640  Outdoor Milongas & challenging surfaces

Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 10:14:54 -0400
From: Robinne Gray <rlg2@CORNELL.EDU>
Subject: Re: Outdoor Milongas & challenging surfaces

Something to keep in mind if dancing outside....certain dance vocabulary
doesn't work well on surfaces with extra friction. To be more
specific: ochos that require a women's hip swivel and pivot of the
supporting foot should be kept to a minimum in those instances.

We used to have summer dances at the park in the middle of town, where the
surface is typical sidewalk concrete. The atmosphere and social "tone"
were very nice, but I became less than enthusiastic about attending because
my knees would always start to hurt. It was unquestionably caused by all
the ochos. I would ask the leaders (friends I know well) to please be
aware that ochos were difficult and uncomfortable, but most guys are so
used to leading ochos that they had trouble not using them. To some extent
I could "cheat" by crossing my legs without pivoting, but that only works
with the smaller, more compact variety of ocho.

A local swing dancer had a small concrete "dance floor" installed on his
property next to his pond. He had the surface of the concrete ground down
& buffed to a smooth finish, and it works remarkably well for dancing.

I plan to be dancing along the Seine myself in a few weeks, and look
forward to meeting some dancers in Paris. (Though I may be too shy about
asking men to dance using my high-school French!)

~Robinne
Ithaca, NY

Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 14:13:15 -0500
From: Bibib Wong <bibibwong@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Outdoor Milongas & challenging surfaces

Two questions from reading various postings:

Is the paving material by the Seine granite rather than concrete?

One time I met a stranger male-lead who danced beautifully. When I heard
that he was from a small town (forgot where) where regular milonga was not
possible to find, if it existed to begin with, I was shocked and asked where
on earth he could dance so well. His answer was: aikido. Can any one
comment? Can practicing taichi and aikido substitute the tango practice
with partners? I personally find aikido an amazingly graceful yet effective
martial art.

Bibi

Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2002 15:20:23 +0200
From: "kiaikido kidojo.it" <kiaikido@KIDOJO.IT>
Subject: Re: TANGO-L] Outdoor Milongas & challenging surfaces

Dear Bibi and List,

> >Bibi wrote:> One time I met a stranger male-lead who danced beautifully.
> >When I heard that he was from a small town (forgot where) where regular

milonga was

> >not possible to find, if it existed to begin with, I was shocked and

asked

> >where on earth he could dance so well. His answer was: aikido. Can any

one
comment? Can practicing taichi and aikido substitute the tango practice
with partners? I personally find aikido an amazingly graceful yet
effective martial art.

I practiced 12 Years Ki Aikido and since 1976 I do T'ai Chi Chuan which I
teach since 1988: my opinion is that taichi and aikido CAN substitute the
tango practice with partners IF THERE IS NO tANGO AROUND, BUT also dancing
foR example Salsa, other social dancing or Capoeira. The two arts (T'ai Chi
Chuan and Aikido) encourage to feel your body, to work with it and let go
thinking, but they are no substitutes.

greetingS from Florence
patricia muller