There is a real inequality in Argentine tango. There are almost always more women than men. How can we explain that? Despite what a lot of people say, men really have it pretty easy. Many teachers tell beginners, “all you have to do is walk.” Meanwhile, they are showing women how to do crosses, molinettes and ochos. Some men just stand there two footed, faking the lead for ochos while their partner works her bum off, staying on axis and powering through her pivots in spite of him… all in high heels, where one badly timed invasion of her axis could cause her free stilleto to slice across her big toe or impale her standing foot.
In tango, a relaxed yet stable walk is very important. It turns out that the same walk in our everyday life can help us be more engaged in the world around us. Feeling our strength in the ground and relaxing through our steps while standing tall feels really good! We can feel much more aware of our selves and the world around us. Relaxing into the walk can be difficult, but luckily we have the ‘Ministry of Silly Walks’ to help us! This is a very silly walk, so maybe you just want to do it at home, unless you don’t mind looking silly, in which case feel free to do this walk wherever you like.
Due to popular demand, Eric and Susannah are excited to announce another immersive foundations tango class!
This class will follow a different format from the last, with a stronger emphasis on connection and subtle movement, while diving deeper into visualizing proper posture and movement. We will be incorporating parts of our Tangobreath vinyasa in class to create awareness and Provide practice techniques that will go well beyond class time.
This 4-hour class continues our exploration of essential technique in Argentine tango to prepare you to attend milongas (social dances) and practicas in a much shorter time than a more traditional series. We will also be inviting experienced dancers in our community to participate, so that you will have the opportunity to work with individuals who can give you personalized and knowledgeable feedback during the class.
Saturday, October 6th
1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
The West Asheville Vineyard, 717 Haywood Road
$40.00 pre-registration
DEADLINE FOR REGISTERING: Friday, September 28th
We need to have a minimum number of participants to offer this class, so we encourage you to pre-register or contact us soon, if you are interested! We will also be providing more pre-class study material and exercises, so be sure to let us know you are coming!
Additional IMPORTANT information:
We structure our classes in unique ways in order to delve into deep studies and explorations of our bodies and the material. Since we want you to get the best experience and assimilate the most from this intense class, we will have some required exercises and material before the lesson. We will provide all of this material to you a week or more in advance.
Eric and Susannah of TangoBreath are excited to announce a new immersive beginning tango class!
This is the perfect opportunity to dive into this dance if you have been curious. And this is the class for you if you have been wanting to have an intense, working review of the heart of this dance — core movement, good posture, and refined body awareness!
This 4-hour class would cover essential technique in Argentine tango to prepare you to attend milongas (social dances) and practicas in a much shorter time than a more traditional series. We will also be inviting experienced dancers in our community to participate, so that you will have the opportunity to work with individuals who can give you personalized and knowledgeable feedback during the class.
Sunday, August 26th
1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
The West Asheville Vineyard, 717 Haywood Road
$40.00 pre-registration
DEADLINE FOR REGISTERING: Friday, August 17th
We need to have a minimum number of participants to offer this class, so we encourage you to pre-register or contact us soon, if you are interested!
Additional IMPORTANT information:
We structure our classes in unique ways in order to delve into deep studies and explorations of our bodies and the material. Since we want you to get the best experience and assimilate the most from this intense class, we will have some required exercises and material before the lesson. We will provide all of this material to you two weeks in advance.
Most of the time when we think of our spiral energy as it relates to tango, we consider the torsion that happens in our torso, as our hips and ribs twist in opposite directions. However, there are many other “spirals” that happen in our bodies, and we would like to draw attention to the spiral that happens in our legs as we take a step. Understanding how the leg articulates at the hip joint during our walk can also transform our dance.
As a continuation of last week’s challenge, Finding stability in our pelvis, in which we perceived subtle engagement in the area between the sacrum and hip joint, we are going to concentrate on releasing this same area. Balancing the internal dynamic between engagement and release is important to achieve our greatest flexibility, strength, and resiliency in our joints.
We continue this week’s challenge with our focus on the sacrum and pelvis. For background, consider checking out the challenge from last week and the week prior.
This week, we will explore how we can use deep pelvic muscles to move our sacrum, specifically connecting our sacrum and tailbone to our hip joints.
Last week, our challenge was to bring awareness to your sacrum and the ways that your sacroiliac joint moves.
Adjusting your sacrum in two easy steps.
This week, we have encouraged our students to make a more specific adjustment to their sacrum. This is a good exercise to do when you get up from being seated, when you are standing, and before you begin walking.
If you have been to our tango classes, you know we always incorporate the pelvic floor in its role toward solid, fluid and confident movement. Here is your chance to get a full dose of what it takes to be fully aware of how to use your hips, sacrum and tailbone in every tango movement.
Creating a dynamic embrace with internal spiral and the resulting adornos is key to creating smooth fluid movement that feels good to your partner.
We follow up our pelvic floor class with a class on how to visualize and attain fluid movement. This includes creating dynamic tension and compression within the embrace, and how adornos and internal movement play a part in making the embrace feel amazing, all while we explore several different sacada’s and how to find them. All of the visualizations and technique for creating fluid movement can be applied to all aspects of dancing tango. Learning to find all 36 regular sacada’s can change the way you think about Argentine tango movement, and open doors to many other possibilities. These classes are all level, but will increase in difficulty to challenge dancers of all abilities.
CLASSES
From floor to pelvic floor: free your hip, the rest will follow. 1-2:30 PM Coming to a deeper understanding of our dynamic pelvic region gives access to stable & fluid movement. Using the pelvic floor is the key to being a solid lead or follow.
Visualizing and creating fluid movement on the path to every sacada. 3-4:30 PM Learn visualization and technique to create fluid, delicious movement within the embrace, while we learn how to find all of the sacadas. Visualization of pivots and spiral while creating various adornos is a big part of this class. This class will be equally challenging and interesting to both leaders and followers. The pelvic floor class is a pre-requisite for this class.
HOMEWOOD MILONGA 8:00 PM to 1:00 AM
Lisa Jacobs will be our DJ.
Acupressure and Tui Na (Chinese massage) by Katie Bruce L.AC. We are pleased to announce that Katie Bruce L.AC. will be offering acupressure and some Tui Na (Chinese Massage) during the milonga. Visit Katie’s web site for more information! Katie will be available from 8:00-10:00 for suggested donation of $10.
Some wine, snacks and, as always, a special treat prepared by Susannah will be provided. BYOB.
Private Lessons
As always, we will be available for private lessons. Please contact us to make arrangements.
Moving the line of gravity literally covers more ground
In the last post I described how the relationship between the center of movement and the line of gravity created internal dynamic tension which is a part of what creates presence or intention within the embrace. Moving the line of gravity literally covers more ground, but is easier to explain than the micro movements that create dynamic tension.
Any movement starts by moving our center away from our line of gravity to create dynamic tension. Our center of movement can be imagined as being a spot at the top of our sacrum in the center of our body. Standing still, the center of movement is intersected by our line of gravity.
There is a real inequality in Argentine tango. There are almost always more women than men. How can we explain that? Despite what a lot of people say, men really have it pretty easy. Many teachers tell beginners, "all you have to do is walk." Meanwhile, they are showing women how to do crosses, molinettes and ochos. Some men just stand there two fo
