Shall We Dance?

Some hobbies do live on. Girlfriend and I take Argentine Tango lessons on Monday nights. We did an intro class for one month, and that has expired. Our appetites are whetted for more. We found another one entitled "Argentine Tango 102."

I have no idea what the difference is between Argentine Tango vs regular ol' Tango vs any other specific variety. Perhaps slip 'n' slide tango?

It's hard so far. We were talking with an old guy who mentioned that his generation grew up learning how to dance with the opposite gender. It's more natural and not awkward for them. Not ours. My version of dancing consists of an extremely loose and floppy improvisational jive. That's a pretty apt description. (There's a pic hanging in my friend's house of us dancing as part of a circle at his wedding. I'm doing some sort of neo Michael Jackson kick and he's twirling his hands above his head and staring at them like they're magical glow sticks.) It's a TON of fun, but I have yet to get into any sort of groove with another human. Gf and I now have some basics down and technically can perform a lot of moves, but have yet to flow with the music. A lot of that is on me since I have to be the leader. It's a totally different thing trying take responsibility for the motions for both people. I have to become aware of where she is, where her weight is balanced, where her momentum is, if her feet are crossed, etc. Right now it's all very analytical for both of us and we have yet to let loose and feel it.

I'm in the learning stage where I have a couple of basic motions understood, but I don't know where they fit into any sort of a whole. While performing them they feel a little stifling because I want to be able to let loose, but we stick to what we know because we know that we have to get a good understanding before we can branch out. I was watching some videos of real tango-ers on Youtube - our soon to be teachers, actually - and I was having a horrendous time trying to pick out the basic motions that we've been taught.

I'd say that I'm 100% psyched about our next lesson, but I'm only about 98% right now. This last lesson was very frustrating for me because I couldn't get a couple of things. It can be annoying. Ultimately, though, I can't wait to start up the new class and tear up the dance floor.