Silvia y Alain de Dance Conmigo dance Mala Junta

http://www.danceconmigo.com/ offers private and group classes in Montreal

In this dance, Silvia and Alain celebrate the 6 year of Dance Conmigo in business. It has been a wonderful experience in which great friendships and relations with the students and among the students have been established.

Street Tango

http://www.danceconmigo.com/
Dance Conmigo teaches private and group classes


Tango is a dance of the streets.

In this video, Alain Guillot and Silvia Rios take their love for tango to the people. Without any kind of permission from the city, they started their boom box, played the music and started dancing. They were accompanied by Rowing Miles, a hobby photographer.

Curious tourist would gather around, some of them immediately flipping their cameras, some other ones annoyed at being disturbed from their thoughts.

It was a great joy to just express our passion for tango, unsolicited and even illegally.

Dancing Tango at the Old port Montreal

It was a beautiful fall evening (Sep. 23rd) when Alain Guillot and Silvia Rios decided to go and on the streets of the Old Port Montreal. They asked for the assistance of their friend Rowen Miles to film them and photograph them.

As Alain and Silvia danced, curious tourist looked at them and in some occasions they applauded.

It was a wonder experience. To share the love for this seductive music.

On October 6 2012, Alain and Silvia will perform a tango during the Dance Conmigo party.

Dance Conmigo host a party the first Saturday of every month. On October 6, Dance Conmigo will teach two dance classes at the same time. One dance Class will be West Coast Swing in one room and Argentine Tango in different room. After the classes the dancers will be able to choose among three different dance floors. One dance Floor for Salsa, merengue, cha-cha; one dance floor for Argentine Tango; and the last dance floor for West Coast Swing, waltz, rumba, cha-cha, foxtrot, etc.

Dance Conmigo hopes to have all dance floors full of happy dancers.

See you all there.

Dance Conmigo invites its tango students to dance next to Mont Royal Metro

Elias from the Tango School "Comme Il Faut" has organised an event to dance tango in front of Metro Mont Royal Thursdays 16 and 23 of August from 7 to 9 pm.

Dance Conmigo would like to cooperate by inviting its students to come to dance tango in an urban environment.

Come Dance Argentine Tango with us at the heart of the Plateau Mont Royal  on Thursdays 16 and 23 of August from 7 to 9 pm.

Dance Conmigo will also be organizing a dance party on September 1st at studio Metronome from 8:00pm to midnight. The party will start with a Bachata class in on Dance floor and a Tango class in another dance floor. The cost will only be $6.

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Jeudi les 16 et 23 aout, entre 19h et 21h Tango Comme Il Faut organise une pratique d'ete en milieu urbain, devant le metro Mont Royal. Venez danser en plein coeur du Plateau Mont Royal.

Danse Conmigo organise une soirée dansante le 1er Septembre au studio métronome  à partir de 20h00 à minuit. La soirée débutera avec un cours de Bachata dans une salle de danse et un cours de Tango dans une autre salle de danse. Le coût  sera $6.

Sacadas workshop at Dance Conmigo May 25th 2012

Dance Conmigo teaches private and group classes in Montreal http://www.danceconmigo.com/tango

This was a Sacadas Workshop hosted by Alain Guillot and Cheryl Williams  held at Dance Conmigo studio on May 26th from 13h00 to 14h30.

Sacada means displacement of a leg or foot by the partner’s leg or foot or whole body. Sacadas can be discrete and hardly noticeable or big and flashy. In this video we did some Sacadas that were physically challenging, but very fun to do and visually attractive.

Sacadas Atelier/Workshop @ Dance Conmigo

(English below)
Dance Conmigo vous invite à un atelier de Sacadas, animé par Alain Guillot et Cheryl Williams, qui se tiendra au Dance Conmigo studio (3655 Saint Laurent #207) le 26 mai de 13h00 à14h30.

 Sacada signifie le déplacement d'une jambe ou d'un pied par la jambe ou le pied de votre partenaire. Venez et apprenez plusieurs variations de sacadas.

 Cet atelier est ouvert aux danseurs qui ont plus d'un an d'expérience en tango. Aucun partenaire n'est nécessaire, cependant si vous n'avez pas de partenaire, inscrivez-vous et payez avant le 22 mai. Cela nous donnera l'occasion de vous assurer que vous aurez un partenaire.

 L'atelier comprend 60 minutes d'enseignement et 30 minutes de temps de pratique. Le prix est de 15 $.

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Dance Conmigo invites you to a Sacadas Workshop hosted by Alain Guillot and Cheryl Williams to be held at Dance Conmigo studio on May 26th from 13h00 to 14h30.

 Sacada means displacement of a leg or foot by the partner’s leg or foot. Come and learn a few more variation of this visually pleasant step.

This workshop is open to dancers with more than one year experience. No partner is necessary, but if you do not have a partner, register and pay before May 22nd. This will give us an opportunity to make sure that you will have a partner.

The workshop will be 60 min of teaching and 30 minutes of practice time. The price is $15.

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Alain and Halina dancing Tango (Organito de la Tarde)

Dance Conmigo offers private and group classes in Montreal. (www.danceconmigo.com)

Alain and Halina were invited to do a Tango demonstration at a biweekly Caribbean dance party called Family Dance. This parties are organized at Studio Metronome by dance teacher Emile Darius. In this evening they dance "Organito de la Tarde" by Carlos di Sarli.

Halina Dudyk have been coming to Dance Conmigo for over 6 years, and although Halina is above all a social dancer, she enjoys the challenge of performing in front of an audience.

Alain is a Tango addict.  He will take advantage of any possible opportunity to talk about Tango, teach Tango or perform Tango. Alain would be delighted to teach or dance at your next social event.

Pictures of the Role Reversal Class

Role reversal in not only a great tool to improve the communication between partners. It is also very fun. All during the class, both leaders and followers could not stop laughing while finding themselves in the other side of the dance. I could see their brains racing to process all the information that they already had but which had to be applied from a different perspective.

I do not know how to thank my student for being so patience with us the teachers. Thank you guys. 

Circular Colgadas: Michelle & Joachim

Circular colgadas are extremely deceiving. At the beginning they seem to be so easy and natural, then as the dancers try learn all the elements that come into play, (body pasture, changes in the abrazo, momentum of the movements, foot positioning) the dancers can realize how difficult this movement can be. After many hours and even weeks of practice, it begins to feel natural, the dancers can get in and out or the circular colgadas with little hesitation  and finally, when the dancers feel comfortable with the movements they realize how easy and natural it is do and wonder how did they ever dance without circular colgadas.

At Dance Conmigo, we dedicated almost the whole Winter 2012 session to learning, practicing and experimenting with  Circular Colgadas. The students were delighted and now it has become part of their every day dancing.

Tango Music for Beginners

Dance Conmigo offers Private and group tango classes

If a person registers for a tango class, love the class and the music, the next logical step would be to get some music to practice. But here comes the question: Which is the best tango music for beginners?

Usually my first tango lesson every session starts with walks. Without explaining any of the characteristics of the Tango walk, I ask students to walk as if they were walking in the streets and then I put a tango song. This Tango song has to be a song in which the beat is clear and constant.

Some of the favorite composers used for beginner classes are Carlos Di Sarly, Francisco Canaro and Miguel Calo; their music has a clear and simple tempo that is easy to follow in our Tango infancy.

After one to three years, a tango dancers begins to understand how to walk in harmony with the music. It is at this moment that the dancer could start experimenting with other composer such as Juan D'Arienso, Anibal Troilo, Ricardo Tanturi.

Of course, when a tango dancer goes to a milonga, he/she does not know the names of the songs that the DJ is playing, and at the beginning, perhaps every song sounds the same, most of them have a violin, a piano and a bandoneon, but the first purchased song should have a clear and steady tempo that would be easy to follow as we concentrate in doing a perfect tango walk.

Tango Vals, Javier Diaz & Daria Nikolaeva

Tango vals, danced by Javier Diaz & Daria Nikolaeva in St.Petersburg, Russia, 21.04.12.

Dance Conmigo is teaching Tango vals this spring session 2012

When we dance regular tango, there is a lot of room for interpretation of the music, the leaders constantly switch from the tempo to the melody, make long pauses, do contretemps steps or simply dance to the music inside of their head, and somehow, it all seem to work out.

When we dance Tango vals, we have to be more aware of the music and the tempo.  Tango vals is danced to 3/4 time and the tempo could change from slow to very fast within the same song.

Although most of the steps are taken from traditional tango, dancers tend to choose more turning steps, and also choose not to pause as they frequently do in Tango.

So how do we dance Tango vals?

Generally the music is too fast to step in each one of the 3 beats of every measure, to do so would be exhausting. The most common solution is to accentuate the beat 1 of the 3 beats.

Once that we have gotten used to the rhythm stepping on "1", the next step would be to do some syncopations and step twice per 2 beats of music instead of the more traditional tango walk of one step per 2 beats of music. Dancer would generally step on "1" and then either on "2" or on "3".

Although not a regular tempo, in class, I prefer to teach in series of "slows" and "quick-quick". I find it easier to explain to students and for myself as well. That would be 1 step of the 1-2-3 tempo, or two steps within the 1-2-3 tempo.

In the dance floor you might find dancers who never syncopate and who would only make steps on the "1" and this would be perfectly fine, but I have never seen a dancer who syncopates on every beat. Here comes the liberty of interpretation, where a leader can switch from stepping on every "1" and occasionally switch to the quick-quick syncopation.

Role Reversal in Tango

Dance Conmigo offer private and group tango classes as well as instructional dance videos. http://www.danceconmigo.com/tango

It happens often during private classes that I guide a leader to better show him what the follower is supposed to feel and I ask a follower to guide me, so that she can better understand what the leader is asking of her.

If from time to time we decide to reverse roles we can enhance the appreciation of each other and we can see the dance from another perspective.

 By understanding the other dancer's role, we can improve our connection and confidence when we hit the dance floor.

Alain

Tango Foot push, Sacada, Body wrap (Dance Conmigo)

Dance Conmigo offers private and group classes http://www.danceconmigo.com/tango
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We did a nice decoration. The leader bring the follower into a sentada  position, then he searches contact with her foot and pushes it into the air. When She is coming, back, he guides a back ocho.

We also worked with a Sacada and a body wrap.

Back Volcadas

Dance Conmigo offers private and group classes.
www.danceconmigo.com

I use Back Volcadas as a decorative step or as a complement to some other move.

The way I do it is by doing my regular 1 & 2 of the basic. On 3, I step outside partner and after transferring my weight on the right foot, I guide a small but dry and firm "J" movements with my torso.

If my partners' right leg is loose enough to be guided, her leg would do a small (or big, depending on the energy given) circular movement that would culminate by hooking behind her left foot. At the end of the circular movement and the hooking behind, she will transfer her weight to her right foot.

The leader would rotate her shoulder to help her liberate her left foot and he will guide her out by doing a regular 3,4,5 or by guiding many other back volcada.

To see our class calendar go here: http://www.danceconmigo.com/schedule

Body Rotations # 3 (Dance Conmigo)

Dance Conmigo offers private and group classes.
www.danceconmigo.com

This is the third video of a the same subject of body rotations.

Our main objective is to always have fluid movements. Take the energy of our partner, use it and give it back. The movements should not be sharp and snappy, rather the should be fluid and continuous. We are always leveraging our weight with the weight of our partner.

Tango Demo at Dance Conmigo party March 2012

Dance Conmigo offers private and group classes.
www.danceconmigo.com

This was a monthly party organized by Dance Conmigo. In this party in particular, there was and Argentine Tango class, followed by general dancing in three different dance floors (salsa, Tango & ballroom).

Some time during the party, Alain and Cheryl danced an Argentine tango "Comme il faut" by Carlos di Sarli.

Tango Rotations #2 (Dance Conmigo)

Dance Conmigo offers private and group classes.
www.danceconmigo.com

Body Rotations and Colgadas #1

Dance Conmigo offers private and group classes.
www.danceconmigo.com


In this class we started with a rotation after a "Pasada"
We also did a rotation when both leader and follower were stepping into a back ocho.
Finally we did a Colgada. After stepping to the side on two, the follower created a sandwich with the leader foot creating a common axis. The leader rotated her shoulder as if guiding a back ocho and then created a rotation with the momentum of his body. Very fun step that can be exaggerated to different degrees.

One of the best time of the week is when we teach this tango class. we have to thank our students for putting up with us and the out of the ordinary interpretations that we put on body movements.

Dancing is just another way of communication, expressing yourself with your body, feeling and interpreting the music as we feel inspired to do. Tango classes is just an enrichment of the vocabulary of movements that allows to communicate with our partner.

When we find that ideal communication with a dance partner, then a smile comes to our face and the joy overwhelms our hearts. This is what makes dancers so passionate about their dance. Then it becomes a gospel and we want to share that joy with every one that we encounter.

Tango at Le "Grand Bal en Rouge Rétro" - Édition 2012

On a beautiful night in Montreal, Shaima and Lyvia  from the Dance Troupe Ezzahra organized a fantastic event event called "Le Grand Bal en Rouge Rétro".

Alain and Cheryl were honored with an invitation to to perform an Argentine Tango for the second year in a row. The Tango was totally improvised using the song Bahia Blanca by Carlos Di Sarli.

Thank you Shaima and Lyvia for the inviation.

Giros to the left. Tango 2 lesson 5

Dance Conmigo offers private and group classes.
www.danceconmigo.com

In this video we did Giros to the left.
We started with a cross system and feet crossed at 5
then we rotated our partner to our left.
To this giro we added a "lapiz" of foot decoration
We also showed how to exit steeping back
Finally, for complexity sake we did a giro to the left with a "barrida".

Dancer: Alain Guillot and Mariya Cherkasova