This weeks alternative tanda focuses on 3 trip-hop songs. I have edited "Glory Box" and "2 Wicky" to shorten them. Portishead's "Glory Box" is one of my absolutely favorite non-tango songs to dance to. It is very tango in feeling and subject matter. The second one is the french version of "Only You," whcih I think makes it even better than the english version. Hooverphonic's "2 Wicky" is a little less well known, but great for dancing and fits well with the first two.

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This weeks tanda is a collection of electronic tangos by Bajofondo Tango Club. Bajofondo is one of the most consistently good electronic tango groups. This is a downtempo set of very beautiful songs. The first song, "Centroja," has been shortened to make it better for dancing. We recently did a class demo to "Forma" which can be viewed below.

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 Demo to Forma:

This weeks alternative tanda is a collection of modern classical pieces excellent for dancing tango. The first is a band called Apocalyptica, who covers lots of Metallica songs. This version of "Nothing Else Matters" has been popular for years as an alternative tango. The second song is from an Italian movie soundtrack called "Cuore Sacro." It is a beautiful song and I love dancing to it. The third song is from the Mr. and Mrs. Smith Soundtrack and is very bold and a great way to end this tanda. One thing that ties all of these songs together is that they all start soft and slow and then build and build to really wonderful crescendos.

Note: I first heard "Cuore Sacro" in a performance video of Robin Thomas and Kayla Mares.

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Milonga is one of the 3 basic rhythms that we dance to at tango dance parties, also referred to as milongas. Milonga is in 2/4 time and is one of the predecessors of Argentine Tango.

The Baldosa Box
A baldosa is a large tile. You are considered a great tango/milonga dancer if you can dance on a baldosa (i.e. in a small area). The baldosa box is a basic and very useful figure of tango, vals, and milonga which goes like this:

To see a clear demonstration of this step, watch .15 to .19 of the video below.

Variations

We then looked at many ways to alter the figure to add musicality. We started this class, by listening to several popular milonga and finding the 1 & 2 in the music. Milonga has two beats per measure. The 1 is usually the strongest and we encouraged the leaders to find the 1 and to step on it with their right feet. We also encouraged the women to be listening to the music (as always) and to want to step or change weight on each beat, unless the men specifically do something to prevent that.

1. If the floor is crowded, I often change weight in place instead of taking the forward step at number 4 above (.22 of video).
2. Turning the step - You can turn any of these steps, but I especially like to turn the side step (Step 5 above) 45 to 90 degrees and then turn back to the line of dance on the next back step or side step.
3. Rocking the side step - I also like to create a rocking feeling with the first side step (Step 2) (.39 of video). I begin taking the side step to my left, then rock back to my right, collect my left and change weight.
4. Hesitation steps (.11 of video) - I would also refer to these as traspie. Most people refer to traspie as meaning double timed steps, but the true meaning of traspie is "to stumble". Whatever you call it, I begin taking a small step back with my right leg and stop mid-way through my step. I put a tiny amount of weight back on my left and push off to take a slightly larger step. I want to resist rocking back and forth, so I don't go completely back to my left. It is more of a feeling of going back, slight pause and going back some more. We can use these hesitation steps on all of our steps forward, side, and back. (1.21 of video). I also like to do double hesitations on my side steps (4.01 of video).
5. Toe Points (.53 of video) - I love this one and women really seem to love it as well. There are a few hints for this one. I step outside partner to the open side of the embrace with my right foot, making contact with my upper right thigh to the her upper right thigh. Then I pivot slightly to the left and then back to the right (repeat as many times as I like) and then step back with my right. Another secret is that I try to stay as much on my left as I can, so that my right leg is free to move side to side, BUT I can't lean my upper body backwards. I want to stay upright and straight.
6. The walk around (1.51 of video). When I begin walking backwards, I keep turning clockwise with my right shoulder going away. I also take very small curved steps to try and create a very small circle. She is on the outside of the circle so she has to take much larger steps. I have to keep curving, until I want to exit. Once I get back to the line of dance, I straighten my body and she comes back in front of me. I usually do this when I step back with my left and then have her take a straight step back into my path with my back right.

Below you will find a video of these steps being demonstrated to two different milongas, one slower and one faster.

Here is a collection of Ricardo Tanturi tandas. My favorite tandas are highlighted.

This is a fun and playful tanda by Ricardo Tanturi with Alberto Castillo singing.

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This weeks alternative tango is a collection of songs by Astor Piazzolla. What amazes me about Piazzolla is how he can put so many emotions into the same piece of music.

This version of "Libertango" is a remix by Hi Perspective and is nice because it has a bit slower and has more of a beat than other versions. The only negative to it is that it has a very fast fade out at the end of the song.

"Cite Tango" is so light and playful and then it becomes soft and romantic. It feels like being at an amusement park.  You are having fun all day, but then it gets late and you start to get tired. You realize that the fun is over and that you must go home.

This version of "Tanguedia III" is from Tango Zero Hour, one of my favorite Piazzolla albums. This song is very aggressive, almost violent. You have to be bold and precise dancing to it. I also like to use lots of changes of directions (alterations). I have edited the song to remove the 22 second intro.

If you wanted to keep this tanda under 10 minutes, you could use Gotan Projects edit of "Cite Tango" which is 3.56 and then start Tanguedia III at the 1.34 mark.

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• www.piazzolla.org

This weeks alternative tanda is an electronic tango set by Bajofondo Tango Club and Gotan Project. These are 3 very fun tangos to dance to. One suggestion for dancers would be to take it slow and calm when dancing to these songs. I often see people running around way too fast, especially to "Pa' Bailar."

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Alternative Tanda of the Week 2012-05-14

Tanda of the Week 2012-05-14

Alternative Tanda of the Week 2012-05-08

Tanda of the Week 2012-05-07

Alternative Tanda of the Week 2012-05-02

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