things to work on

• Balance. Being a tall guy has benefits in dancing tango, such as being able to have a clear lead without being too forceful or too subtle, but balance isn't one of them due to our comparatively high center of gravity. This is especially an issue for giros and with shorter women while in close embrace. I keep saying to myself I will take up some martial arts class to work on this aspect, but so far it's been all talk.
• Boleos and ganchos. Ever since my mentor Mariko told me pretty much that my boleos sucked, I've been completely psyched about them. When I hear the music and I know there's a segment in which boleos will fit nicely (think Di Sarli instrumentals), I get the pressured mindset that I must perform it sharply, but either the boleos are followed badly (if at all) or they are executed but feels like the follower just did it because she knows it's what I'm trying to lead but didn't feel the lead. Same applies to ganchos.
  
• Transition between open and close embrace. Whenever I transition between the two embraces, it feels like I lose connection with the follower, or at best the transition isn't as smooth as I'd like it to be. So lately I tend to stay in close embrace unless a follower for some reason pushes me to open embrace (dammit, I should have showered this week!). A few weeks ago I danced to an electro-tango song with my good friend Grace at a práctica, and afterwards she told me she didn't know I could dance 'Nuevo'... I guess always dancing close embrace has earned me the reputation of being a traditionalist. So the questions remain: Should I occasionally transition to open embrace a la Villa Urquiza style at all? If so, how to smoothly do it without losing connection?
• The role of the left arm. What to do with it? I've noticed a lot of leaders tend to move the left arm a lot, and it often looks very ugly, especially if the left arm is being used to lead. For performances, some dancers use the left arm movement as embellishment. Everybody does something different with their left arm, but I think it should mostly be static and merely serve as a point of connection where the follower can rest her hand comfortably. Which leads me to the next point (and also relates to being a lanky dude): in the past I've danced with shorter women with pretty much impeccable technique, but the embrace is not comfortable because I tend to put my left arm too high up and it looks like the follower is fighting against me at this point of connection, as Mariko once pointed out.
• Musicality - though I think I have above average musicality, there is always room for improvement, especially with something so complex and rich as musicality. In particular, I felt there is a lot of unexplored territories in musicality in my dancing at Ney Melo's class tonight (awesome, awesome class).
• The walk - again, this is like life. There is always room for improvement. One may claim to be good at the walk or at life, but you can always do better.
  

That is all for now, no whiny poems today