How the year has travelled along from heart break to a semblance of normality or as near to normality as one could get, don’t get me wrong I am not out of the woods yet, there has been and continues to be up’s and downs but one can only take one day at a time..
Classes at the good companion are on a Thursday
Since landing on my sister’s doorstep on the 21st of December 2012 the end of the world god those Mayans must have been talking about me! And my tipsy turvy of a life, so many times I wanted to just give up and roll over and well literally die…
But here I am with only a few days to my most happy time of the year celebrated of course by my birthday in September, Halloween and of course guy faulks and in between that the Autumn and Winter Gala’s for the Argentine Tango, looks September on wards is going to be busy.
I went to my first workshop a few weeks back with a few of the local dancers we had a visit from a teacher from Argentina Mariana who runs the queer Tango in Buenos Aires, and I want to actually now travel as part of my bucket list and learn Argentine Tango in the place where it all started, what I would love is to stay not in a hotel but with the actual people so lucky I got her fb details.
One thing that clicked that night at the Milonga was I was almost able to do an actual Milonga dance with Mariana’s girlfriend, we were spinning around and around the music becoming a blur like to revolving star’s little did I know that this feeling would get stronger as the weeks and month progressed.
There is a moment when you have a partner you can really click with on the dance floor, that the music can almost carry you away, how special that feeling was, very much an eye opener, and it all came from a work shop which was Hosted by Brighton Dance our main teacher Carola got for us Alan from Mariposa dance school in London for an evening class, the moves were so supple and graceful I did not have too much difficulty in picking them up but putting them into practice with the ladies that were there made them all the more sensual, as we went from partner to partner, practising all the moves along the way.
Considering it was my birthday I was asked to go to the middle of the dance studio and for one track I had to dance with any lady that came up to me, needless to say there were a few, I have yet to see the video that Carola took, maybe one day!
About a week later after the workshop, a new face in the beginners class, a middle aged Hong Kong lady by the name of Elaine, smiled at me her face was familiar but I can’t remember from where, then she said ah the birthday boy, it clicked she was in the same workshop as me and had only just took up Tango.
So we or Carola started the class and I help out on a Friday with the students being a good lead I help keep the ladies on a sure foot, and make it a much more enjoyable experience, half way into the lesson we have a quick break or wine break as we call it, we got to chatting and she asked if we could do some practice I said yes and lead her to the studio, the music that was playing was Milonga a few couples were dancing, I asked Elaine has she done Milonga before? Her response was no.. Don’t worry I said I will lead you.
For the first time ever, the music actually carried us away and we were using up the whole room and not once did our feet meet my frame was so spot on, Carola spotted us and told me a day or so later when I was doing her feet, that we looked so good together and we danced as if we been dancing for years.
It was very moving, and was only to get better, to me after that dance a lot of things were starting to fall into place where my tango was concerned my confidence is growing.
Roll on a few weeks later and I was at another workshop this time by superstars of Tango Rui Barroso and Ines Gomes these two people are so important there energy and love of the dance shows so much and I learned one very important lesson from Rui, about the male lead is you dance for her, and in doing so she will give you everything she has on the dance floor that is.
Now this is important I have met two of the best dancers I have ever met and had a lesson from namely Rui Barroso and Ines Gomes such a lovely couple there photos are so amazing not that it was me taking them lol but if your going to Portugal you must seek them out and get a class they can be found here.
I also had the pleasure of doing their feet for them when they graced out dance school my skill as a reflexologist is really starting to show itself even more than ever now.
During one of the Thursday classes I was asked by one of my dance pals Denise if I would help her with some moves she was to demonstrate on Friday 25th at the King Alfred centre in Hove we met at my fav place to dance on the bandstand between Brighton and hove we spent just over 2 hours on the moves, and she gave me my first Jive lesson, which was fun, it was not until the Friday that I finally got hooked on the jive.
I duly arrived at the King Alfred just before 8pm I was going to take some photos of David Bailey and Denise Green practice the moves, Denise looked stunning in a slinky black dress with a split up the side just about hiding her modesty but as you can see from the photos she not only looked good but her dance was amazing and I am so happy I played a little part in it all.
If your from London then look up this guy he good fun and I am fully looking forward to seeing him in Brighton next month, he runs a good website so please have a look.
http://www.learningtango.com/
So dance really does matter, I am now hooked on Jive it’s not my first love but it is my second choice and I am so looking
I have my own little group that meet at an ad-hoc basis to not so much learn but to work on the moves we learn in class from my favorite teacher in the world Carola from Dance Brighton so please feel free to add me on Facebook or join my dance at the bandstand Hove and if your around and free come do some moves.
