October 24, 2022
Monday
Day 1 – Luciana Valle Intensivo A
Our group was smaller, only 11 people split between leaders and followers. I took Intensivo A before in 2009, and chuckled at how skimpy my notes were back then. The content was also slightly different.
We are working on FUNDAMENTALS, foundational work.
In the morning session, we worked on ochos, pivots and spirals, paying attention to our axis.
Followers are to propel themselves in their steps, and check their axis at each step. The Follower is supposed to propel herself into the open space opened up by the Leader, and to really manage the weight change by really arriving to the forward foot. To be successful in the back cross, there has to be enough pivot.
The Leaders lead the motion from the Follower’s motion. Go the direction you want to go.
The toes are free of weight all the time.
Neither dancer should change the position of the axis.
Push from the standing leg.
For the Follower, move the axis inside of the foot. Do not incline the axis. Otherwise you will be on the metatarsal. Take every step.
We worked on ochos, pivots and spirals, with the Follower working on disassociation in the body.
In doing ochos, we need to pay attention to keep our axis fully vertical, and pivoting with our feet first (instead of hips), and Follower keeping her bra line to the Leader.
For the Follower’s pivot, the Leader rotates the partner in place (pivot). This is in contrast to when the Leader travels partner (this is the turn). Leader’s rotation is torsion of the back of his own spine inside the embrace. When traveling, the Leader’s whole torso travels in the space. The Leader’s rotation leads the Follower to pivot (rotating around his spine, so he basically stays facing 12 o’clock, but as he torques his upper body around his spine, one arm gets shorter while the other one gets longer, as if you were trying to saw a tree in front of you with a piece of string), versus traveling his partner (leading her to step around him in a turn by turning the front of his body for example from 9am to 3pm).
The Followers pivot is a motion in place. She moves from the standing leg, but keeps her braline to the Leader, so her bottom pivots while her braline stays with the leader. Follower should keep her top with the leader, keeping the braline toward the Leader, and make the effort to maintain it. The Follower’s ribs belong to the legs. The heel hits the floor, and then she pivots. Follower pushes off from the standing leg. Follower should keep her legs straight, arrive on the whole foot, not just the front of the foot. The Follower’s pivot never ends. The Follower still needs to move inside herself, she is never dead. Her hips amplify, like eating a bon bon. A bon bon is a tiny candy, but when you eat it, your hips become large. That’s amplifying. The Follower makes amplification in her hips from the Leader’s lead in her upper body. When she collects her legs, she undoes the flex (has straight legs at collection).
Next, we worked on the relationship of the leg and knees. We put weight on one leg, notice how the standing leg is soft but not bent. When you bend the leg, then there is tension and weight on it, and you are killing the energy.
Follower’s pivot goes from down to up, all the way to the braline.
Follower’s spiral goes from top to bottom, from the braline to the standing leg.
We worked on the Follower’s spiral with the Leader walking around the Follower (forward walking and back walking). Follower’s top moves first, then the bottom follows as a consequence. Follower adjusts foot, and then she pivots. Follower’s toes need to be off the floor. The Follower’s spiral is a tiny move. The Follower should keep her spine up and vertical as the Leader walks around Follower. Follower should be expansive.
When the Follower pivots, she makes an active motion of her foot. In the spiral, the feet move as a consequence of the top. There is no active pivot at the end of the spiral.
END OF MORNING SESSION
We began with a couple of practice dances to drill the morning’s material on pivots and spirals.
Follower should use the pivot, to commit to the step and not fall into it. Follower needs to slow down, and step with power in between the steps (this does not mean to step fast).
We drilled the planeos, both left side and right side, forward and back.
The Follower’s top goes first, and the bottom comes around as a consequence. There is no extra pivot that the Follower does. The Follower’s top brings around her bottom.
In Follower planeos, she makes an adjustment to her foot/leg going from open step to front cross step, while keeping torso with Leader and spiraling around so her hips follow/come around when they need to. The Follower has time to adjust her standing foot at the beginning of the Leader’s walk around her.
The Leader’s walk is forward on the open side, and the Leader’s walk is backward on the close side for the Planeo lead.
AGAIN: The Follower needs to adjust her foot from open to forward cross to make being in Planeo posture easier to be connected to the Leader. The Follower has time to make this adjustment.
Next, we drilled like a needle and pencil in a compass, with Leader (pencil) walking around the Follower (needle), keeping her braline toward him in place until her hips must come around as a consequence in her spirals.
The Follower should maintain where the axis should be. She pushes from her standing leg, and cannot be on her toes when pivoting.
We refined our work with focusing on connection (meaning how Follower pushes/pulls with her hands on the Leader) because some Followers looked like weeble wobbles.
The Follower goes in the same direction as the Leader, and moves with him as a consequence.
· When he walks forward, she pushes with her right palm against his left palm, and her left palm against his right arm, assuming open embrace.
· When leader goes back, she pulls back with the fingers of her right hand against the back of his left hand.
We drilled this connection in circular situations, learning how to use the embrace in the correct way. Sometimes her left arm will be close around the leader, and other times it will be more open and she will need to actively engage it in pulling on his right arm, depending on which direction he is walking (forward or back), and which direction her leg is in her planeo (forward, back, or side).
We drilled with Follower’s planeos: on the (1) front cross, (2) open step, or (3) back cross, while Leader walks around her forward or backward. He might have to sometimes step over the Follower’s planeoing leg. But that’s OK. He knows where it is, and she should trust him not to step on her.
The Leader rotates around his own back and Follower’s hips move as a consequence. She amplifies by doing her pivot.
Exercise: Leader pivoting Follower at the same time walking around, so Follower goes from doing a back cross, to facing the leader, to a front cross while the Leader walks around the Follower. When walking around the Follower, the Leader should maintain the same radius around the Follower so he doesn’t pull her off axis or make her unwind too quickly.
We drilled this with Leader walking around the Follower and playing with the directional change of the Follower’s hips. Leader is activating the Follower’s standing foot, moving from the top to bottom all the time.
Follower’s tips: The pivot never ends.
On the ocho, the Follower goes forward left, Leader steps side to the left, Follower’s feet should be curved in the direction and UP, not down, and around the Leader. This keeps the Leader moving.
END OF DAY 1
The structure of the class is we get two songs to drill, then LV gives us more instruction/feedback/tips. During the two songs that we drill, LV goes around and observes, and gives individual pointers after consulting with the assistants, who give her feedback on what the students were doing wrong or what they needed to correct.
The class was good. I finally felt as though my planeos didn’t totally suck.
It was amazing how fun it is doing pivots, spirals, and planeos with the student assistants. They are all amazing dancers, and with different sizes, heights, and styles. Some had more feedback than others. All were a pleasure to dance with. I had forgotten how awesome it feels to dance with so many professionals, and they seemed to enjoy dancing with me. Overall, I found the level of English much higher than before. Guess they optimized their pandemic time! Mati, Jorge, Lety and a few others were the same, and many assistants were new to me. All are fantastic! And so super nice!
I picked up a quick dinner at ShwarmaDa at Corrientes 5902, a carne shwarma. It was good, though a bit salty. Only set me back ARS$1200/$1400 with tip (USD $4.21/$4.91 with tip), and was very ample. I was happy.
October 25, 2022
Tuesday
Day 2 – Luciana Valle Intensivo A
In our warm-up dances we were to focus on trying the things we learned yesterday as a review of pivots (going from down to up) and spirals (going from top to bottom), and Leaders leading pivoting the Follower (so she stays in place) versus traveling the Follower (making her go around him).
Ochos are circular moves, so the feet are curved when taking steps.
The Follower is the center of the circle, the Leader walks around equidistance and plays with the Follower’s hips. The Follower’s leg can be behind or on the side or in front; Leader was to play around with that in our exercises and in the dance.
Follower’s Spiral does not end with a Pivot unless the Leader leads it.
The Ocho is a circular motion (and UP), not a down motion.
After our short review, we went on to new material:
TURNS
First, we cleaned up the concept and structure underneath to improve our technique.
The turn is the mother of all circular situations in tango. Yesterday, we worked on the concept of the compass, with the Follower being the center needle and the Leader being the pencil going around.
Today, we worked on the Leader being the center, and the Follower being the circle, or the Follower being the center and the Leader being the circle. Although there can also be the Leader and Follower both going around (both being the circle) or the Leader and Follower sharing the center (both being the center, like in shared axis turns).
We worked on the basic turn as an exercise to build a clear center for the Follower.
The Leader leads Follower in a back ocho. Leader should be sure to fully collect after his side step.
In our exercise, the Follower did back, open, and front steps. The Leader rotated in his spine first, and then traveled the partner around, so that he made the center clear for the Follower. He should not be forward, otherwise he will push the Follower away from him.
The Follower should walk around the Leader using circular steps.
From the ocho, the Follower’s job is to have a good overpivot in her back cross step.
In one turn, the Follower has all positions in her left arm as she goes in and out of the Leader’s embrace from very close, to open, to farther away as she steps around the Leader.
Follower: Don’t be on your toes. Propel from your legs to walk around the Leader. Keep hips on top of feet so steps become powerful. Empower each step. The close or open embrace does not change the quality of her step. Take every step in your walk around the Leader.
The Leader moves his top first, then his bottom, on one leg.
We drilled this in each direction, changing the Leader’s free and standing leg, though always starting with the Follower’s back cross step.
The Leader gets power in his side step to rotate his spine clearly. Do not go down on your side step to lead the turn. Empower the standing leg. The Leader needs the power of the leg to get strong energy in the torsion.
Follower: Be careful in your back cross step. Do not have too much extension in the leg. Step back with your whole body. If you do project/extend the leg, be sure you arrive and really get there.
We added footwork for the Leader:
Leader pivots himself after his side step (so after her pivot), such that his left foot is in a front cross against his weighted, standing right leg. Leader’s knees are open. Then his left unweighted leg goes out in a lapice, and his body moves top, bottom, bottom, top, as the Follower turns around him counterclockwise. His leg is back on her front step, almost meeting her trailing right leg. Said in another way, he pivots her, then he pivots himself to set himself up in the lapice, then he leads her in a turn while his leg goes out in a lapice, ending with his leg going back on her forward step, nearly meeting her trailing right back leg on her forward step. The Leader pivots himself at the end of his lapice. We were try the Leader’s lapice on both sides.
END OF MORNING SESSION
We began with some warm-up dances.
Then we reviewed:
In the Follower’s back ocho, the Leader is the center. The Leader has top to bottom motion as he leads the Follower around him, despite what he does with his feet. The Leader uses the step of the Follower to help his bottom come around.
The turn can eat you alive (make you go forward, inclining the axis), so be sure to keep the axis straight up. The Leader MUST keep his hand in front of his sternum. The pivot is with the Leader’s rotation. During the Travel (Follower’s turn), it is with the S S Q Q S rhythm of the turn ( Q Q during the back and side steps).
In our exercise, we killed the Q Q because we started with the Follower’s back cross step.
Next, we moved on to doing a full turn from the Follower’s front cross. The Follower should always curve her steps around the Leader. The Leader steps with her, or doesn’t step at all; either way he should set up a clear center. We drilled this with the Leader accompanying the Follower on her front cross step or just sending the Follower to do a front cross step by rotating his spine.
Next, we drilled this on the Follower’s back cross step: the Leader either stepping with Follower or just sending the Follower. For the Leader, his rotation is the top first, then bottom.
The Leader leads the turn from the Follower’s front cross step, then the Leader’s left foot side steps with her on the final Follower front cross step.
The Followers were to work on the S S Q Q S rhythm.
Leader: the ideal is to send the Follower and use her energy to unwind his torsion. His right hand needs to be in front of his sternum for this to work.
Follower: Every step counts. It’s like an engine. All steps need to be circular around the Leader. The Follower’s left arm changes as she goes around in the turn and the embrace gets closer or more open.
Exercise: Individually, we worked on the concept of our top driving our bottom. We did this with arms up and around, like holding a big fish bowl or pillow, and rotating our torso and experiencing how our free leg follows. We did this in both directions. We did this with our legs more out, and it would wrap around our standing supporting leg as our bodies rotated, setting us up well for the Leader to do his lapice.
Then we came back together and drilled some more with changing who is the center of the circle by doing yesterday’s Follower planeo while Leader walks around, then he stopped it, and then Leader sends her around in the turn in the same direction that she was planeoing. We did this clockwise and counter clockwise. We also played with the stop and changed the direction of the way the Follower was going (so planeo one way, stop, turn in the other direction).
END OF DAY 2
Earlier in the day, I decided to pick up lunch at Parilla Don Jorge on Villarroel 1201. There must have been some type of bizarre miscommunication, because I wanted something quick, so asked for a Morcipan (blood sausage sandwich), to which they responded some gibberish, which sounded to me in the negative, so I assumed meant they were out of the sandwich bread. So I asked for just a portion of Morcilla, and the server seemed to acknowledge the order. Well, when it was ready and they had already packed it, they charged me ARS $2400, which I found off-putting since the menu said that the Morcipan was ARS $400 and a portion was also ARS $400 and it seemed that the ARS$2400 was the most expensive thing on the menu. Whatever, I thought. I just hoped that when I got back to my apartment and opened the package, that it would contain 6 sausages. Well, the surprise was on me! When I opened the package, there was no Morcilla! There was actually no sausage at all! There were a few fillets of a white strange looking meat that I had no clue what it was. Well, I Google translated the receipt, and instead of “Morcilla” (blood sausage) – they actually gave me “Molleja” – sweetbreads! (pancreas!). I ate it anyway, and it was delicious, but I was pretty peeved that my rather simple order could get so messed up and end up much more expensive than I expected to spend on a quick lunch. So thumbs down, Parilla Don Jorge. I will not be going back any time soon or ever!
After training, I picked up a quick dinner at ShwarmaDa at Corrientes 5902, again, this time a pollo shwarma. It was good, very tasty and seemingly less salty than the carne I had the day before. Only set me back ARS$1170 (USD$4.10), though I did also have some babaganoush ARS$500 (USD $1.75). So with tip I spent ARS$2000 (USD $7).
October 26, 2022
Wednesday
Day 3 – Luciana Valle Intensivo A
We began with a review of yesterday’s material:
Followers: Dance with whole foot on the floor. Having the heel on the floor is a more natural step. Don’t overshoot your axis. The heels lift naturally when doing the ocho, and it’s not much of a lift, but just enough to pivot. Being on the toes a lot is very tiring on the calf, and the knee has to bend, which doesn’t look good. The dancer’s plumb line is behind the metatarsal. If the Follower’s weight is too far forward on the foot with heels very off the floor, you feel heavy on the Leader.
Leaders: The movement is from top to bottom. If you go forward on your toes, you turn less than if you were upright. The weight needs to be in the middle of the foot to get maximum range of motion in doing your spiral.
The alignment of the shoulders is with the foot when you are in axis.
We reviewed connection in Follower’s palms and fingers. Do not abandon your embrace. In dancing and taking our steps, we are growing and grounding, while using the palms when the Leader is going toward the Follower, and using the fingers when the Leader is going away from the Follower.
In continuing from yesterday, Maestra cleared up her terminology on what is a right turn and what is a left turn. Basically, it’s the direction of the circle around the center. So a right turn would be clockwise and a left turn is counterclockwise.
In doing Ochos, we are drawing lines when going in the opposite direction. When going the same direction, we are drawing circles.
We reviewed the planeos to turns, with Leader entering in the Follower’s front cross step to enrosque. Leader’s footwork is front, open, back of his free foot during his lapice.
In our warm-up dances, we were to also focus on the concept of the spiral, and moving from top down (from chest to feet), and the pivot, starting from down and going up up (pivoting in our feet, and our bodies up above spiraling as a consequence).
New subject: BOLEOS
There are two types of boleos: Linear and Circular. In our class, our focus is on Circular ones.
Boleos are either with the pivot (With Boleos) or opposite the pivot (Contra Boleos).
All boleos are a cut, and whip moves that are an interruption of the change in the direction of the previous move, such as to back from forward.
Follower: It’s a pure pivot to the max and rebounds and comes back.
Leader: Does maximum torque and rebounds and comes back.
In regular Boleos (With Boleos), the Leader’s top moves the Follower’s hips.
The free leg being truly free is a consequence of the standing leg being very strong and supportive. The bra line is where the body separates top to bottom, not in the arms -- that´s cheating (using the arms to keep the chest toward the Leader).
The key to boleos is the pivot of the standing leg -- Follower needs to keep the braline with the Leader, and keep her standing leg strong with LOTS of PIVOT at the foot.
We began our work on Contra Boleos, front and back, left and right.
As the Follower is going to the pivot, the Leader is going with her spiral, top to bottom motion, but faster. The Leader does one 90 degree step around the Follower in a curve in Contra Boleos. In stepping powerfully, the Leader should not go down. He needs to stop wholly and up. Follower: Do not flex in the knee, otherwise you will go down. Leader: Do not add anything with your top. It’s just a powerful step around the Follower. You are the engine of the Boleo.
Boleos are the easiest step to fake.
Followers: Try to sense the lead more. The motion is always spiral, leg into the ground, then leg comes up as spiral travels through the Follower’s body inside from top to bottom, which makes the leg comes up.
Leaders: The Contra Boleo has nothing to do with your embrace. The Follower is following your hips. It’s the Leader’s strong, powerful step around the Follower that leads the Contra Boleo. If the Leader’s top moves, it’s noisy to the Follower. The Leader should do less to get more of a response from the Follower.
Contra Boleos in close embrace shouldn’t be a problem if both Leader and Follower manage their axis well. Do not be too far forward. The Follower’s spiral is in her axis, so be straight up so it moves the hip and foot.
Regarding Maestra´s thoughts on boleo Follower technique, she believes the free leg needs to be really free, so it is OK that the legs open up a little bit (as opposed to the school of thought where the thighs need to be together and/or one knee has to be behind the other). The free leg hangs from the braline, so do not be tight with your knees together. She also believes a true boleo (not a lying, cheating one) will have a more circular shape as a consequence of the energy going down into the floor first and then the foot coming back up as a consequence of the spiral coming from her foot up the body and the freeness of the leg coming entirely from the hip down (as opposed to a linear up V shaped type of boleo where only the part of the leg below the knee comes up).
END OF MORNING SESSION
Contra Boleos are a return in the other direction contrally to the With (top to bottom).
With Boleos happen as you go circular and sharp because it’s a pure pivot.
Leader: Do not step too close to the Follower on the preparation step for the Contra Boleo, otherwise it will be difficult to control. Set up a good radius by leading the Follower into an ocho that is a little more away from you. The distance in the feet does not mean distance in the body/embrace.
Next, we returned to the exercise we did yesterday:
Exercise: Individually, we worked on the concept of our top driving our bottom. We did this with arms up and around, like holding a big fish bowl or pillow, and rotating our torso and experiencing how our free leg follows. We did this in both directions. We did this with our legs more out, and it would wrap around our standing supporting leg as our bodies rotated sharper and faster than yesterday, working on the feeling and muscle memory to set up the Followers to do Contra Boleos.
In our Contra Boleo work, Maestra taught it such that the Leader steps around the follower in an open step after his weight change. But she noticed that some Leaders were instead not doing the weight change and just doing a front cross step around the Follower, which works. Maestra pointed out and demonstrated that even doing a back cross step in a curve around the Follower is also possible to lead a Contra Boleo.
In all cases (whether Leader takes an open step, front cross step, or back cross step around the Follower to lead the Contra Boleo), we should push from our standing leg and the axis should be in the middle of the foot. We grow in our pivot, not down. When the Leader moves the Follower, it’s a pivot. When the Leader steps around the Follower, it’s a spiral. We combine these ideas with Boleos to make them juicier.
Boleos are a counter motion opposite the Follower’s pivot/hips.
We focused on doing Circular boleos, but if the Leader steps linearly (and not around the Follower), it’s more of a linear boleo. When the Leader steps circularly to lead the Contra Boleo, his step is 90 degrees around the Follower (so facing a clock at 12 o’clock, to step to 3 o’clock, to step to 6 o’clock, to step to 9 o’clock, etc.).
We also drilled doing Boleos from the Planeo, where the Leader would walk around the Follower, step, and then turn her hips the other way and lead the boleo by stepping around the Follower.
Follower: Do not add too much in doing the boleo. Let it pass through your body. It’s softer and more effective.
Leader: Have power in the legs, but let torso be soft, friendly, and welcoming, which allows the Follower to move.
It was a great class, though exhausting.
END OF DAY 3
Lunch was a couple of empandas from Brozziano. Interestingly, the price went up to ARS$110 per unit (USD $0.39).
Dinner was from Coto – I bought a prepacked green salad for ARS$250 (USD $0.88), and a prepackaged slab of vacio al spiedo (flank steak from the spit), for ARS $1900 (USD $6.67). That thing was honkin’ big, juicy and tasty. It was a whole kilo (2.2 lbs)! I had forgotten how truly delicious the beef is here in Argentina!
I’ve also been buying tomatoes, red bell peppers, lemons and bananas from the local veggie market, and it’s been super cheap and delicious!
October 27, 2022
Thursday
Day 4 – Luciana Valle Intensivo A
Maestra began with a review video of what we did so far during the previous three days: walking, connection, axis on foot, front crosses, back crosses, don’t bend the knee, the concept of the ongoing pivot, basic turns, planeos and the spiral from top to bottom, leading them from the Follower’s back cross step, the Leader playing with the hips of the Follower by moving them to different positions by pivoting the Follower in the planeo, the Leader’s lapice (his footwork is front, open, back while her footwork is back, open, front) on both sides. Added enrosque before the lapice, boleos work when the Leader walks around the Follower in planeo, stops Follower, and then Follower walks around Leader in a turn. Planeos into Boleo.
The 90 degree step is key to Leader’s step to lead the Contra Boleo. The Leader needs to pivot as he leaves his place, pivot as he goes, so his trailing foot pivots. Both feet of the Leader eventually pivot: First pivot is from the standing foot, second pivot is on the arriving foot.
This is also true of the Leader is leading the Contra Boleo with a forward front cross step or a back cross step. Pivot out and then step curved in. So left foot turns out to 11 o’clock, and then he steps curved in to 1 o’clock.
Maestra noticed that some dancers were doing two boleos in a row. She almost never teaches this because the lead often gets lazy without two clear steps around the Follower. So the lazy lead becomes more like a “Boxing Boleo” with the Leader just moving his top around, but keeping his feet remaining and not stepping, although there is a weight shift between his legs. This makes the Follower’s boleo linear. The Leader moves linearly in feet, but adds his torso to replace what he is supposed to be doing with this feet. This is lazy! In LV’s class, if you want to do 2 Boleos, do not be lazy! Take the two steps around the Follower!
After our review, we went on to the subject of the day: SACADAS
Sacadas are a figure where you can see the matrix of the dance, how the dance is built. The concept of the actor and receptor were introduced. So you can read and understand what is happening in the dance. We return to the concept of the compass (needle and pencil) with a clear center and a clear circle.
There are three legs in tango: a center (1 leg) and the circle (2 legs). In relation to the center, the Follower could have a forward cross step or back cross step. If the Leader goes around to the other side of the Follower, it is a modern open step with hip swivel.
In Sacadas, the Leader goes to the spot the Follower leaves by taking the space. He first sends the Follower with his top, then he adjusts his standing foot, and then takes with his free leg to the space the Follower is leaving. The Leader does an open step with his adjustments while the Follower does her front cross step.
In Sacadas, both dancers are walking in the same direction. The Leader takes the Follower’s room, so don’t send the Follower toward you. The Leader should send the Follower slightly more out. The Follower footwork is still in a curve around the Leader. The Leader’s hips should face the Follower.
There are three parts to the Leader’s lead:
(1) Leader’s top opens
(2) Leader’s hips face Follower
(3) Leader takes an open step to take the trailing spot of Follower.
The Follower should always do circular ochos, and in Sacadas more than ever have a lot of rotation in the body to keep the top with the Leader. Don’t lean forward on the front cross step, since it’s circular around the Leader and her top starts with the Leader and the rest of her bottom comes around in the spiral (he could also do a planeo).
END OF MORNING SESSION
We continued building the structure of the Sacada.
One Leader error is he can end up pigeon-toed when he does his Sacada. To correct this, the Leader really needs to send the Follower in a turn, such that his top motion needs to travel down his body through his hip to his feet (it’s his spiral). So for the Leader, it is Top, Bottom, Foot. The movement is like the Bon Bon Principle for Leaders.
We were to practice a micro movement:
Follower’s front cross step to Leader’s open step. Leader has to be able to stop this motion like he changes his mind. We were to try this on both sides. The Leader should explore playing with the direction of who is going around who.
Next, we built on the regular sacadas, linking them (Leader and Follower, open step and cross step).
If doing two Sacadas in a row, the first sacada is on her front cross step with his open step, and the second sacada is on her open step with his front cross step.
The Leader maintains the direction, but changes the relationship of the actors/receptors, starting with Leader being actor and Follower being receptor, and on the second sacada, the Follower being the actor and the Leader being the receptor.
The Leader needs to step farther away from the Follower to lead the Follower sacada into the Leader’s front cross step on her open step sacada into the Leader’s trailing space.
Do not do it fast like a chain. Otherwise you will feel like you are falling. There is a vacuuming feeling in leading the Follower to take her sacada.
The Follower’s connection in palms and fingers are crucial in Sacadas, so Follower’s left arm needs to slide as the Leader comes closer or farther.
Next, we tried doing these Sacadas on the other side.
We could do:
· Same direction, no change in actor or receptor (2 Leader Sacadas in a row)
· Same direction, change in actor and receptor (1 Leader Sacada followed by 1 Follower Sacada)
· Different direction, no change in actor or receptor (2 Leader Sacadas in a row)
· Different direction, change in actor and receptor (1 Leader Sacada followed by 1 Follower Sacada)
Follower’s Technique:
Tango is a world of surprise because you don’t know what the Leader will lead. Every step is your dance. The Follower’s open step is still a curve around the Leader. The Follower should feel the Leader’s top torsion and follow it in her upper body, then rotate her (side) open step around the Leader. Do not fall into your step. It’s a spiral. Take beautiful steps. In tango, the Follower doesn’t think what’s coming next. Brain switches off.
The Leader can lead a Sacada from Zero (0) by stepping a little farther away from Follower and inviting her to step into him.
HOMEWORK:
We were to do different Sacadas: Leader front cross to Follower front cross. In cross feet and parallel feet, same or different actor & receptor, same and different direction.
This was a very challenging class, especially for the Leaders.
Dinner was another salad and more of the vacio.
October 28, 2022
Friday
Day 5 – Luciana Valle Intensivo A
We began with Maestra reviewing by showing us what we did previously. We began with continuing to work on our Sacada technique and reviewing all the options:
· Same direction, same actor and receptor
· Same direction, different actor and receptor
· Different direction, same actor and receptor
· Different direction, different actor and receptor
We tried this on both sides.
For a long time, people did three main Sacadas:
· Leader’s or Follower’s forward cross
· Leader’s or Follower’s open step
· Leader’s or Follower’s back cross
Maestra showed us many different sacadas and pointed out how they all required different changes of the embrace.
We were to try the four options to each direction to understand that there are many Sacada possibilities.
Then we worked on back sacadas for both Leader and Follower.
In our simple sacada of two sacadas, one on the Follower’s front cross step by the Leader, and the next by the Follower to the Leader’s trailing left foot of his front cross step, the Follower adjusts her body and then she goes in a side step, not a forward step.
Leaders should think of it as walking around the Follower’s center. Leader: always remember that you dance your dance, dance what you can do; so it’s your responsibility to get better (ha ha).
Next, we combined Sacadas with Planeos.
The Leader should walk farther away to create the Sacada, which the Leader can start either with parallel feet or crossed feet.
In the Follower’s turn, the Leader needs to create distance to lead the Follower’s sacada.
Next, we combined Sacadas, Boleos, and Planeos.
Everything we have learned so far has the same structure underneath.
New Subject: FOLLOWER’S BACK SACADA
Because we don’t see the Follower’s Back Sacada often and we have to learn how to do it right.
In the Follower’s Back Sacada, the Follower is the actor and the Leader is the receptor. The idea of the pivot and spiral still apply. The Leader leads the Follower doing a parallel walk around the Follower. Then the Leader overturns the Follower, leading a deep pivot by having huge torque in his spine to pivot the Follower. The Follower needs to slide her left arm to allow space for the Leader to move. If the Leader is much taller than her, she can slide her arm down to his waist. The Leader takes a step around the Follower. Follower does spiral starting from her top to her bottom overpivot, fully collects, and then back steps.
For Follower´s Back Sacada technique, she has to really pivot A LOT, keeping her legs together with no flying leg out. She needs to keep her braline to the Leader as much as possible, and yet be responsive in how her arms are held since there is changeability in the embrace for Back Sacadas. Her right arm needs to be connected to her muscles in the right side of her back because that is the arm where she will feel the Leader leading the pivot; if there is no connection to her back in this arm, her arms and upper body will absorb the lead and she will not pivot around enough. After her overpivot, there is a small adjustment to get even more pivot. She sends her leg out first, and then her body follows (leg and body do not go out at the same time in one blocky piece).
The Follower must wait for the Leader to tell her which step she will do or where to go, but it’s her responsibility to take the step and GO.
END OF MORNING SESSION
More on Follower’s Technique: The connection in the arms and hands is the Follower’s responsibility. The palms stay there and need to have tone when the Leader leads the Follower’s pivot. She should not absorb the lead in her right hand. Immediately after the Follower’s pivot, her left arm needs to come into the Leader’s back. The Leader isn’t doing anything in his right arm to help the Follower around. For the Follower, it is a normal back step. The Leader receives on his open step trailing foot.
Follower: Leader’s top moves her hip. So if he torques a lot up above, she needs to pivot a lot down below. He needs to torque with a lot of energy. Follower should not anticipate.
The most important thing is the preparation step, which allows you to be in position for what you are about to do. Be sure the Follower is in maximum pivot, so the Leader’s step needs to be curved so the Follower has enough torsion to be able to step through.
Different preparation and reception:
Follower’s Sacada of back cross to Leader’s trailing foot on his front cross step around the Follower.
Leader needs to completely do the preparation (torque in his body to lead Follower to overpivot) before leading her to step in her Sacada. Follower’s left arm also needs to be in the correct position, so her arm joints need to be super relaxed.
Do it by pieces first until you get it in your body, then do it fluidly. Otherwise, you will build bad habits if you rush through.
Follower’s overpivot: do not waste energy by sending out the feet in advance.
The Follower also has a small adjustment of an extra pivot before stepping in her Back Sacada to get in the optimal position to step.
The Leader steps around the Follower, so she steps. He does not pull her to step.
Next, we added the Follower Back Sacada to what we did in the morning, Follower Back Cross Sacada into Leader’s open step.
Leader’s back Sacada on Follower’s open step. Whatever you can do in front cross, you can do in back cross.
From the first or second day when both dancers trailing feet are near each other, he can collect, pivot more, and do a Back Sacada instead.
It was a really exhausting day physically and mentally, especially for the Leaders.
END OF DAY 5
I cannot say enough good things about the LV class assistants. They were all wonderful, and there was a noticeably larger cast of rotating assistants, with some just for either the morning or afternoon sessions. So it was really awesome to be able to dance with such a large number of assistants, who are all professional dancers or teachers (some internationally) or both. They were all very, very nice, happy and enthusiastic and some of them had extremely strong English so could communicate their corrections with detailed nuance.
*****
After class, I was dog tired, and I promised myself that after every Intensivo, I would go to Maossage at the Abasto Coto lobby and get a massage, so that’s what I did. Since it’s first come first serve, I had to wait 90 minutes until a slot opened up. That’s OK because I wanted to go to Tango Imagen just around the corner to do some shoe shopping.
Tango Imagen (Anchorena 606)
Sadly, Adrian was out of town, and his sister-in-law was minding the store. She is as nice and sweet as can be, but I preferred to wait until Adrian got back from his vacation before buying since he knows my shopping style. LOL (generally buy out the whole store in size 36).
Maossage at Abasto Coto
After perusing the aisles at Coto, my massage time finally arrived! I ended up getting a 30-minute body massage (ARS $3,000 = USD $10.52), followed by a 30-minute foot massage (ARS $3,000 = USD $10.52). The massage was extremely powerful, and with each of the masseuse’s move, my body was screaming in pain. And in the feet, too. But the feeling afterward was of total relaxation and peace. I really need to get massages more often, because it’s been way too long and I am sure he felt it in my body and feet!
Dinner from Coto
Dinner was groceries from Coto (2 empandas, beet salad, pasta, a slice of pizza, 2 morcilla, gosh that sounds like a lot of food but I didn’t eat it all in one go, and it only came out to ARS $1320 = USD $4.63).
No comments:
Post a Comment