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Announcements: Classes Starting & Kitty for Adoption

6 Jan

Hello Everybody!

School is back in session!  Which means I’m starting to teach group classes again.

Thursdays, 8pm, Tango, 251 Hearst Gym, UC Berkeley.  Starting January 24th.  This is a one hour progressive series, part of the weekly DeCal tango class.   This is a great class to start with.  We start from zero.  No experience necessary.

After, there is THREE HOURS of Open practice/dancing that continues until midnight. Free (donations VERY welcome) and open to the public.

BUT for both of these events you MUST send in your name and the names of anyone else planning on attending to ucbtango@gmail.com by Wednesday night.  Once you send your name/s you won’t have to send them again.  Be sure to bring ID for the front desk.

Also!

This wonderful kitty is currently in foster care and is looking a good home.  Her name is Koko.  She’s extremely gentle and loves attention.  Likes men.  A bit of a princess.  A trained indoor cat.  Has all her shots.  4 years old.  Sometimes she meows at the wall.  I don’t know why.

coco2

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Why Some Leaders Never Get Better and How To Be a Great One (in just 233 words)

26 Dec

“The interaction between every leader and follower is a relationship, and all relationships either add to or subtract from a person’s life.  If you are a leader, then trust me, you have having either a positive or a negative impact on the people you lead.  How can you tell?  There is one critical question: Are you making things better for the people who follow you? That’s it.  If you cannot answer with an unhesitant yes, and give some evidence that backs it up, then you may very well be a subtractor.  Often subtractors don’t realize they are subtracting from others.  I would say that 90 percent of all people who subtract from others do so unintentionally.  They don’t recognize their negative impact on others.  And when a leader is a subtractor and doesn’t change his ways, it’s only a matter of time before his impact on others goes from subtraction to division.

In contrast, 90 percent of all people who add value to others do so intentionally.  Why do I say that?  Because human beings are naturally  selfish.  I’m selfish.  Being an adder requires me to get out of my comfort zone every day and think about adding value to others.   But that’s what it takes to be a leader whom others want to follow.  Do that long enough, and you not only add value to others – you begin to multiply it.”

This quote is from the 10th Anniversary Edition of, “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership,” by John C. Maxwell.  In this chapter he’s talking about The Law of Addition, explaining how adding value to peoples lives is an essential quality in a leader.  While he’s talking about the type of leading we know from corporate seminars, this passage jumped out at me as explicitly applicable to leaders in dance.  In the first paragraph Maxwell explains how leaders and followers interact and then explains one of the great mysteries of the dance world: why a leader would be bad, not realize it, and not want to get any better.   In the second paragraph Maxwell succinctly sums up the process of how to become a good leader.   Nice.

-Nicholas

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The BATCPTAAIPP (its about tango…)

18 Dec

What is the Bay Area Tango Community’s essential being that distinguishes it from others?

Perhaps it is time for the Bay Area to move way from strict emulation or rejection of Buenos Aires and “traditional” tango.  I’m not talking about going completely Turbo, so to speak, but more about figuring who we are as a community.  After all, we are not Buenos Aires in culture or history.  The feasibility of strict emulation is questionable and the attempts to do so, have so far, failed.

Those with the most power to define our community, I believe are the organizers, followed by the teachers.  I’m imagining a UN style conference (is Cuba invited?) of organizers to sign the Kyoto Protocol version for Bay Area Tango.

Here are a few sketched up items to get the ball rolling.  Anyone want to add anything?  Change anything?  Secede from the Union?

The Bay Area Tango Convention Protocol Treaty Agreement Accord Initiative Partnership Pact (BATCPTAAIPP)

 

Signed by:

 

 

We agree to the items below in philosophy and application.  We sign this document as a declaration of unity and progress towards a strong and vibrant tango future.

1)    It is the organizers right to inform and enforce, either directly or indirectly, the character of their events.

  • In milongas this may apply to enforcing no teaching on the dance floor during the milonga.
  • This could be applied by asking for guest instructors to emphasize certain ideas of tango and or hiring those that will.

2)    It is the organizers responsibility to provide for the safety of their patrons. 

  • This may apply in in practicas and milongas to the degree of: No ridiculous and dangerous dancing. This does not mean outlawing ganchos and boleos.  This means outlawing dangerous ganchos and boleos.  The same applies to walking.
  • Warnings and expulsions are appropriate and encouraged tools.

3)    It is the teachers prerogative to create for the community, educated, respectful, and curious new members.

  • This may apply in educating the community about differences and variety of, not necessarily indoctrinating and prescribing the use of, the cabeco, floor craft, styles, and dress codes.
  • Teachers lead the community by example, whatever example that may be, we hope it is a positive one.
  • Teachers may endorse other teachers classes (when appropriate) and agreements could be made for mutual support without monetary constraints.

4)    It is the entire communities responsibility, including teachers and organizers, to honor the respectful requests of those who are hosting the attended event/class. 

 

-Nicholas

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The Dancing at El V Last Night…

12 Dec Boleo

El Valenciano is hands down my favorite milonga.  I think it consistently has the best dancing in the Bay Area.  The great music, cozy atmosphere, and heavy pouring bar tender are all variables that contribute to my enjoyment, but the deciding factor is the dance floor itself.

The compact size forces people to actually consider whether or not they should be stepping onto it.  The skill level required is intimidating.  Because it is so hard to navigate a small, packed floor, it keeps the rif-raf off and forces good behavior.  Which I decidedly like.

Lord knows it is difficult to be a milonga organizer and this blog post is not intended to be criticizing or bashing Julian or El V.  Actually, I’d like to take this sentence to say thank you Julian for hosting this amazing milonga and for putting up with all the crap you deal with, blog posts included.

That being said, the overall quality of the dancing was abysmal last night.  On two separate tandas I heard someone “teaching” their partner the best way to follow their lead for legwrap-gancho-boleo-sacada combos and people who are normally respectful(ish) were dangerously bouncing around like supercharged hydrogen ions.

I think it was because the floor size was doubled.  I spoke to Julian about it and he let me know that he received a lot of positive feedback about the larger size of the floor.  Both he and the owner of the venue would of course like to boost the attendance and the larger floor size might just do that.

If the floor stays larger I imagine Julian will loose the quality dancers who enjoy El V on a regular basis but gain the attendance of the larger general population.  I wish there was a way to make the smaller dance floor more economically viable, then everybody could be happy!  I suppose time and attendance will tell.

-Nicholas

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The Amazing Tango Skirt

26 Nov

Hello!

A friend of mine, new to tango, remarked how amazing tango skirts are.  She was watching the dancers at El Valenciano in San Francisco and was just waiting for a free show…but never got it!  I never even thought of it, but she’s right!  It is pretty incredible!  How can some tangueras wear these short short short things, but never show any butt cheek??  Are they taped?  Starched? Glued?  Maybe I’ll never know.

-Nicholas

Enjoy Claudia and Romina and a short skirt!

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About my last post… people got cross… and what I learned

6 Nov

Hello Everybody, 

I’m pretty happy that so many people chimed in on my last blog post, it even made it to prestigious tango forum on facebook!

I learned two things:

1)    How you say something is just as important as the way you say it.

2)    There are a lot of haters out there.

I probably shouldn’t have used the snarky/pithy/contrite/uppity/sassy/irreverent attitude I did in my last post.  Because as my friend and commentator Jocelyn pointed out, I sounded more like, “I, Nicholas, the young new instructor, shall impose my vast and experienced authority upon the women’s cross.”  That’s not how I wanted it to come out, but it seems that’s how I was understood.  In the forum and on the post I got quite the backlash.  People were attacking my credentials instead of my thoughts. 

In this blog I’m going to keep making observations and putting my thoughts out there.  Possibly (probably) challenging conventions and standards.  Next time I do so, it will be essential that I write in a less inflammatory way, because I’m attempting to prompt discussion and thought, not get the haters going.  My cousin says, “Haters gon hate…that ain’t never gona to change.”  Still… I’ll do my best to write so that people understand and react to have I have to say, not my snarky/pithy/contrite/uppity/sassy/irreverent attitude.

As long as I’m writing, I would like clear the air about my last post.  I wrote it as a counter point to a popular Bay Area instructor who teaches that the proper way to do the cross in the basic eight, is to bring the ankles and heels together, placing the feet into a parallel position.  Based upon my training, experience, and observation, I disagree.  But I think elaborating my point of view would require an in person discussion involving anatomy and demonstrations.  So instead, I attempted to give my thought some authority by I citing the current superstars of the tango world and how they cross.

For those of you who cannot speak Spanish, the ensuing discussion on facebook validated my point of view.  But this is only after I was nearly crucified (haha) for, among other things, not having the appropriate credentials to teach.

 

Lesson learned.

 

-Nicholas

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Tango, Athletes, Yoga, and Updates

24 Oct

The day you stop saying, “I dance tango,” and start saying, “I’m a tango dancer,” you become an athlete. NFL, NHL, MLB, FIFA…you name any high level athlete, heck, even high school level, and they all work out, stretch, and take care of their bodies to achieve a higher level of performance.  It is oft forgotten (until you look at a ballet dancer flexing), but dancers are athletes too.

All the group classes, private lessons, and milongas in the world aren’t going to get you there.  Does an NFL player only train by playing football?  Even if you don’t say, “I’m a tango dancer,” at cocktail parties, your dance and your body will hugely benefit from a little bit of training.

I’m currently enjoying yoga as my training of choice and  I could go on for days trumpeting the virtues of my teacher Simone Olsen-Varela , but I’ll keep it concise.  I have taken both privates and group classes from her and in a world filled with Yoga instructors she is exceptional.

I’d also like to make a quick update about my current classes and upcoming performances.

Upcoming Performance:

Open House Show as part of Oakland’s First Friday! Nov 2rd 5:30-9:30pm at Studio 1924 and I’ll be dancing West Coast Swing! Yes, WCS!  With Stephanie Berg.  You’ll have to see it to believe it!  AND It’s going to be an awesome party.

Current Classes:

Tuesdays, Noon, Salsa, Studio 1924. Yes, Salsa! (Didn’t ya’ll know I dance everything?) I’m teaching at Studio 1924 as part of the Take 5 Lunch Program.  $15 gets you a bad ass lunch from the adjoining Coco Cafe and a dance lesson.  Best dance deal ever.

Tuesdays, 7pm, Tango, 100 Wheeler, UC Berkeley.  A study hall practice session, reminiscent of the group classes I regularly attended in Buenos Aires.  3 hours for $9.  Note: We don’t always stay in the same room so try to be prompt and meet us 10 minutes before class in front of Wheeler.  If/when we move it is usually to room 110 then to 30.  Call 510 761 1445 if you can’t find us but I won’t guarantee an answer.

Thursdays, 8pm, Tango, 251 Hearst Gym, UC Berkeley.  This is a one hour progressive series, part of the weekly DeCal tango class.  Open practice/dancing follows the class and continues until midnight.  Free (donations VERY welcome) and open to the public.  BUT you MUST send in your name and the names of anyone else planning on attending to ucbtango@gmail.com by Wednesday night.  Once you send your name/s you won’t have to send them again.  Be sure to bring ID for the front desk.

 

That’s all folks!

Best,

Nicholas

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The Bay Area Is Way Better Than Los Angeles*

1 Oct Bay Area

Hello Everyone!

Besides my interests in tango, I have aspirations to become a city planner.  Since I don’t have an internship (yet) I’m working out my frustrations by mapping out the tango community.  I thought it would be cool to see all the locations that tango is danced.  I used www.tangomango.org as my source for data and used the first week of October as my scale.  I decided on tangomango.org because it is the main source of info for the tango community on locations/events and the info is easily available.

After mapping the Bay Area I realized I needed a point of comparison….so naturally I chose Los Angeles.  My visual discovery, which is kinda of a “no duh” if you look at the number of listings on tangomango.org, is that the Bay Area does way more tango then Los Angeles. *Maybe.

Because Los Angeles may not use tangomango.org as a primary source of tango information distribution I could very well just be measuring the level of use for tangomango.org rather then tango activity in our respective areas.

Still, it looks cool.  Then I put the two together to get a tangomango.org map of California Events.

I hope you enjoyed the maps and thanks for putting up with my city planning nerdiness!

-Nicholas

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Divisions in the Tango Community

5 Sep El Valenciano Social Floor Map1

Hello Everyone,

We don’t hate each other…do we?  For the past two weeks I’ve been paying more and more attention to the social dynamics of the Tango communities in the San Francisco Bay Area.  While groupings are present in every social event, the most pronounced and visible lines are drawn at El Valenciano.  They were so pronounced that I even made a map!  Check it out at the end of this post.

For those who know me I’m writing from the side of the room that would be called traditionalist, tango salon, snobby, stuck up, and stiff.  Yeah…Many times I think I do live up to those expectations!  And while I cannot speak for the people sitting in my section, I certainly have my own names about “those” people that sit near the DJ booth.

But are we really so different?  I don’t know.  I haven’t really gotten a chance to talk with a lot of people in that clique.  I know the one woman I do dance with uses the cabeceo and connects with all her heart.  And despite the great clique chasm between us, her beautiful connection is why I will keep dancing with her and I hope her with me.  Can someone say Romeo and Juliette? Lol.

As we sit in our separate sections I wonder…Are the traditionalists at fault?  The modern milongueros? Should we work to build bridges and all play nice? Keep our divisions? Or intensify them?  Am I making mountains out of mole hills? I’m not sure…where do you think the future lies for the San Francisco Bay Area Tango community?

With the utmost respect,

Nicholas

PS While I might get in lots of negative feedback for writing this blog posting, I feel like it needs to be out in the open.  I welcome any respectful conversation.

Breaking from Tradition…Gasp!

30 Jul

Why should Tango Nuevo dancers get to have all the fun?  They dance to anything and everything but Tango Salon dancers are stuck in the golden age.

We decided to experiment and try dancing to “Leonel, El Feo.”   We’ve been getting a few comments.  So let me explain: Our idea behind performing to this song was to show that dancing a more Tango Salon style is possible to newer music.  It was an interesting experience.

Attempting to dance Tango Salon to Tango Nuevo music, I felt stuck somewhere between Milonga and Tango.  On many levels though, it worked.  There was plenty of musicality to express, there was feeling, and there was connection.  But it did change my dance.

One of the things that I began to understand is how powerful the constant beat of new music can be.  In golden age music the beat does not compel you to step-step-step.  You can take liberties and I’ve often heard that you should dance just behind the beat for the most unhurried and elegant look.  But when dancing to “Leonel, El Feo,” I had to consciously resist the urge to step-step-step to the pounding beat.

I won’t be requesting Tango Nuevo music at a milonga anytime soon, but the next time it plays, I’ll (probably) stay in the room.

-Nicholas

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