Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://theorganictangoschool.org/
Tucson Tango Festival
April 20, 2024
Concept: A Leg Wrap is also known as a Gancho. They can be circular (round) or sideways. The focus of our class with be Turning Wraps, where the Leader is the center of the turn.
We were to do a warm-up dance in open or close embrace, doing lots of turns and ochos, and include any ganchos or leg wraps we know.
Tango has an inherent shape.
Individual exercise to free our legs:
On our weighted left leg, rotate in our hip socket without pivoting. Really use the ball socket in our thigh. Arms were out, as if holding an imaginary fishbowl.
Level 1:
Our free leg goes out in a small floor front boleo
Level 2:
Our free leg wraps around our standing leg’s thigh
Level 3:
Our free leg wraps around and whacks the side of our butt as in a front boleo
In doing wraps, the Leader’s leg is like a chicken leg, with his thigh the meatiest part of the leg, which is where the follower should aim.
We worked on the Leader’s footwork technique to free his leg to be able to enter her step at the appropriate time. With the leader on one weighted leg, his other free leg goes out in a circle (lapice), while he rotates around his spine. So it is like a block turn with big rulo technique for him. We practiced this on both legs. The goal of this exercise is so that the Leader gets used to moving his free leg around while being very stable on his supporting, standing leg, which will be important since the target (Follower’s open side step after the forward step as she walks around him) will be moving, and he needs to be good with his timing.
When the Leader steps into the Follower during the leg wrap, his target will be the inside of the lead step of her foot, not her trailing foot. He should aim to step in during the side step after her forward step. The Leader does not try to touch the Follower’s foot. He is trying to touch the Follower’s thigh with his thigh as she is arriving on her lead leg, even before she lands, so it’s a little earlier. The Leader slides his leg in, articulating his leg and opening his hip. On these wraps, the Leader needs to be in just the right place, the sweet spot. If the Leader's step in is too deep, the Follower has the potential to knee herself (right heel to left knee). If the Leader’s step in is too shallow, Follower won't be able to have full range of motion in her wrap, wrapping at the wrong spot on the Leader's leg. Leader should be off his heel to maneuver more. This is a continuous motion of the turn/rotation for Leader as he moves around the Follower to get a smooth wrap effect as he remains on his axis.
After he steps in, but not too soon (he waits and holds back a little), the Leader then transfers his weight but keeps his upper body rotating to continuously lead the turn. It is a full turn lead, but his leg is in between hers, interrupting her back cross step, which causes the wrap, and then she concludes to complete her back cross step. The Follower should be like a tiger, and not hesitate on her exit.
The Leader cannot force the Follower to wrap her leg against his. It’s a move that is half led, have embellishment. If the Follower does not wrap, the Leader pulls his leg back.
From the clockwise turn, on the Follower side step after her front cross step, the Leader steps in with his right foot toward Follower's left foot, forcing her right leg to wrap his Captain Morgan right leg. The Leader’s step in is like a sacada, but toward the Follower’s lead (arriving) foot, not her trailing foot. For the Leader, a little bit of his weight is forward in his step in, and then more of the weight shifts forward as she moves around him as she wraps. Here also the Leader's thigh is open.
We practiced this wrap in the counterclockwise turn as well, with Leader's left foot step in toward the Follower's right foot on her side step, forcing her left leg to wrap around his left leg.
The easy side is the Leader’s right (close side of the embrace) (clockwise)
Leader’s Captain Morgan Leg Is Key
The Leader’s Captain Morgan stance with heel lifted off the ground:
- Gives his leg more flexibility.
- Gets his knee closer to her knee
- Creates space between his legs for her to wrap
In the wrap from the cross, at the point of the Captain Morgan stance (which in this case is with his leg forward instead of the off to the side), and where the Leader has to come in to meet the Follower half-way on her return after he has sent her out, both his feet are weighted. The weight is at the center, and the Leader is on axis. The Follower is also on axis during her wrap. His thigh opens as the Follower goes around, giving her room as she wraps his leg with hers. Because of the joint, her knee bends. “The thighs have eyes” so the Follower feels the invitation to wrap because of her thigh contact with the Leader’s thigh.
The non-Captain Morgan leg is the elevator leg, so the Leader can change the height of his leg to accommodate different height Followers and where they wrap on his leg.
Follower’s Technique during the Wrap
The Follower should try to always keep her foot on the floor, even when it goes forward. Only when she feels the obstacle of his leg should she wrap around the meaty, fleshy part of his thigh (so higher than his knee).
The Follower creates the shape of the wrap. The Leader leads it, but the way the Follower answers is all in her control.
Wraps can be challenging, not because of the entrance of the Leader, but because the Follower must remain stable and in balance after her wrap and prepare to make a long reaching back cross step. Follower is responsible for her own axis until she feels the Leader disturbs it.
Follower’s Exit after the Wrap: 2 Options
(1) regularly collect, or
(2) after wrapping the Leader's leg, and have her leg go up and caress the side of her standing leg as it goes back down to the floor as it returns.
Either way (Follower’s choice), the Follower should not anticipate the next step as it could be a back step or a back ocho.
There is a transition from open to close embrace at the point of the wrap (close) to when her leg goes back out to complete her interrupted back cross step (open).
In our class, due to time constraints, we ended up only doing turns leg wraps and no ocho leg wraps. However, Maestros did demonstrate an ocho wrap and a linear wrap. The ocho wraps have more energy with a strong invitation. The Leader leads the Follower to pivot and turn her hips to lead the Follower to wrap.
In the linear wrap, it was similar to the prior day’s figure: Leader opens the embrace to send the Follower straight back out a little in Colgada energy, freeing her right leg to go back out and away.
Leader closes the embrace to bring Follower back in toward him, as well as her right free leg, which wraps around his right leg.
Her right leg then goes back out to normal resolution.
We can also do double or triple wraps, which the Leader can lead by small, quick rotations (micromovements) in his spine, or the Follower can steal it like an embellishment if it is musically appropriate.
Maestros concluded with a video class summary and demo to Dancing With Your Ghost by Sasha Alex Sloan
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
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