Yale Tango Fest!
Apr. 11th, 2007 03:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hazliyaSo (three days later...)
I LOVED YALE TANGO FEST
OMGGGGsex.
So we get there Friday evening about 6. Our hostess (who was AMAZINGLY NICE) showed us into this gorgeous place and we dropped off our stuff and headed up to pick up our passes. Yale has a great campus, I have to say. Absolutely lovely. Bit of a maze, but nice. And the surrounding area is full of ethnic restuarants and little shops and all that jazz. Like Worcester, but centralized and nicer.
CLASS 1: "One sacada, two sacada, three sacada, floor!", Nick and Tara
This was our introduction to the fabulous Nick and Tara, who have this amazing teaching and dance style. Very funny, very laid back, very smooth and rhythmic. They made the back sacada easy! And showed us some really neat places to put them. I felt sliiick, yo.
Dinner was at the Chinese food equivalent of a dive bar, where we had good food and Adam struck up a conversation with an aspiring writer. It was neat.
Milonga!
The Friday Night Milonga was awesome. They had two dance floors - one for traditional tango, one for alternative. Needless to say, Adam and I spent a lot of our free time on the Alternative floor. =) And we got to dance with a lot of new people and watch all of the teachers perform. Again, omggsex.
And now I want to have a mainly alternative music milonga here. Badly.
Class 2: "Foot catches and releases", Brigitta and Tomas
Saturday afternoon. This was all about taps and traps and playing and oh man, was it fun. Tomas is funny, and he has a great dynamic with Brigitta while they teach. Almost the comic relief. And I got to see that I can play with my steps ANNY DAMN TIME I WANT! It was great.
Class 3: "Corridas for Tango, Vals, and Milonga," Robin and Jennifer
We were expecting more, not knowing what Corridas were, but after taking this class, I was glad I did. It made me feel much, MUCH more confident in my milonga. Vals is my strong point, and at its opposite, milonga. Grr. But I feel much better about it now.
Class 4: "Sex up your Tango!," Nick and Tara
MY FAVORITE CLASS. It was all about carrying body motion and fluidity and musicality and wah. It was fun, it was playful, and it was expressive. I enjoyed it immensely, and I found that I enjoyed dancing with some of the girls better (not a word, adam! >[ ). I want them to teach it here.
Then Prof. Hakim took us all out to an Indian restaurant for dinner, which was wonderfully chintzy with great food. Good conversation, lots of laughs, lots of bonding. The off to...
Milonga!
The Saturday night Milonga was bigger. I got to dress up a bit, too! And I was complimented and got to dance with many new people. Speaking of which, I struck up a conversation with Tova (one of the teachers, and she remembered me! w00t!) about my and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
elenuial's shyness when it comes to asking new people to dance. I told her about our little "pact" about asking a teacher each to dance. She was very encouraging, and even revealed that SHE had trouble asking people to dance. Her! One of my tango role models! I had a warm gooey moment, then headed out. More dancing, then I looked over, and Nick (one of my new favorite teachers) was standing by the water, smiling at me. He winked at me, cheeky man! I couldn't pass it up, and came over and we started talking and laughing and enjoying conversation when I realized "Hey! He's a teacher!" and asked him to dance. He said he would be happy to, and we danced the entire tanda. Every song! And well! And he said I did very well and he had a lot of fun, then hugged me and picked me up off of the floor a bit. =D AND I got to talking to Tara, too, who is cooler than the coolest of cool beans. We talked about the wonder that is Salvation Army, amongst other things, and then the conversation turned to getting them down to Worcester! And she said they'd love to! SCORE! Left for sleep 3:30ish, with hugs and kisses from Nick, Tara, and a couple of other people, and proceeded to sleep in.
Class 5: "Embrace Diversity," Tova and Carlos
This was much better than I expected. We learned swish moves to get in and out of close embrace, as well as perpendicular leads (which I've been wondering about for a while). And when they went into colgadas, I was sold. Those really help me with my volcadas, and it's so neat. And the swinging wraps are fun. =)
Class 6: "Ganchos in Close Embrace," Brigitta and Tomas
I sat most of this one out, saving up my energy for the drive home. But it answered the "how?" question it promised to, and Adam and I got it right away when he grabbed me to practice after class. Woohoo!
We didn't get to take a class with Ney and Jen, but we did come away with so much. Endorphins galore. And a nice, non-sweat-related glow to each of us.
And then the drive home. We took an interesting detour on CT-15N, and have concluded that parts of Connecticut consist of nothing more than porn stores, motels, and bowling alleys. I kid you not, that's ALL we saw for half an hour. We'd point whenever we saw one. Or three. It was ridiculous and sketchy. And then TRAFFIC OH MY GOD THE TRAFFIC. It took us an hour and a half to get there, two and a half back. But we did have a long, interesting conversation on the way back that I realized I had missed having with him lately.
And then we got home andelenuial and I shagged each other's brains out. <3 Good times.
And now, for some quotes.
Nick (talking to my current partner): "If you're trying to lead with your arms one way but not moving your shoulders, your 'talking' makes no sense."
Me: "Like having 2 different conversations."
Nick: "Exactly!"
Me: "Like 'hey, go left' and 'bananas and shakespeare.'"
Nick: "Sure!"
--
Nick: "Steps are like... caressing your woman. (students groan) Seriously! If you just focus on getting from one place to the other, like 'I like lips and butt!' or going directly from one foot to the other, *quick steps* ba-dum, it won't get you anywhere. Try something like *slow, deliberate steps* Forehead. Lips. Collarbone. Shoulders. Waist. Back. Butt. It's smooth."
Tara: "If you pay attention to what's in between, you're more likely to get - she's more likely to let you get - to the interesting places."
--
Nick: "It's not interesting if you're trying to dance with someone and they're not responding. But if she's not responding - Tara, can you just, like, hump me for a second? (she does) - if she's not responding..."
--
Robin: "You don't want to be leaning too much on your partner. A slight lean is good, though. Like your bodies are yearning for each other."
(they stand a few arm's lengths apart and lean slightly)
Robin: "Jen!"
Jen: "Robin!"
Robin: "Jen!"
Jen: "Robin!"
Robin: "Jen!"
Jen: "Robin!"
I am totally going again next year.
AND we're trying to bring Nick and Tara to worcester for a weekend. That would be amazing.
<3 tango. <3elenuial.
-Haz
I LOVED YALE TANGO FEST
OMGGGGsex.
So we get there Friday evening about 6. Our hostess (who was AMAZINGLY NICE) showed us into this gorgeous place and we dropped off our stuff and headed up to pick up our passes. Yale has a great campus, I have to say. Absolutely lovely. Bit of a maze, but nice. And the surrounding area is full of ethnic restuarants and little shops and all that jazz. Like Worcester, but centralized and nicer.
CLASS 1: "One sacada, two sacada, three sacada, floor!", Nick and Tara
This was our introduction to the fabulous Nick and Tara, who have this amazing teaching and dance style. Very funny, very laid back, very smooth and rhythmic. They made the back sacada easy! And showed us some really neat places to put them. I felt sliiick, yo.
Dinner was at the Chinese food equivalent of a dive bar, where we had good food and Adam struck up a conversation with an aspiring writer. It was neat.
Milonga!
The Friday Night Milonga was awesome. They had two dance floors - one for traditional tango, one for alternative. Needless to say, Adam and I spent a lot of our free time on the Alternative floor. =) And we got to dance with a lot of new people and watch all of the teachers perform. Again, omggsex.
And now I want to have a mainly alternative music milonga here. Badly.
Class 2: "Foot catches and releases", Brigitta and Tomas
Saturday afternoon. This was all about taps and traps and playing and oh man, was it fun. Tomas is funny, and he has a great dynamic with Brigitta while they teach. Almost the comic relief. And I got to see that I can play with my steps ANNY DAMN TIME I WANT! It was great.
Class 3: "Corridas for Tango, Vals, and Milonga," Robin and Jennifer
We were expecting more, not knowing what Corridas were, but after taking this class, I was glad I did. It made me feel much, MUCH more confident in my milonga. Vals is my strong point, and at its opposite, milonga. Grr. But I feel much better about it now.
Class 4: "Sex up your Tango!," Nick and Tara
MY FAVORITE CLASS. It was all about carrying body motion and fluidity and musicality and wah. It was fun, it was playful, and it was expressive. I enjoyed it immensely, and I found that I enjoyed dancing with some of the girls better (not a word, adam! >[ ). I want them to teach it here.
Then Prof. Hakim took us all out to an Indian restaurant for dinner, which was wonderfully chintzy with great food. Good conversation, lots of laughs, lots of bonding. The off to...
Milonga!
The Saturday night Milonga was bigger. I got to dress up a bit, too! And I was complimented and got to dance with many new people. Speaking of which, I struck up a conversation with Tova (one of the teachers, and she remembered me! w00t!) about my and
elenuial's shyness when it comes to asking new people to dance. I told her about our little "pact" about asking a teacher each to dance. She was very encouraging, and even revealed that SHE had trouble asking people to dance. Her! One of my tango role models! I had a warm gooey moment, then headed out. More dancing, then I looked over, and Nick (one of my new favorite teachers) was standing by the water, smiling at me. He winked at me, cheeky man! I couldn't pass it up, and came over and we started talking and laughing and enjoying conversation when I realized "Hey! He's a teacher!" and asked him to dance. He said he would be happy to, and we danced the entire tanda. Every song! And well! And he said I did very well and he had a lot of fun, then hugged me and picked me up off of the floor a bit. =D AND I got to talking to Tara, too, who is cooler than the coolest of cool beans. We talked about the wonder that is Salvation Army, amongst other things, and then the conversation turned to getting them down to Worcester! And she said they'd love to! SCORE! Left for sleep 3:30ish, with hugs and kisses from Nick, Tara, and a couple of other people, and proceeded to sleep in.Class 5: "Embrace Diversity," Tova and Carlos
This was much better than I expected. We learned swish moves to get in and out of close embrace, as well as perpendicular leads (which I've been wondering about for a while). And when they went into colgadas, I was sold. Those really help me with my volcadas, and it's so neat. And the swinging wraps are fun. =)
Class 6: "Ganchos in Close Embrace," Brigitta and Tomas
I sat most of this one out, saving up my energy for the drive home. But it answered the "how?" question it promised to, and Adam and I got it right away when he grabbed me to practice after class. Woohoo!
We didn't get to take a class with Ney and Jen, but we did come away with so much. Endorphins galore. And a nice, non-sweat-related glow to each of us.
And then the drive home. We took an interesting detour on CT-15N, and have concluded that parts of Connecticut consist of nothing more than porn stores, motels, and bowling alleys. I kid you not, that's ALL we saw for half an hour. We'd point whenever we saw one. Or three. It was ridiculous and sketchy. And then TRAFFIC OH MY GOD THE TRAFFIC. It took us an hour and a half to get there, two and a half back. But we did have a long, interesting conversation on the way back that I realized I had missed having with him lately.
And then we got home and
elenuial and I shagged each other's brains out. <3 Good times.And now, for some quotes.
Nick (talking to my current partner): "If you're trying to lead with your arms one way but not moving your shoulders, your 'talking' makes no sense."
Me: "Like having 2 different conversations."
Nick: "Exactly!"
Me: "Like 'hey, go left' and 'bananas and shakespeare.'"
Nick: "Sure!"
--
Nick: "Steps are like... caressing your woman. (students groan) Seriously! If you just focus on getting from one place to the other, like 'I like lips and butt!' or going directly from one foot to the other, *quick steps* ba-dum, it won't get you anywhere. Try something like *slow, deliberate steps* Forehead. Lips. Collarbone. Shoulders. Waist. Back. Butt. It's smooth."
Tara: "If you pay attention to what's in between, you're more likely to get - she's more likely to let you get - to the interesting places."
--
Nick: "It's not interesting if you're trying to dance with someone and they're not responding. But if she's not responding - Tara, can you just, like, hump me for a second? (she does) - if she's not responding..."
--
Robin: "You don't want to be leaning too much on your partner. A slight lean is good, though. Like your bodies are yearning for each other."
(they stand a few arm's lengths apart and lean slightly)
Robin: "Jen!"
Jen: "Robin!"
Robin: "Jen!"
Jen: "Robin!"
Robin: "Jen!"
Jen: "Robin!"
I am totally going again next year.
AND we're trying to bring Nick and Tara to worcester for a weekend. That would be amazing.
<3 tango. <3
elenuial.-Haz
