From Boring to Exciting, From Polite to Rude - The Tango Story

Dances:  Nightclub 2-Step, Tango
Part:  Lead
Workout:  Legs at the gym.

My leg workouts continue to make good progress.  Last Friday, at the DanceWorks social dance, Sarah and I were dancing a Waltz to some fairly interpretive music when near the end it slowed down dramatically.  Now usually when this happens we break frame and get off the floor since the song is ending.  But tonight I slowed down and matched the decreasing tempo in stride.  Sarah did as well!  While doing this, I could feel the many muscles in my legs rushing to facilitate this new speed.  The result was a dance couple in perfect balance at relative ease, matching the slowing tempo of the song.  A great result.  Looks like the working out and practice is paying dividends.

Tonight's goal was a good yet strange one.  The last long side of our Tango has always been "boring".  It's a Promenade Link into a Reverse Turn (lady outside) into a Syncopated Reverse Turn (might have the name wrong here) into a Contra Check and ending on a Natural Twist Turn with Rock Ending.  Compared to the rest of our Tango this side feels incredibly simple and easy.  So Sarah and I were going to focus on making sure that side held up to the rest of the routine.  At first we experimented with different styles of Tango movement.  This lead to some really funny and strange ideas such as trying to come to a complete stop at the end of each step.  It's really hard, try it sometime.  Not to mention looking ridiculous.  In the end we came to the conclusion that our Tango style was pretty close to what it should be to begin with.  That has always been a constant battle for me.  My "polite" tango needs to be edgier and more rude.  Couple that with a fairly "boring" side and that could amplify the effect and thus spell disaster in a competition.  I think I going to have to rely on the Contra Check into the Twist Turn at the end to get some good attitude in.  Overall I've become far less polite in this dance so progress is being made.  Although practicing Tango on leg workout day is pretty killer.