Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://theorganictangoschool.org/
April 6, 2013, Yale Tango Fest
Maestros demonstrated the simple step we would learn in this class: the rock step to the Follower’s forward ocho, to the Leader’s parada on the close side, to the Follower’s pasada to the open side.
The class was first separated into
two sections with Leaders on one side and Followers on the other side facing
the Leaders. Maestros then went through the footwork first and the students
mimicked them from behind.
Then the groups were reunited.
The Rock Step
We began in open embrace and focused on doing the rock step
and Follower’s ocho and step around (so we did not do the Leader’s parada at
this point)
Leader’s footwork
Leader’s left foot rock step forward
Right foot rocks back, crossing behind
Right foot opens to the right as Follower walks forward, she
does a weight change, then pivots.
As the Leader leads the Follower around, the Leader goes
with her and pivots on his left and steps off.
Follower’s footwork
The Follower’s right foot steps back.
Then her right foot rocks forward where she takes a long
step around the Leader and does a big forward ocho pivot on her now-weighted
right leg as the Leader’s right shoulder opens up.
The Follower then steps around the Leader with her left foot
and then back out with her right foot.
If we found this easy, we were to do it in Teapot Embrace
(Leader’s left hand up and out as the spout, right hand at the small of his
back, his right arm as the handle).
In tango, for both Leader and Follower, we must always
maintain the three Cs:
1.
Comfort
2.
Clarity
3.
Consistency
From here, we moved to the Sugar Bowl embrace (aka the “Less
Blame” embrace), with the Leader’s hands at this small of his back and both
arms as the handles. This embrace is
“Less Blame” because the Leader’s right hand is not on the Follower’s back so
he can’t push her around.
The Big Ocho Pivot
In doing the rock step parada pasada, there is a transition
period where the embrace starts with the dancers in close appilado style with a
tilted axis, to a fully vertical one at the point of the Follower’s pivot. To lead this opening up of the embrace to
fully vertical, the Leader needs to take his axis to fully vertical. The Follower will automatically mimic this
movement and take her axis at the point of her big ocho pivot on the close side
of the embrace.
The Follower needs to take long, reaching steps around the
Leader to remain close to him, because if she takes short steps not around the
Leader she will end up being very far away from him. The Follower’s default should be long,
reaching steps. To illustrate this
point, the Rule of the Hip was introduced.
The Big Ocho Pivot: The
Rule of the Hip
The Follower’s hip will touch the Leader’s hip at the end of
her big ocho pivot. That’s how close
they should be. This rule applies to
both the close and open sides of the embrace.
Here the Leader has to make his base small with his feet together (not
apart), otherwise the Follower will have more difficulty getting around him.
The Follower at the moment of the ocho must be on vertical
axis, as this will help her pivot a lot and maintain balance. In all our dancing, we must exercise control.
We must not fall forward and we must not rush to the next step (which for
Followers is the pasada).
The Leader’s Parada
To add the Leader’s Parada, we began with working on an
exercise to get the Leaders used to the footwork.
The pre-exercise was the pivot with a little kick around
with our bodies like a block.
The exercise was the Leader standing on his left foot and
then pivoting around while fanning out his free foot in “ronde” movement. With each pivot/fan, he would try to turn 90
degrees. The Leaders goal was to use the movement of the ronde to get
around.
Next we drilled and became infinite ocho parada machines.
The Follower’s Pasada
When stepping over, the Follower should not step over as if
stepping over a box as this is very inelegant.
Instead, she should imagine her foot as an airplane coming in for a
landing to have a smooth, gliding effect.
Maestros concluded with a class review and a demo to El Yacare by Angel D'Agostino with
vocals by Angel Vargas.
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
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