So You Think You Can Dance The Filipino Tango
Curiosity got the most of me this week. Got the word that Andy and Monica were gonna teach the Filipino Tango at their main hangout...Aliamanu Elementary School. Heard so much about this dance in Pepe's blogs that I had to see first hand what this dance was all about. And like a bad cat, I got Lani to join me in this venture for a new experience. The drive from Hawaii Kai was long but traffic was moving very good for a Tuesday week night. Some how it seemed a lot longer now than when we use to travel the same route many years back when we were teaching dancing at neighboring Aliamanu Middle School for HBDA. Anyway, when we arrived at the school, Richard Nieto and Elsie McGrew were teaching the Rumba to a nice crowd of beginning level dancers. They covered three patterns on this first lesson night. Richard's wife Cora was handling the music. (Photo; Elsie, Richard, and Cora)
During the short recess, Lani and I got to meet Andy and Monica Pascua who were going to teach the Filipino Tango. Of course, Andy and Monica are no strangers to us since we both were former dance instructors for HBDA.
Okay, getting to the meat of it. Filipino Tango is not anything like your International style or American style Tango patterns. Tonight, Andy and Monica taught several patterns which were at first difficult but with continuous practice we were dancing the first block of patterns to the moderate tempo Tango music. I gotta say that Andy and Monica were very patient and kept on demonstrating this first block till we got it. As he put it to the students..we're there to learn. Okay, my description of the dance for this first lesson. The dance hold is the same as the American style Tango. It has many hand changes like the Salsa, there are some movements like in the Rumba and other Latin dances, and the ladies spot turns and underarm turns adds a great deal of spice to the dance. Just from tonight's lesson, I can see some elements of a showcase type dancing in the Filipino Tango. Very showy and may become a big hit in social dancing. (Photo: Monica and Andy)
