Tuesday evening Evan and I arrived at Empress as students for the first time to take our first Argentine Tango class. Evan had given me a private lesson two Valentine’s Day ago and that is when I first met Bryant Lopez. Since then I have always wanted to learn how to do this sensual dance and we had a chance to get started last night to a sold out level 1 class.
It was great to see many of my students and helpers in the class. I think everyone really enjoyed the class. It is a condensed intensive class which means we do 2hrs a session once per week for 4 weeks. The vibe in the class was excellent and even after 2 hours of dancing the students were super excited.
Bryant is a fun, dynamic instructor that has great passion for his art form. I like the way he uses all the students to demonstrate moves, whether he grabs a female in the class or asks a couple to demonstrate the right way of doing a move.
Argentine Tango is interesting because it is not as structured as salsa in the sense that there is no basic to learn that is a structured basic. The man choose which leg to use and the woman follows his lead. He can change directions when he wants and with a slight lean and use of abs, chest and shoulders the woman can follow.
With salsa most of the leading comes from the man’s right hand on the woman’s back. With Argentine Tango it is the man’s left hand so that is something to get used to and adapt. But the hardest thing by far is not using your hips! Salsa dancers are going to find it challenging to avoid hip movement when dancing and I personally think that will be my biggest challenge.
Overall a great first class! For anyone who is interested in Argentine Tango we have just posted a level 1 class starting September on Thursdays at 9pm and our first ever level 2 class on Tuesdays at 9pm.
T-A-N-G-O!!
