Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://theorganictangoschool.org/
May 24, 2014, Ardingly College, England
We were to explore single-axis turns, building toward
Hurricane spins.
Since this was an advanced class, there was no change in
partners.
For our class, we would work on turning to the Leader’s
right.
CHAPTER 1:
Close embrace chest-to-chest
connection.
We did 1 dance turning to the Leader’s right with no
separation, doing 1 or 2 full turns. To exit, the leader led an ocho cortado or
walk out.
Leader’s footwork is:
Leader does left foot rock step forward to sacada
Step
Hook Behind
to Ocho Cortado
Leader’s secrets to turning to the Right: There needs to be sustained energy for the
turn.
The Leader’s footwork to enable the turn to the right:
Leader does left foot rock step forward, right step hook behind.
Follower’s right foot forward step is long and reaching
around the Leader. The Follower’s
forward cross step is truncated.
Leader’s right foot sacada to Follower’s right foot.
Follower does hook behind quickly for functionality.
The Follower’s job is 50% of the movement, creating smart
legs where she creates the shape of walking around the Leader. She needs to be
plastered to the Leader in close embrace.
Follower’s footwork:
Forward step
Side step is in relation to the Leader is near him, not away
from him, otherwise she will pull him.
Her right foot hook behind is tight, whereby her right hip
does not open since there is no time and she will float away if her right hip
opens, and her hook won’t be tight.
The Follower continues to press into the Leader to be near
him.
At the change of weight, her feet are very close.
In order to create the appropriate shape, she needs to be
active from both the standing leg and the reaching legs. Both legs are working
(there is no such thing as the free leg).
For the Follower, there are two points of energy to power
herself:
(1)
The Follower’s forward step as it makes her
launch as she is in spiral. With this dynamic change of weight from left to
ride, the side step can be very powerful.
(2)
When the Leader does the Sacada at the
Follower’s side step, into the hook behind so that she takes his energy and
puts it onto her hook behind tight. If
her hips open up instead, then the energy spills and she doesn’t hook behind
but does more of a regular back cross step.
The Follower needs to maintain close embrace and be close,
like a tomato sandwich where her hands are the pieces of bread and the Leader
is the tomato. So there is horizontal
energy in the Follower’s body toward the Leader the whole time. The energy needs to be contained so that it
doesn’t spill out.
Next exercise:
In Sugar Bowl embrace, with the Follower’s embrace of one
arm under and one arm over to maintain close embrace. We did turns, with dancers in
synchronicity.
The Leader’s right foot sacada needs to be next to the
Follower’s right foot.
Leader’s footwork is
right foot sacada, left foot side step, right foot hook behind to quick weight
change, repeat (right foot sacada, etc.).
In turns, the Leader is the center of the circle, the axis.
In the teapot or regular embrace, the Leader puts power into
his footwork. He needs to think about
where the energy will come from for the next step. The Leader’s torso starts to spiral: the
energy builds up in his upper body and then gets released. The Leader can move the turn, but keep a
tilted relationship with the Follower to keep it from going around. The Leader needs to make sure the Follower is
in the right place for the Leader to do is sacada.
Tango is an interdependent dance, not a co-dependent dance.
The Follower’s hook behind does not allow her right hip to
open, otherwise it will flail out. She
needs to keep her thighs together, and her left foot flexes at the metatarsal
with her knee bent, and she should take care not to scrape the front of her
ankle with her opposite stiletto heel, as she is pushing on the front two
corners of her foot into the floor as the foot arches.
We drilled to two songs, with the Leader putting power into
the turn with his sacada. The Follower’s
steps need to be near and around the Leader, including (especially!) her left
foot side step.
The Follower needs to wait for the Leader a little more.
There is a lot of fire, power in this turn.
The Follower waiting will help her calibrate with the Leader
so they can step together, with the Follower reacting to how the Leader’s body
is moving. The Leader’s left foot is the
axis.
CHAPTER 1.5
Leader’s left foot
front enrosque.
After the Leader’s right foot sacada (of Follower’s right
foot on her left foot side step), he does a left foot forward enrosque,
immediately into a right foot hook behind extension to get in really tight
center.
CHAPTER 2
Hurricane spin
For the Leader’s right foot hook behind, he waits a bit and
captures the spider, whereby his right foot goes back (more straight than
cross) to capture the Follower’s right foot forward step so that he can be
around the Follower’s axis. As she puts
weight on it, he puts weight on it also, so they both give a little bit at that
point.
The Leader walks around the Follower, with his left foot
pigeoning as it turns in, and right foot turns out, left foot toes point in,
right foot turns out, etc., as he goes around Follower in Hurricane. Follower is on her right foot as the Leader
goes around her. The Follower leaves her hips back a little as she arrives on her
right foot, as there is a little bit of colgada motion in that she is a little
back. The Leader holds Follower with his
right arm to contain her so that she doesn’t have time to reach in a side step,
and the Follower connects to the Leader’s right arm as she hangs back in a
little bit of colgada energy.
Maestros conclude with a class quiz and a demo to Que Te Importa Que Te Llore by Miguel Calo
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment