Melodic and Rhythmic Volcada Explorations with Enrique Rodriguez (int/adv)

Song: La Torcacita by Enrique Rodriguez
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 19-20, 2011, Stanford Workshops, California



We began with reviewing the Volcada setup we learned in yesterday’s class because we will use this to explore doing rhythmic and melodic volcadas.

REVIEW OF VOLCADA SETUP

Leader left foot rock step forward, right foot back cross perpendicular behind left foot, left foot power step, right foot forward step to drive Follower into the Cross.

Follower right foot back step, left foot weight change, right foot forward (front cross) step, left foot swoops around to front cross in front of right foot as Leader drives it back into the cross.

The Leader’s chest needs to be tilted toward the Follower at all times to provide support to the Follower. As soon as his body gives and he goes back, she will take it all in her back and doing the volcada will potentially be painful.

The Leader needs to turn clockwise toward the Follower more, and his right foot needs to come toward the Follower’s axis as he drives her left foot to front cross.

The Follower’s parachute in case something goes wrong in the volcada is her step.

EXPLORATION 1: DIFFERENT POTENTIAL ENDINGS

There are two different potential endings:

(1) Rock step out

(2) Suspended, split weight two-foot pivot to uncross out.

We drilled both types of potential endings with different partners.

EXPLORATION 2: RHYTHMIC VERSUS MELODIC VOLCADAS

The difference between doing volcadas rhythmically versus melodically is one strong beat, with the rhythmic volcada taking one beat, and the melodic volcada taking two beats.

We drilled doing volcadas rhythmically and melodically with different partners.

EXPLORATION 3: FOLLOWER FOOTWORK OPTIONS: BALLET OR SASSY

For Follower’s volcadaing leg (in this case the left leg), she has two choices with her footwork:

(1) Ballet: where tip of foot or big toe remains on the floor throughout the movement.

(2) Sassy: Where the heel remains on the floor throughout the movement, so that she is really flexing the foot and extending the back of the leg, while still keeping both hips level.

Either footwork technique the Follower chooses, she should do it maximally: Either really point or really flex the foot, but don’t do it half way or half-heartedly/wimpily.

We drilled doing the different types of footwork with different partners.

EXPLORATION 4: WRAP VOLCADA ENDING

An optional ending we worked on was concluding the volcada with a wrap:

(1) Plain with just Follower left leg wrapping Leader’s right leg.

(2) Dual wrap with both Leader and Follower wrapping each other (Leader’s right leg wrapping Follower’s wrapping left leg).

We drilled doing the different wraps with different partners.

EXPLORATION 5: WINDSHIELD WIPER (LINKED SEQUENTIAL ALTERNATING VOLCADAS)

Our next exploration involved the Windshield Wiper, or linked sequential volcadas, whereby the Follower does alternating volcadas with her left leg/foot and right leg/foot. The Leader leads this by stepping forward with his right foot, changes weight to his left, and then steps forward with his right foot, alternating going inside and outside partner to get her to cross with alternating feet. The Leader should not step narrowly toward Follower, not far away from her, so that he can drive nice tight crosses (not big sloppy ones). The Leader does not drop his left foot, and uses energy on both of his forward steps. The Leader should not change his posture much. The Leader should not pull back with his left hand.

We drilled doing the windshield wiper with different partners.

After a question and answer class review, Maestros did a demo dance to Rodriguez’s La Torcacita.

Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com