"You should ask Leia about this;  Leia does everything right in tango," Jan used to tell us.  For 10 days last week many of us in Gainesville and beyond took the oportunity to find out for ourselves what Jan meant.

 

Most of Leia's activities took place at Thuy Carroll's residence.  The core of her teaching consisted of 4 days of "foundation" building workshops, covering all the different basic movements of tango.  Throughout her teaching, Leia likened mastering tango to the building of a house: it uses a set of requistite elements that depend logicallly on eachother (i.e. don't build a skyscraper on sand; don't put the windows in until the wall is straight, etc.).  The framework that integrates all the elements of tango are Leia's 4 principles: Posture; Alignment; Direction; Scholastic Interpretation of Music.

Leia showed us how to use Interpretation of Music to make a simple tango walk sparkle. 

 

My (David's) perspective on the dance is now changing as a result.  Whereas before, I regarded various tango movements as "special things added to walking," I now see these tango movements (fwd step, side step, ocho, boleo, gancho, planeo, enrosque, lapiz, promenade, etc.) done by the individual dancer as basic building blocks, each having its own poetry.  The movements can sparkle through this same Interpretation of Music.  We need to create a perfect connection with our partner in order to share this poetry.  In my private lessons with Leia, this was my goal: to learn to do a few movements with perfect connection to my partner.  That is, a connection without strain or pressure but with unbroken focus on my partner, making possible intimacy.

 

We at TyT (Thuy, Chut, Jan, and David) have set ourselves the task of digesting the material from the workshops and to condense it into a routine for daily practicing.  We look forward to gradually sharing this method with the dancers attending our Sunday lessons, as this promises to be a very powerful source for improving our dance.

 

At the end of 10 days we were each elated by what we had done.  The three of us who didn't know her before are also very moved to have made such a special friend.  The image of Leia expressing her ideas in her dancing still lingers in my mind: a powerfully emotive, romantic and creative person full of life.  Thank you Leia.