Last
Sunday the Durango Tango Society hosted guest instructor Svetlana Petkovic. I
have to admit I was very apprehensive about the weekend for many reasons. My
biggest fear was that our nascent tango community would not be up to the challenge
of intensive exercises in technique led by a very skilled instructor with a
strong background in Russian ballet.
I had
participated in one of her weekly tango workouts in Albuquerque and found it
extremely rigorous but very, very helpful. There I relearned what so many great
instructors have taught me many times before: to dance tango well, I must be on
my own balance. I already know this but a full-time job and a penchant for
cupcakes helps me to forget.
I
wondered if Durango was ready for a class focused solely on movement techniques
and not on fancy figures.
No fancy
moves? How un-American! Exactly! That’s why it’s called ARGENTINE tango. I am a
patriot and I enjoy somersaults just as much as any other American who watches ‘Dancing
With The Stars’ but I realized long ago that acrobatics are not what Argentine tango is all about. It
is about two people moving to music in harmony and on their own balance.
I worried that not enough dancers would show
interest in a course simply titled ‘fundamentals’. This was a class for
dedicated tango dancers, regardless of skill level. I stressed over that greatest
of all workshop phenomena: gender imbalance. Finally I wondered if Svetlana
would be too much ballet and not enough tango for Durango.
I
needn’t have caused myself so much consternation because she did an excellent
job. The students fell in love with her right away. The next five hours was
like a great date: dinner and a movie…and coffee and crumpets afterwards,
followed by long, thoughtful conversation about the finer aspects of tango
techniques.
Did she
say she was married? How could she let us fall in love with her and not tell us
she was betrothed…wait, she did tell us she was wedded to Erskine which is okay
because we loved him as well!
The
topper was when they both stayed for our regularly scheduled practica which
immediately followed the workshop. The two of them didn’t just merely relax and
mingle, they worked with any student who showed a desire to retain or gain a
better understanding of what was taught.
This is
something more than instruction. This is love. Love makes things grow and tango
is alive and well and growing in Durango thanks to Svetlana….and Erskine and
Easter, the road manager. We owe them a great debt of gratitude for putting in so much time and effort to bring
tango to our little town nestled in the San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado,
far away from any metropolis where tango is danced regularly.
The
weather changed that day and everywhere buds could be seen pushing out of the
once frozen earth. Like the flowers and the trees, our tango community in
Durango was also blooming. Thanks to Svetlana I feel confident that this summer
our nascent dance society will bloom into a beautiful gathering of happy
dancers.
Note: For an in-depth look into the mind of the Kayak Hombre, read his book, available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/River-Tango-perri-iezzoni/dp/1453865527/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369366756&sr=1-1&keywords=River+tango
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