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About The Dancing Bug

The passion for Latin Dancing from a writer's point of view.

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Tania Crivellenti

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Spotlight Posts

Bachateros’ Happiness

The Ballet Dancer’s Toe

It is a couple dance

Zouk in Rio

Countdown for Sydney Salsa Congress 2010

Temporary insanity

Public Luv

The White Shorts’ Dancing Bug

An Angel at Last

The Dancing Bag

Sydney Bachata Festival

The Brazilian Japanese of Sydney

The Dancing Seduction: Performing

So I thought I Could Dance

How to Teach Amazing Dance Workshops

My Congress Dance Recklessness

About the Congress Parties

Still about what makes a choreo great

The search for what makes a choreo great goes on…

Improvisations & Dancing With the Stars Appearances at SSC 2009

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The Dancing Bug - The Dancing Bug

Bachateros’ Happiness

January 26th 2012 22:38

Tony Lara at the Sydney Latin Festival

It is with great pleasure that announce to all bachateros that don’t know yet: we will have a Bachata room at the Parties of the Sydney Latin Festival this year!
I’m already dreaming of getting into a room and not waiting for the next Bachata, of knowing everyone there has only one thing in their minds.
For the non-dancers it will be as if I’ve gone mad and I’m talking exaggerations and non-sense. To the ones who, like me, are frequently in the Salsa rooms, with their eyes closed, hands together, and murmuring a prayer every time a music is ending: we are saved! Our prayers of “bachata, bachata, bachata” will be answered without fail on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights!
The Brazilian room (Zouk and Samba) and Salsa rooms will be faithfully there, but the novelty is making me go wild!
To complete our happiness Tony Lara is back!

To all Latin Dancers, The Sydney Latin Festival is an experience that should not be missed. From the 2nd to 5th of February 2012, at the State Sports Centre, Olympic Park, Sydney, Australia. www.sydneylatinfestival.com.au

I’ll see you there!

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The Ballet Dancer’s Toe

October 3rd 2011 07:54

Thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five, thirty-six... and she fell to the floor.
After thirty-six fouettes, pain reached a new level, way beyond unbearable. Unbearable she could take any day of the week. To be a ballet dancer was never knowing absence of pain. This time it was different.
She would do whatever it took. Life wasn’t supposed to be like this.
Finally she went to the doctor.
‘Couldn’t I just cut it out?’
The doctor looks at her with startled eyes. He seems to need some recovering before coming back together.
‘You could. I wouldn’t do it though; I don’t think you would like the consequences.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘In fact, you would have to change your whole life to be without your big toe. It is essential for your balance. Possibly you would no longer be a ballet dancer. Possibly another type of dancer, maybe. I dare to think you cannot do these ballet point shoes without it. You could be the first in the world to do it, still a huge challenge. Even walking won’t be the same. Your identity will be changed, there will be a discovery to be made on “who am I without my toe?”'
She thinks furiously.
'But why??? Why is it doing this to me? I just want to get on with my life!!!'
'I understand your frustration' says the doctor 'what I'll ask you instead is what have you been doing to it to make it so angry at you?'
'Just dancing!'
'Just dancing. Really?'
'Well, the nail fell a few times. But it grew back every time.'
'How many times, specifically?'
'Four.'
'Four. You lost your toe's nail four times and didn't think your toe needed some attention, some better care?'
'No, it's how toes are.'
'No, they are not!'
'I mean, ballet dancers' toes'
'Are they? All your ballet friends are at the doctor, right now, considering chopping their toes off?'
'No. Just some of them... some stop dancing too because of the pain and the points.'
'Ok. So what do the others do differently?'
'They have such a ridiculous patience! They bind their toes in bandages before each class, toe by toe. Then they clean them after each class and re-do the process. It takes a long time.'
'Hummm' is his only comment. She continues:
'And they've bought gel protectors to put inside the shoes, my teacher said it is for the weak, not for real dancers.'
'Do you think that protecting yourself and your health is a weakness? That your teacher is thinking straight here?'
'I'm strong! And I don't have time for this pussy caring of small toes!'
'Or patience?'
'Or patience. I have more to do.'
'When you don't have time for your body, your body obligates you to create it. Your toe has been showing you something is not right. That it needs better care, that something has to change. Right now, it doesn't feel safe. It feels like you will chop it off at the first chance you've got. So it is giving you pain. It is on defensive mode fighting for its own existence.'
'What do I do?'
'When you've got here you told me you are willing to do whatever it takes...'
'Yes.'
'You were even willing to let it go, cut off the toe?'
'Yes!!!'
'Well, no. I won't do it because it would be irresponsible of me. It would be the quickest and apparent easiest solution. But the consequences could be life shattering. So I ask again: whatever it takes?'
'Yes...' She pouts.
'You will have to be good to yourself. Not only to your toe. Stop the punishment. No dancing for a month'
'A MONTH???! NO WAY! I have a performance and...'
He cuts her:
'A month. Yes. That is what it takes. Forfeit the performance. Then do everything differently. Eat carbs. Do yoga – with no shoes. Meditate. Build patience in every way you can. Challenge yourself in the areas you don't do it as a dancer: being calm, being happy. Eat something for goodness sake! And then, take care of your toe, every day, four times a day. Change the bandages and clean it thoroughly as I'll show you in a minute. Soak it every time in hot water, feed it the right medicine I'm prescribing. Also you will have to wake up every night, put an alarm for midnight, and repeat the process.'
'Waking up? You are kidding me aren't you?'
'No, I'm not kidding. This is what it takes, and by the way, this is real sacrifice, pain for the greater good, not inflicting yourself unbearable pain over and over again.'
She rests silent. The doctor goes on:
'The nail will fall again and, if you do it right, will regenerate once more. There will be pain, but it will grow smaller every day. By the end of the month you can go slowly back to dancing.'
'Yey!' She exclaims in a very small voice with false excitement.
'I feel I have to tell you one more thing.'
'What?'
'You may find out you don't want to continue being what you were until now.'
'That is what scares me the most...'
'I know Sweetie, I know...'

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It is a couple dance

January 11th 2011 22:41

Quadrille traditional Folk Brazilian Dance

Quadrille dancers at Pirata's Bar - Fortaleza, CE, Brasil

I haven’t been dancing much, but I still go out at least once a week, attend some classes, dance at empty beaches or in a candle lighted living room. I’m also having a ball with Zumba classes with Amy Mills. She is a queen!
What I have been doing more is writing. I have just created my own writer’s website: www.taniacreations.com
Although I have been really busy there are things I cannot miss:
Every forró party from the band “Faiscada” in Sydney. My sister and I keep saying we are not their fans, we are their stalkers. We follow them everywhere. Check them out on facebook, they are awesome.
The Sydney Salsa Congress coming up soon. See my old posts to know why it is impossible to dance and miss this event! What started as a congress focussed in Salsa is now a huge event with all styles of Latin and Brazilian Dance. I always feel like a child in a candy shop when I see what is happening there.
The Sydney Bachata Festival should have some great surprises too, I’ve been told by a trustworthy source that all bachata dancers will go crazy with the guests they are bringing.
I was dancing last weekend and I had a great time dancing zouk. From some of the dances I had, the only pointer I would give all dancers in any kind of couple dancing is : IT IS A COUPLE DANCE. That means you have to interact somehow with your partner.
The idea is not to be freakish, staring at her all the time, or anything like that. Just be present to the dance, to the moment, enjoy it. Don’t dance thinking of whom you will ask next, or analysing the other couples on the dance floor.
Dance with your current partner and you can look at her a few times, interact with her shines or notice that she is interacting with yours. It will make you both have a lot more fun and will increase your sensuality as a dancer ten times!
And follow your dreams, I am engaged with mine!

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Zouk in Rio

May 26th 2010 01:03

Dancing with the Statue in Copacabana Beach in Rio

I have been in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, I went dancing two nights in a row and it was a blast

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Countdown for Sydney Salsa Congress 2010

January 19th 2010 02:40

It is the countdown for the Sydney Salsa Congress. Only a few days to go! From 28th to 31st Jan 2010 do not call me, actually, pretend I’m off the face of the Earth because this Congress is where I’m gonna be…
It is the most amazing Latin Dance event in Australia, getting big on the Brazilian Dance styles too. It is considered the most successful congress in the world for integrating all the famous and trendy dance styles in the Latin World

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Temporary insanity

June 24th 2009 05:41

When asked why he did it he told us: “I was fat and ugly”. These are his words, I’m pretty sure his mom would strongly disagree. The fact is that my dance partner and friend Junaid decided to go for a Body Building contest... with all that comes with the package.
It is like when you look a pair of jeans with diamond buttons. It is so unachievable you simply don’t consider it seriously. When people like me, reasonably fit, with a few love handles, my honest share of cellulites and a normal body see a body builder we think “oh cool” and move the conversation to the next topic. We see what is there but we have no idea of the lunacy behind

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Latin Dance Section at Radar Magazine

June 4th 2009 00:13

Radar Magazine Vol4

I have great news! Radar Magazine is opening a new Latin Dance Section from the August edition. I’m very excited as I’m the writer and reporter. www.radarmagazine.com.au
If you don’t know Radar you have to see it. It is a magazine about the Brazilian culture for the Australian market. It is special. It has an amazing quality in all senses, good printing in a glossy paper, with a layout that is almost sexy, the pictures are artistically chosen and distributed, the writing is not only journalistic, it is almost literary, like chronicles of life’s best. All done in two languages: English and Portuguese.
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Brisbane Salsa and Brazilian Dance Congresses 2009

June 3rd 2009 05:37

Brisbane Salsa and Brazilian Dance Congresses 2009

I am very excited to say that I’m going to the Brisbane Salsa and Brazilian Dance Congress this weekend! Gaspar Ribeiro invited me so I can experience it and write with all my heart of the adventures I’m going to have there.
I was at the event last year and had a lot of fun, this year will be even better as it will be at the Mercury hotel right at the CBD.
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Wizard’s Zouk

May 27th 2009 02:23

Ana, Johnny and I

One of the highlights of my bachata festival was actually a pair of Zouk dances. You would think that I was dancing with Kadu or one of the best zoukers in the house, with a brilliant song and full space to turn, twist and dip, hum?
Well no. With no disrespect, he was one of the worst zoukers in the house. I don’t mean to offend him; it was simply that he wasn’t a zouker at all. He doesn’t dance zouk yet and his intention was to learn there, right in the middle of the Sydney Bachata Festival

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My Sydney Bachata Festival Experience

May 21st 2009 02:11

I had some pretty good and special dances and experiences at the Bachata Festival.
My Friday night started pretty well when the 4Ever boys asked me (!!!) to take a picture with them, not the other way around! I asked if I could take a picture of the group for my blog but they insisted on having me with them, I got all fuzzy and happy... maybe it is something they do with lots of girls, I don’t care, it worked, I bought the CD straight away even not knowing which of the bachata songs I have in my head are theirs

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January 2012

1 Posts

October 2011

1 Posts