Review
By Angelique van Niekerk, originally appearing on www.iheartdance.co.za
I had the great good fortune to be invited to one of Rachael’s beginner tango lessons .. oh dear, I’m gushing already. It was FABULOUS! Because I love partner dancing I attempted the tango some years ago. However, at the time I was put off by some very intricate leg work as well as the awkward position that I had to assume, slightly leaning onto the male partner and uncomfortably off balance. I mentioned this to Rachael who said that her teaching is influenced by ‘tango nuevo’, a style of tango that has developed in Buenos Aires over the last 30 years. This style developed through rigorous technical analysis of partner movement and is different from ballroom style tango. Rachael teaches tango in a way that empowers the female partner by keeping her on her own axis, and therefore balanced, at all times. And she knows what she’s talking about -Rachael lived in Buenos Aires for 2 years where she studied the tango intensively.
This was music to my ears and suddenly I couldn’t wait to get started. First off Rachael showed me a clip of her dancing with a tango teacher from Argentina. The dance looked deceptively simple but Rachael assured me that the tango is extremely demanding as it requires one’s total attention from moment to moment.
Rachael explained that the female partner follows the lead of the male partner, indicated mainly by shifts in weight. We started with a type of ‘listening’ exercise. I held on to Rachael’s forearms, closed my eyes and concentrated on becoming aware and responding to any shifts in Rachael’s weight. This exercise reminded me of similar listening exercises I’ve done in contact improvisation classes. Now I understand why some dancers like to combine tango and contact improvisation – there is a surprising amount of technical overlap.
Next Rachael taught me the paso basico (basic step), to which she added a turn before we practised this in an open and then a closed embrace. The closed embrace is far more intimate and surprisingly difficult – all of a sudden my legs and feet got in the way. I found that I had to concentrate, giving each moment my full attention, in order to respond to Rachael’s cues and timing. With some expert guidance from Rachael I settled into this and experienced the satisfaction of a type of bodily conversation.
Rachael ended the lesson with the ocho, an exciting step which adds some flair to the paso basico. I could have danced for hours more! The more I could feel the flow of the tango the more exhilirating it became. I didn’t think I’d find a dance form that I could love as much as contact improvisation … but I was wrong! The tango is a dance that I can see myself falling in love with, deeply & madly.
I would highly recommend Rachael’s classes. She’s a wonderful teacher, passionate about tango, and constantly learning more. I couldn’t think of a better way of learning the tango!
Find out more about tango lessons with Libertango
I had the great good fortune to be invited to one of Rachael’s beginner tango lessons .. oh dear, I’m gushing already. It was FABULOUS! Because I love partner dancing I attempted the tango some years ago. However, at the time I was put off by some very intricate leg work as well as the awkward position that I had to assume, slightly leaning onto the male partner and uncomfortably off balance. I mentioned this to Rachael who said that her teaching is influenced by ‘tango nuevo’, a style of tango that has developed in Buenos Aires over the last 30 years. This style developed through rigorous technical analysis of partner movement and is different from ballroom style tango. Rachael teaches tango in a way that empowers the female partner by keeping her on her own axis, and therefore balanced, at all times. And she knows what she’s talking about -Rachael lived in Buenos Aires for 2 years where she studied the tango intensively.
This was music to my ears and suddenly I couldn’t wait to get started. First off Rachael showed me a clip of her dancing with a tango teacher from Argentina. The dance looked deceptively simple but Rachael assured me that the tango is extremely demanding as it requires one’s total attention from moment to moment.
Rachael explained that the female partner follows the lead of the male partner, indicated mainly by shifts in weight. We started with a type of ‘listening’ exercise. I held on to Rachael’s forearms, closed my eyes and concentrated on becoming aware and responding to any shifts in Rachael’s weight. This exercise reminded me of similar listening exercises I’ve done in contact improvisation classes. Now I understand why some dancers like to combine tango and contact improvisation – there is a surprising amount of technical overlap.
Next Rachael taught me the paso basico (basic step), to which she added a turn before we practised this in an open and then a closed embrace. The closed embrace is far more intimate and surprisingly difficult – all of a sudden my legs and feet got in the way. I found that I had to concentrate, giving each moment my full attention, in order to respond to Rachael’s cues and timing. With some expert guidance from Rachael I settled into this and experienced the satisfaction of a type of bodily conversation.
Rachael ended the lesson with the ocho, an exciting step which adds some flair to the paso basico. I could have danced for hours more! The more I could feel the flow of the tango the more exhilirating it became. I didn’t think I’d find a dance form that I could love as much as contact improvisation … but I was wrong! The tango is a dance that I can see myself falling in love with, deeply & madly.
I would highly recommend Rachael’s classes. She’s a wonderful teacher, passionate about tango, and constantly learning more. I couldn’t think of a better way of learning the tango!
Find out more about tango lessons with Libertango
