Colgadas (Advanced)

Song: Riverside by Agnes Obel
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://theorganictangoschool.org/
England International Tango Festival
May 23, 2015, Ardingly College, England

Because this was an advanced class, Maestros would not go over technique in detail because it was assumed we know them already.

Get into open promenade, to side colgada, into a wrap (counterweight). Be mindful of where you are in the line of dance, and be sure to finish in the line of dance going the correct direction.

To lead the Colgada, from the Promenade, the Leader’s steps right foot forward inside next to the Follower’s right foot as they are in Promenade, so that she gets on her right foot weight leg as the Leader sends her out in colgada.  She does a side colgada to the right in the direction of her hips, and her left foot steps over across her right foot.  As a consequence of the Leader counterweighting her, he can lead her back in to do a left leg wrap of the Leader’s right leg as he brings her back in.

The Line of Power is the direction of where the Follower’s hips are supposed to go.

The Leader puts his weight into his right leg as he sends the Follower out in the line of power, to bring the Follower back to the midline to get her leg to wrap.  Note that while the Follower does her leg wrap, she is still on her axis and her standing supporting weight is strong.

Leader does Captain Morgan stance at the time of the wrap.

The Follower’s leg is always active, using muscles to shape the ganchoing/wrapping leg.

Follower’s chest is up and she should not fall forward.

This first wrap we did was linear.  And we drilled this for a while, and then made it a bit harder by doing it on the opposite side.  In our drilling, we were to contain the movement and be in the Line of Dance while we drilled.

Notes on Height Change:

The Follower should not change the height when she goes out in colgada.  She should not go down, as it can either be a mistake that throws the Leader off balance, or a very advanced concept beyond the scope of this class.

Follower’s right foot standing knee is soft, but she just goes out, not sitting on her right hip or breaking at the waist when her hip goes out.  It’s her whole body.

Next, we tried this on the other side (Leader’s left foot to Follower’s left foot, and Follower’s left hip goes out in colgada, and she steps over/wraps with her right leg).

Next, we tried doing double wrap whereby the Follower wraps twice or even three times.  The Leader leads this by leading small shifts of weight, pulses in his upper body.

For our next exercise, we were to pause in the stability of the colgada, and pause in the wrap.  We were to see if the Follower is really on her axis at the time of the wrap.

Next, we explored the idea of the Follower’s rap being linear or circular and to play with the dynamics. 

In the circular wrap, the Leader has more rotation in his chest at the time of the wrap, and he sets up the circular wrap by stepping behind the Follower’s right foot (versus Linear where he is stepping inside next to the Follower’s foot).  He steps around the Follower by first doing a quick left foot collection, and then stepping behind the Follower with his right foot).  As with our previous colgada + linear wrap combination, the Leader counterweights the Follower’s colgada so he can lead a wrap afterwards.

For the Follower, she can “show him her back pocket” during her wrap. 

We also tried this on the hard side, with the Follower doing a rock step, to trap the Follower’s left foot to get her right leg to wrap around the Leader’s right leg as they face each other.

Chapter 3: Follower’s back step-over colgada. 

Leader needs to lead a wrap from it by stepping around the Follower’s colgada and her hips are out. The Follower’s leg is looking for the Leader’s.  The Follower’s right foot back cross step of the clockwise molinete/hiro/turn is where the Leader meets her with his forward left foot.  The Follower is not falling at the time of the wrap.  She is on axis.

Maestros concluded with a quiz and demo to Agnes Obel’s Riverside.

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