Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://theorganictangoschool.org/
England International Tango Festival
Tonbridge, Kent, United Kingdom
May 26-28, 2018
So the summarize, we
explored two different walks in cross system:
(1)
Leader’s
snake walk while Follower walks straight back.
(2)
Leader
roller blades while Follower walks back in no-pivot ocho (back cross step).
Chapter 1 – Leader’s snake
walk with Follower’s straight back walk.
We began with an
exercise to test our ability doing the cross system walk. With Leader and Follower facing each other in
the fingertip hold, Leader changes weight, and walks forward touching the
Follower’s forward foot as she walks back.
We can do this three ways:
(1) Leader whole foot
touching Follower’s whole foot
(2) Leader’s back half
of the foot touching the Follower’s back half of the foot (so they are more heel
to heel)
(3) Leader’s whole
foot going past the Follower’s whole foot (so they are more thigh to thigh).
Start with turnout, so
V feet. Change weight to inside and
outside of the foot. Leader slides foot
forward in his walk.
Follower should keep
her whole frame, not stiff or static, have a little bit of give, softness,
especially in the shoulder joints and knee joints. How the Follower holds her frame will
determine the texture of the embrace and how far she needs to step.
In the Cross System
Walk:
We start in parallel
system, Leader does sneak attack weight change, where he quickly changes weight
without letting the Follower change her weight.
Leader steps left foot forward in the inside position. The Leader is walking in three tracks. Leader
walks outside partner, shift to the left, and then back into parallel walking
with the Leader’s right foot forward.
We drilled this in any
embrace, open or close, depending on your comfort / level of dance ability.
Cleaning up the sneak
attack weight change:
Leader starts with his
left foot because that’s where he has the most space.
How do we change the
embrace so the Follower doesn’t change her weight during the Leader’s weight
change? The Leader changes with weight
without shifting to the other side. The
Leader can keep the Follower from shifting using the close side of the embrace
without dropping his right shoulder, making his right shoulder suspended up. Just hold the Follower, but do not raise her
up.
More advanced couples
should try this in close embrace.
The Follower should
work on making the perfect step. How you
articulate the foot, how fast you transfer the weight and being mindful of
doing the correct step length. How does Follower know how far and how to
maintain the same distance as the Leader in stepping? The Follower’s heel lifts, but she keeps it
to the floor as long as she can, until it starts to go up because it can’t
anymore. She should have a reaching
quality and good extension; it’s not always about stepping long. Walking back starts at the core (not at the
hip).
Leader does sneak
attack weight change, keeping the Follower on the same foot as he changes the
weight to the same foot (so Follower’s Right, Leader’s Right; Follower Left,
Leader’s Left).
In Cross System, do
the full Snake Walk.
Start in open embrace.
Leader’s upper body is
peaceful.
Follower takes perfect
back step.
This is easier in open
embrace, and harder in close embrace.
Leader does forward
ocho (forward cross step).
Leader tips: “I have to pee” (close thighs) at collection
and before the next step. Keep big toe
on the floor. You can do baby pivot before
taking forward step. Leader’s upper body
just says to Follower “walk straight back”
Chapter 2: Follower does
no-pivot ocho while Leader rollerblades
We began with an
exercise whereby the Leader roller blades into the center of the circle
starting with his left foot.
The Follower will do a
cross way of walking doing a no-pivot back ocho.
In partnership, face
to face, Leader does roller blading forward as Follower does a back ocho (back
cross step) without pivoting, articulating and opening the hip without
pivoting. So they are zigging and zagging.
Follower should push
with the left foot off of the floor, open the right hip and keep pushing with
the left to step, thighs press together as the weight changes. Leader walks (rollerblades) in the cross
system as follower does no-pivot back cross step walk back.
Homer and Cristina
have a Swiss cheese theory of teaching, conveying the basics, but intentionally
leaving lots of holes so that students’ questions can fill in the holes.
The Leader leads the
no-pivot ocho (back cross step) with his chest by not changing his
chest/spine. There is no twist. Leader should not overuse his right hand.
In the Follower’s
no-pivot ocho, she should just try to stay in front of the Leader, so he
doesn’t change his spine, but he steps outside, and she opens her hip. The psychology for the Follower is she
reaches slow, but collects quickly in this exercise to perfect the step.
So the summarize, we
explored two different walks in cross system:
(1)
Leader’s
snake walks while Follower walks straight back.
(2)
Leader
roller blades while Follower walks back in no-pivot ocho (back cross step).
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
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