http://theorganictangoschool.org
Providence, Rhode Island
May 12, 2012
Video courtesy of Steven Spura
Cristina and Homer
will develop two beautiful transitions between close and open embrace turns via
both an ocho and a leg-wrap. They will
sprinkle the movements with a few generous embellishments for leaders and
followers!
The focus of our class
was on close embrace turns and transitions from them into an open embrace, all
the while making it elegant. Our goal
was to be able to go from close embrace to open embrace, and then back into
close embrace, making the transition smooth and elegant. For the Leader, his goal should be to make it
very clear if he is leading something in close embrace or open embrace, and not
some slushy hybrid in between if he is uncertain. The embrace lives and
breathes to accommodate something beautiful to happen, so sometimes it is
close, and sometimes it needs to be open.
We began in close
embrace, doing no-pivot (Vanilla bean) back ochos, into the Leader leading a
close-embrace turn/molinete/hiro counterclockwise (to the left) around him. To
lead the Follower into the turn, the Leader plants his left foot and does a
half turn (Follower’s footwork is left foot back cross, right foot side, left
foot forward). After this half turn, the couple will be facing opposite line of
dance. To get out of it, they can do a rock step back around, or a full turn
instead of a half turn.
Focusing on each piece:
No-Pivot Back Ochos
(aka Vanilla Bean back ochos)
The Follower’s hips
should not pivot. It is more like just a back cross step across our own bodies.
The Leader leads the
no-pivot ochos by not having any rotation in his upper body/shoulders, and just
doing rollerblading footwork.
Turn footwork:
Follower should step
long and around the Leader.
1st
Transition:
The first transition
to an open embrace from close embrace is after the Follower’s left foot forward
step of the turn, where the Leader leads her to pivot on her left foot, and
then to step right foot forward. The
Leader leads both the pivot and the opening up of the embrace. He leads the opening up of the embrace by
releasing his right hand so that his hand goes away from the Follower and his
body tilts away. The Follower feels this
too, and she tilts back in response to feeling the Leader’s body tilt back.
To help us understand
this concept of mirror and matching the tilt, we played the Human Magnet Game.
Human Magnet Game:
Leader attracts and goes
away from the Follower by moving his axis forward and back with flexion in his
ankles, not by bending at the waist. The Follower mirrors the Leader’s
tilt/axis. We drilled this concept face to face with each other, with no
embrace, not touching with the hands/arms in any way.
Human Magnet Concept
solidified by doing side steps:
We added another
element to the Human Magnet Game by adding the embrace and doing just side
steps.
We began in open
embrace while doing side steps.
At some point, the
Leader would lead getting into close embrace while still doing side steps.
And then at some point
later, the Leader would lead getting back into open embrace while still doing
side steps.
Leader’s Right
Arm/Hand:
The Leader’s right arm
begins from his shoulder, so it has to open from the shoulder, letting go so he
can get his hand around the Follower as she goes into a more open embrace. He should not do the Bear Claw where he
clenches the Follower into him in a tight grip. This would keep her close to
him, which is opposite of his goal of going into an open embrace.
The opening up of his
right arm/hand and his axis moving back tells the Follower that he wants the
embrace to open up.
Follower’s Left
Arm/Hand:
The Follower needs to
let her left arm go, to let the embrace open up.
Leader’s Left Hand:
The Leader’s can
convey the opening up of the embrace with his left hand, so that the Follower knows
something is about to happen. It’s very
gentle slight firming.
We drilled the side
step with opening and closing of the embrace.
Tilt:
Leader: The Leader does not need to tilt much to open or close the embrace. The tilt should be from the ankles, and he
should lift his chest a little as he tilts.
In tilting forward, he should only tilt enough so that he can still
wiggle his toes and the backs of his legs still work. So the weight should just go to the balls of
his feet.
Follower: Her forward tilt should be such that if the Leader walks away from her,
she should not fall, even though she is tilted.
Her toes should never curl.
To tilt back to open
the embrace, the concept of the Gentle Walrus was introduced. The Gentle Walrus is a very slight bounce off
each other, and is connected to the Leader’s breath, as there is an expansion
in his chest cavity as he exhales.
To Get In Close
Embrace:
Human Magnet
Leader’s right
hand/arm/shoulder opens out
Left hand does little
pull
To Get Out of Close
Embrace Into Open Embrace:
Gentle Walrus with
slight bounce a little up.
So we drilled our
simple pattern some more:
Side step to close
To no-pivot ochos
To half
turn/molinete/hiro counterclockwise (to the left).
Bend knees, but keep
upper body straight.
Leader bends knees for
stability and a little bit of style.
Leader needs to
release his right arm and tilt his body back.
Next, we attempted to
make it more snappy in time at the point of transition to the moment
after she crosses. So the Leader
collects, changes weight, bends and pivots all that the same time to lead the
Follower to pivot on her left foot and then step forward with her right
foot. The Leader dictates how the
Follower arrives at her cross, so he can make it more snappy or less.
Since the pattern ends
in the opposite Line of Dance, when the Leader steps back (to lead the Follower
to step forward), he is stepping in the correct Line of Dance.
We attempted to make
transitions inside a transition: in the embrace, in a step.
Maestros concluded
with a demo to Ricardo Malerba’s Remembranzas.
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
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