bastetcat

Portland

2009-10-21T13:19:36Z

Ah Tangofest...it was a good festival...Here's what I learned...in a nutshell.

I tend to prefer the really good American teachers for group classes. The really good American teachers tend to teach "concept" classes. I tend to get a lot more out of this type of class set up. The absolutely best of them teach concept and then a combination to show how the concept works in real time.

Korey Ireland is awesome.

I tend to avoid Argentine teachers now for group classes as almost every single Argentine teacher I have ever had, whether I thought them good or bad, teaches by pattern.

I like Argentine teachers for private lessons. The really good ones know how to get right to what's going wrong posturally and technically...even when you are wearing baggy clothes :-) And the couple we took lessons from (Gustavo and Maria) were quite good about beign hands on and fixed a few very importnat things on me and made me aware of something I'd been trying to do for quite some time. I'm still not perfect at it, but hey...at least I know what to go for now!

As usual, I found that even what people would consider "Intermediate" level dancers there are better than most of the dancers in my own town, especially concerning musicality, posture and embrace. (No one gave me a back ache there...as opposed to my first milonga back home, where I promptly ended up with a back ache after.)

Overall, I really liked the "style" of Tangofest. They had "milonga follies", a much more lighthearted approach to a milonga (early in the evening), where instead of cortina's they had skits of problems that are often encountered in the crowded milongas there and how to avoid them, plus encouraged people to dance with people they didn't know at all via cabaceo- sort of an Argentine version of a mixer. They also had a tango history movie made by the Argentine couple that we had gone there to study from for the week, which was informative and respectful of the past people who had strong influences in Tango without all the over-sentimental clap-trap and rose colored glasses. My only problem was my Spanish was so bad, I had to move up to the front on the floor to see the translations. All these extra-curricular activities gave the festival a more "complete" feel as opposed to just class, class, dance...class, class, dance.

One thing that was REALLY nice was the orchestra on the night of the Grande Ball. Totally changed my mind about dancing to live music. Well, if you knew what we had to put up with for live music here, you'd understand why!

It was a full orchestra composed of mainly dancers who were also serious musicians. The FOUR bandoneonists were Alex Krebs, Korey Ireland, Ben Bogart (ok- he's a master bandoneonist who dances a bit), and one other I can't remember. A local teacher played piano, and at least one of the string section was a tango teacher from California. It was LOVELY. They played DANCEABLE music with a good beat that didn't wander or drop in and out continually. No Piazolla, very little Pugliese and Pugliese-ish music. They understood that was not appropriate for the crowd level and played a lot of recognizable tunes...after all Korey did the arrangements.

Here's a link to the evaluation survey results from Clay.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/sr.aspx?sm=8ghrq2aYva6NOhUOPZKlRPLMdf7zZ6x70LqRfJHozuw_3d

tango heresy

2009-09-26T23:39:38Z

I dance mostly close embrace. I like it. That's what I do...give me a flat on style or a chest to chest "v" and I'm very happy...Open and "almost closed", I'll do them if I have to, but it's not my preference and I'll admit to being mostly adequate now through lack of use.

I am also quite happy that I can apparently hold a 200 lb person in place while standing on one leg....but that's irrelevant here...

I posted this on a forum and it has given me heretical tango thoughts...

"I danced with someone the other day (I was leading) and was attempting close embrace. I got through about 3 phrases of the music and had to switch to open just to be able to match her weight placement.

I know (from experience, because my main job is following) that this can make the follower feel bad, and this is the hardest thing for me to deal with regarding close embrace, because it can lead to a little flattening of the ego but if people can't learn how to match their partner, what else can you do? It was either move to a more comfortable position, or stumble all over her."

One of the main problem in my area for dancing tango is lack of floorcraft abilities and awareness about small space dancing. It's why my partner and I went to learn close embrace and all the elements that are common to it.

But I still dance small space type elements, even when I am not in close embrace and employ the same floorcraft techniques. So I am beginning to mentally separate the 2, with the possibility that people who don't like close embrace (too bad for them) should still be able to learn small space dancing, even if they keep a "close open" or open position.

Hmmm......not strictly milonguero, but I'm a bit of a rebel. I like a little modernity.

what a week!

2009-09-26T22:25:56Z

It's been an interesting week for me tango-wise.

My other half is away and I spent all week teaching classes by myself. I think this has been a good thing because it really helps me learn how to consolidate and solidify my viewpoints without relying on anyone else.

We worked on walking up north...because they need it. They are trying, but I think I've thought it through enough now to make progress. With some groups it just seems to be constant trial and error til you find something that works. It took me forever to find a good explaination of embrace and posture. None of the usual ones we use seemed to be working. Gotta love 'em- they're a tough crowd!

On the other hand, I did a private lesson with a couple who just naturally fell right in to close embrace. I kept trying to take them out of it because it's normally a big fail and stumbling block for beginners, but they actually were doing well in it and kept sliding to it when I would try to talk about open so I worked on that instead and dropped my usually beginner spiel. At the start of the lesson walking and weight changes weren't happening and all they had was a pattern another teacher downtown had shown them (basic 8). After I had them drop that and just work on walking, weight changes and side steps plus connection, they went "wow, that was different".

Yes- having to actually connect and lead and follow is quite different from a pattern. I feel really bad that they spent money on 8 private lessons with this person before they came to us, but I guess you have to let it go at some point. I've certainly been there...money under the bridge....*sigh*

Who hair sprayed my cats???!!!

2009-09-21T12:57:32Z

Ok- there's not REALLY hair spray on my cats...but this is the weirdest thing.

We had LOADS of rain (yee-haw!) and I guess this has triggered a belated blooming of all plants and the accompanying pollen attack, which knocked me flat last week.

A few days ago, I noticed that the long haired brother and sister (Velvet and Elvis) had weird feeling fur..very dry and brittle. I figured it was just that I had forgotten to comb them or something so I did but every time they came in from outside, their fur was dry and brittle, like they had hair spray on it.

Then in the car, I kept noticing little sparkly bits on the windshield, but it wasn't raining...so we stuck our fingers on it and it was sticky.

I put 2 and 2 together and figured SOMETHING out there (maybe elm) was making loads of pollen to make up for the very very dry summer and that this is what the cats were getting on them every time they went out...ewww.

day off

2009-09-10T21:56:34Z

Why can't I get myself to work on things I am supposed to on my days off?

I MEANT to work on new earring designs (and rest my legs, which have been seriously bothering me lately)...but instead..read email, posted on forums, and played with the cats instead. :)

My show over the weekend was alright, but it hasn't been a good week for me. My other car is still broken, and no chance this week to go get it fixed.

I stand for 7 hours on concrete a couple of days a week and 4 hours on another, then teach tango in the evenings and my legs have really started bothering me since I started this new schedule. I am utterly worn out in the evenings and forget any thoughts of wanting to dance on the weekends right now...I'd rather sleep!

And my tango shoes I wanted REALLY REALLY bad may not be coming. They only had enough of the leather I wanted to make 2 pairs of shoes, so we are guessing on my size...sigh...a pair of neutral tango shoes in fish scale leather just doesn't seem to be on the agenda for me.

AND...the rain keeps bypassing us! GRRRR....

no tango

2009-09-04T21:02:06Z

no tango for me this weekend, and I've been absolutely bushed every day this week...getting ready for a bead show and the hopes of selling some new designs...

like these fun earrings:

and beads

My hamstrings have been in bad shape, needing massage and probably partly due to being on concrete floors at work.

I sure hope my feet and legs are up to those new shoes I am (somewhat still) patiently waiting for...

over excited leads

2009-08-21T15:11:25Z

I wasn't going to poast any tango today...but I will anyway since I am pondering a problem.

Over-excited leads.

I can totally understand getting in to the music. I know I do and I think it's a shame that there are people that seem to dance as if they are dead or walking like they are dead and feeling nothing, just doing the steps.

Then there's the other end of the spectrum. The over-excited lead (or follow). Though I am talking about over-excited leads here. The leads who get so in to what they are listening to that their whole body goes haywire and starts to send distracting signals, compromising the embrace, posture, and their lead....Arms usually become involved at this point and give the follow a bad ride. Luckily, my balance is not terrible and I have learned over the years how to compensate a little so I am not entirely pulled to pieces...but...

Must.Find.Way.To.Channel.Energy.Positively.To.Partner

so defunct

2009-08-21T14:51:58Z

I'm having a day off today...we'll as much of a day off as ever I get in my life...so I am pondering the state of my eBay.

I used to make my living making lampwork beads and selling a fair amount of them on eBay, and making enough to squeek by on.

Not so anymore. Let's just say I've had about a 100% decrease in lampwork sales. Man, I was so upset a year ago when I was making half what I used to and so had to go out and find another part time job, plus teach social tango part time, plus try to keep up with the beads. Now I'd just be grateful to make that much again.

So I've been doing this for the past year now, and making less and less on eBay, while my fees have increased.

I honestly can't figure out how I am losing $30-40 a month on fees when I rarely make over $100 a month anymore. That's something close to 40 and 50 percent cut, off wholesale price....and doesn't include Paypal fees. I'm lucky to pay myself anything from that account at the end of the month, and I'm exhausted, but I can't stop listing or people will forget about me completely.

So I sent out an email to the people on my mailing list to say I was seriously cutting down the online store, and moving handmade items over to my derelict Etsy account I haven't posted in for months because it's not a particularly "user friendly" place to "find" items. People who seem to do well there drive their business there from elsewhere. I guess it can't be any worse than eBay and I'll just have to give it a try again.

tango shoes

2009-08-20T20:33:29Z

I am eagerly awaiting a pair of tango shoes. I have dutifully got most of my other shoes for sale (at http://www.bastetsbeads.com/tangoshoes.htm ) that aren't fitting me properly (that's most of them)...and am awaiting a nice LOW heel pair of shoes by Greta Flora through Diva Boutique...

I've tried peep and close toe shoes, and they just hurt my toes. So I'm going back to open toes. I hope I don't entirely regret it...a stepped on toe is just about the most unfun thing you can do in dancing...and it always happens to the one toe I really don't want it to happen to- my big toe.

But-nerves aside- the shoes are gorgeous and Greta Flora has quickly been gaining a good rep.

Here's a preview of a pair I'm considering in purple.

more tango

2009-08-07T14:46:36Z

My last workshop got me thinking again...yet again. And the more I think about it, the more annoyed by it I become.

I have no problem with learning large or fancy movement. And in the second class I was in, we did learn something rather large.

What annoyed me about this (and still does) is that the teacher spent quite some time going on about social dancing, embraces used on the social floor and how we don't dance like they do in Argentina. Then she goes on to show a pattern that would NEVER be used on a crowded social floor in Buenos Aires. Have a look at some youtube videos of milongas in BsAs and you won't see any overlarge movement regarless of the crowd (at least at the traditional milongas). To me, that was just plain ole' wrong and a very poor decision.

Milonga at Nino Bien: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVV83rj9aOc
Milonga at Cachirulo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8myVFqoHi4 (end of the night- they are dancing a little wilder, but this would be "tame" dancing here in America)

I've been pondering it ever since and can only come up with one possibility that fits. Perhaps teachers teach this was in BsAs but somehow, from somewhere, the students are also learning how to make the judgement between what is correct for the social floor and what is not (or at least how to pare down their movement). And that truly is something that is a problem in America with the social dancers. Many of them don't think about what they learn and it's application or non-application to the social floor nor how to make judgments of what is ok to use and what isn't.

Where is this coming from? Is it the fault of the teachers for not specifically teaching the students how to judge the applicability of what they learn for social floor versus performance, or are we just, in general, really dumb?

on cats and tango and hot summer days

2009-08-05T14:36:51Z

It's the dog days of summer now. We've had one day of rain in the last month...and it was about maybe .50 inch. That's not good. The garden has long since passed on to brown. No amount of water could save it from weeks of unbroken days over 100 degrees F. Maybe the fall garden (should we ever get anything remotely resembling fall) will be better.

It's so hot the Mitten (Mittles) sleeps under the house during the day...

And Elvis decided that taking a nap with his rump in his waterbowl was a good idea:

He's not the brightest candle in the bunch.

For tango, I am eagerly awaiting the tango festival in Portland in October and some instruction with some new teachers and my regular teacher Alex (for a reality check). I am not exactly sure how the instruction will differ for the festival versus what the regular teachers teach for social dancing, but I'm sure to still get plenty to chew on.

I had a couple of classes over the weekend that left me exhausted. One technique class taught by Daniela Arcuri where she made us work our legs, feet and upper torso positions. I haven't done that kind of stuff in years! I was so tired!

The second class focused on embrace for the first half. Her words, I believe, boiled down to something like "I've seen how you are dancing here (in America or Texas?) and I want to show you how we dance in Argentina. You go to clases and you practice and then you go to the milonga and use an ambrace." That was the jist of it. And if she meant just my area of Texas and it's persistant use of what she calls a "practice" embrace as the main method of "embracing", I can surely believe her....

She spent a great deal of time explaining how a slightly offset "v" embrace works technically. And this wasn't the variety of "v' I have learned in the past, with body contact mainly in the armpit/shoulder area, but a full torso contact embrace. Thinking back over the years and the first time I learned close embrace, I think what she taught was what my original close embrace teacher wanted to go for, but was not able to convey to me. Ah well, no biggie, I went to Portland a couple of years ago and learned the brother of this closed "v", the flat on chest to chest close embrace favored there.

I do like how she explained the whole range of positions for the "v" embrace, and how to accomodate socially for it, especially with people who don't know how to do close embrace. She basically said, you just have to use the practice(classroom) embrace with follows hand on the leads shoulder blade or arm and fully upright posture, which was the conclusion I came to some time ago..and so I make do on the occasions when I go out dancing, and try to limit time spent dancign with people who only know how to dance this way.

I did not like the rather large and unsocial pattern she showed to the class in the last half. It was unnecesaarly large, not suitale for a crowded floor (which most floors in my area are) but based on something entirely social that she COULD have shown, but didn't. I am chagrined that I didn't even ask about it, but I was so busy trying to deal with the problems I wa encountering in practice that I didn't think about it. I will have to do better about that in lessons and learn to ask to be shown how things could be paired down for the social floor, because I doubt most people would think to do that. They go to a workshop, the teacher shows them something, and because it's the teacher they assume that what has been shown is OK to use anywhere, anytime. That is the fault of the teachers, IMO, and it's very dissapointing because it turned what could have been a great class in to one where I ended up rolling my eyes and saying "Oye- now people will try this long sequence of huge sweeping boleos at a restaurant and take out half a dozen couples". The teachers must think the people they teach have the sense of judgement to know better and also know how to pare things down (as I was trying to do) but that, in my experience, has not been the case.

pickling

2009-05-12T12:30:12Z

Pickling....that's what my grandma used to do in the summer...pickled green beans, pickled cucumbers...green tomato chow chow....

I wish I'd paid a little more attention to all this when she was around because now I have decided to try pickling.

We've got gardens....

corn...check
green beans...check
tomatoes...check check
cucumbers...check
pumpkin....I'm still not entirely convinced the plants that came up are pumpkin...

I got some jars from the chow chow my mother in law gave us in the fall...
I got vinegar, and dill...

So I found a recipe and watched a video or two and decided to give it a go. After some frantic vinegar cooking to make a big enough batch, putting jars in water baths and all that, I had 3 jars of pickled beans and onions. I closed the jars like they said- not too tight while they were hot, and sure enough 15 or so minutes later, the jars made popping sounds and sealed themselves- very cool! I can only hope I got the pickling mixture right and they will taste alright now. I guess I'll know in a couple of weeks!

tango pictures

2009-04-15T14:23:49Z

We've been having fun with video stills...I've been going though videos we take of our practicing (always a necessity to try to ge the bugs out) and saving still photos from them because we don't have hardly any decent looking pics of us dancing...

This prompted a round of getting "nice" dance pics made (photos coming soon) but I think I did alright on my own with the stills...the professional photography has some great shots (silhouettes and frozen boleos), but we're just not that fancy. I'm glad we went through the experience though...more on that later...

Here's some recent photos...

Shoe Train- the 2008 Shoe Review

2009-01-02T23:02:00Z

It's the end of the year and I decided to take stock of all my tango shoes and give them a good cleaning to start the new year out right. And since the tango shoe blog I had been blogging on for the last year or so (Tango Shoe Divas) seems to be a little defunct (you can still get to it, but you have to know how...) I thought I'd go ahead and keep carrying the torch over here for awhile.

Pretty shoes, while not a necessity for dancing tango, really do become a little bit of an addiction after awhile. And I had a lot of shoe disasters this past year so it's time to reflect on pretty shoes, comfort shoes and what I really think I need for the next year. So I'll go through my shoes by makers and comment on them, what I think of them...and more importantly, how they make my messed up feet feel after an hour of dancing.

Why is this such an obsession? Well, I have a lot of foot problems and so while I want my feet to look pretty, I don't care to be crippled after 5 years of dancing from wearing bad or tight shoes so finding the right shoe is a must...and takes trial and error...in my case...lots of error!

Here's the shoe train: I have 2 pairs of Comme Il Fauts, 2 Neotangos that I am happy with, 2 pairs of Jorge Nel's Forever dance shoes, 2 pairs of Diva-Boutique shoes and my practice shoes....that's 8 pairs of tango shoes, plus the practice pair...heavy on the black, not too bad for a low buget diva. The only thing I really need is a nice pair of dressy neutral shoes....

Now I'll go through them by maker...

The ever fashionable COmme Il Faut:

I'm really not all that fond of CIF...the are so pretty...and have so little padding in the front my feet hurt in as little as 30 mintues when I wear them. I have probably worn these 2 pairs less than 10 times each since I got them. They do cut the shoes well, and they are rock solid stable in the heel placement. But why can't they just update to modern times with the padding and offer a heel that is under 3 1/4" up the back? It's NOT necessary to have teetering heels to look good while dancing....

Neotango:

I like Neotango. They have good flexibility in the soles, which helps me be able to wear them a lot longer while dancing (though not the whole evening most days). These are the pretty sparkly lame' and suede model. The sparkly heel is the main attraction here. And it comes in a more comfortable 6.5cm heel...much more up my alley. The bad news is, they seem to have variable QC when it comes to fit. These are both the same model shoe, but the red ones ran quite wide. That ended up being ok, because I added a padded insole and they feel great...but if you aren't expecting that, well....that's a problem at $170 per pair. And don't even ask about that purple pair my friend exchanged for me in BSAs back in November....

Jorge Nel (Forever Dance shoes)

I like these shoes. They are fun. They were less than half the price of Comme Il Faut at a tango workshop. He was set up at the big tango weekend here and I went a little nuts going back and forth to get the right shoe. They fit alright. I'm not as fond of the heel placements he uses, but the pink ones were my favorite. They shouldn't have fit, but they are cut wide and they did. Bad thing is that the sizing on his shoes is very variable (size 6's labeled as 5, size 6's that fit like 7's and 7's that fit like 6's) so I wouldn't buy over the Internet, only at a show where I could try things on. Worth it for some fun shoes if you can find him at a workshop.

Diva Boutique:

Kathleen designs some nice shoes. The materials are good quality. She does some lower heels and some higher heels. They are comfortable, and decently priced. The only thing I think could be improved on is the padding on the insoles. It could be updated to something newer and more "squishy", and maybe some lower heels that aren't quite so granny looking...

Bloch:

I love my Bloch Splitflex. They are really comfortable. I can wear these little guys for hours. They have a 2 1/2" heel which is high enough but not too high...and very stable shank under the foot with a very flexible sole. (This was my main complaint against "character" shoes in the past, but Bloch solved it.)

And Tara tango:

Though I don't own these, I tried the new Tara Alegria shoes on recently. They are really pretty, very comfortable and had very soft leather with interchangebale cross strap or scarf tie. Her padding in these rocks...it's all the way from heel to toe and nice and "squishy". The bad news is these heels were too high for me (at 3.5") so they could not be my valentine...though she does have lots of low heel styles. I'm usually not all that fond of her styles (too conservative) but these were really nice.

shoe nightmare

2008-11-19T16:10:38Z

Well- A friend of mine ended up being able to exchange the pretty black and red pair of shoes for me when she went to Buenos Aires....and got me a replacement pair of a style I have worn before...

They are so pretty!!!! They are too tight!!!!

How can the shoe manufacturer's there possibly do any worse on quality control! They are a size 6, but on the regular to narrow side rather than the WIDE side that I need...

So here is a beautiful piece of eye candy...because that's all I can do is put it on the shelf and look at it....my chubby toes just don't like it!

Perhaps I can take them to Houston for Homer and Christina's workshop an dmaybe someone will fit them....

tango shoes

2008-10-01T16:31:40Z

Are you or someone you know addicted to Argentine Tango?

Need a good pair of shoes?

I got these beautiful Neotango shoes from a friend who just got back from Argetnina and got them for me. They are too big...I am a US 6-6.5 and these are a 7.

Black suede with red leather details. leather soles, 6.5 cm heel (2.5" up the front edge and 3" up the back side)- very comfortable. 9.5" length on the insole and 3" width.

I tried them on once and my mom (who wears somewhere between a 7-7.5 tried one on too and found them a little tight for her) so they are brand new, never been danced in.

US retail on these is $170+. I've got them posted for $130 so it's a good discount for a really good quality pair of shoes...

Evolution

2008-10-01T14:00:20Z

Popular bumper stickers in the town I live in...

"EVOLUTION IS A LIE"

"W"

"Bush 2004"

"Bush 2000"

Well- that ought to give you some idea of what my town is like...always a joy trying to negotiate the minefield of social conservatives here....

milonga

2008-08-05T00:35:37Z

Some pictures from a recent milonga we held at a coffee shop...a milonga is both a type of music style danced in the Argentine tango family and also a tango dance party.... :)

Hollow Beads

2008-04-16T16:52:03Z

Recently, I had a customer who wanted hollow beads. I hadn't done hollow beads in over a year and figured I would regret it but said yes anyway because she has been a regular for awhile and I get sentimental about that and try to please.

Unfortunately- when you don't do something for over a year that you used to do really well, it's very frustrating getting it going again. I felt like I was reinventing the wheel.

But- after a few bad starts- my persistance paid off. The hollow beads I am doing now are some of the biggest and nicest ever. I think I've finally memorized the proper technique for them again!

This weeks hollow beads (and a few others):

Chicken TV

2008-04-16T16:44:22Z

Some days- it's like living on a farm around here!

These chickens turned up in our yard a couple of months ago. They've been wandering around in our yard and the neighbors daily...Turns out the neighbor 2 doors down bought them. They just wander up and down our part of the street doing chicken things.... The cats are totally entranced by this. They sit out in their cat pen and watch them every day they show up under the oak tree. I call it chicken TV! (and thank my lucky stars they are not roosters.)

Beads Beads and More Beads

2008-04-10T14:59:57Z

Lampwork and more lampwork. A few people have suggested I post pictures of what I spend my days doing and so here it goes...lampwork lampwork and more lampwork (when I am not dancing tango).

I've been revisting some older ideas with some newer glass. Sculpted flowers made with veiled Gaffer cane, a special glass from New Zealand that has layers of color. When you work with it the beads get a watercolor effect because of the color layering...It also makes a great base for the little floral urn shaped beads. The Gaffer colors are always bright and juicy, which I love.

Dixie-ness

2007-09-14T17:04:06Z

Go ahead and test your dialect....find out just how Dixie you are...I'm from the South and so it is no surprise at all that I am 68% Dixie in my dialect...y'all. ;-P

http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/yankee_dixie_quiz.html

tagged

2007-09-11T21:24:05Z

ok- I got tagged by orangepaisley for this but I will start out saying I don't even KNOW seven people so tagging others will be almost non existant from me...

1. I have a very hard time saying no to anything chocolate.
2. I have a fetish for nice Tango shoes but regular footwear I could care less about.
3. I love to go out and dance but I am a reclusive introvert in most other areas.
4. It's been nearly a decade since anyone has seen my real hair color.
5. I have a purse that says "Tinkerbell".
6. I work with hot glass and a flame but have horrid fears of death by fire. (Probably means I was burned at the stake in a past life.)
7. Almost all my cats have names/nicknames that end in and "ee" sound.

I tag kaleetha, tangomusicology and oliana0 if they happen to read this since i don't really know how this works.

long time away

2007-07-24T00:16:27Z

I've been a long time away...well- I still lurked really, I just couldn't remember my password for the life of me...but it's been a busy sort of non-busy 3 months....

I joined http://www.dance-forums.com where you can read all about most any kind of partner dance you like...even Argentine Tango. They get som pretty lively debates going, as one would expect for Argentine Tango.

I joined http://www.tangoshoedivas.com/shoedivas/ so I could be a shoe diva too...well...considering my dance shoe collection, I was probably already well on my way...I have no idea how I happened upon this site...In my quest for a very particular Tango shoe (see below)I was combing all the known North American distributors of Comme Il Faut for a particular purple pair of heels. I think I was looking for shoes by a lady who sells under the name "Diva Boutique" and stumbled across the shoe diva site. There are Tango shoe reviews aplenty, some from me and some from others plus many other stories and tales to satisfy your shoe curiosity.

I tried to start an alternative practica, had no money to fund it, and no one showed up, so closed it down.

Closed down another practica we started last year becasue it really had outlived it's usefulness.

Accpeted a request to run for VP of our local ballroom dance club (yes- now I am VP). Not sure how this will turn out as I told them at the beginning that I am not a good organizer...but I said I would try.

And danced and took workshops as often as possible.

The perfect Tango shoe:

For the dance obsessed

2007-04-24T17:49:34Z

For those who may be dance obsessed (you know who you are), I have recently joined an online dance forum. Plenty of pleasant people and fun topics, covering pretty much all the social dances, including Argentine Tango and West Coast Swing. YOu can lurk all you want.

http://www.dance-forums.com/index.php