So, last week I went to San Diego for a tango workshop with Susanna Miller. For those of you who aren't familiar with her, she basically codified the milonguero style. In the early eighties, she observed how people at the milongas in Buenos Aires danced differently than when they performed. She "stole" parts of the vocabularies of a variety of dancers, and started teaching.

Susanna has a VERY strong personality, and isn't for those with thin skin. I tried dancing with her at a Saturday milonga, only to find myself being pulled into the embrace instead of leaning into it. So I was hunched over, trying to connect, and nervous due to the fact that this person is basically the teacher of a LOT of teachers. At one point in time (bearing in mind this is all in Spanish) I said something like, "Perhaps we aren't connecting well because we've not danced together before. Perhaps it's also the height difference." Her response was roughly saying that tango is a language like English or Spanish, and that one either speaks it or does not.

Wow.

I think I prefer this kind of instruction to that of most Americans. Of course, she can speak with real authority, so that helps. As far as the actual classes, her work on follows using more of their body, and hips in particular, was quite interesting. She really uses everything at her disposal, not being stiff in the least. Her lead is beautiful, and watching her dance with Linda Garwood would have been enough by itself to make the workshop worth while. Her emphasis on fundamentals and feeling is somewhat lacking in the teaching world, and was welcome to me.

Here's a picture of Susanna on the left, and Linda Garwood (the host and local milonguera on the right).














As far as the weekend in general, I was hosted by Daniel and a different Linda, who were very gracious, and have a beautiful home together. Daniel was a contractor, and has done some nice things with the place. Also, there's an outside dance floor in the back which was a lot of fun to practice with.

This last Sunday, I did a practica where I reviewed the fundamentals class that Susanna taught the week before. I had two couples, one with Jeanine and a friend of hers; the other was Sarah and Carlos who I met in St. Louis when we were all in college, them attending SLU with a friend of mine from high school. The practica went well, and I think everyone got something out of it.