a rarity, though rarer in him as he wasn't Swedish and she was), Hendrika (a lovely follower, whose dance with me on the first night gave me hope), Frieda, Valeria (a Cordobesa, with a lovely fluid style and unafraid of experimentation), Michael (another good leader), Monique (a particularly nice dance on the second night, which also kept my spirits up), Felizia (who I just couldn't connect with, though she was dancing beautifully with other people), Edwin (who will hopefully be hosting photos from the event on his website - I'll update this post when/if they appear), Oscar (Manon's friend, who I would very much like to have talked to more), and, oh, a dozen more, who I'll add as I remember them.

Dancing tango in the Netherlands is, of course, pretty similar to that danced in the UK - the common heritage of music and style from Argentina, and the international nature of tango teaching make sure of that, but there are a few differences that I'd like to write down before I forget them. One thing is the idea of dance partners. Most people there were paired up for dancing - they would attend classes together, and often dance with each other a good deal at the milongas (social dancing in the evening). In the UK all the dancing classes I've gone to have been ones where you change your partner at least every ten - fifteen minutes, and there's no formal concept of a regular dancing partner. There also seems to be some difference (though this may be personal) in the style of following. In the UK, when I give an opportunity to a follower to decorate, she usually will, but in the Netherlands it felt like the decoration is only done if it's led. The Dutch way is definitely more traditional, and I think it may well just be a case of me becoming a better dancer and being able to lead variations, rather than simply offer space to the woman and then get out of the way.

I had a lovely time, and I can't think of a better way to dance out the old year and dance in the new than with new friends all around. I'll be looking to try and get to Taboe Tango again this year.

Update: There's now a couple of videos up at Youtube. They're not very long, and I can't see myself dancing, but it gives you a feel for the hall, and the dancing. Someone else has created a Flickr group; I shall have to put up Edwin's photos of Oscar's tango class for children! Lots more photos here, in one of which you can see the top of my head.