Tango Movement Lab — BauTanz

Movement Lab, what is that?
Well that is surely a borrowed term, from other movement practices….

In a movement lab, what usually happens is that people get together and “brain” or better said “body” storm; exploring movements, testing ideas, analyzing, giving and getting feedback and generally researching movement.

One can use different tools in such labs; and tools can be different dances, movement practices, meditation practices, anatomy learning, and more or some combination of them all.

Why introduce a Tango movement lab?

Well we have been in this lockdown mode for about a year now, on and off… so what are we really doing here?

What are we practicing or taking classes for?
Is there any point practicing elements tightly related and strictly specific to Tango when we can’t go social dancing?
And wouldn’t we benefit more if we used Tango as a tool to move better and with more freedom in general?

The reason therefore of letting go of the Tango practice and shifting towards a Tango movement lab, is that the latter will allow us to break free of drills and exercises and instead use Tango only as framework to find ways to move with more freedom.

By the way our first Tango Movement Lab already happened… Check it out here:

How is a Tango movement lab different from a Tango practice?

Practicing follows a different pattern than what we described above. During a practice we focus on a very specific thing; from connection to practicing ochos we are zooming in on a specific element and drilling on what we have learned in order to progress.

That in itself makes practicing necessary and important, especially in the beginning when we are trying to learn all the fundamentals and the “rules” of Tango. It is almost like memorizing words when you are trying to learn a new language. You just go over lists of words or through games and puzzles over and over again in order for them to stick.

But once that is established, how would you grow your vocabulary? Maybe you would go and get into chats with people who speak the language. Or you would see a movie in that language without subtitles, You could start learning about the history of the language and the place. Or even get into how speech is created through the body…. And so many other paths that will help grow your understanding of speaking and expressing yourself through speech overall! And the specific language you were trying to get better at… well that is now just another language… just another tool to help you speak and express yourself with more ease!

A Tango Movement Lab therefore is here to help us move and express ourselves through movement with more ease! Tango will only be another tool!

Who is with me?
If you are hit subscribe and meet me every Wednesday at 12:15pm EST on Youtube or Facebook

😉

Chrisa

P.S: If you were looking for practicing though we have a lot of that too… You can start here

Originally published at https://bautanz.com on February 11, 2021.