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About Me

Name: Jenni Kravitz
Location: London, United Kingdom

I run a unique dancing school in London where women, men and couples can all learn in their own way. Those who come alone get a trained partner of the opposite sex to dance with, and I also coach couples for weddings and special events. I teach both ballroom and Latin steps, including tango.

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Previous Posts:
  Tuesday, 4 May 2010
OUR TANGO TRIP OF A LIFETIME

My sister Karen and I have just returned from the trip of a lifetime. We finally managed to get to Buenos Aires on our first shared holiday in 30 years after having had to postpone three times.

The first delays were caused by the sad death of our parents earlier this year. Then, as we were finally about to leave, the BBC asked us to take part in a documentary about Tango Teas at the Waldorf. This was such an exciting opportunity to showcase the wonderful bi-monthly event we have re-introduced to the famous Palm Court that we readily agreed to the request. The show will be aired May 27 on The One Show. The producers concentrated on the Tango element of the Tea Dances which turned out to be extremely apposite bearing in mind that we were about to go to the home of Tango.

We had been recommended to a dance couple who were to be our teachers: Diego and Cecilia. Our first lesson was at a small studio in the heart of Palermo, a very chic and newly renovated area of Buenos Aires. Diego and Cecilia conduct the lesson together – he dances with us and she observes and provides valuable commentary to correct our posture and footwork. From time to time Cecilia takes over in order to practice with us and perfect our technique. This arrangement works very well as although the teacher can feel whether we are following his lead, the addition of another expert pair of eyes means that every aspect of the dance is covered.

We grew to love our teachers. Diego and Cecilia are beautiful dancers and arranged for us to watch them perform at the Tango Show at the famous Carlos Gardel restaurant. They are resident performers in the show, which is absolutely breathtaking. It was a particular pleasure for us to have them come over to our table at the end of the show and to know that they were our teachers.

They also took us to a milonga - dance hall - where a number of their friends who are mostly professional dancers gather to dance late at night. We did not have enough confidence to get out on the floor in such expert company but it was very obvious that our teachers were held in very high esteem by their peers. Diego and Cecilia gave another performance of three dances and it was beautiful.

We loved Buenos Aires and can’t wait to return there. The people we met were very kind and friendly, the hotel we stayed at - the Palermitano in Palermo - was just what we needed. The staff were very caring and attentive to our needs. They always made sure that we had as much information as we needed and every night left us chocolates on the bed with a sweet little note.

The restaurants were amazing – we simply cannot believe how inexpensive and high quality the meals were. One night we went to the home of Diego Felix and his wife, who provide a five course menu of sensational fish and vegetarian food. Diego specialises in using little known herbs indigenous to the region, and guests are invited to go into the kitchen and talk to the chefs. We would highly recommend this restaurant as well as La Cabrera, Social Paraiso and Cluny, all in Palermo.

One afternoon we ate at an outdoor restaurant in Recoleta next to the famous cemetery where Eva Peron is buried. We were serenaded by an excellent guitarist who sang his way through the Antonio Carlos Jobim and Astrud Gilberto song book. This made me very wistful, as I know just how much my Dad would have loved to be with us. Then we discovered a musical group called Acqualactica – it consists of a father and his three young sons who not only compose their own music but also make their own electronic instruments. The music is a mix of new age and chamber music – very restful and haunting.

We can’t wait to go back and have booked our tickets for two weeks over Christmas. If anyone wants to join us it will be the height of Summer and we can go to the milongas together.

posted by Jenni Kravitz @ 12:25  


Monday, 12 April 2010
OUR TANGO TEAS ON THE ONE SHOW!

On Sunday the BBC’s One Show came to the Waldorf to make a film about the tango teas Simply Dancing Partners has restored to the hotel. I was interviewed by the very attractive Des Coleman, who asked me about the history of Tango and how it came to Europe. 

Des was particularly interested in the fact that the tango tradition started in the Brothels of Buenos Aires and was originally danced by gauchos from the fields who came into town to dance with prostitutes.  Later it became more universally accepted by richer families, whose young men used to visit the so-called “Academia de Danse” which were, in fact, illegal brothels.  Many of these young men were sent to Europe to further their education, and brought the dance to London and Paris.  The prim and proper society world decided the dance in its native form was too risqué, and a more polite version was created. 
 
Although the Argentine Tango in became very popular, another version – the Ballroom Tango - was created using very similar music but with a different frame.  The main difference is that the Argentine Tango requires the couple to lean towards each other in a close embrace.  In the Ballroom Tango the couple have contact at their hips, but the upper parts of their bodies lean upwards and outwards.  The nature of the Ballroom Tango is angry and staccato, whereas the Argentine Tango is very sensual, with an emphasis on intertwining of the couple’s legs.
 
Des had a brief Tango lesson with our lovely teacher Anessa Duncan and was then filmed practising his moves.  The crew also shot a professional display by Marek and Olivera Szotkowski.  There were several dancers at the event who enthusiastically took to the floor for each of the Tango interludes.  We also had a fabulous Latin Dance display from Amy Bennett and Gunnar Gunnarsson, who compete for the UK. 

The crew filmed me dancing a Ballroom Tango with the fabulous Oleg Storozhuk, and told me I was a natural for TV! I also danced with other members of our wonderful partner team: Rafal Lautenbach, Carl Jansen, Maxim Pitirimov and Jay Samya, who proved once again how much pleasure they can add to the dancing experience.   This is one of the very few public events where women are able to go along knowing that they are guaranteed to be able to dance with professional partners and won’t have to just watch from the sidelines.
 
I invited Diana Morgan Hill, who recently came second in BBC’s Dancing on Wheels, to join me at the event.   In my view she should have won, as I said in a recent blog praising her achievements, which led her to get in touch with me.  Diana has accepted her new role as ambassador for disabled dancers and told me that dancing has transformed her life.  As someone who has full use of their legs but nevertheless spent 35 years in a dance-free zone, I totally understand that. For me, filming with the BBC was a chance to celebrate three years of Simply Dancing Partners and the incredible joy it has brought into my life and hopefully the lives of others. 

posted by Jenni Kravitz @ 14:22  


Friday, 26 March 2010
PINEAPPLE STUDIOS - AT LAST I CAN SEE THE POINT OF LOUIE!

My heart leapt as episode five of Sky’s Pineapple Studios opened with a burst of the high-energy dancing associated with this famous Covent Garden space used mainly by professional hoofers.
Then it sank, as the classful of leaping, swivelling and swaying boys and girls gave way to Louie, Pineapple’s middle-aged artistic director, who can’t get enough of posing, often pointlessly, for the camera.
But I warmed to Louie as the cameras followed him out of Pineapple and back to Bodywork, the dance academy in Cambridge where he learned to strut his stuff. It was interesting to see a video of the 40-year-old dancing passionately as a teenager; no wonder he enjoyed his day in the sun in top shows like Miss Saigon on the London stage.
However, the years of being too busy running Pineapple to do his own daily workouts have obviously caught up with Louie. My heart went out to him as he proved unable to keep up with students half his age in a warm-up at his old Cambridge stomping-ground. “I just want to be able to do what I used to be able to do” is the heartfelt wail of so many middle-aged dancers who have lost some of their stamina and flexibility.
But that’s where life experience comes in. What mature dancers do have to offer is a reflection of the lives they’ve lived, both the joys and the sorrows, and the ability to express those emotions on the floor. When Louie got to teach a class at Bodywork he found most of the young dancers technically accomplished, but lacking in passion: :”You should be able to make people cry when you dance,” he told his pupils - and promptly demonstrated with a totally convincing pas de deux he performed with old classmate Jane, who studied alongside him 25 years ago.
“I may be old, but I’ve got passion, smirked Louie, totally exonerating himself - and actually, all the multiple spins he performed at the start of his class belied his years. Louie really does still have what it takes, in technique as well as expressiveness; I’m sure Pineapple’s clients regard him as an inspiration.
Perhaps we will finally get to see more of Andrew Stone’s modern jazz class - once again, there was just a tantalizing glimpse of it before the cameras went off on a frankly boring tangent following Andrew’s desire to become a pop star. Andrew, you may be able to sing, but I’d much sooner watch you dance!

posted by Jenni Kravitz @ 15:31  


 



 
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