Sebastian Achaval y Roxana Suarez

I came across these two dancers in a fantastic post by una milonguera, trying to explain tango from scratch! It is a really good post (but it's in Spanish - you can always try Babelfish) but it introduced me to a couple who I felt immediately in love with, Sebastian Achaval and Roxana Suarez. i hope you like it

Tango in the beach

Hello everybody!
Tangologue had an interruption as I was taken into internetless places, with lots of sea and sand in the mixture... There was no tango in the place where I went but that didn't mean that I wasn't thinking about tango! And I discovered (or saw if it worked) a way of perfecting and understanding tango using that wonderful place that we all love - the beach.
So, leaders, a good way of practising your walk is to walk in the sea with your legs immersed in water. The movement you have to do in tango is exactly the same, chest ahead and the legs grabbing into the floor and pushing forwards!
The wet sand is also perfect for you to understand step patterns. You'll have to do this in a deserted beach (as the place where I was) or else you'll be very confused and will get odd looks. The wet sand will leave you a storyline of your walk. It will tell you if you're legs are too apart, if your steps are too big or even if you're putting the weight on the right place.
So, go on, indulge yourself. Grab your iPod, go to the nearest beach and try it out. Just don't try any giros, or you'll be stuck in the sand! ;oD
















by the way, these aren't my legs!

Dancing with beginners

I was inspired by Sorin's post about how beginners decide between a good dancer and the "good-dancers-that-only-look-good-to-beginners". It inspired me to write on how to dance with a beginner if you're a bit more experienced.
Not so long ago I saw an experienced dancer teaching an absolute beginner how to do a gancho. Now, this is like teaching a child that has never rode a bike to go downhill on a steep, rocky mountain. This person should be liable for any damages that this helpless beginner is going to do. I am not going to go into technicalities on how to lead or follow a gancho because that is NOT the reason why this blog exists. But needless to say that, if you're dancing with a beginner or even a post-beginner, DO NOT lead ganchos or any complex movements that will confuse this poor person.
If you dance with a beginner, walk to the music, keep it simple, make the beginner know how it acutally feels to dance to the music. You'll be doing a great job! A fantastic job! And if you think that dancing with a beginner is boring because they can only do a handful of things then you should (1) re-think why you're dancing and (2) lead SIMPLE things. Walking on the beat, front ochos, back ochos, crosses... These are all things that beginners should be doing and perfecting. Remember, when dancing with a beginner you're being responsible for the education of someone. Would you like to teach 5th grade stuff to someone who has just entered 1st grade?

Jenny and Ricardo

Here it is a promotional video of my tango mentors. They are partly responsible for this blog. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be the addicted tanguero that I am now.



Having lived in Leith (the port of Edinburgh, mostly known for the cult film Trainspotting) for a long time they decided to film most of this video there!

PS - And I can't stop being nostalgic when they dance in the Counting House, the place where I was born for tango.