7 nov. 2007

Relatively little tango the last few days. Like everybody else, have been tired tired tired. So stayed in Tuesday. Wednesday on duty at Cellspace, had a hell of a time setting up the lights. The guy who runs the venue - can't remember his name - did most of the work, but in the end we only had three working lamps. Mostly I stood underneath while he changed bulbs around. I figured I'd at least be able to yell if one of them fell off the support rod from three stories up.

Attendance was relatively light, no doubt affected in part by Tango de los Muertos in Boston this week. Still a decent crowd, which speaks of the popularity of the milonga. Dan and Ben were spinning, they kept up a good energy and mixed genres pretty deftly. Dan used a cortina with a song which I just happened to also make a cortina out of, dammit. Guess I won't be using that one anytime soon.

Had just one dance but it was fun. Alternative vals set, two of the songs were from Amélie. Valses make my dance a lot more circular than usual. That's to be expected, of course. My partner was a little taller than me, which tends to create difficulties but she was really technically solid so it was a breeze. I don't dance with her often even though the dances I have had with her have been a pleasure. A lot of it is the height thing. I know a few tall followers who are excellent dancers and I regret not being just a couple inches taller myself so I could accommodate them better. But then again, there are so many fantastic followers who are shorter and to be too tall relative to them would cause another set of difficulties. A lot of tall leaders I know develop a bad habit of hunching to accommodate their partners. Height incompatibilities seem to be one of those things that are really difficult to reconcile, and I think even for instructors it's a hard subject (most of the advanced dancers I know tend to be well under six feet tall - I'm sure the lower center of gravity is a strong advantage).

Left around 10:30, just as some more friends were pulling up. Getting home to the East Bay is a drag since all the Bryant Street on-ramps are usually closed, but the city streets were pretty clear so it wasn't so bad this night.