Song: Alma by Adolfo Carabelli
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
June 29, 2009, The Beat, Berkeley, CA
The theme of the night focused on the transition, the zone between the boleo and sacada. Our focus was on the Follower’s boleo and the Follower’s sacada, and joining the two together like brother and sister, as the energy flows from one to the other, from boleo to sacada.
We focused on the topic by breaking it down, and really working on boleo technique and sacada technique.
The Follower’s forward boleo is led from the ocho, with the Leader doing a quick weight change (little sashay) to lead the Follower forward boleo. This was done in open embrace, with the Leader in teapot hold with his right forearm and hand behind his back. This was so he could really lead from his spine and chest, and not rely on his right hand/arm to steer the Follower, and for the Follower to maintain good spiral energy and not rely on the Leader to turn her body to help her pivot.
Follower’s Technique for Open Embrace Ocho:
Follower should keep her chest facing the Leader while her hips turn 90 degrees away. Follower should have an active left hand, and not let go of the Leader’s right bicep, and she should remain on axis with no lean forward. The embrace is the conduit where the Leader communicates the ocho and boleo. Follower should keep her hips close to the Leader.
Leader Technique for Open Embrace Ocho / Boleo:
The Leader should make really good size side steps, which give the Follower enough time to complete her pivot. If his step is short, he will not give her enough time to pivot, and she may not pivot enough to have enough space to do a forward boleo.
Follower’s Technique for Boleos:
For the boleo, what we are hoping for is a satisfying “thwack” against the outside side of the butt, as it is a whipping action, and the “thwack” occurs at the end of the whip. We can accomplish this by having good articulation in freeing the femur, so that the leg wraps around and the foot kind of spirals up the leg. The top of the thighs touch each other, are very squished close together, and in the boleo the leg crosses over the other leg very tightly. Don’t let the knee bend when there’s space between the thighs. The knee does not go up until there’s no space between the thighs. Keep the spiral in the upper body, with the shoulders and chest facing the Leader, even though the hips face away. Pivot a lot, be very active in your hips. Don’t rely on the Leader to help you pivot.
Leader’s Technique for Boleos:
Timing is key. At the middle of the Follower’s ocho is where the Leader’s weight change should occur. When the Follower’s hips are directly facing the Leader, that is the Point of No Return. If the Leader jumps the gun and changes weight too soon (before the Point of No Return), he will end up leading a rebote. If his timing is right (much later than the Point of No Return, when the Follower’s hips are well past facing the Leader), he will lead a boleo.
The Boleo-Sacada Connection
For the figure, the Follower’s boleoing foot does a side step sacada of the Leader’s trailing foot as he steps away from the Follower. It is important to employ good walking technique, and good reaching technique.
Follower right leg forward boleo directly into right leg side step sacada of Leader’s trailing left back foot as he steps forward (away and across from the Follower) with his right leg clockwise.
Follower left leg forward boleo directly into left leg side step sacada of Leader’s trailing right back foot as he steps forward (away and across from the Follower) with his left leg counterclockwise.
This Follower side step sacada is a side step facing away from each other, and then they pivot to face each other at the end, resolving into a molinete.
Technical comments on the figure:
The Leader’s right hand doesn’t hold on to the Follower’s back, but the Follower still holds on to the Leader’s right bicep with her left hand.
The Follower should really think “side step”, and really track where the Leader is the new center of the circle and where his axis is. Follower should not let the Leader pull her into the side step. The Follower should really stretch in the side step, trying to touch the Leader’s thigh.
We concluded with a study circle review of the things we learned:
(1) Timing is key.
(2) Keep your chest up.
(3) There can be a slight hanging away from each other.
(4) Follower should really stretch in the side step, trying to touch the Leader’s thigh.
(5) Hips are ocho factories.
(6) The Boleo-Sacada combination is like brother and sister.
(7) Have good, strong ochos.
(8) There is elasticity in the embrace.
(9) The Point of No Return is when the Follower’s hips directly face the Leader’s.
Maestros ended the class with a demo to Alma by Adolfo Carabelli that had many different types of boleos (linear, back, forward) and different types of sacadas (forward, side), and from different body positions (promenade).
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Advanced Seminario on Colgadas
Song: Recursos Humanos by Tanghetto
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info/
June 26, 2009, Emeryville, CA
A Colgada Odyssey Exploring Form vs. Function.
This is a reprint of the class Handout:
Overview: This tango seminar will present material of an advanced nature. It is assumed that you have a strong foundation of tango technique as well as intermediate social dance knowledge of Colgada applications. A partner is required. We will not rotate. Material, as outlined below, will be presented at an accelerated pace. You will have 1 or 2 songs to work on the material with your partner. There will be some time for group discussion & questions before moving on. Long delays and tangents will be avoided. Following the seminar, there will be a supervised practica where we will try to give everyone individual attention.
Special Note: If you would like or need detailed foundation work on the subject of Colgadas, please join us for Saturday’s Intermediate Intensivo (4-7 p.m.) at the Allegro. The place will be slow and thorough.
Outline:
1 Two-Foot Colgada Warm-Up
a. With Mountain Climber
2 Circular Step-Over Colgadas
a. Side-Step Trap & Send
b. From Follower’s Back Step
i. Exit with Step-Thru, Spin, or Follower’s Boleo/Spin
c. With Leader’s Back Sacada
i. Demonstrate 34th Sacada, Enrosque, Colgada
3 Multiple Colgadas:
a. From Leader’s Forward Sacada & Back Sacada
b. Butterfly (shoe goes, he goes)
4 Mostly Functional Uses
a. Collapsible Volcadas
b. In-Line Boleos
c. Strictly Circular Boleo/Sacadas
d. Single Axis Spins
i. ex. Coriolis Spin
5 Change-of-Embrace Colgadas
a. Arm-Lock Step-Over
b. Promenade with Sweetheart Embrace & Spin Exit
c. Elbow Colgada
Additional 2009 Seminars:
September 25: The Embrace + Tangonero
December 25: Milonga + Trio Garufa
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(These notes below are mostly from Friday, but also heavily augmented with technical comments from Saturday’s Intermediate Intensivo)
Two-Foot Colgada Warm-Up (Trainer)
This is where the dancers are face to face, with the Follower’s feet shoulder-width or a little wider apart, firmly planted on the floor, with Leader’s feet inside of them. The dancers go from opposite side to opposite side of each other, out and away in Colgada movement. Each dancer goes to their own corner, trying to round off the corners, and not have any change in body height as they do this (never really coming up). While they are at one corner, one leg is very straight and the other one is very bent. Chests and hips face each other. This exercise helps us get used to the colgada feeling of counterbalancing each other, sending the hips out, circularity, and understanding where the boundaries are.
Mountain Climber
Maestros demonstrated and we attempted to do the Mountain Climber, where we continue the use of the colgada energy, while the Leader walks around the Follower in a clockwise direction, alternating stepping on the inside of her foot and on the outside her foot until he does one full rotation around her.
Batman & Robin Experience
To the Two-Foot Colgada Trainer, we added the Batman and Robyn Experience, whereby when the Follower reaches the maximum end of the arc, the Leader ejects Follower so that she steps around the Leader. The Follower steps around the Leader’s left leg with her left foot, and she steps around the Leader’s right leg with her right foot.
Follower’s Technique:
Be active in your embrace. It is important to use both the right hand and the left hand in the embrace when doing colgadas.
Do not come up when doing the step over. This is not climbing. The hope is to prolong or suspend the colgada feeling as long as possible. The Colgada ends when the Follower’s foot lands on the floor.
When doing a forward cross step over, Follower should make long reaching steps, really going for it, to get around the Leader.
For the Leaders, the weight shift goes to the right and they turn to the left.
Next, we continued on to Circular Step-Over Colgadas.
Side-Step Trap & Send
Here, we began with the Leader’s rock step, then a 90 degree pivot, then the Leader traps the Follower’s right foot by stepping outside of it with his left foot, puts her weight on it to send out the Follower’s hips, then she steps over counterclockwise with her left foot.
For the Follower, before this Colgada, there is a back step energy, then a front cross step in front of and around the Leader.
Next, we did Circular Step-Over Colgadas From Follower’s Back Step, where the Leader stops and traps the Follower’s back step of the molinete (using the same feet as the Follower). He traps her right foot on the back step of the clockwise molinete with his right foot, and she steps back through with her left foot. He traps her left foot on the back step of the counterclockwise molinete with his left foot, and she steps back through with her right foot.
Leader’s Technique:
Pay attention to how your articulate the posture. Do not collapse in your torso or curl in at the shoulders. Keep your sternum up, your chest strong, and your shoulders back. The Leader is the foundation of the Colgada, and his strong core and engaged left arm and strong left hand make up the wall from which the Follower hangs.
Do not jam the Follower’s foot.
Leader’s Technique: Left Arm. ***VERY IMPORTANT***
Keep your left hand very strong and solidly connected to your back muscles. Keep your left arm close to you, not out and forward. Do not extend out your left arm, as the closer it is, the more support you provide for the Follower when she is in colgada. If you extend the left arm/hand out, it blocks her and will slow her down or prevent her in completing the turn to get around you as she steps over. The Leader’s left arm/shoulder posture is the same as he would employ while leading the molinete. Let the left side open up as soon as you can, as much as you can. Support the Follower’s right hand embrace as much as possible, and use your whole body. Do not collapse the left arm from the back, and make the left arm reflect what your left shoulder blade is doing. Connect/engage the left arm to the left back muscles.
Follower’s Technique: Posture ***VERY IMPORTANT***
There is horizontal energy in the Follower’s posture of out and up. Do not plank back like a stiff board, and do not do a back dive, where shoulders are out farther beyond the hips in a curved out fashion. The Follower gives the weight of her back/core to the Leader in the Colgada, and she should be engaged and connected there, not just in your arms.
For colgadas, it is a move from close embrace, to open embrace during the colgada, back to close embrace.
To these Circular Step-Over Colgadas From Follower’s Back Step, we attempted to do various types of Endings:
Exit with Step-Thru
Spin
Follower’s Boleo/Spin
Here, maestros demonstrated each of the exits, and we all had 1-2 songs to attempt to replicate each ending.
Next, we did Circular Step-Over Colgadas From Leader’s Back Sacada, where the Leader does a back ocho / back sacada / back cross step on the Follower’s side step or back step of the molinete, to create a moment of Colgada for the Leader to get through. The Leader has to send the Follower out first in the Leader’s back sacada step, and he should keep his weight back, but have his extended leg a little weighted. This posture/weight distribution will automatically counterweight the Follower and is ideal for executing a colgada. It is easier to go to the left side for the back sacada.
Next, we were running a little short on time, so we accelerated the already-fast pace.
The next topic was Multiple Colgadas, and maestros demonstrated that you can do two or more sacadas in a row, such as From Leader’s Forward Sacada & Back Sacada or the Butterfly (she goes, he goes). In both of these, the first sacada is a small one, and the second one is a bigger one. In the Butterfly, there are two Colgadas for the Follower, the first one is where she hangs out with her right hip/leg, then comes back in with the second colgada one where the Leader and Follower are both hanging out with opposite energy to the left side as they face each other.
We concluded with a demonstration by maestros of the functional uses of colgadas, and also the different change of embrace colgadas, to illustrate all the difference ways and places where colgadas could occur, or how they could be concluded/linked.
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The food, catered by Cristina, was glorious as usual. There were dressed garbanzo beans and cucumbers; an arranged chopped salad of lettuces, mushrooms, green beans, tomatoes, and pesto; an eggplant and sundried tomato dip with bread; cherries & watermelon; chili corn cake with mango salsa; and virgin mint juleps. Dessert was tiramisu, which I hear was sublime (I didn't stay around long enough to try it).
The live music was quite a treat, with Ryan Avery on Violin and Anna Maria Mendieta on Harp beginning their first set with Pablo Ziegler’s arrangement of Piazzolla’s Introduccion al Angel.
The Practilonga was quite fun overall. The Allegro is doing a very nice job building out the Garaje space, and it interesting to see it evolve over time.
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Saturday, June 27, 2009 Intermediate Intensivo.
To cut down on repetition, the following notes below are just what was totally new and not covered the day prior. The colgadas we worked on yesterday and, most importantly, the additional relevant technical comments associated with those colgadas has been included in the Friday notes above (even though they might have came out Saturday at the Intermediate Intensivo).
We covered similar material as the day prior, but had a chance to delve more deeply into technique, and had more time to drill. In addition, we did more exercises to get our heads and bodies into understanding and feeling the colgada energy.
New Exercises we did:
(1) Where the dancers are face to face, and the Leader holds the Follower’s wrists, and then both hang away from each other, really focusing on the hips being under the chest, which gives the sensation that the butt is sticking out. Follower needed to be as straight as possible in the core with horizontal energy up and out, but not planking out like a straight stiff board at an angle, or arching back in the shoulder blades like a back dive.
(2) Follower stands with legs/feet a little narrower than shoulder-width apart. Leader walks forward and bumps Follower’s core off axis. Here, the Leader did not have to be sensitive or careful. It was supposed to have a surprise element to it, as in tango, “things happen.” The Follower should be ready for it with her body, so this was to get us used to being caught off guard. Also, this exercise was to help us to understand how to put energy into our movement.
New Colgadas we worked on:
(1) Very simplified colgada where the leader steps of the left side, puts his right foot like a wedge between the Follower’s two feet, then send her straight out behind, pushing her out and counterbalancing himself.
(2) Colgada from Promenade walk, where both dancers walk forward as they are side to side, then the Leader sends Follower out to the right side, and around back in front of him. The Leader’s right foot makes a “sneak attack” by detaching from his right hip socket, where he puts weight on his right foot, which sends the Follower out to the right side on her right foot. The Leader then turns to the left so that the Follower steps around back in front of him
Technical Notes:
Maestros also emphasized the use of breathing through the whole process, where and when to do it to give life, flow, and dynamics, to the colgada.
Often colgadas break down because the Follower doesn’t trust or doesn’t feel secure. Thus, the Leader should not hesitate, but must be committed to the movement.
We tried to do the same colgadas with extreme energy, really going for it, to help us get over our fears and build trust.
We concluded by coming together in a study circle to share what we learned:
(1) Be engaged physically, but relaxed mentally.
(2) Trust
(3) Consistency
(4) Knowing how to feel the communication
(5) The importance of the Leader’s left arm connection with his back to give her something to hang from.
(6) Follower hips go back first
(7) Follower’s posture: Do not plank, do not back dive, and do not be shy about sending the hips back/out.
(8) You can do small colgadas
(9) Coordinate posture with timing
(10) Leader: do not let out the left arm
(11) Both Leader and Follower share the responsibility for the balance
(12) When Leader sends the Follower out, he needs to keep his arms and chest back and sternum up. In life, when we learn to send things out, we usually accompany them when we push them back away from us. In colgadas that is not the case. The Leader must stay back in his chest and arms, and not cave in in his upper body.
(13) Follower should enjoy the colgada ride.
(14) Follower should get her leg up quickly but never reach out too soon – the reach out is slower, and the colgada ends when her foot lands on the floor.
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Exploration of Height Change
Song: Como dos Estranos by Francisco Canaro (vocals by Ernesto Fama)
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
March 30, 2009, The Beat, Berkeley, CA
Height change is the up and down movement of dancers. Are height changes deliberate or do we do them unaware as a result of bad habits? Every movement we make in tango can have an element of height or height change. If our height change is deliberate, is it styled? Does it come from communication? Is it an expression of the music? Everything we do has an impact on our partner.
We began with an exercise attempting to use height change to communicate. We did this by doing a touch step or multiple touch steps, first to the left and right sides, then forward and back. The lead is more of the energy of the Leader pushing into the ground and not transferring weight. The Leader's axis remains where it is; his center does not move. The Follower should be prepared to go down, and to do this she must have flexion in the knee of her standing supporting leg and just reach with the other leg, but not change weight. This is especially important/apparent on the Follower's forward step. The dancers' centers don't move; they stay back, but flexion in the knees give the dancers range (especially the Follower). We then tried the touch step exercise with our eyes closed.
The question came up of whether or not we knocked knees when we did this, especially on the forward and back touch steps. Many people did. To remedy this, the Leader can use our upper bodies to create space on the bottom where the legs are by going outside or inside (using a little bit of contrabody movement) because someone has to move to get out of the way.
Next subject: weight changing. Here, we were to either change our weight in place, or make a side step. We were to really work on our posture, thinking about how up we could be, and still have our feet on the ground, and keeping the backs of our neck long and letting our head float (like in Alexander Technique). If you are over your center, you will be very grounded and balanced.
Next, we did a series of side steps, as many as three, four or five, then come back up to center and do a few weight changes in place. Here, the Leader was to have flexion in his knees going down before he actually goes. There is a "U" energy when doing the side step, and when there is a series of linked side steps, the energy becomes more like a series of "O"s.
Next, we worked on forward and back steps with weight changes. Here, we stepped forward and back with the same foot with a weight change (or several weight changes) in between. This was to let us practice the concept of rising up to change weight, and to have down compression in our leg to help us move.
Next, we used height change to communicate. The Follower can help the Leader to go up, giving him a lifting energy with slight push to increase the chest connection. The Follower's supporting standing leg can create a nicer quality of the side step by staying longer on the supporting, standing leg, but pushing off and lifting and transferring the weight slowly, delayed, staying as long as she can on her supporting, standing leg so that she massages the step. Here, there is a very apparent oppositional pull of up and down in the posture, really pulling horizontally to create density of movement (like molasses). Follower should really reach when doing the side step, and to get maximum range of motion, her supporting, standing leg must have flexion in the knee. The goal was for the Follower to be really up, maximally stretching from sternum to pelvis/hip.
Next, we worked on the concept of keeping the weight transfer in the middle. Here, the Leaders used a little bit of down energy and settling. When the Leader plays with the weight in the middle, both Leader and Follower's legs are open/separate.
From this idea of the weight in the middle, the Leader stops the Follower when she is in the middle of her weight (she is at the point of split weight), he then walks around her axis. As Leader walks around Follower, she pivots around on both feet without changing weight; her body eventually unwinds as a consequence of maintaining connection and remaining in front of the Leader. The Leader uses a bit of down energy, and as he walks around and she unwinds/spirals out, both dancers' heights go up. We tried this first on the Follower's back step and Leader walking around her clockwise. This can be done on the other side as well.
From this split weight walk around, we can conclude this to unwind directly into a volcada. Here, the Leader drops the Follower in her energy to lead the volcada. For Follower's technique, it is very important to really stretch from sternum to pelvis/hip, and to maintain this stretch/reach and core engagement at all times, especially when it transitions into the volcada.
Maestros concluded with a demo to Canaro's Como Dos Extranos with Ernesto Fama on vocals.
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
March 30, 2009, The Beat, Berkeley, CA
Height change is the up and down movement of dancers. Are height changes deliberate or do we do them unaware as a result of bad habits? Every movement we make in tango can have an element of height or height change. If our height change is deliberate, is it styled? Does it come from communication? Is it an expression of the music? Everything we do has an impact on our partner.
We began with an exercise attempting to use height change to communicate. We did this by doing a touch step or multiple touch steps, first to the left and right sides, then forward and back. The lead is more of the energy of the Leader pushing into the ground and not transferring weight. The Leader's axis remains where it is; his center does not move. The Follower should be prepared to go down, and to do this she must have flexion in the knee of her standing supporting leg and just reach with the other leg, but not change weight. This is especially important/apparent on the Follower's forward step. The dancers' centers don't move; they stay back, but flexion in the knees give the dancers range (especially the Follower). We then tried the touch step exercise with our eyes closed.
The question came up of whether or not we knocked knees when we did this, especially on the forward and back touch steps. Many people did. To remedy this, the Leader can use our upper bodies to create space on the bottom where the legs are by going outside or inside (using a little bit of contrabody movement) because someone has to move to get out of the way.
Next subject: weight changing. Here, we were to either change our weight in place, or make a side step. We were to really work on our posture, thinking about how up we could be, and still have our feet on the ground, and keeping the backs of our neck long and letting our head float (like in Alexander Technique). If you are over your center, you will be very grounded and balanced.
Next, we did a series of side steps, as many as three, four or five, then come back up to center and do a few weight changes in place. Here, the Leader was to have flexion in his knees going down before he actually goes. There is a "U" energy when doing the side step, and when there is a series of linked side steps, the energy becomes more like a series of "O"s.
Next, we worked on forward and back steps with weight changes. Here, we stepped forward and back with the same foot with a weight change (or several weight changes) in between. This was to let us practice the concept of rising up to change weight, and to have down compression in our leg to help us move.
Next, we used height change to communicate. The Follower can help the Leader to go up, giving him a lifting energy with slight push to increase the chest connection. The Follower's supporting standing leg can create a nicer quality of the side step by staying longer on the supporting, standing leg, but pushing off and lifting and transferring the weight slowly, delayed, staying as long as she can on her supporting, standing leg so that she massages the step. Here, there is a very apparent oppositional pull of up and down in the posture, really pulling horizontally to create density of movement (like molasses). Follower should really reach when doing the side step, and to get maximum range of motion, her supporting, standing leg must have flexion in the knee. The goal was for the Follower to be really up, maximally stretching from sternum to pelvis/hip.
Next, we worked on the concept of keeping the weight transfer in the middle. Here, the Leaders used a little bit of down energy and settling. When the Leader plays with the weight in the middle, both Leader and Follower's legs are open/separate.
From this idea of the weight in the middle, the Leader stops the Follower when she is in the middle of her weight (she is at the point of split weight), he then walks around her axis. As Leader walks around Follower, she pivots around on both feet without changing weight; her body eventually unwinds as a consequence of maintaining connection and remaining in front of the Leader. The Leader uses a bit of down energy, and as he walks around and she unwinds/spirals out, both dancers' heights go up. We tried this first on the Follower's back step and Leader walking around her clockwise. This can be done on the other side as well.
From this split weight walk around, we can conclude this to unwind directly into a volcada. Here, the Leader drops the Follower in her energy to lead the volcada. For Follower's technique, it is very important to really stretch from sternum to pelvis/hip, and to maintain this stretch/reach and core engagement at all times, especially when it transitions into the volcada.
Maestros concluded with a demo to Canaro's Como Dos Extranos with Ernesto Fama on vocals.
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Advanced Volcadas
Song: Nido Gaucho by Carlos DiSarli (vocals by Alberto Podesta)
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
March 27, 2009, Emeryville, CA
This was truly an advanced seminar, with maestros introducing the idea/figure, and then giving the students two songs to work on it to figure it out. Maestros expected us to have knowledge and fundamentals of volcadas.
(1) Standard Forward and Back Volcada, with Follower working on how to embellish/play with them, and Leader leading them so she has time to play. Maestra demo'd rulo embellishments in the volcadas. Play can be done as long as the music dictates it. For the Follower, she should treat her embellishment like the ocho parada/pasada, doing it within the time of the lead/movement. The Follower has choice; sometimes the Leader will feel the Follower doing something more and will let her do the embellishment by giving her time. If the Leader leads one straight smooth volcada, the Follower will find a place to do the embellishment within the time of the lead. Follower can do play as soon as the Leader starts the lead for the volcada so that the embellishment is in the beginning; otherwise, she imposes the embellishment, which changes the timing of the leader. Our goal in embellishing is to stay within the music/movement.
(2) The Funny Volcada -- from the open back ocho. Here the dancers are perpendicular to each other, and Leader gives Follower lots of time to play. We only attempted this on the easy side. The Volcada has a different feel when the foot is articulated with the heel on the floor, so be careful about how you hold your body. Be playful. Since many people did not know the Funny Volcada, we reviewed it. The analogy was the Follower as the moon orbiting around the Leader, or earth, so she can spin on her own. It is important that Follower use good volcada technique and be strong in her left arm with the digging down to get lift like coming out of a swimming pool, and that her standing weighted leg be strong and supporting of her own weight. The Leader's foot work is left foot back, right back step, left back step, big side step. The Follower traces the path that the leader leads, but stays behind him. Follower should know where leader is the whole time. (See the Funny Volcada September 11, 2008 video and notes.)
(3) Chicho Compression Volcada. The Leader uses out/colgada energy, then breaks the normal volcada rules (normal rules: (1) never collapse; (2) never go down) -- sending her out, then pulling her in so she collapses a little. The Leader also collapses his frame too, but his back is still engaged and his core is still engaged. We did this in open embrace, and tried small ones since this was new to many students and is a "special effect" volcada, since the Leader sends her out, then back in by using compression to collapse her. For the Follower, in her frame collapse, her shoulder blades come closer together, touching. When doing volcadas in open embrace, they should be done small. The Follower really needs to engage to compress/collapse in, which is why the Leader leads the colgada energy first. If she is too stiff, she will block the energy. This requires trust and should not be done large.
(4) Multiple Volcadas / Hard Side Volcadas. We tried the more "dangerous" versions of what we already worked on -- linking the standard forward and back volcadas with the Leader doing windshield wiper technique to do multiple ones, and also the Leader using the right foot block to do multiple ones.
(5) Travelling Forward Volcadas where Leader walks back. Here, the Follower knows where to land her foot because the Leader sets her down mid-Volcada. Compression and release are used here so that the Leader can give the Follower the feeling of both compression and release. With respect to walking, the Leader does this as if he is trying to lead sacadas in a funny way, but his body is swerving from side to side. It looks a little weird. For Follower, she does a series of progressive forward volcadas, and you don't have to do too many of them since the Leader's back will be to the line of dance as she progresses forward. Floorcraftwise, this works well approaching corners of the dance floor.
(6) Volcada Plus. Here we practiced our sustained volcadas, trying to do them in the context of social dancing. The Volcada Plus is where the Follower's side legs go out and is sustained, like an ocho cortado of volcadas. The Leader leads a forward volcada, then uncrosses it after she settles on her weight. Follower needs to use the same technique as for regular volcadas, but her free leg is straightened out very linearly. For the Leader it is important that his feet are together so that his hips are under his axis. The Leader's spine stays straight to take care of his axis, with the weight split between two legs so he can keep her back on axis. We also attempted to do more difficult Volcada Pluses: with a Follower forward split, going really underneath and beneath/between Leader's leg. (See the Back Volcada Explored February 20, 2009 video and notes.)
(7) Volcada Plus with two different exits. Maestros only showed us this as it was beyond what the students could do. Starting from Promenade position,
(A) The Bounce Exit, where the Leader kind of crosses her, then he steps back and so does she. There is an up, bouncing energy to this.
(B) The Helicopter / Spinny Thing. This is tricky. The Leader turns to his left to pivot her around to the maximum point of support where Leader has to unwind her.
Maestros demo'd all that they taught to Di Sarli's Nido Gaucho with Alberto Podesta on vocals.
The milonga was fun. I had danced with many new Leaders. The catered food by Cristina was fantastic as always: tortilla and pita chips, guacamole, cheese platter, bread, fresh fruit, grapes, crackers, sliced veggies, hummus, baba ganoush, spinach quiche/muffin things, prosciutto wrapped grilled pears with Gorgonzola, and two yummy desserts of flan and deconstructed ginger bread triffle. Pablo y Jaime thought it was the best food Cristina had ever done for a Seminario. Tangonero played live, and they sound better and better (from an excellent base to begin with).
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
March 27, 2009, Emeryville, CA
This was truly an advanced seminar, with maestros introducing the idea/figure, and then giving the students two songs to work on it to figure it out. Maestros expected us to have knowledge and fundamentals of volcadas.
(1) Standard Forward and Back Volcada, with Follower working on how to embellish/play with them, and Leader leading them so she has time to play. Maestra demo'd rulo embellishments in the volcadas. Play can be done as long as the music dictates it. For the Follower, she should treat her embellishment like the ocho parada/pasada, doing it within the time of the lead/movement. The Follower has choice; sometimes the Leader will feel the Follower doing something more and will let her do the embellishment by giving her time. If the Leader leads one straight smooth volcada, the Follower will find a place to do the embellishment within the time of the lead. Follower can do play as soon as the Leader starts the lead for the volcada so that the embellishment is in the beginning; otherwise, she imposes the embellishment, which changes the timing of the leader. Our goal in embellishing is to stay within the music/movement.
(2) The Funny Volcada -- from the open back ocho. Here the dancers are perpendicular to each other, and Leader gives Follower lots of time to play. We only attempted this on the easy side. The Volcada has a different feel when the foot is articulated with the heel on the floor, so be careful about how you hold your body. Be playful. Since many people did not know the Funny Volcada, we reviewed it. The analogy was the Follower as the moon orbiting around the Leader, or earth, so she can spin on her own. It is important that Follower use good volcada technique and be strong in her left arm with the digging down to get lift like coming out of a swimming pool, and that her standing weighted leg be strong and supporting of her own weight. The Leader's foot work is left foot back, right back step, left back step, big side step. The Follower traces the path that the leader leads, but stays behind him. Follower should know where leader is the whole time. (See the Funny Volcada September 11, 2008 video and notes.)
(3) Chicho Compression Volcada. The Leader uses out/colgada energy, then breaks the normal volcada rules (normal rules: (1) never collapse; (2) never go down) -- sending her out, then pulling her in so she collapses a little. The Leader also collapses his frame too, but his back is still engaged and his core is still engaged. We did this in open embrace, and tried small ones since this was new to many students and is a "special effect" volcada, since the Leader sends her out, then back in by using compression to collapse her. For the Follower, in her frame collapse, her shoulder blades come closer together, touching. When doing volcadas in open embrace, they should be done small. The Follower really needs to engage to compress/collapse in, which is why the Leader leads the colgada energy first. If she is too stiff, she will block the energy. This requires trust and should not be done large.
(4) Multiple Volcadas / Hard Side Volcadas. We tried the more "dangerous" versions of what we already worked on -- linking the standard forward and back volcadas with the Leader doing windshield wiper technique to do multiple ones, and also the Leader using the right foot block to do multiple ones.
(5) Travelling Forward Volcadas where Leader walks back. Here, the Follower knows where to land her foot because the Leader sets her down mid-Volcada. Compression and release are used here so that the Leader can give the Follower the feeling of both compression and release. With respect to walking, the Leader does this as if he is trying to lead sacadas in a funny way, but his body is swerving from side to side. It looks a little weird. For Follower, she does a series of progressive forward volcadas, and you don't have to do too many of them since the Leader's back will be to the line of dance as she progresses forward. Floorcraftwise, this works well approaching corners of the dance floor.
(6) Volcada Plus. Here we practiced our sustained volcadas, trying to do them in the context of social dancing. The Volcada Plus is where the Follower's side legs go out and is sustained, like an ocho cortado of volcadas. The Leader leads a forward volcada, then uncrosses it after she settles on her weight. Follower needs to use the same technique as for regular volcadas, but her free leg is straightened out very linearly. For the Leader it is important that his feet are together so that his hips are under his axis. The Leader's spine stays straight to take care of his axis, with the weight split between two legs so he can keep her back on axis. We also attempted to do more difficult Volcada Pluses: with a Follower forward split, going really underneath and beneath/between Leader's leg. (See the Back Volcada Explored February 20, 2009 video and notes.)
(7) Volcada Plus with two different exits. Maestros only showed us this as it was beyond what the students could do. Starting from Promenade position,
(A) The Bounce Exit, where the Leader kind of crosses her, then he steps back and so does she. There is an up, bouncing energy to this.
(B) The Helicopter / Spinny Thing. This is tricky. The Leader turns to his left to pivot her around to the maximum point of support where Leader has to unwind her.
Maestros demo'd all that they taught to Di Sarli's Nido Gaucho with Alberto Podesta on vocals.
The milonga was fun. I had danced with many new Leaders. The catered food by Cristina was fantastic as always: tortilla and pita chips, guacamole, cheese platter, bread, fresh fruit, grapes, crackers, sliced veggies, hummus, baba ganoush, spinach quiche/muffin things, prosciutto wrapped grilled pears with Gorgonzola, and two yummy desserts of flan and deconstructed ginger bread triffle. Pablo y Jaime thought it was the best food Cristina had ever done for a Seminario. Tangonero played live, and they sound better and better (from an excellent base to begin with).
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Leader and Follower Enrosques
Song: Tres Esquinas by D'Agostino (vocals by Angel Vargas)
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 23, 2009, The Beat, Berkeley, CA
We began with one dance, trying to include as many enrosques as we knew how to do.
There are many definitions of what enrosques are, but they all have a corkscrew action element to them. They can be done from the turn and sacada, sometimes with weight changes and sometimes without. The Follower enrosque from forward ochos typically do not have weight changes.
We began with a solo exercise to develop enrosques for our body: we practiced crossing our foot in front and changing weight after the cross.
There are two main shapes to enrosques:
(1) Eye of the Needle: has space between the thighs
(2) Eagle position, like in yoga, with thighs close together, going to the other side.
Both have 90 degree pivots, and the foot is planted next to the axis foot in the middle of it, with toe tip pointing down and touching floor. It is important not to sickle the foot here.The pelvis joint and how open the hips can get will determine which enrosque you do.
Next exercise in partnership:
We did forward ochos, and enrosque wrap (either eye of needle or eagle) in front without weight change.
(1) Step
(2) Position foot one next to the other (not too far way, and do not sickle).
(3) Pivot.
This was a more stilted, paused exercise to get us used to the movement and to slow us down to look at all the variables in getting the technique right.
Next option:
(1) Step
(2) Pivot
(3) Then go into foot placement.
This is a more fluid enrosque.
For Followers, no weight change is best option for enrosques.
Followers can do forward ocho into enrosque embellishment, letting her free leg go in front, cross, and then pivot. This adds momentum. She must try to step as close to the Leader as possible to maintain connection.
An alternative is that she can pivot first, then whip the leg in front. What really helps is (1) to keep good spiral in the upper body, (3) rotate the hips, and (3) keep her shoulders square/parallel with Leader's upper body, facing Leader the whole time. All ocho technique applies (spiral and counterspiral).
Next, we drilled with the Leader leading forward ochos, and Follower doing enrosque embellishments on her ochos.
Level 1: Regular enrosque (a little amague) in regular time.
Level 2: A delay, and then a speed up at the end, putting energy into hips to really get around quickly/sharply. It's a slow down, whip around kind of action.
As a reminder, embellishments are always dictated by the music and not done arbitrarily.
Next, the Leader leads Follower to do forward ochos for one or two enrosques. Then Leader leads Follower to do molinete around him while he does enrosques. The Leader leaves his hips behind, gets all twisted, and then lets go into enrosque, while continually leading the Follower's molinete with his upper body. The Leader can do his enrosque on any of the Follower's molinete steps, but the easiest is on her back step.
The question came up: How does the Follower know if he is leading a regular forward ocho (where she can do an enrosque) or a molinete (and if she does an enrosque here she will mess up his lead)?
Answers:
(1) Follower can do enrosque during the molinete, but she should do it without crossing in front.
(2) Follower can cross, but she has to do it quickly and make sure she does not transfer weight.
(3) When the Leader leads the ocho, the focus is on the Follower's axis.
(4) When the Leader leads the molinete, the focus is on the Leader's axis.
Bottom line: If the Follower does an enrosque during the molinete, she can do it successfully and not mess up the lead if she does the enrosque without crossing and/or not changing weight.
Next, we practiced weight changes in enrosque, replacing one axis with another.
The exercise we did by ourselves:
ocho
enrosque
weight change
step back
Next, we did another exercise by ourselves:
step right foot forward
cross left foot in front of right foot
pivot 180 degrees
pivot 180 degrees again
step right foot back.
We also tried this on the other side:
step left foot forward
cross right foot in front of left foot
pivot 180 degrees
pivot 180 degrees again
step left foot back.
Here, there is always a moment when you are sharing weight with two feet. It is important to have good technique with being on one foot and pivoting on one foot.
In the open embrace, we did Leader forward sacada of Follower's trailing foot during molinete forward step, into Leader enrosque, into Leader's back sacada on Follower's side step.
You can practice these things (enrosques, sacadas and back sacadas) wearing socks.
Follower can do air enrosque embellishments, but she needs to be careful how this is done.
Maestros concluded with a demo of what we learned to Tres Esquinas by D'Agostino with vocals by Angel Vargas.
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 23, 2009, The Beat, Berkeley, CA
We began with one dance, trying to include as many enrosques as we knew how to do.
There are many definitions of what enrosques are, but they all have a corkscrew action element to them. They can be done from the turn and sacada, sometimes with weight changes and sometimes without. The Follower enrosque from forward ochos typically do not have weight changes.
We began with a solo exercise to develop enrosques for our body: we practiced crossing our foot in front and changing weight after the cross.
There are two main shapes to enrosques:
(1) Eye of the Needle: has space between the thighs
(2) Eagle position, like in yoga, with thighs close together, going to the other side.
Both have 90 degree pivots, and the foot is planted next to the axis foot in the middle of it, with toe tip pointing down and touching floor. It is important not to sickle the foot here.The pelvis joint and how open the hips can get will determine which enrosque you do.
Next exercise in partnership:
We did forward ochos, and enrosque wrap (either eye of needle or eagle) in front without weight change.
(1) Step
(2) Position foot one next to the other (not too far way, and do not sickle).
(3) Pivot.
This was a more stilted, paused exercise to get us used to the movement and to slow us down to look at all the variables in getting the technique right.
Next option:
(1) Step
(2) Pivot
(3) Then go into foot placement.
This is a more fluid enrosque.
For Followers, no weight change is best option for enrosques.
Followers can do forward ocho into enrosque embellishment, letting her free leg go in front, cross, and then pivot. This adds momentum. She must try to step as close to the Leader as possible to maintain connection.
An alternative is that she can pivot first, then whip the leg in front. What really helps is (1) to keep good spiral in the upper body, (3) rotate the hips, and (3) keep her shoulders square/parallel with Leader's upper body, facing Leader the whole time. All ocho technique applies (spiral and counterspiral).
Next, we drilled with the Leader leading forward ochos, and Follower doing enrosque embellishments on her ochos.
Level 1: Regular enrosque (a little amague) in regular time.
Level 2: A delay, and then a speed up at the end, putting energy into hips to really get around quickly/sharply. It's a slow down, whip around kind of action.
As a reminder, embellishments are always dictated by the music and not done arbitrarily.
Next, the Leader leads Follower to do forward ochos for one or two enrosques. Then Leader leads Follower to do molinete around him while he does enrosques. The Leader leaves his hips behind, gets all twisted, and then lets go into enrosque, while continually leading the Follower's molinete with his upper body. The Leader can do his enrosque on any of the Follower's molinete steps, but the easiest is on her back step.
The question came up: How does the Follower know if he is leading a regular forward ocho (where she can do an enrosque) or a molinete (and if she does an enrosque here she will mess up his lead)?
Answers:
(1) Follower can do enrosque during the molinete, but she should do it without crossing in front.
(2) Follower can cross, but she has to do it quickly and make sure she does not transfer weight.
(3) When the Leader leads the ocho, the focus is on the Follower's axis.
(4) When the Leader leads the molinete, the focus is on the Leader's axis.
Bottom line: If the Follower does an enrosque during the molinete, she can do it successfully and not mess up the lead if she does the enrosque without crossing and/or not changing weight.
Next, we practiced weight changes in enrosque, replacing one axis with another.
The exercise we did by ourselves:
ocho
enrosque
weight change
step back
Next, we did another exercise by ourselves:
step right foot forward
cross left foot in front of right foot
pivot 180 degrees
pivot 180 degrees again
step right foot back.
We also tried this on the other side:
step left foot forward
cross right foot in front of left foot
pivot 180 degrees
pivot 180 degrees again
step left foot back.
Here, there is always a moment when you are sharing weight with two feet. It is important to have good technique with being on one foot and pivoting on one foot.
In the open embrace, we did Leader forward sacada of Follower's trailing foot during molinete forward step, into Leader enrosque, into Leader's back sacada on Follower's side step.
You can practice these things (enrosques, sacadas and back sacadas) wearing socks.
Follower can do air enrosque embellishments, but she needs to be careful how this is done.
Maestros concluded with a demo of what we learned to Tres Esquinas by D'Agostino with vocals by Angel Vargas.
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Back Volcada Explored
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February, 20, 2009, Just Dance Ballroom, Oakland, CA
A didactic demo was not filmed for the February 20, 2009, class. The August 20, 2007 "Tokyo Drift / Back Volcada" video illustrates many of the same concepts; thus, places in that video are referenced in the notes below to illustrate similar things we did in class.
First, we began with some exercises:
Exercise 1: In circle formation at the perimeter of the room, the class practiced moving forward using back crosses to the center of the circle.
Exercise 2: Then the reverse: In the center of the circle formation, the class practiced moving backward using forward crosses to the outside of the circle.
Exercise 3: The Leaders practiced walking forward using rollerblading footwork in a straight line, as if walking on a railroad track, while Follower maintained back cross footwork walking back.
Exercise 4: We worked on Follower's back ocho technique, doing tight crosses with minimal hip rotation in order to build to the back volcada from the back ocho. We practiced this in open and close embrace.
Leader's Volcada Technique:
The Leader gives a tight embrace with a slight lift.
The Leader creates the volcada feeling by supporting and lifting the Follower more.
The Leader controls how loose or tight the the Follower's back cross is.
We practiced with the Leader leading consecutive tight back crosses while trying to preserve the connection as much as possible, and have tight, compact crossing in the Follower. See 2:07-15 in the video for examples of Follower doing a series of back crosses (looser and larger than the ones we get in class).
Leader does not move feet, but does arch his body, taking care not to rotate his shoulders.
Leader does not go back on his axis, but maintains a forward and upward intention in his chest, as does Follower, so both dancers maintain good connection to each other.
Leader should not go down at all, and really be forwardly and upwardly intended in his chest. This was reiterated several times.
For the Leader's footwork, he goes back on his right foot while still keeping a forward intention in his chest, not going back to vertical axis.
The Leader can lead a tight cross or more open cross depending on the range of communication between the dancers, the music, mood and space available to dance.
If a more open cross is used, there needs to be more suspension and lift from the Leader as it would require more support.
Follower's Volcada Technique:
The Follower tries to stay in front of the Leader as much as possible.
The Follower compresses down on her left side, digging down with her armpit.
Follower should not hesitate, and should have a lot of power in her supporting leg, digging down into the floor to push up and against the Leader. She should use her relationship to the floor and have groundedness.
Her body needs to be stable and strong, with her core muscles engaged so that she does not have a noodle or rag doll body and so that she supports herself and her body does not break or collapse against or onto the Leader.
The Follower's right foot crosses behind the left foot, and the left foot unwinds out forward, out to the left, and back as the Leader steps forward. The Follower's foot traces a half circle on floor, and Leader can track/feel where her foot is. The goal is to have a deep and big movement.
The Follower's left leg is free, but controlled. She should pay attention to how it articulates, and she can project her foot a lot forwardly if it's a big volcada. She should pay attention and think about how her foot unwinds, trying to make it as elegant, articulate and stable as possible.
It is important that the Follower stay in front of and square with the Leader at all times during this back volcada. This was reiterated several times.
After the volcada, the Follower should not kerplunk back with her footwork; she should ease back into her normal position, rolling through her feet.
See 1:43 and 1:51 in the video for examples of the simple back volcada.
Potential Pitfalls:
If both don't keep their forwardly intended axis.
It works better when neither dancer goes down.
If Leader rotates his shoulders or chest, the Follower will be in trouble because she will peel off the Leader.
If Follower is not aggressive in terms of pushing up against the Leader, and does not really push against him. In the volcada, the energy is always up or straight ahead.
For the Leader, there are three volcada killers:
(1) If he goes down.
(2) If he rotates his shoulders.
(3) If his posture goes back to fully vertical from forwardly intended in the chest.
For the Follower, she must maintain good technique:
(1) Holding or pressing down on her left side of Leader's right side.
(2) Stay in front of the Leader.
(3) Maintain her body position, being very stable and supported in her standing leg and with her chest forwardly and upwardly intended and connected to the Leader.
(4) Engage her core muscles so that she does not have a noodle or rag doll body and supports herself so that body does not break.
(5) Don't take big steps if they are not led.
(6) Don't kerplunk in the exiting footwork.
As a treat, we also tried to do the Volcada-Plus:
From the simple tight back volcada that we worked on, the Leader brings his feet together, takes his axis back and down, which causes the Follower to do a split with her legs, and then he drives her left leg back into the forward cross.
The Follower uses her supporting right leg to have lift and have the left leg open up out to the left side.
See 2:59-3:00, and 3:02-03 in the video for similar examples on the left side, which is what we attempted. 2:20-22, 2:30-34, and 2:48-50 are examples of the right side, which we did not attempt.
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February, 20, 2009, Just Dance Ballroom, Oakland, CA
A didactic demo was not filmed for the February 20, 2009, class. The August 20, 2007 "Tokyo Drift / Back Volcada" video illustrates many of the same concepts; thus, places in that video are referenced in the notes below to illustrate similar things we did in class.
First, we began with some exercises:
Exercise 1: In circle formation at the perimeter of the room, the class practiced moving forward using back crosses to the center of the circle.
Exercise 2: Then the reverse: In the center of the circle formation, the class practiced moving backward using forward crosses to the outside of the circle.
Exercise 3: The Leaders practiced walking forward using rollerblading footwork in a straight line, as if walking on a railroad track, while Follower maintained back cross footwork walking back.
Exercise 4: We worked on Follower's back ocho technique, doing tight crosses with minimal hip rotation in order to build to the back volcada from the back ocho. We practiced this in open and close embrace.
Leader's Volcada Technique:
The Leader gives a tight embrace with a slight lift.
The Leader creates the volcada feeling by supporting and lifting the Follower more.
The Leader controls how loose or tight the the Follower's back cross is.
We practiced with the Leader leading consecutive tight back crosses while trying to preserve the connection as much as possible, and have tight, compact crossing in the Follower. See 2:07-15 in the video for examples of Follower doing a series of back crosses (looser and larger than the ones we get in class).
Leader does not move feet, but does arch his body, taking care not to rotate his shoulders.
Leader does not go back on his axis, but maintains a forward and upward intention in his chest, as does Follower, so both dancers maintain good connection to each other.
Leader should not go down at all, and really be forwardly and upwardly intended in his chest. This was reiterated several times.
For the Leader's footwork, he goes back on his right foot while still keeping a forward intention in his chest, not going back to vertical axis.
The Leader can lead a tight cross or more open cross depending on the range of communication between the dancers, the music, mood and space available to dance.
If a more open cross is used, there needs to be more suspension and lift from the Leader as it would require more support.
Follower's Volcada Technique:
The Follower tries to stay in front of the Leader as much as possible.
The Follower compresses down on her left side, digging down with her armpit.
Follower should not hesitate, and should have a lot of power in her supporting leg, digging down into the floor to push up and against the Leader. She should use her relationship to the floor and have groundedness.
Her body needs to be stable and strong, with her core muscles engaged so that she does not have a noodle or rag doll body and so that she supports herself and her body does not break or collapse against or onto the Leader.
The Follower's right foot crosses behind the left foot, and the left foot unwinds out forward, out to the left, and back as the Leader steps forward. The Follower's foot traces a half circle on floor, and Leader can track/feel where her foot is. The goal is to have a deep and big movement.
The Follower's left leg is free, but controlled. She should pay attention to how it articulates, and she can project her foot a lot forwardly if it's a big volcada. She should pay attention and think about how her foot unwinds, trying to make it as elegant, articulate and stable as possible.
It is important that the Follower stay in front of and square with the Leader at all times during this back volcada. This was reiterated several times.
After the volcada, the Follower should not kerplunk back with her footwork; she should ease back into her normal position, rolling through her feet.
See 1:43 and 1:51 in the video for examples of the simple back volcada.
Potential Pitfalls:
If both don't keep their forwardly intended axis.
It works better when neither dancer goes down.
If Leader rotates his shoulders or chest, the Follower will be in trouble because she will peel off the Leader.
If Follower is not aggressive in terms of pushing up against the Leader, and does not really push against him. In the volcada, the energy is always up or straight ahead.
For the Leader, there are three volcada killers:
(1) If he goes down.
(2) If he rotates his shoulders.
(3) If his posture goes back to fully vertical from forwardly intended in the chest.
For the Follower, she must maintain good technique:
(1) Holding or pressing down on her left side of Leader's right side.
(2) Stay in front of the Leader.
(3) Maintain her body position, being very stable and supported in her standing leg and with her chest forwardly and upwardly intended and connected to the Leader.
(4) Engage her core muscles so that she does not have a noodle or rag doll body and supports herself so that body does not break.
(5) Don't take big steps if they are not led.
(6) Don't kerplunk in the exiting footwork.
As a treat, we also tried to do the Volcada-Plus:
From the simple tight back volcada that we worked on, the Leader brings his feet together, takes his axis back and down, which causes the Follower to do a split with her legs, and then he drives her left leg back into the forward cross.
The Follower uses her supporting right leg to have lift and have the left leg open up out to the left side.
See 2:59-3:00, and 3:02-03 in the video for similar examples on the left side, which is what we attempted. 2:20-22, 2:30-34, and 2:48-50 are examples of the right side, which we did not attempt.
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
Friday, February 20, 2009
Tango Accident, Tango Now & The Art of Improvisation
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 19, 2009, La Pista, San Francisco
This class was done in game format to spawn creativity, encourage experimentation, and to help us think outside of the box.
We began with one dance dancing as we normally would.
Game 1: Tango Accident
There are two levels to this game.
Level 1: We walked, and at some point, the Follower randomly crosses (the Leader does not lead her to cross). The Leader has to think what to do to get out of it (i.e., behave as if he led the cross). Follower can do left over right foot crosses or right over left foot crosses.
Level 2: Follower can do any move accidentally (Leader does not lead it). Here, the Leader has to recover from it. We do this continually, with Follower doing different accidents and the Leader recovering from it gracefully and smoothly.
Game 2: Tango Now
There are two levels to this game.
Level 1: While the Leader and Follower dance together, periodically the Follower says "now" in the middle of a move that Leader is leading. The Leader has to come up with a creative way to get out of it, instead of continuing to complete the move as usual. Follower should say "now" during a move Follower can predict so that she gives Leader a fair opportunity to get out of it. The Follower should follow and observe what the routine is before she says "now."
Level 2: When the Follower says "now" the Leader breaks the thought and does something entirely different.
Some problems we encountered here were that sometimes there is a lot of momentum to the move, and to stop it midway. The challenge was that when Follower says "now", it's like stumbling. The Leader should try to make the change smoothly. This game enables the Leader to try to lead something he's never tried before, to break patterns and habits.
When we give constraints, it forces us to become more creative. If there are no restraints, it is difficult to be creative.
Game 3: Tango Blind
Constraint: Leader and Follower dance together with eyes closed.
- Who is around me?
- How can I be careful?
- It can generate some very interesting things.
- Be careful.
Here, we develop increased sensitivity to our partner, and develop creativity.
Game 4: 5th Step
Level 1: Every 5th Step of the Follower must always be a back step. Follower helps Leader by counting steps out loud. Boleo is counted as 1, and leg wrap is counted as 1.
Level 2: After the 4th step, but before the 5th step, the Follower calls out a move, such as a back step, forward step, molinete, leader sacada, follower sacada, leg wrap, volcada, colgada, soltada, calesita, etc., and she can be specific (left foot, right foot, clockwise, counterclockwise, overturned back ocho, overturned wrap). This game got us to start thinking about the flow of movement. Often the Follower has a better sense of what flows nicely, and she can help the Leader to be more sensitive to the flow of the movement, giving him feedback and permission to try something new. In this game, the dancers can slow down and think about it, figure out how to do it, before moving. Follower can help Leader discover new moves.
Game 5: Leader and Follower switch embrace
(Follower's left hand and Leader's right hand become the open side of the embrace and Follower's right arm/hand and Leader's left arm/hand become the close side of the embrace; line of dance remains the same, and Leader typically walks forward and Follower typically walks back as normal). We danced, doing very basic moves like the 8CB, ochos, etc. Here, the dancers will find that the difficult side becomes easier and the easier side becomes more difficult.
Game 6: Moliono X Factor (named after a maestro named Moliono)
Maestros only demo'd this; we did not try it because no students were skilled enough.
Leader and Follower switch roles so the Follower appears to be leading, but the Leader is back leading. The goal is to back lead the Follower to look like she is leading the Leader while he does ochos, ganchos, etc. New things open up, brainwise.
Game 7: No Side Step
Constraint: We danced with no Leader or Follower side steps.
Game 8: 3 Elements
The Follower picks three elements, and the Leader had to do them in that order with no separation between the movements. Examples: side, back ocho, back boleo; half back ocho, volcada, leg wrap; soltada, calesita, colgada.
Game 9: Sacada Twister
In groups of three, we held hands and had our legs open. One dancer began by doing a wrap or sacada between one or two people's legs, and then someone else goes. We tried to keep connected with our hands, but it was OK to change the embrace (let go of hands) if we needed to. We were to try to get more than one person with our foot.
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 19, 2009, La Pista, San Francisco
This class was done in game format to spawn creativity, encourage experimentation, and to help us think outside of the box.
We began with one dance dancing as we normally would.
Game 1: Tango Accident
There are two levels to this game.
Level 1: We walked, and at some point, the Follower randomly crosses (the Leader does not lead her to cross). The Leader has to think what to do to get out of it (i.e., behave as if he led the cross). Follower can do left over right foot crosses or right over left foot crosses.
Level 2: Follower can do any move accidentally (Leader does not lead it). Here, the Leader has to recover from it. We do this continually, with Follower doing different accidents and the Leader recovering from it gracefully and smoothly.
Game 2: Tango Now
There are two levels to this game.
Level 1: While the Leader and Follower dance together, periodically the Follower says "now" in the middle of a move that Leader is leading. The Leader has to come up with a creative way to get out of it, instead of continuing to complete the move as usual. Follower should say "now" during a move Follower can predict so that she gives Leader a fair opportunity to get out of it. The Follower should follow and observe what the routine is before she says "now."
Level 2: When the Follower says "now" the Leader breaks the thought and does something entirely different.
Some problems we encountered here were that sometimes there is a lot of momentum to the move, and to stop it midway. The challenge was that when Follower says "now", it's like stumbling. The Leader should try to make the change smoothly. This game enables the Leader to try to lead something he's never tried before, to break patterns and habits.
When we give constraints, it forces us to become more creative. If there are no restraints, it is difficult to be creative.
Game 3: Tango Blind
Constraint: Leader and Follower dance together with eyes closed.
- Who is around me?
- How can I be careful?
- It can generate some very interesting things.
- Be careful.
Here, we develop increased sensitivity to our partner, and develop creativity.
Game 4: 5th Step
Level 1: Every 5th Step of the Follower must always be a back step. Follower helps Leader by counting steps out loud. Boleo is counted as 1, and leg wrap is counted as 1.
Level 2: After the 4th step, but before the 5th step, the Follower calls out a move, such as a back step, forward step, molinete, leader sacada, follower sacada, leg wrap, volcada, colgada, soltada, calesita, etc., and she can be specific (left foot, right foot, clockwise, counterclockwise, overturned back ocho, overturned wrap). This game got us to start thinking about the flow of movement. Often the Follower has a better sense of what flows nicely, and she can help the Leader to be more sensitive to the flow of the movement, giving him feedback and permission to try something new. In this game, the dancers can slow down and think about it, figure out how to do it, before moving. Follower can help Leader discover new moves.
Game 5: Leader and Follower switch embrace
(Follower's left hand and Leader's right hand become the open side of the embrace and Follower's right arm/hand and Leader's left arm/hand become the close side of the embrace; line of dance remains the same, and Leader typically walks forward and Follower typically walks back as normal). We danced, doing very basic moves like the 8CB, ochos, etc. Here, the dancers will find that the difficult side becomes easier and the easier side becomes more difficult.
Game 6: Moliono X Factor (named after a maestro named Moliono)
Maestros only demo'd this; we did not try it because no students were skilled enough.
Leader and Follower switch roles so the Follower appears to be leading, but the Leader is back leading. The goal is to back lead the Follower to look like she is leading the Leader while he does ochos, ganchos, etc. New things open up, brainwise.
Game 7: No Side Step
Constraint: We danced with no Leader or Follower side steps.
Game 8: 3 Elements
The Follower picks three elements, and the Leader had to do them in that order with no separation between the movements. Examples: side, back ocho, back boleo; half back ocho, volcada, leg wrap; soltada, calesita, colgada.
Game 9: Sacada Twister
In groups of three, we held hands and had our legs open. One dancer began by doing a wrap or sacada between one or two people's legs, and then someone else goes. We tried to keep connected with our hands, but it was OK to change the embrace (let go of hands) if we needed to. We were to try to get more than one person with our foot.
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
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