Song: Milonga de Los Fortines by Orquesta Tipica Victor
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
March 28, 2011, The Beat, Berkeley, CA
We would explore the topic of Focused Energy and Intention in the context of doing open embrace style ochos, with the Leader doing side steps and the Follower doing reaching and touching steps.
REVIEW OF BASIC OCHO TECHNIQUE
We began our work on the basic technique to lead and follow ochos well.
For the Leader, in teakettle hold (coming back from New Orleans, some students renamed this the “sugar bowl”), with both hands at the small of his back and elbows out to the side and his chest up, his goal was to have symmetry in his spinal rotation, aiming for about 30-45 degree rotation on both sides, so that the Follower pivots. He should also time the beginning of leading her pivot, which should happen as she arrives to axis.
For the Follower, as the Leader leads the ocho with his torso rotation, the Follower amplifies the energy down to her hips (her ocho factory). The Follower’s standing, supporting leg is the pivoting one. The Follower needs to be on her axis or slightly away from the Leader while she does her ochos. She should engage horizontally, and not press down on the Leader. She should have an elastic embrace, holding on with both her hands, and having tone in both arms, but also be flexible and elastic, like pasta “al dente”. She should have good, reaching steps, and amplify the Leader’s energy in her ocho response from her hips.
The Leader takes long side steps as he leads the Follower to do either forward or back ochos. We drilled this for a while, doing it slowly.
CHAPTER 1: FOCUSED INTENTION
Next, we took our work beyond ochos to work on Focused Intention. The goal here was to physically manifest intention by using our energy and connection with the floor.
In teakettle (sugar bowl) hold, the Leader leads the Follower to do an ocho, and then a little touch step. For the Follower, her footwork is a forward front cross step, and then a side touch step, or a back cross step and a back step. For the Leader to lead these various Follower steps, he makes either front cross steps, back cross steps, or side steps simultaneously with his torso rotations to lead the Follower ochos. The steps were the structure in which we were to figure out how and where to lead and follow the touch step.
With respect to intention, the two things to focus on are:
(1) Leader leads Follower to pivot with him. He needs strong intention in his chest/torso rotation.
(2) Whether the weight transfer is complete or slight/partial/in the middle so that the Follower just touches the floor.
We drilled, with the idea of experimenting by changing the speed, just touching in place, going back and forth, or transferring the weight completely. We did this with the Leader in teakettle position so that we focused on using the floor, and the Follower listening to how the Leader uses the floor, while she also uses the floor. The Leader uses the floor by using his whole body and the connection to the floor, up through his hips, through his back and through his shoulders. The Follower has to copy what the Leader does. She has to mirror his movements.
The two philosophical things we were to think about:
(1) The Leader has to know what he wants before he leads it. Thus, he needs to plan ahead.
(2) The Leader has to be completely in the moment too (which is contradictory to philosophical point no. 1)
CHAPTER 2: ADDING THE EMBRACE
Add the embrace. The lead still has to come from the Leader’s body and his connection to the floor.
We went back to our original exercise, only we added the embrace (some Leaders chose to use the teapot embrace of left hand as spout and right hand at the small of his back as the handle to prevent the use of his right hand to influence her ochos and pivoting range of motion), with the Leader doing side steps, and the Follower doing forward ochos (so these are “with” ochos). The Leader was to employ the technique of leading the Follower to do touch steps or full transfers of weight.
The Leader should direct energy from the floor into his body, so that he uses his right arm/hand less to lead the Follower to do ochos. This way, he will be able to do more with his core/body rotation/disassociation.
We drilled this for a while.
Timing is the most important thing. The Leader needs to plan ahead, as his weight transfer should be a little ahead of the Follower’s. The Follower is always a little behind the Leader. The Leader puts his weight half way, and then retracts it for the touch step. We drilled this doing it slow, in double time, with ochos, and without ochos.
The Leader should keep his chest up, be symmetrical in his torso rotation, plan ahead, be in the moment, and phrase the movement to the music. The Follower’s touch step does not have pressure into the floor, but it is OK to bounce or rebound off the floor. The Leader can put pressure into the floor, but not put the weight into the floor to have fast and responsive intention without changing weight. The idea is to put pressure into the floor to bounce back quickly, all the while engaging with his whole body.
Maestros concluded with a short class quiz followed by a demo to Orquesta Tipica Victor’s Milonga de Los Fortines.
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
The Colgada/Volcada Connection with Mixed Music (adv)
Song: Querer from Cirque de Soleil’s Allegria
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 19-20, 2011, Stanford Workshops, California
EXERCISE TO IMPROVE TIMING AND FEELING OF OPPOSITION
We began with an exercise where the Leader tries to send the Follower away and then bring her back. It was an exercise in hanging out and pushing in. The Follower’s feet remain in the same spot while the Leader steps in and steps out. This exercise was for the Leader to figure out timing and feeling of opposition.
With respect to posture, have the hips under, send the Follower out, and do not bend the knees. We were to use our backs, and use our strong back muscles and our strong core muscles.
THE VOLCADA/COLGADA HYBRID: THE COLLAPSABLE VOLCADA
This is more a fake volcada, where the Leader inserts his right foot between the Follower’s feet, sends the Follower’s hips out in Colgada, and then brings her back in in the volcada, so her left foot swings out and in to front cross in front of her right foot. To execute this correctly, the Leader needs to know where the Follower’s axis is, and he needs to step into it to get the Follower to do the “out” action.
COLGADA INTO A WRAP
The Leader sends the Follower back in colgada, and then brings her in and around into a wrap of her left leg of his right leg. The shape feels like an ellipse or a backward D. Note that Follower is on axis at the point of the wrap. The Leader’s contact with his thigh to the Follower’s leg is the invitation to wrap.
Our exploration involved doing no volcada in this exercise, with a bare minimum of effort (the Homer wrap), or with maximum energy (the Cristina wrap). You can do either the minimum or maximum energy wrap depending on how you are feeling in the moment and what the music is saying.
But if you do, the energy should be opposite each other:
Big Colgada, Small Volcada, OR
Small Colgada, Big Volcada
The Leader can start the Colgada with leading a few Follower shimmies before sending her back in Colgada.
During the wrap, the Leader should not go too far away from the Follower’s axis.
FOLLOWER WRAP STYLING OPTIONS
For the Follower wrap, there are two styling options:
(1) Raise the knee up and then back down to collect.
(2) Keep the feet low on the floor and collect.
Either styling you choose, the Follower should always have control of what her leg is doing. The music will tell us how much time we have to exit, and which styling option might be more suitable/expressive of what is going on in the music.
EXPLORATION: COLGADA TO NO-PIVOT WRAP
The no-pivot wrap works because of the Colgada. The Leader sends the Follower out to the side and then brings her in to axis.
Leader catches the Follower’s middle of her right foot on her forward (front cross) step in the clockwise turn/hiro/molinete with his right foot so that both feet are parallel. As the Follower transfers weight to her right foot, the Leader shifts the weight to that same foot, sending her out to the side in Colgada. He then brings her back in to wrap with her opposite leg (her left leg across her body to wrap the Leader’s right leg). We tried this in open embrace. He stops her when she returns to axis.
The Follower’s forward (front cross) step should be around and close to the Leader, so when he puts his foot next to hers, he doesn’t need to go too far.
We also tried this type of no-pivot wrap from the promenade walk.
Then we drilled just exploring on our own doing wraps from different colgadas and volcadas.
After a short question and answer class review, Maestros did a demo dance to Cirque de Soleil’s Querer (from Allegria).
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 19-20, 2011, Stanford Workshops, California
EXERCISE TO IMPROVE TIMING AND FEELING OF OPPOSITION
We began with an exercise where the Leader tries to send the Follower away and then bring her back. It was an exercise in hanging out and pushing in. The Follower’s feet remain in the same spot while the Leader steps in and steps out. This exercise was for the Leader to figure out timing and feeling of opposition.
With respect to posture, have the hips under, send the Follower out, and do not bend the knees. We were to use our backs, and use our strong back muscles and our strong core muscles.
THE VOLCADA/COLGADA HYBRID: THE COLLAPSABLE VOLCADA
This is more a fake volcada, where the Leader inserts his right foot between the Follower’s feet, sends the Follower’s hips out in Colgada, and then brings her back in in the volcada, so her left foot swings out and in to front cross in front of her right foot. To execute this correctly, the Leader needs to know where the Follower’s axis is, and he needs to step into it to get the Follower to do the “out” action.
COLGADA INTO A WRAP
The Leader sends the Follower back in colgada, and then brings her in and around into a wrap of her left leg of his right leg. The shape feels like an ellipse or a backward D. Note that Follower is on axis at the point of the wrap. The Leader’s contact with his thigh to the Follower’s leg is the invitation to wrap.
Our exploration involved doing no volcada in this exercise, with a bare minimum of effort (the Homer wrap), or with maximum energy (the Cristina wrap). You can do either the minimum or maximum energy wrap depending on how you are feeling in the moment and what the music is saying.
But if you do, the energy should be opposite each other:
Big Colgada, Small Volcada, OR
Small Colgada, Big Volcada
The Leader can start the Colgada with leading a few Follower shimmies before sending her back in Colgada.
During the wrap, the Leader should not go too far away from the Follower’s axis.
FOLLOWER WRAP STYLING OPTIONS
For the Follower wrap, there are two styling options:
(1) Raise the knee up and then back down to collect.
(2) Keep the feet low on the floor and collect.
Either styling you choose, the Follower should always have control of what her leg is doing. The music will tell us how much time we have to exit, and which styling option might be more suitable/expressive of what is going on in the music.
EXPLORATION: COLGADA TO NO-PIVOT WRAP
The no-pivot wrap works because of the Colgada. The Leader sends the Follower out to the side and then brings her in to axis.
Leader catches the Follower’s middle of her right foot on her forward (front cross) step in the clockwise turn/hiro/molinete with his right foot so that both feet are parallel. As the Follower transfers weight to her right foot, the Leader shifts the weight to that same foot, sending her out to the side in Colgada. He then brings her back in to wrap with her opposite leg (her left leg across her body to wrap the Leader’s right leg). We tried this in open embrace. He stops her when she returns to axis.
The Follower’s forward (front cross) step should be around and close to the Leader, so when he puts his foot next to hers, he doesn’t need to go too far.
We also tried this type of no-pivot wrap from the promenade walk.
Then we drilled just exploring on our own doing wraps from different colgadas and volcadas.
After a short question and answer class review, Maestros did a demo dance to Cirque de Soleil’s Querer (from Allegria).
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
Melodic and Rhythmic Volcada Explorations with Enrique Rodriguez (int/adv)
Song: La Torcacita by Enrique Rodriguez
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 19-20, 2011, Stanford Workshops, California
We began with reviewing the Volcada setup we learned in yesterday’s class because we will use this to explore doing rhythmic and melodic volcadas.
REVIEW OF VOLCADA SETUP
Leader left foot rock step forward, right foot back cross perpendicular behind left foot, left foot power step, right foot forward step to drive Follower into the Cross.
Follower right foot back step, left foot weight change, right foot forward (front cross) step, left foot swoops around to front cross in front of right foot as Leader drives it back into the cross.
The Leader’s chest needs to be tilted toward the Follower at all times to provide support to the Follower. As soon as his body gives and he goes back, she will take it all in her back and doing the volcada will potentially be painful.
The Leader needs to turn clockwise toward the Follower more, and his right foot needs to come toward the Follower’s axis as he drives her left foot to front cross.
The Follower’s parachute in case something goes wrong in the volcada is her step.
EXPLORATION 1: DIFFERENT POTENTIAL ENDINGS
There are two different potential endings:
(1) Rock step out
(2) Suspended, split weight two-foot pivot to uncross out.
We drilled both types of potential endings with different partners.
EXPLORATION 2: RHYTHMIC VERSUS MELODIC VOLCADAS
The difference between doing volcadas rhythmically versus melodically is one strong beat, with the rhythmic volcada taking one beat, and the melodic volcada taking two beats.
We drilled doing volcadas rhythmically and melodically with different partners.
EXPLORATION 3: FOLLOWER FOOTWORK OPTIONS: BALLET OR SASSY
For Follower’s volcadaing leg (in this case the left leg), she has two choices with her footwork:
(1) Ballet: where tip of foot or big toe remains on the floor throughout the movement.
(2) Sassy: Where the heel remains on the floor throughout the movement, so that she is really flexing the foot and extending the back of the leg, while still keeping both hips level.
Either footwork technique the Follower chooses, she should do it maximally: Either really point or really flex the foot, but don’t do it half way or half-heartedly/wimpily.
We drilled doing the different types of footwork with different partners.
EXPLORATION 4: WRAP VOLCADA ENDING
An optional ending we worked on was concluding the volcada with a wrap:
(1) Plain with just Follower left leg wrapping Leader’s right leg.
(2) Dual wrap with both Leader and Follower wrapping each other (Leader’s right leg wrapping Follower’s wrapping left leg).
We drilled doing the different wraps with different partners.
EXPLORATION 5: WINDSHIELD WIPER (LINKED SEQUENTIAL ALTERNATING VOLCADAS)
Our next exploration involved the Windshield Wiper, or linked sequential volcadas, whereby the Follower does alternating volcadas with her left leg/foot and right leg/foot. The Leader leads this by stepping forward with his right foot, changes weight to his left, and then steps forward with his right foot, alternating going inside and outside partner to get her to cross with alternating feet. The Leader should not step narrowly toward Follower, not far away from her, so that he can drive nice tight crosses (not big sloppy ones). The Leader does not drop his left foot, and uses energy on both of his forward steps. The Leader should not change his posture much. The Leader should not pull back with his left hand.
We drilled doing the windshield wiper with different partners.
After a question and answer class review, Maestros did a demo dance to Rodriguez’s La Torcacita.
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 19-20, 2011, Stanford Workshops, California
We began with reviewing the Volcada setup we learned in yesterday’s class because we will use this to explore doing rhythmic and melodic volcadas.
REVIEW OF VOLCADA SETUP
Leader left foot rock step forward, right foot back cross perpendicular behind left foot, left foot power step, right foot forward step to drive Follower into the Cross.
Follower right foot back step, left foot weight change, right foot forward (front cross) step, left foot swoops around to front cross in front of right foot as Leader drives it back into the cross.
The Leader’s chest needs to be tilted toward the Follower at all times to provide support to the Follower. As soon as his body gives and he goes back, she will take it all in her back and doing the volcada will potentially be painful.
The Leader needs to turn clockwise toward the Follower more, and his right foot needs to come toward the Follower’s axis as he drives her left foot to front cross.
The Follower’s parachute in case something goes wrong in the volcada is her step.
EXPLORATION 1: DIFFERENT POTENTIAL ENDINGS
There are two different potential endings:
(1) Rock step out
(2) Suspended, split weight two-foot pivot to uncross out.
We drilled both types of potential endings with different partners.
EXPLORATION 2: RHYTHMIC VERSUS MELODIC VOLCADAS
The difference between doing volcadas rhythmically versus melodically is one strong beat, with the rhythmic volcada taking one beat, and the melodic volcada taking two beats.
We drilled doing volcadas rhythmically and melodically with different partners.
EXPLORATION 3: FOLLOWER FOOTWORK OPTIONS: BALLET OR SASSY
For Follower’s volcadaing leg (in this case the left leg), she has two choices with her footwork:
(1) Ballet: where tip of foot or big toe remains on the floor throughout the movement.
(2) Sassy: Where the heel remains on the floor throughout the movement, so that she is really flexing the foot and extending the back of the leg, while still keeping both hips level.
Either footwork technique the Follower chooses, she should do it maximally: Either really point or really flex the foot, but don’t do it half way or half-heartedly/wimpily.
We drilled doing the different types of footwork with different partners.
EXPLORATION 4: WRAP VOLCADA ENDING
An optional ending we worked on was concluding the volcada with a wrap:
(1) Plain with just Follower left leg wrapping Leader’s right leg.
(2) Dual wrap with both Leader and Follower wrapping each other (Leader’s right leg wrapping Follower’s wrapping left leg).
We drilled doing the different wraps with different partners.
EXPLORATION 5: WINDSHIELD WIPER (LINKED SEQUENTIAL ALTERNATING VOLCADAS)
Our next exploration involved the Windshield Wiper, or linked sequential volcadas, whereby the Follower does alternating volcadas with her left leg/foot and right leg/foot. The Leader leads this by stepping forward with his right foot, changes weight to his left, and then steps forward with his right foot, alternating going inside and outside partner to get her to cross with alternating feet. The Leader should not step narrowly toward Follower, not far away from her, so that he can drive nice tight crosses (not big sloppy ones). The Leader does not drop his left foot, and uses energy on both of his forward steps. The Leader should not change his posture much. The Leader should not pull back with his left hand.
We drilled doing the windshield wiper with different partners.
After a question and answer class review, Maestros did a demo dance to Rodriguez’s La Torcacita.
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
Stanford Workshop Performances
Song 1: Lo Que Vieron Tus Ojos by Francisco Lomuto
Song 2: Such Great Heights by Iron and Wine
Performers: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 19-20, 2011, Stanford Workshops, California
Song 2: Such Great Heights by Iron and Wine
Performers: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 19-20, 2011, Stanford Workshops, California
Functional vs. Aesthetic Colgada Explorations with Mixed Music
Song: Milonga Del Angel by Astor Piazzolla
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 19-20, 2011, Stanford Workshops, California
Note: Audio disabled due to song copyright but didactic demo can be seen at the end of this original clip.
Mixed Music Class, though we mostly worked with Piazzolla.
This class built on the first class. This was an exploration class, so the whole purpose was to have fun, building on what we learned in the first workshop on colgadas.
We began with one colgada.
Leader in teapot embrace with Leader doing Pac man footwork around. Then Leader places his left foot next to the Follower’s left foot back cross step of the counterclockwise turn/hiro/molinete, and he continues to turn her until she steps over in a right foot side step. Leader does not initiate and Follower does not automatically do any unled colgada out movement. Follower should, however, have a good long reach around on her side step.
We also tried this on the other side, with Leader right foot placed next to Follower’s right foot back cross step, to side step over with her left foot.
How does the Leader not get heeled? He slides in with his foot with a side approach, and gets near the ball of her foot, making contact with the front of her foot.
To this Follower step-over, we can add the Follower’s left foot sweep/drag of the Leader’s left foot, or a Follower right foot sweep/drag of the Leader’s right foot.
Next, we turned this into a fun pattern, whereby the Follower needs to employ good turn/hiro/molinete technique during her forward, side, back, side steps around the Leader. She needs to pivot and step well, and Leader needs to keep leading the turn well.
Choices:
In the teapot embrace, Leader can lead the Colgada at the point of the back cross stepover as the Leader changes his weight to his left foot. There is not a lot of Colgada out movement here, but just enough to keep each other balanced, then returning everything to center, to step out.
Explorations:
Leader can use either leg, left or right, or on any of her steps.
The Leader leads the Colgada with a weight change, with his foot next to her lead leg/foot, which is a general rule for Colgadas. If the Leader enters the trailing leg/foot, then this would be a sacada (not a colgada). Colgada movement relates to the lead leg (not the trailing leg).
How to use the colgada in a functional sense?
(1) As a quick turn to give a “whee” sensation like doing the hurricane colgada.
(2) On the Follower’s right foot back cross step, to left foot colgada into to do a left foot wrap of the Leader’s right foot as she is returned back to axis.
We drilled a lot of the second option, with the wrap, on the both sides, left and right. Since the class didn’t look very good doing the wrapping, we backed up our exploration a little and worked on just wrapping the Leaders legs, left or right, from the Follower’s cross. For the wrap, the Leader lifts his heel, and provides his thigh to enable it to be wrapped. At the moment of the wrap, the Follower wants to be, and should be, on axis. The Follower sensation of her wrapping leg is like a whip in a linear fashion. We also tried to do double or triple wraps, which are achieved by the Leader playing with the Follower axis.
We did a lot of drilling of each part in this class, trying as much as possible to relate to what we did earlier in the first workshop.
After a question and answer summary, Maestros concluded with a demo to Piazzolla’s Milonga Del Angel.
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 19-20, 2011, Stanford Workshops, California
Note: Audio disabled due to song copyright but didactic demo can be seen at the end of this original clip.
Mixed Music Class, though we mostly worked with Piazzolla.
This class built on the first class. This was an exploration class, so the whole purpose was to have fun, building on what we learned in the first workshop on colgadas.
We began with one colgada.
Leader in teapot embrace with Leader doing Pac man footwork around. Then Leader places his left foot next to the Follower’s left foot back cross step of the counterclockwise turn/hiro/molinete, and he continues to turn her until she steps over in a right foot side step. Leader does not initiate and Follower does not automatically do any unled colgada out movement. Follower should, however, have a good long reach around on her side step.
We also tried this on the other side, with Leader right foot placed next to Follower’s right foot back cross step, to side step over with her left foot.
How does the Leader not get heeled? He slides in with his foot with a side approach, and gets near the ball of her foot, making contact with the front of her foot.
To this Follower step-over, we can add the Follower’s left foot sweep/drag of the Leader’s left foot, or a Follower right foot sweep/drag of the Leader’s right foot.
Next, we turned this into a fun pattern, whereby the Follower needs to employ good turn/hiro/molinete technique during her forward, side, back, side steps around the Leader. She needs to pivot and step well, and Leader needs to keep leading the turn well.
Choices:
In the teapot embrace, Leader can lead the Colgada at the point of the back cross stepover as the Leader changes his weight to his left foot. There is not a lot of Colgada out movement here, but just enough to keep each other balanced, then returning everything to center, to step out.
Explorations:
Leader can use either leg, left or right, or on any of her steps.
The Leader leads the Colgada with a weight change, with his foot next to her lead leg/foot, which is a general rule for Colgadas. If the Leader enters the trailing leg/foot, then this would be a sacada (not a colgada). Colgada movement relates to the lead leg (not the trailing leg).
How to use the colgada in a functional sense?
(1) As a quick turn to give a “whee” sensation like doing the hurricane colgada.
(2) On the Follower’s right foot back cross step, to left foot colgada into to do a left foot wrap of the Leader’s right foot as she is returned back to axis.
We drilled a lot of the second option, with the wrap, on the both sides, left and right. Since the class didn’t look very good doing the wrapping, we backed up our exploration a little and worked on just wrapping the Leaders legs, left or right, from the Follower’s cross. For the wrap, the Leader lifts his heel, and provides his thigh to enable it to be wrapped. At the moment of the wrap, the Follower wants to be, and should be, on axis. The Follower sensation of her wrapping leg is like a whip in a linear fashion. We also tried to do double or triple wraps, which are achieved by the Leader playing with the Follower axis.
We did a lot of drilling of each part in this class, trying as much as possible to relate to what we did earlier in the first workshop.
After a question and answer summary, Maestros concluded with a demo to Piazzolla’s Milonga Del Angel.
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
Volcada Foundations with Miguel Calo
Song: Al Compas Del Corazon by Miguel Calo
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 19-20, 2011, Stanford Workshops, California
The goal of our class was to go through it entirely with no pain in our backs. So both Leader and Follower need to do their jobs.
“Volcada” comes from the Spanish verb “Volcar”, which means to tip over (like spilling something)
HUG EXERCISE
We began with hugging each other, in a nice way (not a bad way), with the leader attempting to find the sweet spot on the Follower where it feels best to be hugged. This sweet spot is at the Follower’s sternum level. We tried this with several different partners so that the Leaders could work on adjusting their hug to the each Follower’s sternum height.
HUG EXERCISE WITH LIFT
Next, to the hug, we added the Leader lift, whereby he scoops up the Follower.
Follower responses:
(1) Follower allows the lift.
(2) Follower opposes the lift by pushing down on her shoulder blades.
We tried this with several different partners so that the we could feel this and adjust our physical efforts with many different body shapes/weights/heights/musculature.
HUG EXERCISE WITH LEADER BACK AND FORWARD STEPS
Next, we added the Leader steps back and forward.
The Leader takes 2-3 steps back, and takes 2-3 steps forward.
The Follower should resist the lift by keeping her core and back strong, and not have her posture dissolve into banana posture and keep her belly button pushed back into her spine. She should fall like a tree.
Leader hugs Follower.
Leader changes weight to his left foot to get Follower weight on her right foot.
Leader compresses and lifts Follower.
Follower opposes the lift, keeping her posture strong and solid while she is on her standing, supporting right foot as Leader takes 2-3 steps back.
The Follower can create shape with her free, unweighted left foot. Leader steps forward 2-3 steps to release the Volcada, and they walk out to resolution.
The Leader has permission to support his partner. Both dancers need to be strong through their whole body. The Leader needs to engage his core and have a strong back too. Neither Leader nor Follower should come in with their bellies, otherwise they will hurt their back.
HUG EXERCISE WITH FOLLOWER HUG ONLY
Follower holds onto Leader’s chest only.
The Leader takes 2 steps backward, and then two steps forward. This exercise is for Leader to develop his connection to the Floor and for the Follower to keep herself upright but still oppose the lift. The Follower really needs to hold on and lift herself a little by keeping her shoulders and shoulder blades/lats back and down.
LEADING THE FOLLOWER TO FRONT CROSS
With no volcada in practice hold, the Leader tries to get the Follower’s left foot /leg to cross in front of her right foot. We got into this by the Leader doing a left foot rock step, right foot crosses behind perpendicular (like passing a soccer ball), left foot cheat step around, attacking the floor, which causes the Follower’s left foot to swing around and cross in front of her right foot as his right foot steps forward as he takes control and changes what would normally be the side step after her right foot forward (front cross) step of the clockwise turn/hiro/molinete.
For Follower’s Technique, she should keep her foot on the floor, caressing it with the big toe as her foot comes around to end in a cross. Her weight is distributed throughout her entire leg, and her leg starts from her rib cage going all the way down to her toes.
For the Leader, timing is key. He needs to lift and support the Follower and be powerful in his cheat step (the third step). The Leader has to lead the Follower’s cross.
The Leader’s cheat step needs to be with power. He gets this power by engaging his core as he torques his body clockwise.
THE VOLCADA IN OPEN AND CLOSE EMBRACE
Next, we added the open embrace, and also allowed falling/a little bit of lean.
Again, the Follower needs to push her self down to keep herself pulled up strong and solid in her posture.
The Leader’s cheat step is more around and away, which is what makes the Follower fall.
We drilled this for quite a while with many different partners.
The Leader’s forward step should be toward the Follower so that she crosses tight. If he steps forward but more away from the Follower, she will cross big and possibly sloppily.
Next, we added the close embrace. The Follower still compresses and pushes down to keep herself pulled up. The Leader needs to wait for the Follower to cross before walking out.
The class concluded with a question and answer session and Maestros’ demo to Calo’s Al Compas Del Corazon.
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 19-20, 2011, Stanford Workshops, California
The goal of our class was to go through it entirely with no pain in our backs. So both Leader and Follower need to do their jobs.
“Volcada” comes from the Spanish verb “Volcar”, which means to tip over (like spilling something)
HUG EXERCISE
We began with hugging each other, in a nice way (not a bad way), with the leader attempting to find the sweet spot on the Follower where it feels best to be hugged. This sweet spot is at the Follower’s sternum level. We tried this with several different partners so that the Leaders could work on adjusting their hug to the each Follower’s sternum height.
HUG EXERCISE WITH LIFT
Next, to the hug, we added the Leader lift, whereby he scoops up the Follower.
Follower responses:
(1) Follower allows the lift.
(2) Follower opposes the lift by pushing down on her shoulder blades.
We tried this with several different partners so that the we could feel this and adjust our physical efforts with many different body shapes/weights/heights/musculature.
HUG EXERCISE WITH LEADER BACK AND FORWARD STEPS
Next, we added the Leader steps back and forward.
The Leader takes 2-3 steps back, and takes 2-3 steps forward.
The Follower should resist the lift by keeping her core and back strong, and not have her posture dissolve into banana posture and keep her belly button pushed back into her spine. She should fall like a tree.
Leader hugs Follower.
Leader changes weight to his left foot to get Follower weight on her right foot.
Leader compresses and lifts Follower.
Follower opposes the lift, keeping her posture strong and solid while she is on her standing, supporting right foot as Leader takes 2-3 steps back.
The Follower can create shape with her free, unweighted left foot. Leader steps forward 2-3 steps to release the Volcada, and they walk out to resolution.
The Leader has permission to support his partner. Both dancers need to be strong through their whole body. The Leader needs to engage his core and have a strong back too. Neither Leader nor Follower should come in with their bellies, otherwise they will hurt their back.
HUG EXERCISE WITH FOLLOWER HUG ONLY
Follower holds onto Leader’s chest only.
The Leader takes 2 steps backward, and then two steps forward. This exercise is for Leader to develop his connection to the Floor and for the Follower to keep herself upright but still oppose the lift. The Follower really needs to hold on and lift herself a little by keeping her shoulders and shoulder blades/lats back and down.
LEADING THE FOLLOWER TO FRONT CROSS
With no volcada in practice hold, the Leader tries to get the Follower’s left foot /leg to cross in front of her right foot. We got into this by the Leader doing a left foot rock step, right foot crosses behind perpendicular (like passing a soccer ball), left foot cheat step around, attacking the floor, which causes the Follower’s left foot to swing around and cross in front of her right foot as his right foot steps forward as he takes control and changes what would normally be the side step after her right foot forward (front cross) step of the clockwise turn/hiro/molinete.
For Follower’s Technique, she should keep her foot on the floor, caressing it with the big toe as her foot comes around to end in a cross. Her weight is distributed throughout her entire leg, and her leg starts from her rib cage going all the way down to her toes.
For the Leader, timing is key. He needs to lift and support the Follower and be powerful in his cheat step (the third step). The Leader has to lead the Follower’s cross.
The Leader’s cheat step needs to be with power. He gets this power by engaging his core as he torques his body clockwise.
THE VOLCADA IN OPEN AND CLOSE EMBRACE
Next, we added the open embrace, and also allowed falling/a little bit of lean.
Again, the Follower needs to push her self down to keep herself pulled up strong and solid in her posture.
The Leader’s cheat step is more around and away, which is what makes the Follower fall.
We drilled this for quite a while with many different partners.
The Leader’s forward step should be toward the Follower so that she crosses tight. If he steps forward but more away from the Follower, she will cross big and possibly sloppily.
Next, we added the close embrace. The Follower still compresses and pushes down to keep herself pulled up. The Leader needs to wait for the Follower to cross before walking out.
The class concluded with a question and answer session and Maestros’ demo to Calo’s Al Compas Del Corazon.
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
Colgada Foundations with Carlos Di Sarli
Song: Cara Sucia by Carlos Di Sarli
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 19-20, 2011, Stanford Workshops, California
The Colgada can replace the turn/hiro/molinete in many places. It can be artistic and functional, and be the glue to help keep us together and balance us. In our class, we were to explore ideas and technique to create a more complicated movement.
We began the class with one dance doing all the colgadas we knew, so Maestros could asses were we were knowledgewise. Since in our one dance, no one did any colgadas, this was the perfect class for us all since it was a fundamentals class.
The word “colgada” comes from the Spanish verb “colgar”, which means “to hang”. One visual image is a truck going fast around a corner, almost tipping over, but hanging onto the road with two wheels.
TRUST GAME:
We began with the Trust Game, where we were split into groups of 5-6 people. Size and gender do not matter as there is no Leader or Follower. One person is put in the middle of the circle while everyone else stands around that person. The Center person closes their eyes and imagines they are a redwood tree swaying in the wind, and then falls in random direction. The Circumference people do not let the Center person fall more than a few inches. The Center person gives others his weight, but has a strong back and core. Everyone in the Circumference can help to keep the Center Tree person upright since it is falling in random directions, sometimes directly to a person, sometimes in between two people (and both people should try to set the Tree back in the upright position). Everyone in the group takes turns being the Center Tree person, as in Colgadas and Volcadas, there is a sense of controlled falling, and the person doing the falling has to be able to trust that they will be caught and not let go. The advanced level of this game (which we did not do), is for the Circumference people to use their bodies only (no arms) to set the Center Tree person upright.
EXERCISE: KNOCKING THE FOLLOWER OFF AXIS
The Leader walks into the Follower, knocking her body off axis, and allowing her to fall back into the Leader’s hands. He should enter with his right foot/leg. Follower’s feet remain in the same spot. There are three levels to this exercise:
(4) Follower and Leader catch each other.
(5) Leader catches Follower (Follower’s arms and hands do nothing, they do not hang onto or catch the Leader).
(6) 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 being knocked off axis and not go back to soon automatically with no initial contact from the Leader. Follower needs to be prepared to catch the Leader.
This is a physical exercise.
An advanced version is for the Leader to try knocking the Follower off axis from other places, such as from the side or from the back.
EXERCISE: HIP UNDER COLGADA POSTURE AND COUNTERBALACING EACH OTHER
Next, we refined the Hip Under Colgada Posture. We were not to plank back, or banana back.
In the Hip Under Colgada Posture:
Spine is straight.
Hips go back.
We were to engage our cores, and our hips were to be under our rib cages.
The Leader sandwiches (his feet are in a “V” shape) the Follower’s feet (which are in parallel).
Leader and Follower hang onto each other’s wrists, and then move their cores/centers back, counterbalancing each other, using the power of their back 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.
The Follower and Leader should not curl toward each other.
Shoulders should be back and down, chest up, belly back.
The Followers hips and back counterbalance the Leader’s hips and back.
We drilled this for a while, practicing with many different partners (tall, short, fat, thin), to work on being able to counterbalance all sorts of body shapes, weights, and muscle compositions.
STEP-OVER COLGADA
We used the Step-Over Colgada as a foundation, starting in the line of dance, and possibly in close embrace.
The Leader does a left foot rock step forward, pivots 90 degrees, to does a right foot hook back, to a Left foot cheat step, and then puts his weight on his right foot so the Follower can step over his unweighted left foot in colgada on her left foot forward (front cross) step of the first half of the counterclockwise turn/hiro/molinete, walking out to resolution.
The Follower’s left foot should step long and around the Leader during her counterclockwise turn/hiro/molinete, and Leader should try to keep this in the line of dance as much as possible.
STEP-OVER WITH NO COLGADA AND NO CHEAT STEP:
Leader does step over with no colgada, in teapot embrace (with his right hand the handle, his left hand the spout, and the spout being solid with no telescoping), with no cheat step. This is like a regular leader Parada, Follower Pasada.
Follower should have long and reaching steps. She should not fall into her steps. She should have a smooth transfer of weight (no kerplunking). Her embrace is elastic, always breathing, while it is important that the Leader keep his left hand and arm strong and solid like a teapot spout, with no telescoping.
Comments about Ears and Noses, and how Followers should use them.
EARS: Maestra recommended that Followers look at the Leader’s ears, because it lifts her chest and keeps her head back, as opposed to looking down at his chest, which might cause her head to tilt forward and close her chest.
NOSE: Maestro commented that the Follower should keep her nose the same distance from the Leaders nose at all points during her turn/hiro/molinete, and not have it tilt in or back, or change levels.
STEP-OVER COLGADA FROZEN AND SUSPENDED, WITH CHEAT STEP:
For this exercise, in teapot embrace, the Leader sends the Follower out in Colgada, and then freezes/suspends it as Follower is out in Colgada, and then the Leader does the cheat step. The Leader needs to learn how to suspend the Colgada and how to keep his center back to enable him to suspend the colgada.
Line of Power
The Line of Power is a very clear point, where the Follower’s hips are going. In this particular Colgada, it is more out to the side.
The Follower needs to use both hands, left and right, to hang onto the Leader. The Leader’s left arm must not telescope, because then she will have nothing to hold onto. It is important to breathe.
The Leader’s cheat step is where he takes a small right foot step around the Follower while his weight is quickly and momentarily on his left foot.
We drilled this for quite a while with many different partners to get an idea of how to do this with different body sizes.
STEP-OVER COLGADA WITH FULL EMBRACE, STARTING CLOSE
Next, we did this adding the full embrace, starting in close embrace.
The Leader releases his right arm for a period of time as the Follower goes over in Colgada. This is not a momentary release, but a sustained one as she goes around, typically taking two beats. The Colgada ends when the Follower steps. The Follower’s left leg is active in collecting as it is suspending in the air, and controlled as it steps around the Leader.
The class concluded with a question and answer review session and Maestros demonstrated the class concepts to DiSarli’s Cara Sucia.
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
Instructors: Homer & Cristina Ladas
http://www.freshlaundrytango.info
February 19-20, 2011, Stanford Workshops, California
The Colgada can replace the turn/hiro/molinete in many places. It can be artistic and functional, and be the glue to help keep us together and balance us. In our class, we were to explore ideas and technique to create a more complicated movement.
We began the class with one dance doing all the colgadas we knew, so Maestros could asses were we were knowledgewise. Since in our one dance, no one did any colgadas, this was the perfect class for us all since it was a fundamentals class.
The word “colgada” comes from the Spanish verb “colgar”, which means “to hang”. One visual image is a truck going fast around a corner, almost tipping over, but hanging onto the road with two wheels.
TRUST GAME:
We began with the Trust Game, where we were split into groups of 5-6 people. Size and gender do not matter as there is no Leader or Follower. One person is put in the middle of the circle while everyone else stands around that person. The Center person closes their eyes and imagines they are a redwood tree swaying in the wind, and then falls in random direction. The Circumference people do not let the Center person fall more than a few inches. The Center person gives others his weight, but has a strong back and core. Everyone in the Circumference can help to keep the Center Tree person upright since it is falling in random directions, sometimes directly to a person, sometimes in between two people (and both people should try to set the Tree back in the upright position). Everyone in the group takes turns being the Center Tree person, as in Colgadas and Volcadas, there is a sense of controlled falling, and the person doing the falling has to be able to trust that they will be caught and not let go. The advanced level of this game (which we did not do), is for the Circumference people to use their bodies only (no arms) to set the Center Tree person upright.
EXERCISE: KNOCKING THE FOLLOWER OFF AXIS
The Leader walks into the Follower, knocking her body off axis, and allowing her to fall back into the Leader’s hands. He should enter with his right foot/leg. Follower’s feet remain in the same spot. There are three levels to this exercise:
(4) Follower and Leader catch each other.
(5) Leader catches Follower (Follower’s arms and hands do nothing, they do not hang onto or catch the Leader).
(6) 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 being knocked off axis and not go back to soon automatically with no initial contact from the Leader. Follower needs to be prepared to catch the Leader.
This is a physical exercise.
An advanced version is for the Leader to try knocking the Follower off axis from other places, such as from the side or from the back.
EXERCISE: HIP UNDER COLGADA POSTURE AND COUNTERBALACING EACH OTHER
Next, we refined the Hip Under Colgada Posture. We were not to plank back, or banana back.
In the Hip Under Colgada Posture:
Spine is straight.
Hips go back.
We were to engage our cores, and our hips were to be under our rib cages.
The Leader sandwiches (his feet are in a “V” shape) the Follower’s feet (which are in parallel).
Leader and Follower hang onto each other’s wrists, and then move their cores/centers back, counterbalancing each other, using the power of their back 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.
The Follower and Leader should not curl toward each other.
Shoulders should be back and down, chest up, belly back.
The Followers hips and back counterbalance the Leader’s hips and back.
We drilled this for a while, practicing with many different partners (tall, short, fat, thin), to work on being able to counterbalance all sorts of body shapes, weights, and muscle compositions.
STEP-OVER COLGADA
We used the Step-Over Colgada as a foundation, starting in the line of dance, and possibly in close embrace.
The Leader does a left foot rock step forward, pivots 90 degrees, to does a right foot hook back, to a Left foot cheat step, and then puts his weight on his right foot so the Follower can step over his unweighted left foot in colgada on her left foot forward (front cross) step of the first half of the counterclockwise turn/hiro/molinete, walking out to resolution.
The Follower’s left foot should step long and around the Leader during her counterclockwise turn/hiro/molinete, and Leader should try to keep this in the line of dance as much as possible.
STEP-OVER WITH NO COLGADA AND NO CHEAT STEP:
Leader does step over with no colgada, in teapot embrace (with his right hand the handle, his left hand the spout, and the spout being solid with no telescoping), with no cheat step. This is like a regular leader Parada, Follower Pasada.
Follower should have long and reaching steps. She should not fall into her steps. She should have a smooth transfer of weight (no kerplunking). Her embrace is elastic, always breathing, while it is important that the Leader keep his left hand and arm strong and solid like a teapot spout, with no telescoping.
Comments about Ears and Noses, and how Followers should use them.
EARS: Maestra recommended that Followers look at the Leader’s ears, because it lifts her chest and keeps her head back, as opposed to looking down at his chest, which might cause her head to tilt forward and close her chest.
NOSE: Maestro commented that the Follower should keep her nose the same distance from the Leaders nose at all points during her turn/hiro/molinete, and not have it tilt in or back, or change levels.
STEP-OVER COLGADA FROZEN AND SUSPENDED, WITH CHEAT STEP:
For this exercise, in teapot embrace, the Leader sends the Follower out in Colgada, and then freezes/suspends it as Follower is out in Colgada, and then the Leader does the cheat step. The Leader needs to learn how to suspend the Colgada and how to keep his center back to enable him to suspend the colgada.
Line of Power
The Line of Power is a very clear point, where the Follower’s hips are going. In this particular Colgada, it is more out to the side.
The Follower needs to use both hands, left and right, to hang onto the Leader. The Leader’s left arm must not telescope, because then she will have nothing to hold onto. It is important to breathe.
The Leader’s cheat step is where he takes a small right foot step around the Follower while his weight is quickly and momentarily on his left foot.
We drilled this for quite a while with many different partners to get an idea of how to do this with different body sizes.
STEP-OVER COLGADA WITH FULL EMBRACE, STARTING CLOSE
Next, we did this adding the full embrace, starting in close embrace.
The Leader releases his right arm for a period of time as the Follower goes over in Colgada. This is not a momentary release, but a sustained one as she goes around, typically taking two beats. The Colgada ends when the Follower steps. The Follower’s left leg is active in collecting as it is suspending in the air, and controlled as it steps around the Leader.
The class concluded with a question and answer review session and Maestros demonstrated the class concepts to DiSarli’s Cara Sucia.
Notes courtesy of Anne at http://scoutingtour.blogspot.com
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