Phrasing Anyone?

Willingness Vs. Eagerness

What kind of partner do you want to be...What kind of partner do you want to share this experience with?

What is the difference between someone who is willing to go on a date with you and someone who is eager to go on a date with you?

Who would you hire a person willing to do a job or someone eager to join your team?

Who is going to learn to play the guitar faster, the eager student or the one willing to give it a try?

Enthusiasm makes all the difference!

Give Her a Chance to Shine

How is this done, you ask, Welll...

Slow Down... when the music calls for it, and sometimes when it doesn't.

What do I mean....

Instead of stepping on every beat or every other beat, take a full bar, maybe two, to make a step (a whole step would be from the time a foot has zero weight on it yet is still fully extended...as it approaches the other foot...as it brushes the weight bearing foot in passing...as it reaches the fully extended position with the ankle relaxed so that the the sole of the the foot is nearly parallel with the floor...as the heel touches the floor...as the weight slowly begins to transfer to the new foot...as the weight begins to roll forward to the new foot and roll off of the old foot...as the weight finally is completely over the new foot and the old foot is still fully extended yet bears no weight).

This will give her a chance to express herself musically, with adornments, foot taps, lapiizes, traspies, or give her the opportunity to make the same type of slow motion step that you are making if that's what she wants...

The point is give her a voice in the dance (more often than not she is a much better dancer than you are)

I consider it a compliment when a follower that hasn't been dancing much starts getting lots of tandas after we dance.

Dancing the Phrase

In my last post I put up a video in which the speaker demonstrated the development of a musician from the age of seven, at which the young player struggles to hit each note and Really accents each and every note of a classical piece. The speaker then goes on to further demonstrate the development of the musician and at each step the student's accents grow steadily further and further apart, with the end result being that he is able to play the entire piece with out hesitation. It is at this point, that the beauty of the composition shines through, and the emotions of the listener are stimulated quite dramatically.

I am correlating this to my own development as a Tango leader, sadly having only recently (within the last two years) being exposed to this idea, it has taken some time for me to fully express this idea through my dance.

The results are amazing!

In the beginning I stepped and led (often very badly) each beat of the music, stopping and hesitating, unable to feel the passion that was there in the music all the time.

Eventually I was able to dance an entire bar without accent.

Now, it is beginning to flow and I am often able to dance through an entire phrase, caring less about whether or not the follower does exactly what I have suggested, rather working together with her to let the music carry us into the passion.

This is About Tango as Much as it is About Music

You gotta watch this if you dance Tango, listen to or play music!

Embrace (Lets be Flexible!)

I dance with what I call a flexible embrace.

What I mean is, sometimes I'll start out in a close embrace and open up so that We can express something musical, or some times I'll go the other way in order to better feel the connection. Sometimes my embrace will go from a "square" embrace where our shoulders are parallel to a "vee" shape where body to body connection is only on the closed side or rolls across the chest to allow Ocho's or back sacadas, leg wraps, gancho's etc...

I always think of the embrace as being elastic, that is to say, it may open up or change shape temporarily, or even break for short periods (as is the case for soltadas)but will eventually return to the shape it started from. The connection always remains and is paramount.

All that being said, the contact with the hands is always kept light and leading with the hands or pressure of any kind is to be avoided. The lead should always come from the core for linear movement or weight changes, and the torso for circular movement, and more often than not I will do both at the same time (leading a circular gyro while moving along the line of dance), this requires taking a back, front, side, or crossing step along the line of dance(to lead a movement with La Rhonda) while at the same time using disassociation of my hips from my shoulders to lead a circular movement of the follower around my axis. Any pressure from the hands (enough to push the follower off of her own axis) will make the dance very uncomfortable for the woman I am dancing with, and that equals a poor lead.

Rigidity leads to blocking or pressure, flexibility allows your partner freedom to maintain their own axis and freedom for self expression. If you are pushing someone around with your hands or a firm grip how could they possibly be having any fun.

What Could be Sexier!

This post has to do with changing your style of dance to fit music, or the mood of the milonga that you happen to be dancing at to make the tango your own and the experience unique, mostly about bringing the tango connection home.

To illustrate what I am talking about I'm posting two different videos of a pair of my favorite dancers




This is my idea of tango which can be be danced in a milonga that somewhat, but not to crowded, when you have a partner who is fairly progressive and you both feel a little more adventurous and when you both want that real close physical connection, or when the music just screams "tradition". Of course a lot of the time I like to get even more conservative than this, even to the point of just walking, (with the right partner of course).