Improvers Course, Week 4

26th October 2009

(Week 1 Notes | Week 2 Notes | Week 3 Notes | Week 4 Notes)

Introduction

Revision

We went over last week's topics

  • Musical interpretation
  • Decorations / adornments ("adornos") - hook steps and enrosques

Key points:

  • The aim of musical interpretation is to move to the music. Simple as that.
  • Decorations should not impact the flow of the dance, but should enhance it.

How to improve

Exercise - role reversal

We swapped roles - leaders became followers and vice versa - and danced for a couple of tracks.

Classes - group and privates

I briefly outlined some of the pros and cons of different ways to learn.

Large group (drop-in) Small group (course) Private classes
Good for sequences and patterns
Good to experience dance with different people
Good for convenience - you can pop in 		Good for mixing technique and sequence
Good for progression and comparisons
Good for structured learning 		Good for technique
Good for individual attention
Good for answering questions
Bad for technique
Bad for individual attention
Bad for progression 		Bad for casual attendees
Bad for mixing with lots of other dancers
Bad if you want to switch classes 		Bad for variety
Can get a subjective viewpoint
Needs more organisation

Key points:

  • Each method has pluses and minuses - work out what works for you.
  • A lot of the time it depends on what you want to achieve.
  • But you do need to work it out for yourself...

Practicing

Practice is what links classes and social dancing

  • Self practice
  • Couple practice
  • Practicas
  • Research

Social dancing

Never never never use social dancing to practice.

However, dancing socially will develop your skills; just let it happen naturally.

Key points

  • You need to find the right mix of practice, classes and social dancing that works for you.
  • But you should probably try all three in different degrees.

Workshop

We reviewed a few areas which people had encountered problems with:

  • Dissociation: we did a twisting exercise, hugging the gym balls to our chests to ensure we twisted the whole upper body rather than just the arms.
  • Ganchos (the key is all in the twist)
  • Sandwiches
  • Ocho cortado

Soltadas

Soltadas = breaking the embrace. Not to be confused with sultanas.

Example - ocho turn

Turn from an ocho. We mainly focussed on this from a forwards ocho to the leader's right - but as always there are 4 variations possible.

The move breaks down as follows:

  1. Lady forward step onto right with raised arm
    The leader leads the lady to take a forward step onto her right foot (we learnt from the context of an ocho, but it could be a normal forward step) whilst doing a sidestep to parallel. As the follower steps forward, the man raises his left arm above her head. The man also stops the lady from collecting - so her weight is transferred to her forward foot, but her feet are still separated.
    Note: The lady should not turn at this point; it's just an arm raise.

  2. Lady does a swivel turn
    Now we lead the turn - a 180-degree anti-clockwise swivel, keeping the lady's weight on her back (right) foot. Her feet do not move position, they just swivel.
    To lead this, the men let go with their right arms, and draw their left arms around the lady, gently pulling her around.
    Note 1: The lady should disassociate her body, so that the energy of the arm lead is transmitted first to the upper body, and the lower body then just comes along after a delay.
    Note 2: The ladies must not anticipate the turn or try to "help it".

  3. Lady steps forwards onto left
    The lady then simply steps forward onto her left foot - actually, in practice, this is more like a slide forwards, as her left foot is still touching the floor.

From here, there are a couple of options. You can either transfer to a basket hold and walk a few steps, or you can turn that ending forward step into the start of an ocho, and gather as normal into a tango embrace.

Key points:

  • These are largely led by the hand, so for the duration of those moves only, the follower has to use some tension in the hand - and then lose that tension when back in hold.
  • But leaders don't just hold their hands in the air and expect followers to twirl around them - it simply doesn't work like that. Lead with the body still.
  • Don't overuse this sort of move. If the music's right, do it - but don't just throw it in.

More

Review of topics

Brief review of the course:

  • Week 1: Social dancing and Sandwiches
  • Week 2: Close embrace and ocho cortado
  • Week 3: Musicality and decorations
  • Week 4: Improvement and soltadas

James Bond will return...

January / Feb: Tango Foundations Course

I'll run a six-week "Tango Foundations" course in the new year from the middle of January until the end of February. This will cover technique and moves, and should be suitable for beginners and improvers.

If you're interested, please let me know.

Related articles

- David Bailey, 26th October 2009