A year has passed... and there's so much to catch up on. We talked about Alberto and Paulina's recent tour of San Diego and San Francisco. There's also their upcoming trip to teach at the Chicago Mini Tango Festival on April 8, 2010. Alberto and Paulina both have very busy schedules. It seems that every single day of Alberto's schedule is filled with classes and other appointments with his students, and during a few of the days of our stay, Paulina had to work until 10 p.m. at night at the University, where she is a Professor of Philosophy.Every year, Alberto checks our progress. While I never give Alberto anything to worry about (ha ha! as I would say quite humbly, "I'm an excellent student") - there's always something that Man Yung is doing that troubles Alberto. "Still with all those little tiny steps and inability to pause? Man Yung, I love you but you are a very impulsive dancer!"
Summary of a class with Alberto on March 16, 2010
... I'm only joking about Man Yung. In fact he has improved a lot in the past year - but the journey for leaders is much longer than for followers, and we are extremely lucky to have teachers like Alberto in Buenos Aires who could pinpoint exactly what needs correcting and offer us advice on how to improve the quality of our dancing.
We also followed Alberto and Paulina to the milongas. The milonga scene in Buenos Aires is always changing - some days the milongas at a certain venue would be terrific, and on other days (and sometimes other times on the same day) the milongas held at the same location would be terrifying. We didn't like the milonga we went to at Maipu 444 two years ago - but upon Alberto's advice, we went on a different day this year and encountered a milonga filled with the best local milongueros and milongueras (we even bumped into Adela Galeazzi and Roberto Segarra) and excellent music. What a difference a day makes!
On the Saturday before our return to Toronto, Alberto arranged a little get-together for us with Adela Galeazzi, Elba Biscay and other friends at Glorias Argentinas. We were able to capture some amazing footage of Alberto dancing vals with Paulina:
Alberto and Paulina - Vals at Glorias Argentinas
Everywhere we go, Alberto and Paulina always steal the show whenever they take to the dance floor. I've learned a lot by just watching Paulina dance. "Your feet have to caress the dance floor," she once said to me. When Paulina dances, she is always totally at one with the music and the lead - her dancing is so gentle and loving. That's something I have to learn how to do (if I could only stop thinking about Wal-Mart!)
An evening wouldn't be complete without a surprise. The surprise of this particular evening was that Alberto had made arrangements to perform with me at Glorias Argentinas!
Exhibition at Glorias Argentinas with Alberto
(ha ha Man Yung, you will have to wait for your turn next year!)
(ha ha Man Yung, you will have to wait for your turn next year!)
You know it's a surprise because if I had known beforehand I wouldn't have worn THE SAME LULULEMON TANK TOP AND SKIRT THAT I WORE IN VIDEOS OF ALBERTO I POSTED LAST YEAR. Now the whole world thinks I only own one outfit.
If you are in the Chicago area this week, don't miss the opportunity to learn from Alberto and Paulina at the Chicago Mini Tango Festival!
