February 4-10

Saturday, February 6, 2010
There are some days when you know you just shouldn’t go dancing, but you go ahead and do it anyway. :::sigh::: Saturday was such a day. I had turned my left ankle earlier in the day. It was quick, sharp turn, but I didn’t hear any tearing. So after getting home ASAP, I took some arnica and iced it, then compressed it, and then rested it (though I didn’t elevate it). Feeling no pain, I decided to go to the Late Shift.

The Late Shift Milonga with lesson beforehand by David and Mariana. The lesson began with some basic footwork, pivoting and balance exercises. Then since there were many beginners in the class, everyone – men and women - worked on forward ochos. After that, we did a simple sequence of the 8CB to 5 (cross), into two forward ochos. From here, we turned the second ocho into a regular Follower’s forward volcada of her left leg, as her right leg is the stable, strong, supporting leg. I was surprised that maestros decided to teach this concept to a class with so many beginners in it, but it seemed to go over OK well enough. The lesson itself was not that heavily attended, and like I said, had many beginners.

The milonga started out a bit slow with a few more leaders than Followers. It filled up as the night progressed, but still had more leaders than followers (which made for a great time for the followers, but perhaps not such a great time for the leaders). I got to dance with one leader who I hadn’t danced with in at least a year (not because we hadn’t seen each other at milongas, but because I just fell off his radar screen). We danced three tandas (but no two in a row). He will likely become one of my favorite vals dancers since he definitely gives his partner a feeling of flying, gliding, and spinning during valses. Up to this point, I was having a fun time.

11:30 p.m. rolled around, and I started to bonk. Then I had a tanda where a follower stepped directly back onto the top my left foot, nearly piercing it with her stiletto. I pulled my foot back quickly in pain, only to kick my right foot inner anklebone with my left stiletto. :::sigh::: I hung up my dancing shoes for the evening after that, as I was just in too much pain to dance, with a couple of large, purple and pink bruises and broken skin on my left foot and right ankle. Like I said, there are just some days where you get all these signs (in my case turning my ankle earlier in the day), and you push ahead anyway only to get injured even more.

After that, I sat for a while, happy to talk to some tanguero friends. A bunch of people came from CCSF as the after party to the semester milonga that same night.

Christy Cote and George Garcia did an impromptu performance of milonga that was quite fun. Since there were so many maestros at this milonga, I was thinking out loud to my buddy that it would have been nice for all of them to get up and a do a performance together like they do at festivals with all-maestros dances of tango, vals, and milonga. It would give our local maestros another platform to show off their expertise and perhaps pick up some more students (group and private) in the meantime (and what local teacher wouldn’t want that?). This could especially be done on a night when it was the usual local teachers/organizers David and Mariana teaching (instead of a guest teacher couple, who would usually do a performance).

Sunday, February 7, 2010
Outdoor Tango at Land’s End. It had been several years since I had been to Land’s End, and I could remember when it was just a gravel lot. Things have changed drastically for the better since then. The parking lot is now tiered and paved with spaces clearly marked, and there are port-o-potties (bring your own hand sanitizer!). The milonga takes place at the foot of the Land’s End trailhead at the far western part of the parking lot, just above the old Sutro Baths. The portable rolled linoleum floor, about 10 feet by 30 feet, is laid on top of the granite / cement tile floor. Being an outdoor milonga on a Sunday afternoon means that dresswise anything goes, though it behooves dancers to wear layers and definitely bring a jacket, sunscreen, sunglasses, and water / snacks if they are planning on staying the whole time. People are OK with wearing hats, though that means you will be dancing in open embrace. Personally, I would leave my stilettos and Sunday best at home, but that’s just me; I am sure there are lots of folks in the tango community who like to really dress up, anywhere, anyway, anyplace, anyhow and they are certainly welcome to. It is a beautiful spot above the beach and surf, surrounded by professionally maintained landscaping, though it can get very windy and chilly toward the end of the day as the sun goes down. On this particular Superbowl Sunday, there were only a few dancers. Still, I had a good time since I had a chance to dance a lot with the host, Maestro Ivan Shvartz. One of his other students was there, so we had time to play around experimenting (such as with Maestro leading the two of us at the same time, or all three of us dancing together). Many non-tango people in the area to hike or sightsee stopped to watch us and applaud, making it a good place for those who want to get their performance or practice groove on, or if they want to experiment being a DJ as attendees are encouraged to bring their own ipod/mp3s/tandas. It was a bit chilly on this day; I am sure it is a lovely place to go in the Fall or on an unseasonably warm Summer day. Afterwards, tangueros can grab a drink at the Cliff House or Beach Chalet. Public transitwise, the 38 Geary - Point Lobos gets you reasonably close. It’s a free parking lot, but can get crowded on popular sunny days. Still, there is street parking nearby or more free at the lot further down at Ocean beach (a 5-minute walk away).

January 14 - February 3

Saturday, January 30, 2010

The Late Shift Milonga with lesson beforehand by Chelsea Eng and Luis Carpi (of Dallas). I like to support Maestra’s teaching gigs outside of CCSF, and I was curious as to who this “Luis” was since there was no elucidation on tangomango.org. I got there late for the lesson, so missed the beginning. Luis seemed familiar, but I could not place him. The figure they taught included a Follower clockwise molinete of back, side, forward from the promenade position with a Leader’s right leg pivot, and left leg is extended back. This Leader’s left leg back trailing extension is a result of the torsion in his upper body. From here, we can link this figure twice to the same promenade to Follower’s clockwise molinete to a Follower forward step to the outside of the Leader on the close side, then into a side step that pivots a lot on the Follower’s left leg, into a promenade. The point of this figure was to add dynamics and energy with the promenade, instead of making it a regular molinete or two linked molinetes. During class as Luis made his rounds, he remembered me from Fandango de Tango in Austin. Though the step was relatively simple, we had a chance to really drill and work on the finer points of technique, and hopefully apply these foundational building blocks to our overall tango development. It was an excellent lesson (Maestra was fantastic as always).



Luis was in San Francisco just for a visit, as his curiosity about our tango reputation got the better of him. He would also like to visit Portland at some point. As a teacher, Luis shows great promise and potential. During class, he was very concerned that he answered/clarified an important point about Leader’s technique and the wherefores and whys of the lead, and paid individual attention to the specific leader student who had a particular question, making sure he had answered the question sufficiently. I got a chance to speak with him later after the lesson, and got a few salient points about his development: his main teachers/influences are the fantastic George and Jairelbhi Furlong http://www.evolutiontango.com/ and Phyllis Williams (translator at Fandango for Nito y Elba) http://www.la-vida-es-una-milonga.com/index.html, all excellent Dallas teachers.



The milonga was fun, with dancer quality quite high, and though it was crowded, floor craft the best I’ve ever experienced (I never thought I’d ever write that!). Maestra’s and Luis’s performance was excellent-- very fun, very musical, very technically precise. I danced more than I had in a long time (and freely and joyfully), but bonked around midnight. Thankfully, Mariana put out some pinwheel/mini aram sandwiches that really hit the spot and kept me going for another 90 minutes. I also discovered the water fountain, which I had heard about but had never actually seen (after going here for years). What an eye-opener. There will be no more complaints from me about running out of water, though I will continue to bring my own water bottle. (Bargain tip of the week: Cost Plus has wide-mouth stainless steel water bottles in really nifty colors for a whopping $5). It was a really pleasant, fun night.



Sunday, January 31, 2010

Café Cocomo Milonga with lesson beforehand by Chelsea Eng and Luis Carpi. The Beginning lesson focused on Follower forward ochos with Leader matching her steps. She should reach with her toe, and the Leader should receive her step, but also determine how far the Follower goes. Follower should match Leader’s energy. They also added the Leader parada after the Follower’s pivot, to Follower pasada. I found the instruction very clear from both Maestra and Luis. Maestra made the distinction of the practica versus milonga, versus class, where we are always working toward the ideal. In the Intermediate lesson, Maestra and Luis taught the Leader back sacada of his left foot to Follower’s right foot from her left foot back ocho / back cross step to the open side of the embrace. The Leader rotates counter clockwise, then takes one back step, and then can do another Leader sacada. The Follower receives the sacada with her right leg, as her left leg is the supporting, standing one. To receive the sacada well, it is important that the Leader have enough room to do it. Here, the Follower needs to give him enough space by taking a big back cross step with her left leg so that it gives the Leader enough room. Her left leg also needs to be strong and stable, and her body upright on axis and balanced (it should not tilt or lean back). Her body needs to have strong abs, and soft supporting knees, with feet spread against the floor. The Leader’s right hand needs to be loose to let the Follower take a generous back cross step. The receipt of the sacada can be read off the floor, keeping it close to the body, and then down the left side of her left leg, in an out, up, in, down, forward sweeping movement. The Follower’s left leg is the standing, supporting leg, and its stability and strength are important with respect to how her right leg reads the receipt of the sacada. The Leader’s right arm should not be tense at the point of his back sacada. It needs to be relaxed so there is a change of embrace. The Follower’s left hand slides down the Leader’s arm toward his right elbow or mid arm at the point of his back sacada. After this Leader’s back sacada, the Leader grounds into the floor, lowering to be more grounded, then he steps back with his left leg while Follower simultaneously steps forward with her right leg. By grounding at this point, the Leader maintains the Follower’s weight in the split middle position, and he walks around her continuing with the back step he already took, to a side step, forward step, to a side step in a counterclockwise molinete, the next forward step of which turns into a parada of his left leg after the Follower pivots and the rest of her body comes around as a result of the torsion in her upper body as she maintains connection with the Leader’s chest as he goes around her in his molinete. Then we played with linking these moves, with the Follower pasada with her right leg over the Leader’s left foot, to pivot, then to do a back cross step with her left foot, into the Leader’s left leg back sacada of her right foot. For the Leader, he does a small step to the side to do a weight chance, then pivots, and then does his back sacada. The Follower can do a right foot boleo at the point of the parada/pasada if the energy is there and led by the Leader or with momentum. One beginner female student asked about the potential adornos that can be done during this figure. Maestra answered that our goal was in the beauty of the movement itself (my read: precision, fluidity, and grace, not tricking or blinging it out). Luis commented that this sequence required a lot of contra body movement, and included lots of dynamics to generate body fluidity. If we can master these concepts, other steps in tango become easier. It was an excellent lesson.


The milonga itself was OK. Unfortunately, Mimi was not there to keep us fueled for the evening, and I made the mistake of having an early dinner. So I found myself distracted by the lack of food more substantial than pretzels, veggie snaks, and cheese puffs. My bad. The dancing was good though; I had a very nice time. It wasn’t super crowded, but there were many reasonably or very skilled dancers, so I had a good time. Maestra’s and Luis’s performance was great.



SO WHAT AM I EXCITED ABOUT THESE DAYS?
Brigitta Winkler!!!
The Superbowl (GO Saints!!!)

Why I haven't been dancing as much

I was surprised when I first read in Gustavo Benzecry Saba’s book “Embracing Tango” that “Milongas are big centers for people with emotional conflicts…” Normally, I do not get involved in other people’s drama (I am not a gossip, and quite frankly, I am just really not interested in other people’s *stuff*). But recently, this particular concept has been unveiled to me in abundant clarity. It make me not want to be around the entire tango community as much.

December 31, 2009 - January 13, 2010

December 31, 2009-January 3, 2010

San Diego Tango Festival at the Kona Kai Hotel.



In a word, overall, for me, this festival lacked… and I will not be returning.



Homer and Cristina were great, as always. I went to their Pitter Patter workshop, and their workshop on Floorcrafting, both on Thursday, December 31, 2009. My notes on the Pitter Patter workshop are as follows:


Homer and Cristina Ladas workshop on “His and Her Pitter-Patter: Various techniques for playful interactions between leader and follower"

This workshop was for advanced dancers, but catered to everyone. The class would progressively become more complex.

Pitter-Patters are rhythmic syncopations, playful movements with the feet. First we focused on Leader’s Pitter-Patters and then Follower’s Pitter-Patters.

The music we used for the entire workshop was from Pedro Laurenz:
Amurado (tango)
De Puro Gaupo (tango)
Milonga Compadre (milonga)
Corazon de Artista (vals)

CHAPTER ONE: LEADER SNEAKY SANDWICH OF FOLLOWER’S FOOT

In our first exercise, we were to do a dance in open or close embrace. Leader would then throw in a surprise Pitter-Patter:

His first Pitter-Patter is a sneaky sandwich of the Follower’s right foot. The Pitter-Patter is the focus. The idea is to sandwich with Follower’s right foot, by quickly stepping next to it with his left foot, and then enclosing it in a sandwich with his right foot. Leader should keep his thighs together and try not to change height, and to accent the rhythm/melody of the music. The Leader starts the Pitter-Patter when the Follower’s right foot goes back, and when there is good synchronicity of movement. Though he is doing his Pitter-Patter, he must also still keep leading her to walk back. Don’t change the height; there is nothing going on in the Leader’s chest that encourages the Follower to do anything but walk back normally.

Key takeaways:
(1) The focus is on capturing the Follower’s foot.
(2) Lead her on the strong beat.
Doing this sneaky sandwich Pitter-Patter is more difficult in close embrace because there is no visual cue.

Next Exercise:
Try to capture the Follower’s left foot. Here, the Leader must tune in to how the Follower is moving and transferring weight. Follower needs to be on the music so that the catch is meaningful and accents the music.

Next Exercise:
We attempted to do this sneaky sandwich Pitter-Patter on double and double-double time during the bandoneon in one of Laurenz’s songs.

Truth: Not everyone likes to Pitter-Patter.

From this Truth, we discussed the concepts of minimalism and maximalism in tango, and extreme legato and extreme staccato movements. Bottom line: Take what you can.

CHAPTER TWO: LEADER’S SNAKE WALK

Here, the Leader snakes between the Follower’s legs as she walks back. This can be done in open embrace (which is easier) or close embrace (trickier). Leader needs to close his thighs so he can sneak in there. This snake walk is done in parallel system.

The Leader must isolate his feet, doing double time during the snake walk, while the Follower steps in single time. Here, the Leader’s hips move independently of his upper body. His chest is straight ahead, which is what makes the Follower walk back, straight and linear.

PART 2: GETTING INTO AND OUT OF THE SNAKE WALK
Leader does double time once in a while to get into and out of the snake walk. For example, he would be in it for two counts, and then out for two counts. He can get out of it with a Leader’s left foot back cross step behind his right foot, then take two steps, and get out of it again with a right foot back cross step behind his left foot.

We started this on the Leader’s left foot on the open side of the embrace. This switches from parallel to cross system with the Leader’s back cross steps of his left foot behind his right foot, and of his right foot behind his left foot. The walk is in cross system and the snake is in parallel system. It is important to not let the top of the body get too far ahead.

Next, with everyone side by side in circle formation, we did an exercise of moving forward to get to the center of the room using a series of back cross steps, trying to the be most elegant and poised, lifting our heels, and not worrying about being fast.

Next, again in circle formation, we did an exercise of moving backwards to get to the outer perimeter of the room using front cross steps, again trying to be the most elegant and poised, not just fast.

NEXT STEP (i.e., homework)
Once we’ve mastered Chapter 1 (sneaky sandwich) and Chapter 2 (snake walk), we need to be random and free with the movement as it’s a bit chaotic and the movements can work on top of each other.

CHAPTER 3: FOLLOWER’S BUTTERFLY STEPS
We got to promenade (Americana) of Follower’s left side to Leader’s right side. The Follower’s Pitter-Patter is a butterfly step: short, small, quick, and light. For the Follower, there is no need to match the Leader’s walking. Thus, her Pitter-Patter can be done in parallel or cross system. The Leader can turn it into a circle (not just having them walk straight). Follower needs to be in tune and on time with the music. We did this to a Laurenz’s “Milonga Compadre”.

The Follower needs to be on the balls of her feet, with bend/flex in the knees. The steps are small and quick, and she needs to keep her thighs together. The goal is to envision her steps as if she’s a butterfly, and thus not make any accenting noises (stomping) with her feet. In our class work, the Leader needed to be on milonga timing of the strong beat so that the Follower has to do her butterfly Pitter-Patter steps within the strong beats and be on the beats. The Follower can snake the Pitter-Patter around the Leader.

CHAPTER 4: LEADER AND FOLLOWER CAN PITTER-PATTER TOGETHER
There are two ways to lead the Pitter-Patter: psychologically and with physical assist.
(1) Psychological:
The Leader can’t lead the Follower to do double-double time. But he can start to do a Pitter-Patter during the promenade (Americana) and the Follower will follow it and match it with her same Pitter-Patter movements because she knows it’s coming. She might not get it the first time he does it, but she will likely get it the second or third time.

(2) Physical:
The Leader slightly lifts the Follower with his whole body, not just his arms, which is an extra physical lead to suggest a Pitter-Patter movement.


A didactic demo at this workshop was not filmed, but other YouTube videos illustrating this topic can be found at:

Snake Walk & Pitter-Patter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGdQoBEHlIE

Syncopated Pitter-Patter, Snake Walk, & Sustained Volcada
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8LzGqvvMe0

Rhythmic Pitter-Patter in the milonga (lots of Follower’s Pitter-Patter in this video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5j9hVhv_wU

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James Fridgen and Christa Rodriguez were good. I wished Christa had a stronger, louder voice to balance out the teaching aspects of their workshops. Which is surprising, since their united voice as teachers advocates that Followers have a stronger voice in shaping the tango dance with their leaders. I went to their Single Axis Turn workshop, and they had some very good exercises to strengthen our feet, ankles, and calves, and improve our balance. I also went to their Milonguero Groove workshop, which focused on the ocho cortado and doing it to the music. Though this topic sounds very mundane, the class was extremely challenging in that we spent a lot of time working on the lead and follow with no arms, only the Leader’s body lead. Thus, we had to be crystal clear with our weight changes, and neither could compensate/cheat with arms. Maestros had a very interesting opinion on videos. In short, they do not like them to be taken. Instead, they want their students to really focus and pay attention in class, and be physically and consciously engaged. Basically, they want their students to “Focus on it like you will never be in this class again.”



Fabienne Bongard is a very lovely person, but definitely played second fiddle in the workshops she co-taught with Brigitta Winkler. I took Fabienne’s workshop that she co-taught with Brigitta on Subtle Ochos and other Friends, where we first worked a little bit on ochos, and then they taught a sequence with the corresponding mantra “I will go wherever you go, wherever you go.”



Brigitta Winkler, as always, was fantastic. I took both of her teacher training seminars on January 2 and January 3. Not because I want to be a teacher, but because I was curious as to what the new / next generation of teachers is being taught.



In the first teacher training seminar, Maestra discussed the belief systems underlying teaching methodologies:



(1) I am an expert and you know nothing.

(2) I am an expert and you know something.

(3) We both are experts and we both know everything.



Then she proceeded to split the class into those three groups with underlying belief system, and to teach the forward ocho based on those belief systems.



I chose the first group, “I am an expert and you know nothing.” This group was the smallest, even though I thought it would be the easiest to do this exercise with since that seems to be the belief system from which we get most of our instruction.



There were two other people in my group, one of whom is a male teacher (and excellent dancer), and the other….well, I am not sure where or if she actually teaches (but you can bet I will never take a lesson from her because it was clear at the milonga that she was not a particularly good dancer – she had very wide open, uncontrolled, unfluid, imprecise legs).



These other two “teachers” in my group had the opinion that when teaching forward ochos, the Leader basically leads and tells the class what he is doing, and the Follower follows. “But wait!!” I said. I couldn’t believe that the woman, the Follower teacher, did not say a word. But clearly in this group, my opinion was the minority. Both other “teachers” in my group DID NOT believe the woman teacher should say anything about Follower’s technique since it wasn’t a Follower’s Technique class. Needless to say, I was flabbergasted. At that rather heated moment, when the male teacher suggested that I was “extremely opinionated”, Brigitta came up and asked how it was going. We gave her the run down. She said that since I had the differing opinion on how the follower’s part of the forward ocho should be taught, I should role play the teacher roll and teach the class as if both students were Followers. So I did, and both of my “students” seem to like and approve of my teaching.



Then it came time to teach the entire class. Since I was outranked, I played the role of Follower teacher, but in the way that they originally thought it should be, that is, with the Leader teacher being very strong and vocal, and the Follower teacher being relatively silent and just following the leader’s lead and not saying much about what she was doing. I really had to bite my tongue, because my own personal urge was to describe in excruciating detail every movement I was doing in the forward ocho.



Then it was the next group’s turn, who showed us that “They were the experts and we know something.” That group was OK, but again, it was dominated by one teacher (the woman, surprisingly), with very little said by her teaching companion (I don’t even know who he was). Then the third group went, where “we are all experts”, and they instructed us to do a forward ocho at every point of the eight count basic. I thought that was a pretty good way to teach with that underlying belief system, but I don’t think both teachers said an equal amount. Then again, since it was the students’ turn to figure it all out for themselves, not much instruction was required.



Needless to say, it was an extremely interesting class, albeit uncomfortable and disturbing at times, in my non-teacher opinion. Maestra concluded with passing out a handout showing what learners retain – which noted that What they read is very low, only 10%, What they hear 20%, What they see 30%, What they see and hear 50%, What they say 70%, and What they say and do 90%.



The next day at the Part II of the teacher training seminar, the first thing we did was get into Study Circle (group therapy?) formation and share with a partner what happened yesterday at the prior workshop. Needless to say, I gave my partner an earful. He was very thoughtful and wise, and gave me some good feedback on his opinion on why things shook down the way they did. And then the kicker is we all shared with the group, what our partners said. So my partner, who had a very good memory, repeated pretty much what I had said to the entire group. The male teacher in my group from yesterday was there, and he did not meet my eye. The female teacher from my group yesterday was not at this workshop (even though it was strongly emphasized that the attendees of the first workshop also go to the second). When the male teacher’s turn came around (toward the end), he shared that his recall partner commented that the teaching from the “I know everything and you know nothing group” was not very instructive, and that she didn’t learn anything from it.



The next part of the seminar we came up with words and ideas as to how we would teach if we came from the belief system of “we are all experts and we all know everything.” This touched on the type of words we would use, and the type of feelings/behaviors we would want to inspire in our students and have them actively engaged – physically and verbally -- in the learning process. Our goal was to get to the higher percentage of the “What Learners Retain” chart, utilizing the learners doing, hearing, saying, and seeing all at once. Some phrases we came up with: “I believe you can.” “Enjoy being in the moment.” “ What else?” “What do you want?” “Do with me.” “Illustrate the…” “ Let them show.” “Let them speak.” “Describe…” “Do” “Have questions rather than answers.” “Why are you here?”



Then we got together into three groups, and physically organized and addressed the groups in any way we saw fit as its teacher. Then each teaching couple in the group was to teach the forward ocho, based on the underlying belief of “If we tell them, they will fall asleep. If we make them do, they will build.” It was pretty interesting to see the vastly different teaching styles in every group.



We concluded the class with our own little graduation ceremony, which I thought was really cute.



The whole Study Circle / sharing and discussing with our partner is, I believe, a hallmark of the Brigitta Winkler teaching style, whereby we can feel comfortable that “we all know a lot and are experts” and can share what we know with each other so that we as are comfortable sharing in such a democratic environment and respectfully learn together as a group. This was a very fun class, and Maestra is very excited that she will be co-teaching a teachers festival in 2011 in Hawaii with Tomas Howlin. And just for the record, the brilliant Brigitta Winkler is in favor of note taking during class. :o)



The San Diego Tango Festival milongas were OK. The conditions were quite crowded with a high proportion of tables (arranged in classroom formation) to dance floor space, which ensured tight conditions, even though it didn’t have to be that way. Fortunately, there were two workshops on floor crafting, which served to keep everyone a little more in line. There weren’t too many flying stilettos, and the ones that occurred came from beginners (who thought they were advanced) or those obviously in dire need of attention.



The personal highlight for me was when Laura Tate showed up on Saturday night. Toward the end of the night, I got up the nerve to go over to her and personally thank her for the strong influence she had over my dance development. I explained that though I only took two lessons from her, and pre-milonga beginner and intermediate ones at that, she gave me, in one sentence, one extremely important nugget that completely changed how I danced up to that point, and really took things to the next level. I told her what that nugget was, and she smiled. She is a really classy person, super nice and approachable. I am sure she is also a fantastic wordsmith. :o)



It was great fun seeing the truly musically gifted, amazing Meng Wang live and in person. I really wanted to ask him to dance, but being pretena, that wouldn’t have been very proper. He had plenty of admirers and local friends there, so he certainly did not lack potential partners (many of whom were superlative dancers).



So why was the festival lacking for me? I don’t know. Maybe I am tainted by Austin (Fandango ROCKS!!). It wasn’t as well organized (with a huge backlog of people on the first day). Since this festival was advertised as for intermediate and advanced dancers, many people at the workshops did not switch, and dare I say thought they were much better than they actually were. The seating at the milongas (classroom table setup) did not make for a friendly, social cabaceoing environment. The hotel, while nice, is way the heck out there, and the hotel restaurant food was not the greatest. Upon checking into the hotel, we were handed a sheet that politely requested that “no outside food or beverages be brought into the ballrooms at any time—during workshops or milongas” – meaning no water bottles with electrolyte powder, no yogurt/bananas/cliff bars and the like, which was incongruent with my athletic sensibility of having continuous nutritious fuel for my brain and body to get through the day. Though I found the policy annoying, I complied with it. There was also an imbalance at the milongas of more Followers, and since I do not ask leaders to dance, I sat out a fair bit.



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TETE



It was with great sadness that I learned last week that Tete Rusconi died. I had a chance to take several workshops (not enough!) with Tete y Silvia during CITA 2008, and also when they came to the SF Bay Area in August 2008 (organized by Dorcas). Actually, I had the supreme honor of accompanying them on the drive down to their workshops in Mountain View from San Francisco, and have dinner with them and Omar Vega afterwards (you can read about my experience in the blog from that time). I found them all to be extremely lovely, kind, fun people. There are no words I can say or write to express the tremendous loss to the worldwide tango community. Tete is a tango legend, a tango icon. I can still hear him admonish us in class, “Con la musica! La musica!”



During CITA 2008, I was extremely touched that he acknowledged me as I was leaving and he was entering one of the CITA night social milongas (he had way more energy than I did, despite being 30+ years older), and astounded that Silvia greeted me so warmly at the night they had the CITA milonga with performances by the milongueros at Confiteria Ideal. They made me feel special, recognized, even though I was just one of their hundreds of students at CITA 2008, and thousands of students worldwide.



Tete is in a class all by himself.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCqBW9wv3RE&feature=related

December 24-31

Friday, December 25, 2009
Marcelo Solis's milonga at the Lafayette Dance Center. No lesson on this night, it was just all milonga. This milonga occurred because Maestro's regular students asked for it, and he graciously complied. This was my first time here. It was easy to get to and there is ample parking. The facility is a storefront dance studio (dance floor is 20 x 50 feet perhaps?), with a small seating area at the front desk, which got quite cluttered with shoes and coats. The floor is rolled linoleum (not linoleum square tile), with two seams and some sticky spots, over something quite hard, not sprung. Needless to say, dancing on such a texture was a bit physically demanding (at least to my fifth decade bones) and pivotally challenging (no matter how hard I tried to channel Luciana Valle). However, it also slowed us down a little bit, and we all looked a lot more elegant and musical because of it; floorcraft was the best I have ever experienced at any milonga in the SF Bay Area. Many of the attendees were Maestro's regular students, and the rest were tango die hards, some of whom came from as far as Sacramento just for the event! Thought it wasn't a very large crowd, the skill level was good, and the gender balanced. It was an extremely friendly crowd, and everyone respected the milonga codigos of leaving the dance floor during the cortina and not dancing or standing through it, and not dancing more than one tanda at a time with anyone (including the couples who came together). So everyone got to dance with everyone else, including Maestro, which made for a very social, welcoming, inclusive environment. The food was ample as several of the regulars made it a potluck event, and snacky in nature (trail mix, baby satsumas, grapes, gourmet chocolate, baklava, veggie stix, home baked cookies). Several people also brought wine and champagne to supplement the water (from an excellent, large, sturdy, non-leaking water cooler) and apple juice. All in all, it was a very fun, excellent night.

Saturday, December 26, 2009
Late Shift Milonga at Cheryl Burke Dance. I didn't make it for the lesson, taught by David and Mariana, but was told it was on side volcadas (linked). The milonga was lightly attended, likely because of the competing milongas (the very popular All-Nighter at the Beat, and Gustavo & Jesica's Sausalito Milonga) and the holiday weekend. Still, like yesterday, I had a good time. Skill level was good, gender was reasonably balanced, though skewed on the Leader side. I got to dance with several local maestros, so that was a nerve-wracking surprise, but definitely a treat. Floorcraft was pretty good and generally not an issue, though oddly we did get bunched up on the dance floor at times. Pretty much every follower danced the entire time, with only a few rotating leaders and the spectator non-dancers sitting things out. It was a very pleasant evening.

Sunday, December 27, 2009
Muscality class with Glenn Corteza at Bollyhood Cafe. I decided to pop in to the Musicality class and skip the first fundamentals class since I am keeping an eye on the budget. The class on this day was follower-heavy, and since followers also had to lead as well as follow, I decided to sit the class out. Also, the Musicality part of the class never started, it just continued with fundamentals, with a focus on the cross system walk and ochos. Maestro had some good commentary on Follower's technique, with specifics on how the Follower's (erroneous) technique can knock a leader off balance, or how she can be better balanced by having good technique. One of the best things Maestro said that all that we learn about technique, we should use and apply it immediately in our dance, since these nuggets are like food. We do not go shopping and buy food to put in the fridge for six weeks and take it out six weeks later to cook and eat. We use it right away. That's the way tango technique nuggets should be, used and applied right away (not six weeks later). Maestro didn't charge me at all for the lesson since I sat it out and didn't physically participate in it, and hence I won't convey the detailed specifics of what he taught. The facility has a nice wood floor, though it is a space where it is two rooms made into one, and where the two rooms meet, there is a threshold in the floor where the structural support beams are, which made for some challenging spatial awareness/footwork issues. The Bollyhood Cafe is a beer and wine place, though they also serve Soju-based cocktails ($7). The bartender was super nice, and after he realized he made my Soju Margarita wrong (he added cranberry, so turned it into a Soju Margarita Cosmo), he offered to make me another, gratis, the way it should have been made. I thanked him but declined since I wanted to dance. I also ordered the Chicken Sandwich, and I was favorably impressed by the down-home spin using gourmet ingredients. My chicken sandwich came with real chopped chicken meat on whole wheat bread, with avocado, capers, and cucumber, with a side of baby lettuce, all lightly dressed, for a bargain $6. Parking is not super easy, so allow for some time to hunt for a street spot, which on Sundays are free and without time limits. It was a very relaxing way to while away a Sunday afternoon, and a fun place to go if you need to get more mileage on the milonga dance floor or want to work things out at the practica. The practica is guided with Maestro going around and helping students improve whatever they are working on.

Monday, December 28, 2009
Orange Practica at the Beat with lesson beforehand by Homer and Cristina Ladas on "Why We Love D'Arienzo"

This is an intuitive movement class, as well as a class where we explore phrasing and rhythm, and how they are connected, focusing on the music of D'Arienzo.

Exercise 1:
We were to dance using only:
(1) weight change movement
(2) rock steps
(3) walking
as the building blocks for class. We were not to use any ochos or molinetes (turns).

Exercise 2:
The song for the exercise was Pensalo Bien.
The class was divided into two groups: (A) and (B).
Large phrase = paragraph.
During the first paragraph of the song, the first group (A), was to move around by themselves, using only (1) weight changes, (2) rock steps, or (3) walking.
During the second paragraph of the song, the second group (B), was to move around by themselves, using only (1) weight changes, (2) rock steps, or (3) walking.
During the next paragraph, group (A) would move around by themselves.
During the next paragraph, group (B) would move around by themselves.
The song Pensalo Bien was chosen because it has good structure and tight phrasing, as is typical with D'Arienzo, and on an overall paragraph level, he tells a good story.

Exercise 3:
The song for this exercise was also Pensalo Bien.
In the same group divisions, (A) and (B), each group would dance just the sentences.
Here, the point was not to count the beats. The goal was to intuitively feel where the sentence begins and ends.

Exercise 4:
Continuing our work with Pensalo Bien, we worked on microphrasing. Here, we broke up the sentence structure even further. Leaders would use one tool (weight change, rock steps, walking) for the whole sentence, working with the strong beat. That is, he would lead 1 sentence of walking only, 1 sentence of weight changes only, and 1 sentence of rock steps only. We attempted to dance this only on single time during the whole song, and noticed that for some moves, such as the rock step, it was very difficult to do in single time. The natural inclination is to do the rock step in double time. However, if we do it in single time, it enables us to pivot more.

Exercise 5:
Subdividing the Rhythm:
(1) Minimalism
(2) Maximalism

The idea behind Maximalism is to throw everything in there, and do it on the beat, including all the beats, if possible.
The idea behind Minimalism is to be restrained and let some beats go by without stepping on them.

To help us understand this difference, we danced to Pensalo Bien doing double time in most of our steps.

Exercise 6:
The song for this exercise was El Flete.
The class was divided into three groups: (A), (B), and (C).
During the first paragraph of the song, the first group (A), was to move around by themselves, using only (1) weight changes, (2) rock step, or (3) walking.
During the second paragraph of the song, the second group (B), was to move around by themselves, using only (1) weight changes, (2) rock step, or (3) walking.
During the third paragraph, the third group (C), was to move around by themselves, using only (1) weight changes, (2) rock step, or (3) walking.
During the next paragraph, group (A) would move around by themselves, etc.
For this song, it was noted that at the end, sometimes the sections overlap, so groups (A) and (C) could both be moving at the same time.

The Variacion:
A discussion followed on the "Variacion", which is the crazy part of the song at the end where typically the bandoneons do their solo in double time or double-double time or double-double-double time -- "almost" 1/16 time. Here is where the concept of Minimalism can be applied in our dancing, where the dancers can do something the exact opposite of what the music is doing. For example in this case during the variacion, the dancers can step emphasizing only the strong beat or step on every other beat, as opposed to Maximalism, where they would try to step on every beat during the variacion, in "almost" 1/16 time.

Chaos Factor:
A discussion followed on the Chaos Factor, where we could dance in single time, and throw in a double time when you feel like it, and it will likely work if you are dancing to D'Arienzo. This is because there is always the double time undertone of "chaka chaka chaka" in D'Arienzo's songs. That is why he is called "El Rey del Compas" -- the King of Rhythm. The train is always rolling underneath.

Switching from Single Time to Double Time
The question came up of how can/do Leaders prepare to switch from single to double time.
The answer was that they need to prepare a step before the switch actually occurs.
Sometimes they can lift, and take shorter steps, especially for double-double-double time ("almost" 1/16 time).
There is a very distinctive change of flavor, change of embrace to have more elasticity or breathing.
It helps if the Leader stays on the same flavor for a little bit (at least two steps) before changing.
It can be like a calm before the storm, with a pause or slowing down to build up, then an accelerating, then a stop, then a pause.
It also helps if the Leader knows the song well. The same goes for the Follower.

Exercise 7:
We were to dance the last song with no restrictions, but make clean phrasing. So we could do ochos, ganchos, boleos, etc., or keep the same movement if we choose.

Maestros concluded with a demo to D'Arienzo's Pensalo Bien, which can be seen at www.tangostudent.blogspot.com.

The lesson and practica both were very crowded; skill level was good to excellent. Overall, it was a fun night.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Lesson at Cheryl Burke Dance taught by Pier Voulkos and Daniel Peters on Barridas and Colgadas. I dropped in on the last class of a four-week class on Barridas and Colgadas. The sequence taught was from the molinete, where the Leader does a right foot barrida of Follower's right foot. Then he lets her out in colgada, and she steps over with her left foot counterclockwise. For the Colgada technique of the Leader, he needs to let the Follower out with his right arm; it is fully extended, his arm is straight but his wrist is bent and still provides support and connection with the Follower. The Follower's right arm should be straight also. The Leader needs to invade the Follower's space forward so that she has reason to go back in colgada. Follower should also not make the Leader pull her back in onto vertical axis. She should come back to axis naturally as a consequence of the circular impulse of the colgada coming to completion. Next sequence was a Leader right leg barrida of Follower's right leg, to reverse sweep of Follower's right leg barrida to Leader's right leg, back to another sweep of Leader's right leg to Follower's right leg. This was done with weight changes. Next, we did the 8CB to 5 (cross) to Follower right foot forward cross step clockwise, to Leader's right foot stop, to Leader's right foot barrida of Follower's right foot. Next, he could turn his right foot, and the bring her around clockwise to sandwich his right foot to Colgada around in a shared axis turn. Note that there is a Leader change of embrace where his fingers go from pointing toward 9 o'clock to 11 o'clock. The Follower steps out of this colgada shared axis turn with her left foot forward (Leader right step back). Notice that any colgada shared axis turn can be done on any forward cross / forward ocho step. We backed up a little so Leader's and Follower's could work on the colgada feeling/body technique with Leader stepping forward with his left leg and letting the Follower out in colgada, and then stepping back with his same left leg and then bringing Follower back to axis. Then we went onto link things in a Leader right leg barrida of Follower's right leg, to her colgada stepover of her left leg to a forward ocho to a right leg sandwich to a colgada shared axis turn. Then the class reviewed a colgada learned last week of Follower reverse barrida to Follower colgada. Overall, I thought the lesson was pretty good. It was held in the ballroom above World Gym, which can be a bit stuffy, and which has a peculiar tasting water fountain, so I would strongly recommend bringing your own water bottle. That said, it was still fun to dance with some of the leaders that I haven't danced with in over a year (why aren't y'all at milongas???!)

Scouting tour continues in the next few days from the San Diego Tango Festival.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! BE SAFE!!!

(AND THANK GOD 2009 IS OVER!!!!)

December 3-23

Thursday, December 3, 2009
Verdi Club Milonga with lesson beforehand by Santiago Croce and Amy Lincoln. The topic was "old fashioned sequences from the 50's." The sequence taught was a simple one, the most important aspect of which was the Follower falling back cross. Basically, she falls into the back cross, it is not a pretty, technical movement. The lesson and milonga were very crowded, so floorcaft was challenging at times. Still, it was nice to see so many people at the farewell party.


Saturday, December 5, 2009
Santiago Croce and Amy Lincoln advanced lesson for partners at La Pista. This was a small lesson with only four couples, and we did not rotate. Maestros began with first asking each individual what aspect we wanted to work on (Leader's planeo, colgada, volcada, etc.), and they created a sequence that included all of these elements. Then we worked on these elements, really delving into the finer points. The most challenging aspect was for the Leader's enrosque/planeo, there is a point where he is at the mercy of the Follower to keep going with her counterclockwise molinete. Here, she must have tone in her right shoulder and not have it collapse, otherwise he will not get the energy he needs from her to maintain his axis on his stable, standing leg while his leg is out in a planeo. She cannot also wait for him to lead her around in the molinete while he is doing his planeo. The sequence also included a small colgada and small volcada. It is maestro's opinion that we all need to learn how to dance small, as they believe tango is returning to more milonguero style moves (as opposed to fantasia/performance/nuevo) since the milongas in general are getting more crowded and there is less room to dance big showy moves like huge volcadas.

Mat MaMoody and Shasha lesson at the Allegro. We began with a very quick review of some fundamentals (ochos, 8CB). Some interesting performance moves were taught, such as the Follower right leg raise to the outside of the Leader's left hip. He can step back to keep her hooked on for a more dramatic flourish. We also worked on Follower back boleos. Since this is a performance class, Shasha taught the boleo as a leg up all-the-way around boleo, not returning back down to the floor until after she finishes her pivot on the other side (as opposed to the more social dancing type boleo where it is up and back down, as close to the dancing couple as possible, before the pivot, to avoid kicking the other dancers). It was a fun lesson, as usual.


Wednesday, December 9, 2009
CCSF classes with Chelsea Eng. In Follower's Technique we began with a reading from the "On Following" section from Sally Potter's book "The Tango Lesson." Then we reviewed our floor, barre, and connection exercises. In Advanced, since it was review night, we worked on volcadas, which is what we began the semester with. I think we improved since then, and I found it helpful to hear again all the technical/physical aspects of following the volcada.


Wednesday, December 16, 2009
CELLSpace milonga with lesson beforehand by Homer and Cristina Ladas "Linear and Circular Impulsive Movements"

Our goal for the lesson was to work developing communication with our partners, focusing on the energy in communication to lead the Follower's leg to make certain shapes, linear or circular.

Exercise 1: Follower Small Circles
Done in open or close embrace, the Leader communicates a Follower small circle. The Leader leads the circle of the Follower's left or right leg, and he guides the direction of the circle, clockwise or counterclockwise. This exercise requires that dancers are able to do small circles by themselves. For Follower's technique, there are two different articulations of her feet on the floor: (1) the toe making the circle, or (2) the heel making the circle. The circle should be made from the hip bone and using the whole leg (not just below the knee). The freeness of the free circling leg depends on the stability of the standing leg. For Leader's technique, it is important that he pays attention to how he puts the Follower on one leg before starting to lead the circle so that he does not knock her off axis. The Leader communicates with the center of his body, not just his arms, when he communicates the circle. Leader tilts forward, then the Follower's leg goes back. Then he swings her leg around by swinging his body around a little, with the movement concentrated in his belly button.

Exercise 2: Linear or Circular Free Leg Exercise
Leader frees the Follower's leg so that it moves either in line or circular. Note that it takes time for the Follower to complete the movement, so the Leader needs to wait for her to collect before leading something else. The Leaders attempted to communicate the energy outward to do a counterclockwise circle of the Follower's right leg, or a clockwise circle of the Follower's left leg. Then the Leaders attempted to communicate the energy inward to do a clockwise circle of the Follower's right leg and a counterclockwise circle of the left leg. We recognized that in this exercise, being subtle is difficult. So our homework is to master the subtle feeling before going big.

Exercise 3: Follower Linear Side Extension
The Leader leads the Follower's leg out to the side as if for a side step while he remains in the same spot. There was no verbal instruction on how to do this; Leaders had to figure it out themselves. For the Follower there was no step or weight transfer, it was just a leg extension out to the side as the standing supporting leg grounds down into the floor.

Exercise 4: Pendulum Leg Exercise
We were to do this exercise with care and caution, and be responsible with our bodies and legs so that we do not cause harm to our fellow students. For the exercise, individually, we swung our whole leg back and forth like a pendulum, remaining strong and stable on our supporting standing leg, and with our rib cages up and upper bodies stable. Our arms were such that they looked like we were holding large imaginary beach balls. The Follower needs to be centered on her whole foot, not pushed forward on the ball of her foot because of her high heels, so that she will be maximally stable and not prone to being knocked over or imbalanced. The knees should be bent, not locked.

Exercise 5: Developing the Linear Boleo from the Pendulum Leg Exercise
Same as the Pendulum Leg exercise, only done with more energy and in partnership. The goal here was to get the Follower leg to go really high back behind her. The Leader takes one step forward to lead her to step back, but stops abruptly, preventing her body from continuing to go back (though it may continue to go back by one centimeter), but her back leg goes free and up behind her. This is a timing exercise. Then he steps back with her forward step as her back free leg returns forward. Leaders technique: Do not be afraid to lead her back. Prepare with your whole body. Use your breath, exhaling as he sends her back. Follower's technique: Go back with the whole body, just just the shoulders or butt.

Exercise 6: Colgada Counterbalancing
In partnership holding each other at the wrists, with our toes straight in line and touching each other at the tips, the Leader sends the energy back and goes back at the same time with his body so that both dancers counterbalance each other. The bodies are not bent or sitting. We were to maintain our rib cages up, cores engaged, and our bodies straight. We hung back a while counterbalanced, then came back to axis, then hung back again, then back to axis, several times. Maestro noted that the Follower going out and up with the leg is a consequence of the Leader counterbalancing her.

Exercise 7: Back Linear Boleo
The Leader takes one or two steps to have Follower's leg go back really high. Maestra emphatically pointed out this is just an exercise, and that on the social dance floor, the Follower should keep her leg down so that she does not kick or gouge anyone with her heel.

Exercise 8: Forward Linear Boleo
We were to build on the back linear boleo to a forward linear boleo between the Leader's legs. Here, we were to focus on the use of axis and energy, using it carefully otherwise you or your partner can get hurt. The Leader leads the forward linear boleo through his legs by creating a wall with his embrace after the Follower's leg goes back in the back linear boleo. He needs to make sure his legs are apart when leading the Forward linear boleo (otherwise she will kick him).

Comments about Linear Boleos on the Social Dance Floor:

Leaders need to be mindful when leading the back linear boleo (as well as all boleos). Ideally, the Follower's boleoing leg should be pointed out and away from the dance floor so that she will not kick anyone with her back linear boleoing leg. The Follower always has the option to do boleos low on the floor, not high, especially if conditions are crowded and it is dangerous to do on the social dance floor. In keeping the boleos low on the floor, she still responds to the energy and lead, but is also considerate toward other dancers on the social dance floor. The Follower is in control of her leg to answer big or small, no matter what the Leader's intentions are.

Maestros concluded with a demo to Fresedo's Cordobesita, which can be seen at www.tangostudent.blogspot.com.

The milonga itself was quite fun. I don't go to CELLSpace very often, but I had a good time. Maestro reiterated many times to mind the line of dance. This particular night was special because it was a cancer benefit for a famous tango teacher originally from Buenos Aires and now based in U.S.; Project Tango raised more than $600 for her.


Saturday, December 19, 2009
Holiday Milonga at the Masonic in Mountain View. I did not go to the lesson beforehand since I was at another party. The space has a very nice hardwood floor, high ceilings, and seemingly good natural ventilation (at least in the winter). There is ample, easy parking. Since this was a holiday milonga, the food was amped up a notch, and much better than I expected. The sandwich bar included pulled park, jerk pork, and tri tip on dinner rolls. Other than sauces and condiments there were no other sandwich fixin's (tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, that type of thing). The food was self-serve buffet style onto small paper boats, which slowed down the heavy eaters. I did not try any of the pork, but found the tri tip to be utterly delicious. The potato salad and coleslaw were on the extremely saucy side. There was ample wine, water, mulled wine, sangria, and punch. There was a selection of 4 desserts (lemon bar, Greek walnut cake, and two types of cakes). Overall, the food was extremely ample, and there were opportunities to take home leftovers if so inclined. As for the milonga itself, Sheldon the DJ did a very good, inspired, refreshing job, and played many songs that I had never heard before. The floorcrafting wasn't the greatest, but thankfully improved over the course of the night. I regret that it took me so long to make a trip down to this milonga, as I had eyed it for years. There was talk about decreasing the frequency of this milonga going forward, which would be kind of a shame.


Sunday, December 20, 2009
Cafe Cocomo milonga with lesson beforehand by Homer and Cristina Ladas: "Close to Open Transition to Promenade Plus One Alteration"

Close to Open Transition
We began with dancing with a transition from close embrace to open embrace and back to close embrace, seeing what we do, and how we do it. The music we used for the entire lesson was Di Sarli musicals from the 1950s.

Next, we worked on a specific transition close to open embrace, beginning with a side step, up, change weight, settling, and reaching with the other foot to make a side step one side to the other and back. Leader be clear with your intention and movement in your body. There is a "U" shaped energy in this side step action.

We continued to practice the side step and "U" energy intention.

Promenade
Next, in practice hold and open embrace, from the side step, the Leader steps down in the "U" part to pivot into the Promenade (Americana) on the open side of the embrace. For the two dancers, it is like gears meshing, with the Leader right hip counterclockwise turn to face forward, and the Follower left hip clockwise turn to face forward.

Next, we added the arms to close embrace. Our bodies rolled together and opened up. The movement to lead the promenade (Americana) comes from the Leader's hips. The Leader steps to the left and then pivots with his right hip. It should have a whipping, surprise sensation to the energy.

We danced to one song in the line of dance, incorporating this step.

To end this step, the Leader's chest is up and open. The Leader stops after her step on the outside (right) leg, then he leads the Follower to step forward on her left leg inside and return to be in front of the Leader, back into close embrace.

Next, we did the human magnet exercise in open embrace with our feet 6-8 inches away from each other. Our bodies were straight up and down and we were on axis. Then we were to meet each other in the middle with our chests, matching each other's energy.

Then we did the same pattern going from open to close embrace and then back to open. The Leader at some points lets go of his right hand, while the Follower's left hand slides up as her body tilts forward in response to his lead to invite her to come back to close embrace.

The Follower's forward step to return in front of the Leader should be long and around (curved) into the Leader to transition to close embrace. The Leader opens up his left shoulder, and his axis tilts forward a little. The Follower should be able to sense this forward Leader tilt, and answer with a forward tilt of her own to meet the Leader.

Alteration
From the promenade position, the Leader out steps the Follower with his right foot on her left foot forward step and turns clockwise so that after Follower gets back in front of Leader, she pivots on her left foot, to do a back step with her right foot and side step with her left foot in a half of a clockwise molinete. Here, it is important for the Follower to collect on her left foot with her right foot before she steps back with her right foot.

Next, we worked on the musicality of the sequence, doing it on all single beats. Then we added double beats (QQ time) on the Follower's back and side step, accelerating into the alteration.

We continued with dancing this simple sequence in the line of dance, and with the music, to make it feel good and to have the hip twist surprise element in our step into the promenade (Americana).

Maestros concluded with a demo to DiSarli's Una Fija , which can be seen at www.tangostudent.blogspot.com.


Monday, December 21, 2009
Orange Practica at the Beat with lesson beforehand by Homer and Cristina Ladas "Anatomy of the Contra Back Boleo"

We began with the Pendulum Exercise, making sure there was at least 3 feet of clear space behind us. We were to plant our weight on one foot (either left or right), and let the other foot swing freely. Our arms were in beach ball pose, being calm in our upper body with our rib cage up and core engaged so that there was no movement in our upper body. Both knees were bent. The Follower needs to find the sweet spot on her foot to distribute the weight on four corners of her foot to be stable and strong.

Tonight, we were to work on four categorical shapes of boleos. In all of these four categories, the Follower should always have control of her body. So she might not do a big boleo, even if the Leader asks her to do it that way.

(1) Keep foot to the floor
(2) Blade of Zorro
(3) Circular
(4) Circular but bigger

(1) Open up with hips, but foot stays on the ground. We can do this on either foot. Our goal was to find balance, make it tight, and imagine dancing on a crowded dance floor. We can add a little bit of pivot to it. The Follower heel points down on the floor so that she does not stab anyone with her heel.

(2) Blade of Zorro. The leg and foot movement is a flick, like a razor, a little out to the side across the back of her body, and then back down. The boleoing leg goes a little behind the standing knee so that the legs do not open up. There is no light between the thighs. Be sure not to sickle the foot. Turn the foot out a little and point the toes before the leg flicks and leaves the floor. The energy of the movement is similar to a match strike.

(3) Circular. This boleo shape begins with the Flick of Zorro, but the hips open more, and there is a semicircular movement to the leg before it drops back down. We can also add a little pivot to make it sweeter.

(4) Circular but bigger. Recalling the Pendulum exercise with our leg going straight back, we were to send the Follower's leg out in a line, but bring it back in with adding circular energy. For the Follower, she is more open in the knees. This is a more rare articulation.

We began with an exercise in tea kettle embrace with both arms of Leader behind him with his hands at the small of his back. Follower's holds on to Leader's biceps. The goal was for the Leader to lead the Follower to pivot her hips, either slow or fast, with Follower maintaining particularly strong connection with her embrace when the Leader led a faster pivot.

For the Leader, two things:
(1) The rotation comes from his spine, regardless of how slow or fast he is moving. He needs to contract his core muscles for faster rotation.
(2) There is a slight delay of the Follower's movements, so he needs to take time for the energy to travel from the Follower's embrace to her spine, and then to her hips.

For the Follower:
(1) Don't anticipate so that the Leader can calibrate his lead to your movements.

Leader: Observe how long it takes Follower to complete her movement. Wait. Do it slowly. Observe.

Follower: Engage your core so that there is no reverberation in your arms/embrace. Have resistance in your arms.

For the first contra boleo, Maestros noted that all boleos have both "send" and "rebound" energy to more or less degrees, even if they are called "with" boleos or "contra" boleos. The difference is in the way the Leader steps that makes the boleo "with" or "contra"/against the Follower's rotation in the hips.

Again in tea kettle embrace, the Leader steps against the Follower with a bit of send energy and a lot of rebound energy. The Leader would start with the slow shimmy, and then try to figure out how to step into / against the Follower to get the hip rotation to boleo.

Next, we added the open embrace, working on doing boleos on the easy side (the open side). Leader would walk in parallel system, making a very dynamic step with left foot. We were to focus on the contra energy. It is all about the Leader's left foot making a long step that is fully engaged and attacking like a karate chop into the floor. He needs to keep his embrace firm and totally engaged and compressed. He should be solid like a statue so that the Follower can hang on to him for that one moment in the boleo.

Boleos usually happen on the strong beat, so to lead it the Leader has to lead it a little ahead of the strong beat. However, he is limited by how well the Follower hears the music. Leader should not push with his right hand, otherwise the Follower will step (he will change her weight).

Next, we attempted to do this on the hard side (the close side). Here, the Leader's right hand has to detach, but be strong from the shoulder up (similar to the teapot embrace).

The next boleo step, which Maestros only demonstrated and we did not try as students, included a step with the Leader's right foot, to pivot on his right foot (collecting with his left), to rebound back with a left foot back cross step, really working his hips.

Next, we practiced linking two boleos as if dancing in a small space, in the line of dance. The sequence went something like step, boleo, promenade, step back, boleo, etc.

Concluding comments on boleos: The Follower decides how big or small, how high in the air or low on the floor, and the shape (linear or circular) of the boleo, depending on the music and space availability. She does, however, need to react when the boleo is led, and exercise discretion and common sense when doing boleos on the social dance floor.

Maestro concluded with a demo to Rodriguez's El Encopao, which can be seen at www.tangostudent.blogspot.com.


COME JOIN ME!
Come spend New Year's Eve weekend with me in San Diego. http://www.sandiegotangofestival.com/ Flights are cheap (check Virgin America and Southwest), and if you get a room with two queen beds, and find a roommate, you can cut down on the expenses. Pablo, Jr. Scout Extraordinaire, and TangoStudent will be there, along with Homer and Cristina, who are teaching. Other teachers include the fabulous Brigitta Winkler, and Jaimes Friedgen (who Homer raves about).

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

November 26 - December 2

Thursday, November 26, 2009 - Fandango de Tango workshops
Diego di Falco y Carolina Zokalski on Vals. We did the cadena, on both sides. For the Leader, it is important for him to relax his right arm when he steps near the Follower on her pivot. The question came up of how to improve the link if you don’t turn enough. The answer is (1) we can cheat with a calesita, OR (2) turn the first step. The first back cross is a back cross to the right side with left foot so she is out of the Leader’s way and he can turn. It was a good class. Or (3) the Leader opens up his left shoulder a lot to lead her to step to this left. In cadenas, the intention of the turn is always in the same direction, and the Leader should always keep opening up the left shoulder. For turn is always counterclockwise for left side cadenas, and for right side cadenas it’s always clockwise. The link is in the first step, from outside to inside or inside to outside to link directional changes. We can add a 1 step so it is 1-1-2-3-4-1-1-2-3-4

Pablo Pugliese y Noel Strazza on Back Sacadas. We began with dancing to two songs, really thinking about our footwork, trying to be precise, and being where we need to be, having good contact, and with Leader having relation to where the Follower’s shoulder is to know where her foot is. The first back sacada we worked on was the Leader’s back sacada of his left foot of the Follower’s left foot. She steps back quite far with her right leg. Leader pivots a lot to get around enough since it’s a straight back step for him. He should place his foot, and his front leg should be bent with the weight on it. The Follower’s weight should already been on her back right leg so her left leg is free to be sacada’d. Note that in the Leader back sacada there are two arm options for the embrace of the Leader’s right arm and the Follower’s left arm: close or sliding. For the Follower to receive the Leader’s back sacada, she needs to reorganize her movment. As soon as she can, she should try to bring her left leg to collect in, bringing her feet together, and not let her left sacada’d leg go flying out widely and wildly. Next, we did the Leader’s forward sacada of is left leg of Follower’s trailing right leg of the counterclockwise molinete on her left foot forward cross step. Maestro noted that in molinetes, it is more of an oval than circular shape, where the Front and Side steps are closer to the Leader and the Back and Side steps are farther away from the Leader. Because of this oval shape, the Leader should send her a little farther away from him to get her in the correct position for the sacada. Leader’s left foot back sacada of Follower’s right trailing foot on her left foot forward step of the counterclockwise molinete. We went back to an exercise of Follower pivots premised with maestros showing us moving like a block versus disassociating and moving like a spiral. Then we did partnered exercises with Follower ochos (using disassociation and spiral movement) with Leader doing open (side) steps, and then leader doing front cross steps with the Follower pivot. The Follower needs to pivot a lot in her feet, and then step back with heel down in the back sacada. Do not be careless about the movements. Apply pivots. Be exact with our feet. Use what we know to go back and review all that we need to do to do this kind of work. One great comment from Maestro was that we should not take tango so seriously. It is not the end of our life if we don’t get it.

Nito y Elba Garcia on Tango. It was nice seeing Maestros. Since this was a short class, only and hour long, Nito decided we would skip his usual walking and embellishment exercises and went directly into the sequence. Leader right foot forward sacada to Follower’s left leg back boleo. Leader stops her boleo with his left leg, then pivots her to Leader right leg parada to counterclockwise molinete footwork for her (back, side, forward) to two forward ochos. Next, we did an ocho cortado variation. Maestros are big fans of using the spiral cross and they frown highly upon schlumping crosses. Next, we did another small sequence of the 8CB to 5 (cross), to pivot around, into a cadena step, then walk Follower out to resolution on her left foot. It was, as usual, an excellent class.

Friday, November 27, 2009 - Fandango de Tango workshops
Diego Di Falco and Carolina Zokalski on Chacarera. Carolina started out as a folk dancer, so this topic was near and dear to her heart, and I personally was very glad to see it offered. Tango was born in Buenos Aires, and belongs to everyone since it was created by all the immigrants in the city. Chacarera belongs to Argentina and it is a native folk dance, danced at the Penas (folk dance milongas). Footwork is 1-2-3 with first step long, and next two steps short, and it always starts with the left foot. It uses a 1-2-3 rhythm, like vals. Maestro commented about the body and arm movements with the body being like a tree trunk and the arms being like tree branches. So the arms should sway away from the direction the body is moving, as a branch would do in wind or tree movement. Then we worked on the Chacarera choreography: avanzo-regresso (steps forward and back), hiro (small circle), vueltantera (big full loop to other side and back, done in 6 or 8 counts), the zapateo and sarendeo (Leader fancy horse footwork, with Follower diamond skirt flourish), the mediavuelta (go to the other side in 4 beats), the hiro y coranacion (small circle concluding with dancers in the middle crowing each other). This would be a first part of the song, and dancers will end up on the opposite side of where they started. Then this is repeated a second time, and ends with the song with dancers on the same sides where they started. Since our class did so well, we had time to ask about the culture of the chacarera and the music. THE group for Chacarera music is the Carabajal family. A new group is called Los Chalchaleros. For the group (4-6 person) chacarera, only the “vuelta” moves are done in group (media vuelta, vueltantera). This was a great class.

Guillermo Merlo y Fernanda Ghi on Expansion & Compression Techniques in Ganchos. Since they were heavy on Followers in this class, I ditched it and went to Nito y Elba Garcia’s Tango class instead, which was, as usual, a great class. It was fun.

Pablo Pugliese y Noel Strazza class on Ganchos and Voleos Combination. We began with dancing to one sing, doing boleos and ganchos, any ones that we knew, to get us warmed up to incorporate that type of movement into our bodies. Two reminders: (1) For boleos and ganchos, the movement comes from the floor (like a match strike), and returns to the floor. (2) Have clean movement, reorganize the movement by collecting to check our balance and be on our axis before taking the next step. Then we began with the Follower forward ocho with Leader open steps to the side/leg she is leaving, to lead the Follower boleo. Follower should not sacrifice body posture for boleo height (how high she can get her leg up). Next, we did the Follower front cross boleo of her right leg, then Leader sneaks in with his right leg in front of her supporting left leg, to cause her to back gancho his right leg as her right leg returns from her front cross boleo. Note here that on the Leader’s right leg sneak in his toe tip is what touches the floor while his heel remains off the ground. Both dancers should rotate their chests toward each other. It;s a contra boleo so the Leader’s right leg is free to position in to go in front of the Follower’s left foot to receive her right leg gancho of the back of his right leg. Follower should keep her knee soft and leg springy, which will help keep her body level constant. Next, we did a Follower front boleo to back external gancho of Leader’s on the left and right side to the left and right leg. Nuggets of wisdom: We should approach dancing in a playful way, to make it fun, easy, and uplifted.

George y Jairelbhi Furlong on Boleos & Their Timing. I was particularly excited to go to this class since it was their first time teaching at Fandango de Tango, and I had seen their summary teaching videos on YouTube and was favorably impressed. We began with dancing to a song trying to do all the boleos we knew so that maestros had an idea of where we were as a class. We began with an exercise with the Follower’s weigh on the left, then pivot as if for a forward ocho with our hips while torsos remained forward. For Follower’s technique on the boleo, she should keep one knee behind the other, and to get a high boleo, her standing supporting leg bends. Follower should try to do the boleo underneath her other elbow (i.e. left boleoing leg should reach for her right elbow). The Follower should not anticipate, and should always be a little behind so that Leader can lead her. For the social dance floor, we should do low floor boleos. Only do high boleos if the social dance floor is not crowded, and only if it’s safe. Otherwise, you risk injuring other unsuspecting, innocent dancers.

The milonga was good. It was punctuated by a series of performances by the three members of Tango Con*Fusion who are attending Fandango de Tango this year (Christy teaching with Facundo Posadas, Chelsea, and Debbie). The milonga itself was quite fun. Floorcraft was quite good, the best I’ve ever experienced here.

Saturday, November 28, 2009 - Fandango de Tango workshops
Fabian Salas and Lola Diaz on Combined Colgadas. It was a good class. We began with an exercise just doing the basic colgada body work of Follower’s left leg being her weighted standing leg, and her right leg being the free colgada leg. Leader starts by sending her right leg back in a regular colgada, and then bringing her in and pivoting her counterclockwise, so her right leg goes up and over to front cross against her left leg as he lets her back out in colgada by releasing her and holding on to the other side of her (near her the left side of her waist/stomach). The Leader uses his shoulder/arms/the embrace to initiate the Follower pivot, with his arms being in position as if shooting with a bow and arrow. Her left foot pivots away from him (Leader’s feet and Follower one supporting standing foot are all pointed forward and away from the Leader). She should face that way too, not toward the Leader since the head is a 10 pound weight. Here we modified the Leader footwork by adding in a forward right foot cross step toward the side of the embrace. Then the Leader pivots around with his left leg clockwise so that it lands on the other side of the Follower’s left foot resulting in a triangular frame of reference of his two feet and her standing left leg. The Follower’s left supporting leg is the center of the circle that he wants to side step around while her body is still off axis in colgada and his body is back as well to counterbalance her’s. The toughest part of this is the transition from the regular Follower right foot back colgada out back in and over to the turn so that her right leg comes up and over to the other side of the left leg. The Follower has to release her left hand in this change. The exit is to bring the Follower back up to axis, forcing her to cross forward step with her formerly right free leg clockwise. An interesting initiation of this involves the Leader’s right foot entry between her legs to lead Follower gancho of her right leg of Leader’s right leg to send her out to a regular colgada. Leader steps forward cross right leg to make her do a big figure 4 colgada. This was a very challenging, but obviously excellent class. This was my first class with Lola, and I found her to be a very articulate teacher.

George y Jairelbhi Furlong on Vals - Molinetes with Sacadas. We began with exercises to work on shifting our weight completely from our left foot to our right foot, first by reaching, then transferring the weight, to arrive completely. Next, we worked on walking forward and back, having the weight on the balls of our feet. Next, we worked on pivoting on our left foot and our right foot, while keeping our chest toward the front, where the Leader would be, working these concepts in as we did ochos. Then we worked in partnership on the molinete footwork of back-side-forward-side, where we worked from counterclockwise to clockwise. Then we added Leader Sacadas. Maestros have a philosophy of a moderately energetic sacada, not a forceful sacada. The sequence was the 8CB to 5 (cross) to Follower clockwise molinete with leader left leg sacada of Follower’s trailing left foot, a Leader right foot sacada of the Follower’s right foot on her left foot side step, to walk Follower back out to resolution, Leader walks forward right cross. Ever step is a possible sacada. Maestros emphasized the spiral top down concept of starting the movement in the shoulders/chest first, then hips follow, hen feet follow, so that we do not move in blocks. We did another sacada sequence of the Leader’s right foot sacada on the Follower’s right foot forward ocho trailing left foot, to another Leader sacada of his left foot on the Follower’s left foot side step of her trailing right foot, to forward Follower step to the outside of Leader’s right.

Fabian Salas y Lola Diaz on Sequences with Alternative Embraces. This was a very good, very challenging class. It began with Maestros working on her different embraces:
(1) regular embrace
(2) embrace with hand to hand contact, going into embrace
(3) begun by Leader putting his left thumb on top of her right knuckles, to hold onto it and take it with him while he takes their hands behind his back to end with the Leader’s left arm in L shape behind him, and his right arm being loose and open to allow Follower to stand next to him as they both face forward, going into
(4) embrace where Leader pivots Follower counterclockwise into the hammerlock embrace (Leader raises left arm Follower pivots clockwise), going into
(5) repeat No. 3 embrace

After we spent several minutes going from one embrace to the next sequentially, with the Follower always standing and pivoting on her left leg, we worked on adding the footwork, which included Leader and Follower back sacadas, pivots, and other interesting footwork.

Nito y Elba Garcia. The class was listed as Milonga Traspie, but we just worked on some interesting steps. The first was a walking step where the Leader weaves in and out of the Follower as he walks forward and she walks back, with a back cross for Leader and simultaneous front cross for Follower at every 5th step. The next sequence involved the Follower molinete with Leader sacadas into a spiral cross out to resolution. The next sequence was a series 3-4 sandwiches of the Follower’s left leg.

Sunday, November 29, 2009 - Fandango de Tango workshops
George y Jairelbhi Furlong on Rebotadas with Boleos. This was a good class. We began with some simple exercises, first walking forward in 4 steps, and then back in 4 steps. Then, we worked on forward ochos and back ochos with no pivot, focusing on keeping our torsos ahead where the Leader would be. Then we added the pivot to them and did them in a linear fashion (no travelling forward but staying in the same line), and then back ochos in a linear fashion. Then in partnership we worked on Follower back ochos while Leader does side steps. The Follower’s hips need to be relaxed completely and she should always complete her pivots. We practiced the rebotadas (switches), in exercise and in dance. To this, we added front contra boleos, with the Leader doing three steps to the side as Follower does side step, to left foot back ocho, to front contra boleo with her left foot. For the Follower, it is important that her right arm maintains tone and that she not absorb the lead in this arm as she receives the rebote action. From this, we worked on a different style of “boleo” -- one that look like just a raised knee (flamingo leg) boleo, where by there is a little bit of lowering and raising on the pivots as the lead. To this, we added the Leader accompaniment with his right leg to catch her right foot with his right foot. Here, the feet reach for each other, but the dancers’ knees and legs don’t change or open. After the catch, the Leader can drag their connected feet a little bit forward to the Follower’s right, after which she pasadas over it with her left foot. For Follower’s Technique, when bending the knee, it doesn’t mean the whole body goes down. If it does go down, it is just a little bit of movement, not a whole lot, otherwise she will look like she is sitting. When doing rebotadas and boleos, it is important to do them rhythmically, especially to D’Arienzo, Biagi, Rodriguez, etc.

Guillermo Merlo y Fernanda Ghi on Take It To The Next Level. This class was shockingly full, so rather than fight for space, I decided that Pablo and I would do better mentally at a less competitive spatial environment. After peeking in to several other classrooms, we decided to join Carolina and Donato’s Changes of Direction Class.

Carolina del Rivero y Donato Juarez on Changes of Direction. We began with molinete exercises for the Follower with the Leader doing open steps from side to side. Follower needed to step in a circle around the Leader, and not to get too close to him on her forward step, or too far away from him on her back step. She should collect her feet at every opportunity when they pass each other, and turn with her entire body. From the molinete, we did five different types of changes of direction: (1) open step to open step; (2) back cross step to back cross step; (3) front cross step to front cross step; (4) back cross step to front cross step; (5) front cross step to back cross step. Then we worked on the usual alteration where Follower does forward (front cross) step in the forward ocho to the open side of the embrace, Leader outsteps her, effectively blocking her, to step around her with his left foot diagonally forward, to pivot to face the other way and send her back on a back cross step in the other direction back to the close side of the embrace. Our homework is to work on the other side with this change of direction. We also were shown the Follower’s back cross with her left foot to front cross with right foot alternation.

Nito y Elba Garcia on Milonga Traspie. Maestros taught several fun little steps: The basic box turned diagonally so follower steps outside Leader’s right. The < step that they taught at Fandango de Tango 2007, and the three step side step with lift lead. It was an excellent class, as usual. What a treat and blessing to learn from them.

OVERALL THOUGHTS ON THE FESTIVAL

This was my third time to Fandango de Tango, it’s become my personal Thanksgiving tradition. Ricardo, the organizer, does a fantastic job of picking top-notch TEACHERS (not just fantastic performers [but possibly lousy teachers]) from the US and Buenos Aires. Having done a fair share of event production in the past, I can honestly say that this is likely one of the smoothest, most well-organized tango festivals. Luckily for the gals, the numbers are pretty well balanced (except perhaps at the Friday and Saturday night milongas). It is such a treat to be able to pick from 6 different workshops at any given time slot on certain days, taught by excellent teachers, one and all. Honestly, I cannot say enough good things about this particular Tango festival, and when I look at the schedules of other ones, I am not swayed enough to go to them (except for CITA perhaps), since this is the festival I compare them to. Amazingly, year after year, Ricardo finds ways to make it even better than the last.



The numbers look pretty good on an individual level, finance wise, and if you find a roommate (the Omni has rooms with two queen beds so it’s easy to share the space), they look even better. So it IS possible to do this festival somewhat “on the cheap”, by bringing your own Tupperware, or asking for a to-go box for your breakfast or lunch leftovers, or by dining via the hotel snack shop, which sells box meals of their salads and sandwiches for less than $10, and being totally on the wagon while you are here. If your budget is even tighter than that, there is a huge mega Wal-Mart a half mile away. Still, no one ever said learning to dance the Argentine Tango was going to be an inexpensive endeavor, cash or time wise…



My best experience at Fandango de Tango 2009 was receiving a complement from Nito that my molinetes are pretty good, and they enable me to do many things that others with not so good molinete technique can’t. I was tickled pink, since Nito routinely says during his lessons that we should all (Followers and Leaders alike) do molinetes around a chair for 5 minutes every single day to improve our tango dancing…



My most challenging dance was with Jorge Nel, of the famous shoes. He was inspired by D'Arienzo to drive fast and hard but smooth. It was loads of fun. His shoes are great, by the way, with excellent cushioning, and a very forgiving fit for those with wider feet, though of course all sizes/widths are available, as well as custom shoes. He has a very interesting new shoe where the entire sole is changeable to all leather, all suede, or all rubber a la dance sneakers. So check them out when you see him at your next festival.



During the Saturday masters show, Ricardo pointed out that the teacher ages ranged from teens to seventies, with no particular style receiving more emphasis than others (milonguero, nuevo, salon, milonga, vals, candombe). It was a very well-rounded, teaching staff (and did I mention excellent?). The lessons were more conceptual and technical in nature, rather than sequence oriented, which I appreciated.



Finally, my Fandango de Tango experience would never be complete without my daily dip in the hot tub after all the hard work at the lessons during the day. Ah, so relaxing!!! And exactly the downtime to get myself geared up to dance the night away at the milongas, until the wee hours of the morning.



I was happy to see so many tangueros from the SF Bay Area attend this year, but found it amusing that we all go so far away to Austin to dance with each other. ;o)


Monday, November 30, 2009

Orange Practica at the Beat with lesson by Homer and Cristina Ladas on Vals Turns and Musical Phrasing



Working in open and close embrace, the goal of this class was to make the molinete turn more dynamic, including working on the weak side (Leader’s right). The underlying theme of the class was for the dancers, but especially the Follower, to be really active in hearing the music and making a good effort of knowing the vals rhythm and cadence.



We began with an exercise of just walking by ourselves to the vals rhythm with two options:

(1) only on the boom (the strong beat, the 1)

(2) on the boom - chick - boom (the strong beat and a weak beat, in this case the 1-2-1), with the “chick” step a real step (not just a collection).



We built on this exercise, by then doing the grapevine pattern stepping only on the boom (stepping each step of forward, side, back, side, forward, on the strong beat, the 1, the boom), and then doing the grapevine pattern in the boom - chick - boom (1-2-1) rhythm. We first did this grapevine pattern to a slow vals, and then challenged ourselves more with a faster vals.



When the Follower feels the Leader accelerate the turn, he is probably looking for the rhythm. Since it’s integral, it’s important for the Follower to have control.



THE PADDLE AND THE KICKSTAND

Next, maestro introduced the Leader’s footwork of the Paddle and Kickstand. This is a Leader footwork technique during the Follower molinete turn. This Leader technique accomplishes two things:

(1) It maintains the Leader’s axis either tilted forward in the close embrace, or more vertically straight up and down in the open embrace. Note that in the close embrace, there is less room for the Follower’s hips to pivot, and that in the open embrace, there is more room for the Follower’s hips to pivot.

(2) It gives the Leader extra power for the turn to get around on the boom-chick-boom (1-2-1) syncopation.



Our goal is to fit the molinete turn to the music.



In the Paddle and the Kickstand footwork, the Leader lifts his heel off the ground and kicks his heel around to turn. The kickstand foot is where the Leader pivots on the ball of his foot with his supporting, standing leg. The Leader’s paddling foot should be in line or slightly behind his hips as he paddles around. We first began with the left foot as the kickstand, and the right foot as the paddle.



The Leader’s right foot or left foot can be the supporting, standing, kickstand leg, while the left foot or right foot can be the paddling leg, depending on the direction of the molinete turn, clockwise or counterclockwise.



We drilled to many different valses, first slow ones, and then faster ones, with Leader’s Paddle footwork with Follower molinete turn, both clockwise and counterclockwise, using the boom-chick-boom (1-2-1) rhythm.



The boom can be difficult to lead after the chick syncopation because you have to slow your partner down.



Follower should lock herself to the music to know where the boom - chick - chick syncopation is, and to pay attention to the music and the lead. The more the Follower’s body locks into the music, the more she will be with the vals cadence.



Leading the boom - chick - boom (1-2-1) rhythm is easiest on the back step of the molinete turn, and in the Leader’s paddle footwork, he is doing exactly what he is asking the Follower to do.



We also played with doing the boom - chick - boom (1-2-1) at different points of the Follower footwork, such as the side, forward, side, and in open and close embrace, clockwise and counterclockwise.



Follower should not fall on the boom (generally the side step), but be controlled, and not transfer the weight too fast, otherwise she will arrive too early. She needs to really lock her body onto the music for better control.



It was noted that in the close embrace, it is more difficult to get the Follower to go all slow (boom) steps. In the open embrace, it is easier for the Follower to go all slow, though slightly more difficult to lead the boom - chick - boom (1-2-1) syncopation. In the close embrace, the Follower’s back steps can be very short and quick, rather than with substantial hip pivot and drag around.




MUSICAL PHRASING

Next, we worked on vals musical phrasing in the context of doing turns. Our goal was that within a musical phrase, we were to be consistent, fall into a groove, and when it feels like it’s time to turn, to connect the turn to the music.



First we backed up with a little game of Vals - Chacarera, where in Chacarera formation of Leaders all in one line facing Followers all in one line, we took four steps forward and four steps back similar, similar to the Avanzado and Regreso initial steps of the Chacarera. The 4 forward steps were done in 4 beats, and the 4 back steps were done in 4 beats. During this game, maestro played a very regular vals so we could clearly hear the musical phrasing and sentence. He noted that the lyrics/song poetry falls directly on top of the sentence/musical structure of this particular vals, as is the case with many valses. Mastro demo’d this concept by dancing by himself, walking forward and back with the musical phrasing, showing that we could hear the sighs, and take a pause to start the next phrase (like a comma). At the comma or the end of a sentence (phrase) is where the Leader should start the turn in the other direction.



Next, we attempted to dance with trying to change the direction of the molinete turn at the macro phrasing points. It was noted that it often took two turns [(1) forward, side, back, side, (2) forward, side, back, side] in the same direction before the appropriate phrasing point arrived, and that most times in our dance we do not even do one complete molinete (we usually do half or three quarters of a molinete turn). The Paddle keeps the Leader in one place, so it’s a good technique.



In the open embrace, the Follower whips her hips around on the chick, really pivoting a lot to get them around quickly. She should use the embrace of the Leader to get herself around and add whip / energy in her hips.



It was noted that there was asymmetry of the close embrace turn where the Follower’s back step is almost just a snappy short back cross with no pivot in the hips in order to maintain the integrity of the embrace. This is quite different from the open embrace turn with a lot of Follower hip pivot for an overturned full back cross step.



Maestros demo’d to Canaro’s El Dia Que Te Fuiste, which you can see at www.tangostudent.blogspot.com.


Wednesday, December 2, 2009

CCSF Classes with Chelsea Eng. In Follower's Technique, we began with a clip from CITA 2009 of Sebastian Arce and Mariana Montes dancing milonga, the topic of the evening. Maestra pointed out that Montes has incredibly intentional footwork, with strength, articulation, and complete control. She also dances with confidence, spunkiness, and self assuredness. We went on to our floor exercises, but no barre exercises. Then we did a lot of walking exercises to work on catching the beat, focusing on quality of movement and having zesty, sharp, accented steps, being almost late, but not late, to spring at the last possible moment. The steps are more crisp staccato than sweeping. In Advanced, we vegan with a clip from CITA 2009 of Damian Rosenthal and Celine Ruiz on milonga. Then we worked on milonga footwork, simple steps forward and back, and changes of directions/turns. It was a good class. Maestra mentioned how much she enjoyed Fandango de Tango.