Yesterday I went to an afternoon milonga on the same day I had my first lesson with my new tango teacher—what was I thinking? Today my whole lower body aches! But never mind, it felt good.

The milonga was interesting. I feel a bit frustrated with my dancing, because of course I’m rusty after all this time. But I reminded myself that the guys are rusty too, so they might not be leading quite as well as usual, making it more difficult to follow. But it was good to dance anyway, and I’m sure we’ll all be back to normal soon.

New Teacher(s)

Unfortunately, Alejandro hasn’t gone back to teaching after the pandemia, so I needed to find someone else. At a friend’s recommendation, I’m going with a couple. One week I work with Beto, which is a conventional tango lesson, but the other week I work with Lis, and that focuses on technique. I had my first lesson with Lis last night and it was fascinating—no dancing at all! She did a lot of explaining about the mechanics of the foot and leg and hip and all the way up to the top of the head. With all that in mind, we practiced walking! It feels strange to be breaking down and concentrating on something you normally do automatically, but the tango walk is different and if you get it right it makes such a big difference to your dancing.

Lis has beautiful footwork, so I’m hoping some of that will rub off on me! I’m looking forward to my lesson with Beto next Tuesday—and I won’t be going to the milonga first!

I thought you might enjoy watching them dance together—I think you’ll agree with me that they are beautiful! And by the way, that bit at the beginning is them asking the audience for a favourite orchestra and tune, which tells you that none of this is choreographed. The fact that real Argentine tango is always spontaneous is just one of the things I love about it.