On Saturday 29th February we held our annual event, the Tango Movement Winter Ball, at the Finsbury Town Hall, Islington.
One of our favourite moments of the night is when a group of advanced students take to the dancefloor to give a choregraphed tango show.
The show is the culmination of 4 months of rehearsals and imnense effort. It’s a nerve-wracking but incredibly rewarding experience.
We asked one of the dancers in our Student Show, Olga to talk about her experience from rehearsals through to the night itself:
“I’ve been dancing for as long as I can remember myself: ballet, Russian folk dance, ballroom – my school years were spent either by the barre (sometimes in tears over my lack of flexibility) or in preparation for concerts and competitions.
Having moved to London, I started taking Latina classes again, but in time I felt I’d rather prefer something else…completely different to be honest: my dancing needed to be social, creative, elegant, improvised, lacking an overt drama, but full of emotions at the same time and also quite challenging. Tango ticked all the boxes.
After taking numerous, but somewhat sporadic, private classes with various teachers for about 6 years, I finally decided to join Tango Movement school that I‘ve been following on Instagram for some time (admiring their technique and amiable approach). What a decision! The best ever present to myself! And when Kim and David invited me to participate in the student show in February 2020, I was over the moon and also very grateful for their trust and the given opportunity.
On the first day of the rehearsals I remember thinking: “Oh my god, how am I gonna do this at all?”. The music was so fast, the steps were challenging and my body was aching all over for the next couple of days (although I’m not a stranger to exercising). But we were very determined to have it done.
Every Monday for almost 4 months we were there practicing, working on choreography and timing, correcting our mistakes, sweating really hard for that final result. It’s not just the new steps that we learnt, but also responsibility and cooperation, teamwork and tolerance, and a good motivation for further development (for instance, I started taking stretching classes to deliver better results).
David’s professionalism, patience and sense of humour was a cornerstone for our success. My partner Kiran and I managed to establish a good and productive relationship over this time, sometimes practising outside the rehearsal hours to polish the steps and helping each other to improve.
The atmosphere within the group was also very friendly and supportive, I didn’t feel any tension which could have easily casted a gloom over the whole experience. My goal was to primarily enjoy myself and improve my technique, while trying something new and exciting, and I certainly have reached it!
On the day of the performance I was in awe of everything: the grandeur of the Finsbury Hall, the lighting, the live orchestra, the beautifully dressed people and of our teachers Kim and David being so supportive and encouraging. And beautiful too of course!
Just before going on the dance floor I felt quite excited, but not at all nervous or timid – we’ve been well prepared and we were going to rock it! And we did.
I enjoyed every single second of the performance and also I was amazed at how many people approached me later to express their appreciation. My husband was so proud of me, in fact he had been only slightly prouder on the days when I gave birth to our kids!
The festive atmosphere of the evening, the exquisiteness of our attire, the warm acceptance by the audience, the bubbly “apres-dance” celebration with the group and the pride in the eyes of Kim and David made this experience truly unforgettable and worth every effort.”
