Some of my friends were performing. Good for them.
Even for adults, it would be a nice experience to dance on stage. Knowing these backstage works and jitters as a performer would give us better appreciation for stage events.
The showcase had four Argentine Tangos. The reason? The studio invited instructors, Jose Luis Ferraro and Rika Fukuda from Buenos Aires, and their Argentine Tango workshops are upcoming in this weekend (6/22-24/2018).
Hazel, idance studio director, liked their Tango in the past Chicago Tango festival and invited them.
(Note: Hazel favors Salon dancers from Buenos Aires. In my opinion, not all dancers from Buenos Aires are strong. Although I have seen great dancers from the city, some were fairly weak, like in any other arts. My professional habit as a scientist tells me not to blindly believe the title, until I see the goods. .... I digress.)
Jose and Rika had a few dances in the showcase. They are Salon dancers, so they did not use Stage moves (lifts, dips, high kicks, etc) or nuevo moves.
Yet, to make a dance appealing on stage, dancers have to think of something, right?
In the particular dance they presented, they used dynamic or athletic version of classical Salon Tango. Use of fast giro and rotational moves, larger steps that move them faster from point A to B directionally; both were done smoothly.
I'd never seen them dance previously, so I was not sure about style characteristics of their regular dance. But the presented dance certainly looked good.
In the slow traffic in a crowded milonga, you cannot move like that. In the sense, the dance was "a step toward Stage" version of Salon Tango.
Looking forward to upcoming "Tango weekender" with them.
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This morning (6/19/2018) we had Japan vs Colombia world cup soccer game. I was anticipating a tough game. In the end, it was a nice upset, 2-1 for Japan's win.
At the very beginning of the match (5 min), Colombia lost a player with a red card-PK foul. Although 11 vs 10, the rest of the match looked pretty even. South American football teams are tough.
