All round beauty ...

Because this blog is about people too, I want to post about a person I admire  as a dancer, and artist.

I find strangely easy to pick up a word to pin Hiba on my mind - since I haven't met her for so long - and that word is beauty. I speak of a beauty that comes from being genuine, from an sincere easiness - she is that kind of person that when she smiles at you, you feel at home - ( by all means pls be noted that she has the looks too).

It is this same dispretensious and sincerity I came to admire in her work too, as a photographer. Looking trough her work I felt an easiness, almost familiarity passing by images of people and places my eyes or feet have never touched - a direct sense of understanding ( no subtitles or intros needed). If you understand, you connect - and is this not what a image wants to convey in the end?

Tango Lives and Tango Homes are two of these wonderfull projects that tour us into the privacy of some really unique places and ultimately people, who overall are linked trough Tango. If youre not into Tango, you will probably be after you see some of these...

It is about reporting in a very particular intuitively way, the existence ( thank God) of some very unique and exciting individual points of view in Tango.

The only IF... is that she is a bit of a teaser, and only gives you a very little peak into her work and world ... but thank you for these anyway.

(Tango Lives, Tango Homes, Entangled)
Photograhy by Hiba Faisal
http://www.hibafaisal.com

  

 

The physio did not quite worked ...

After 6x weeks od physio, I am afraid to say it did not quite worked...

But ay least I got to meet someone utterly different from my background, someone who plays Polo, and which would it not have been trough the medical net I would probably would never had met ... how exotic.

I speak about my physiotherapist Peter C., to which I want to thank for all its dedication, enthusiasm and for sucessfully entertaining me over this dull, and somehow painful process.

I dont think, I ever quite encountered such a curious and energetic person ... in the medicine field I mean.

(Still intend to ask, what is your secret  ...what food supplement do you take?)

Only by looking at the photos now I have realized how small my feet are and how tainted my skin is ...

oh well, it goes with my hair ...

     

 

Big Toe bondage ....

So I got my foot toe cramped, 12 weeks ago and have been enduring since them, a painful long recovery from a very stubborn tendinitis.  How could I have guess at that sunny afternoon in SA that a pair of flip flops could have this result ... 

Lesson: Flip flops are evil ....

This is my poor little foot after a one class attempt this past Monday ... but the dancing felt great!

And to my surprise I did not forgot all due to this gap ...

Trying to conclude and trying to see the BIG picture: the fact I am not able to pursue dancing, now that I finally have the time, is starting to take a toll on me... At the moment I am falling in a grand scale to understand the strange ways of fate and why this is happening to me ...

I found myself know envying 50 year olds who are able to run smoothly trough the dance floor, I have know realized I am starting to have toe envy!

( and that sounds incredibly bad...)

Something creative ... Tango and Cocorosie together

Ensayo I from Adán Cohen on Vimeo.

Previous rehearsal for video-dance project.
Music: "Bear Hides and Buffalo" by CocoRosie
Maru Garcia - Adán Cohen

I was super excited when I saw this ... just perfect - one of my favorite bands ever (Cocorosie) and Tango improvisation, brought together.

Apparently, this is just a "ensayo", so we will probably be treated to more ... good things happen :)

Apart from the creative musical choice ( who would have tought to Tango at Cocorosie?), I really like the all spontaneous feel, the spontaneous experimentation of movement and the upper body, and I particulary like the fact that we dont see any feet, but still it is very obvious it is Tango we are speaking about.
There is something somehow disconcerting, chaotic and simultaneously harmonic - the connection is not only there, but as well in the end with us, the observer ...

Again, I am just happy to have seen this, and to have the reassurance, that out there (in la Plata.Arg. to be more precise), people are doing new things and taking Tango out of the old dusty days ...

So, heres to mr. Cohen and his vision to bring these two together - Thank you for having this idea!

Something different ...

(Santiago Dorkas - Cecilia Garcia ...Ensayo)

As a creative, the new and freshness of ideas has always been what makes me thick and want to go for it...
Most people ask me why I got into Tango ...
At first I struggle to answer, I cant really see why, superficially the all tacky Tango melodramatic scene never has appealed to me, neither the tight red dress or the net stockings...
I was first drawn to Tango, because one day I fell the urge to learn how to listen ... it has always been something I have struggled with...
To listen one must be in silence, and recently in this silence I found not only I could listen to others butt myself better too ... them you start to discover interesting things ...

Them I had my first great dance connection, and got addicted to the feeling of dancing again ... and I feel, as I hopefully progress on my level I can start to explore the many, new, unique, new ways out there to explore and feel Tango...
Like all arts, is all about having a new, unique point of view ...
and there is really nothing more exciting than this journey ...


Now, how come I dont get to see Tango like this in London often??
Lets shake the dust a little bit and try something new, something different ...

MY TANGO CLASS: Tango Fever

so I have now checked out a couple of Tango classes + spots in London

I am happy I found a place just right  for me to learn Tango, Tango Fever , teaching by Hiba F. + Rene H.

In a nutshell, the 3BIG reasons why it works so well for me:

1- Technique breakdown in detail -

knowing how to dance is one thing, but being able to teach mere mortals in detail the tricks and crafts of tango movement is another all different story.

From classes I get to see stepts/figures technique broke down to detail and to understand how to perform all the important ingredients to make the all thing work. Even when I dont get it physically right in the class ( stubborn body, hard to manipulate!) I always leave with the mental knowledge how to do it, and how to correct myself.  I always feel I learned something.

2 -Followers + Leaders numbers balanced !

Classes are always super organized and numbers always balanced: this is great news for us followers, as no matter how many leaders are available, there is always a friendly rotation method in place, that does not allow anyone to feel left out or basically just to sit and watch the class go by, so I always get  to dance with everyone in the class and get my time + moneys worth. that is  BIG +++ :)!

3 - Great people = great class!

there is always a  positive relaxed vibe in the classes, super friendly. Sometimes it feels like a small family, and its seems to be contagious, so the plus is that I get to take this vibe back home with me :)!! is another BIG ++!

TRY SOMETHING NEW: 5x new dresses to tango

would love to tango in any of these
but if  the damage had to me made , my fav. would be the TOGA one, perfect for a summer milonga.