Jake and Danarae Latest News

April through June in Buenos Aires

2010-07-03T10:45:00.000-07:00

Serious training and way too much fun.

Anaheim, CA -- March 25-28

2010-03-22T13:37:00.000-07:00

Palm Desert, CA -- March 13, 14, and 19

2010-03-22T13:33:00.000-07:00

Last 6 Weeks in Portland

2010-01-04T14:25:00.000-08:00

We have a lot of info to share with you this month...

As some of you already know, we will be moving out of Portland this February right after Valentango. We're going to miss everyone, but we have some opportunities we just can't pass up. More about this in a future email...

Right now we are letting y'all know that we have 6 group lessons left on Monday nights at Ankeny Street Studio, and we are available for private lessons through the end of January.

January Drop-In Classes - Mondays at Ankeny Street Studio - SE 9th and Ankeny
When you come to our group classes, you can stay with your partner and work together, or you can rotate. We welcome followers who want to work on leading and leaders who would like to practice following.

Class 1 - Technique - 7pm-8pm
Walking, pivots, and the cross. Students will leave this class with great ideas for at home practice to improve posture and balance with an authentic tango aesthetic. $12

Open Practica - 8pm-8:30pm
Jake and Danarae are available to answer questions. Included with either class.

Class 2 - Just Plain Fun - 8:30pm-9:30pm
Barridas are a great element when used at appropriate times, and they work wonderfully in combination with other steps like sacadas and ganchos. This month we will work on leaders and followers technique for several kinds of barridas while learning some of our favorite sequences. $12

Both classes $20. Students: $8 each or both for $15.
For more information about us, our classes, private lessons, and directions to the studio at SE 9th and Ankeny, visit www.jakedanarae.com.

See you on the dance floor,
Jake and Danarae

December Classes

2009-12-08T12:01:00.000-08:00

When you come to our group classes, you can stay with your partner and work together, or you can rotate. We welcome followers who want to work on leading and leaders who would like to practice following.

Class 1 - Technique - 7pm-8pm
This month we return our focus to drills and practice routines, both alone and with a partner. Students will leave this class with great ideas for at home practice to improve posture and balance with an authentic tango aesthetic. $12

Open Practica - 8pm-8:30pm

Jake and Danarae are available to answer questions. Included with either class.

Class 2 - Just Plain Fun - 8:30pm-9:30pm

This month we will work on directing energy through the embrace into the follower's free leg to create voleos. We will examine front and back voleos, linear vs. circular voleos, and the reasons for taking a voleo off the floor.
Leaders will learn some new places in the dance to lead voleos, where to apply energy, and the consequences of varying the intensity. Followers will learn how receive the energy and shape it into an elegant form.$12

Both classes $20. Student $8 each or both for $15.

For more information about us, our classes, private lessons, and directions to the studio at SE 9th and Ankeny, visit www.jakedanarae.com.

Prospective students, click here to read reviews of our classes.

Current students, please click here to write a review.

See you on the dance floor,

Jake and Danarae

November Classes

2009-11-01T16:52:00.001-08:00

November Drop-In Classes - Mondays at Ankeny Street Studio

A lot of people ask us about switching partners in class. We believe there are benefits of practicing with the same partner as well as benefits from dancing with a variety of partners. You are in the best position to decide what is best for your dancing. When you come to our class, you can stay with your partner and work together, or you can rotate. It's up to you!

Class 1 - Technique - 7pm-8pm
We will work on posture, connecting with the floor, and using the core of your body. Students will leave this class feeling both lighter and more grounded. $12

Open Practica - 8pm-8:30pm
Jake and Danarae are available to answer questions and suggest drills for individual practice. Included with either class.

Class 2 - Just Plain Fun - 8:30pm-9:30pm
Last month we learned several ways to initiate the molinete, worked mostly in open embrace, and mostly to the open side of the embrace. This month we will take it a step further ... We will understand which sequences work best in close or open embrace, learn more ways to turn toward the closed side of the embrace, and add basic enrosques, sacadas, ganchos, voleos, barridas, and more. $12

Take both classes for $20. Classes for students are $8 each or both for $15.

For more information about us, our classes, and directions to the studio, visit www.jakedanarae.com.
Prospective students, click here to read reviews of our classes.
Current students, please click here to write a review.

See you on the dance floor,
Jake and Danarae

October Classes

2009-10-04T21:35:00.000-07:00

Tango in the winter
It's getting colder and darker. Summer activities are over and we are all getting back into our winter schedules. There has been a lot of exciting news in the local tango community - Congratulations to all the new and expanding families! We are looking forward to kicking off the fall with a lot of dancing at TangoFest and some great October drop-in classes at Ankeny Street Studio.

Class 1 - Mondays 7pm-8pm
Our first class will focus on getting into and out of cross system. Many of the most exciting sequences in tango occur in cross system, so learning a number of ways to get in and out is a great fundamental skill. We will examine several ways to use the cruzada, double-time steps for the leader or follower, and other steps to change systems. We will continue our work examining the differences between walking in parallel and cross systems, and we will refine our technique for some basic figures frequently used in cross system such as ochos.

Class 2 - Monday 8:30-9:30
Our second class will focus on the follower's molinete and the variety of options leaders have during this figure. Leaders will start with pivots and graduate to lapizes, enrosques, sacadas, barridas, and more. Molinetes are a wonderful way to be dynamic on a crowded dance floor and they are lots of fun! The molinete is a fundamental skill of the interrmediate/advanced follower, and having a solid molinete is one of the best ways to get asked by better dancers. As advanced followers will tell you, it is something you will continue to improve on throughout your dancing experience.

Interested in classes at TangoFest?
Finally, we have had a number of students ask us about classes during TangoFest. We would like to share with everyone what we have been telling those students ... Take as many classes as you can! Traveling tango professionals are generally very good. They are intelligent, articulate and creative people that take great pride in their work. They teach similar classes at festivals around the world, which is a very good thing ... because it means they have distilled their concepts into a polished and practiced presentation.

We look forward to seeing you all in class this fall and on the dance floor.

For more information about us and our classes, visit our website, www.jakedanarae.com.

September Classes

2009-09-06T22:32:00.001-07:00

Of course we're having class on Labor Day and every Monday in September at Ankeny Street Studio on SE 9th and Ankeny.

Fundamentals 7-8
Practica (included with either class) 8-8:30
Second class 8:30-9:30

The focus of the fundamentals class for the month is synchronizing our movement with the movement of our partner. We will discuss how to connect with the floor, move through the body, communicate using the embrace, and step in unison. We encourage all ability levels to come to this class, as these basic ideas, not steps, are the essence of tango.

Our second class this month will examine times in the dance that focus on either the leader or follower. A dancer can provide stability while his or her partner performs a difficult step, or one dancer may place the other in the spotlight. It is important for leaders to grab opportunities to play and for followers to seize their own moments with appropriate poise and embellishments.

For more info about our classes go to www.jakedanarae.com.

We would also like to thank all of you for graciously welcoming Viviana Parra and Julio Bassan. They love Portland and are looking forward to coming back again in the future thanks to all of you.

Jake and Danarae

503.277.8515

jakedanarae@gmail.com

www.jakedanarae.com

August Classes - Changing Embraces and Mushashi

2009-08-07T11:10:00.001-07:00

Hola Portenos de Portland,

We are excited to begin another month of Monday classes tonight at the air conditioned Ankeny Street Studio at SE 9th and Ankeny.

Fundamentals lesson 7-8 focusing on balance, walking, pivots, and posture.

Without a solid foundation, you can't build....

Practice 8-8:30

Included with either lesson

Second lesson 8:30-9:30.

The second lesson this month will focus on dancing in both closed and open embrace. We will discuss how to adjust the embrace while maintaining a connection, when to open and close, how certain steps make that transition smoother and more connected, how the embrace affects adornments for lead and follow, and more….

Bonus for Both Classes - Tango through the lens of Miyamoto Mushashi

We will be drawing inspiration from the work of Miyamoto Mushashi for this month's classes. Known to the Japanese as "Kinsei" (Sword Saint), he was a swordsman from seventeenth century Japan. His book, "The Book of Five Rings", discusses the strategy, tactics, and philosophy that won over 60 duels and allowed him to live through numerous other battles - at one point deciding to stop using real swords in his duels! Mushashi was so dedicated to his craft, he gave up a life of comfort and wandered the land, continuing his search for "The Way" even though he was already regarded as Japan's greatest swordsman.

The analogies we can draw from reflecting upon Mushashi's words are profound. He is one of the best in recorded history at a consuming physical and mental discipline that is over 800 years old. His words are those of a simple man who achieved extraordinary things.

Musashi wrote "When you have attained the Way of Strategy there will be not one thing that you cannot understand" and "You will see the Way in everything". He did, in fact, become a master of arts and crafts. He produced masterpieces of ink painting, he was a fine calligrapher, he made works in metal, and is said to have written poems and songs.

"The Book of Five Rings" is a wonderful resource to help reflect in all areas of life and has helped us greatly as professionals, athletes, and dancers. For those of you who wish to continue reading, we have copied some excerpts below. The first is the introduction, giving some history on Mushashi. The second is his introduction to timing.

Especially as you read about timing, think of it's many applications to tango as a culture as well as a dance. So think of musicality as a dancer, but also think how the nuances can make or break your night ... Think about how the DJ puts tandas together to influence the room's energy, the cadence of individual couples and the movement of the whole floor, timing your arrival at the milonga, finding that perfect partner for the perfect tanda, knowing when to cabeseo and when to wait ... Also think about how we can work with or against the timing of these elements to create or respond to complicated dynamics in both the social and physical contexts ...

We will study these and other passages from this great master in depth and see what lessons we can apply to our tango...

INTRODUCTION

I have been many years training in the Way of Strategy, called Ni Ten Ichi Ryu, and now I think I will explain it in writing for the first time. It is now during the first ten days of the tenth month in the twentieth year of Kanei (1645). I have climbed mountain Iwato of Higo in Kyushu to pay homage to heaven, pray to Kwannon, and kneel before Buddha. I am a warrior of Harima province, Shinmen Musashi No Kami Fujiwara No Genshin, age sixty years.

From youth my heart has been inclined toward the Way of Strategy. My first duel was when I was thirteen, I struck down a strategist of the Shinto school, one Arima Kihei. When I was sixteen I struck down an able strategist Tadashima Akiyama. When I was twenty-one I went up to the capital and met all manner of strategists, never once failing to win in many contests.

After that I went from province to province dueling with strategist of various schools, and not once failed to win even though I had as many as sixty encounters. This was between the ages of thirteen and twenty-eight or twenty-nine.

When I reached thirty I looked back on my past. The previous victories were not due to my having mastered strategy. Perhaps it was natural ability, or the order of heaven, or that other schools' strategy was inferior. After that I studied morning and evening searching for the principle, and came to realize the Way of Strategy when I was fifty.

Since then I have lived without following any particular Way. Thus with the virtue of strategy I practice many arts and abilities - all things with no teacher. To write this book I did not use the law of Buddha or the teachings of Confucius, neither old war chronicles nor books on martial tactics. I take up my brush to explain the true spirit of this Ichi school as it is mirrored in the Way of heaven and Kwannon. The time is the night of the tenth day of the tenth month, at the hour of the tiger (3-5 a.m.)

TIMING IN STRATEGY

There is timing in everything. Timing in strategy cannot be mastered without a great deal of practice.

Timing is important in dancing and pipe or string music, for they are in rhythm only if timing is good. Timing and rhythm are also involved in the military arts, shooting bows and guns, and riding horses. In all skills and abilities there is timing.

There is also timing in the Void.

There is timing in the whole life of the warrior, in his thriving and declining, in his harmony and discord. Similarly, there is timing in the Way of the merchant, in the rise and fall of capital. All things entail rising and falling timing. You must be able to discern this. In strategy there are various timing considerations. From the outset you must know the applicable timing and the inapplicable timing, and from among the large and small things and the fast and slow timings find the relevant timing, first seeing the distance timing and the background timing. This is the main thing in strategy. It is especially important to know the background timing, otherwise your strategy will become uncertain.

You win in battles with the timing in the Void born of the timing of cunning by knowing the enemies' timing, and this using a timing which the enemy does not expect.

All the five books are chiefly concerned with timing. You must train sufficiently to appreciate all this.

If you practice day and night in the above Ichi school strategy, your spirit will naturally broaden. Thus is large scale strategy and the strategy of hand to hand combat propagated in the world. This is recorded for the first time in the five books of Ground, Water, Fire, Tradition (Wind), and Void. This is the Way for men who want to learn my strategy:

Do not think dishonestly.

The Way is in training.

Become acquainted with every art.

Know the Ways of all professions.

Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters.

Develop intuitive judgment and understanding for everything.

Perceive those things which cannot be seen.

Pay attention even to trifles.

Do nothing which is of no use.

It is important to start by setting these broad principles in your heart, and train in the Way of strategy. If you do not look at things on a large scale it will be difficult for you to master strategy. If you learn and attain this strategy you will never lose even to twenty or thirty enemies. More than anything to start with you must set your heart on strategy and earnestly stick to the Way. You will come to be able to actually beat men in fights, and to be able to win with your eye. Also by training you will be able to freely control your own body, conquer men with your body, and with sufficient training you will be able to beat ten men with your spirit. When you have reached this point, will it not mean that you are invincible?

Moreover, in large scale strategy the superior man will manage many subordinates dexterously, bear himself correctly, govern the country and foster the people, thus preserving the ruler's discipline. If there is a Way involving the spirit of not being defeated, to help oneself and gain honor, it is the Way of strategy.

Jake and Danarae

503.277.8516

www.jakedanarae.com

Fatastic Dancers Coming to Portland! Click on Picture below to see workshop schedule.

2009-08-07T11:04:00.001-07:00

Jake and I have very exciting news for all of you... Our most adored tango teacher from Buenos Aires is touring America this year and is coming to Portland for one fun week of workshops, social dancing, and performances. Her name is Viviana Parra and her partner is Julio Bassan.

Vivi is a huge reason why Jake and I have a strong sense of passion and more importantly a sense of humor and empathy towards Tango. She is based in Buenos Aires and has been teaching and performing Argentine Tango for over 15 years. She is a true milonguera, having grown up in the milongas and teaching at El Beso.

Viviana is one of the founders of the tango group "El Viento Norte". She has organized several milongas all over BA, and has performed in successful shows such as "Tango Por Ellas". Some of you may have seen her dance many years ago in a special performance at the Hult Center with the Eugene Symphony when she partnered with Tioma Maloratsk under Director Hector Saraspe. While living in New York for several years, she taught Argentine Tango at New York's, "Dance Manhattan" Studio. She speaks fluent English, a lot of which she picked up on the subway .... So you can get the inside scoop straight from a Portena with a dose of NY slang.

She was also featured just a few months ago in one of Buenos Aires most popular tango magazine "El Tangauta".

Aside from all her professional endeavors, Vivi has always said that she learned the essentials of authentic tango first hand from the traditional dancers of the older generation. We are excited and honored to help bring her and Julio to you here in Portland.

Julio Bassan has been a professional dancer for over 11 years. He teaches everything from theater dance to salon and show Tango. He has performed in many tango exhibitions all over the world, was a member of the Universidy of Moron Tango Ballet, recently taught tango at Tango Cultural Center "Del Otro Lado" in Argentina, and currently organizes the Milonga "El Gardel de Medellín".

Julio also has extensive experience and accomplishments in theater and acting. He is in his 5th season of Anocho, un Baile de Tango: at the El Cubo Theater In Buenos Aires and has been in several films such as "MURGAS" Written by Pedro Fernandez Moujan.

With a wonderful mix of experience with the old milongueros, professional training, and stage presence, these Portenos can help you with the fundamentals of your dance, no matter your level, whether you need to work on the basic elements or bump up your dance with a greater sense of confidence and presence.

Click on the picture at the top of this message to see the workshop schedule and mark your calenders... They will be here Tuesday, August 25th thru Tuesday, September 1st. Please email vivijuliotango@gmail.com to pre-register. They will also be doing a few performances at some of the local milongas while they are here.

You don't want to miss this opportunity to learn from some of Argentina's best teachers and two of the most light hearted, fun teachers out there on the dance floor. You are guaranteed to learn something new and have a great time doing it.

To find out more about them, check out their website at www.vivianajulio.blogspot.com or www.tangovivi.blogspot.com.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon,

Danarae (and Jake)

July is Embrace and Navigation Month

2009-08-07T10:54:00.002-07:00

Hola Portenos de Portland,

Writing to update you on our tango happenings.....

Weekly lessons continue Monday nights at the Ankeny Street Studio.
Tonight and through July will focus on embrace and navigation.
Fundamentals lesson 7-8.
Practice and drills 8-8:30.
Fun sequences 8:30-9:30.

Recently we have been a part of several conversations about the flow of the floor at milongas. We have noticed frustration at many levels, from both leaders and followers ... Followers fear for their exposed toes, leaders get frustrated, embraces stiffen, and everyone suffers. People we talked with had all experienced the joy of a organized dance floor circling the room, but lamented it doesn't happen often enough.

A well moving floor keeps everyone in line, but once the floor gets disjointed, it's all over... When the flow stalls or dancers get bunched, once dynamic couples are forced to suffer in place or search for space outside the traditional order. The former makes for a lame dance, the latter diminishes the chance for a uniform flow to resume.

Hearing the feelings of the community has inspired us think what can we do about it? We can all make an effort to keep the floor moving, but this is easier said than done. A great floor requires priorities as well as skills. And that is what we will be focusing on for the next five weeks in our group lessons.

Too often people prioritize their dancing, which is undoubtedly an important focus, but it should not overshadow our embrace with our partner, our connection to the other couples on the floor, and our appreciation of the music. But in order to balance these priorities, we need skills. We must gain control of our dance, maintain a comfortable embrace, and keep our balance, so that every movement is a deliberate decision rather than the unintended consequence of inertia. Leaders must know their steps cold and keep their partners feeling secure. Followers must maintain good technique at all times, mirror the dynamics of their partners, and keep embellishments appropriate to the situation. And we must all be able to adapt our styles and choreographies to the line of dance.

Our work, as always, will cover many aspects of tango, but these concepts just discussed will be the root for the next five weeks. Come whenever you are able --- while the classes have a common theme, they are not a series, so each will stand on its own.

As always, for more information about our group classes and details about private lessons and packages, go to jakedanarae.com.

Sincerely,
Jake and Danarae

Fundraiser beginner lesson, ongoing group lessons, and privates!

2009-08-07T10:54:00.001-07:00

Dance for the Cure
We will be teaching a "Tango For Absolute Beginners" lesson on Saturday May 9 in Villebois, a new community in Wilsonville. We will have at least three, 1 hour lessons to keep class size at 16. The lesson is free, with voluntary donations going to the American Cancer Society. Please help support the fight against cancer by forwarding the blog listed below to anyone who might be interested.

Check out www.villeboistango.blogspot.com for more information or email jakedanarae@gmail.com to RSVP.

Group Lessons
Our Monday night lessons continue at the beautiful Ankeny Street Studio at SE 9th and Ankeny. In our fundamentals lesson tonight (04/20) at 7pm, we will continue working on pivots for the lead and follow, discussing the interplay of power, fluidity, strength, and relaxation...

Our 8:30 lesson will continue this theme, with a fun and musical sequence that includes some nice pivots and other fun elements.

Classes include a practica from 8:00 to 8:30.

Private Lessons
We continue to offer a limited number of private lessons including great deals for people who sign up for multiple lessons ... Reserve your spot today!

Check out our website for more information: www.jakedanarae.com

Quatro sacadas,
Jake and Danarae