We reward students who are committed to studying.

25% off a 4 lesson pack for 2 people (leader & follower)

Commit to 4 lessons with a partner (of the opposite role) at Tango Garden to qualify for the discounted rates:
4x 1 Lesson = £30 each (instead of £40 each)
4x 1 Lesson + Practica = £38 each (instead of £48 each)
4x 2 Lesson + Practica = £56 each (instead of £72 each)
(1 lesson means either 2-3pm or 3-4pm. 
2 lessons means both 2-3pm and 3-4pm at Tango Garden on Saturdays).


Fill in form in offers page to register for your pack of lessons and arrange voucher.

You will have 7 active weeks to use your pack of 4 lessons.

See FAQs page for the answers to: 

Do I have to use the "Cabeceo" at Tango Garden?   AND 

I'm a follower, can I ask leaders to dance at Tango Garden?

I'm updating our FAQs and here is our perspective on the cabeceo.  There'll be more info about the cabeceo at Tango Garden posted soon.

What is the cabeceo?
The cabeceo (meaning head nod/gesture) is an artform rather than a behaviour protocol.  Just as a conversation has certain conventions but is quite subjective; requiring contextual understanding, sensitivity to the situation, the other person and a willingness to engage, so too the cabeceo is a non-verbal conversation.  We get better and more natural at it over time and with practice as long as we have an interest in developing it. 

Like a conversation (and much to most people's misunderstanding), the cabeceo is not one sided, i.e. instigated always by the leader or by the follower.  It's much more fluid and starts with ordinary eye contact.  As we know from our non-tango life, holding a gaze implies interest, so it is with the cabeceo.  Once interest is established, in most cases the male leader (because Tango was situated in a machismo culture and habits continue) 'asks' the lady if she wants to dance by a small head movement or raising of an eyebrow and she either ignores his gesture or nods or smiles to accept.  Of course, when people know each other already, or even sometimes when they don't, the cabeceo can be much more playful and the so called 'format' can change.  For example, once eye contact is established, the follower may smile cheekily or innocently or sultrily, or just move her eyes or an eyebrow which sets the tone for the interaction and is her way of 'asking' the leader to dance.  He might respond by a similar gesture as if to say, 'are you asking me to ask you to dance?' and she may respond with another little gesture as if to say 'maybe, why don't you try and see' or 'yes' or 'of course, I'd love to'... and each gesture would of course look very different and no one person is in charge of the asking.

So you see, the 'rules' for the cabeceo are as fixed as the rules for flirting, flirting without words.  If you're in a pub late at night you might behave one way, if in a posh formal looking bar, you might behave another, if you're at a friend's child's christening it might be quite different to flirting with someone at a singles night and if you're a woman who feels strongly about taking charge of her night as opposed to being wooed you'd behave differently again...  The whole thing is so personal and contextual, the only thing certain about the cabeceo is that it's a reference to asking without words with subtle facial expressions and head gestures.  How you use it, and how successful you are at it, therein lies the artform. 

New tango in the lifetime of a viejo milonguero.
Article by Maral Kojayan.
Jan 2014.

Inspired by a 'Tango Quest' question and the lovely Linda (Tango student/dancer and mother to be) I thought I'd do a little note on Tango and pregnancy. After all, being a woman and professional tango dancer, the thought had crossed my mind once or twice, and if I'm honest perhaps a hundred times... so when a question came in from a beginner couple about starting tango whilst pregnant, it presented a perfect moment to stop and ponder my impressions as well as the practicalities… As you'll see, my pondering took me to some very interesting places about Tango, Life and a healthy society…

My first thought was to think back on when Mariano and I lived in BsAs and how pregnancy in tango was perceived there.  Being around the age,  we were quite used to seeing, being with and dancing with expecting parents in the younger generation practicas and milongas of BsAs.  In fact a few years ago there seemed to be a tango baby boom, we had our best friends Carolina and Pablo Villarraza expecting, then there was Moira (of Gaston & Moira), Nancy (of Damián & Nancy),  Virginia (of Jose & Virginia) and a handful more all around the same time, all high profile dancers. In fact there were interviews and articles written in El Tangauta and once, this time last year (October 2012 issue) the topic together with the decorated bellies, made it to the front cover of this most popular Tango magazine in honour of Argentine mothers day. 

I think the general sentiment from the ladies was that dancing Tango whilst pregnant was a great experience; They felt super sensitive, they really appreciated being embraced and as the aforementioned lovely Linda voluntarily wrote to me to share her experience, I can say with certainty that she feels enormous physical, social and relationship benefits from continuing to dance tango during her pregnancy.  She tells me it's great for strengthening  the core and back muscles so important for protecting the back during pregnancy, that's it's a perfect way to keep moving and active without overdoing it and that going out to tango on a Saturday afternoon is an excellent "replacement for a Saturday night out" for drinks etc. She also confessed "it's a nice 'normal' thing we can rely on when everything else is changing so quickly".

But, linda did say that she didn't want to make "people feel squeamish!" and this line made me wonder how a pregnant lady is received in the tango social setting. My thoughts wandered and I remembered an odd comment I had heard from an ex-boyfriend once about him being 'scared' for the very pregnant Nancy giving an energetic performances with her partner. I must say, I haven't investigated into how men feel, but for my part, I remember thinking how lovely it was to have these glowing and smiley faced pregnant tango ladies so visible and present in the practicas & milongas.  I could feel they really changed the energy of the places.  The moods of these more than often ego driven spaces would be transformed and if you paid close attention you'd see the 'happy point' of the room was the bump bearing lady - the larger the bump the larger the power of the happy wave and it's effect could be seen on the men and women alike.

The power of having an expectant couple in the room is impressive, I like to think it's the combination of the awe one feels for the magic of life-creation taking place in front of ones eyes, combined with a change in perception that a pregnant woman inspires in others; drawing out the caring, loving aspects of the people she interacts with.  I think it reminds us, perhaps on a subconscious level, of the power of togetherness, the intelligence of the body (human and all creatures) to create and heal itself and the importance of creating an environment good for the growth and well-being of that little one and of us all.

All these things for me are about Tango and the milonga (a great metaphor for life).  Tango has it all, it can magnify all the dark shadows of our inner and outer world, it can be about lust, abuse of power, fears, ego trips etc, and that stuff has it's temptations.  But over my many years dancing and teaching across the world and having watched Tango happen and be created and recreated to bring out the best and the worst in people, I realised that Tango (like life in our larger worlds) is extremely generous, it gives us the space to create the world we want to see around us.  And I don't know about you but I am clear about the environment I'd like to live in, and I love Tango because in my world and in my perception, it bring us together to enjoy each other with all our differences, to simply go for a walk with someone in a hug, caring for each other along the way, with a bit of play, a bit of seduction.  The 'leader' may think her's in control but the better and wiser he gets the more he realises it's about getting in 'the flow' with the partner other people, space and music around… We all know that it feels and looks best when two people come together, each their own unique self harmonised.  And for me, watching a room harmonise, not through excessive rules but through intelligence, a sense of consideration and caring and a sense of togetherness, all dancing to the same tune in his or her own unique way, this is life in creation, it's the same magic, that babies are made of. 

It is scientifically proven that we are best when we are in harmony, that our bodies are made up of 50-100 trillion individual entities (cells) cooperating, that cells respond and adapt to their environment, a good, nurturing environment promotes health, growth and increased complexity (i.e.intelligence / lower entropy) and visa versa.  This is the way of all cells, that is the way of nature and that is the way of our society and our little microcosm of Tango.

And these pregnant ladies, remind us of all this wisdom, and in joy, we smile.


Dedicated to Linda & John Tango Garden's expecting parents and to the life creating intelligence in us all.

By Maral Kojayan

Mariano playing in Tonehalle Theatre in Dusseldorf  with his tango orchestra Sexteto Milonguero

ALIGNMENT OBSERVATION EXERCISE 1 (all levels):
Stand in front of a mirror on a non-carpeted floor, feet together in a comfortable parallel, knees straight but unlocked.

A) With your weight evenly distributed, visually observe your posture and alignment from the front and BOTH side.  Check from the front for tilted hips and shoulders (i.e. not parallel to the ground) See image below to help you find a comfortable (neither tense, nor slouching) alignment.

B) Transfer your weight to one leg (supporting leg), but ensure that there is no tension in the free leg (i.e. the foot will still have contact with the floor, but without any weight in it).

C) As before, visually observe your alignment, the position of your hips, ribs and shoulders.  Note any changes you see in your pelvis and hips when you go from one leg to two and back to one.
Check from the front for tilted hips and shoulders as well as for any additional tension you may see or feel in your legs/supporting knee/neck/torso/arms and even hands. 

D) Feel where the weight is in your foot;
i) move the weight around in your foot from side to side and ball to heal to FEEL what changes happen in your body and where you feel you can stand up on one leg with least tension.
ii) once you find that place tilt your head slightly forward and feel how your body compensates for the change.  Return the head to neutral.
iii) now tilt your head slightly backwards and feel how your body compensates for the change.
QUESTION: Do you normally allow your neck free so that your head rests in neutral position or is it tilting back or falling forward?


E) Repeat D as above but this time refer back to the mirror to SEE what changes.

F) Repeat B to E on the other leg to SEE and FEEL differences from one side to the other.

This is a good start to help you perceive and understand your own body, postural alignment, imbalances and asymmetries.  Though very tempting, don't worry about things being 'wrong' or you needing to 'fix' things by doing X and Y.  The answer is usually to do with releasing tensions and allowing expansion upwards and outwards.  

Your body is intelligent and knows how to remain balanced, too much unconscious mental interference and holding tight to places can only complicate alignment and health.  

Healthy well balanced postural alignment is a delicate process.  It is not something that can be 'fixed' immediately.  Healthy alignment and body use is developed first by the continuous practice of self observation, followed by very gentle gradual modifications and more observation.   

It's very important to understand that our perceptions can be false!  Using a mirror or photographing/filming yourself can be very useful in this process as it helps to align your perception with the external reality.

Happy observing
Maral

Image from www.fitness-programs-for-life.com

Opening our ears and hearts. Listen to this beautiful 'flamencoified' Argentine Tango!

As promised in our Workshop on Saturday 8th December entitled "It's about the Little Things: working with small, precise, spontaneous and rhythmically expressive movements "  Here are a couple of "cuatrun" (4-1) moments characteristic of Gustavo Naveira. See around 0:10min and 1.07min and see if you see any more...
Enjoy.

Here is a video for those who get excited about musicality and musical expression. This is a great example of what we were discussing in our class at Tango on the Thames on Sunday 25th November, entitled "musical expression: quality of movement, cuts, pauses and changes in dynamics inspired by D'Arienzo and Di Sarli".  Here we see perfectly the sharp movement, cuts and pauses used to reflect the same qualities we hear in the music.