Don't cry for me Argentina… the truth is

After being in Argentina for two weeks I have had the opportunity to see various forms of dance including tango and salsa. So I decided to take a few classes, I mean there’s no better place right?

First of all let me state that I am not a dancer. AT ALL. However I took the chance and went to a salsa class. It was actually a lot of fun. The instructor made it easy to follow, but it did take a few minutes to understand the steps. We basically had to relearn how to move our bodies. The steps we learned consisted of a basic 5-step routine, with some spins and some other crazy moves that I don’t know the names of. I have come to the conclusion that it salsa is definitely harder for the man. He has to lead the entire time, and know which way his feet move as well as which way he has to move the woman. Let’s just say there were a lot of missteps, but we laughed it off. Salsa is definitely a great work out, and like it a lot! You get to move your whole body with the music; it’s a lot of fun.

Next I took my chances at a tango class. I was quite intimidated after seeing the passion and beauty of various tango shows. In my opinion tango is a lot harder than salsa. You have to maintain perfect body posture throughout the whole dance. Our instructor told us that the man and woman’s bodies must be perfectly aligned with each other at all times. Tango is quite spontaneous, but it is definitely harder for the woman. The man leads and he decides which way to go and when. In fact he decides when the dance starts. Throughout our class it was hard to know which way the man was going to move, therefore making it hard for us women to follow along. However we each had a turn to dance with the instructor. It was so much easier when dancing with the instructor. For some reason you just know which way he is going to move, I guess you can feel it. He guides you with his hand and his eyes in a very subtle way that only you and him know. When dancing tango it is very tempting to keep your eyes on the ground to see which way the man’s feet are going to move. However this just makes it HARDER! If you don’t look down, it so much easier to follow along. I must admit it was awkward staring the instructor in the eye but it works! We literally had to “learn how to walk again”. We had to walk fluidly, you cannot move two times in a row with the same foot. It almost looks as if you are floating on the ground, if you do it correctly.

Let’s just say it took a while for a bunch of 20 something year olds to learn how to walk again. But it was definitely worth it, being able to learn one of the cultural dances of Argentina is something I will never forget.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 12th, 2011 at 10:29 pm Filed under Things and. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.