MALENA: Guided Tango Practica Sundays

I am canceling Malena as of March 15. I will reevaluate the decision as the situation continues to develop. I will certainly post here and announce everywhere when I am able to again safely host my Malena (Sunday Guided Tango Practica) I have been consistently offering this practica in different places and on different days since I started studying and falling in love with Tango in 1992. I really miss this particular way of interacting and dancing with you all.

I’m offering this wonderful statement below as the best rationale during this time where we all have to cooperate to just try to not make things worse and instead be part of the solution:

Why stay home virus


A Guided Tango Practica includes very interactive instruction, coaching and practice with a teacher present. 2020 marks 28 years of my hosting this consistent Sunday Guided Practice in Connecticut!

4:00 - 6:00 pm every Sunday

 (SCROLL DOWN FOR SCHEDULE)

Malena:

Sunday Guided TANGO Practice.

Announcing the new name for my Sunday Guided Tango Practice.

From the time I first met Argentine Tango in a workshop in 1992, I was instantly in love with this dance form and wanted to find a way to get more practice time so I could get better. There was very little tango available in the area at the time, and classes once a week in New York was just not enough to feed my tango craving, so I started a weekly tango practice session. It was my way of making sure that I scheduled practice time for myself and I also hoped that others would come and start building a tango community to dance with. After 23 years I'm feeling the need to give my practice a name, as it feels like a rich presence in my life, so I will call it Malena.

Malena is both the name of a famous tango singer and one of my very favorite pieces of tango music that is about that woman. Here is a link to the interesting story, the lyrics of the song, and audio files of the haunting song and music (my favorite is the Pugliese version): http://www.planet-tango.com/lyrics/malena.htm

“Malena sings tango like no one else

and into every verse she pours her heart.”

The concept of the Practica is the same as it was 23 years ago: set a time for myself to practice no matter what, and to provide an accessible place for other people to come and practice whenever they can get there without having to commit to a long term session of classes. I am there every Sunday unless I am away somewhere else to dance tango, the weather makes it dangerous to travel, or I am too sick to stand.

 

Malena's focus is that everything sophisticated is based on basics, so it is not a matter of going back to basics, but never leaving them in the first place. There are no steps, only dynamics that combine to build the on-going content of the dance and the connection between the partners.  I am grateful for people who continue to explore the basics with me. It makes everyone very much more fun to dance with. Here is a link to a well-articulated blog making this point:

http://tango-therapist.blogspot.com/2016/02/do-not-go-back-to-basics.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TangoTherapist+%28Tango+Therapist%29

 

This statement from an article in The New Yorker Magazine by Jeremy Denk, exquisite musician, really captures concisely a truth about taking class and learning in all disciplines: 

"you don’t teach piano playing at lessons; you teach how to practice—the daily rite of discovery that is how learning really happens."

Here is a link to that full article:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/04/08/every-good-boy-does-fine

My first teachers always insisted that we needed all three phases of experiences in order to really progress in learning Tango: taking classes, practicing, and dancing socially in the milongas. However, practice means more than just doing things over and over; it means repeating things with awareness and being alert to what isn’t working and how to improve. Sometimes practices become a default informal milonga, because after all, we are just hungry to dance. Malena seeks to strike a balance between dancing with friends and helping each other dance better.

Malena is a place to

   bring material from a class and unpack it to find the basics embedded that will make everything work smoothly and feel as good as it looked when the teacher showed it,  

   practice the action/dynamics of all the basic elements in the dance as a follower or a leader (walking, ochos, molinete, parallel and crossed systems; and all of the other elements that come from those. )

   ask me any questions about whatever you want to work on.

   bring friends who want to get started.

   practice listening and moving with the music.

   practice learning the opposite role.

   enjoy dancing with other people who are also interested in raising the quality of their dancing.

 

Come join us and enjoy dancing, friends, refreshments and learning how to practice.

 

 

(see monthly schedule below)

(See the page “How to use a Guided Practica” on this web site)


See Monthy Practice Schedule below:

YOU DON’T NEED A PARTNER

Work on lead and follow and improve the quality of your dancing

Every Sunday I hold a Tango Guided Practica in a jewel of a space at 544 Campbell Av, in West Haven, CT in the Physicians Physical and Aqua Therapy building upstairs on the second floor, continuing twenty-five years of uninterrupted Sunday Guided Tango Practicas.  (Between Center St and Main St, Next to City Hall) The practice is first for me to make sure I schedule time for myself to practice, but I am very happy that many other people show up to practice as well.


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*4:00 - 6:00 Guided Tango Practica  $10. Refreshments. (Guided means I actively give personal attention and feedback, coach and instruct one-on-one or in small groups. BEGINNER CLASS available for anyone who wants it each week during the practica that will cover all the basics needed to get started)

Monthly Schedule for Practice Sessions:

Guided Tango Practica in 544 Campbell Av, West Haven, CT

NOTE:  beginner class is available in the Guided Practica)

FEBRUARY: 2020

Feb 2: Guided practica 4-6 

Feb 9: Guided practica 4-6

Feb 16: Guided practica 4-6

Feb 23: Guided practica 4-6

MARCH: 2020

March 1: Guided practica 4-6

March 8: Guided practica 4-6

March 15: Canceled today

March 22: Canceled today

March 29: Canceled today

APRIL: 2020

April 5: Canceled today 

April 12: Canceled today    

April 19: Canceled today

April 26: Canceled today

Directions to Studio 544 (upstairs on the second floor of The Physicians Physical and Aqua Therapy building)

From I-95 North: 

Exit #43, turn right onto Campbell Av.

Continue through 4 lights, and the building is on the right (white building with big display windows.)

From I-95 South:

Exit #43, turn left onto First Av.

Make a right turn at the flashing yellow light onto Richards St.

At the light at the end of Richards St turn left onto Campbell Av.

Continue through 3 lights, and the building is on the right (white building with big display windows.)

Easy on-street parking or park in the municipal lot behind the building. Enter the building from the front door. At the desk go to the right and follow the light carpet straight to the door at the end of the carpet. Go through the door and up the stairs to Studio 544, our new location. See you there. Sunday Guided Tango Practica continues every Sunday. Twenty seven years of uninterrupted Sunday afternoon Guided Practicas! 



© Dragorange5 2012