Tango criollo.

Not surprisingly I did get ill after all and we had to skip the Friday's Salsa party. Too bad, I really wanted to go to a Salsa party after a long break, but better to get well than go dancing sick.

I already knew what was going to happen at today's practice before it started: it was going to be Tango and hand practice for Rumba. These are two things that I don't really like that much but at least I was able to prepare myself mentally for a hard practice. Why I do not like Tango you might ask. It is hard to give an answer to that actually. The dance does not come as naturally to me as others and somehow it is just hard to catch the rhythm. I don't know why I don't get it and its making me frustrated. We haven't been dancing tango that much really so I know I should not be so hard to myself but I really can't help it. The reason for practicing Tango now is that we are going to a big dance event to Germany after two weeks where Nic wants me to dance Tango with his good friend who, apparently, is an excellent Tango dancer. To tell the truth, I feel quite nervous dancing a dance I feel unsure with someone I haven't even met yet! So, I think we might be dancing Tango in every practice for the next weeks to build my confidence up.

Tango has huge number of different styles, and the one Nic is teaching me is called the European ballroom Tango. The other ballroom Tango is called International or American style. Ballroom tango is a simplified version from Argentinean one while Tango dance itself originates from the area of the Rio de la Plata (Argentina/Uruguay). Actually nowadays Tango is listed into the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List, which, I think, shows how much passion and feeling there are behind the dance. Tango is actually quite popular in Finland too and there is even a separate style, Finnish Tango, that is somehow a modification of Foxtrot. Anyway, all the different styles have adapted some individual cultural aspects in them and they can be really different from each other, but it is the passion and intensity that binds them together.

Actually before starting with Tango, Nic finally thought me the Rumba walk today. We started with really slow walk so I could get the idea of hip movement more easily. The walk starts with right leg back, sliding it along the floor to the front, and follows moving the weight and hip forward to the front leg. The beat goes, as usual, quick-quick-slow, and the upper body should stay in place. When I started to get the hang out of the slow walk, we moved to walk to the beat which was notably harder but I think I did allright. At least Nic said it was good for a starter.

After the walk it was time to turn the attention to my hands. Hand movement is really important part of Rumba and since the beat is slow you have time to use your hands and make the moves large and exaggerated. The problem I am having now with the hands is that I am trying to do them perfect although the movement should look effortless. So again, I am thinking too much and it makes me stiff. I think this is the biggest thing I learned today: if you just perform the steps or any dance movement but don't feel it, don't throw yourself into the dance, you will not learn to dance; you will learn to move. If you stop trying to be perfect and try to experience the dance, you might do a bunch of mistakes, but with time you will be able to turn the moves into a dance. This is what I have to try to learn: to loose myself into the music and to throw myself to the dance without thinking about failures or mistakes. Easier said than done.

- I don't like Tango.
- Well, you also said you hated Rumba not too long ago, and now you really like it.
- ..... Okay right.... that is true.