Know Thyself.
I have been staying in a gorgeous apartment; gorgeous because it consists of a futon and 400 square feet of wood floor. Doesn't make me any better at turning my feet out, but it's sure a lot easier to pivot on bare floor than it is to pivot around my couch, tv, bookcases, and sewing machine. There are no mirrors, so I can't check posture except by looking at my shadow and guessing.
(Men in Tights flashback!
"Blinkin, what are you doing up there?"
"...guessing? I...guess no one's coming?")
I'm also warming up to tango music. The first time I heard tango I thought an accordion and a piano had sex for six hours and taped it, and it didn't really register as good music. However, I like Armenian liturgical, post-electronica, David Bowie, Dario Marianelli, and Depeche Mode, so if weird music was going to worm its way into a heart, mind was clearly primed. Damn you, Bowie!
I have scrabbled for all the tango I can get my hands on, and a few songs have emerged as being particular favorites, but I still love finding non-tango songs that have the beat I want. You'd never hear them at a milonga, but when you have to work on extension, sometimes only Moby will do - "Porcelain" is great for practicing extension while keeping a beat. Benny Benassi's "Love is Going to Save Us" will beat you into the ground, but does wonders for the speed of my milonga box step. (I'm still TILTING, though! Why? Is this polka? What the hell?)
Bowie's "Looking for Satellites" is one of my favorite songs of all time even though the lyrics are word salad and the music hits sonic overload near the end and stays there for two minutes, and I must have danced to that six times. After which, I hasten to add, I stopped practicing, because it was getting late and I am a considerate housesitter and didn't want to be banging around at 10pm.
There are some songs I love that are much sadder, but I'm not anxious to share those, and besides, my technique is pathetic enough. (Rim shot!)
(Men in Tights flashback!
"Blinkin, what are you doing up there?"
"...guessing? I...guess no one's coming?")
I'm also warming up to tango music. The first time I heard tango I thought an accordion and a piano had sex for six hours and taped it, and it didn't really register as good music. However, I like Armenian liturgical, post-electronica, David Bowie, Dario Marianelli, and Depeche Mode, so if weird music was going to worm its way into a heart, mind was clearly primed. Damn you, Bowie!
I have scrabbled for all the tango I can get my hands on, and a few songs have emerged as being particular favorites, but I still love finding non-tango songs that have the beat I want. You'd never hear them at a milonga, but when you have to work on extension, sometimes only Moby will do - "Porcelain" is great for practicing extension while keeping a beat. Benny Benassi's "Love is Going to Save Us" will beat you into the ground, but does wonders for the speed of my milonga box step. (I'm still TILTING, though! Why? Is this polka? What the hell?)
Bowie's "Looking for Satellites" is one of my favorite songs of all time even though the lyrics are word salad and the music hits sonic overload near the end and stays there for two minutes, and I must have danced to that six times. After which, I hasten to add, I stopped practicing, because it was getting late and I am a considerate housesitter and didn't want to be banging around at 10pm.
There are some songs I love that are much sadder, but I'm not anxious to share those, and besides, my technique is pathetic enough. (Rim shot!)
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