Boulder Tantric Tango Workshop Series, July 25 - 30, 2003 This class series will give participants confidence and solid grounding in basic Argentine tango skills with a variety of partners in this exciting, intimate social dance, popular around the world. In addition, we will explore the fascinating historical, musical, cognitive, gender-role, emotional, psychological and spiritual facets of the tango experience, giving participants insights and teaching skills for navigating the strong energies and heart-to-heart emotional currents that often arise in tango (and in life!). (See below in this message for more discussion of what we're trying to do, and its background).
Unique exercises used in the class will be drawn from our decades of research, training and experimentation with traditional Argentine tango education, contemporary psychological research, theatrical exercises for emotional authenticity, and both traditional and contemporary spiritual practices recast in the setting of social dance. You can enroll without a partner, although enrollment in the Main Sessions is limited and will be gender-balanced. We will rotate partners frequently. Participants will leave the workshop with guidance for what may well turn out to be a satisfying new chapter in their lives, enjoying the pleasures and accepting the challenges that emerge from joining in the "dance of the heart," Argentine Tango. Requirements: Although participants with prior tango experience are welcome, no prior tango experience is necessary or assumed. The unique structure of the class will appeal to those of all levels of preparation. Future versions of this class will be aimed specifically at those with more tango experience. Intro Session: Friday July 25, 8:30-10pm hosted @ Bantaba World Dance & Music, Boulder $7 Find out what we mean by "Tantric Tango." Watch some tango social dancing. Is it for you? If yes, sign up for the complete lesson series. The introductory session will accommodate 75 people. Partners not required. There will be an opportunity after the session for a half-hour or so of tango social dancing for those who wish to watch and/or participate at no additional charge. Main Sessions: July 26-30 Package I $120 (All classes) Package II $90 (Weekendclasses only) Note: For the regular workshop series, no more than 12 males and 12 females will be admitted. Couples will be admitted together up to the limit of the workshop. Singles will go on a list in order of application, and will be admitted when they apply as long as gender balance can be maintained. For many exercises, we will rotate partners often. Please bring smooth-soled shoes, or thick socks, or soft-soled mocassins. Definitely not rubber-soled hiking boots! We recommend comfortable casual clothes: T-shirts & sweatpants, jeans or shorts, as long as you can move easily. 'Dress to impress' for the Saturday night social dance! We'll provide healthy snack food and plenty of water in the afternoon classes. First Session - Saturday, July 26, 12:30 - 5:30 (Package I & II) Pearl Street Studio, 2126 Pearl St. Boulder Tango Intensive I: The Least You Need To Know Emotional Athletics I: Dancing in the Pheromone Furnace Transpersonal Tango I: "What was THAT?" Entering the Social Tango Scene Special Tantric Tango "Milonga" Dance Party (optional, included) Bantaba World Dance & Music, 695b S. Broadway, Boulder 9:30pm - 2am Find out what social tango looks like at our Dance of the Heart Bantaba Milonga, a long-running local tango dance. Twice a month for almost two years, 40-80 people have been gathering here to find partners and improvise their tango dance in the heat of the moment. Mix with the more experienced local dancers as well as your classmates. No partner required! For full details, read here. Second Session - Sunday, July 27, 12:30 - 4:30 (Package I & II) Pearl Street Studio, 2126 Pearl St. Boulder Tango Intensive II: More of the Tango Language Emotional Athletics II: Feel your truth, in the moment - & dance it! Tango Musicality I: Surrender to the Music Third Session - Monday, July 28, 7 - 8:30pm (Package I) Bantaba World Dance & Music, 695b S. Broadway, Boulder Tango Intensive III: Playing with the Rhythms Transpersonal Tango II: Tantra, Tango and Transcendence Fourth Session - Wednesday, July 30, 8 - 9:30pm (Package I) Pearl Street Studio, 2126 Pearl St. Boulder Special Live Tango Music Session with Argentine bandoneonist Dan Diaz Tango Musicality II: Let the music come alive in your heart Tantric Tango Conclusion: What next? If you can't make the Monday or Wednesday sessions, we can arrange for credit for the same sessions at other times in future workshops. Unfortunately we cannot otherwise offer refunds for missed workshops, so please plan accordingly. We expect to offer this workshop frequently here and in other cities around the country during the next four months. For further information, please check back to www.danceoftheheart.com on the "Tantric Tango" button, call us at 303-938-0716, or e-mail us at [email protected]. Thanks for reading this far. For those of you familiar with what we're trying to do with Tantric Tango, you can skip the rest of this message...I hope to see you Friday! Brian Dunn & Deborah Sclar Dance of the Heart Boulder, Colorado USA 1(303)938-0716 http://www.danceoftheheart.com P.S. If your curiosity is aroused, hare's a little more information for you: What's Tantric Tango, anyway? ============================== Over the past six years, the art of Argentine Tango has become a calling for us, and as such pulls us forward on the path of our lives in visceral ways that often resist analysis. What we've discovered in our dancing, in our teaching, in our performing, and in our interacting with others in our local and global tango community, is this: the primal forces that gave birth to tango - sexual attraction, physical contact, emotional intimacy, artistic and musical inspiration, public celebration - provide, when taken together, a powerful, emotionally charged context for individual and group development work. Yet the structure that has evolved historically to guide and contain these forces in the form of a social dance provides for participants a historically grounded, self-sustaining, repeatable experience of connection on multiple levels - with their partners, with their community, and (we contend) with higher reaches of their own consciousness. "...after that tango, we are no longer strangers..." - Robert Heinlein, "The Number of the Beast" For those who seek transformative practices in their lives, the art of tango offers a pheromone-stoked arena of opportunities to come to terms with some highly charged issues: trivial little things like sexuality, gender dynamics, and personal boundaries. This exploration occurs in a context without words: partners experience each other through pathways other than intellectualization ("you dance who you are"). Paradoxically, the structure and pacing of the partner interactions in the dance fosters reflection and detachment as a counterbalance to its emotional intensity, alternating with re-immersion in the maelstrom of heart-to-heart connection. In trying to find a place for such experiences within the context of our lives, my partner and I have been drawn to create a synthesis of spiritual and intellectual perspectives that center around the idea of developing tango as a group spiritual practice. Tantric Tango is the expression of that synthesis. (please visit http://www.danceoftheheart.com/tantric_tango.htm for updates) Thanks for reading THIS far! If this is interesting to you, but you can't attend now, please contact us to be informed of our next scheduled workshop.
