October 21, 2023
Saturday
Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The peso has tanked even more from just six months ago when I was here last year. At the time of this writing, the exchange rate is USD$1 = 1,000 ARS. Yup. You read that right. Unbelievable! A year ago it was USD$1 = 300 ARS. So even with inflation being more than 100%, I find the things cheaper than in prior years. For example, I noticed that KitKats were about the equivalent of USD$0.40 whereas they were about USD$0.80 a year ago. Subte rides are 80 pesos (=USD$0.08) whereas they were =USD$0.22 a year ago. So for tourists, it’s an extreme bargain to come visit right now.
First thing I did was go to the local variety store to get a veggie trolley (ARS 9,000 = USD9) since I forgot my usual backpack and was going to buy quite a bit to stock up for my visit. I felt very local after that as I made my way to Coto and the local veggie market, where I spent ARS 18,000 = USD $18 for a ton of food, enough to last me the next three days at least.
Abasto Milonga (1500 pesos) with lesson beforehand (separate charge of 1500 pesos) by Roberto Riobo and his assistant Maria. I really wanted to go to this lesson, because Roberto was one of my teachers in San Francisco and organized the first Tango tour to Buenos Aires that I went on.
The lesson taught was a basic one, starting with walking, and then doing the turn. The sequence was the 8 count basic, only instead of doing it linearly, he turned it. It was a good class, and it was a pleasure just to see him again.
I stayed for the milonga, and had a very nice time dancing with the locals.
Then I popped over the La Verduleria (2,000 pesos) at La Maleva since Jorge Frias, one of the Intensivo class assistants, was teaching. I missed the lesson as it was a role switching one, but I did stay for the practica for a little while.
Afterward I was feeling a bit hungry, so stopped by a chain, BIG PIZZA (Sanchez de Bustamante 511 in Amalgro, just down the street from La Maleva) for their empanadas (300 each, about USD$0.30). I was surprised at how good they were, with an excellent filling to dough ratio, freshly baked and hot. So big thumbs up for Big Pizza empanadas!
Sunday
October 22, 2023
Buenos Aires, Argentina
In the Footsteps of Dictators walking tour by Elise via Airbnb experiences ($30). I had taken another tour years ago, guided by Elise and found her to be an excellent guide. And I thought there was no better way to spend Election Day to go on this was a very interesting tour. It was awesome and I highly recommend it, especially if you know very little about this part of Argentina’s history.
Afternoon Milonga at El Beso (1500 pesos)
The lesson was very good. The milonga was excellent. It’s a nice dance floor and a lot of the folks are international tango tourists, though there were some locals as well.
After the milonga and as I made my way home. I was feeling a little peckish so stopped at Costumbres Argentinas (a chain, they are all over BsAs) on Corrientes in Villa Crespo, and it turns out that the one closest to my Airbnb is open 24 hours – a huge plus, although their empanadas and baked goods are only average at best (cheap though, empanadas are only 300 pesos, about USD $0.30).
During the evening I had to do my day job, and thankfully technology cooperated well so everything was fine.
October 23, 2023
Monday
Day 1 – Luciana Valle Intensivo A
I was thrilled to see that our group was the maximum size, ~25 people split between Leaders and Followers. This is my third time taking Intensivo A (2009, 2022, 2023).
We are working on FUNDAMENTALS, foundational work.
In the morning session, we did a lot of warm-up dances, working specifically on paying attention to our axis, pivots and spirals.
When we dance, we should have the axis in the middle of our foot. The plumb line of the axis is in the middle of the foot. Our toes are free. We should ground and grow, and then go. When you land in your step, undo the flex in the knee to collect. These foundational principles apply to both Leaders and Followers in moving forward. We should push without losing the power of the heel.
Undo the flex naturally undoes the bend of the leg to bring the free leg to collect.
Followers: Keep heels on the floor at all times, always.
We drilled this, paying attention to the quality of the walk.
The embrace is the connection between us.
The Leaders lead by moving himself, not by moving the Follower. The Leader’s power comes from his standing leg; he should push from it.
The Follower should give good feedback. If the Leader leads a small step, using small energy, she should step the same way. If he gives more power, she should step longer.
For ladies who Lead, the embrace can’t be between the two dancers.
Connection is mostly the Follower’s responsibility.
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.
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 refined our work with focusing on connection (meaning how the Follower pushes/pulls with her hands on the Leader). The connection in the embrace is opposite of the intention given. It is not “with”, as that would absorb.
The Follower’s connection in her right hand is usually good, but the connection with her left hand is usually not as good.
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, and her left fingers against his right arm, assuming open embrace.
We drilled this connection in just walking, with the Leader leading different size steps: small, normal, and big. The Follower will adjust the size of her steps to the Leader, feeding back what she gets. As the Leader does tiny, then huge, then tiny steps, he should be able to control the move.
Next, we discussed the relationship of the knees and legs. 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. In the relationship of the bend of the knees and the length of the steps, do not bend the knee too much, but keep the bend small. Leaders: never lock your knee. Just push from the standing foot/leg and cover the space. If the Leader takes a big step, there is more flex in the knee, but the power makes the Leader flex slightly when leaving and arriving to collect. The Leader’s flex is related as a consequence of the size of the step.
In walking, we were to practice our most foundational work. Leader needs to understand where his axis should be, how to create the step, and how to free the Follower’s leg. In flexing the knee, taking small, medium, and large steps, we propel from the standing leg and unflex by straightening our knee. The bend of the knee is AS you are stepping. The Follower’s heels should be on the ground, with her knees soft. As usual, we began this knee work with side steps small (soft knees), medium (small bend), and large (larger bend). Leaders should keep his shoulders on the front part of his hips, over his hips.
We were to feel the difference between how much power is needed to do longer steps or Q Q S, and have no bouncing, no up and down, with the Leader pushing like he is going to take a larger step, using just one push, not three pushes. The Follower’s job is to feedback with one push, too. Connection is key.
We did long, short, long, forward together back steps, using subtle weight changes, concentrating on the quality of the walk, and keeping our heels on the ground.
Leaders: You have more time than you think in Tango. In stepping on the “one” – you do not arrive on the “o”, so it’s almost like you are going to be late, but you are really on time when you arrive on the “e”. Follower: calm down the Leader.
The Q Q S is usually done with small steps.
Where should the axis be? The Leader’s lead is from the legs. The Follower’s answer is also from the legs. Follower: do not reach with the free leg.
END OF MORNING SESSION
In our afternoon work, we would try to get our body aligned: axis, with partner, how to lead, standing in a comfortable posture.
We began with pivots, spirals, and ochos, 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). In the pivot, the Leader’s torsion is around his own back/spine inside the embrace. When traveling, the Leader pushes on his standing leg as an anchor, and his whole torso travels in the space. The lead the pivot, the Leader’s torsion rotating around his own back/spine leads the Follower to pivot (so he basically stays facing 12 o’clock, but he torques his upper body around his spine), 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 Leader’s top is connected with the Follower’s bottom. The Follower needs to anchor from her bottom, not her top.
We drilled this, with Leaders making the distinction between pivoting the Follower versus traveling the Follower.
The Follower’s free leg is completely relaxed, just following what the standing leg is doing/asking. She should not rush to collection.
Leader: allow yourself to move inside of your embrace. Get power from the standing leg.
Follower: Leaders do not pivot Followers. Followers should pivot on their own. The Leader’s torso rotation should be amplified by the Follower’s hip rotation. This is the Bon Bon Theory. 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). Followers should be active in their dance.
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.
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 drilled doing pivots (down to up motion), adding a step to it, which effectively makes this either a back cross or front cross step as the Leader accompanies the Follower. Follower should have energy in the pivot and the step. Make it juicy!
The Leader gets power from his standing leg as he collects. He need to maintain his connection with his arms too, allowing his back to move inside the embrace. On timing, he needs to finish his pivot before he steps. Followers need to use the connection in the embrace, in the palms and fingers pushing or pulling. The Follower needs to reconnect with the Leader in her top after her pivot, and take curved steps. The Follower needs to get to the middle of her foot and then pivot maximally. She needs to arrive first, and then pivot. We drilled this in open and close embrace.
The two big ways for the Follower to move is through pivots or through spirals.
Next, we worked on the Follower’s spiral with the Leader leading the Follower to do forward ochos, stops and then walks around the Follower (Leader forward walking or back walking, Follower doing planeo, providing space in her braline). 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 and deepen the spiral.
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.
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.
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 excellent. I felt that it went more swiftly, with less technical discussion and more physical drilling in our dance.
It was amazing how fun it is doing pivots, spirals, and planeos with the class assistants. They are local professionals, all amazing dancers, and with different sizes, heights, and styles. Some had more feedback than others. All were a pleasure to dance with. Many of the assistants were the same from years past, and some assistants were new to me. All are fantastic! And so super nice!
Breakfast was my stash from the grocery store (morcilla [I’m working on getting my hemoglobin levels up], cucumber, red bell pepper).
Lunch was my stash from the grocery store (yogurt, banana, trail mix).
Dinner was my stash from the grocery store (vacio and tomatoes, alfajore).
I took the day off as I always schedule a visit to El Motivo. But it’s raining. So while the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak. So I became one with the mattress instead.
October 24, 2023
Tuesday
Day 2 – Luciana Valle Intensivo A
In our warm-up dances we were to focus on reviewing the things we learned yesterday such as walking, the quality of the step, body alignment (shoulders on top of hips), toes free of weight (be able to lift our toes all the time), how we step, how we create power in our step.
Our life posture is like standing against a straight wall with our heels, butt, and shoulderson the wall and our legs going forward as we step. Our tango posture is different in that Our heels and butt are on the wall, but toes are free and shoulders are slightly away from the wall, above the crest of our hips, not on the butt. That is how we get the forward sensation. It’s a tiny adjustment, but makes a big difference.
We also reviewed the concept of the Leader rotating his partner or traveling his partner. We mostly did pivots, where in the Leader leading pivots where he moves from his top while he is fixed at the bottom, while the Follower’s top stays with the Leader while her bottom moves around him. The Leader’s top motion is around his own back.
We also reviewed the connection concept of palms pushing toward each other and using the fingers when going away from each other.
We reviewed the Bon Bon Theory of amplification where the Leader might only move his top by 5, but the Follower needs to move her hip by 50 when doing ochos and pivots.
In leading the pivot, the Leader’s top motion of rotating around his back is related to the Follower’s standing leg. So the Leader’s embrace needs to be there with communication. For the Leader, it is a back move, not an arm move.
The Follower has double mobility (in her braline and in her hips), like a pepper grinder. This double mobility is used all the time in tango in: front cross, back cross, pivots. The Follower needs to relax her armpit joints.
Followers: in doing ochos, the axis needs to be in the middle of her foot before she pivots so she doesn’t fall forward. If she pivots as soon as she lands on the ball of her foot, she will be forward. In the forward ocho, do not go directly forward and down. In the ocho, the axis is in the middle of the foot at the point of the pivot.
Ochos are circular moves, so the feet are curved when taking steps.
We reviewed the use of the knees starting with a verbal summary of our side step exercise and relating the size of the bend of the knee to the size of the step and undoing the flex to collect, and using our heels to put our weight there.
In walking forward, the axis moves slightly toward the toes, but before losing the power of the heel. Use your heel a lot, especially to take forward steps.
Next, we went on to Spirals.
From the Follower’s front cross, the Leader walks around her. The Leader does not collect before he starts walking around the Follower. The Follower’s braline remains connected to the Leader, and her bottom comes around when she can’t keep it back any longer. The Follower should wait for the Leader to stop her, she should not prepare for him to walk around so she can planeo.
We are to be nice and supportive to each other as students and dancers because one day he/she may become a good/excellent dancer, and will remember that you are not nice and not supportive and will not ask you to dance.
The Leader walks around the Follower, taking his axis with each step, stepping with power and pushing from his standing leg. When the Leader walks around the Follower, we are entering a circular situation (Follower center, Leader circle). The Leader moves his axis around the Follower, including his top.
We drilled three different tones of the Leader embrace: (1) still; (2) walking around the Follower but keeping her still, (3) planeo.
Followers: grow tall in the planeo (keep your core engaged). Do not go down.
Leaders: walk back with the hips back to create the vacuum feeling. Keep the torso with Follower.
END OF MORNING SESSION
Continuing on our Spiral work…
The axis is always growing. Follower moves from top to bottom.
We started with an exercise where we took a side step, getting our weight on the right, rotating our top 90 degrees to the right toward our standing leg, and then letting our bottom coming around. We also did this on the other side, side step to the left, rotating our top 90 degrees toward our standing leg, and then letting our bottom come around. When you move the top, the bottom needs to eventually adjust.
Followers: This is done inside the embrace. Our mechanics need to be super good because we need to adjust to every Leader and whatever embrace he invites you to dance in.
TURNS
The turn is the mother of all circular situations in tango. In our planeo work, we worked on the concept of the needle and compass, with the Follower being the center needle and the Leader being the pencil going around.
Now we are going to switch to Leader being the center, and Follower being circle, which is the more typical circular situation.
The Leader should rotate around his spine so Follower’s hips rotate, then travel his torso so she comes around in a turn around him as a consequence.
In doing turns, the Leader first rotates the partner, and then immediately travels his partner, with the Leaders doing top to bottom motion as the Follower turns around him. He does a spiral, doing his top motion first and then his bottom coming around.
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, walking around the Leader with power, and pivoting with energy. Make distinction between your own pivot. The Follower travels her axis to a new place with each of her steps in the turn. She should maintain her axis in the middle of foot with each step, and be sure to collect before the back step and not shoot the leg out in advance or cheat by doing a step that crosses her back. Keep heels on the ground. Think center all the time, at each step. We each step, be sure you arrive and really get there. The turn has a tendency to eat you, so be sure to employ good technique at each step so you don’t fall into the center (Leader).
From the ocho, the Follower’s job is to have a good overpivot in her back cross step. But be careful in your back cross step: do not have too much extension in the leg. Step back with your whole body.
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.
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.
END OF DAY 2
Meals were the same as yesterday, though I added a small avocado and a hard boiled egg, which I MacGyvered in the electric kettle (brought water and eggs to full boil until auto shutoff, then left in the hot water for 12 minutes, then drained to cool and refrigerated until needed. They came out perfectly, no grey ring around the yolk). For the life of me, I can’t get the gas range to work, pressing the ignition button, turning the knob, having a supply of matches, confirming that the gas valve was open…. Nothing worked, no sequence or turning or pushing, so I gave up. I could always ask the Airbnb host to come by to show me, but I just can’t be bothered. Plus I think it’s a good life experiment for me to just use a microwave, refrigerator and electric kettle for the time I am here.
Work went OK, though we were extremely busy and I was extremely tired.
October 25, 2023
Wednesday
Day 3 – Luciana Valle Intensivo A
The morning began with Maestra doing a quick video demonstration of front cross, ocho, pivots, spirals, and rotating versus traveling lead, the Leader walking around Follower forward and back on the open and close sides, and basically changing between who is the center and who is the circle.
Some corrections:
On the Follower’s front cross step, the Leader stops her and then walks around. The Follower moves from her top to her bottom. She adjusts her foot. So the braline goes first, remaining connected to the Leader as he walks around her, her standing foot adjusts immediately. This gives her stability and increases the spiral in her body. If she doesn’t make the standing leg adjustment, she will move like a block, the free leg will take over, and the Follower will feel heavy and the Leader will feel like he is moving her (and not her moving herself).
Yesterday’s 90 degee disassociation exercise. We did this yesterday with our chest rotating toward our standing leg and our free leg coming around as a consequence. We can also do this to the other side, with our chest rotating toward are free leg.
There are many circular situations in tango:
Follower center, Leader circle
Leader center, Follower circle
Leader does top to bottom motion a lot in tango. The Leader’s top goes with the Follower. The Leader’s top is the instrument that sends the Follower. Their tops can be a very consistent monotone (like a hum) while their bottoms can be doing all sorts of very active things (kicks, sacadas, embellishments, rhythmic taps, etc.).
The Follower’s standing foot adjustment in the spiral/planeo needs to be done immediately.
Back to the TURN
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 Q Q S (or 1 – 3 – 1) rhythm of the turn (Q Q during the back and open side steps, or the 3).
The Leader can decide the speed of the rhythm, but the rhythm is always Q Q S (or 1 3 1).
Follower: Do not go down. You have to grow in our steps in the turn.
Leader: Do not bend the knee to get more impulse. That’s cheap, and we as Luciana’s students, do not dance cheap!
Follower: Be active in all the pivots, not just the back one. Do good pivots on the forward step too and check your axis there. Do not be on your metatarsal when you pivot. Otherwise you will get stuck and are waiting for the lead. Heels on the floor all the time is how you have the axis I the middle with weight spread across the whole foot.
Add: Leader’s footwork to Follower’s back, open, front step. Leader places his foot without weight, then transfers his weight as the Follower passes to take her place.
Leader’s left foot extends as he sends the Follower in a counterclockwise turn on her trailing right foot on her left foot back step. He fully transfers his weight on her open step as she goes around, taking the spot where his foot extended to.
In the clockwise turn, the Leader would use his right foot to extend to her trailing foot of her back cross step before her open side step.
Follower: Do not immediately go to the free leg, otherwise you are stealing power/energy fro the standing leg. Do not rush. Make sure to collect at the pivot and not prematurely shoot your leg out to reach to the next step.
We drilled playing with who is the center and who is the circle and mastering how we switch between the two. This was easier for Followers as all they had to think about was their hair and nails, though she also has to adjust the foot so her body is more in spiral. The Leaders had the hard work of figuring this out.
Maestra said there are only about 20 mechanical rules in tango, and once you have mastered them, you should be a good (excellent???) dancer. It’s important that we master these mechanical rules in our body and relate them to your partner in our dancing.
END OF MORNING SESSION
New subject: BOLEOS
In Boleos, the Follower is the center.
All boleos are a cut, and whip move that is an interruption to change the direction of the previous move, such as to back from forward.
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).
In With Boleos, the Leader moves with the Follower’s hips. The Leader’s top is with the Follower’s bottom. The Leader’s arms are the Follower’s legs. The Boleo happens at the same time as her hips pass. What makes the Follower rebound is her connection with the Leader. In With Boleos, the Leader’s top moves the Follower’s hips.
Follower: It’s a pure pivot to the max and rebounds and comes back.
Leader: Does maximum torque and rebounds and comes back.
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 in a back ocho step, 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 with power. The Follower’s top goes with the Leader, then her bottom comes around afterward in a Boleo.
The Leader’s step leads the Boleo, not his top. In stepping powerfully on his 90 degree step around the Follower, 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 with momentum. The Leader is the engine of the Boleo.
The Follower’s goal is not the shape. She should not throw the leg. Boleos are the easiest step to fake. Try to sense the lead more. Follower should maintain connection in her top with the Leader. The Follower’s braline connection with the Leader drives the rest of the Follower body (Boleo leg).
Boleos are a spiral motion, so they always start from the top, and then the standing leg adjusts, leg into the ground. As the spiral travels through the Follower’s body inside from top to bottom, then her free leg goes up in a boleo as the consequence of the spiral going through her body.
The Follower’s standing leg adjusts to open and free the hips/free leg. The more the Follower pivots, the more the Leader can have her feel it is a curve. The Follower has a slight flex in the free leg. The Follower’s spiral is in her axis, so be straight up so it moves the hip and foot.
Leaders: Need to truly lead it. Do not prepare the leg to do a boleo. It doesn’t need to be huge to work. 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. The Leader maintains the radius as he steps around the Follower.
The Follower’s pivot is an ongoing motion that never ends; do not move in a block. Have disassociation so you can feel the Leader come around. The more disassociation she has, the bigger the arc of the boleo. It’s a nicer motion if she has a nice pivot. At the end of her pivot, her top reconnects with the Leader.
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).
We drilled combining everything: ochos, spirals (planeos), pivoting the Follower , going the other way to lead a boleo, etc., so the Leader had to figure out how to get the Follower to do top to bottom motion, immediately into a bottom to top motion, immediately into a top to bottom motion, etc. In drilling doing Boleos from the Planeo, the Leader walks around the Follower, stopss, and then turn her hips the other way and leads the boleo by stepping around the Follower.
We returned to the solo body exercise we did yesterday of rotating our tops 90 degrees toward our standing leg and then letting our bottom come around, only this time we rotated toward our free leg, which naturally extended out. The goal of this exercise was to get more spiral and disassociation in our bodies as we rotated in our torso and experienced 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 front Contra Boleos.
Then we added this motion in our dance to lead the Front Boleo. Leader steps 90 degrees around the Follower behind her back. Again, the Leader’s step leads the Follower’s boleo across her standing leg. Follower: this happens later than you think. The more the Leader pivots the Follower, the better her top disassociation will work.
END OF DAY 3
October 26, 2023
Thursday
Day 4 – Luciana Valle Intensivo A
We reviewed the concepts of rotating versus traveling.
Rotating = pivoting
Traveling = Leader’s top to bottom motion, Follower: spirals and walks around the Leader, with the Leader setting up a clean center for the Follower to go around). When the Leader torques his back, the Follower pivots. When the Leader walks around the Follower, she spirals.
We reviewed Contra Circular Back Boleos. In our class we are just working on circular boleos. Boleos are cut moves, so sometimes they can be linear (the topic next week).
Follower is in the circle, If the Leader steps linearly, he will get a linear boleo. If he steps circularly around the Follower, he will get a circular boleo. 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.).
In all cases, the Leader should push from his 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.
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.
In Boleos, the Leader overpivots the Follower, and then steps 90 degrees around. Follower’s motion is from top to bottom, with her braline to leader and the foot coming around and up at the end. We did Boleos from the ocho on both sides.
In doing the Back Boleos, in the Leader’s step to lead the Follower’s Boleo, his axis needs to be in the middle of his foot. Push from the standing leg, do not fall into the step. Whenever we step around each other (both Leaders and Followers), we should think curves.
Follower: use your connection. The braline is the engine of her own motion. The Follower moves her own body from top to bottom. In doing Boleos, do not answer from the free leg. That is the last part that is supposed to move. You might kick your partner if you answer wit the free leg. Work on the mechanisms inside your own body: make juicy ochos, have nice pivots, move, the first feeling is in the braline. Do not move from the knees. Do not do the boleo the same all the time; otherwise you are lying.
Leader: If the Follower’s boleo is less or tiny, that’s OK. Leader can step softer for a smaller/softer boleo or bigger and more powerfully for a bigger, more powerful boleo. His step flavor is key.
In reviewing our Back Boleos, the Leader should have good torsion. The Follower’s pivot never ends and her braline reconnects with the Leader.
Boleos can be done in close embrace.
Follower’s problem is usually the step before, which is the ocho step. Be sure to collect completely and have a truly free leg. The Follower’s pivot is forever. Her braline goes first. She should not worry about her inner thighs being together.
In doing Front Boleos, we need powerful, deeper pivots in our front ochos so it’s clear that the Leader’s step is a curve. The Follower’s ribs belong to the legs. The Follower’s shoulder joints need to be relaxed. Leader’s have a double step (changing his feet while pivoting the Follower, and with the same leg stepping around her). In the Follower’s front boleo, the Follower is in an overpivot. Her top torques (braline activates), standing leg is strong, and free leg goes opposite. Depending how strong the Leader steps, the Follower’s leg will go up more or less as the Leader continues in his step.
Maestra did a video review of front boleos. Leader: the more pivot you give to the Follower, the more she understands that it’s a circular situation.
END OF MORNING SESSION.
We went on to the new topic of the day: SACADAS
Sacadas are a figure where you can see the structure of the dance, how the dance is built. When you understand Sacadas, you will understand how all of tango works. So you can read and understand what is happening in the dance. The first thing to realize is who is the center and who is the circle. The second thing to realize is the direction of the turn, the way the circle is going in relation to the center. Right turns go clockwise; Left turns go counterclockwise.
In Sacadas, the Leader sends the Follower away from him, and then takes her space.
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.
We began with a micro movement:
Leader’s open step to Follower’s front cross 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.
In Sacadas, the Leader goes to the spot the Follower leaves by taking the space. Like the Follower’s Planeo, the Leader first sends the Follower with his top, then as he rotates, makes a small adjustment of his standing foot, and then takes with his free leg to the space the Follower is leaving on her front cross step. The Leader completes his open step weight transfer to the Follower’s trailing foot on her front cross step.
In Sacadas, both dancers walk in the same direction. The Leader takes the Follower’s room, so he needs to send the Follower slightly more out away from him when leading her front cross step. 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). She should be mindful of the quality of her steps and not go down, and not go flat. She should go AROUND. When the Leader transfers his weight, he is going behind the Follower, so we need to have top to bottom motion. The Follower should have torsion/spiral in her upper body, so you must move from top to bottom.
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 hips 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. The Leader needs to be able to control/separate the take from the Sacada.
In the right turn, the Leader enters with his left foot.
In the left turn, the Leader enters with his right foot.
The Leader leads an overturned ocho so the Follower pivots enough. The Follower should have good, overturned, juicy pivots. The step that the Leaders lead in doing the Sacada is slightly bigger in radius and slightly away, versus ganchos, where the Leader makes the radius closer.
The concept of the Actor and Receptor were introduced:
Actor: person who activates the Sacada
Receptor: person who receives the Sacada
After the Follower steps, she does a big spiral as a setup for the Follower sacada of a left foot open step into the Leader’s trailing foot on his front cross step.
Leader: Remember, the connection is the Follower’s job. Do not maintain your right hand too tight around her, though keep it in front of your sternum as usual. he 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. In stepping back, the Leader should create the vacuum sensation.
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 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 on her forward step into the Leader’s trailing foot.
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.
END OF DAY 4
Meals were the usual.
Work went OK, but I was extremely tired (mentally more than physically) and it was extremely busy.
October 27, 2023
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, doing right turns and left turns.
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 (same/different directions, same/different actor/receptor), on each step (forward cross, open step, back cross) 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, the first on the Follower’s front cross step by the Leader, and the second 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. The Leader needs to step around the Follower, but slightly away when he is leading the Follower to do her sacada into his trailing foot. This step around but slightly away is the same as for the first sacada where the Leader does his sacada into the Follower’s trailing foot. In slightly away, that is the distance of the step, not necessarily the body. In the Follower doing her front sacada, the Leader is positioning her in the correct place. She should use her connection to receive his direction, and should not rush. She should not move at the same time as the Leader. She should stay present to get the message where the Leader is directing her to go. The Follower’s forward sacada is the Follower’s front step with torsion in her top. She shouldn’t be anxious. Give yourself time to do it. Do it nicely. Followers tend to walk backward more, so they are not used to walking forward. Toes should be free of weight, with shoulders on top of hips. Do not lean forward or fall into the step.
Leader’s movement is (1) torque his top to lead her over pivot, (2) adjust his standing leg, (3) the move the free leg, (4) fully step to transfer his weight as he takes the spot Follwer vacated.
There are 2 ways to finish the sacada and then restart it.
In doing sacadas, there are two distinct parts for the Leader: (1) the take, where the Leader’s top rotation sends the Follower to pivot, his bottom adjusts, and then the free leg shoots out, and then (2) transfer of weight as the Leader steps onto his free leg. The Leader needs to distinguish the take from the Sacada so he can play.
We drilled this, doing Sacadas with different options afterwards, such as front boleos, back boleos, and planeos, and we were to try not to repeat the same step after, so we don’t get into the trap of doing it the same all the time.
END OF MORNING SESSION
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 leads slightly more pivot to get the Follower to do slightly more spiral in her top, and then he 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 needs to have good connection in her hands/fingers in order to receive the communication of the Leader’s top for an overpivot. She should think about her pivots being an ongoing pivot that never ends, as in doing sacadas, most of the ochos are overturned, but the braline goes back to the Leader for a spiral sensation.
Follower 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.
Leader: you have more time than you think. Be committed in your weight changes. Each sacada has its own energy and momentum. Finish it completely, then do something else. Slowing it down will make it more juicy.
For the back Sacada, the Leader leads the Follower by walking forward two steps, overturning the Follower so her hips are turned away from the Leader, Leader takes a circular step around the Follower but slightly away (to give Follower room), giving her more rotation to get around. The Follower gets a spiral sensation from the Leader’s top as he steps around circularly. Follower needs to maintain good connection in her palms and fingers, and not absorb the lead from them.
For the Follower, there are 2 pivots: After her first overpivot, there is a small adjustment to get even more pivot. After the second extra 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’s top follows the Leader’s top. When the Leader commits in his step is when the Follower should step back. The Follower’s first pivot is very bag, then her embrace adjusts and she relaxes the joint, so her top maintains connection with the Leader’s top. The second extra pivot is when the Leader sets up with more push, with the Follower’s top remaining really connected with the Leader so she receives the communication for the lead for an overturned ocho), so the Leader steps and vacuumes the Follower to step back. The Follower should go to the Leader’s free leg/spot is he leaving in her back sacda. The Leader needs to have deep torsion to get the Follower to overpivot on her first pivot. He should allow the Follower to roll inside his embrace. The Leader pushes off with his right leg when he steps around the Follower with his left leg. In doing Follower Back Sacadas, the reception is the most difficult part. The Follower needs to ground and grow (fully collecting after her overpivots; do not shrink in her pivots), and then go, projecting her free leg and then travel there.
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.
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 overpivot, 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 back. He does not pull her to step.
Next, we combined our morning work: doing the Forward sacada directly into the back sacada. This involved the washing machine motion, with Leader turning the Follower’s hips one way immediately reversing to the other way. It is easier to do a lot of pivot with the momentum.
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 shockingly even more skilled than I had ever experienced. The level of talent in our room on the assistant side was truly astounding! Since we were completely full, the assistant team was much larger and more diverse, 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 different assistants, who are all professional dancers and/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, although even if they didn’t, they asked Maestra to translate and give/show feedback. It was a truly awesome week!
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Donna and I went to the dinner and tango show at Aljibe, and what a surprise to see that Martin (one of our class assistants) was one of the dancers. He was awesome! The show and dinner were great, and is the earliest in BsAs, which is why we went (dinner @7pm, show at 8:15pm, we were out by 10pm). Here is the web site:
https://www.aljibetango.com/en
Prices are reasonable with Dinner + Show $85 and show only $65, paid for in advance via paypal or credit card. Tips are in cash (USD or ARS) at the show. Though they advertise that it includes transfers, those are for downtown hotels only, so as folks with airbnbs in Palermo, we were out of luck on the transfer front. They also take your photo (like on a cruise ship), which you can buy for ARS 8,000 or USD$10. The location is in San Telmo, so it took us quite a while to get there (40 minute uber/cab ride going there since it was rush hour, good thing we checked google maps beforehand so we knew about how long it would take to get there). The food was good, and not gutbustingly ample. The meal included wine, but neither of us drank, so they gave us a sealed bottle to go instead, which we thought was very nice.
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