Tango Student: Class Notes and Clips: 2011

Friday, November 4, 2011

Cool Tricks and Traps for the Social Dance Floor - Parts II (Master)

Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://theorganictangoschool.org
Providence, Rhode Island
October 30, 2011

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The Providence Tango Tricks and Treats Weekend with Homer & Cristina Ladas

Friday, October 28, 2011

Something Scary Spins This Way (Int)

Saturday, October 29, 2011

The Art of Surprise - Part I (Int)

The Art of Surprise - Part II (Int/Adv)

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Cool Tricks and Traps for the Social Dance Floor - Parts I (Advanced)

Cool Tricks and Traps for the Social Dance Floor - Parts II (Master)

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Video Courtesy of Steven Spura

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Cool Tricks and Traps for the Social Dance Floor - Parts II (Master)

This master class expanded upon the Felipe Reverse Ocho Cortado to look at the possibilities for the Follower after she crosses behind herself. First, we investigated the Felix Back Sacada, connecting it to the Felipe Reverse Ocho Cortado.

THE FELIX BACK SACADA (named after noted DJ and creative dancer Felix Naschke of Berlin)

This is a series of continuous Follower back sacadas (walks back) to the back of the Leader’s right foot as he kicks the heel around to turn, paddling or kick standing around as he pivots on his left foot.

This is more of a dessert move of continuous Follower back sacadas.

For the Leaders, we focused on how to lead it. His right hand opens up and the Follower uses the other two points of contact with the Leader (her left and right hands).

Why does the Follower not do a turn/hiro/molinete? The Leader’s extended leg prevents the Follower from doing a side step. The Follower feels the presence of the Leader’s hips, which blocks her hips from opening and prevents her from going into a hiro/turn/molinete/grapevine.

The Leader steps on his right, pivots back as she pivots, changes weight to his left foot, and his right foot paddles around, staying out for the Follower to back sacada it as she walks backward counterclockwise.

Homer’s secret is to envision an imaginary box, going from a right foot side step to pivot 180 degrees to be on the other side of the box. The Leader’s goal is to get to the edge of the box by his own pivot, which will also lead the Follower to pivot, being mindful of releasing his right hand. His right foot step around is a little bit away from the Follower so he doesn’t jam her, and with this step he should attack the floor to give Follower a lot of energy to help her pivot a lot.

The Follower should collect her feet before she steps in the back sacada, so that she pivots first all the way, collects, and then steps in the sacada. She needs to pivot a lot, putting fire in her hips, but having ice in her reaching step back in the sacada (no kerplunking). The Follower does the left foot back sacada first and then the right foot, left foot, right foot, etc, all around the Leader counterclockwise. When the Leader stops blocking the Follower with his hip, that’s when she should do the side step.

ADDING THE FELIPE REVERSE OCHO CORTADO TO THE FELIX BACK SACADA

We can go directly from the Felipe Reverse Ocho Cortado into a Follower right foot back sacada, to do a wrap (gancho):

-regular, between the Leader’s thighs

-low wrap outside the Leader’s left leg

-high wrap (piernazo) outside the Leader’s left hip

We worked on doing all these wraps/ganchos.

The easiest wrap/gancho is where the Leader places his left foot behind the Follower as she arrives, turns to his left counterclockwise so she does a Follower left foot wrap.

ROBERTO VARIATION (named after a student in class)

This is even easier.

She is on her left foot, and does wrap/gancho with her right foot after he immediately gets into position.

MILTON VARIATION (named after a student in class)

The Felipe Reverse Ocho Cortado into a Follower right foot reverse volcada into a Follower left foot wrap/gancho between his legs.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE LOW AND HIGH LEG WRAPS

The Leader needs to make it very obvious where he wants her to wrap, giving her low or high energy.

LOW: Leader’s knee is down, calf is in her way, near her, with a little bit of rotation.

HIGH: Leader really gets behind Follower. His rib cage is really behind her. He gets his hip lower, as if he is presenting his back.

4TH/CUARTO/AGAINST SACADAS

When the Follower’s and Leader’s hips go in opposite direction (clockwise + counterclockwise or counterclockwise + clockwise), it is an “Against” Sacada. An example is where the Follower’s hips turn counterclockwise, while the Leader steps clockwise. The Fourth/Cuarto Sacada is one of these, with the Leader stepping counterclockwise (right foot open side step), while the Follower does a clockwise hip turn with a right foot back sacada between Leader’s legs. The 4th/Cuarto/Against Sacada is more dynamic and energetic than other sacadas.

We drilled, trying to do “With” and “Against” sacadas, and we also added low wraps afterwards.

OCHO VERSUS GANCHO

The difference in leading an Ocho versus a Gancho is that in the Gancho, there is a circular, and then a blocking energy. In the Ocho or Felix Sacada, there is a smooth, circular energy with no blocking.

We can add the Felix Back Sacada anywhere where there is the Felipe Reverse Ocho Cortado. Maestros left it up to the students to figure it out in 2-3 songs.

The pattern isn’t the important part: the important part is exploring the road to get there. We were to look at the sum of the parts to try to figure out how things flow together.

The Leader needs to fish for feet positioning, derived from tiny details from hours of practice. It takes 10,000 hours to master something.

This master class expanded upon the Felipe Reverse Ocho Cortado to look at the possibilities for the Follower after she crosses behind herself:

Follower back sacada

-with

-against

To Receive the Sacada, don’t get too close, especially when doing the “Against” sacada. Options:

-wrap/gancho with options in:

--position (low or high)

--energy (low or high)

--Felix Back Sacada

During the review, some major concepts that the students felt were the backbone of our work:

Follower collects before stepping back

Follower defaults:

-pivot a lot

-major spiral

Leader creates spiral and gives energy to the Follower to help release her spiral. Every Follower has different pivot energy/capability/potential. The Leader needs to tap into it as much as he can.

Telescoping arms can be used.

After our class review, Maestros demo’d to Cirque Du Soleil’s Pearl.

A similar lesson was taught at the Yale Tango Festival on 10 April 2011, and the summary video can be found at:

Annotations of that video are as follows:

0:00 to 0:07 Felipe Reverse Ocho Cortado

0:18 to 0:23 Follower's Swivel Shimmy

0:30 to 0:34 Felipe Reverse Ocho Cortado

0:48 to 0:55 Exaggerated Felipe Reverse Ocho Cortado

1:00 to 1:03 Follower's Swivel Shimmy

1:25 to 1:32 Felix Back Sacada

1:47 to 1:54 Felipe Reverse Ocho Cortado to Follower's Right Foot Back Sacada to Follower's Left foot Low Wrap of Leader's Left Leg

2:03 to 2:09 Felipe Reverse Ocho Cortado

2:17 to 2:23 Felix Back Sacada

2:35 to 2:39 Felix Back Sacada on the other side

2:40 to 2:43 Felipe Reverse Ocho Cortado to Follower's Right Foot Back Sacada

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

Cool Tricks and Traps for the Social Dance Floor - Parts I (Advanced)

Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://theorganictangoschool.org
Providence, Rhode Island
October 30, 2011

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The Providence Tango Tricks and Treats Weekend with Homer & Cristina Ladas

Friday, October 28, 2011

Something Scary Spins This Way (Int)

Saturday, October 29, 2011

The Art of Surprise - Part I (Int)

The Art of Surprise - Part II (Int/Adv)

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Cool Tricks and Traps for the Social Dance Floor - Parts I (Advanced)

Cool Tricks and Traps for the Social Dance Floor - Parts II (Master)

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Video Courtesy of Steven Spura

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Cool Tricks and Traps for the Social Dance Floor - Parts I (Advanced)

This advanced class both grounds us and expands our horizons. We began by refining the circular ocho cortado, including lead/follow variations. From there, “The Felipe Reverse Ocho Cortado” and its variations were introduced.

CIRCULAR OCHO CORTADO

We began with a warm-up dance working on the ocho cortado, doing it linearly or making it as circular as possible. When doing the Circular Ocho Cortado, we need to be aware of where we are facing (opposite Line of Dance).

In the Circular Ocho Cortado, the Leader’s hips face the Follower’s hips, and he should keep his heels together, even if he “V’s with his feet. The Leader pivots on his left foot to open his hips.

IMPORTANT OCHO CORTADO CONCEPT: LEAD/CONTROL FOLLOWER AT SPLIT WEIGHT

The Leader has the option to really lead a split weight on the open step, or to transfer the Follower’s weight fully to her left foot before leading her back around into the cross. It is important that the Follower take long steps around the Leader, unless the Leader constrains or cuts her step. The Leader needs to be able to control this side step of the Follower, so that he can maintain it at split weight, and neither dancer should overrotate. We drilled this concept, really working on trying to control the Follower’s side step with split weight.

AMERICAN TWIST SHIMMY SWIVEL

We worked on the American Twist Shimmy, where the Follower’s hips are in the middle with weight split, and then she pivots on the balls of both feet, as her knees turn one way and then the other (a la Elvis).

For the Leader, he leads the ocho cortado, stopping the Follower in the middle, making her stay there. He then communicates with his spine/torso to lead the Follower to do her Twist Shimmy Swivel. We did this in QQS-QQS-S rhythm. The Leader needs to get in touch with his hips and how they communicate. They hips are the motor that can drive the movement in the chest. It’s a knees, feet, hips pumping into the ground sensation.

The Follower knows the Leader is moving her into compression through:

-the use of the embrace

-the direction of the hips rotate to the left (counterclockwise) to move her into the cross

-the Shimmy movement is more compact

We drilled this with our usual partner, then tried with another different partner for one song.

BEYOND THE OCHO CORTADO: FOUNDATION WORK OF FELIPE REVERSE OCHO CORTADO

We worked on this in close embrace, so it becomes a surprise.

The Leader’s right hand lets go, and the Leader twists his body as much as possible and Leader twists Follower as much as he can (she is mostly on her left foot), rotating her hips as much as possible so that they become perpendicular.

The Leader needs to rotate the Follower, without her collecting. The Follower needs to be on axis, not tilted, and her weight is split about 60/40 or 70/30, but not more than that, otherwise she will collect. She is also not sitting back on her left foot. Being in the middle has to really resonate with her.

THE FELIPE REVERSE OCHO CORTADO (named after Felipe Martinez)

From the perpendicular position, in the Felipe Reverse Ocho Cortado, the Follower’s cross is a left foot back cross tuck (not a left foot front cross tuck in front of her pivoted right foot), to a right foot forward step, to a right foot pivot counterclockwise back into a normal left foot front cross tuck.

The Leader leads the left foot back cross tuck by circular rotation and linear energy to get the Follower to do a back cross tuck of her left foot behind her right foot. The Leader can add a little bit of telescoping in his arms to lead the Follower to get her to her back cross tuck. He also needs to turn and tilt the axis a little to create space for the Follower. He needs to transfer weight onto his right, and pull his left foot back so she has room.

The Follower’s left foot side step before her left foot back cross tuck needs to be really circular and around the Leader so she can end up perpendicular to him. She also needs to accept the transition from close to open embrace.

ROBERTO VARIATION (named after a student in class who came up with this during our exploration)

Left foot back cross, to come back out to uncross in a rock step back, into regular front cross. The Leader holding the Follower up is what makes the Follower’s weight change when she crosses back.

EXIT

The Leader pivots on his right foot, pulls his left foot in to get it out of her way to create space for the Follower to step around the Leader and cross in front of him, and the Follower walks around the Leader in a counterclockwise turn/hiro/molinete.

ANOTHER EXIT

To right foot unwind while she is on her weighted standing left foot to right foot back ocho (clockwise).

We drilled the various exits with the goal to try to figure out how to get back to close embrace smoothly and elegantly.

After the class review, Maestros demo’d to D’Arienzo’s El Flete.

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

The Art of Surprise - Part II (Int/Adv) (Focus on Telescoping)

The Art of Surprise - Part I (Intermediate)

Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://theorganictangoschool.org
Providence, Rhode Island
October 29, 2011

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The Providence Tango Tricks and Treats Weekend with Homer & Cristina Ladas

Friday, October 28, 2011

Something Scary Spins This Way (Int)

Saturday, October 29, 2011

The Art of Surprise - Part I (Int)

The Art of Surprise - Part II (Int/Adv)

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Cool Tricks and Traps for the Social Dance Floor - Parts I (Advanced)

Cool Tricks and Traps for the Social Dance Floor - Parts II (Master)

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Video Courtesy of Steven Spura and Bill Pease

Saturday, October 29, 2011

The Art of Surprise - Part I (Intermediate)

This Intermediate class lays down the groundwork for good vs. bad surprises in tango. We played a few fun games to get warmed up for various fundamental surprises.

TANGO HIP CHECK

Walking in partnership in promenade, the Leader bumps the Follower with his hip periodically. He should not hurt his partner, but let her know that he is there. The bump is done inside leg to inside leg. The Follower can do this joke back to the Leader.

TO WORK ON THE FOUNDATION OF SURPRISES, WE DID THE

MICHAEL JACKSON THRILLER EXERCISE (PART 1)

This was an independent exercise where we all walked around in random directions, and we went up to someone and scared them with hands up, but only stepping on the strong beat. We were not to run or do double time, or walk in the line of dance. This built up to the:

D’ARIENZO SURPRISE (PART 2)

To D’Arienzo’s Nada Mas, we worked on the concept of surprise. Everyone was to walk around the room, in any/all directions, always stepping on the strong beat to accent it in our walk, with energy going into the floor. Every once in a while, we were to surprise someone by touching them appropriately with both our hands at two points on their body (arms, shoulders, hips), always staying on the strong beat.

The purpose of this game was to get us used to the element of surprise as a musical tool, coordinating our dancing with the music. Every strong beat is a potential surprise. The Follower needs to feel safe and comfortable before she is surprised.

TAI CHI TANGO

Next, we did the Tai Chi Tango exercise, which is an exercise to help us work on our connection, really mirror and match our partner’s energy, and feeling compression. Leader and Follower face each other and are hand to hand (or palm to palm). The Leader does a big, flowy circular motion with each of his hands with big range of motion, releasing his shoulder joints, and his arms going into his body, engaging strongly or subtly and using his breath. At some point, he stops and gives compression. The Follower's response needs to be immediate to mirror and match the circular motion and to give resistance when she feels the Leader compress, giving the Leader the same mount of energy that he gives her. This was first done with no music.

Then we added music. So with Tai Chi hands, we were to focus on the music, giving compression at the accent points in the music, with the Follower waiting for the Leader to initiate the compression. Follower’s eyes are closed for this exercise. We can change the flavor of the embrace with compression to create a surprise with music.

SURPRISE 1: FREEZING

We were to dance, doing just walks, and then freezing for a moment. The Follower should always feel safe. To freeze, the Leader’s embrace changes, with compression energy to firm/tighten up/jolt/get more rigid, as his steps have more down energy into the floor. After a moment of freezing, he then keeps going by releasing the embrace into the normal, non-compressed close embrace.

The Leader should wait for an appropriate strong beat, freeze for a moment, and the ease back out of it to normal dancing. He needs to actually stop before the midpoint, compress the embrace a little, being subtle or dramatic, to play with the music. The Leader creates the Freeze by using compression and being very grounded, and maintaining the compression the whole time, sticking to the moment even though the music continues. The Follower needs to respond to the change of energy.

SURPRISE 2: LEADER’S FOOT CATCH/THIGH GRAB

FOOT CATCH:

Leader tries to trap Follower’s foot in a quick sandwich without stepping on her foot. It is easier to trap the Follower’s right foot, by the Leader approaching with his right foot first, and then completing the quick sandwich with his left foot. For this, the Leader needs to be snappy to catch the surprise to stop the Follower in the middle of her weight so that she doesn’t collect. The Leader’s heels stay together in the sandwich so that he doesn’t go too deep. The Leader should keep his thighs together and try not to change height, and to accent the rhythm/melody of the music.

THIGH GRAB:

Here, it is important to be appropriate; otherwise this surprise could be taken the wrong way. It should be comfortable and not at all inappropriate, but the move is somewhat “PG” rated. It is a gentle squeeze, with contact in the thighs, not the feet. It’s a very quick move and should not linger. It is a “hello and go” movement. Don’t sandwich too long, otherwise it’s not “PG” anymore. Like the Foot Catch, there is an easy side and a hard side. The exit is to release the thigh easily and loosen up the embrace.

CAN ADD LEADER’S PITTER-PATTER BEFORE THE FOOT CATCH

The Leader’s Pitter-Patter are small, short quick baby steps. Though the Leader does his Pitter-Patter, he must also keep leading the Follower to walk back normally, stepping on the strong beat. He should not change the height; there should be nothing going on in the Leader’s chest that encourages the Follower to do anything but walk back normally. The Leader starts the Pitter-Patter when the Follower’s right foot goes back, and when there is good synchronicity of movement.

SURPRISE 3: LEADER’S LEFT FOOT CROSS-BODY SOCCER CATCH IN FRONT WITH SWEEP

Leader does rock step to turn to the right (clockwise), and his left foot crosses in front of his body to catch the Follower’s right foot forward (front cross) step on the clockwise hiro/turn/molinete, to sweep it back. Note that both dancers’ sweeping/swept feet need to be unweighted (weight is on the back, standing supporting leg/foot). We practiced this in Sugar Bowl or Teapot Embrace. The Leader’s right foot cross behind after his rock step is very important for stability and to open up his right hip for maximum range of motion for his left foot to cross in front to catch the Follower, who should be taking a long, reaching step.

It is important for the Follower to have a good embrace and give horizontal energy. The Leader’s lead is the turn/hiro/molinete. The Follower’s default step should be long and around the Leader. She should take long steps, reaching first, and then transferring the weight smoothly. The Leader leads the turn and also leads her to stop. The two exits are:

(1) The Parada/Pasada by leading a turn to the left (counterclockwise), or

(2) A mini colgada, doing a rock step around and paying attention to the Line of Dance.

ADVANCED OPTION: Instead of a front catch, he can do a back catch with his left foot crossing behind and across his body to trap in the back, into a drag and sacada.

After the class review, Maestros demo’d the surprises to Rodriguez’s A Mal Tiempo Buena Cara.

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

Something Scary Spins This Way (Intermediate)

Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://theorganictangoschool.org
Providence, Rhode Island
October 28, 2011

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The Providence Tango Tricks and Treats Weekend with Homer & Cristina Ladas

Friday, October 28, 2011

Something Scary Spins This Way (Int)

Saturday, October 29, 2011

The Art of Surprise - Part I (Int)

The Art of Surprise - Part II (Int/Adv)

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Cool Tricks and Traps for the Social Dance Floor - Parts I (Advanced)

Cool Tricks and Traps for the Social Dance Floor - Parts II (Master)

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Video Courtesy of Steven Spura

Friday, October 28, 2011

Something Scary Spins This Way (Int)

In this intermediate class we worked on developing a “single-axis turn” or “colgada spin” of various speeds and durations (from almost “not there” to “hurricane force”). These movements are great social techniques to help navigate, be musical and dynamic in small spaces, or to outright “scare” your partner (ie, the roller coaster ride of tango).

We began with a warm-up dance with the goal of the Leader spinning the Follower around, with the loose instruction to have the Follower on one axis, left or right leg, and to find a way to walk around her axis. It is like a calesita (where there is a little lean).

Colgadas showed up around 2000, as a way to hang away from each other that is more stable and can be very fast.

We worked on a lot of fundamental Colgada concepts, illustrated by a simple pattern:

Leader side step left, with a right foot sandwich of the Follower’s feet. The Leader takes baby steps around the Follower as she pivots on the ball of her right foot. The exit is the Leader right step back or to the side.

BASIC CONCEPT: HOW TO KNOCK SOMEONE OFF THEIR AXIS

The Leader walks into the Follower’s space, knocking her body off axis with direct body contact, gently, 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.

What is the parachute for the Follower? If she feels the Leader is not catching her, she can step back with the unweighted free leg/foot to survive to stop herself from falling.

BASIC CONCEPT: HIP UNDER COLGADA POSTURE AND COUNTERBALACING EACH OTHER

In the Hip Under Colgada Posture, hips are under our rib cage. Spine is straight. Hips go back. We are not sitting down. We were to engage our cores, and our hips were to be under our rib cages. We were to use our backs and our hips, and not overuse or overcompensate with our arms and our shoulders.

The Leader sandwiches (his feet are in a “V” shape) the Follower’s feet (which are in parallel). He then sends the Follower back and sends himself back to counterbalance her. Knees are soft and slightly bent.

Leader and Follower hang onto each other’s wrists, and then move their cores/centers back, counterbalancing each other, using the power of their backs 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 several different partners (tall, short, fat, thin), to work on being able to counterbalance different body shapes, weights, and muscle compositions.

GOING BACK TO THE PATTERN:

The Line of Dance is toward the open side. The Leader steps into the line of dance, and sandwiches the Follower’s feet. Leader engages the embrace and steps forward a little. The Leader doesn’t have to do any turn. As soon as the Leader goes around, physics will take over. The Leader can do minimum sendout and still get centrifugal acceleration. The Leader’s right arm becomes fixed to support the Follower.

The Follower needs to have confidence in her Leader, and she needs to really send back her hips so that the Leader can fully counterbalance her.

COLGADA KILLERS:

How can the Follower kill the Colgada either on purpose or by accident?

(1) Put her free leg down.

(2) Sit down and change leverage and Leader is unprepared for this.

(3) Push the pelvis in.

(4) Foot clamp.

When the Leader sends the Follower out in Colgada, he becomes like a Wall for the Follower to hang on to, supported by the Follower’s hips and back.

In teapot embrace, with the Leader’s right arm behind him as the handle and his left arm up as the fixed spout, we were to lead the single-axis turn with the Leader stepping around the Follower with his left foot and coming around with right foot. The Leader’s feet need to go where they need to go. He first pigeon toes in with his left foot, so it sickles, and then his right foot turns out. It’s as if the toes say “Hello!” to each other, and then the heels say “Hello!” to each other. The Leader needs to stay equidistant around the Follower’s axis.

We backed up a little to a brief exercise:

EXERCISE: ELEMENTARY SCHOOL HUGGING/SPINNING

In partnership face to face, we were to imagine 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 as fast as he can. The goal was to spin crazy and fast in both directions, with Follower on her left foot or right foot, so there were four possibilities:

(1) Spin left with Follower on left foot.

(2) Spin right with Follower on left foot.

(3) Spin left with Follower on right foot.

(4) Spin right with Follower on right foot.

ANOTHER PATTERN:

Getting into it via the rock step.

Follower does right foot forward step around the Leader, Leader does right foot catch of Follower’s right foot with his weight back on his left foot, but he leads the Follower to transfer weight to get her into Colgada. Leader rocks forward with his left foot, Follower rocks back with her right foot.

For the Leader to quick weight change to his left foot, he crosses behind and does a weight change to get the right foot out fast enough to catch the Follower. The exit: Leader steps back or to the side in the Line of Dance. He should send the Follower out as she is transferring weight so that the transfer from axis to off-axis is seamless.

We tried doing this in open embrace and close embrace. The Colgada does not mean we need to spin or turn.

THREE POINTS OF CONNECTION IN COLGADAS

Note that in the colgada there are three points of connection:

Follower’s right hand in Leader’s left hand

Leader’s right hand on Follower’s back

Follower’s right hand on Leader’s right arm

Maestros concluded with a demo to Laurentz’s Amurado, which has a lot of crazy variaciones in it, perfect for doing this hurricane colgada. The demo illustrates that Homer still gets dizzy when doing too many of these.

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

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

The Embrace (Int/Adv)

Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://theorganictangoschool.org
Northampton, MA
October 23, 2011

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Homer & Cristina Ladas Workshops in Northampton, MA

Friday, October 21, 2011

The Tango Body

The Feet (All Levels)

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Workshop 1 – Int/Adv – The Legs

Workshop 2 – Int/Adv – The Hips

Premilonga Lesson: Floorcraft, Navigation and Etiquette

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Workshop 3 – Int/Adv – The Upper Body

Workshop 4 – Int/Adv – The Embrace

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Video Courtesy of Kristin Balmer & Mariano Sana

Workshop 4 - The Embrace (Int/Adv)

Maestros gave us a choice of 4 things to work on:

(1) The Colgada-Volcada Connection

(2) Boleos – Forward and Backward

(3) Sacadas – Follower and Leader, but mostly Follower

(4) Changes of Embrace

The class chose to work on (1) The Colgada-Volcada Connection

We began with a trust exercise:

TRUST EXERCISE: LEADER KNOCKS FOLLOWER OFF AXIS

Here, the Follower has her feet hip-width apart. The Leader walks into her, knocking her off axis. The Leader enters her space, displacing the Follower. Then he/she/they catch each other.

Level 1: Both catch each other

Level 2: Leader catches Follower

Level 3: Follower catches Leader

We could do this from different angles: facing each other, or from the side. The Leader needs to knock the Follower off axis before he catches her, because falling needs to be involved.

Next, we played a:

VOLCADA GAME

There are three levels to this game:

(1) We hold each other

(2) Leader holds Follower

(3) Follower holds Leader

The Leader takes three small steps back, and then three small steps forward. The Follower’s feet remain fixed, so only her body tilts forward as the Leader steps back, and then he puts her back to axis as he steps forward.

From here, we worked on a simple pattern:

SIMPLE PATTERN:

Leader left foot side step to sandwich the Follower’s right foot, then he

Expands the embrace in colgada energy, displacing her and sending her out, and then he brings her back in in a Collapsible Volcada of the Follower’s left foot.

We were to keep our movements small so that this is manageable.

Working on the individual pieces:

In the Volcada, in open embrace, the Leader side left foot finds symmetry in the Follower’s axis. His right foot steps around the Follower. He turns his body around the Follower’s center as a foundation to get it all together. The Leader’s left foot steps on the diagonal back, then he steps 2-3 times on the diagonal back to lead a small Volcada, and then he steps forward with his right foot.

Both Leader and Follower are compressing into each other, and there is a 1-to-1 exchange of energy in this compression, with Follower matching Leader’s energy. The Follower needs to have good tone in her core and imagine getting out of a swimming pool: pushing down to pull herself up, a she also needs to have the Leader’s support right away. The Follower should always try to face the Leader.

The Leader should be elegant in body position, turning his body toward the Follower to prevent mudslides (the Follower sliding away). The Leader turns his body as he leads the Follower into the concluding cross. This is a true Leader lead to the cross; Follower should not go into the cross on her own.

The shape of the Follower’s volcadaing foot is that of a half-moon or half-circle, where the Follower lets her left leg go out, then up and back in. Followers can practice making this shape without a partner against any wall to get the up, out and open footwork.

For the Follower’s volcada footwork, she can do it either Ballet style (with toe to floor) or Sassy style (with heel to floor). Note that in Sassy style, the hip drops a little, so she should be sure to have lift.

TWO LINKED VOLCADAS – THE WINDSHIELD WIPER

Here, the Leader does a windshield wiper lead, starting on the easy side first (Follower’s left foot volcada with weighted supporting right foot/leg). The Leader’s right foot drives toward the Follower’s axis. Follower does volcada with left foot, then right foot and the Leader leads the volcada on one side and then the other.

COLGADA:

How to make the transition to close embrace? The Leader transfers the weight from his left to his right, then he sends the Follower out in the line of power. He should add a little bit of turn to get circularity in the subsequent Volcada. There are lots of things going on.

In the collapsible Volcada, the Leader takes his left foot back and leads the Volcada with his right foot driving the Follower back into a cross. The Collapsible volcada happens because the Leader can collapse the embrace in the volcada.

The Volcada is not so big because it initiates from the Colgada. The Follower still compresses into the Leader.

Maestros concluded with a demo to Agnes Obell’s Just So.

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

The Upper Body (Int/Adv)

Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://theorganictangoschool.org
Northampton, MA
October 23, 2011

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Homer & Cristina Ladas Workshops in Northampton, MA

Friday, October 21, 2011

The Tango Body

The Feet (All Levels)

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Workshop 1 – Int/Adv – The Legs

Workshop 2 – Int/Adv – The Hips

Premilonga Lesson: Floorcraft, Navigation and Etiquette

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Workshop 3 – Int/Adv – The Upper Body

Workshop 4 – Int/Adv – The Embrace

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Video Courtesy of Kristin Balmer & Mariano Sana

Workshop 3 - The Upper Body (Int/Adv)

Close Embrace turns in vals (full turns to the left and to the right)

We began in a special embrace, with Leader using no arms and Follower using any arms and flat chest-to-chest connection and the Follower giving light, medium, or strong energy. The Leader tries to lead what he can, always trying not to lose the connection at all.

We were to have good posture, with our chests lifted and heads floating (and no head connection, as we did the entire weekend).

The focus of our work would be on Relative versus Absolute Turns.

We began with a review of our first exercise on Friday: Holding an imaginary fishbowl with sleeping fish, crossing behind while walking forward, and crossing in front while walking back. Do not change height, keep chest up, be elegant. In our crossed feet, our feet form the “A” shape. In regular feet, our feet form the “V” shape with slight turnout. We were to caress the floor with our big toe to know where our feet are.

WASHING MACHINE EXERCISE

We began with the Washing Machine Exercise to help improve our disassociation (give us super association). This is called the Washing Machine exercise because it mimics the spin cycle of a washing machine. It is a good oblique workout.

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, for four possibilities:
(1) Pivot on left foot while turning to left
(2) Pivot on left foot while turning to right
(3) Pivot on right foot while turning to right
(4) Pivot on right foot while turning to left

For this exercise, or goal is to have the hips go past the shoulders/chest so that we could feel what it is like to have dissonance between our hips and chest.

Level 2 of this exercise is to imagine that we have a partner and need to keep our chest as even and smooth as possible so that we can do it slowly and continuously.

BLOCK TURNS: On this turn, we are on one foot and kick the heel around as our bodies do not disassociate (moves in a block).

PADDLE TURN: Here, we stepped to the side, and with our other free foot, paddle ourselves around, touching the floor as we paddled, using small steps, not big steps. The Paddle keeps the Leader over his axis (like a kickstand for a bicycle) and the function of the free leg helps maintain stability of the standing, supporting leg and gives power.

TWO-FOOT SPLIT-WEIGHT PIVOTED TURN:

With our feet crossed as in the cross walk exercise, we turn by sharing the weight between our feet. Here we can go into another cross, turn out of it, and then turn into another cross, etc. Tight crosses help keep a tight center.

THE SEQUENCE (TURN TO THE LEFT [counterclockwise]):

Leader side step left

Leader side step right

Weight change

Turn counterclockwise

Leader right foot sacada of Follower’s left foot into a tight back cross step into a

Leader’s front cross of his left foot in front of his right foot as Follower does counterclockwise molinete (turn) around him. The Follower’s crosses are tight on the forward and back cross steps. She should not open her hip that’s doing the cross, especially during the back cross step.

Unwind out to resolution.

We were to be flat in our connection with chest-to-chest connection. We did this so that we can work on the black side of the equation (100% connection, appilado style) versus the white side of the equation (open embrace). If we can master the turn in chest-to-chest 100% connection, it will make doing it in V embrace or open embrace easier. Leader needs to be consistent in his connection to the Follower.

To get out from the Leader’s right foot sacada into the left foot front cross, he can do the washing machine disassociation and kick the heel around (pivoting on his left foot).

Follower: side steps of the molinete (turn) need to be long and around the Leader. She needs to keep her belly back, and envision that her legs start fro her rib cage, not her waist.

RELATIVE VS ABSOLUTE TURNS

An Absolute Turn is where either the Leader or Follower is the center of the circle with their partner going around and axis remains fixed.

A Relative Turn is where the axis moves. As the Leader does his sacada, he moves the axis. Every step the Leader makes, he can control it, moving the turn to where he wants to move it. This is a relative turn.

CLEAR TURN VS DIRTY TURN

Dirty relative turns are where the Leader goes every which way from place to place to place.

Dirty absolute turns are where the Leader shifts the tilt of the axis forward, back, sideways, every which way.

TIMING OF THE TURN

Next, we worked on the timing of the turn:

Follower: QQS on the back, side, forward steps

Leader: SSS throughout

TURN TO THE RIGHT (clockwise):

When Leader goes to the right in a clockwise turn, nothing changes in the Leader’s footwork. He still sacadas with his right foot/leg, and does the forward enrosque from this sacada. There is no sneak attack weight change. For the Follower, her right foot forward step is a full forward step (not a truncated front cross step) because her right hip has room.

Maestros concluded with a demo to D’Arienzo’s Hotel Victoria.

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

The Hips (Int/Adv)

The Legs (Int/Adv)

Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://theorganictangoschool.org
Northampton, MA
October 22, 2011

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Homer & Cristina Ladas Workshops in Northampton, MA

Friday, October 21, 2011

The Tango Body

The Feet (All Levels)

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Workshop 1 – Int/Adv – The Legs

Workshop 2 – Int/Adv – The Hips

Premilonga Lesson: Floorcraft, Navigation and Etiquette

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Workshop 3 – Int/Adv – The Upper Body

Workshop 4 – Int/Adv – The Embrace

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Video Courtesy of Kristin Balmer & Mariano Sana

Workshop 1 - The Legs (Int/Adv)

We began with removing our shoes.

With our feet hip-width apart, there was about 6-8 inches between our two feet.

We were to look down and consider them as if they looked like the letter H.

We were to distribute the weight evenly between our two feet, backward and forward, and side to side. We were stand up as straight as we can, and envision a line going down from the top of the center of our heads going through the middle of our bodies. We were to push from the waist down, and also push from the ribcage up. This creates more room in our torso. We should keep our knees soft. Then we had flexion in our ankles, moving our weight toward the ball of our feet, and then back up to axis to the sweet spot. We should imagine a hanger pulling our chest up and slightly forward. Then again we go back to axis.

Curling the toes creates a gap in the arch, which is bad for stability, so we should not do it. It’s important that we spread our toes, and imagine that our feet have four corners (where the pinky toe is, and where the future or current bunion is, and at the left and right sides of the heel). In standing, we should press the four corners of our feet into the floor and lift up the inside parts of our legs, lifting the inner thighs. Here, we can feel more strength in our arch. In dancing, we should be on all four corners, the front two corners or three corners (two front corners and inside back corner), but not on the two outside corners.

Standing with our weight on the right foot, we put our left foot beside it so that only one foot has weight on it. We were to try to push down on the four corners of our right foot, but lift up in the body, lifting the inner thigh. We should not have any tension in our butt. Here, we are creating length as we ground ourselves.

End of Exercise.

NO HEAD TOUCHING IN CLASS

Our homework assignment and goal for our exercises in class was to work the material in close embrace, but to not have our heads touch. After our class work was done, we could dance like we usually do, likely with heads touching. We would ponder whether it felt different and whether we could switch back and forth.

It is not wrong to touch heads, but there is a good way to do it and a bad way to do it (pushing your head into each other or when the head becomes distracting). The class rule we would employ for our workshops is to not touch heads. This would give us a greater sense of control, and will help us be OK with coming off each other as needed.

Our topic for this workshop is the Legs, and our focus would be amplifying the lead with our legs.

LEADER LEADS FOLLOWER BACK STEP

In a partnered exercise, the Leader tries to lead the Follower do step back by using just the flexion in his ankles. The Follower has her hands on the front of the Leader’s rib cage below his chest or at the tops of his hips. As the Leader tires to move the Follower’s leg, their point of contact is through the Follower’s arms at the Leader’s lower ribs or top of his hips. The Follower needs to have tone in her arms, and they should be like Spaghetti Al Dente, not too soft and not too firm, and her arms should be connected to her back. The Leader feels a bit of Follower resistance so that he knows her body is behind.

THE PATTERN

Next, we went onto a simple pattern.

Leader does side step, weight change, snakes outside of Follower’s feet without moving Follower at all (sneak attack), flex at ankle, whereby Follower does a small step back, and then Leader makes a big/giant forward step, driving Follower to do a big step into the cross.

The Follower needs to maintain compression energy the entire time, otherwise the Leader will get the sensation that he is falling forward. She should be consistent in her embrace/compression energy so that there are no bubbles/hiccups. To do this, the Follower puts pressure into the floor to put energy into her back and body into the embrace. Both dancers should keep their heads upright and floating, and Follower’s steps should glide into the floor. She should also not rush her cross, but do it slowly.

The Leader’s surprise step of his left foot does not have any weight to it. The tilt of the Leader’s body is what causes the Follower to step back. He should not rotate his chest/shoulders at all. As he puts weight on his left foot, he has a small rotation in his shoulders. On his right foot step forward, there is a big rotation on his big forward step to drive Follower into the cross.

The Follower’s biggest challenge is knowing where to land the first short step (and when to put weight fully on that step). This all depends on how far the Leader’s body comes forward. If the Follower is unsure, she should make the step a little shorter. She should not lose compression, and really pay attention to how the Leader moves his center.

Note that the compression does not stay the same throughout. It builds. In compression, the Follower should focus on horizontal energy (not vertical energy).

PART B VARIATON

The Leader does one or a few side step left touch steps, then he twists going into a split pivot 90 degrees counterclockwise while at the same time slightly hugging and lifting the Follower to control her weight change. The Follower needs to wait and stay with the Leader, and then they step out with the Follower taking a step back with her left foot.

CONCEPTS

Legs are connected to our feet, which should be connected to the floor. We build energy through the floor up, not through the embrace.

Four corners of the feet

The Leader’s cheat steps helps to develop compression because to add more tilt and so that we can support each other more.

Engage the floor with the feet and legs.

PET PEEVES

(1) Touching heads. There is a right way and a wrong way to do it, which will give us a headache or crick in our neck. We should let our heads float.

(2) Bending our knees and changing height unnecessarily; not staying level

(3) Controlling our lines when we step (when we step back, it should be straight).

Maestros also demonstrated Pattern C, to show us the easiest way to get into the material. Here, the Leader steps around the Follower with his right foot, then splits the weight, then gets into the 8CB.

Maestros concluded with a demo to Demare’s No Te Apures Carablanca

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

The Feet (All Levels)

Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://theorganictangoschool.org
Northampton, MA
October 21, 2011

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Homer & Cristina Ladas Workshops in Northampton, MA

Friday, October 21, 2011

The Tango Body

The Feet (All Levels)

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Workshop 1 – Int/Adv – The Legs

Workshop 2 – Int/Adv – The Hips

Premilonga Lesson: Floorcraft, Navigation and Etiquette

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Workshop 3 – Int/Adv – The Upper Body

Workshop 4 – Int/Adv – The Embrace

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Video Courtesy of Kristin Balmer & Mariano Sana

Friday

THE FEET

Today our work would be fun, and tomorrow we would focus on more serious topics.

CROSSING BEHIND WHILE WALKING FORWARD; CROSSING IN FRONT WHILE WALKING BACK

We began with a warm-up exercise done in circle formation, individually crossing behind and trying to walk forward. We were to be elegant with our chests lifted, not sloppy, and don’t fall into our steps. This exercise is not a race. In our arms, we were to imagine holding a big fish bowl filled with sleeping fish, so our upper bodies needed to be as quiet as possible to not disturb them or wake them up. We should also not tilt from side to side or forward to back, but keep even.

Then we did this same exercise, only in reverse: crossing in front while trying to walk back.

Our feet should touch when we walk back, and our knees should be soft.

We should look across the circle to the person on the opposite side, keeping our head up and floating.

When in regular feet forward position, we should have a slight bit of turnout so our feet look like a “V”. When we cross behind or cross forward, our feet should look like an “A”.

On the forward cross step, we bend the receiving knees without height change, picking up our heels and using our whole leg. We should keep our thighs together and caress the floor with our feet.

SNAKE WALK

In a partnered drill in close embrace, the Leader snake walks in a crossed way while the Follower walks back in a straight line. We should take equal, long steps. In the snake walk, the Leader takes a left foot forward step toward the Follower’s left foot as she takes a back step, and a right foot forward step toward the Follower’s right foot as she takes a back step. He gets into it by doing a left foot side step, to quick weight change, and then steps forward with his left foot.

The look of the snake walk is very similar to the look of runway models, walking in a straight line on a balance beam, but weaving and keeping (really pulling) the thighs together (“I have to pee”), so in this walk the Leader’s spiral all happens below the waist. His upper body should be quiet and straight as he is only leading the Follower to walk straight back.

Snake walking is basically cross system walking.

The Leader needs to keep his chest lifted, tilt forward at the ankles but keep his belly back. There is a world of space at your feet.

Some details to think about:

Leaders: practice walking down a hallway with weaving legwork and “I have to pee” thighs. Keep the chest square. Do not sickle or twist the feet.

Followers: Collect at the inner thighs and ankles when the opportunity arises. Put more attention on the ankle down to the toe. Be a little outturned in your straight back steps to be a little more solid. Do not pronate. Shape your collections with flexion in your ankles. Think about how you use the distribution of weight, from back to front, and how you land heel to toe, and how you use pressure on the floor to control the progression of your body.

GETTING INTO THE SNAKE WALK

The Leader makes a back cross, then walks forward, alternating in regular walk or crossed (snake) walk. The Follower walks smoothly on the strong beat, placing feet elegantly, and keeping steady. She should not transfer weight too fast, and be consistent with how she connects in close embrace. She should not float away or pull away from the Leader.

For the Leader, it is important for him to know how to walk in parallel and then into and out of the snake walk (cross system walk). In the Leader’s back cross, his feet need to be tight and deep, otherwise the Follower will go away in the embrace.

For our drill, we did:

Snake walk two steps

Back cross (left foot cross behind right foot)

Parallel walk two steps

Back cross

Snake walk two steps

Back cross

Etc.

The QQS rhythm fits in well with the back cross, which we tried to do musically. The Leader’s easiest foot to start the QQ on is the left foot forward, right foot back cross. So the Leader has to plan ahead when he’s stepping on his right, so that he really projects himself on his left foot forward step. In the Leader’s back cross, he should go deep and tight.

Maestros then did a short demo in vals of the forward step, cross behind, at the boom-chick-boom points in the music.

As always, the Follower should not push her head into the Leader, and keep her chest up.

Next, things were made more complicated in the context of our foot pattern in vals:

L Forward step

R Back cross step (tight and snug)

L Side step

Or

R Forward step

L Back cross step (tight and snug)

R Side step

Here, with this additional step but still keeping within the same music, the step size needs to be as small as possible to hit the two chicks (the Boom-Chick-Chick in vals music). This footwork changes the quality of movement, fitting in a nice sway forward with a little backward to vals music.

Maestros concluded with a class review and demo to Canaro’s Vibraciones Del Alma.

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

Premilonga Lesson on Navigation, Floor Craft and Etiquette

Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://theorganictangoschool.org
Northampton, MA
October 22, 2011

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Homer & Cristina Ladas Workshops in Northampton, MA

Friday, October 21, 2011

The Tango Body

The Feet (All Levels)

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Workshop 1 – Int/Adv – The Legs

Workshop 2 – Int/Adv – The Hips

Premilonga Lesson: Floorcraft, Navigation and Etiquette

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Workshop 3 – Int/Adv – The Upper Body

Workshop 4 – Int/Adv – The Embrace

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Premilonga Lesson on Navigation, Floor Craft and Etiquette

It was noted that sometimes people who should be here the most, are not.

We began with a warm-up dance made in an artificially smaller space, the goal of which was to touch all four corners of the space at which chairs were placed.

GAME 1: MONSTER WALK

Walk across the dance floor, in a random direction, either across or diagonally, but not counterclockwise or in the line of dance, to get to the other side of the dance floor. Do not run. First, walk slow. Then go faster. Then faster. The point of this game is:

(1) to watch where you are going

(2) to make adjustments

(3) to increase your sense of awareness and vision

On the milonga dance floor, it is OK to dance in the middle or outside, but do not weave or zig zag between couples.

GAME 2: TOUCH THE CORNERS

In partnership, we danced in the line of dance, specifically touching the four corners of the dance floor with one foot of the Follower, where chairs were set up to clearly delineate what the corners were. We were to try to touch the chairs with the Follower’s feet to make sure we actually went all the way to the four corners. The point of this game is:

(1) to be aware of how much space we have behind us and in front of us

(2) to keep the line of dance moving (do not slow it down or speed it up)

(3) increase our sense of awareness (to ourselves, to our partner, to the music, and to surroundings)

GAME 3: BLIND TANGO

We built on Game 2, Touch the Corners, with the eyes of both the Leader and Follower closed. We were to dance with our eyes closed, in the line of dance, and touching the four corners with the Follower’s foot. We were to do simple things, small movements, and nothing complicated. The point of this game is:

(1) to sense other people around us

(2) to keep the line of dance moving

What helped us? Lots of people, so that we could hear and feel them. No hard elbows, so no one got hurt even if there were little bumps. The bumps, if any, were soft. Soft bumps/taps are important. We need each other on the dance floor and can use each other as markers. For any bumps, they should be soft love bumps. No elbows up, no defensive arms/tactics. Use all of your senses to be aware of where you are on the dance floor, and where others are. Allow touch to be a nice part of the dance (not a bad one).

The song for this exercise was Tom Waits’s Blind Love.

GAME 4: CHAOTIC MOLECULES

There are three types of molecules that make the milonga dance floor chaotic:

(1) Random/Rogue Molecule

(2) Space Hog: Leaving lots of space in front of you and backing up everyone else behind you

(3) Space Jammer: A tailgater, dancing right up to the couple in front of you

Three couples were assigned the molecule roles and were to dance to disrupt the milonga dance floor. All other couples were to dance in the line of dance and not cut each other, but remain in line and flowing with the rest. We were to try to dance this way anyway, even with the Rogue Molecule, Space Jammer, and Space Hog. Our goal was to try to make things work no matter what.

Next, the concept of the Tango Train was introduced

GAME 5: CHAOTIC MOLECULES AND TANGO TRAINS

All dance couples were formed into dance trains of 3 couples, each train having one couple as the front engine, one as the back caboose, and one in the middle. The goal of the engine is to keep going and not let the line get jammed up into the train in front of them. The goal of the caboose is to keep the train moving, protecting the middle segment. The goal of the middle is to keep with the engine. Our goal was to keep the line of dance moving, but not move too fast or too slow. If we move too fast, we end up jamming the people in front of us. If we move too slow, we end up being a space hog.

To our trains, the Rogue Molecule couple was let loose with its goal to try to break into a train.

The trains’ goal was to not let the Rogue Molecule break any train. How was this done? By closing the space so that the Rogue Molecule could not get in.

How to form a train: This is a tool the Follower can implement, and you do not have to know another couple to make a train. When coming into the dance floor, make eye contact with the couples on the dance floor. The one who acknowledges you and lets you in makes it a tacit agreement to take care of each other. If there is no eye contact and they do not acknowledge you, you should not enter there. Eye contact with another couple suggests “You take care of me and I will take care of you.”

CABACEO ETIQUETTE

For the Etiquette portion of our class focused on the cabaceo.

Follower should sit upright and attentively, looking ready and enthusiastic to dance. She is presenting herself, and should not sit back and slouch. She should look like she is ready to dance.

Leaders and Followers look at each other, make eye contact, nod to each other. Leader walks to Follower (the Walk of Pride), then verbally asks to confirm/verify the cabaceo.

When entering line of dance, make eye contact with the couple you are going in front of.

After the dance, the Leader should walk the Follower off the dance floor and back to where he got her.

There was no didactic demo due to the nature of the class.

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

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Exploring Stylistic and Functional Use of Colgadas (Advanced "Exploration" Class)

Song: Anibal Troilo by Julio De Caro
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://theorganictangoschool.org
New York City
October 16, 2011

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Homer & Cristina Ladas Workshops in New York City:

Weekend Theme: The Body-Spiral and Body-Axis

2.30pm: Building One Social Dance Step-Over Colgada (Intermediate "Foundation" Class)

4.30pm: Exploring Stylistic and Functional Use of Colgadas (Advanced "Exploration" Class)

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Exploring Stylistic and Functional Use of Colgadas (Advanced "Exploration" Class)

Video Courtesy of Luis Campos

Since this was an advanced, exploration class, it went very quickly with Maestros demonstrating the colgada, and then the students trying to replicate it or just play with it and explore it to see how to Lead/Follower it and get used to the muscle memory, physical feeling of executing it.

Two new Back Step-Over Colgadas were introduced:

1) Left-Left-Left: Leader’s Left Foot traps Follower’s back cross Left foot and they turn to the Left with She Goes, He Goes exit

2) Right-Right-Right: Leader’s Right foot traps Follower’s back cross Right foot and they turn to the Right with Spin exit

LEFT-LEFT-LEFT

The Leader’s left foot traps the Follower’s left foot back cross step of the turn (molinete), and she steps over behind. He should not put weight on his left foot, until he intentionally transfers it, which will get the colgada.

The Leader’s right foot traps the Follower’s right foot back cross step of the turn (molinete), and she steps over behind.

SHE GOES, HE GOES EXIT

We worked on a She Goes, He Goes colgada to the left, where the Leader leads a full turn first, then catches her left foot back cross step, and as she goes out in her back step-over colgada, he pivots a little, and steps through with his right foot, while she does a long side step simultaneously with his right foot step through.

On the Left-Left-Left Back Step-Over Colgada, if the Leader’s thigh is too high, the Follower may do a gancho. He can close the space by keeping the thigh low and his weight on his right leg.

Contact in the thighs/leg would lead to a gancho/wrap and start and stop energy.

We can add a barrida after on the left foot back step-over colgada. The Leader needs to gently lead the Follower through by rotating his torso and providing continuous energy.

We also tried boy ganchos after his step through, he can pivot a little to do a gancho.

In the Left-Left-Left back step-over colgada, the Follower step-over is her right foot up and collected back down, then her right leg goes down and out to the side.

RIGHT-RIGHT-RIGHT

On the Right-Right-Right back step-over colgada, there is a spin exit where the Follower pivots on her right foot and the Leader goes around her as much as he wants, knowing as always that he should keep it in the line of dance.

COLGADA WRAPS

In our work with the functional use of colgadas, we did the 8CB to 5 (cross), then the Leader places his left foot or right foot next to the Follower’s left foot, sends her back in the line of power, and then brings her back in to wrap around either his left or right leg. This is more of a linear wrap, not a circular one. This works if the Follower knows how to do a wrap/gancho. The Leader stops the Follower as she is over her axis to do the gancho/wrap. If she is off axis, this will be a volcada.

The Follower compresses.

The Leader has forward-oriented Captain Morgan legwork, so he opens up his thighs and knees, with a little bit of weight on it, forward orientation, so that the Follower has space to wrap around his leg and is mentally comfortable to do so.

The exit is simple and elegant: The Leader goes a little to the right so that she does a right foot tight back cross against her left foot. This can also be done from the ocho cortado, especially during fun rhythmic tandas (Rodriguez, D’Arienzo).

As always, we should try to be aesthetic, musical, and creatively based in our dance, and to have graceful exits.

Maestros concluded with a class review and demo to Julio De Caro’s Anibal Troilo

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

Building One Social Dance Step-Over Colgada (Intermediate "Foundation" Class)

Song: La Capilla Blanca by Francisco Canaro
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://theorganictangoschool.org
New York City
October 16, 2011

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Homer & Cristina Ladas Workshops in New York City:

Weekend Theme: The Body-Spiral and Body-Axis

2.30pm: Building One Social Dance Step-Over Colgada (Intermediate "Foundation" Class)

4.30pm: Exploring Stylistic and Functional Use of Colgadas (Advanced "Exploration" Class)

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Building One Social Dance Step-Over Colgada (Intermediate "Foundation" Class)

Video Courtesy of Luis Campos

Our music for the class was DiSarli with Podesta on vocals.

We began the class immediately with Maestros showing us the step, and then us trying to replicate it.

From the rock step, the Leader steps left foot side step to trap the Follower’s right foot side step, sending her out, and then she steps over with her left foot out and around the Leader counterclockwise.

For the Leader to keep this in the line of dance, he can keep turning the Follower.

After we drilled this for a little while, we went on to clean up the technical details of the step.

For the Leader rock step, in the middle he can pivot 90 degrees on his right foot, so that his left foot trap of Follower's right foot is not in the Line of Dance when he traps the Follower’s right foot (Leader puts weight on his right foot). This pivot will enable the Follower to make a long step around him. Leader sends her out. Leader puts his weight on his left foot at the same time Follower transfers her weight to her right foot to send her out. Leader does right foot cheat step up to a quarter turn around Follower (Leader can be on his heel to do this) to provide support as she hangs and steps around with her left foot Leader and Follower both keep their chests up. Follower steps long and around Leader as she goes over in her colgada, and as she passes through, the Leader puts his weight on his left foot, then changes his weight to the right foot, to then walk off with his left foot.

For the Follower, the beginning right foot rock step back is not weighted. She need to pivot 90 degrees on her right foot so that it makes it easier for her to make a long, reaching left foot front cross step around the Leader. Note that her step is unweighted (weight is on her standing, supporting right leg). As the Leader leads the transfer of weight to his right is where the colgada starts and she is sent out off axis. After the Follower’s side step around the Leader, she pivots on her left foot and they walk out (she with her right foot back step).

After drilling this for a while, we then went on to some deeper concepts:

1) Understanding initiation: when, how?

To get an idea, we did the step-over colgada in teapot embrace with the Leader’s right hand at the small of his back and elbows out (the handle), and left arm up (the proper angle of the left arm is to measure with his right hand where the thumb and pinky fingers go from his bicep to his wrist). His left arm remains fixed (as a teapot’s spout would be). The Follower embraces the Leader at his spout and handle, engaging both her left and right arms/hands so that she can hang on to the Leader. The Follower should have equal stability on both sides of her embrace/arm tone. Both dancers need to be connected to their cores so that the whole body is behind their arms. In the teapot embrace, the Leader’s right hand is taken away so that he doesn’t overuse it and so that the Follower uses both sides of her embrace to hang onto the Leader.

THE LINE OF POWER: The "Line of Power" was introduced. Two points of the Leader’s feet are in a line in the direction of where the Follower's hips are going to go. The Follower's hips go out straight: that's the line of power.

A more advanced level of this is to do it in Sugar Bowl embrace where the Follower needs to hang onto both sides of the Leader with her hands/arms only and he does not hold onto her at all, but only lead with his chest/torso rotation and is tested to see if he can lead any Colgada.

In this same step-over colgada, we drilled in Sugar Bowl embrace to work on timing, using the floor, the line of power, having more finesse, and being comfortable with throwing our weight around. The Sugar Bowl embrace also makes the Follower smarter and responsive about the embrace and hanging onto the Leader and using his body as a wall.

Next, we went on to a foundational drill to develop trust in a playful way.

TRUST EXERCISE: LEADER KNOCKS FOLLOWER OFF AXIS

Here, the Follower has her feet hip-width apart. The Leader walks into her, knocking her off axis. The Leader enters her space, displacing the Follower. Then he/she/they catch each other.

Level 1: Both catch each other

Level 2: Leader catches Follower

Level 3: Follower catches Leader

Next, we went onto a social colgada posture/counterbalance exercise.

SOCIAL COLGADA POSTURE/COUNTERBALANCE EXERCISE

Holding at the wrists, we were in hip under position, with our hips lined up with our rib cages. The Leader's feet, which can be in a "V" position, were outside the Follower's feet, sandwiching them. Elbows have 90 degree bend to them. We were to squeeze our transverse muscles, using our center mass in our backs and cores, keeping our chest open, and pushing our shoulder blades down. We were to hang from the hips and counterbalance each other. We were not to crunch our shoulders. We could move our belly out back a little. We were not to use our upper backs, but just use our mid/lower backs and power of our hips/legs and our core muscles. Our back and leg muscles are engaged. Our backsides were such that there is a high bar back stool behind us and we were reaching back to get up into to the chair (so it is not sitting down on a low chair).

Leader initiates the send out and controls how far the Follower goes out. The Leaders tried with different Followers to feel the height and weight differences, and how he had to change his counterbalancing efforts depending on the Follower's height and weight. This exercise was the most important five minutes of class so that we could understand the concept of counterbalancing each other.

Next, after these drills, the goals of which were to improve our Colgada technique, we went back to doing the step-over Colgada in Sugar Bowl Embrace. Only this time, the Leader sends her out and then freezes, and then sends her over, pulling her through with his left shoulder rotation counterclockwise.

Note that during the Colgada the Follower’s hips are almost perpendicular to the Leader’s.

In the freeze, the Follower starts stepping over when the Leader starts turning. The Follower’s colgada ends when she steps down and touches the floor and transfers weight.

The Follower's embrace becomes elastic first, stretching first and then start engaging it when the movement starts. The Leader’s left arm should remain fixed and stable at all times, and not telescope out or forward.

The challenge portion of the class was to work on the back step-over colgada. Or to control the timing (fast or slow) of the regular step-over colgada.

In doing the Colgada it is important for the Follower not to do any height changes because that adds another level of complexity to all that the Leader has to think about (on top of counterbalancing her weight, sending her out, and leading the turn).

Maestros concluded with a class review and demo to Canaro’s La Capilla Blanca.

During our half-hour break, Maestros generously gave us the option of using that time as a guided practica, which most students enthusiastically took advantage of.

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

The Overturned Gancho/Sacada Odyssey (Advanced "Exploration" Class)

Song: El Rey de Bosque by Francisco Canaro
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://theorganictangoschool.org
New York City
October 15, 2011

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Homer & Cristina Ladas Workshops in New York City:

Weekend Theme: The Body-Spiral and Body-Axis

Saturday Theme: "Exploring the Body-Spiral"

2.30pm: The Overturned Gancho/Sacada Experience Made Easy (Intermediate "Foundation" Class)

4.30pm: The Overturned Gancho/Sacada Odyssey (Advanced "Exploration" Class)

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4.30pm: The Overturned Gancho/Sacada Odyssey (Advanced "Exploration" Class)

Video Courtesy of Luis Campos

This was an exploratory class that built on the first class.

We would work on two musical ideas:

Repeat the movement (i.e., doing double ganchos)

Change the speed (doing it really fast or really slow)

Communication is key.

We were to explore the mechanics of slow versus fast (slow can be more difficult) and repeating the movement. Here, the Leader has to lead the first gancho. The second gancho can be led by the Leader or stolen by the Follower.

Again, in the gancho it was reiterated that the Follower needs to really let her leg swing so that the Leader can know clearly where he needs to be. The Follower should not change height: she should stay tall whether she is short or tall. She should really go for the chicken thigh when she ganchos (don’t hold back or be timid about the gancho). In leading the double gancho, the movement is shorter, with a shorter movement in the Leader's torso.

NEW CONCEPT:

WHEREVER THERE IS A BACK SACADA (LEADER OR FOLLOWER), IT CAN ALSO BE A GANCHO (LEADER OR FOLLOWER).

Next, we worked on a very simple sequence of the Follower's back sacada.

The Leader's footwork: side step left, right foot forward, to pivot 90 degrees into a left foot side step continuing in the line of previous the right foot forward step.

Here, Follower does a right foot back sacada of the Leader's trailing right foot on his left foot side step.

For the Leader, it is important that he continuously moves his torso so that the Follower does a 100% pivot/spiral with her legs/feet collected before stepping back in a back sacada.

Since the Follower needs to pivot so much (100%), she needs to wake up her ocho factory (her hips).

We worked on this concept by going from close embrace to open embrace, while waking up and firing up the Follower's ocho factory. For the Follower, there should be fire in her hips, but ice in her back/back ocho step as if there was an egg underneath her heel. She should transfer the weight nice and easy, as if letting the air out of a tire.

We began with close embrace no-pivot ochos, to close embrace pivoted ochos, to open embrace pivoted ochos, with the sacada from the open embrace back ocho transition.

Are exploratory phase of the class also included experimenting with leading Follower's gancho or Follower's back sacada using the footwork above. The difference in the two came from the spiral energy and the lead energy. For the back sacada, the rotation has to be continuous to finish before transferring the weight or stepping. Regarding the Leader's footwork, on the last step, if the Leader makes his left foot side step closer to the Follower, he leads a gancho. If his left foot side step is in line or slightly away from the Follower, it is a sacada.

The secret for the Leader helping the Follower get more out of her ocho factory (hip momentum and foot pivot), is that he attacks the floor with his foot to tap into the Follower's spiral energy to get her to pivot more dynamically. Here, she will feel more connection and energy. This is called impulse leading (or impulse ochos). The Leader should not and cannot force the Follower to do more pivoting.

To work on getting more pivot and spiral, the Follower can work on her ochos at home against the wall. In partnership, she can do forward ochos and back ochos in open hand in hand embrace with no leader and follower role, twisting her upper body and make the disassociation more extreme so that she can coax 100% spiral.

After the class review, Maestros demo'd the material.

Nocturne Milonga @ Dancesport, with premilonga lesson taught by Homer & Cristina Ladas.

Video Courtesy of Luis Campos

Our lesson focused on primarily fun and something you could do at the milonga that night. We would work on the fundamental concepts. Our music for the evening was Canaro.

First, Maestros showed us a pattern to see how we would deal with it. It is a nice tango surprise that can be done in close embrace.

In close embrace, rock step of Leader’s left foot forward (Follower’s right step back), to his right foot cross behind, to catch the Follower’s right foot forward outside step with his left foot front cross foot to the right side of his right foot.

So the Leader steps left foot forward into her, his right foot crosses behind, the weight goes to his right foot, he pivots on his right foot, the left foot is the trap foot that stretches a little across the front of his right foot to catch her right foot, (he can pivot a little to catch her more easily) to left foot exit, collect and go out.

For the Follower, her right foot goes back without weight during the rock step. As the Leader pivots, her right foot extends and reaches in a right foot front cross step to the outside of the close side of the embrace, reaching around the Leader with no weight on her foot so he can drag her foot to a side step, and then pivot. When she makes her right foot extension and reach it should be around the Leader, and it should be long and reaching, unweighted step.

To really test our leading with the chest ability, we did this simple sequence in Sugar Bowl Embrace, to get in touch with how the Leader uses his body to lead the turn. He needs to open up his hips/shoulders/chest. This embrace helps to develop the Leader’s body lead.

The Leader should also pay attention to his footwork, making it as pretty as possible with no sickling feet.

The Leader should not tilt, but keep things straight and horizontal as he rotates counterclockwise.

The fundamental technique behind the lead for this sequence is the turn (molinete).

We worked on matching the timing of this step to the QQS rhythm, and taking the Follower out on the next strong beat.

Maestros concluded with a demo to Canaro’s El Rey de Bosque

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

Tango Student: Class Notes and Clips