Blog - Tangosynthesis

Happy Neo Year!

31 Dec 2018 - by Graham

The first time I ever saw Argentine Tango being danced socially was at a Modern Jive and Blues event in Winchester Guild Hall. Most people were sticking to the standard dance styles for those sorts of music, but there were a few people on the floor who were dancing the tango. And it looked amazing. Their ability to connect with each other and interpret the music was incredible, and I immediately knew I wanted to learn how to do that. So when a couple of months later a friend (who up to then Iâ€™d only known as a modern jiver) offered to take me along to her tango class, I jumped at the chance. My tango journey was under way. Or perhaps I should say my â€œneotangoâ€ journey, although at the time I had no idea that there was even such a thing. For me, tango was a [read more...]

I'm not good enough to go to a milonga...

11 Dec 2018 - by Graham

This is something I hear from new tango dancers all the time. I tell them about our monthly milongas and the smaller practilongas to see if they are going to come along and practise what they have been learning for the last few weeks, and the most common thing I hear back is "Oh, we're not good enough for a milonga yet. We'll need a lot more lessons before we're ready to come to one of those." But aren't milongas - tango social dances and freestyle evenings - the whole point of learning? I do understand that maybe week one or two might not be the time to attend your first milonga, but don't you come to classes to learn how to dance with other people in a social environment? And if you do, what invisible line do you think you need to cross before you can make [read more...]

The iPhone App

03 Dec 2018 - by Graham

We've got an app! Yes, that's right, you can now get TangoSynthesis directly on your iPhone without having to use a web browser or fiddle around with bookmarks. But why? What was the point of putting together an app, when I could publish all the same information on the website? Firstly and most importantly, it's easier. If you want to check out the diary before heading to a class to see if anything has changed or what the theme of the week's classes might be, then it's a lot quicker and easier to open up an app and see what's going on than it is to open a web browser, find the bookmark you need or remember the URL, navigate the site menus, and eventually find the information you were after. An app is quicker to open on your phone than a web browser like Safari, and it loads [read more...]

Boleo (or Voleo) Exercises

01 Nov 2018 - by Graham

I was recently asked about a video containing a series of exercises intended to help followers learn or improve their boleos. If youâ€™re not sure what a boleo is, itâ€™s the flick you see in the lower leg of a follower during rapid changes of direction or speed. They can be small and subtle or high and snappy, but if the leg responds to movement with a flick then itâ€™s a boleo. They are related to ganchos, the â€˜hookâ€™ where one partnerâ€™s leg hooks and rapidly unhooks again from the other partnerâ€™s leg, but in general a boleo happens without something to hook around. The video I was sent was a good example of a very traditional way of learning tango. It showed someone going through a series of exercises and positions like you were viewing it in stop-motion, and instructed you to repeat these positions until they felt [read more...]

Tango - The First Steps

22 Oct 2018 - by Graham

We hold classes every week in Sevenoaks and South Norwood, aimed at tango beginners... and when we say 'beginners', we really do mean people who have never danced tango (even those who have never danced anything at all) before. Some of you have told us how much you love the look of tango and really want to give it a go, but your previous experiences with classes where everyone else is months ahead of you, or where you have to commit to extended courses to get you going have put you off trying. This is completely understandable; it's hard enough starting something completely new without having the added pressure of trying to keep up with everyone else, or having to attend a block of six, eight, or ten classes without missing a beat. Our classes are different. Every beginners' class we teach starts with the absolute fundamentals [read more...]

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