Friday, February 10, 2006

Tossed Right In

Tango Class

I've taken a few Tango lessons in the last two days. One was a beginner class, the other was, well, a non-beginner one.[1] It was at the same hall, but with very different instructors. They did have one thing in common:

They throw the students right in.

The beginner class wasn't that bad, for me at least. I have a little foundation to work with, so I could pick up the steps pretty quickly (in fact, I probably had seen them before, I just never really used them correctly). The difficulty lie in the fact that they would demo the steps once, and then let people at it. I'm always suprised that I have a harder and harder time leading someone who doesn't really understand how to follow. I've become used to the follow telling me that I'm not doing it right...

The intermediate[2] class was a bit different. The instructor probably would have made it more of a formal class, if there were any people with zero knowledge. Instead, it involved everyone simply dancing. The students would either ask questions (like "why am I having such a hard time leading X?") or the instructor would notice something the students weren't doing quite right (as in "hold your arm this way and relax you shoulders...").

The second instructor was much more observent then the first, and did a much better job of explaining things than I have had in the past. Unfortuneately, it was one of those classes where I think I'll only be able to remember and use one of the many things that I learned. If I try to remember more, I'll probably just end up thinking too much.

Bits and Pieces

I enjoyed my first Argentine steak last night. At twelve in the AM. Damn late to be having a steak that big. It was huge, I'm talking Cattle Baron huge, and absolutely brilliant. I think I was drunk of the beef more than the wine.

How I Feel All the Time
I love the graffiti here. There are all of these great stencil tags all over the place. I liked this one in particular, as it reminded me of how I feel most of the time.


[1] Well, I can see that the lack of sleep lately has minced my brain into pudding...

[2] I have no idea if this is the case, it just seemed more difficult to me.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

From what I can see, the dancehall looks old and gorgeous. Looks like a great wood floor, too. Do they all look like that?

Have you checked out the milongas yet?

S

Peter Schwarz said...

Haven´t checked out a milonga yet. The place I was taking lessons had one that night, until 8:30 pm. Not quite ready for that.

As for the halls, I'm going to check another one out today. That one has really smooth marble floors. Allowed my street shoes to work.

knobboy said...

Lack of sleep?

Naw! It was the software development took me brain.

Anonymous said...

Besides checking out the dancehalls, steaks and wine, look into leather goods. I heard you can get custom made shoes and leather tailoring at really good prices. Many people I know go there with an empty suitecase inside another empty suitecase and come back with them both filled.