ArbeeNYC
Forum Master
Wow, you as well. This is sad news.
At the end of the pandemic, maybe a new start?
- Thread starter itwillhappen
- Start date
JournalInTime
Forum Master
Thank you.
Yes, these effects are coming to light only gradually. My tax dollars at work here in Canada paid for a study released less than a month ago on the subject. All I'll say for now – because my recovery is still a work in progress – is that the neurological effects worry me more than the "classic" physical ones at the height of my illness.
ArbeeNYC
Forum Master
For sure. I'd be equally concerned about those. Well, stay well and let's hope this passes. Keep us informed.
Finally ! ?
It's been almost 3 years since I last danced AT. It was a combination of covid and the fact the my main dance studio did not resume the Sunday practica when restrictions began to lessen.
I've been doing my country western two steps (both kinds) West Coast waltz on a weekly basis for what, a year and a half. Some of the women where I've been going have been taking AT lessons and going to the practica I finally decided would be my best bet. I've tried a couple of AT things with these women and the results were not very encouraging. But. I want my "new start," so I'm going to meet someone tomorrow evening for this new to me practica.
I'm wondering just how rusty I am. I know that after my attempts to do AT stuff I later thought, oh, if I had done ... I was pretty clear with my new practice partner that I it's been a good long time for me. I'm certainly not freaked out about this, but I'd have to say I'm apprehensive.
Does anyone have a "new start" experience that they want to share?
It's been almost 3 years since I last danced AT. It was a combination of covid and the fact the my main dance studio did not resume the Sunday practica when restrictions began to lessen.
I've been doing my country western two steps (both kinds) West Coast waltz on a weekly basis for what, a year and a half. Some of the women where I've been going have been taking AT lessons and going to the practica I finally decided would be my best bet. I've tried a couple of AT things with these women and the results were not very encouraging. But. I want my "new start," so I'm going to meet someone tomorrow evening for this new to me practica.
I'm wondering just how rusty I am. I know that after my attempts to do AT stuff I later thought, oh, if I had done ... I was pretty clear with my new practice partner that I it's been a good long time for me. I'm certainly not freaked out about this, but I'd have to say I'm apprehensive.
Does anyone have a "new start" experience that they want to share?
Reuven Thetanguero
Well-Known Member
We in our community started outdoor Milongas back in July 2020, moved indoors in October 2020, and danced ever since. After vaccines became available, many tangueros/tangueras started joining us, fearing that they will be rusty. On average it takes 3 tandas to be back in the groove... You will be just fine!
JournalInTime
Forum Master
Here, social dance and many other things were shut down as of March 2020. Something resembling dance gatherings resumed in April 2022. So for us it wasn't "almost three years," but "more than two years."
When I restarted, several friends took videos of me. I was . . . embarrassed. I hadn't lost any vocabulary or musicality, but my foot placement was ugly and imprecise, my posture was crooked, and I had weird arms with uncomfortably high shoulders. Much of this was owing to having spent over two years dancing with only my girlfriend, only on a gravel surface in a public park: My feet were rooted far apart for stability on an unstable surface; I was actively avoiding close foot placement never mind foot contact due to being in street shoes; I was dancing at a height and in a position dictated by a specific partner who was also protecting her ankles; and so on.
It took me weekly coaching sessions until around September 2022 to iron that out. Call it five months, or around 20 weeks, of private lessons followed by prácticas. From that point on, I was back where I was and advancing again.
I'm not sure if this helps you or hurts you. I'm just saying, "Things weren't easy for at least some of the rest of us, either, but don't let it get to you . . . it's technical rather than artistic, and you can fix it." How long it'll take you is a personal thing. I'm a terrible self-critic who likes to be technically perfect; I have bouts of mild depression when I see, say, my toes turn inward ("crossed lines") in the mirror or a video for even one step. For me it was five months.
ArbeeNYC
Forum Master
I was a little apprehensive at first. First time, it felt, I don't know, a bit strange, like my body had to readjust to new movements. But it came back very quickly and I've continued to improve. Just jump back in.
Thanks for sharing your stories. It went way better than I thought it might. I "warned" my first partner about the almost 3 years thing, but, as I remember it, we were in the first song when I realized that, yes, I remember how to do this. A caveat is that I stick with what I would call a basic vocabulary.
I DID spend about an hour and a half yesterday looking at videos for some basic AT stuff, which may have helped.
One thing that surprised me was that every single partner I had, maybe ten?, danced a close embrace with a fair amount of weight sharing. One young woman in a red dress walked over and sat beside me after my first tanda. She seemed reluctant to dance the milonga tanda that came up, but relented. As we prepared to take our embrace she said something like, I prefer close embrace. I said, "I'm not afraid of you." When I felt her throwing in traspie as I was single timing, I began adding my own "within the framework" footwork variations.
Portland has a fair degree of cross over among the various dance communities. I saw people I knew, or recognized me from the country western and swing venues. It was great seeing people and talking Portland AT and other dance histories and comparing notes about surviving the pandemic.
Oh, and the woman I thought I had a "dance date" with hadn't shown yet when I left after 90 minutes or so. But man was I jacked up after this experience with dancing AT as the drug!
I DID spend about an hour and a half yesterday looking at videos for some basic AT stuff, which may have helped.
One thing that surprised me was that every single partner I had, maybe ten?, danced a close embrace with a fair amount of weight sharing. One young woman in a red dress walked over and sat beside me after my first tanda. She seemed reluctant to dance the milonga tanda that came up, but relented. As we prepared to take our embrace she said something like, I prefer close embrace. I said, "I'm not afraid of you." When I felt her throwing in traspie as I was single timing, I began adding my own "within the framework" footwork variations.
Portland has a fair degree of cross over among the various dance communities. I saw people I knew, or recognized me from the country western and swing venues. It was great seeing people and talking Portland AT and other dance histories and comparing notes about surviving the pandemic.
Oh, and the woman I thought I had a "dance date" with hadn't shown yet when I left after 90 minutes or so. But man was I jacked up after this experience with dancing AT as the drug!
LadyLeader
Forum Master
I call the pandemic period for The Great Retreat. None of my family, me or friends have had problems and at the end I have better economy for all the coming years (paused the pension outtake) and the resting from social pressure has been valuable. It feels that the time was enough not only to recharge but to change the entire energy center.
The last term/year in the Finnish school is for repetition before the national exams including all knowledge. I have had the idea of activating my total tango knowledge in the same way and now it was finally possibly. I created a spreadsheet to organize the work and landed on a stable workflow.
I was off 26 month without any couple experience but a lot of training and this was my main concern. Such a long period of solo training would change my skill but not update my leading accordingly so there was a risk for problems. When I started to go out June 22 it turned out to go well and I even got spontaneous positive feedback about my turning/giros (partner) and my excellent musicality during a milonga tanda (another leader).
It did not go that well for my left foot. During my 20+ years as a leader I have learned my week points, the muscles/tissues signaling when it was too much going on, but nothing of them reacted. There was just a point on the upper side of the foot which I could feel sometimes. It did not go away but got more serious and in sept/october I stopped all dancing and even training. Two doctors, an x-ray and one physiotherapist later I knew that all the bones were ok but nothing about the cause. I started to use shoes even indoors for stability and it got gradually better. It is not fully ok but I can now keep my activities going.
The hospitals here are now at high alarm level so I do not go dancing and I also wear mask when I have to go somewhere. It is not mandatory but i do it.
The last term/year in the Finnish school is for repetition before the national exams including all knowledge. I have had the idea of activating my total tango knowledge in the same way and now it was finally possibly. I created a spreadsheet to organize the work and landed on a stable workflow.
I was off 26 month without any couple experience but a lot of training and this was my main concern. Such a long period of solo training would change my skill but not update my leading accordingly so there was a risk for problems. When I started to go out June 22 it turned out to go well and I even got spontaneous positive feedback about my turning/giros (partner) and my excellent musicality during a milonga tanda (another leader).
It did not go that well for my left foot. During my 20+ years as a leader I have learned my week points, the muscles/tissues signaling when it was too much going on, but nothing of them reacted. There was just a point on the upper side of the foot which I could feel sometimes. It did not go away but got more serious and in sept/october I stopped all dancing and even training. Two doctors, an x-ray and one physiotherapist later I knew that all the bones were ok but nothing about the cause. I started to use shoes even indoors for stability and it got gradually better. It is not fully ok but I can now keep my activities going.
The hospitals here are now at high alarm level so I do not go dancing and I also wear mask when I have to go somewhere. It is not mandatory but i do it.
itwillhappen
Forum Master
To be honest, the bottom line is that I also benefited significantly from the "giant cortina". In my circle of acquaintances, no one was seriously ill with Corona. My work could be transferred to the home office. And I've had a dance partner, dance room, underground milongas available all along, so the restart is seamless. (Others were affected quite differently, no question about it.)
The tango in this country has clearly not fully recovered. I was just reading the "damage reports" in the German Tango magazine. There is a bias in reports like this, but I share the estimation that a third of the commercial target group has not returned. And due to the cost increases, I will also have to redistribute my expenses to fewer or different events this year.
The tango in this country has clearly not fully recovered. I was just reading the "damage reports" in the German Tango magazine. There is a bias in reports like this, but I share the estimation that a third of the commercial target group has not returned. And due to the cost increases, I will also have to redistribute my expenses to fewer or different events this year.
That was also explored here.
I'd certainly agree that cost increases mean that I seek to spend outlay on dance wisely.
itwillhappen
Forum Master
BTW, on December 10th, 2019 I received the following email for an event in 2020:
"We would prefer to skip this part of the organization... being unable to accommodate beautiful dancers who signed up we find painful for several reasons. However, for practical reasons we have to disappoint you."
Disappointed as I was I uttered a powerful curse - and we all know what happened next. This event did not take place in 2020, nor in 2021 and 2022.
Okay, I guess I overdid it. On December 27th, 2022 I received the according rejection for 2023. And I smiled cautiously and was happy that there were enough participants even without me.
"We would prefer to skip this part of the organization... being unable to accommodate beautiful dancers who signed up we find painful for several reasons. However, for practical reasons we have to disappoint you."
Disappointed as I was I uttered a powerful curse - and we all know what happened next. This event did not take place in 2020, nor in 2021 and 2022.
Okay, I guess I overdid it. On December 27th, 2022 I received the according rejection for 2023. And I smiled cautiously and was happy that there were enough participants even without me.
itwillhappen
Forum Master
When I look at my favorite followers - about half of them lead also or are just learning to lead. At the same time, I feel like the number of events with attributes such as double-role, all-role, both-role, open-role, queer or ladies-only has doubled within a year.
So I think we will soon or later reach a tipping point here, that'll be interesting.
So I think we will soon or later reach a tipping point here, that'll be interesting.
TTanguero
Forum Master
Yeah, I do think we're going to reach a point where dual-role dancing is the norm. No idea how long it will take to get there, though!
opendoor
Forum Master
I find the current development somewhat anachronistic. I learned tango in the last millennium and I always had to switch to the following role. That was standard.