Friday, February 15, 2008

ValenTango—A Reflection or Two

It is quite possible I'm becoming a tango festival junkie. I love the passion, the energy and the shear number of bodies. Watching the young hot bodies dance is an experience all its own. I spent pleasurable moments in between abusing my feet watching footwork, hip movements and embrace. Ah, bliss.

At Gordon's recommendation, I made sure to attend all the alternative milonga's. Hipbone (that fits tango doesn't it!) was hot and crowded, but the vibrancy more than made up for the heat. The venue is funky, but the heat almost made it too much. Here, it is evident that there is a subtle change in dance among the younger crowd. A higher skill level is necessary to dance the way these kids are. Grounding of your foot, the necessity to collect, the pause are all integral. The dancing is much more a dance of pause and move, pause and move. It is wonderful to watch and even better to dance.

I've been perusing websites looking for a tango festival in July that was mentioned. After discovering that many of those hot bodies I saw were internationally renowned teachers in Portland "for fun", I finally found what I was looking for. Nora's Tango Week runs from July 4th to 11th in San Francisco. Hum, guess I know where I'm going next.