DanceHop: Dance Events, Dance News, Dance Videos, Seattle Dance
Dancehop blog: events, news, lifestyle, lessons, video, and more

[caption id="attachment_393" align="alignnone" width="451" caption="Acrobatics at SPACE"][/caption] Here's a pic of Orville swinging some lovely ladies in acrobatics at SPACE in Greenwood.
I thoroughly enjoyed my first visit at SPACE, I felt welcomed and enchanted by a combination of blues and the crew dressed in acrobatic costume awesomeness. It's a great collaborative environment,… Read More

[caption id="attachment_365" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Michelle Badion"][/caption]
Yesterday I had the pleasure to interview Michelle Badion, a Seattle dance paragon, and community builder. Michelle has been teaching dance for 20 years (Salsa, Tango, and Swing) and has some great stories to tell in this interview. Click below to hear her perspectives on beginners, why we dance, community, teaching, and a fun… Read More

I feel that this video was key in the development of what some people call nuevo tango. It's from 2004 and yet there's still a LOT to learn. In it are Chico Frumboli, and Eugenia Parrilla. The technique is a bit rough, in particular Eugenia's hips are a bit out of control, but it has a lot of interesting axis and rhythmic play.
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Eugenia Parrilla and Chico Frumboli, CITA 2004
This motivated me to take a few private lessons with Eugenia, and boy were they worth it. Her technique is very deep and precise, and she knows the body well.… Read More

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Here's a vid from our YouTube Channel, DanceHopChannel, with Bruno Tombari & Mariangeles Caamaño, performing at Villa Malcolm. The quality leaves something to be desired, so if anyone can recommend a semi professional camera that can also record video well, please let me know in the comments. Read More

Here's a video I just put up on Youtube showing a friend playing bandoneon and singing, for New Years at Studio Dinzel in Buenos Aires. I saw him a few days later performnig with a group in Salon Canning, the scene down there is VERY interconnected. [wpyt_profile1]HBV2m55sWUY[/wpyt_profile1]  Read More

I practiced with my friend Sol, and we headed to Glorieta (an outdoor milonga in a big gazebo) on Sunday.  Unfortunately, the DJ was sick, and someone was playing some pretty bad CDs while blasting some weak speakers from the back of their car.  We headed out pretty quick, and John from Ireland proposed that we hang out.  It turned into about 17 people by the time we got into the apartment.     [gallery link="file"]   I'm halfway through the trip and trying to focus on creating more memories.  Who knows what might happen in the coming days? Read More

I hardly ever drink, so when I ordered champagne at La Calesita, a great outdoor milonga on Saturdays from 11 PM til 4 AM, I practically had to give it away.  Three glasses, and I was pretty well toasted, and making fun of my dance.  Here's a couple of pictures with a new friend Erica (who's about to join the ranks as a working psychologist) in my slightly drunken glory:   [gallery link="file" order="DESC"]   For coincedence watch 2009: I ran into Tyrone and his wife (non tango dancers) in Palermo (while shopping) a few days prior to taking this picture, at a tango practice at Villa Malcolm.  This city is crazy small.   [caption id="attachment_80"… Read More

I woke up around 4:30 in the evening today, what a New Years.  I sent out a mass text trying to figure out what to do for New Years, and one of my favorite dancers got back to me with an invitation to the Dinzel studio. It has a nice little open air passage, and two rooms to dance in. [gallery] Afterwards, I headed to La Viruta (this would be around 3:30 AM or so).  Despite being close, it took me a while to find a cash machine that actually worked.  Viruta was pretty good this year, surprisingly.  Last year, it was 85% party music, and the quality of dancers was pretty abysmal, with a really mixed up line of dance full of collisions.  This… Read More

Just like Christmas, the city shuts down almost completely starting the evening before the New Year, until the night after New Years day.  I JUST got invited to a pretty nice little house party in Palermo, and I'm going to get some wine and dessert before the stores close at 6 pm.  Perhaps afterwards we'll head to La Viruta, which is a bit of a mess if you're expecting quality dancing, since it's 20 percent tango danced poorly, and the rest party music.   Looking at the New Year, I feel like it's an arbitrary date, excepting that it relates to the earth's position relative to the sun, and other people care about it.  Still, it's a fine time… Read More

I've been enjoying random boutique ice cream shops in Buenos Aires a bit too much I think.  Last night, I had Baileys and Dulce de Leche flavors, after dancing at Villa Malcolm, before Salon Canning.  Late in the evening, if a shop wants to have customers come in but still be secure, they go through a small opening in the gate.  On my way out, I slammed my leg pretty hard into the gate, but after some ice and ibuprofen, everything worked out.   There's a certain foreigner / professional dancer tango circuit, and I'm definitely in the thick of it. Villa Malcolm has performances quite often, and a lot of "nuevo" tango, which native argentines… Read More