Thursday, February 24, 2011

The Colgada/Volcada Connection with Mixed Music (adv)

Song: Querer from Cirque de Soleil’s Allegria
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 19-20, 2011, Stanford Workshops, California



EXERCISE TO IMPROVE TIMING AND FEELING OF OPPOSITION

We began with an exercise where the Leader tries to send the Follower away and then bring her back. It was an exercise in hanging out and pushing in. The Follower’s feet remain in the same spot while the Leader steps in and steps out. This exercise was for the Leader to figure out timing and feeling of opposition.

With respect to posture, have the hips under, send the Follower out, and do not bend the knees. We were to use our backs, and use our strong back muscles and our strong core muscles.

THE VOLCADA/COLGADA HYBRID: THE COLLAPSABLE VOLCADA

This is more a fake volcada, where the Leader inserts his right foot between the Follower’s feet, sends the Follower’s hips out in Colgada, and then brings her back in in the volcada, so her left foot swings out and in to front cross in front of her right foot. To execute this correctly, the Leader needs to know where the Follower’s axis is, and he needs to step into it to get the Follower to do the “out” action.

COLGADA INTO A WRAP

The Leader sends the Follower back in colgada, and then brings her in and around into a wrap of her left leg of his right leg. The shape feels like an ellipse or a backward D. Note that Follower is on axis at the point of the wrap. The Leader’s contact with his thigh to the Follower’s leg is the invitation to wrap.

Our exploration involved doing no volcada in this exercise, with a bare minimum of effort (the Homer wrap), or with maximum energy (the Cristina wrap). You can do either the minimum or maximum energy wrap depending on how you are feeling in the moment and what the music is saying.

But if you do, the energy should be opposite each other:

Big Colgada, Small Volcada, OR

Small Colgada, Big Volcada

The Leader can start the Colgada with leading a few Follower shimmies before sending her back in Colgada.

During the wrap, the Leader should not go too far away from the Follower’s axis.

FOLLOWER WRAP STYLING OPTIONS

For the Follower wrap, there are two styling options:

(1) Raise the knee up and then back down to collect.

(2) Keep the feet low on the floor and collect.

Either styling you choose, the Follower should always have control of what her leg is doing. The music will tell us how much time we have to exit, and which styling option might be more suitable/expressive of what is going on in the music.

EXPLORATION: COLGADA TO NO-PIVOT WRAP

The no-pivot wrap works because of the Colgada. The Leader sends the Follower out to the side and then brings her in to axis.

Leader catches the Follower’s middle of her right foot on her forward (front cross) step in the clockwise turn/hiro/molinete with his right foot so that both feet are parallel. As the Follower transfers weight to her right foot, the Leader shifts the weight to that same foot, sending her out to the side in Colgada. He then brings her back in to wrap with her opposite leg (her left leg across her body to wrap the Leader’s right leg). We tried this in open embrace. He stops her when she returns to axis.

The Follower’s forward (front cross) step should be around and close to the Leader, so when he puts his foot next to hers, he doesn’t need to go too far.

We also tried this type of no-pivot wrap from the promenade walk.

Then we drilled just exploring on our own doing wraps from different colgadas and volcadas.

After a short question and answer class review, Maestros did a demo dance to Cirque de Soleil’s Querer (from Allegria).

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

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

Stanford Workshop Performances

Song 1: Lo Que Vieron Tus Ojos by Francisco Lomuto
Song 2: Such Great Heights by Iron and Wine
Performers: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 19-20, 2011, Stanford Workshops, California

Functional vs. Aesthetic Colgada Explorations with Mixed Music

Song: Milonga Del Angel by Astor Piazzolla
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 19-20, 2011, Stanford Workshops, California



Note: Audio disabled due to song copyright but didactic demo can be seen at the end of this original clip.



Mixed Music Class, though we mostly worked with Piazzolla.

This class built on the first class. This was an exploration class, so the whole purpose was to have fun, building on what we learned in the first workshop on colgadas.

We began with one colgada.

Leader in teapot embrace with Leader doing Pac man footwork around. Then Leader places his left foot next to the Follower’s left foot back cross step of the counterclockwise turn/hiro/molinete, and he continues to turn her until she steps over in a right foot side step. Leader does not initiate and Follower does not automatically do any unled colgada out movement. Follower should, however, have a good long reach around on her side step.

We also tried this on the other side, with Leader right foot placed next to Follower’s right foot back cross step, to side step over with her left foot.

How does the Leader not get heeled? He slides in with his foot with a side approach, and gets near the ball of her foot, making contact with the front of her foot.

To this Follower step-over, we can add the Follower’s left foot sweep/drag of the Leader’s left foot, or a Follower right foot sweep/drag of the Leader’s right foot.

Next, we turned this into a fun pattern, whereby the Follower needs to employ good turn/hiro/molinete technique during her forward, side, back, side steps around the Leader. She needs to pivot and step well, and Leader needs to keep leading the turn well.

Choices:

In the teapot embrace, Leader can lead the Colgada at the point of the back cross stepover as the Leader changes his weight to his left foot. There is not a lot of Colgada out movement here, but just enough to keep each other balanced, then returning everything to center, to step out.

Explorations:

Leader can use either leg, left or right, or on any of her steps.

The Leader leads the Colgada with a weight change, with his foot next to her lead leg/foot, which is a general rule for Colgadas. If the Leader enters the trailing leg/foot, then this would be a sacada (not a colgada). Colgada movement relates to the lead leg (not the trailing leg).

How to use the colgada in a functional sense?

(1) As a quick turn to give a “whee” sensation like doing the hurricane colgada.

(2) On the Follower’s right foot back cross step, to left foot colgada into to do a left foot wrap of the Leader’s right foot as she is returned back to axis.

We drilled a lot of the second option, with the wrap, on the both sides, left and right. Since the class didn’t look very good doing the wrapping, we backed up our exploration a little and worked on just wrapping the Leaders legs, left or right, from the Follower’s cross. For the wrap, the Leader lifts his heel, and provides his thigh to enable it to be wrapped. At the moment of the wrap, the Follower wants to be, and should be, on axis. The Follower sensation of her wrapping leg is like a whip in a linear fashion. We also tried to do double or triple wraps, which are achieved by the Leader playing with the Follower axis.

We did a lot of drilling of each part in this class, trying as much as possible to relate to what we did earlier in the first workshop.

After a question and answer summary, Maestros concluded with a demo to Piazzolla’s Milonga Del Angel.

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

Volcada Foundations with Miguel Calo

Song: Al Compas Del Corazon by Miguel Calo
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 19-20, 2011, Stanford Workshops, California



The goal of our class was to go through it entirely with no pain in our backs. So both Leader and Follower need to do their jobs.

“Volcada” comes from the Spanish verb “Volcar”, which means to tip over (like spilling something)

HUG EXERCISE

We began with hugging each other, in a nice way (not a bad way), with the leader attempting to find the sweet spot on the Follower where it feels best to be hugged. This sweet spot is at the Follower’s sternum level. We tried this with several different partners so that the Leaders could work on adjusting their hug to the each Follower’s sternum height.

HUG EXERCISE WITH LIFT

Next, to the hug, we added the Leader lift, whereby he scoops up the Follower.

Follower responses:

(1) Follower allows the lift.

(2) Follower opposes the lift by pushing down on her shoulder blades.

We tried this with several different partners so that the we could feel this and adjust our physical efforts with many different body shapes/weights/heights/musculature.

HUG EXERCISE WITH LEADER BACK AND FORWARD STEPS

Next, we added the Leader steps back and forward.

The Leader takes 2-3 steps back, and takes 2-3 steps forward.

The Follower should resist the lift by keeping her core and back strong, and not have her posture dissolve into banana posture and keep her belly button pushed back into her spine. She should fall like a tree.

Leader hugs Follower.

Leader changes weight to his left foot to get Follower weight on her right foot.

Leader compresses and lifts Follower.

Follower opposes the lift, keeping her posture strong and solid while she is on her standing, supporting right foot as Leader takes 2-3 steps back.

The Follower can create shape with her free, unweighted left foot. Leader steps forward 2-3 steps to release the Volcada, and they walk out to resolution.

The Leader has permission to support his partner. Both dancers need to be strong through their whole body. The Leader needs to engage his core and have a strong back too. Neither Leader nor Follower should come in with their bellies, otherwise they will hurt their back.

HUG EXERCISE WITH FOLLOWER HUG ONLY

Follower holds onto Leader’s chest only.

The Leader takes 2 steps backward, and then two steps forward. This exercise is for Leader to develop his connection to the Floor and for the Follower to keep herself upright but still oppose the lift. The Follower really needs to hold on and lift herself a little by keeping her shoulders and shoulder blades/lats back and down.

LEADING THE FOLLOWER TO FRONT CROSS

With no volcada in practice hold, the Leader tries to get the Follower’s left foot /leg to cross in front of her right foot. We got into this by the Leader doing a left foot rock step, right foot crosses behind perpendicular (like passing a soccer ball), left foot cheat step around, attacking the floor, which causes the Follower’s left foot to swing around and cross in front of her right foot as his right foot steps forward as he takes control and changes what would normally be the side step after her right foot forward (front cross) step of the clockwise turn/hiro/molinete.

For Follower’s Technique, she should keep her foot on the floor, caressing it with the big toe as her foot comes around to end in a cross. Her weight is distributed throughout her entire leg, and her leg starts from her rib cage going all the way down to her toes.

For the Leader, timing is key. He needs to lift and support the Follower and be powerful in his cheat step (the third step). The Leader has to lead the Follower’s cross.

The Leader’s cheat step needs to be with power. He gets this power by engaging his core as he torques his body clockwise.

THE VOLCADA IN OPEN AND CLOSE EMBRACE

Next, we added the open embrace, and also allowed falling/a little bit of lean.

Again, the Follower needs to push her self down to keep herself pulled up strong and solid in her posture.

The Leader’s cheat step is more around and away, which is what makes the Follower fall.

We drilled this for quite a while with many different partners.

The Leader’s forward step should be toward the Follower so that she crosses tight. If he steps forward but more away from the Follower, she will cross big and possibly sloppily.

Next, we added the close embrace. The Follower still compresses and pushes down to keep herself pulled up. The Leader needs to wait for the Follower to cross before walking out.

The class concluded with a question and answer session and Maestros’ demo to Calo’s Al Compas Del Corazon.

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

Colgada Foundations with Carlos Di Sarli

Song: Cara Sucia by Carlos Di Sarli
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 19-20, 2011, Stanford Workshops, California



The Colgada can replace the turn/hiro/molinete in many places. It can be artistic and functional, and be the glue to help keep us together and balance us. In our class, we were to explore ideas and technique to create a more complicated movement.

We began the class with one dance doing all the colgadas we knew, so Maestros could asses were we were knowledgewise. Since in our one dance, no one did any colgadas, this was the perfect class for us all since it was a fundamentals class.

The word “colgada” comes from the Spanish verb “colgar”, which means “to hang”. One visual image is a truck going fast around a corner, almost tipping over, but hanging onto the road with two wheels.

TRUST GAME:

We began with the Trust Game, where we were split into groups of 5-6 people. Size and gender do not matter as there is no Leader or Follower. One person is put in the middle of the circle while everyone else stands around that person. The Center person closes their eyes and imagines they are a redwood tree swaying in the wind, and then falls in random direction. The Circumference people do not let the Center person fall more than a few inches. The Center person gives others his weight, but has a strong back and core. Everyone in the Circumference can help to keep the Center Tree person upright since it is falling in random directions, sometimes directly to a person, sometimes in between two people (and both people should try to set the Tree back in the upright position). Everyone in the group takes turns being the Center Tree person, as in Colgadas and Volcadas, there is a sense of controlled falling, and the person doing the falling has to be able to trust that they will be caught and not let go. The advanced level of this game (which we did not do), is for the Circumference people to use their bodies only (no arms) to set the Center Tree person upright.

EXERCISE: KNOCKING THE FOLLOWER OFF AXIS

The Leader walks into the Follower, knocking her body off axis, and allowing her to fall back into the Leader’s hands. He should enter with his right foot/leg. Follower’s feet remain in the same spot. There are three levels to this exercise:

(4) Follower and Leader catch each other.

(5) Leader catches Follower (Follower’s arms and hands do nothing, they do not hang onto or catch the Leader).

(6) Follower catches Leader (Leader’s arms and hands do nothing, they do not hang onto or catch the Follower).

In this exercise, the Leader needs to physically knock the Follower off axis with his whole center, displacing the Follower’s space. She needs to wait for the Leader to do this, not anticipate being knocked off axis and not go back to soon automatically with no initial contact from the Leader. Follower needs to be prepared to catch the Leader.

This is a physical exercise.

An advanced version is for the Leader to try knocking the Follower off axis from other places, such as from the side or from the back.

EXERCISE: HIP UNDER COLGADA POSTURE AND COUNTERBALACING EACH OTHER

Next, we refined the Hip Under Colgada Posture. We were not to plank back, or banana back.

In the Hip Under Colgada Posture:

Spine is straight.

Hips go back.

We were to engage our cores, and our hips were to be under our rib cages.

The Leader sandwiches (his feet are in a “V” shape) the Follower’s feet (which are in parallel).

Leader and Follower hang onto each other’s wrists, and then move their cores/centers back, counterbalancing each other, using the power of their back and core muscles (not their arm/shoulder muscles).

We worked on this by going out a little first, and then more farther out, working on the posture in an extreme position.

The Follower and Leader should not curl toward each other.

Shoulders should be back and down, chest up, belly back.

The Followers hips and back counterbalance the Leader’s hips and back.

We drilled this for a while, practicing with many different partners (tall, short, fat, thin), to work on being able to counterbalance all sorts of body shapes, weights, and muscle compositions.

STEP-OVER COLGADA

We used the Step-Over Colgada as a foundation, starting in the line of dance, and possibly in close embrace.

The Leader does a left foot rock step forward, pivots 90 degrees, to does a right foot hook back, to a Left foot cheat step, and then puts his weight on his right foot so the Follower can step over his unweighted left foot in colgada on her left foot forward (front cross) step of the first half of the counterclockwise turn/hiro/molinete, walking out to resolution.

The Follower’s left foot should step long and around the Leader during her counterclockwise turn/hiro/molinete, and Leader should try to keep this in the line of dance as much as possible.

STEP-OVER WITH NO COLGADA AND NO CHEAT STEP:

Leader does step over with no colgada, in teapot embrace (with his right hand the handle, his left hand the spout, and the spout being solid with no telescoping), with no cheat step. This is like a regular leader Parada, Follower Pasada.

Follower should have long and reaching steps. She should not fall into her steps. She should have a smooth transfer of weight (no kerplunking). Her embrace is elastic, always breathing, while it is important that the Leader keep his left hand and arm strong and solid like a teapot spout, with no telescoping.

Comments about Ears and Noses, and how Followers should use them.

EARS: Maestra recommended that Followers look at the Leader’s ears, because it lifts her chest and keeps her head back, as opposed to looking down at his chest, which might cause her head to tilt forward and close her chest.

NOSE: Maestro commented that the Follower should keep her nose the same distance from the Leaders nose at all points during her turn/hiro/molinete, and not have it tilt in or back, or change levels.

STEP-OVER COLGADA FROZEN AND SUSPENDED, WITH CHEAT STEP:

For this exercise, in teapot embrace, the Leader sends the Follower out in Colgada, and then freezes/suspends it as Follower is out in Colgada, and then the Leader does the cheat step. The Leader needs to learn how to suspend the Colgada and how to keep his center back to enable him to suspend the colgada.

Line of Power

The Line of Power is a very clear point, where the Follower’s hips are going. In this particular Colgada, it is more out to the side.

The Follower needs to use both hands, left and right, to hang onto the Leader. The Leader’s left arm must not telescope, because then she will have nothing to hold onto. It is important to breathe.

The Leader’s cheat step is where he takes a small right foot step around the Follower while his weight is quickly and momentarily on his left foot.

We drilled this for quite a while with many different partners to get an idea of how to do this with different body sizes.

STEP-OVER COLGADA WITH FULL EMBRACE, STARTING CLOSE

Next, we did this adding the full embrace, starting in close embrace.

The Leader releases his right arm for a period of time as the Follower goes over in Colgada. This is not a momentary release, but a sustained one as she goes around, typically taking two beats. The Colgada ends when the Follower steps. The Follower’s left leg is active in collecting as it is suspending in the air, and controlled as it steps around the Leader.

The class concluded with a question and answer review session and Maestros demonstrated the class concepts to DiSarli’s Cara Sucia.

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

From Single Axis Turn to Hurricane Spin in Lomuto Valses

Song: Jugando Jugando by Francisco Lomuto
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 18, 2011, Muse Milonga, San Francisco



EXERCISE: ELEMENTARY SCHOOL HUGGING

We began with an exercise in partnership face to face, imagining that we were back in elementary school, giving the person a nice hug. We got into this by stepping to the side, and the hugging person (usually the Leader) doing waddle footwork around the hugged person (usually the Follower), slightly lifting while whirling the hugged person around.

What is the biggest problem that prevents the colgada from happening? The Fear Factor. This exercise is an attempt to help us get over our fear factor of the whirling feeling. Other things are that the belly button of Follower and Leader come in, or the Follower’s knees come in, or the Follower clamps down on the Leader.

We worked to refine things.

Leader tries to step into the Follower’s space.

Follower pivots on one foot.

Leader waddles around quickly.

Leader and Follower belly buttons should not touch.

Stepping to the Leader’s left is easier, with Follower on her right foot.

As the Leader starts to turn, have belly button go away from each other.

The Follower posture is the same as the Leader steps to the side. She should keep her regular posture. The Leader should find where he can do it, and have a graceful exit when he stops. In stopping, he should pause and then walk out of it backwards into the line of dance. He should not cause the Follower to fall. Follower needs to keep her knees soft but not overly bend them.

We did a lot of drilling of this exercise, with many different partner changes in class.

EXERCISE: KNOCKING THE FOLLOWER OFF AXIS

Next, we did a fundamental, static exercise.

The Leader walks into the Follower, knocking her body off axis, and she falls back into the Leader’s hands. Follower’s feet remain in the same spot. There are three levels to this exercise:

(1) Follower and Leader catch each other.

(2) Leader catches Follower (Follower’s arms and hands do nothing, they do not hang onto or catch the Leader).

(3) Follower catches Leader (Leader’s arms and hands do nothing, they do not hang onto or catch the Follower).

In this exercise, the Leader needs to physically knock the Follower off axis with his whole center, displacing the Follower’s space. She needs to wait for the Leader to do this, not anticipate and not go back too soon automatically with no initial contact from the Leader.

EXERCISE: HIP UNDER COLGADA POSTURE AND COUNTERBALACING EACH OTHER

In the Hip Under Colgada Posture:

Spine is straight.

Hips go back.

We were to engage our cores, and our hips were to be under our rib cages.

The Leader sandwiches (his feet are in a “V” shape) the Follower’s feet (which are in parallel).

Leader and Follower hang onto each other’s wrists, and then move their cores/centers back, counterbalancing each other, using the power of their back and core muscles (not their arm/shoulder muscles).

We worked on this by going out a little first, and then more farther out, working on the posture in an extreme position.

We drilled this for a while, practicing with many different partners (tall, short, fat, thin), to work on being able to counterbalance all sorts of body shapes, weights, and muscle compositions.

BUILDING TO THE COLGADA:

Next, we worked on a Magic Trick.

In the Leader’s parada position, he has his leg out and outturned, and pivots around by kicking his heel around (lifting it). This is the same position as the Colgada position, only instead of weight being on the back foot, it’s on the Leader’s forward foot.

Then we went back to the first exercise, only with the Leader sending the Follower out in colgada posture, and then spinning the Follower around. We drilled this for quite a while with many different partners.

COLGADA KILLERS:

Belly in.

Back arches and upper body goes back like a banana.

Follower bends knees too much.

Follower clamps onto the Leader’s leg, exerting tension. The free leg should be controlled, but free.

COLGADA:

Next, one simple pattern to pull all the exercises and concepts together:

Leader does rock step with his left foot. Right foot hooks behind, so feet are in a perpendicular angles to each other, Follower right foot forward step (front cross step) around Leader clockwise, pivoting and getting 180 degrees around.

Follower should step long and around Leader to make her step compact.

This is like the ocho cortado, except it’s more circular and doesn’t interfere with the people dancing behind you. This is our set-up step.

The Leader unweights his left foot, and starts to walk around the Follower clockwise, after her right foot forward (front cross) step.

Follower should keep her belly back.

Leader should be aware of how he is holding the Follower. He needs to figure out where the sweet spot is. It is usually under her shoulder blades, and since Followers are all different heights, with different shoulder blade levels, he needs to adjust accordingly depending on the Follower height.

Leader releases his right shoulder a little bit, while Follower maintains contact with her back against the Leader’s forearm during the Colgada.

The Hurricane aspect of the Colgada we learned involved going around really fast. To go around REALLY fast, as the Leader steps around the Follower, his left foot sickles, and his right foot turns out and collects to help the Follower spin in axis. So his feet look like /\ < , etc, as he steps around and around on axis.

Both dancers should keep their elbows in so that it doesn’t take a lot of space.

After a class question and answer review, Maestros demonstrated the class exercises and concepts to Lomuto’s Jugando Jugando vals.

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

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Phrasing to the Transitions & Fills

Song: No Se Porque Razon by Enrique Rodriguez
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 21, 2011, The Beat, Berkeley, CA



Our class consisted of many games and exercises.

Game: Vals Chacarera.

We got into Chacarera formation of Leaders all in one line facing Followers all in one line, making eye contact with the person across from you, and keeping hands in the air, and turning our torso a little diagonally since the room was quite crowded. Then we took four steps forward and four steps back, similar to the Avanzado and Regreso initial steps of the Chacarera. The 4 forward steps were done in 4 beats, and the 4 back steps were done in 4 beats. We were to play in between the sentences of the song, doing pitter-patter or some fancy or playful footwork or bodywork. Our goal was to get back to our original spot at the end of the sentence.

During this game, maestro played a very regular vals, A Magaldi by Alfredo de Angelis, which has some very nice fills and some run-ons in the song.

Next, we tried to dance in partnership, dancing to the fill. Our constraints were that we were to just walk to the end of a sentence, to get ready to dance to the fill. During the fills we were to do playful things like taps, pitter-patters, or shimmies. Our song was still A Magaldi by Alfredo de Angelis. We were to be as creative or as simple as we want to be during the fill. We were to give ourselves room to play.

“Fills” are often transitions between sentences, but they can also be Run-Ons. We should pay attention to the lyrics because they can help us with timing and anticipating when the fills will come. The lyrics don’t come into a song until the entire song does its thing. Vocals are in poetry form, so it gives you an idea of how the sentences will come. The lyrics/song poetry falls directly on top of the sentence/musical structure of this particular vals, as is the case with many valses. Maestro demo’d this concept by dancing by himself, walking forward and back with the musical phrasing, showing that we could hear the sighs, and take a pause to start the next phrase (like a comma). At the comma or the end of a sentence (phrase) is where the Leader should start the turn in the other direction.

Exercise: Follower Musically Educating the Leader

Our next exercise focused on the Follower educating the Leader about what she hears musically. The Leader pretends that he doesn't hear anything (including the beat). We were to only walk. We were not to do any weight changes, rock steps, turns, ochos, double time steps, or traspie. The Follower needs to actively hear the music, as she tries to gently educate the Leader in a subtle way, conveying what she hears in the music. The Follower is not to back lead or take the lead away, but to use subtle things to suggest to the Leader what she hears. This is so that the Follower can empower herself and be in tune with the music. This is an exercise for the process of Leader education. The Follower can use other parts besides her legs to express the fills in the music: She can do these subtle things:
hand signal (slight squeezes)
move hips
move shoulders
soft taps with hand

She should keep her subtle suggestions and signals in her upper body, and not use her legs and feet. Otherwise, she will be back leading. Without back leading, the Follower can add accents to the music.

The secret agenda of this exercise is to empower the Follower. The Follower adds a lot to the Leader’s education if she is in tune with the music. When we really know the music, we will know it, we will own it and it will come easier.

What is the difference between this and back leading? Do the little things with other parts of the body so that they are under the radar. Follower can initiate something independent of the lead to enhance the dance. Be active in creating the dance with the Leader.

To develop our musical awareness, we did four different exercises.

FIRST LEVEL OF AWARENESS:

To Canaro’s Poema, we just listened to the song without dancing or doing anything (although at home we could do something mindless like wash dishes so that we can focus on the music). In listening, we were to sharpen our hearing and try to find and recognize the fills.

SECOND LEVEL OF AWARENESS

Here, we played a game. In partnership, with Leader and Follower face to face, fingertip to fingertip in mirror image to each other, our fingers and hands “danced” to Canaro’s Poema, with the Leader leading first, and then the Follower given the ability to impose herself if she chooses. This was a give-and-take exercise, with our hands and fingers mirroring and talking to each other. This exercise is to help the Leader to listen to the Follower better, and for the Follower to be more vocal in her body movement about what she hears.

THIRD LEVEL OF AWARENESS

To Canaro’s Poema, we danced simply, giving ourselves a set of constraints, which were to just walk during the song, but to catch the fills, during which we could do pitter patter or taps, but nothing much fancier than that.

FOURTH LEVEL OF AWARENESS

At this level we danced with no constraints, being able to do anything, but still dancing to the music and to try to interpret the fills.

Note that fills can be at the middle or the end of a phrase. Maestro asked if we wanted the same song or a different song. The class wanted a different song, so we danced to Rodriguez’s No Se Porque Razon.

In sum, our 4 Levels of Awareness are:

1. Listen to the song and do as little as possible other than listen.

2. Play with a partner to develop listening interaction skills without physically dancing.

3. Dance with a partner with constraints to try to interpret the music. Use simple movements.

4. Dance with no constraints, but dance to the music and try to interpret the fills.

Maestra shared her experience as a learning Leader. She said she is currently stuck at Level 3. She said she tries to interpret the fills, but by the time the fills arrive, she is late in her lead to them and has missed them. For her to get to the next level, she is trying to simplify everything else, but save the “special” movements for the fill. The “special” movements are simple ones like rock steps or weight changes.

After a short question and answer class summary, Maestros demo’d the class concepts to Rodriguez’s No Se Porque Razon.

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

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Getting Your Lead / Follow Spiral On

Song: Don Juan by Carlos Di Sarli
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 16, 2011, Cellspace, San Francisco



This workshop was similar to the one held at Stanford in January 2011

Our focus was on the body spiral, connecting to our bodies and having more self-awareness.

WASHING MACHINE EXERCISE

We began with the Washing Machine Exercise.

Here, we turn our bodies to our left and then release the right foot, pivoting on our left foot. Our hips catch up with our chest.

The goal was to do a 90-degree (quarter) turn with our chest, with everything else following, and then do a 180-degree (half) turn with our chest, with everything else following. Then if we could master that, we could try doing a 360-degree (full) turn, with everything else following.

The motion is:

(1) Turn

(2) Release Hips

(3) Get all the way around.

We were to try this on both sides (turning to our left and turning to our right), engaging and then releasing.

We were also to try this on each foot, in each direction, so there were four possibilities:

(1) Pivoting on our left foot while turning to the left

(2) Pivoting on our left foot while turning to our right

(3) Pivoting on our right foot while turning to our right

(4) Pivoting on our right foot while turning to the left

The first level of this exercise is to have the hips catch up to the chest.

The second level of this exercise is to have the hips go past the chest.

This action is called the Washing Machine exercise because it mimics the spin cycle of a washing machine. It is a good oblique workout.

Next, we were to apply this exercise in a real tango move.

BODY SPIRAL IN CONTEXT OF FOLLOWER TURN/HIRO/MOLINETE

In teakettle embrace with Leader’s hands at the small of his back and elbows out so that Follower can hold onto his arms, the Leader steps around the Follower and leads her in a turn/hiro/molinete on either side. The Leader uses a bit of spiral, turning his chest first, and then his hips coming around.

The Follower also uses spiral while she does the turn/hiro/molinete around the Leader. The only point of contact is in her hands on his arms. Follower, be active in making this contact work. Hold on enough. Wake up that part of the embrace. Keep both sides (her left and right hands) awake. Her arms should be like spaghetti al dente, not too hard and stiff, but not too loose and soggy/absorbing. She should feel and be responsive to the Leader’s body so that the Leader doesn’t have to push her around.

The Leader should not overuse his hands. This is why we practiced the turn/hiro/molinete in teakettle embrace with the Leader not using his hands at all.

The Leader’s right foot outside forward step is where his first spiral is. The Follower spirals in her chest in response, to maintain connection with the Leader and to be in front of him. This is not a square move, it is a circular rotation.

We practiced doing this to a slow Di Sarli song on the strong beat.

With respect to Follower’s turn/hiro/molinete technique, she should keep her nose back on the side step, stay near the Leader, and do not float away at all on all steps of the turn/hiro/molinete: forward (front cross) step, side step, back (back cross) step, side step.

The “Rule of the Nose” was introduced. Since we were doing our work in Open Structure (as opposed to Close Structure), the Follower should try to keep the distance between her nose and the Leader’s nose the same at all time, and not get ahead or behind his nose, and not change the level of her nose up or down, or tilt her head forward or back.

More on Follower’s turn technique: Do not rush in the steps. The Leaders were instructed to lead it on the strong beat, so you should know how much time you have and what the pace of steps should be. Each step in the turn/hiro/molinete is worth $100. Do not rush through the side step and short change it. Step long and consistently around the Leader. Make the weight transfers smooth.

For Leader’s turn technique, the Leader opens his left shoulder to get the Follower to go around him in the clockwise turn/hiro/molinete. It is a pull energy. Leader needs to engage his core.

Here, Maestro demonstrated the wringing/torsion a la washing machine with his right foot forward step, and then his left shoulder opening, and as she goes around in the turn/hiro/molinete, his hips come around.

More on Follower’s turn technique: She should collect at the end of the movement where here feet pass each other, rather than throughout, which takes too much time and looks stiff and robotic.

Also, since we are working using the Open Structure, the axis of both dancers is straight.

Going back to the "Rule of the Nose" since there were questions about it, Maestra commented on how to use the nose. Having the nose and head up raises the eyes and head, which opens up the chest. It is a different way of presenting yourself. This is in contrast to looking at the Leader’s chest, which can cause the Follower’s head to tilt forward and break the line of the body and throw her off axis (make her lean in).

Next, onto the more challenging part of the evening.

The Leader’s back sacada.

ADDING THE LEADER’S BACK SACADA TO THE FOLLOWER TURN/HIRO/MOLINETE

Leader does a right foot back to big spiral, into a left foot back sacada while Follower does a counterclockwise turn/hiro/molinete around him. The Leader uses pull energy in his left arm so that the Follower continues to go around him in a turn/hiro/molinete.

There are two options taught in receiving the Leader back sacada:

(1) Follower raises her knees up, collects, and then steps back.

(2) Follower keeps her feet low and down toward the floor, fluidly receiving it with a little fan out, collects, and then steps back.

Either way, the Follower needs to have control of her receiving leg with either option and not let it flail around, our or away.

With the Leader back sacada option, there are three places of Leader spiral:

(1) Right foot forward step

(2) Left shoulder opening up to initiate the Follower turn/hiro/molinete

(3) Right foot back step to counterclockwise pivot

The class concluded with a review and class summary that included Maestra demonstrating the Follower homework of working on the turn/hiro/molinete footwork around a chair with her focus on keeping her spine vertical and using her arms up, like holding a beach ball over the center of the chair, to also work the spiral in her body.

Maestros demonstrated the class concepts to DiSarli’s Don Juan.

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