Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://theorganictangoschool.org/
England International Tango Festival
Tonbridge, Kent, United Kingdom
May 26-28, 2018
Leader’s Sacada.
Exercise for footwork:
Get on left foot. Push into the floor as you reach right foot
back, bring back to collection.
Do this on the right
foot as well.
Keep heel on the floor
as long as you can until it comes up a little. Then bring it back into
collection.
Exercise:
Leader steps right foot
forward, pivots, then steps backward with left foot. (So Leader goes in a line
in one direction.) Control the back
pivot so you don’t fall back. Squeeze
your inner thighs together.
Do it more dynamically
by stepping, then snapping the heels together at the pivot, and then reaching
in the back step.
The Pattern:
Begins with 4 steps
for the Leader:
(1)
side
step
(2)
steps
on balance beam
(3)
snap
heels together to pivot completely, staying on the balance beam, taking
Follower across it and then stepping back with his left foot to Sacada the
Follower
(4)
collecting
and waiting
Follower’s footwork:
Back step (she waits)
Side step (where
Leader does a sacada on his (3)
Collect
The Secrets:
Everything happens
between steps 2 and 3 for the Leader (the “Two And”), -- this is where the
magic happens.
The Leader’s embrace
opens. The Leader’s left arm closes and
keeps the Follower from moving, maintaining presence to communicate to the
Follower that she should stay, and his right arm detaches like a rocket so he is
really letting go so he allows his hip to get around. The Leader needs to dramatically communicate
to lead the Follower to wait. The Leader
should get the Follower to “Two And” and then freeze (smile, this is the Kodak
moment).
3.
Lead
the Follower across as the Leader does his sacada. The Follower’s left arm slides around the
Leader’s back so she enables closeness as the Leader does his sacada. In his sacada, the Leader can step diagonally
back in his sacada as a “cheat to win” because the hips rotate, so this is a
good thing to do for those who don’t rotate that much/well). Said another way,
he is doing an obvious back cross step (not just a back open step).
The Follower’s side
step should be nice, long and reaching, with a strong base leg. The Leader leading the side step is from his
left side giving pull/ turn energy. Do not push the Follower with his right
hand.
Second Secret:
There is a little bit
of colgada posture, so the Leader’s angle is a little tilted away to create
space for him to do a sacada.
Secrets:
(1)
Leader’s
right arm opens, left closes and stops.
(2)
Leader’s
heels snap 70% of the way
(3)
Leader
can pivot a little after to get around more
(4)
Leader
can “cheat to win” by stepping diagonally (do back cross step instead of back
open step) when he sacadas
(5)
Leader
can lean a bit away / tilt the axis
Special case:
What if we did it to
the other side?
The Open side has to
be dropped or you can do a judo hold around the Leader’s back. The Leader’s close side of the embrace needs
to change too, sliding down and opening up, so both dancers are now holding on
hand to forearm to allow room for the movement.
The Follower receives the sacada with her feet on the floor.
“Deep Sacadas”
Follower can lift her
knee up and go back down in collection. When she receives the sacada, she
should do so gracefully.
If both sides of the
embrace open up, the Follower may stay put (not move). So timing is important
in transmitting a clear message.
Next, we did a
sequential Leader Sacada directly into a Follower Sacada, drilling on the easy
side and then on the hard side. We
became infinite back sacada machines.
Doing 2 in a row will generally keep you in the line of dance. After 2, it’s a good test of your precision
to try to keep everything straight in the line of dance.
The Follower’s back
sacada involves a big back ocho pivot.
The Leader does a left
foot back sacada and then directly leads a Follower’s back sacada as she is
still on her right leg and sacadas with her left foot.
Secrets:
(1)
Leader
creates space with the embrace so the Follower can remain on axis as she
rotates. Ochos are based on the
Follower’s axis, so Leader should give her as much freedom to complete her
rotation on 1 leg fully and completely.
(2)
Follower’s
sacada requires more space, so Leader should step slightly away, tangent to the
Follower so she can do a big pivot and make her back step easier. Follower should snap together to pivot and
get around better/cleaner.
Maestros concluded
with a class quiz/summary and demo to El
Abrojo by Carlos DiSarli
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
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