Did you know that the best place to learn Argentine Tango was in a barn on hot mid-summer’s day! If you had a chance to put on your favorite pair of tango shoes June 27th and 28th, then you undoubtedly experienced the same wonderful series of off-beat tango lessons as me.
Marty Katz of Baltimore Tango and Mark Longerbeam, as well as other community members, organized a spectacular array of guest teachers that all produced a different spark to the Tango section of the participants’ brains (did you exercise your Tango brain today?). Let’s meet the guest speakers in order of appearance, shall we?
Mitra Martin
Stefan Fabry
Sharna Fabiano
Glover Gill
Stefan and Mitra’s explorations into musical interpretation and improvisation incorporated thought-provoking concepts that had us laughing hysterically and improved our technique dramatically! Sharna made an impact by asking us to dive deeper into the musical composition of classic Tango arrangements which ended up making a huge difference in our perception of simple walking. Glover, with his glowing excitement for musicality, proved to be an excellent piano player who shed a bright light on how to break down and better appreciate the Tango music we’ve all been exposed to, but rarely dance in sync with.
I heard that Stefan and Mitra put on a breath-taking demonstration that I, unfortunately, missed that was followed by the talented singing of Max Gonzalez and a final exhibition on the piano by Glover. Finally, Marty Katz, being the diligent and wonderful photographer that he is, has made it so we can view photos from this enlightening Tango weekend.
The exchange of information from both the teachers and students proved to well-worth the admission price for this weekend of higher learning. I highly recommend expanding your knowledge of this dance by supplimenting the traditional learning of patterns and technique with the complimentary concepts of musicality and improvisation taught this weekend by our creative hosts. Stay tuned for postings of what Allison and I learned complete with notes and videos. Remember, your comments and exchanges are always welcome.
Keep dancing,
Panayiotis Pete Karabetis
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