Luciana Valle Tango Reunion Weekend St. Paul, Minnesota (Triune Temple)
Friday, December 2, 2022
While I was here for the LV weekend, I had a few hours beforehand to finally get a tour at the Orfield Labs, which I’ve been wanting to visit for the last three years! I was not disappointed.
This place was truly amazing. I had no idea of the rich sound history and the other important architectural/industrial design work that is conducted here. I got to see the sound studios where some legends (Prince, Bob Dylan) and legendary songs were recorded, a reverberation chamber (which totally blew my mind), the Anechoic chamber (of course), and enjoyed all the different artwork on the walls. It made me want to be an industrial design engineer!
I got a chance to stay in the Anechoic Chamber, "The Quietest Place on Earth", for about 30 minutes. This is the -10 db room – so total silence and then some! The lights were also turned off, so it was pitch black. Basically 30 minutes of total deprivation of two senses (seeing and hearing). I found it to be heavenly. But then again, I think silence is the most beautiful sound in the world, and absolute silence absolutely beautiful. Though there were chairs to sit on, I started sitting but midway I decided to stand to see if I would lose balance. I didn’t; I felt rock solid the entire time. I loved it, though it did get a tad chilly after a while. I don’t know if it was because it was 20 degrees outside, or if it was just a consequence of sitting or standing doing absolutely nothing. I did move my head and neck around, and the sound from the movement of my muscle fibers and neck bones could be distinctly heard.
I highly recommend a tour to the Orfield Labs if you are in the area, which needs to be scheduled and paid for in advance since they only do the tours as their work schedule allows. Anyone with interest in sound production, architectural/interior/industrial design would find this place fascinating!
Now, back to the work at hand, the LV weekend:
Power and Connection in the Embrace
This class would be the most important class to start our weekend. It is a fundamentals class, and super important.
We began with walking on our own, forward and back, starting with our heels together and toes slightly apart. The weight of the hips are between the metatarsal and heel. Our shoulders are toward the front part of our hips, on top of the hip bones, and the body is a little forward, but do not lean forward too much. Toes are still free, but do not move axis to the front part of the foot. Put heels on the ground to center the axis.
We should ground and grow, getting taller in our steps. We explored moving the axis inside of the foot. Be aware of where your axis is on each step. Then take the step, undoing the flex in our knees. The flex in our knees should be tiny, and our knees should be soft but not bent. 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. In the forward walk, the axis goes from the middle of the foot to the middle of the foot using the whole foot on the floor.
We practiced forward walking on our own, taking two beats for every step to focus on each concept: ground, grow, step, ground, grow, collect.
There is only one working leg at all times in tango.
We were to pay attention to articulating the foot.
In our walk backwards, the Leader’s and Follower’s work are different.
Follower: Do not go to the toes. Move the axis toward the back of the foot. Ground and grow. Start to move in the direction you are going. Do not fall into your step. Push off the floor.
I DID NOT WRITE DOWN THE DETAIL FOR LEADER’S BACK STEP
Then, in partnership we worked these concepts in forward walking and backward walking.
In tango, the embrace is uneven with one side open and one side close.
The Leader’s right hand is in front of his sternum even if Follower goes around in a turn. His right hand is always in front of himself regardless of whether the embrace is open or close.
The Follower’s connection is opposite to the direction they are dancing.
· When he walks forward, she pushes toward him 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, and her left fingers pull against his right arm, assuming open embrace.
Leading is not moving the Follower. It is about moving yourself, propelling and going, no matter the size of the step, even the small ones. The Leader goes by pushing with his standing leg. The Follower answers with her connection and going down into her legs. She should ground, go, and grow, staying with the Leader. The Leader needs to feel where the Follower’s legs are, so she should be sure to push and grow.
We refined our work with focusing on connection (how Follower pushes/pulls with her hands on the Leader). The Follower goes in the same direction as the Leader, and moves with him as a consequence. The Follower’s job is to maintain the connection, so she should be very active and aware in how her left and right hands push and pull against the Leader when he is going toward her or away from her. 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.
Next, we explored the relationship of the bend of the knees and the length of the steps. We began in partnership with the Leader leading side steps that are different in size: small, medium, and large. We noticed that the knee flexes a little in taking small side steps, then has a bigger flex when taking medium side steps, and flexes a lot when taking large side steps. This is all very natural in side steps. However, even though everyone does perfect, natural knee flexes in side steps, most people have an incorrect amount of flex in doing front and back steps, usually having too much flex. So even in doing front and back steps, we should have the same relation of flex in the knee to the size of the steps as they have in side steps.
We danced one tango, just paying attention to walking, using different size steps. Have good posture to allow you to be comfortable with your partner. Knees flex a little; do not bend the knee too much, but keep the bend small. The Leader’s flex is a consequence of the size of the step: if the Leader takes a big step, there is more flex in the knee. Leaders: never lock your knee. Just push from the standing foot/leg and cover the space. If the Leader takes a smaller step, he can have less power in his legs. The Leader pushes the floor to grow. Feedback is in the Follower’s embrace. She responds with her step (answering with her legs). The Follower should have good connection in her embrace but not tension.
We drilled these ideas by dancing, taking small steps, medium steps, and large steps, all in any direction, to see and feel what the differences were. Move like you have rollers on the feet. Take the step before you lose power of the heel as you move forward. Undo the flex after stepping to ground and grow.
Embrace: Leader’s right hand is in front of his sternum. There can be a change in his relation with the Follower, but his left hand / her right hand should be at the shoulder level of the shorter dancer.
Followers: Dance with whole foot on the floor. Having the heel on the floor is a more natural step. Don’t overshoot your axis. Being on the toes a lot is very tiring on the calf, and the knee has to bend, which doesn’t look good. If the Follower’s weight is too far forward on the foot with heels very off the floor, she will feel heavy on the Leader.
We drilled walking, Leader with power and Follower with good feedback in her legs.
Leader: Taking large steps does not mean stepping fast. Put more power in your standing leg to increase size and undoing flex for reception.
Follower: The Follower goes from center of foot to center of the foot. If her step is too long, she is arriving on the metatarsal. If she is too far forward, she will go too long since she is taking with her free leg, and she will go down. Keep heels on the floor, otherwise Follower will look like she is sitting and on tippy toes.
Next, we tried the Leader doing one push with three weight changes, basically doing the Q Q S rhythm in one step. The Follower will feel one acceleration, and will answer with accelerating. The Leader moves himself, he doesn’t move the Follower. If the Leader moves himself correctly, the Follower will move as a consequence. The Follower’s feedback is a mirror of what she gets from the Leader. If she gets power, she should answer with power in her legs.
END OF CLASS
Practica afterwards. Everyone was so nice, and many remembered me from my past visits. There were several students from quite far away (Iowa! And me LOL). Skill level ranged from new to excellent, and there were a lot of women Leaders, some very skilled. I had a very nice time.
Saturday, December 3, 2022
Luciana Valle Tango Reunion Weekend St. Paul, Minnesota (Triune Temple)
Pivots & Spirals: The Twisted Hearts of Ochos and Planeos
Yesterday, we worked on the foundation for the whole weekend. Today, we continue from yesterday, so classes will have progression using materials from the previous class (walking, connection, the standing v free leg, walk quality and power, connection in the Follower’s hands, etc.)
Today, our work is on pivots and spirals, to the ochos, and to planeos.
We began with the definition of pivots v spirals.
In the Follower’s disassociation:
Pivot: movement is a bottom motion to top
Spiral: movement is a top motion to the bottom, which comes around as a consequence.
PIVOTS
To understand this concept, we began with the Leader doing a side step. As he pushes to collect, he changes feet, connecting with torsion of his top around his spine, not his whole body. The Leader’s torsion is inside the embrace. The Follower only moves her bottom, her top stays with the Leader. The Follower motion is down to up, all the way to the braline, which tries to stay fixed with the Leader.
Exercise: In partnership, Leader stays fixed, rotating his spine to lead the Follower to pivot back and forth. The Follower has to move. The Leader gives her direction, but she has to actively anchor her standing foot and let her free leg go. She should use the connection in her hands appropriately.
The Leader’s right hand is always in front of his sternum, but adjusts the orientation as the Follower pivots form the close side to open side.
The Follower moves inside of the embrace, so her right arm needs to be relaxed in the joint so she can easily move inside the embrace. The ribs belong to the legs, as her pivot goes up all the way to her braline.
Leader: Use your legs to push into the ground to get power in your torsion.
Next, we worked on connecting the pivot with the ocho.
Leader does side step, collects, torques, does another side step, collects, torques, etc.
Follower steps, then pivots, steps, then pivots, etc.
Follower: Take the step with power and actively pivot. Undo the flex of the leg coincident with pivoting. The free leg is together at the end of the pivot and grow, which will give you stability. The hips are lighter when the Follower is up (not bending her knee). Upper body torsion is toward Leader. Ground and grow. Move axis inside the foot.
In partnership, we did Follower back crosses and forward crosses.
Follower: In pivoting, the axis is in the middle. Her bottom goes one way, while her top goes the other way. The leg wants to go opposite (like a pepper grinder). Do not drive the pivot.
Leader: Your job is to provide a very clear lead for the Follower, maintaining clear connection, having a powerful step, and having clear torsion and clear direction.
In partnership, we did back and forward ochos, moving together. Here, the Leader’s collection and torsion is one move. The Leader gets power for the torsion in his legs.
Follower: If you lean forward, your pivot will feel heavy. Use the metatarsal to pivot, but weight is between the metatarsal and the heel, not toward the toes. In theory, the Follower should be able to pivot with her toes off the floor (though we did not try to do this).
For the more experienced Followers, her ocho step motion is a continuous drawing of curves, like stepping and drawing a “J” or a “C” when doing an ocho, rather than stepping in a straight line. We should work on the ocho as curves, sending the whole body in the curve, not just the leg/foot. Think curves: in the leg/foot and body.
In partnership, we worked on this concept doing back and forward ochos in the line of dance. Leader maintains his right hand in front of the sternum, but allows the follower to slide in and out of the embrace. In doing ochos, Follower needs to pay attention to keep axis fully vertical, and pivoting with feet first (instead of hips), and keeping the 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 around his spine 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 he were trying to saw the back of a tree in front of him with a piece of string [this is my description, not maestra’s]), 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 and back).
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, and she should make the effort to maintain her top orientation to the Leader. 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. 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).
Follower’s pivot goes from down to up, all the way to the braline.
SPIRALS
Motion is from top to bottom, from Follower’s braline to the standing leg.
To understand this, individually, we took side steps so that our weight was on the right. We rotated our top, and our free leg goes out on the opposite side, then comes around as a consequence.
In partnership, the Leader leads the Follower’s forward ocho, but stops before collecting in his step, then he starts to walk around the Follower. The Follower keeps her top toward the Leader, and her hips will come around when she can’t torque her upper body any more. Here the Follower is the center and the Leader is the circle.
All circular situations in tango have the same structure underneath of the compass (needle and pencil), where there is one center (person remains fixed in one place) and one circle (person walks around the other person). In our exercise, the Follower is the needle, and the Leader is the pencil going around her in a perfect circle. When the Follower’s bottom comes around to meet her top, the movement is over. The Leader’s step needs to be around the Follower, in perfect equidistant around the Follower. He should have energy in his steps as the circle is the engine of the move. His steps are all forward or all back in going around the Follower (no pivots, not back or forward cross steps). In his walk, the Leader should go toward the Follower’s spiral (her standing leg), but if he gets confused and walks in the other direction, she will just unwind the spiral and then rewind it as he walks around.
Circular Boleos: Harmonious Contra Movements
There are two types of boleos: Linear and Circular. In our class, our focus was on Circular ones. Boleos are either with the pivot (With Boleos) or opposite the pivot (Contra Boleos). In our class, our focus is on Contra ones. 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.
We began with an exercise: Leader leads Follower forward ocho, stops but does not collect, then walks around the Follower. The Follower’s top remains fixed with the Leader for as long as possible, then bottom comes around when she can’t torque anymore. On the close side, the Leader walks backward. Follower should do beautiful, curved ochos. Be smooth. How to step after the ocho: very clearly to go from pivot to spiral (going from ocho to planeo). The Leader can add torsion in his spine to change the direction of the Follower’s hips from back, to face him, to forward. The Follower should keep the action suspended as long as she can until her hips must come around as a consequence.
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.
Next exercise: Top motion, then bottom. In partnership, have both situations happening, at one pivot, spiral. The Leader leads the Follower back ocho then does one side step around Follower with power (fast) 90 degrees. 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 side step around the Follower in a curve to lead a Contra Boleo.
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. The Leader leads the Follower’s pivot as preparation to do a powerful spiral. The Leader’s side step is 90 degrees around the Follower, and he should not let Follower step/complete her back ocho step. He should be sure her hips have already passed and she is in her full pivot, then he side steps 90 degrees around the Follower. The Leader’s step is powerful, but everything else is gentle. We tried this on both sides.
The Follower needs to step circularly and with power, and pivots with power to build energy in the system so the Leader can step appropriately.
Leader: If you get dizzy or confused about where to step, remember to always do your 90 degree side step to where the Follower’s back ocho step would go if she was allowed to complete it.
Since some Leaders had problems with doing side steps 90 degrees, we backed up and independently, with feet heels together and soles slightly apart, with our weight on the right foot, we stepped 90 degrees to the right, 4 times to get around in a full circle. We also tried this on the other side with our weight on the left. When the Leader side steps circularly to lead the Contra Boleo, his side 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.). The Leader should not invade the Follower’s space in his 90 degree side step around the Follower.
Back to our boleo work, none of the lead is in the embrace. All the lead is in the step around. The Follower is following the Leader’s 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. Have power in the legs, but let torso be soft, friendly, and welcoming, which allows the Follower to move.
For the Follower, her boleo is a return. The Leader’s step drives the Follower’s boleo. Follower needs to be present in the embrace, but translate the leader’s step around with her hips. She should not add too much in doing the boleo. Let it pass through the body. It’s softer and more effective.
Leader: can do different qualities of stepping to get a stronger/softer response from the Follower.
Follower’s top should be in opposition to her bottom to create the space and opportunity/possibility for a boleo. Do not move flat, otherwise you cut off that option for the Leader.
This can be done in close embrace, too. So don’t move in a block; have a lot of twist. 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.
The Leader can play with each part of the boleo, to see that she’s clearly following the Leader.
Next, we linked all these concepts together: doing forward ochos, back ochos, planeos and boleos. The Leader can go from leading the planeo, pivoting the Follower, walking around the Follower the other way to pivot the Follower, then doing a powerful side step 90 degrees around the Follower to lead a contra boleo.
Milonga en el Alma @ Four Seasons Dance Studio (1637 Hennepin Ave, Mpls MN 55403; $12)
I’m not gonna lie. The bed felt quite comfy and I had a hard time getting out of it after an afternoon of tango training and just an okay dinner at Zait & Za'atar. But I mustered up the energy to attend and arrived around 9:45pm. I wasn’t disappointed! It was slightly less crowded than when I was last here three years ago, but I danced more than I ever have on its super comfy wooden dance floor. Many of the attendees were class students, and other dancers were just super friendly, as the community is. I had a great time, and didn’t leave until almost the very end!
Sunday, December 4, 2022
Sacada-Spiced Tango Turns
Today’s focus is the center and circle, rotating the partner versus traveling the partner. The topic is turns with sacadas.
The turn is the mother of all circular situations. The center and circle situations are: changes of direction; ganchos; sacadas; boleos.
(1) In the turn, the Leader is the center and the Follower is the circle.
(2) In the planeo, the Follower is the center and the Leader is the circle.
(3) When dancers go around each other, both the Leader and Follower are the circle.
(4) In shared-axis turns, both the Leader and Follower are the center.
We mostly do (1) with the Leader the center and the Follower the circle.
Leader leads Follower to the cross; pivots her to do a right foot front cross step to the close side of the embrace. Leader does sacada with his left foot to her trailing left foot.
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 after his adjustment while the Follower does her front cross step.
In Sacadas, both dancers are walking in the same direction. The Leader is taking the Follower’s room/space (he is walking around her), so he shouldn’t send the Follower toward or too near himself; he should send the Follower slightly more out and away in her front cross step so that he has room and she is the correct position for him to do the sacada comfortably. The Follower’s 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 bottom comes around as a consequence so hips face Follower (thus, he has a slight foot adjustment/small pivot)
(3) Leader takes a sacada step, which is an open step to take the trailing foot of Follower.
Then he transfers weight so that he is in front of her.
The Leader moves his top first, then his bottom comes around as a consequence with his standing foot pivoting a little, and then he moves his free leg to do the sacada. The Leader’s pivot is at the end as a consequence of his bottom coming around to meet his top.
We tried this doing the left turn and right turn. The right turn is when the Leader is the center and the Follower is going to the right around the Leader. The left turn is when the Leader is the center and the Follower is going to the left around the Leader.
The Follower needs to step circularly around the Leader.
After the Leader steps in his sacada, the Follower should spiral to face the Leader. The pivot is at the end as a consequence of her hips coming around to meet her top.
Leader: Move the standing leg (pivoting) first, and then move the sacada leg. You have more time than you think. The Leader’s pivot is at the end as a consequence of his bottom coming around to meet his top. The Leader’s pivot to the right in his standing leg is from noon to 1pm. Leader should move his top, then his bottom, then move the leg down in projection when doing his sacada. He should keep his pelvis back, like sitting. So for him it is top, bottom, leg, travel.
The Follower’s trailing leg is completely free. After the Leader does the take, he travels to the spot the Follower has left.
The Leader’s weight transfer is at the same time of the Follower’s weight transfer.
Follower: The Leader gives the direction of her pivot and angle relation of the Leader’s top and Follower’s bottom is an amplification. This is the Bon Bon Theory in action. 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. The Follower’s motion of the pivot is her’s, going from little to big. If the Leader does a lot of torsion, the Follower needs to do a very big pivot. Be active in your pivot. The Follower is the one walking around the Leader, so have energy in your walk so the Leader can have power in his step.
We backed up a little since the lead for the Follower to pivot versus the lead for her to step was a little unclear. Exercise: Leader leads the Follower to pivot versus to travel. He leads the pivot by rotating his spine around his back versus moving the Follower to step around him.
Back to our work, at the moment of the Sacada, the Leader’s hips need to face the Follower, so his is a perfect open step. The Leader’s foot adjustment is a consequence to the spiral in his top.
We tried our initial step on the other side, with the Follower’s left foot forward cross step to the open side of the embrace and the Leader’s right leg Sacada of her trailing right foot.
Then we went back to the initial side, continuing after facing each other, the Leader sends the Follower to do a side step of her left foot clockwise around the Leader; the Leader does a forward sacada with his right foot to the Follower’s trailing right foot.
The Leader walks to where the Follower was. Each step is separate.
The Follower is the power/engine in the step since she is going around the Leader.
The Follower should take circular steps around the Leader, even on her side step, so all steps are a nice curve around the Leader. 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.
The Follower’s turn has a tendency to pull her in, so always think center center center, and if she needs to adjust back up to axis, do it at the point of the pivot. 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).
The Follower can check to maintain the axis in place at her pivots; the Leader should check every time he collects, to think up and center.
Call and Response: Leaders and Followers Sacadas
The concept of the actor and receptor were introduced.
Actor: the person doing the Sacada.
Receptor: the person receiving the Sacada.
Our work involved playing with that idea, changing the relationship of who is the actor and who is the receptor, when doing two sacadas in a row, always starting with our initial sacada step where the Leader is the actor and Follower is receptor as he does a forward open step sacada of her the trailing left foot of her right foot front cross step around the Leader to the close side of the embrace.
After our first sacada, the Leader pivots away, then steps front cross around the Follower a little away, and leads the Follower to step into his trailing foot (Follower’s left foot sacada to the Leader’s trailing left foot as he steps right foot front cross around and a little away from the Follower). In the Follower sacada, she should get the vacuum sensation from the Leader’s lead of her forward step. He needs to step away to create a little distance to have the vacuum sensation.
If doing two Sacadas in a row, the first sacada is on her front cross step with his open step, and the second sacada (the Follower sacada) is her open step to the trailing foot of 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 Follower adjusts foot that is a consequence of the circular step before she does her sacada.
Do not do it fast like a chain. Otherwise you will feel like you are falling. You have more time than you think in tango.
The Follower’s connection in palms and fingers are crucial in Sacadas, and is her responsibility. The Follower’s left hand/connection needs to slide as the Leader comes closer or farther. She should not be disconnected in her embrace. Do not fall in your forward step, and use the whole foot to step. The heel and metatarsal pushes in the same amount. Ground, grow and then go.
Leader: the Sacada foot goes exactly where the Follower left. He has soft contact with her. There are two Leader pivots: (1) right before the take as his hips come around to follow his top; (2) at the Sacada after his foot lands as he takes the Follower’s space.
The Sacada is to the free, trailing foot, not in between the two feet. Be clear in going for the free foot/leg.
In both these sacadas, the turn is to the right.
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 where Leader is actor/Follower receptor)
· Same direction, change in actor and receptor (1 Leader Sacada followed by 1 Follower Sacada, where Leader is actor/Follower receptor, then Follower is actor/Leader receptor)
· Different direction, no change in actor or receptor (2 Leader Sacadas in a row where Leader is actor/Follower receptor)
· Different direction, change in actor and receptor (1 Leader Sacada followed by 1 Follower Sacada, where Leader is actor/Follower receptor, then Follower is actor/Leader receptor)
Follower’s Technique:
When the Leader leads the turn, her steps are spirals. Do not rush, otherwise you will kill the Leader’s timing. Quality of step should not change. The standing leg has to do the rotation.
Next, we added the Follower sacada at the change of direction. The Follower’s right foot sacada to Leader’s trailing left foot on his right foot side step. SOMETHING WEIRD ABOUT MY NOTES HERE.
There are four options after our usual first sacada, which is at the Follower’s open step. The Leader was to try leading the four different options to each direction to understand that there are many Sacada possibilities. This was challenging for the Leaders to lead. The Followers were to do their good pivot, spiral, turns technique.
This was a very challenging class, especially for the Leaders.
END OF CLASS
There was a lovely party afterwards at one student’s home, with all the class participants and volunteers invited. Empanadas and salad were provided and everything else was potluck. The food was plentiful and delicious, and the conversations and company delightful, and the setting divine!
I find the St. Paul / Minneapolis tango community to be super friendly and very skilled overall, which is impressive. Apparently, when Maestra is in town, many students book privates. It definitely shows, as the community is not massive, but I sensed a very clear improvement in skill.
Maestra used to visit yearly prepandemic, and as things normalize the plan is to return to somewhat regular visits. I will be sure to clear my calendar for those visits!
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