To be Geraldine or not to be Geraldine, that is the question…

I thought I’d join in the crowd of bloggers posting about people who imitate the lovely Geraldine Rojas, and throw in my two cents.

Geraldine is simply gorgeous when she dances – she exudes a certain sensuality that makes you melt. What she’s most famous for (for us women at least) are her embellishments. And it’s not even so much what she does as it is how she does it –with soul. She doesn’t do anything halfway. She’s not afraid. She commits to every step, to each adornment, and owns it. I think that’s something we should all try to learn – how to own your steps and embellishments.

She has served as an inspiration for many dancers who, thanks to her, are beginning to step out of their shells and starting to embellish a little more, starting to experiment with different things. This is healthy.  But Geraldine is so influential, so “it” right now, that I think some people are getting a little confused and basically imitating her. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. But… it depends on how you imitate I guess.

There are girls who physically imitate her and try to do everything exactly as she does it, with her twist, in the Geraldine “dialect”. It just looks weird because it’s not real. Then there are the girls who imitate her by putting their own personalities into what they do, and thinking outside of the box by being unique – and it looks fabulous.

There’s a fine line between these two forms of imitation. I personally think it’s perfectly okay to “imitate” someone else’s step, just to try it on for size, to see if it fits you. I’ll openly admit that since I’ve always been a fan of embellishing, I’ve tried a few of Geraldine’s things just for the sake of wanting a bigger vocabulary. Some of those things just didn’t feel right at all, so I didn’t keep them. A couple of other things felt great and fit my heart and soul perfectly, and worked really well with my body and my style, so I kept them.

But in this process, I discovered a lot more of myself and started creating my own embellishments that are perfect for me. For me that’s the whole point of imitation. For me that is why it’s okay to imitate – but you’ve got to know when to draw the line. Never forget yourself in tango. Be inspired by Geraldine and learn from her as you will – but remember to dance like YOU. Do you want to a guy to dance with you and focus on you – or would you rather he dance with you while thinking about her?