by Carmen Iglesia (DanceYogaStudio)
Connection -emotional connection and the creativity that comes out of it - that´s what makes Tango Argentino a unique dance. And it is the first secret of a good and dancer.
Be it "salón", "milonguero", "del centro", or "Nuevo" style, if there´s no emotional connection between the one who leads and the one who follows, they may be doing interesting and nice steps, but they are not dancing "tango".
And the emotional connection is a very delicate question -hard to attain and esay to lose.
If suddenly, during a tango class, or in the milonga, we are overwhelmed by our fears (about forgetting the steps, not being attractive, say) and allow these dreadful thoughts to block our heart´s energy, the emotional connection cannot occur. This is more likely to happen to dancers from foreign countries who are nota accustomed to be in touch with their emotions.
To attain a good emotional connection with the partner,
we need to know and be able to manage our emotions even on those occasions
when our self-esteem is seriously threatened. And in this case we cannot
use the old trick of hiding our emotions behind a wall of
physical/muscular tension, because our body then wouldn´t be able to yield
freely to the dance. So, whether one is an amateur in the milonga or a
professional facing a performance, in order to manage our emotions, we
need to learn how to breath properly, and how to combine our breathing
with our movements, so that our muscles give way to our expression. And
perhaps what´s more, we´ll need to know and learn to deal with our daily
emotional blocks, so that they do not interfere in our dance as well.
When we start to dance tango, it also starts an emotional healing process. Be it because we receive more embraces than usual; because our social life expands; we are more in touch with members of the other gender; or because our physical limitations and/or our social or partneship troubles show up. Tango moves our emotions deeply and strongly. So, an opportunity to know more about ourselves in relation to other people is offered to us. And this can be a real challenge.
The second secret of a good tango dancer is the Disassociation in the movement of the upper and lower body. Our chest must always face the chest of the partner, while the hips some times must turn away to one side or the other. Other times, our hips must keep motionless while the chest leads or follows the partner, all the time doing the foot steps and following the beat of the music. All this requires a very flexible spine, otherwise we cannot move as the dance requests and, sooner or later, the spine might suffer an injury.
Likewise, the disasociation of the upper/lower body must occur not only to the rhythm of the music but also around our own Axis (the third secret) to keep our balance and not pull our partner off his or hers.
Most students arrive at their first Tango class without knowing about their physical/emotional axis at all, and some even have posture problems, diminishing the possibility of following directions properly, and making the teacher´s work harder.
Each person´s body is different, so it needs different exercises to attain the tango posture/figures that require a deep rotation of the spine or to correct the posture in order to find out its own physical/emotional axis and do the elegant/cat-like walk of Tango.
During the Workshops and Classses of Dance
Yoga, we discover our own Axis and explore how
to keep the balance during the movement and in relationship with our
partner. We elongate our muscles using breathing and "no effort"
techniques to attain a good Disassociation of upper/lower
body in rhythmical time. We play with different exercises to achieve a
flowing and sensual dancing/walking. And, most important, we learn to
manage our emotions to attain the best Emotional
Connection with the partner, and thus, do creative dancing.
When we apply what we´ve learned to our tango lesson we are able to follow the directions of the teacher in a much easier way and the teacher is able to give his/her best, both accomplishing a higher level of work.
But also, DanceYoga leads us to the fourth and most important secret of a good dancer, which underlies the other threee (connection, axis, disassociation). This so well kept secret is the deep physical and emotional Relaxation.
The gifted dancers are those who are able to blend their emotions with the music and express them with their movements/steps. This is only possible with a complete surrendering to the moment and the joy of dancing.
Attaining such a blissful state requires a deep and aware physical, mental and spiritual relaxation -which is an art itself.
During the Workshops and Group Classes of DanceYoga we practice these four secrets in a general way. During the Privates (singles or in couples) we attend to the persoanl needs, with much deeper, faster and long lasting effects.