Beginners I like, beginners I don't

I have written here how I like to dance with beginners. But I should have written SOME beginners. I like to dance with beginners that have a positive approach. When dancing, I want to dance with someone that can connect with me, with my dance. And for as much as it is difficult to do that when you're a beginner, any little bit will please me. And I am not expecting a beginner to do the same as an intermediate or advance dancer. I am expecting a beginner to do simple stuff and to make an effort in order to make it correctly. In essence, when dancing with beginners the attitude counts a lot.
I don't like to dance with other kind of beginners. These usually called themselves advanced and think that time (on itself) dictates your level of mastery. Dancing with them is like dancing with a broomstick. They're just interested in not staying sat (because that is a waste of time and it looks bad). They're not interested in putting anything into the dance. They are not interested into learning, challenging themselves, put a sparkle in the dance. They're just there because they just got used to go to milongas, to pretend they dance tango and to tell their non-tango friends that they're fantastic dancers.
There is the third type of beginners. The ones that are not beginners but that have the attitude of beginners. Those of have been learning for quite some time, have mastered quite a lot of principles but still persevere in the quest to become better. Other people called them advanced. The truly advanced dancer is the one who realises that he/she will always be a beginner.

Tango and injury

If you're one of these people that has never stopped dancing because of an injury (tango or non-tango related) then you should be glad that you're in a very restricted club. And you should read this post with much attention.
For the first few years of tango I spent a third of the time not dancing. Not because I didn't want it, not because I didn't feel like it, simply because I couldn't bear the pain anymore. I tango limped, which did not help my knee, my head or my confidence, let alone my tango.
The first thing that I advice is not to lose contact with the music. Listening to the music will let you know about what's coming next and that gives you an invaluable advantage when improvising.
Second thing is, don't be passive about your injury. If only one bit of your body is hurt try to maintain the other bits active. Even the little bit that is hurt can move most times but check with a physiotherapist first.
Third, try to get basic concepts in your head. Basic concepts such as line of walk, bringing feet together... Everytime I was injured for two months I came back to my first milonga and people would ask me if I had been hacing lessons with someone else. When I told them that I hadn't danced for months they wouldn't believe me. But it was all down to organising tango within my head, rather than in my chest or my feet. There is lots of good stuff to read (and lots of crap stuff). I can advise Tao of Tango and (online) Tango and Chaos.
Fourth, get some inspiration. If youtube gives you inspiration, wonder around it. If watching ballet gives you inpiration why not buying some tickets for the show that is just coming around to your town? Keep your brain flooded with ideas, whether they are tango, or non-tango related.
Fifth, and perhaps most important. When you come back, PLEASE, start by doing simple stuff. Even a short time such as 3 weeks can leave you completely out of fluidity. "Less is more". Although this is the motto for tango generally, here it is an obligation. You'll see that after 3 or 4 milongas/praticas you'll feel much better and much more fluent. Like riding a bike, it all comes back, but takes some time and to paraphrase my tango mentor, "it also takes some tango mileage"

Heavyness and being grounded - two completely different things!

This post is born out of the discussion of a post in Alex's blog. I am sure this has been discussed around in a blog somewhere but I can't remember where. Anyway, what we're talking about is if weight matters.
By self experience I say that I have danced with some heavy followers that were light as a plume and with some (misleadingly) skinny followers that were has heavy has a lorry (or truck, if you're on the other side of the Atlantic ;o) So, weight on itself has absolutely no influence on the dance. If you can hold your weight, if you can be strong enough to carry all your package on your own, then you'll be light as a feather. In other words, you'll be as heavy as how much you ask your partner to carry.
Being grounded is something completely different. You can be obese and still not being close to be grounded. You can be slim and fit and yet drill down into the floor without passing the weight to your partner. Juana Sepulveda is a very good example. Slim, beautiful, gracious. But you'll notice that when she takes a step, especially in pivots she drills into the floor but she holds her own weight.
One my early teachers once told me "In tango, try to step the underfloor and never the floor". it makes absolute sense. To be decisive and to make your movements as clear as water you have to put all your weight into the floor (action) and transform the upward motion (reaction) into whatever you want to do.