Travelling for Tango

I am devoting a good part of this year to tango. I have received much excellent instruction and have realised that there is so much more to learn – it is a life long journey. I may not perform well but I am beginning to appreciate the nature of tango. It is not just learning a few, or even a large number, of steps!

In addition to lessons locally, courtesy www.lunaymolino.co.uk and regular milongas in Nottingham, Blaby (http://sites.google.com/site/tangomilongaleicester/) and Hereford (www.herefordtango.com) I have spent weekends of workshops in Newcastle, Hereford and Edinburgh and here in Nottingham and there is more to come.

Newcastle upon Tyne 26- 28 February 2010 (UK Tango Competition)

This was held in wonderful buildings around the City, with an Opening Session by students. Organised by Miriam Orcut and Dante Culcuy this is an event that deserves greater attention and many more people should attend. Apart from a glorious performance by Bill Newby and Nicky Parsons to win the Tango Stage competition, overall the standard was not high.
Performances by all the teachers were fabulous.
The milongas and workshops were excellent and I had a great time dancing with Lesley, and we made many new friends, one from Belgium.

Hereford Spring Ball 5 – 7 March 2010

Hereford tango are lucky to have use of the Green Dragon Hotel for their regular club evenings and special events like this one. The ballroom is excellent and although the hotel has faded from its glory days, it is a great venue.
Ricardo and Jenny (resident teachers in Edinburgh) were the guest teachers and they are the best that I have come across. If you had no interest in tango you could watch them as examples of great teaching technique.
I am now getting to know quite a few people in Hereford and it is lovely to visit, which I hope to do regularly.

Edinburgh International Tango Festival 28 – 31 May 2010

This event eclipsed all others. 350 people at the main milonga on Saturday night! There is a fantastic tango scene in Edinburgh with a lot of resident students dancing joined by others from Manchester and Newcastle in particular. There were two couples from Argentina that gave excellent classes (and mind-blowing demonstration dances) and, of course, Jenny and Ricardo, who I met in Hereford and who remembered me! It’s difficult to pick an appropriate level for workshops. Although I don’t dance particularly well, especially in crowded milongas, I do pick up the lessons quite well so will upgrade myself in future for choosing classes. The best evening for me was on Sunday when they had two rooms and those who wanted to be seen, danced in one (crowded) room and those who needed space in another. So a great weekend and some new friends made

Nottingham 11 – 13 June 2010

Well, no travelling for this one and I did all 6 workshops on offer! Some exercises that were really demanding and I took something useful away from each workshop. Excellent teaching from Veronica Villaroel and Marcelo Soria, helped by our local teachers, Njall and Cidinjha. The most tiring of my weekends! Even so, Regina and I had a private lesson from Marcelo and Veronica and it was marvellous – well, let us say they were marvellous teachers and we tested their patience and learnt a lot about the close embrace. I am poised to start the learning process towards dancing tango properly!