This post is for ME-What I have learned.

1. Silvina Valz: Go with my body, Go with ease, Look out at or above eye level (this organizes my body), Walk on the beat, Caress the floor, Move leg from my diaphragm, go at the last minute (tension and release)
2. Cecelia Gonzalez: Use more disassociation, Use the torso and back in the molinete, Keep my hips facing the man.
3. Amanda Gris: Improvise and interpret on my own, Keep body soft (ice to water)
4. Johana Copes: Don't go up and down, Make a definite step, Use the standing leg for power, Don't collapse my left side. In forward ocho- torso, hip, leg and then the foot, In the back ocho- hip first.
5. Maria Angeles Rodriguez: Weight over front foot in forward ochos
6. Marcela Duran: Long leg back in the ocho before the weight goes down( cross the leg a little), Ice-cream cone theory- enjoy every part of every step.
7. Augusto Balizano: Dance the pivot into the floor, Posture erect, Take my time- slow it down, Follow through with the right arm.
8. Olga Besio: Find the pause in the tango, Dance to the floor and the music.
9. Daniela Arcuri: Don't collapse my left side, Don't collapse my right side.
10. Carina Mele: Lift torso, Lighten my upper body
11. Eliana Sanchez Arteaga: Follow the man's left arm
12. Marissa Quiroga: Feet on the floor, Beauty in the foot.
13. Pablo Veron: Put the back heel down, Look over the mans shoulder and up a bit (posture up, head up)
14. Sonia Peralta: Move like a methodical cat, Don't go up and down.
15. Pablo Alvarez: Keep hip level in the side step
16. Noelia Barsi: Open the hip on the back step, deeper cruzada
17. Aurora Lubiz: Free leg totally free, small beautiful adornos but seldom
18. Gabriel Misse: Use the diaphragm for balance forward and back, Use the back muscles for lateral balance, lag the back leg
19. Oscar Gauna: Breathe together.
20. Silvana Nunez: Vary the speed between fast and slow
21. Me: Perservere, Keep a blog about all this, Thank all the above and all the below in some way.
22. Privates and group lessons with instructors who nudged me with some of the above ideas. Junior Cervila, Jesus Velazquez, Natalia Rojo, Miguel Zotto, Alberto Paz, and more to come.
ADD ONS from April 2014- Of course, Rodolfo Dinzel
 Beto Barsellini and Lis Dorin: Complete the pivots, relax the ankles, knees and hips, lift the chest at a slight diagonal, push the floor on every step. More disassociation.

Augusto Balizano / Junior Cervila and Natalia Royo

Augusto tells me something new to think about.
"The pivot is a step. Dance the pivot"
 Augusto always stresses the marca and next the direction before the step. Remember he says- every step is a dance in itself.  Soon we'll be back in PA and again I don't feel the dance as a natural part of my being.  NOW unlearn everything I've learned, feel the music and DANCE.
Maybe next year, or maybe never.

My pivots, this week, are more "into" the floor. More passionate. Maybe?

My body still feels heavy when I dance. Vince Brust and Carina Mele tell me over and over to be lighter when I dance. MOVE! All of it is impossible.
Augusto tells me that the man needs to feel my weight. Lighten it make it heavier???

Taking the Intermediate/advanced lessons the last few weeks with Junior Cervila and Natalia Royo has been a real eye opener. We can JUST handle it all.
Faster pivots, giros and complicated footwork. After the 1 1/2 hours of all this Mike does it well and Junior smiles at us from across the room. When you get a smile at 76 and a nod of approval it just makes the day, but my wrist still hurts from the "great" dancer in the class who tried to unlock my foot from the cruzada by cranking my wrist to the left.  Junior had to stop the so called "advanced dancer" and teach him how to unhook the woman's cross with the left shoulder opening to the back. The poor  nonmilonguero looked like he was in a gymnastic contest with his partner lifted over his head. And that's tango?