Cultivate A Healthy Relationship With Your Mistakes

Lower Stress And Improve Your Progress

Mistakes can be embarrassing. We try to avoid mistakes, especially the ones that might cause public humiliation or damage to our person, our spirit, and our relationships with others. 

Not all mistakes are catastrophic, however. Some mistakes are stepping stones to growth and progress. If we try to avoid all mistakes, we hamper our ability to learn and take on new challenges.

Effective learning requires a healthy relationship with mistakes. Progress requires a healthy relationship with mistakes. Joyful living requires a healthy relationship with mistakes. 


Baby Steps

When toddlers learn to walk, they fall down frequently. Every fall could be considered a mistake. Luckily, toddlers don't associate mistakes with negative feelings. When they fall down, they get up and try again. 

Most children learn to walk without any coaching. The don't receive any instructions. No one gives them a walking demo or sends them to bipedal motion class. They just keep trying until they get it. 


The Opposite Of Progress

How do you compare to the learning toddler? When you make a mistake, do you get up and start again? Do you understand that your mistakes are a natural part of the leaning process? Or do you feel anxious or embarrassed when something that you try doesn't work? 

As we mature, we learn to associate mistakes with a whole range of negative emotions and experiences. People scold us or criticize us when we make mistakes. Over time, the healthy early-childhood relationship with mistakes is replaced by stigma and anxiety. 

We no longer interpret mistakes as a sign of ongoing progress, but rather as an indication of failure or ineptitude.


Vicious Circles

It's easy to fall into a cycle of self-fulfilling anxiety. Fear of making a mistake can cause stress. Stress can interfere with our physical and mental processes. This interference in turn causes mistakes. 

How can we break the cycle? One strategy is to cultivate a healthy relationship with our mistakes. I'll explain with an example.


Two Friends, Two Attitudes

Bill and Bob have been asked by their teacher to perform in an upcoming student showcase. Bill and Bob are students at the same level, but they have different attitudes about mistakes. 

When Bill makes a mistake, it doesn't bother him. When he tries something at the milonga and it goes badly, Bill smiles at his partner and says, "Let me try that again! I'm still working that out." 

Bill's teacher encourages the class to view mistakes as learning opportunities. Bill has embraced this philosophy whole-heartedly. He realizes that he's not going to be able to do everything smoothly as he attempts more challenging material. The mistakes help him to identify his "problem areas." 

Bill discusses these problems with his teacher after class and asks for recommendations as to how he can improve in these areas. Bill dedicates practice time each week to the exercises that his teacher suggests. Sometimes he asks someone at the practice to take a video so he can identify where he needs to direct his efforts.


Bob, gets frustrated when he makes a mistake. It bothers him when he "messes up" at the milonga, partly because he wants to do things right, and partly because he feels that the people there are evaluating him.

There have been times when Bob has left a milonga feeling extremely disappointed with himself. That frustration stays with him for days.

Bob has the same teacher as Bill, and he's heard the same philosophy about mistakes. But Bob holds himself to a high standard. He tries really hard not to make any mistakes in class, because he feels badly when the teacher points out that he's done something incorrectly.

When Bob practices, he looks for partners who dance well. He doesn't enjoy practicing when things don't go smoothly, and he gets frustrated with partners who can't keep up with him. Bob doesn't like to watch himself on video. 


Progress Report

- Bill doesn't let himself worry about making mistakes. He's comfortable with the prospect of making mistakes in public, and he's determined to enjoy the experience no matter what happens.

- Bill has taken the initiative to identify and improve his weaknesses. This helps him to improve his overall technique as effectively as possible.

- Bill is going to feel some degree of performance anxiety on the day of the showcase, but it won't be strong enough to hinder his coordination and concentration. 


- Bob fears the possibility of making a mistake in front of the audience. He feels as though the audience will be judging him. He'll be very disappointed if he "messes up" during the performance.

- Bob doesn't spend time working on his weaknesses during his practice time, because he prefers practices that run smoothly end to end.

- Bob is probably going to be tense and anxious in the days and hours leading up to the event.


It's impossible to predict whether one friend will perform better than the other at the showcase. The final results will depend on a number of factors. 

But even if mistakes are made, Bill is probably going to have a more positive experience at the showcase, in his study of dance, and in life. I know which one I'd rather have sitting at my table.

¡Buena suerte amigos, y muchas gracias!

Daniel

Copyright © 2015 The Exploring Tango Blog

www.exploringtango.com

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Post 101

Exploring Tango - Vision and Expectations

This past December, Exploring Tango reached the hundred-post milestone. At the start of this new year, I thought that it might be interesting to look back at nearly three years of posts to see how they stack up against my original vision and expectations for the blog.


In The Beginning...

I had two main concerns initially. 

1. Would my insights and ideas be helpful and useful to the readers? 

2. Would I be able to come up with enough ideas to keep a blog going for the long term?

Luckily, I never came close to running out of ideas. My original list of nine topics was enough to get me started. Every time I finished a post, I had ideas for additional topics. Some of those topics were complex, so I needed to spread them across multiple posts (e.g. the Argentine Tango Best Practices series). 

When I speak with people about their tango experiences, I get even more ideas. During our conversations, I think of things that I want to express on the blog. The real danger isn't running short of ideas, but rather ensuring that I am prioritizing the best ones. And that I don't forget some good ones along the way.

A number of folks have given me wonderful feedback on the blog, both online and in person. They have tole me that they enjoy reading the articles and that they have come away with some useful ideas. A few readers told me that when they discovered the blog, they went back to the beginning and read through all of the posts. That's a pretty amazing compliment. I'm thrilled when someone reads the current post let alone several years worth.

The positive response to the blog has been amazing and humbling. I want these pages to be useful and helpful to the tango community. 


Objectives and Guidelines

I expressed my initial concerns above. I also established a list of guidelines that I try to follow as I plan and write each new article. 

1. Be Useful

I want Exploring Tango to be an asset and a resource for the tango community. I want it to provide insights in technique, creativity, musicality, and other tango topics. I want to offer clarity on topics that can cause confusion or frustration. I want readers to be inspired to try new things or to see traditional techniques in a new light.

2. Be Encouraging

Learning to dance is challenging. Improving over time is even more challenging. I want to offer a voice of encouragement. I want to lift people's spirits when they're feeling humbled by the challenge. I want to help them to understand why they're facing adversity and how to overcome those challenges in an effective manner.

3. Be Inspiring

I called my blog Exploring Tango because I wanted to focus on the possibilities of this uniquely creative medium. There are many reasons to love the Argentine tango. I have long been enamored with the creative and expressive freedom of tango. I hope to inspire others to explore and enjoy the creative potential of the dance.

4. Be Organized

As we learn to dance, we are exposed to a large amount of information. In my early years, I struggled to catalog everything that I was learning, filtering out the most important concepts and principles in hopes of having instant access to them as I was improvising. In my posts, as in my classes, I try to organize information in meaningful and accessible ways. I try to give the reader some benefit from the organizational systems that I needed to develop as I was learning. 

5. Be Open-Minded

Over the years, I have seen a lot of different ways to dance tango. I have seen a lot of different ways to teach tango. As a student, I struggled with apparent contradictions between teachers. One person would teach something that seemed to contradict what I had learned elsewhere. 

Over time, I learned to accept each approach on its own merits and appreciate the diversity of ideas that flow in the tango community. By studying a variety of techniques without judgment, I became a more capable dancer and teacher. I try to express this open-minded perspective in my writing, because I understand how confusing it can be when one is presented with an idea that goes against what we have come to accept as "the right way." 

6. Be Positive

I never criticize the way that people conduct themselves at the milonga.

I never criticize the way that people dance unless they are doing something that makes their partner uncomfortable or puts someone in the room in danger.

I never criticize the way that people ask each other to dance. (I can't believe the big deal that some people make over this utterly unimportant topic. It's ridiculous. If people are dancing and they're happy, what difference does it make how he invited her onto the floor? If you feel a need to disparage others simply because they don't employ some secret code of etiquette, you might want to take a look in a mirror and ask yourself why a false sense of superiority appeals to you.)

I never criticize the musical choices of DJs.

I never criticize any style of tango (salon, milonguero, nuevo, etc.). I word my comments so that they are neutral and applicable to dancers of all styles.

I never make dogmatic pronouncements about technique. ("It MUST be done this way!" See #5 above.) Comments of this nature come across as sophomoric and uninformed, not the image that I want to project. 

I never, ever, ever disparage the way that another teacher presents material of leads their classes. Occasionally, I hear someone recounting a classroom experience that sounds difficult to believe. However, if I wasn't in the room at the time, I don't know what that teacher was trying to accomplish in that moment. Perhaps they were attempting to correct a particular problem with a particular individual. Perhaps their comment wasn't meant to be taken as a general approach to learning tango. 

Unless I'm certain that the teacher's suggestion is likely to cause physical harm, I'm not going to comment one way or another. Contact that teacher if you need clarification. If is seems confusing to you, it's probably the result of incomplete communication. 


Well, that's the story of the first hundred posts. Anybody ready to double down? ;-)

¡Buena suerte amigos, y muchas gracias!

Daniel

Copyright © 2015 The Exploring Tango Blog

www.exploringtango.com

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The Honor and Privilege of Teaching

Watching It All Come Together

I am proud of my students, the current group and all of the students with whom I have had the privilege of working over the years. 

Week after week, they show up full of passion and energy, ready to work and eager to learn. They watch the demonstrations carefully and tackle the week's exercises with enthusiasm.

When I make suggestions and corrections, they respond immediately. It's a joy to watch them overcome limitations and do things that they couldn't do at the beginning of the hour. 

Sometimes, I see them practicing steps or discussing techniques after class. That always gives me a thrill. When students ask me questions during or outside of class, I can tell that they've put a lot of thought into the topic. I do my best to provide answers that inspire them to explore the topic further. 

Even when a student struggles and requires extra attention, every roadblock that they overcome and every quantum of improvement is significant. It humbles me to watch them make their hard earned breakthroughs.

But my favorite moments in class occur when the students begin to use the concepts and the material in their own way. They go beyond repeating a step of fussing over the accuracy of a technique. They improvise. They combine ideas and movements in new ways. Leaders and followers move in delicate but certain synchronization while creating their own choreography. They interpret the music with sensitivity and reflect details of the arrangements in their movements.

When I watch it all come together, I am moved sometimes almost to tears. It is beyond beautiful. It's exciting and real. It's tango in its purest sense, an intimate connection between two individuals and an orchestra that comes to life before your very eyes. 

These are the moments that mean the most to me. This is what keeps me in the game, week after week, year after year, in any type of weather. The essence of teaching is inspiration the guidance to help someone unleash their own ideas. This is a thrill that I can't describe, even though I have had the honor and good fortune to experience it on many occasions.

Thanks, students, for giving those special moments to me, and more importantly, to yourselves.

¡Buena suerte amigos, y muchas gracias!

Daniel

Copyright © 2014 The Exploring Tango Blog

www.exploringtango.com

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Filling Technical Gaps

Basic Steps To Better Tango

Technique is built in layers over time. A strong foundation supports the ability to execute advanced techniques, while a weak foundation inhibits progress.

Our foundational technique can have weaknesses for a variety of reasons. First of all, everyone is different. We all have varying levels of ability in different technical areas. One person might move gracefully but lack balance, for instance. Another person might be musically expressive but lack quality of movement.

A particular teacher might spend more time on one technique and less on another depending on their own biases or the preferences of their students. Or they might not explain certain techniques well.

As I suggested in the last post, students who are eager to move ahead to higher class levels might not spend enough time on foundational material.

Whatever the reasons for the technical challenges of any individual student, just about every advancing dancer will profit from a refresher in fundamentals at some point in their development. 

Working on fundamentals is not a sign of weakness. Professional dancers work on fundamental technique all the time, all the way down to basic walking. Professional athletes work on fundamental technique. Basketball players shoot free throws at every practice. Golfers work obsessively on their swing. Professional musicians work on fundamental technique practicing scales and arpeggios religiously.

If fundamental technique is important to the people at the top of each of these disciplines, why wouldn't it be important to anyone and everyone who is still in the developing stages?


A Commitment To Your Own Development

I'm going to suggest two approaches that you can use to improve your fundamental technical skills. The first is an ongoing approach to practice. The second you can undertake as a project when you have time.


1. Practice Fundamentals

Set aside at least ten minutes at each practice session (on your own or at an organized practica) to work on fundamental techniques: walking, ochos, molinetas, boleos without the support of another person, etc. 

Focus on clean technique. Focus on posture and a relaxed frame (no tension). Use a mirror or a video camera to see what's working and what needs improvement.

You can squeeze these exercises in during sets when you don't have a partner, but I would suggest that you do them right at the beginning of the session so you don't run short on time. 

Don't get discouraged if this turns out to be more difficult than you expected. Stick with it. You'll discover quickly how important these exercises are as you begin to see improvement in your dancing.


2. Retake Classes At The Fundamental Levels

If you are an Intermediate or Advanced student or an experience social dancer, consider taking Beginner and Pre-Intermediate level classes as a refresher. Do this for a period of at least 12 weeks continuously if you want to get the most out of the exercise. That doesn't mean stopping by occasionally over a three-month period. It means showing up and doing the work week after week.

If you're thinking right now that this would be a complete waste of your time, you might be right. If you show up with the wrong attitude or if you fail to work hard, it will be a waste of your time, and you'll be an annoyance to both the teacher and the students.

For instance, if you stride into class like some self-important Baron von Tango who's going to treat the beginners with an opportunity to dance with you, you've already failed. The beginners were doing just fine without you, and they have a teacher to show them what they need to know. 

You are here to work on your own technique. Let that be your focus.


The Rule Of 20

It is at least twenty times more difficult to execute a technique cleanly than it is to do it in a sloppy or arbitrary manner. What happens when you do something that's twenty times more challenging than what you've been expected to do before? You get stronger. You get better. 

It's enough for the beginners to just get through the step and gain some understanding of the techniques involved. As a more experienced dancer with a desire to improve, you need to hold yourself to a higher standard. Execution isn't your goal; perfection is.

You won't reach perfection, and that's okay. But you need to push yourself toward that ideal. That's why simple techniques like the backward ocho are worth repeating. As we push toward new levels of accuracy and fluidity, even techniques can become quite challenging.

Watch the teacher as they demonstrate to the class. Try to match their quality of movement and the expressiveness and nuance that they put into the move. The teacher will give you pointers from time to time. Take everything that they say seriously. A teacher in the middle of a busy class doesn't take time to make a comment unless they feel that it's in your best interest to hear it.

If you would like some inspiration as you work your way through the fundamental level classes, watch videos of your favorite tango performers. Watch how gracefully and elegantly they perform even the simplest technique. This is your new standard. And that is precisely why repeating a class on fundamentals will NOT be a waste of your time if you approach it with focus, dedication, and humility.

Now get to work. :-)

¡Buena suerte amigos, y muchas gracias!

Daniel

Copyright © 2014 The Exploring Tango Blog

www.exploringtango.com

All Rights Reserved

   

Cracks In The Foundation

Why Racing Ahead Could Hold You Back

Everyone loves a promotion. A promotion says that you have worked hard, accomplished significant objectives, and that your work is noticed, valued, and appreciated. 

Students feel that same sense of accomplishment when advised that they're ready to move up to the next class level. It's a joyful and fulfilling experience for teacher and student alike, recognition for commitment to hard work and a rising level of ability and understanding. 


Skipping Ahead

Unfortunately, some people bypass the recommended promotion schedule. They either move up too early or skip over fundamental levels altogether. This almost always works to their detriment.

If a class cycle is meant to run for eight weeks, but someone drops out in half of that time - because they didn't find the material interesting, or because they thought that they would advance faster by enrolling in a higher-level class - the resulting "skills gap" can cause problems for years. 

Why? Because if the foundation is weak, everything that's built on that foundation will be unstable. It's nearly impossible to focus on the demands of advanced material when one struggles with weak fundamentals. It's like trying to run a marathon with your shoes untied. Can you afford to trip over your own steps while running a race that lasts for hours? That would be an extremely frustrating experience. Why set yourself up for failure?


When You're In Over Your Head

Attend an intermediate or advanced workshop sometime, either at a tango festival or when guest teachers come to town. Look around the room as the students work through the exercises. I'm betting that you'll see some people there who aren't ready for the level of material that's being presented. 

This is a frustrating situation for everyone. It's frustrating for the teacher, as they'll have to take time to explain material that the students should already know. It's frustrating for those who understand the fundamentals and signed up to learn advanced concepts. It's frustrating for those who partner with the struggling student, and most of all it's frustrating for the student who came to the workshop unprepared. 


The Right Pace At The Right Time

Over time, students need to tackle more challenging material in order to advance. But we learn best when we're working at the appropriate level, a level where we are challenged but not overwhelmed, where we can build on the skills that we have attained already.

Unfortunately, students sometimes rationalize that they'll learn more in a more advanced class. The truth is that they don't learn more things in an advanced class, they learn DIFFERENT things. But the advanced material requires an understanding of and fluency with material from prerequisite levels. 

You can't study literature while learning to read. You need to learn to read first. When your reading skills are well developed, you can study and appreciate literature effectively.

Here is another common and unhelpful assumption. A student might rationalize that if they can handle the material in a class at a higher level, then they didn't really need the prerequisite classes. For example, if they attend an Intermediate class and it doesn't seem difficult, they'll conclude that the Beginner and Pre-Intermediate classes would have been a waste of their time. 

The lower level class would have afforded them time to develop important foundational skills. Moving ahead without that foundation will cause problems for the student eventually, even though they seem to be "doing well" at the moment.


A Quick Martial Arts Lesson

Reputable martial arts schools are regimental about student promotion. Each student wears a belt or some other marking to clearly highlight their level. Students are informed that they will remain at their current level for a specified amount of time (six months or perhaps longer). Eventually, they'll be required to demonstrate what they have learned during a formal and rigorous exam.

If they pass the exam, they move up a level. If they don't, they have to keep working on the skills at their current level until the next testing opportunity.

Imagine a new student, a "white belt" walking up to the master of the school after a few classes. The student says that he's bored with the white belt exercises. He saw the more advanced students working on some interesting material, and he'd like to be admitted to that class.

The master will explain that progress takes time and that it's important to work on white belt skills for a period of time before advancing to a new level. Hopefully, the student will understand the message and dedicate himself to working at his current level. 

If he keeps pestering the master about the possibility of early advancement, the master will conclude that the student lacks the commitment to learn challenging skills over time, or he doesn't respect the school's teaching approach. In either case, the student will be asked to leave the school.


Dance Dilemma

The dance world is a bit more relaxed. Teachers don't want to deal with the stress and drama of enforcing promotion policies with impatient students. Students who feel that they aren't being challenged may leave the school and seek instruction elsewhere, i.e. where someone will let them do whatever they want. 

Given the choice of letting the student take a class at an inappropriate level or losing them altogether, what do you do? Sometimes it's better to give in and let them do as they please. At least if they stay in your school, you may have a chance to fill in their technical gaps over time (with private lessons, for instance). If they quit, you can't help them.


The Excuses

I've heard a lot of excuses over the years, and it always breaks my heart just a little bit. 

"I already know the steps that they teach in that class." 

- Okay, Miss Student, but what you don't realize is that learning to dance isn't about memorizing a series of choreographed sequences. It's about gaining and refining critical skills. The sequences are part of a method to help the student develop better dance technique. Technique can always be refined and improved, so don't bash the steps, even if you've seen them before many times.

"My significant other is taking the Intermediate Class." 

- Okay, Mr. Student, I understand when couples want to experience something together. It's wonderful. But wouldn't it make much more sense if your partner came to YOUR class, instead of the other way around? That way, you can work together as your skills grow. And I'm willing to bet that they'll profit from reviewing more fundamental material. Why am I so sure? Because everyone benefits from fundamentals, even professionals.

But if you want to take that more advanced class, I hope that your significant other will be able to correct all of the complex technical problems that your are about to develop.



The best excuse is the non-excuse. People come to class for a while and then disappear. I'll run into them one day at a milonga or a workshop, and they'll tell me that they're taking advanced classes at XYZ school. Then I'll watch them dance and cringe at the obvious weaknesses in their technique, weaknesses that could have been addressed and all but eliminated if they had dedicated a little more time in lower-level classes that focus on the development of fundamental technique. 


How To Escape A Bear Trap

We have seen how some people get themselves in trouble by skipping ahead too quickly. How do we fix that? 

Even someone who has followed their instructor's directions carefully can end up with technical weak spots. (Everyone has weaknesses or areas that require extra remedial work, regardless of how diligently we train.) How do we fix that?

Good questions! And that will be the topic of an upcoming post. Please stay tuned!

For now, realized that your progress is VERY important to your teachers, and they are thinking all the time about your skill level and your training needs. When they plan their classes, they do it with the needs of their regular students in mind.

Trust your teachers and seek out their advice. If you ask about moving up to the next level and they don't seem enthusiastic about that possibility, or if they ask you to stay at your current level a bit longer, don't take that as an affront. See it as an opportunity to continue to improve skills that will be critical for your future development.

And please, never just start going to a higher-level class without first discussing it with your instructor. Even if it seems more interesting. Even if your friends are taking the class. Even if the instructor for that class seems like they're more fun. If you move ahead before you're ready, you're only making things more difficult in the long run. 

Eventually, if you want to improve, you'll have to come back and revisit the skills that you failed to develop along the way. Why not just put the time into developing those skills now? That is the BEST way to improve.

¡Buena suerte amigos, y muchas gracias!

Daniel

Copyright © 2014 The Exploring Tango Blog

www.exploringtango.com

All Rights Reserved

   

Tango Blues

Roots, Rhythms, and Changes

The Argentine Tango is a folk dance with complex roots. It descended from a rich folkloric dance tradition fused with musical and cultural influences from around the world.

The tango wasn't developed by academics or choreographers. It wasn't fashioned for the court at Versailles or the ballrooms of Vienna. It wasn't danced to the established music of classical composers.

The tango was never a dance for the aristocracy. It was developed by poor and working class people, people with hard lives who danced for the sheer joy of it.

The original tango experts weren't experts by virtue of their talent or their training, but rather due to their love and commitment for an exciting new art form. The tango filled their hearts with passion and comforted their souls during difficult times. 


"Put on your red shoes and dance the blues." - David Bowie


The tango and the blues are like close cousins from distant lands. 

- They came into existence at roughly the same time. 

- Both emerged from folk traditions with multi-cultural influences. 

- Both were developed and performed by the poor and the working class. 

- Both express feelings of loss and sadness and difficult times, but this expression makes the troubles seem more tolerable.

- Each has a recognizable style and structure, but neither is strictly formalized.

- Within the context of the established structure, performances are improvised most of the time. (Some songs and some choreographed performances are preplanned in detail.)

- Both genres are flexible and adaptable, and they blend well with other genres and influences.

- Notably and regrettably, decades passed before either the blues or the tango were accepted widely in their respective homelands.


Blue Notes

The blues and the tango share two fundamental ideals.

The first is a strong connection with emotion during performance. Feeling outweighs technique in importance in both genres. Virtuosity is not a requirement for being a blues musician or a tango dancer. But the ability to express emotion and to connect on an emotional level with others, that is what makes a true bluesman or tanguero. 

The second ideal is that of an open and evolving nature. Many varieties of blues have emerged over the years - rural blues, delta blues, Chicago blues, rhythm and blues, the earliest rock 'n' roll songs, and the blues-influence rock of music legends such as Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and The Rolling Stones. 

Tango also evolves continually and organically in surprising ways. Various styles of Argentine tango are danced today, and no two experts dance it exactly the same way. More styles will emerge as new generations experiment with the structure of the dance and blend it with musical influences from the future. 

This open architecture should be embraced; it is a great asset of both the tango and the blues, and it keeps both genres vibrant and current generation after generation. 


Boom Boom

And here is one final though to ponder. The blues and the tango emerged from the humblest of beginnings. They weren't commissioned by wealthy patrons. They weren't derived from classical theories. But when the right mix of people merged in the right places at the right times, a miracle happens, and two beautiful, living art forms emerged.

Mankind needs the blues, and we need the tango just as we need stories and drama and poetry. These art forms were developed not out of a desire for pageantry but out of simple necessity. We are simply not complete without the blues and the tango. Thank goodness that some inspired people brought these exquisite gifts to life.

¡Buena suerte amigos, y muchas gracias!

Daniel

Copyright © 2014 The Exploring Tango Blog

www.exploringtango.com

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The Music of Octavio Brunetti

A Remembrance

Virtuoso pianist Octavio Brunetti passed away on August 29th at the age of 39. A native of Argentina, Mr. Brunetti was best known as a performer of tango music, both as a soloist and with a number of accomplished orchestras and ensembles.

I didn't know him personally, but I enjoyed his inspired playing on many occasions. It was always a good night when Octavio Brunetti was on the bandstand.

His approach to the piano was joyful, playful, elegant, and fun. It's not uncommon to associate tango music with deep, somber emotions, and Brunetti's music communicated those emotions brilliantly. But there was also a sense of comfort and contentment in every note that he played. It was like the persistent, heartfelt hope that springs out of a blues song even when it describes our deepest struggles.

You could see that joy on his face as he played and when he relaxed with friends and admirers. A positive energy seemed to flow from the man in every moment. His music took that joy to soaring heights.

He was technically accomplished, of course. His performances were effortless and consistently flawless. But music is so much more than hitting the right notes at the right time. Octavio Brunetti had an unmatched command of musical expression.

I remember in particular the exaggerated tempo changes that he used to enhance well known pieces. All of a sudden, you felt everything slow down - slower...slower...until time all but stood still. He would play so expressively in that moment of temporal suspension, squeezing every drop of nuance and emotion from each highly anticipated note. And then he would speed up again, as though a powerful and precise machine were accelerating to full throttle.

Words can only describe the experience to a point. I hope that you'll go online and view some of Mr. Brunetti's performances. Or better yet, purchase his album, Te Amo Tango, in order to experience the brilliance of this irreplaceable musician. He was a gem in the worlds of both music and dance, and his joyful, playful, enthusiastic presence will be missed by everyone who ever experienced his incomparable artistry, musicianship, and personal energy.

¡Buena suerte amigos, y muchas gracias!

Daniel

Copyright © 2014 The Exploring Tango Blog

www.exploringtango.com

All Rights Reserved