Some of my readers may remember this image from Tip #9 of my e-course "9 Surprising Tango Tips for Men", or from earlier articles you've received from me. It appeared to me finally in an extensive google search I conducted, looking for just the image to express how I envisioned our body's natural spiral around our "Infinite Axis". I was amazed at how perfectly the image illustrated my simple concept.
The painting is a study from painter Saretta Wool's Fung Shui series, and I wrote to the artist several years ago and she kindly granted me permission to reproduce the image in my articles. (Her new website is under construction, but you can keep the URL http://www.sarettawool.com/ to visiti in the future.)
The surprise came on Mother's Day, when I received an unexpected email from Saretta, telling me she has relocated to the Pacific Northwest, and in clearing out her archives came across this small piece and thought "it belongs to Helaine". She told me it was already wrapped for shipping to me and she only needed my address. I braced myself to hear the price I hadn't expected to invest, but she said that her payment is knowing how much I appreciate the painting. So I just got a notice from UPS that it is on my way, and I will proudly hang it in my studio and refer to it over and over again in my teaching! I am so delighted with this surprise gift!
Please study the image for a moment, and see if you can relate to the yellow vertical that's full of life representing your body's central axis that continues down through the floor to the center of the earth and up through your head to the "apex of the heavens" - what I call your "Infinite Axis". And try envisioning the gray spiral as the energetic tendency that makes your arms swing and makes your foot project to walk, or that is the driving force that makes you pivot. Our spirals are always working when we move, turning right or left to varying degrees, unless we choose to block it.
I talk much more about the spiral, using various exercises that efficiently help you "get it", in all my live teaching and in my home study programs.
For now, just think about how your spiral is working when you move about your day!
"There is a vitality, a life-force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost." ~ Martha Graham
My mother, Dorothy Treitman, is an example for us all. In the photo to the left, she is relaxing at the beach club two months ago after the opening of Pelican Bay's annual Art Exhibition, in which she exhibited two astonishing paintings. To me, she looks 65 in this photo, as she often does lately. Look at her radiant skin, her glossy hair and her sense of serenity.
The truth is that when I came back from Italy 3.5 years ago to be close to her, I was disturbed to see my mom frail, elderly, and withdrawn, adjusting to widowhood two years after my dad left us. Though her recent hip replacement surgery had been a great success, restoring her mobility, I found her in so-so health, often retreating to her room to watch TV. What I witnessed in her behavior was no reflection of the inner light she had shared with me in frequent emails and monthly overseas phone calls, the inner light that had pulled me back to the U.S. after 20 years in Italy.
My brother Rich and I began urging Mom to improve her diet, purchasing healthy alternatives and showing her how to prepare them. My brother especially urged her to go out and do things she enjoyed, like visit art museums and attend concerts and lectures, and in particular, to start painting again. I'd say instead that she needed a few years to heal from Dad's passing, and when she was ready she'd rally naturally. I still recognized her positive attitude and her life force that was always present underneath, though her apparent frailty made me sad. I practiced gratitude for her reasonably good health and positive attitude, "stretching it" a bit in my silent words of thanks.
I don't know whether it was my brother's emphatic encouragement or my patience, prayers and visualizations, in combination with our emphatic recommendations about lifestyle changes, . . . or Mom's natural turnaround that would have occured anyway . . . but she did begin to rally, slowly at first. Then her energy and lust for life rapidly increased, and she dove deeper and deeper into her autonomous art studies.
Itseemed to me Mom had always felt the gap in her art education, having interrupted her professional training when she married. She loved fine art as much as she loved design. When she retired from her long career as a textile designer, originally having worked part-time as designer for my father's embroidery business while raising four kids, she created her own "university", attending lectures at art museums, watching DVD's and TV documentaries on great artists, and finally reading the art books she had collected and kept acquiring over a lifetime. She even learned to do research on the internet, and watched interviews with great artists and architects on Youtube. Gradually she began painting again, as she had throughout her retirement. Now, when she worked, bent over a table on the lanai, her entire home reverberated with her palpable creative energy.
A turning point came around her 80th birthday, almost two years ago, when I saw my mother experiencean artistic renaissance! All of her high expertise as a textile designer seemed to integrate with her increasingly empassioned fine art studies. That summer we witnessed what I felt was the birth of a uniquely original masterpiece, the result of her genuine, curious exploration based on solid knowledge, and total faith in herself. I remember one day when I saw the half-finished painting; I was alone and burst out crying because the piece had achieved a life of its own, and I felt its powerful vibration - I was experiencing my mother's life force through her original and unselfconscious work.
Today I sometimes enjoy standing in front of the framed painting to get myself charged-up! A viewer at the 2012 Pelican Bay Art Exhibition asked her for the rights to use this painting for the cover of her company's annual psychology book, and Mom just signed a contract giving them 15 year rights to use the image (while retaining ownership of the painting and the right to use the image differently).
The story of my mother's renaissance now seems old. Her health is great and she often looks 15 years younger. Since her 80th birthday, she has produced a number of remarkable paintings, each one a new and original exploration, an authentic expression of her deep knowledge and her soul's vision. She is sometimes so obsessed with a painting that she gets up well before sunrise to work on a piece, and there have been days when she's worked 12 hours or more, stopping for a nap or taking a movie break to get recharged. She just had framed a breathtaking largish piece painted on wood panel, possibly her best work to date. I trust that everything she produces now comes with clarity from her deepest self, as a result of honest and genuine creative research.
In the photo, Mom at Brambles Tea Room last month, thoroughly enjoying scones with clotted cream and strawberry preserves, and English tea.
My mother is fulfilled and happy, knowing how to "turn herself on" through expressing her creativity. At almost 82, she looks forward to many years of artistic productivity and enriching life experiences. Mom has achieved the ability to fully express herself, and by doing so she lives joyfully. She has become a model for me, and I trust she is a model for you as well.
I hope you'll remember what I learned from a yoga master in Italy: "A cherry tree fulfills itself by producing cherries, even if it resides in a remote little cleft of a valley on a mountaintop, where no one ever passes to eat the fruit or enjoy the beauty of its springtime blossoms. (And by the way, the cherry tree produces cherries without effort. Making cherries is it's way of being.) It is essential for us to do what we were each put on earth to do. Denying the full expression of one's individual talents and gifts, whether or not they produce any measurable gains, inevitably causes illness." (From my article "Tango and Masculinity".)
Now please look at the Martha Graham quote again: "There is a vitality, a life-force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost."
Mom, you're doin' it! Thank you for inspiring me and everyone who knows you and your work. Happy Mother's Day! I love and admire you.
Many men start dancing a tango under a self-imposed pressure to keep moving, and
learn as many figures as possible, so as to keep the woman interested
in their improvisation. Do you ever feel "on the spot" like that?
These men don't even get to truly enjoy the music, because
they are behaving like slaves to the rhythm, or may not even take time
to feel the rhythm at all. The result of all that frenetic activity is
that the woman feels like a hamster in a spinning wheel; it's as if she
can't stop running to keep up with her partner. And the man ends up
also struggling to navigate in the often near-chaos on the dance floor
caused by all the guys who are anxiously dancing chains of figures.
Do you realize that you have not only your feet with which to "paint the floor" to the music, but
you have also the woman's feet as your paintbrushes? You can pause
when the music is not pausing, and keep your feet still, dancing only
with your upper torso (your embrace) guiding the woman's feet to "paint
the floor" rhythmically and lyrically.
Actually, you are painting with her supporting foot and leg, and she is painting with her free foot and leg! Those
are her "adornos", or embellishments, which she learns over time to do
artistically to the music. And YOU can be doing masculine "adornos",
while you have your partner walking the rhythm around you, or during the
pauses.
My description may sound abstract, so I'd like to give you an assignment, and I hope you'll find it a pleasant one. Click the link below and watch the video with Jorge and Marita Dispari, and keep an eye on their feet. Identify all the moments when Jorge's feet are still, as he simply stands on the floor, while guides Marita's feet to take the steps that mark the music.
I welcome your comments! I invite you to respond in the comments area below.
Here's today's message to tangueros and tangueras alike:
STOP COLLECTING . . . DAMMIT!!
(Whew. Sometimes I just have to be emphatic to get everyone to think differently!)
Is this a subversive message, or what?
Little in tango makes makes me angrier than hearing instructors, or more advanced students, telling others "Collect, collect, collect!" Makes me want to tear someone's ear off with my teeth! GRRRRR . . . .
* * * * * * * *
Has any teacher ever told you, "Collect your feet!"?
One teacher? Several teachers? All your teachers?
Have you, as a good tango student, been obediently disciplining yourself to bring your feet together neatly between every two steps?
UGGHH! I cannot stand even thinking about someone making YOU do this!
What's my problem with collecting one's feet?
Well, who are the people in life who must regularly snap their feet together?
Soldiers. Obedient soldiers who must stand at attention!
Consider the significance of the gesture. Regularly, obligatorily uniting your feet is like constantly repeating a gesture of obedience! Many tangueras snap their ankles together with every step, as their teachers or even their practice partners(!) have instructed them to do. (I know, because I used to do it! Banged my ankles up too, in the beginning.)
Where does a tango instructor get the gall to train an emerging
King Tutenkamen
Tango King or Queen
Queen Nefertiti
. . . to be obedient?! It infuriates me! (Roarrrrr.)
In fairness, my colleagues' intentions are good. The purpose of collecting, as I understand it, is ostensibly to help you find your center, your balance, and so that you'll look neat, especially when you pivot. Isn't that what they tell you?
But one reason I'm disturbed by the concept (or worse, the rule!) of collecting feet between steps is that it requires that we use some force to bring our feet or ankles together, which we accomplish by contracting various muscles.
As I teach in my first lessons to tango beginners and veterans alike, contracting muscles in one part of our body, creates compensating contractions elsewhere in our body. The result is that it gets us somewhat out of alignment, and then we must struggle to maintain our balance. Just when we need to be super-stable in our tango, such as during a pivot, uniting our feet by pulling one leg in to meet the other causes us to exert effort to be in balance!
And what about the mental muscle you must employ to keep reminding yourself to collect, collect, collect? One of my long-distance students, a member in my "Tango Improvisation Mastery™"" program, exclaimed when he learned in Module 1 why he should forget about collecting, "What a relief! Not having to keep reminding myself to collect my feet frees up my mind to be more creative in my dancing!"
What most teachers are not telling you is that you can NATURALLY AND EASILY find your perfect balance while standing on one foot by totally relaxing your free leg! By RELEASING all muscle contractions in your leg as it becomes free, from your hip joint down, you allow gravity to naturally make your relaxed leg fall under you, passing very close to your standing leg. When your free leg can swing freely like a pendulum, you gain both balance and grace! (I just love this fact. It's part of what I call "the truth that sets you free!")
I wish you were here in the room with me right now, so I could show you an experiment I often use that demonstrates this perfectly! (I demonstrate the exercise in a video in the "Advanced Tango Fundamentals" section in my "Tango Improvisation Mastery™" online home study program, http://tangoimprovisationmastery.com.)
And here's one more factor that may matter to you: when you collect your feet, your "free" leg is not free while you're collecting, and is not available to you for embellishments! It's busy trying to stick one ankle to the other, so how can it swirl or tap or caress the floor, as the musical nuances are calling you to do?
Collecting makes us sacrifice our expression!
Okay, I'm finished ranting. Now for the juicy, fun part - videos!
Please carefully watch the videos below of three outstanding Villa Urquiza style (Rose Vine Tango!) couples. You'll see that they do not collect their feet between steps, except to change weight, or in rare moments as a stylistic choice. Never do they collect during pivots! Rather, their free legs relax completely and fall under them as they "lock into their Infinite Axis" on each successive step, swinging like a pendulum close to the standing leg. Observe especially how, with both the man and the woman in each video, instead of collecting, their relaxed, free leg is always playing! The artists' adornos (embellishments) are part of their intimate dynamic dialog with their partners. Beautiful salon tango requires a relaxed free leg!
Please enjoy these videos as you observe the "disobedient" free leg of each artist, and how playful and expressive it is:
Geraldin Rojas and Javier Rodriguez dance Canaro's "Poema"
Marita "La Turca" and Jorge Dispari dance Di Sarli's "Anselmo Acuña el Resero"
Amanda and Adrian Costa dance Di Sarli's "Tu, El Cielo y Tu".
Finally, I'll reveal to you one of my favorite secrets:
Seek your greatest degree of pleasure with every single step.
As you take ALL of your weight onto your new standing foot, practice paying attention (till you master this and it comes naturally) to the pleasure you can feel in releasing all the tension in all the muscles around your hip joint.
Aaaahhhh!
You'll find yourself in perfect balance with every single step of your tango, and ladies will especially find themselves ready for anything their partners may lead at any moment! And you'll also be stable enough on your standing leg so that you can fluidly and spontaneously create embellishments with your free leg, to your heart's content.
I've only watched "Gone with the Wind" once, many years ago, but I'll never forget the disappointment and frustration I felt when Rhett visited Scarlett's bedroom the morning after he had "taken" his wife brutishly. He promptly apologized, having no idea of the great pleasure he had given her, in which she was still basking upon awakening. I don't remember the exact dialog, but I do recall that her lingering delight quickly turned to biting antagonism, . . . and there we went again. Our hearts sink as we abandon all hope of a happily-ever-after transformation of this great passion into lifelong romantic bliss. Here is a short clip from the film, revealing a third party who could have saved the day with a moment of feminine wisdom: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/sEbTn7DSze2jUvKM3qdaCw?feat=embedwebsite
Click on link above or copy and paste into your browser.
I had thought, "If only Rhett had known what Scarlett really wanted, and how easily he could have kept making her happy - and he would have been happy too! Why didn't Mammy tell him her mistress was feeling so good?" What brought this scene to my mind was a moment in a private lesson a few weeks ago, when my student was working with me on his lead in a molinete (woman's turn around the man). I encouraged him to use more force in his upper right arm - not forearm! - to guide me around him to his left, because generally, when the man leaves his right arm passive as he turns, he tends to hold the woman back, so she falls behind. This student, who already has a wonderful embrace, tried putting the force I recommended behind his bicep, and on the first shot his lead felt marvelous! The whole giro (turn) worked perfectly, and I absolutely loved the dynamic feeling in his lead! My student was completely surprised. "Really????" he asked, amazed that such force would feel good to me. How would he have known, without the guidance of an expert woman? Though male teachers can tell you what kind of technique works (if they talk about technique at all), they still usually can't tell you what women love to feel on the dance floor! This little story is a shameless plug for my 6-monthOnline Home Study Program, Coaching Club, and VIP Private Coaching for men, "Tango Improvisation Mastery™", where you (or tangueros you know) can get the inside scoop on not only how to dance tango more competently and confidently week by week, but also on how to dance in such a way that women can't get enough of you! Find out more about it at http://tangoimprovisationmastery.com.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
TANGO MUSIC APPRECIATION and INTERPRETATION WORKSHOP Wednesday February 15 at 2PM EST
Wednesday February 29 at 2PM EST
You don’t have to dance Argentine tango to love tango music! In this exciting workshop, Argentine tango dancer Helaine Treitman will show you how to develop a heightened sensitivity to the structures and nuances of tango music. Participants will listen actively, rather than passively, marking the music by snapping fingers or tapping feet, as you learn to interpret the music.
Tango music originated in the Rio de la Plata area of Argentina, where millions of people listened to it growing up – on the kitchen radio, in clubs, at weddings and family parties. Tango has since become an international phenomenon – with a worldwide community of tango-lovers who find this music magical. This series will explore some of the reasons why!
I had chosen not to write to you about it when it happened, because the air in the tango community was so heavy with sadness; that's not what I wanted to give you in my messages. If you've watched the videos I often send, or if you're already an avid tanguero or tanguera, you know of internationally admired and adored tango artist, Andrea Misse'. On January 2, 2012, this beautiful diva died in an automobile accident in Argentina. Many tango people are still using a black ribbon image for their avatar on Facebook, as a gesture of solidarity with everyone who loved or still loves Andrea. However, the Facebook comment that day of Patricia Garcia, widow of my late "maestro", Nestor Ray, gave me a way to receive this news not as a tragedy but as a transition: "Andrea is now dancing among the angels". Honestly, when I took my barefoot beach walks after sunset and sometimes saw stars sparkling in a clear sky, I thought "Yes, there she is. That's Andrea sparkling."
Andrea left behind a legacy of her life’s work in videos, so she’ll inspire us for many years.
My friend and colleague, Alberto Paz, put together this video montage of Andrea's career, starting, it seems, almost 20 years ago. The second half of this half-hour collection is with her last partner, the great Javier Rodriguez, and I believe that here she shone brightest. Please take some time to enjoy this homage, and share my love of this tango angel.
Thank you, Alberto Paz, for this half-hour homage to our beloved Andrea.
Some of my readers may remember this image from Tip #9 of my e-course "9 Surprising Tango Tips for Men", or from earlier articles you've received from me. It appeared to me finally in an extensive google search I conducted, looking for just the image to express how I envisioned our body's natural spiral around our "Infinite Axis". I was amazed at how perfectly the image illustrated my simple concept.
I hope you'll remember what I learned from a yoga master in Italy:
