Practica Otro, una practica para todos en Hong Kong

Practica Otro in November, 2008

2008-12-06T01:23:00.000-08:00

We'd like to thank Ali and Shan for their debut performance in our Practica. We all appreciate that a lot!

Practica Otro in October, 2008

2008-11-10T07:17:00.000-08:00

Practica Otro on 13 September, 2008 (Mid-Autumn Festival)

2008-09-13T14:43:00.000-07:00

Thank you for coming on the mid-Autumn Festival nite! ... while many people have gone to the Taipei Tango Festival, we are glad we still have you with us tonite!

Practica Otro on 23 August, 2008

2008-08-24T03:13:00.000-07:00

It's a very special night after a holiday with Typhoon no.9 in Hong Kong.

See photos of the nite below. We enjoyed it a lot, and wish to see you again next time!

Cortinas ... in Practica?

2008-08-21T04:34:00.000-07:00

We have been thinking of whether or not to include cortinas in our Practica Otro ... We have currently set out the musics without cortinas but in tandas of 4 or 3 songs depending on the length of the songs, and we make all tandas with noticeable change of mood, like from tango to milonga, or tango to vals, or classical to nuevo ... so as to mark the change of tandas.

We've talked to friends who have different views of wanting or not wanting cortina ... here's some of the thoughts we have encountered ...

Views from different people :

... "i think it's better to have cortinas as sometime we don't know when to stop dancing, because we don't know the music well, and we are not able to count the number of songs which has been playing ... so, we don't know when to jump in and when to jump out ... "

... "i think it's better not to have cortinas because we want to keep practicing continuously, and there's no problem you jump in at the 3rd song of a tanda and leave at the 2nd song of the next tanda as when you think about something you want to practice, you can just jump in and move, you don't need to wait for the start of a tanda ... "

... " i want cortinas so that it's easier to say thank you to the partners if you want to stop dancing without any hard feelings ... if there's no cortinas, it seems there's not a common understanding of when to stop dancing, and if you say thank you, it seems that it mean you don't want to dance with him anymore ... and i'm afraid that they won't invite me again next time if i say thank you ... "

..."it's totally normal to say thank you to end the dances, we all need to learn to say thank you in a nice way and to accept a thank you without hard feelings ... that's how it works anywhere in the tango world ... "

... "All the practicas in Buenos Aires don't have cortinas, if we have cortinas, we are not keeping the tradition like in BsAs or other parts of the world, and it'll feels like a milonga rather than a practica again ... "

... " i think it's better to have cortinas, as in HK, there are more men than women, and many women want to grab a man to practice and they won't stop dancing with you even after 10 songs ... it's easier to change partners with the help of cortinas ..."

..." Practicas should have music ongoing, cortinas are for milongas where people stop for drinks and chat with friends and change partners to look for dates ... practicas are more for people who are really keen on improving their dancing ... not to relax and spend the nite ... "

... " i think for HK, it's better to have cortinas, as we're not like BsAs, where there are so many people dancing tango, and you'll meet different people in different milongas and practicas, so if you say thank you to someone when you don't want to dance with, you won't need to be afraid that they'll not invite you anymore as there are so many people in other milongas still, and you can choose whether you go to practica or milonga that night according to your mood ... but here, we meet the same bunch of people nearly in all milongas, and here we don't have a choice in one nite whether we go to practica or milonga ... "

......

What's your view? ...

We'll observe more and if you have any suggestions, please let us know.

Revised Time of the Practica

2008-08-21T03:36:00.001-07:00

Please note that the starting time of the Practica is revised to

9:30pm

Guided sessions would be at

10pm Basic Session
11pm Advance Session

2008-08-07T04:54:00.000-07:00

There will be Practica Otro this saturday (9 Aug). Come and join us again!

We are very sorry that last time, the air-conditioners are not working properly after the renovation of the studio, but yesterday, we have specially went to the studio to check that the problem is rectified and all AIR CONDITIONERs are working properly !!!! ... so don't worry that we would have "Hot Tango" as last time ... though we all want our Argentine Tango be HOT ...

Our Guided Sessions will be at
9:30pm Basic Session - dance floor applicable movements would be introduced
11pm Advance Session - more advance movements demanding more training on techniques would be introduced

We hope our practica can be a very free meeting place ... to really practice, exchange ideas, and to learn from each others ... or simply improve through dancing more and more ... You can practice your own things and if you come across problems, you are welcome to grab us and ask us. Or even if you don't know what to practice, you can also come to us, we can give you some exercises to work on ... so, come and work hard together!!!

One more thing, the last few pairs of Comme-il-faut will be displayed for sale in the inner room of the studio, size from 35 - 38. Ladies, grab your last chance!

Opening of Practica Otro on 26 July, 2008

2008-07-30T11:19:00.000-07:00

We are very happy to have more than 60 guests coming to our Practica Otro, we are really thankful for your support! and hope you will be joining us onwards ...

the only thing is ... really sorry for the air conditioning, the venue had just finished the renovation a day before and the air-conditioning is not working properly ... We will get it fixed surely for the next time! If you have any comments, suggestions to our practica, please let us know! It would be really helpful to let us know your ideas and together we make it a better place for you!

And ... we are really touched by many of you who have offered help one way or the other without me even asking! ... someone who changed the water bottle, Agnes and Teddy who helped at the reception, Mann who initiated to take photo and video for us, Ah Shan who help to fix the banner and get our logo sticker back to us, Oskar who helped me fixed the sound system ... all these little BIG help are really very much appreciated and make us feel very warm ... big kisses for all of you!

Idea of our Practica Otro

2008-07-30T10:55:00.000-07:00

We are very happy to be able to finally set up the practica, in a nice big venue ... the most important thing is that many of you are joining us in a search of excellence in tango! ...

We enjoy dancing in milongas, a lot, but we have been long for a place to practice tango seriously and have fun in the process of exchanging ideas with different people. We wish our practica can be a place where we can grow together in tango ... so come and join us !!

The idea of our Practica is ...

We embrace all styles of tango, be it Salon, Milonguero, Nuevo, stage ... in our practica, eveyone are respected to develop their unique style ...

At times, we'll give out Guided Sessions with concepts of particular themes each time, and at different intervals we'll add something for you to keep practicing ...

Free dancing and practicing, although we don't have code of etiquette like in milongas, please be reasonably considerate to each others on the dance floor ...

Keep practicing - we hope everyone come to really practice, those who are not dancing with partners are still encouraged to practice on their own techniques, if you don't know what to do, come to us, we have a lot of exercises for you ...

Everyone is free to exchange ideas and ask questions and try things out, we learn through experimenting things ...

Change partners to test your lead and follow, don't stick to one for the whole nite

Music appreciation - we'll introduce different style of musics and musicians from traditional tango to nuevo or alternative musics ...

Show time - Every now and then, we'll invite demonstrations by different couples, just have fun to show what you have to others and through this process, we'll see the progress of each others and will work hard together! ...

Our main aim of the practica is : Practice, practice, practice and improve together!

If you have any other ideas or suggestion to the practica, please let us know.