river tango (and related deltas), london 2009

Thursday 17 September 2009 at 15:46
I went up to London to spend a week seeing if I still knew how to relax, enjoy the company of a friend and some tango (obviously).

The relaxation skills still need some work and I have to admit I've enjoyed London tango more in the past, but there were some great moments. Outside the milongas, highlights include: tango practice in the kitchen, blowing a whole blueberry from my nose (I've no idea how that happened, only that I ate it about 5 minutes prior to the incident), introducing a uni friend to tango (the last time we saw each other we were probably slamming each other into the mat in the dojo), running along the side of the Thames (what is it with me and running at the moment?) with about 15kg of kit while the Thames Festival firework show was lighting up the sky and making the most beautiful reflections in the skyscrapers, all to catch the last 10 minutes of the fire garden show by the Tate, walking through a fashion shoot for the Telegraph in Crystal palace parade, sharing some massages and finally doing the first few takes for a promotional video for my book "Healthy Loving Relationships" (still looking for feedback from male readers before I send it to the printers. If you're interested in a signed copy, maybe even a credit, get in touch ASAP).

My recent tango experiences have polarized my mind more in the direction of starting my own tango group. The issue is, I see where I want to take my tango, I've had glimpses of what is possible in my own dance, the creativity, connection and beauty that can be shared. But this isn't really happening much in Southampton, for various reasons (although there are some lovely dancers here, there's no question in that). It's been frustrating to say the least. I've thought about moving to London for this reason, but now I'm thinking it might be smarter to start something in Southampton, where there is, I feel, so much untapped potential for the community in the 20-30 age group (the average age here being closer to 40-45). I hope that by doing this it will strengthen the existing community and boost numbers at milongas rather than create a faction. This way I can hopefully find a suitable lady to be my tango partner and share my understanding at the same time.

Having said that, given all my current projects I'm not sure how I'll fit in running a tango class. Still, in the mean time I'm letting off some steam and developing my ideas by putting together a tango syllabus. Just for my own learning it will be useful to boil down my understanding into clearly presented blocks. I've chosen to split the ideas into the categories: social, stylistic and technical. I'll post the draft notes here. Comments very welcome!

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