KHALIL GIBRAN- posted by Amanda Gris

Cierta vez una bailarina con sus músicos había arribado a la corte del Príncipe de Birkasha. Y, admitida en la corte, bailó ante el príncipe al son del laúd, de la flauta, de las tablas y tambores, y de la cítara.
Bailó la danza de las estrellas y la danza del espacio, y por último la danza de las flores al viento. Luego se detuvo ante el Príncipe e inclinándose, le hizo una reverencia.
El príncipe emocionado le pidió se acercara y le dijo:
" Bella mujer, hija de la gracia... y del encanto, de donde viene tu arte? Como dominas tú la tierra y el aire en tus pasos y el agua y el fuego con tu ritmo y tu cadencia?"
La bailarina se inclinó de nuevo ante el Príncipe y le contestó:
"Su alteza, no estoy segura como responder su pregunta, pero sí sé que el alma del filósofo vive en su cabeza,
el alma del poeta en su corazón, que el alma del cantor vibra en su garganta.
Pero que en cambio, el alma de la bailarina, vive en todo su cuerpo"
Khalil Gibran


Once, a dancer with her ​​musicians had arrived at the court of the Prince of Birkasha. And, she, admitted in court, before the prince, danced to the sound of the lute, flute, drums and tables, and zither.
  She danced the dance of stars and the dance of space, and finally the dance of flowers in the wind. Then she stopped and bowed to the Prince- he bowed.
  The prince asked her to approach excited and said:
  "Beautiful woman, daughter of grace and delight, whence comes your art? Like you dominate the earth and the air in your footsteps and water and fire with your rhythm and cadence?"
  The dancer bowed again before the Prince and replied:
  "Your Highness, I am not sure how to answer your question, but I do know that the soul of the philosopher lives in his head,
  the poet's soul in his heart, the soul of the singer vibrates in his throat.
 But instead, the soul of the dancer, lives in his whole body "
  Khalil Gibran

IT GOT BETTER

Just when I think I can't absorb another tango ANYTHING, it got better.
Today we had a lesson with the master Rodolfo Dinzel. Our teacher at the Galerias, Amanda Gris, said we must persue a lesson with Sr. Dinzel to explore the possibilities of more communication between us.
OK. I sent an email- no response. I called and left a message- no response. Mike and I said let's just get on a bus and go his studio (Jufre 160) to see if we can get a lesson.  He was there in a more than interesting studio. It was a new approach to the dance. We stepped out for empanadas and returned in an hour for our lesson. First he wanted our attitudes changed- more attitude.
After another dance he wanted longer and slower walking.
Next he gave us exercises to practice before our lesson next week.
I hold Mike's shoulders and lead the back ochos for myself.
One hand (right or left) goes to Mike's or my chest and we move with eyes closed to the music. Next both hands, palm touching lead the dance in a circular or back and forth movement to the music.
We need to do these exercises 5 minutes every day to start to feel the circular communication of the dance. LOVED this lesson.

WATER to ICE - ICE to WATER

About 70% of the human body mass is water Amanda Gris tells us at our Thursday tango lesson. It is easy for a couple in a tanda to realize that one or both has a great deal of tension in his or her embrace or frame- ICE. If the woman has the tension, the man tries to soften her body by breathing with her and relaxing his own body back to WATER before the first step of the dance.  If the man has the tension- ICE, the woman can do her best to relax her own body and dance to the floor. The goal is to get out of the ICE and turn it back into the flowing WATER- in Spanish- being tranquila y relahada.
The goal of the lesson was to work with improvisation. The improv part of the lesson was clever and new. After the side step, I go. Mike goes. I go. Mike goes, etc. Doing this back and forth for a three minute piece of tango music was fun and funny. In the real dance if he is going to give me a chance to improvise, he opens the embrace and allows me to play until he is ready to move again. We can't wait to try this at our Wednesday pracitcas this summer in the TENT.