‘The complacency of competance’

Well, I would say this, wouldn’t I, but everyone who is interested in the standard of their dancing needs to have regular lessons from a good teacher.

Without work your dancing will naturally deteriorate.  Those bad habits and technique weaknesses aren’t going to cure themselves.  Left unattended they will get worse, and become a permanent fixture of your dancing. Your regular partners might not notice the gradual decline, but  other dancers will.

I see it in people who’ve been dancing for a long time.  They may have lots of friends who’ll dance with them, but their dancing is getting slowly worse. They are off-axis, have unhealthy posture or weird embraces, and aren’t exploring the beautiful music. And they’re starting to wonder why it’s getting harder for them to get dances.

We all like to think that we’re good dancers, and it is uncomfortable to consider the weaknesses in your dancing, but just sometimes it’s worth swallowing your pride, leaving your ego behind, and accepting that someone might be able to help you improve.

As for which teacher to choose… well that’s up to you, and should probably be left for another Post!

There are loads of Tango DJs out there, but when you’re a bit of a control freak (me?) and very choosy about who you allow to DJ at your events then it can get tricky.  And preparing for this year’s Eastonathon event has been as arduous as ever.

I’ve visited a lot of milongas to check out DJs, there are always lots of suggestions from helpful other dancers, and some DJs got a guest slot at our Anniversary Milonga too.  But… let’s just say that I’m always amazed at the different approaches that people take to the DJ job, and how professional they are (or not!).

So the team that are coming to Eton to DJ at Easter have passed my closest scrutiny and boy, am I pleased with the line-up!

There are some well-known and much loved faces; Kirsty Bennett, Ricardo Peixoto, Antonio Martinez,

And some new names at Eton; Solveig Jansen, Hiba Faisal, and Anthony Cronin

Oh, and me.

We’ve had loads of messages of thanks and congratulations for our 10th Anniversary, but this one took the Biscuit – literally!  Kasia had it made in Poland for us, and brought it along to our lesson on Sunday, and we don’t know whether to tuck in to it with a mug of coffee, or just admire it!