Tuesday, April 30, 2013
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Monday, April 29, 2013
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Saturday, April 27, 2013
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Friday, April 26, 2013
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Tuesday, April 23, 2013
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Monday, April 22, 2013
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Sunday, April 21, 2013
Washington, DC trip - April 2013
Fabulous weather, spring still in (not full anymore) bloom and as always, my participation in a sunny day is limited to breakfast on the balcony, before I start teaching privates. My hosts have an awesome, little back yard with some red blooming bushes, spices in pots and a big tree. I think I can spend a whole day here, napping in the sun. :) Some other time.
The Bolt Bus ride to DC was surprisingly pleasant. These guys have definitely stepped up their game. The toilet didn't smell, the driver was polite, the internet was rather moody but mostly present, we didn't forget anyone at the rest stop in Delaware and made it to DC in 4.5h.
The first evening I taught a pivoting technique class and was surprised by the number of enthusiasts - mostly men-, who came to learn the proper timing of an ocho. I have to admit that I was very pleased I managed to win over those particular students, since older people sometimes might have a problem with a young, skinny teacher telling them to dissociate more. But they all did great and liked it. The performance that night was particularly interesting for me because I had never met my partner, Bella. She arrived around 10:15pm, we danced to tandas and at 11pm we were ready to perform on the super slippery floor of the church, where the venue was held. Here are two of the three dances we did:
Vals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FnVkw740nk
Milonga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKZdsLByJgI
The second night, at Milonga Zandunga, I gave a class on how to express the lyrical parts of the music and almost teared up when I watched people slow down, listen to Rufino's voice and try
to follow it. Later I performed with the milonga organizer, who is a head taller than me, if I am in flats, and whose legs start from above my waist. The demo was a lot of fun, since it felt like we were flying, but strangely it doesn't look like that in the video, which will probably stay unposted.
Today is my last day here and after quickly soaking up some sun I have a day full of privates and a night of DJ-ing a practilonga. My first DJ gig in DC. :)
Fabulous weather, spring still in (not full anymore) bloom and as always, my participation in a sunny day is limited to breakfast on the balcony, before I start teaching privates. My hosts have an awesome, little back yard with some red blooming bushes, spices in pots and a big tree. I think I can spend a whole day here, napping in the sun. :) Some other time.
The Bolt Bus ride to DC was surprisingly pleasant. These guys have definitely stepped up their game. The toilet didn't smell, the driver was polite, the internet was rather moody but mostly present, we didn't forget anyone at the rest stop in Delaware and made it to DC in 4.5h.
The first evening I taught a pivoting technique class and was surprised by the number of enthusiasts - mostly men-, who came to learn the proper timing of an ocho. I have to admit that I was very pleased I managed to win over those particular students, since older people sometimes might have a problem with a young, skinny teacher telling them to dissociate more. But they all did great and liked it. The performance that night was particularly interesting for me because I had never met my partner, Bella. She arrived around 10:15pm, we danced to tandas and at 11pm we were ready to perform on the super slippery floor of the church, where the venue was held. Here are two of the three dances we did:
Vals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FnVkw740nk
Milonga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKZdsLByJgI
The second night, at Milonga Zandunga, I gave a class on how to express the lyrical parts of the music and almost teared up when I watched people slow down, listen to Rufino's voice and try
to follow it. Later I performed with the milonga organizer, who is a head taller than me, if I am in flats, and whose legs start from above my waist. The demo was a lot of fun, since it felt like we were flying, but strangely it doesn't look like that in the video, which will probably stay unposted.
Today is my last day here and after quickly soaking up some sun I have a day full of privates and a night of DJ-ing a practilonga. My first DJ gig in DC. :)
Friday, April 19, 2013
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Tuesday, April 16, 2013
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Monday, April 15, 2013
The little differences
I find it so exciting that every tango community has it's own little "perks" that make it distinct from the others, like for example that New York is used to particularly rhythmic music.
When I was in Vancouver the first night the DJ played all tandas of only 3 songs each. The purpose being that this way people end up changing partners more often and hardly any of the too many women sits for too long. Even though at first it felt strange to me to be "cheated out" of my 4th song in the tango tandas, I got used to it surprisingly quickly, and since I saw the merit in it, I adopted the practice during the second night, when I DJ-ed. :)
In Seattle I encountered something else - at practicas they don't play cortinas. I liked the idea to skip the cortinas so that the venue feels less like a milonga, although in the end their practicas are just like the New York ones - nobody practices, but just dances socially... with one word - milongas. Nevertheless, there is one huge difference between Seattle and NY venues, and that's the ratio of leads to follows. Since there are so many tech companies in Seattle, the tango community has more men than women. Hint, hint, ladies! :) And what is even more - out of the naturally arising competition many they guys have developed into not bad or even quite nice dancers. :) :) :)
I find it so exciting that every tango community has it's own little "perks" that make it distinct from the others, like for example that New York is used to particularly rhythmic music.
When I was in Vancouver the first night the DJ played all tandas of only 3 songs each. The purpose being that this way people end up changing partners more often and hardly any of the too many women sits for too long. Even though at first it felt strange to me to be "cheated out" of my 4th song in the tango tandas, I got used to it surprisingly quickly, and since I saw the merit in it, I adopted the practice during the second night, when I DJ-ed. :)
In Seattle I encountered something else - at practicas they don't play cortinas. I liked the idea to skip the cortinas so that the venue feels less like a milonga, although in the end their practicas are just like the New York ones - nobody practices, but just dances socially... with one word - milongas. Nevertheless, there is one huge difference between Seattle and NY venues, and that's the ratio of leads to follows. Since there are so many tech companies in Seattle, the tango community has more men than women. Hint, hint, ladies! :) And what is even more - out of the naturally arising competition many they guys have developed into not bad or even quite nice dancers. :) :) :)
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Saturday, April 13, 2013
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Friday, April 12, 2013
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Seattle/Vancouver trip, day 7
Seattle is the first place outside of Germany that makes me feel as if I was back there. People are very nice but surprisingly reserved - tango dancers who hardly hug off the dance floor, listen intently but are not very interactive in class, show emotions while dancing but don't say anything after the tanda... On the third day for the first time somebody asked me if I needed a ride to the milonga, where I was DJ-ing, on the fourth another person offered help with my 15 pound bag, and today somebody expressed verbally having enjoyed dancing with me. It just makes me feel propelled back to Berlin, where people are really nice but it takes them a whole while to open up and warm up to one.
In any case, I am happy I got to stay here long enough not only to see that they don't have anything again me, but that they can actually accept me and may be even be glad I came to visit. I've been having quite a lovely time dancing and working here, and am looking forward to a few more days of inconsistent weather but consistently nice people. :)
Seattle is the first place outside of Germany that makes me feel as if I was back there. People are very nice but surprisingly reserved - tango dancers who hardly hug off the dance floor, listen intently but are not very interactive in class, show emotions while dancing but don't say anything after the tanda... On the third day for the first time somebody asked me if I needed a ride to the milonga, where I was DJ-ing, on the fourth another person offered help with my 15 pound bag, and today somebody expressed verbally having enjoyed dancing with me. It just makes me feel propelled back to Berlin, where people are really nice but it takes them a whole while to open up and warm up to one.
In any case, I am happy I got to stay here long enough not only to see that they don't have anything again me, but that they can actually accept me and may be even be glad I came to visit. I've been having quite a lovely time dancing and working here, and am looking forward to a few more days of inconsistent weather but consistently nice people. :)
Thursday, April 11, 2013
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Seattle/Vancouver trip, day 6
It was an usual travel day - privates, premilonga class, DJ-ing and a little demo at the practica, in this particular case. I see only the inside of buildings and it doesn't quite matter if it is sunny or rainy outside, since I'm inside almost 24hours. But I like my travels this way - with a lot of work and the priceless feeling of provoking "Aha!"-moments in the students.
Practica Zen was at Om Culture, which is a wonderful space with beautiful Indian decoration and the smell of green tea soaked in the furniture, and huge sitting pillows. The prepractica class was surprisingly well attended and the practica itself was full. Highlight of the night - one of my favorite dancers, Jaimes Friedgen, came out dancing and we managed two quite athletic and super fun tandas. :) :) :) The rest of the night was great too. :)
It was an usual travel day - privates, premilonga class, DJ-ing and a little demo at the practica, in this particular case. I see only the inside of buildings and it doesn't quite matter if it is sunny or rainy outside, since I'm inside almost 24hours. But I like my travels this way - with a lot of work and the priceless feeling of provoking "Aha!"-moments in the students.
Practica Zen was at Om Culture, which is a wonderful space with beautiful Indian decoration and the smell of green tea soaked in the furniture, and huge sitting pillows. The prepractica class was surprisingly well attended and the practica itself was full. Highlight of the night - one of my favorite dancers, Jaimes Friedgen, came out dancing and we managed two quite athletic and super fun tandas. :) :) :) The rest of the night was great too. :)
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
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Seattle/Vancouver trip, day 5
After it turned out that my host doesn't have wifi for the moment, one of the organizers took me under his wing and brought me to his house, where he fed me some good home food, which showed me yet again that I can hardly cook, and then I spent 3 hours emailing people back and forth.
Then I went food shopping for my breakfasts, then - dinner with my host, and later - DJ-ed at Century Ballroom. Luckily for me, some good people came out and I had a great night.
Today the work starts in the form of privates and my first class in Seattle. As always, the impression a community gets of a visiting teacher is not complete until they see them teach. Hopefully after today people will have somewhat easier time deciding if they like me and want to socialize with me, or not.
After it turned out that my host doesn't have wifi for the moment, one of the organizers took me under his wing and brought me to his house, where he fed me some good home food, which showed me yet again that I can hardly cook, and then I spent 3 hours emailing people back and forth.
Then I went food shopping for my breakfasts, then - dinner with my host, and later - DJ-ed at Century Ballroom. Luckily for me, some good people came out and I had a great night.
Today the work starts in the form of privates and my first class in Seattle. As always, the impression a community gets of a visiting teacher is not complete until they see them teach. Hopefully after today people will have somewhat easier time deciding if they like me and want to socialize with me, or not.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
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Seattle/Vancouver trip, days 3 and 4
Sunday in Vancouver was a day of work full of privates and workshops, a lot of coffee and some quickly eaten takeout sushi. Then 45min of waiting to be seated at "East is East", which is a new fusion restaurant with good food, live music, chai and tiny ordoeuvres while waiting at the door and a hostess, who comes every 5 min and says "Just two more minutes"...
BTW, did you know that the traffic lights in Vancouver blink when it's time for you go? In New York only the pedestrian lights blink and that's the sign that the signal is about to turn to "don't walk", whereas in Vancouver the light for the cars starts blinking when it turns green. Even though it surprised me quite a lot and the first time I saw it and I wasn't quite sure if the cars should stop or go in this case, actually it's a neat idea - since a lot of people don't pay a close attention to the traffic light, a blinking is more likely to make them look up.
The next day, on Monday, I took the bus to Seattle. For that matter I almost missed the bus to Seattle, because what had to be a 30min ride turned into a 58min travel. The last 2 minutes were there for me to run to the station, follow another running couple in the hopes that they are going toward the same bus company, throw my bag on the bus and leave. To get to the station I had to take two electric buses and one of them was super late, which A. gave me the opportunity to marvel at the surprisingly high number of homeless or near homeless people in that area - the Vancouver China town -, where I suppose there might have been a soup kitchen or something of the sort, in order to attract them, and B. made me realize that I don't even know what a Vancouver taxi looks like, not to mention how to call one...
Back at Seattle I got picked up and brought to the Seattle meets The Vanja dinner, where I ate frog legs for the first time. Beside being deep fried, which I don't like, they were very tasty. Then - up to the milonga. Nice music. Ha ha! Since I was the DJ I like the music for sure... and really nice dancing. There were many very good leads and follows and I had a wonderful evening.
Sunday in Vancouver was a day of work full of privates and workshops, a lot of coffee and some quickly eaten takeout sushi. Then 45min of waiting to be seated at "East is East", which is a new fusion restaurant with good food, live music, chai and tiny ordoeuvres while waiting at the door and a hostess, who comes every 5 min and says "Just two more minutes"...
BTW, did you know that the traffic lights in Vancouver blink when it's time for you go? In New York only the pedestrian lights blink and that's the sign that the signal is about to turn to "don't walk", whereas in Vancouver the light for the cars starts blinking when it turns green. Even though it surprised me quite a lot and the first time I saw it and I wasn't quite sure if the cars should stop or go in this case, actually it's a neat idea - since a lot of people don't pay a close attention to the traffic light, a blinking is more likely to make them look up.
The next day, on Monday, I took the bus to Seattle. For that matter I almost missed the bus to Seattle, because what had to be a 30min ride turned into a 58min travel. The last 2 minutes were there for me to run to the station, follow another running couple in the hopes that they are going toward the same bus company, throw my bag on the bus and leave. To get to the station I had to take two electric buses and one of them was super late, which A. gave me the opportunity to marvel at the surprisingly high number of homeless or near homeless people in that area - the Vancouver China town -, where I suppose there might have been a soup kitchen or something of the sort, in order to attract them, and B. made me realize that I don't even know what a Vancouver taxi looks like, not to mention how to call one...
Back at Seattle I got picked up and brought to the Seattle meets The Vanja dinner, where I ate frog legs for the first time. Beside being deep fried, which I don't like, they were very tasty. Then - up to the milonga. Nice music. Ha ha! Since I was the DJ I like the music for sure... and really nice dancing. There were many very good leads and follows and I had a wonderful evening.
Monday, April 8, 2013
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Sunday, April 7, 2013
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Friday, April 5, 2013
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Seattle/Vancouver trip day 1, part 2
In Seattle, while dragging my two heavy bags up the slope, looking for the building where my temporary host lives, a stocky, old guy stopped me with the words: "This bag is exhausting you. Do you want me to give you a ride?" He did seemed dressed like the super of a building and yet all my alarm bells went off. I politely refused his help while cursing myself silently for it, since my bags were really heavy and I was stumbling over them like a little girl, when hitting one of the bumps on the quite steep slope... Luckily, it turned out that the building I was looking for was just on the other side of the street. I wonder if the guy was legit... I'll never know, but may be he was... since it seems that everybody here is nice. For example, I didn't know the person, in whose house I was staying today, and yet he let me have his key and hang out there while he was at work, and also left me his cell phone so that I would have a wireless hot spot... while his friend merrily let me sit on the front seat during our car ride to Vancouver, just because I get nauseous...
Crossing the border was somewhat nerve wracking for me because I know of cases when American tango dancers were not let into Canada. It should not be a problem that I am going to teach a few workshops and DJ once, since it is cultural exchange, but you never know if the border officer knows that too. You simply can't be sure how much trouble they might decide to make for you. Turned out to be easy. The driver was a pretty, blond girl with blue eyes and a happy smile, and the Latin looking officer was mesmerized. Lucky for me!
Then we got lost a few times, plus a pee pause on the highway, because the driver had too much coffee and water, before we made it to the Lindy-hop venue, where the others were going, and from where my host picked me up. Now, freshly showered and dressed properly it's time for my first milonga in Vancouver. :)
In Seattle, while dragging my two heavy bags up the slope, looking for the building where my temporary host lives, a stocky, old guy stopped me with the words: "This bag is exhausting you. Do you want me to give you a ride?" He did seemed dressed like the super of a building and yet all my alarm bells went off. I politely refused his help while cursing myself silently for it, since my bags were really heavy and I was stumbling over them like a little girl, when hitting one of the bumps on the quite steep slope... Luckily, it turned out that the building I was looking for was just on the other side of the street. I wonder if the guy was legit... I'll never know, but may be he was... since it seems that everybody here is nice. For example, I didn't know the person, in whose house I was staying today, and yet he let me have his key and hang out there while he was at work, and also left me his cell phone so that I would have a wireless hot spot... while his friend merrily let me sit on the front seat during our car ride to Vancouver, just because I get nauseous...
Crossing the border was somewhat nerve wracking for me because I know of cases when American tango dancers were not let into Canada. It should not be a problem that I am going to teach a few workshops and DJ once, since it is cultural exchange, but you never know if the border officer knows that too. You simply can't be sure how much trouble they might decide to make for you. Turned out to be easy. The driver was a pretty, blond girl with blue eyes and a happy smile, and the Latin looking officer was mesmerized. Lucky for me!
Then we got lost a few times, plus a pee pause on the highway, because the driver had too much coffee and water, before we made it to the Lindy-hop venue, where the others were going, and from where my host picked me up. Now, freshly showered and dressed properly it's time for my first milonga in Vancouver. :)
Vancouver/Seattle trip
My first time to Seattle. Arrived on a super bumpy flight, still managed to sleep though, after having gotten 2.5h of restless sleep at home the previous night. Would only wake up when the pilot would firmly say "Seat belts on!" It sounded urgent every time, and it felt urgent, honestly.
At 11am I was in Seattle. They have a wonderful, new, clean, silent and fast train called "Light Rail" going directly from the airport to downtown Seattle and more. I got of at Beacon Hill station. Nice area, residential, with beautiful gardens and slightly run down houses. Left my luggage at the house of a friend and went to chase some coffee in the "multitude" of restaurants, as I was told, which then turned out to be 2 restaurants, one taco stand, one coffee shop, one bakery and one little store. Awesome! The coffee shop, called "The Station" was the only place that had cold coffee, so I went there. Great coffee! But really - great coffee! I am not a coffee snob at all but I do appreciate a good coffee. I ended up spending 3 hours there chatting to the guy, who was preparing the coffee, and to all the visitors, who knew him by name and seemed to be coming there as much for the company as for the coffee.
Now I am heavily caffeinated and really tired. Time for an hour of sleep before my "host" comes home and we head up to Vancouver. The day is far away from over for me. But it was a good start. :)
My first time to Seattle. Arrived on a super bumpy flight, still managed to sleep though, after having gotten 2.5h of restless sleep at home the previous night. Would only wake up when the pilot would firmly say "Seat belts on!" It sounded urgent every time, and it felt urgent, honestly.
At 11am I was in Seattle. They have a wonderful, new, clean, silent and fast train called "Light Rail" going directly from the airport to downtown Seattle and more. I got of at Beacon Hill station. Nice area, residential, with beautiful gardens and slightly run down houses. Left my luggage at the house of a friend and went to chase some coffee in the "multitude" of restaurants, as I was told, which then turned out to be 2 restaurants, one taco stand, one coffee shop, one bakery and one little store. Awesome! The coffee shop, called "The Station" was the only place that had cold coffee, so I went there. Great coffee! But really - great coffee! I am not a coffee snob at all but I do appreciate a good coffee. I ended up spending 3 hours there chatting to the guy, who was preparing the coffee, and to all the visitors, who knew him by name and seemed to be coming there as much for the company as for the coffee.
Now I am heavily caffeinated and really tired. Time for an hour of sleep before my "host" comes home and we head up to Vancouver. The day is far away from over for me. But it was a good start. :)
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Tuesday, April 2, 2013
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