I feel like I have just been robbed by a fat woman name Graciela Gonzalez. You can find her flyers for women’s technique classes everywhere. So after seeing it circulating for a long time I finally decided to give it a try. The seminar took place in El Beso: 4 hours for 80pesos.
Before I insert too many personal comments I will summarize the Seminario de Tecnic y Adornos para Mujeres to my best recollection as objective as possible:
The class started 20 minutes late.
We began with three exercises involving a partner: (1 hour)
- Guide your partner around the room holding her hand while she keeps her eyes closed for one song. When the song ends, switch roles. After that there was a ten-minute discussion about trusting your partner.
- Do the same exercises with your partner’s eyes closed but this time you’re only to touch different parts of her body without push or pull to direct her to go different directions. One song and switch roles. Ten-minute follow up discussion on nothing.
- The third time guide your partner by pulling tightly onto the lower center of her bra and the top of her pants just below the bellybutton. (This was a rather violent demonstration so if you take the class I suggest you stand away from her during this segment to avoid being the victim of her abuse.) And again switch roles at the end followed by a long discussion about the center of gravity.
This brings us to the end of first half: a very lengthy talk about the “water and the lion”. You have to imagine a tube going from your vigina to the bottom of your diaphragm that is filled with water. As the water flows through your body it up lefts your abdomen muscles and opens up your rib cages. The water will also flow under your arms to give you the sensation of standing in a swimming pool with your arms open. The “lion” is the attitude you have when Antonio Banderas walks into the room. What I just said in three sentences took Graciela about 45 minutes, which concluded the first two hours of the workshop.
After a 20 minute break we resumed with the second half for another hour and a half. This is the actual technique part of the workshop.
After each participant placed a chair in front of them, we were told to show her our forward and backward ochos for two songs as she causally chatted with people at the bar. When the music ended she came back and showed us her ochos. Graciela said that you should dance exactly like the way your walk, not with toes sliding on the floor but land with your heels first. The free leg belongs to the men and should not be used to assist pivots. 20 minutes later the students practice for two songs. She came over and corrected me by saying I should never pivot from the hips but to turn my whole body to each direction as I do the ochos. This involves the complete movement of the chest, head and shoulders from side to side. She later demonstrated the same point to the rest of the class. The same procedure followed for back ochos for another half hour.
Graciela then said, “If you have cameras, now it’s time to get them out.” She placed three set of chairs in front of her with another woman keeping her weight on them so they can not be moved easily. The music came on as she flaunted her ornaments by brandishing her fat legs around while supporting herself on the back of the chairs. After the “show” she said nothing about ornaments or showed us how to do them. Graciela simply said, “Ok, now you practice them for two songs.”
The last 15 minutes were spent on giros. Graciela said you should always keep your weight forward and step towards the back of the men. According to Graciela the woman should never collect her feet. If the man wants to change direction that's his problem. She briefly showed us her giros and left us two songs to practice on each other.
So that summits up the whole seminar.
While I’m appalled by some of her principles I was more disgusted with her attitude and the fact that she had just robbed me of 80pesos and 4 hours of my life. I had forgotten to mention that although Graciela speaks a little English there was a translator, so the workshop is really only 2 hours long. What a great way to scam money. This is a total tourist trap. I had a bad feeling about it in the beginning but it was like watching a terrible movie, I kept thinking maybe it will get better. The first half was a complete waste of time. Normally I would have left but 80pesos is a lot to pay for a class. The second half was even more torturous than the first. Although I don’t take many classes nowadays, I have been to a good variety of them in the past including CITA last year. Most classes, especially Nuevo ones talk about disassociation when it comes to turns and pivots. Never in my life have I been instructed to turn my whole body during an ocho. What happened to always facing the man?? What’s up with stepping down heel first rather than sliding with toes on the floor? Do tango people really need more lessons on attitude? Anyways, I could go on forever about this stuff but I’m really not that judgmental. It’s just that I was so frustrated with the workshop that I felt it was my responsibility to warn others of a woman name Graciela Gonzalez. If you like her teaching, take her classes by all means, but if the stuff doesn’t sound right to you stay away. If you are looking for a good woman’s technique class do try Aurora Lubiz at Escuela Argentina de Tango on the top floor of the Galleria Pacifico mall. She currently teaches Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 11 to 12:30, Saturday from 11:30 to 1 and Wednesday evening from 8:30 to 10.
This has been a public service announcement.