Spring review sheets are up!

Portland and Salem tango classes, here are the review sheets for our April-May 2009 sessions. Portland beginners: we haven't gotten quite this far, but it is helpful to have a list of goals to work towards. Here is what I consider the fundamental concepts and moves to get you going out on the dance floor.

To find your review page, look at the right-hand column of my blog, under pages. Let me know if you can't find them. I am still learning how to post videos (yes, I know, I'm a Luddite) and will eventually figure that out :-)

Thanks for such great classes this spring. I feel so proud of all of you and your hard work.

Even more about sacadas

As both my Salem and Portland intermediate classes are tackling sacadas right now (due to requests from class members), I want to offer more tips about executing specific sacadas, as well as general comments about sacadas.

Kinds of sacadas

A sacada is a step where one dancer "replaces" or "displaces" the other in space. Often, it looks as if one partner has stepped through the other dancer's step and pushed the first dancer's foot/leg away. This is an illusion, as the step is led by the torso.

There are many types of sacadas.

One way a sacada is named by the person executing the step:

• Leader sacadas: the leader makes the follower move, and steps where the follower had been standing.
• Follower sacadas: the leader moves to a new spot on the floor WHILE leading the follower to move to the leader's original location.

Another element of the naming process is determined by what step the person doing the sacada, was performing during the sacada:

• For example, if the leader walked the follower to the cross and then initiated a clockwise (or right) turn (so the follower was doing a front cross step with the right), and did a sacada with the leader's right foot, that would be a leader front sacada.
• However, if the leader used the left foot for the same setup, this would be a leader side sacada, as the step is really an open step executed as a forward step.
• Hint for the highly structured: To determine whether a step is "front" or "side/open" you can stop the motion and see what system is in place. If the follower is doing a cross step and we are in crossed system (both using right foot), then the leader is doing a front (or back) sacada. If the couple are in parallel system (follower's right, leader's left), this is a side sacada.
• Hint for less structured folks: Don't worry if it's a front or side sacada, since using either foot is kosher. Use a foot and then figure out what to do next :-)

A third element of naming a sacada is the step upon which the sacada operates. For example, the leader can do a leader front sacada through the follower's front cross; or a follower can do a side sacada through a leader's back cross.

A fourth element of naming a sacada is the shape of the step. There are circular and linear sacadas. If the step is done as part of a turn, or staying in the same general vicinity in the room, it is probably a circular sacada. If it is used to travel in the room, it is probably a linear sacada.

Figuring out how many this is would take someone more structured (and mathematical) than myself.  It's probably been done before; go look on the web and tell me who has figured this out!

Easy vs. problematic circular sacadas for leaders

Easy (OK, less difficult!) sacadas are those which can be performed without breaking any tango codes or causing interesting dilemmas about what to do with dangling/moving legs and feet that now appear to be in the way. We'll deal with those later.

When doing leader circular sacadas, the "easy" versions are those which are done using the follower's front cross step and the open/side step after that. In both of these cases, the follower can continue doing a turn without breaking code (i.e., s/he can continue with the next expected step: front, open, back, open, etc.).

Interesting problems crop up when doing leader circular sacadas through the follower's back cross step or the open step following that step. When doing a sacada through the follower's back cross step, the follower's other leg is blocking from stepping into the next side step (for sanity's sake, let's pretend that this is always true). In this case, a front-boleo-like moment occurs, followed by the natural rebound inherent to boleos. This means that the follower will usually continue with another back step, either linear, or back the other way in a turn (change of direction).

When the leader does a sacada through the follower's open step after the back cross, this also blocks the natural turn progression because the follower cannot step forward with the leader in the way. Doing a sacada through this step produces a back cross step (rather than the expected front cross).

To summarize: if you are just learning these sacadas, ONLY do the sacadas through the follower's front cross and open steps of the turn. Try the others when you are bored/more advanced/feeling crazy.

The leader can do any of these sacadas with either foot to either side, using the leader's front cross, open and back cross steps (ack!). Most sacadas are easier if attempted with a front or open step, as the leader back sacada requires the leader to pivot A LOT and then step through the follower's step moving backwards. Again, only try these more difficult sacadas after you understand how to lead the easier ones.

Follower sacadas

First, you need a follower (I just type foolower--perhaps you need a tango fool?) who is not afraid to step towards you.

Leaders: remember the first day (month, year) you spent getting used to walking towards someone whose feet were RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOURS? The follower gets very little practice stepping towards your feet, and the typical intermediate follower gets nervous when you ask her/him to do that. Be sympathetic and patient!

Followers: here is a major test of your tango powers. You have been carefully trained to do ochos and turns AROUND your partner. Now they are going to lead moves that are very similar, but require a different angle of preparation from you. Take a deep breath. Take a very deep breath. Then, exhale and trust that the leader is indeed sending you where the leader has asked. Try not to "help": follow the leader's torso and angle of rotation. I promise you that this will become easier as you get comfortable. And, if they ask you to step on their toes, please do so :-)

For a follower sacada, the most important part of the lead is to let the torso point where you want the follower to move: the location from whence you came. This is harder than it sounds, but it gets easier as the follower becomes more willing to step into your space.

Next, the follower can step through any step of the leader's: front, back, open. However, in some cases, you will encounter the "leg/foot in the way" issue that I discussed above. As the person in charge, however (we hope!), the leader can either respond to a leg block with a boleo-like motion, or can simply untangle the legs and move on.

The easiest way to do follower sacadas is to move across the line of the follower's momentum, rather than redirecting the follower (these are usually linear sacadas). Because we have only tackled circular sacadas so far, we redirected the follower, either at the cross, or in the turn.

My favorite sacada (and organicity of movement) game

Perhaps this is only because I am somewhat insane from almost fourteen years of tango, but I enjoy taking all the possible moves, writing them down on scraps of paper, pulling them out of a hat, and trying to create new patterns from the steps that I know. If I want to work on a specific step, I'll put that on a scrap: "leader back sacada through follower back sacada, clockwise." If not, I might just put "some leader sacada" or "leader sacada through follower open step" or "back leader sacada" or "counterclockwise leader sacada" or something like that. Then, I'll put some other ideas in the hat: follower gancho, follower front boleo, follower back linear boleo, overturned ocho, etc. I pull three scraps of paper out of the hat, and then I have to do them in that order, with as few steps in between as possible. 

Make sure that you have either a patient dance partner, or someone who also likes to play with tango puzzles and can help you figure out what works best. Sometimes, a combination only works clockwise, or counterclockwise. Sometimes, if you change systems in the middle, it simplifies the pattern. Be creative!

I'm sure I have a lot more to say (as you all keep asking questions in class!), but that's enough brain food for one day.  Have fun!

Combining leader and follower front sacadas with other tango moves

Sunday Special participants: good work yesterday! Below, I'll outline the drills we did to prepare for sacadas, sacada technique for leader and follower front sacadas, and the combinations we played with in class, as well as some other ideas to work on yourselves. Remember, next Sunday Special will include a review class on this material, so if you have any questions, comment here and I'll get back to you, as well as making a list of what to cover

Types of sacadas

• circular or linear (we worked on circular and linear forms in our combinations, but we emphasized circular this time)
• leader or follower (who is replacing the other person?)
• forward, side or back (what kind of step is the person doing who is doing the sacada?)

Preparing for sacadas

The most important element of a good sacada is a good turn. Even if you are doing linear sacadas, the technique inherent in turns and ochos is needed by BOTH partners to do spectacular sacadas: pivoting well against the floor, having your axis perpendicular to the floor, grounding in each step, and using the floor to push off for each step. For that reason, I always have leaders and followers do "follower" turn technique to warm up the body for sacadas.

Follower technique (for good turns and sacadas):

1. Grapevine step (molinete) across the floor in a straight line: get your balance, breath & grounding in place
2. Grapevine step in a circle: add your focus on keeping the energy of the body towards the center of the circle
3. Square/Chair drill: "the dreaded chair drill" came to me from Luciana Valle. The chair drill alters a turn into a square, so that four steps completes a full revolution. The torso faces towards the center of the chair at all times. The hips flip 180 degrees before the back cross step, as well as before the "slow" open step of the turn. The front cross and the "quick" open step of the turn do not result in much hip motion at all (think zero for the purpose of this exercise). Remember to change directions so as to practice to the right and left, and to avoid dizziness.
4. "Watch your hand" drill: This was taught to me by Oscar Mandagaran in Buenos Aires in 2000, and I have used it more and more in my dance and my teaching. To turn CCW (to the leader's left), make a normal embrace. The follower watches her/his hand, and "drives" the turn. This helps focus on having an embrace that is parallel to the ground in energy (even if the dancers are not the same height and the embrace does not physically follow a parallel path!). Also, the follower is responsible for helping to create energy and give that to the leader for the dance: make sure no muscles are locked in the embrace that will hurt the turn.
5. Naughty Toddler: in this version of Naughty Toddler, the follower is still in control of the dance and the leader is still trying to carve a tango out of all that wild, untamed energy the follower lets out. However, what we focused on was having Naughty Toddlers who wanted to TURN! so that the followers could still practice turn technique, while searching for just the right amount of energy to give to the leader. Leaders: see how much easier it is to turn when the other person does most of the work? :-)

Leader technique to prepare for sacadas:

Do all the follower exercises. #1, 2 & 3 are especially important. A good sacada lead includes preparing to step through and then (often) pivoting to continue to another step, just as the follower does in all turns.

Spiral exercises/Disassociation exercises:

• I just discussed these in the lapiz blog entry below, so I'll be quick here. Find your axis through your foot into the floor, and up through your head to the ceiling. Rotate your solar plexus, keeping your hips stable in space (solar plexus and hips are pointing different directions; disassociated). When you have reached your maximum twist, release the hips to realign under the torso.
• Part #2: As the hips release, continue to spiral them while keeping your torso stable. When your hips get ahead of your torso, release your torso to realign with your hips. This level of control helps your body learn to move only one part at a time, while not breaking your axis line. Also, it will aid in all sorts of fancy stuff later on.

Sacada practice:

• Make a path: One partner walks slowly around the room. The other partner steps exactly where the first person stepped. Notice that, if you step exactly where they were, you remain the same distance apart. Although in some combinations, the sacada is used to get closer or further from the partner, in most sacadas, you are trying to remain the same distance apart.
• Slo-mo: Without touching, the leader's torso leads the follower to a new place on the floor. For leader sacadas, the leader then steps where the follower was. For follower sacadas, the leader is moving the follower to the place where the leader had been. Slo-mo makes sure that the leader is completing the lead, rather than indicating a location in space and abandoning the follower to finish on their own. If you can lead sacadas without arms, in slo-mo, you can do it with NO problems in an embrace, up to speed :-)

Leader front sacadas:

• Practice doing leader sacadas through the follower's turn. You can step through the follower's front or open steps. If you step through their back cross step, this creates a different result (boleo-like with unwind) that we will tackle another time. High school math version of tango: don't step through the follower's back step for the moment!
• For leader sacadas, the leader can step through with either foot, to either side. Sometimes, this results in the leader doing a "front cross" step (for example, doing a clockwise, circular lead sacada through the follower's front cross step with the leader's right foot; whew!). Other times, it feels like a straight-ahead step: you are actually doing the sacada with an open/side step. Let's not worry at this point whether this is a front or side: just get comfortable with using either foot, and we'll get technical about terms next time. Also, the leader can use back cross steps to perform a sacada, but we'll do that next time.

Follower front sacadas:

• Practice doing follower sacadas through the leader's open step. The leader stands in a wide stance, with the follower centered in front (making a triangle). The follower holds onto the leader's torso, at the level of the solar plexus, and closes his/her eyes to focus on following. Using torso rotation, the leader moves the follower towards one of the leader's feet, and gets out of the way. Rachel advocated leaning to one side as well.
• Be careful not to change your level! The knees are flexible, but you don't want to bob up and down. Once you can get the follower to step into your space to replace you (do a sacada through the leader), try it in an embrace.
• It is HARD to convince a follower who is new to sacadas, to walk into the space where you were. Make sure you don't overturn the follower, or they will happily do an ocho around your center instead of stepping where you asked. Be clear, and the follower will eventually become comfortable with stepping into a sacada. Try not to pull!

Sacada combinations

We only had time for a few combinations this time. Remember: play around! Try new stuff! You may find a combination that you really like. Use it! Here's what we did in class on Sunday:

• Leader front sacada + follower front sacada: Walk the follower to the cross. Start a right (clockwise) turn around the leader. Leader front sacada with left foot (actually a side sacada) through follower's front cross step (1st step of turn). Then, lead the follower to do a front sacada (actually a side sacada) through the leader's front cross step. Repeat a few times (each person alternates front cross step, sacada through other person's front cross step) and exit. If you want a specific exit: let the follower take a side step around the leader, collect feet and walk out in a regular tango walk.
• Leader sacada + drag: Walk the follower to the cross. Sacada through the first step of the right turn. Turn the follower one step more of the turn (open step). Drag the follower's foot (follower's back step) around with either foot of leader (try both and see what you like). Lead a stepover and exit.
• Leader front sacadas: Lead overturned front ochos down the room (these are linear sacadas, BTW). Sacada every step, using either foot: you can mix it up and step with the same foot each time, switching between steps; or just "walk" alternating feet. Find an exit you like and keep dancing.
• Follower front sacada: Walk the follower to the cross. Lead a follower front sacada straight forward, with the leader moving clockwise in an open step with the left foot. If you want a circular sacada, move around the follower's position. If you want linear, move left BUT remember to finish the follower's step with your chest rotation!

Next time, we'll review these. Then, we'll learn follower and leader BACK sacadas, and combine those with front sacadas and other stuff. The next Sunday Special is slated for Sunday, April 26th.

Let me know if anything is not clear here, or if you'd like more detail.  Thanks for coming to class!

Musicality exercises for tango

Clay Nelson, who used to teach in Portland, called me one day. "I'm trying to design a software program that teaches musicality to dancers.  Any suggestions?" For me, musicality needs to be taught through movement because it is mapped neurologically on/in the body. The body experiences the combination of sound and movement.  It FEELS music, rather than THINKING music first. As the feeling moves into the body's set of experienced memories or its comfort zone, then thinking can enhance it.

I am currently teaching dance to preschoolers at my son's daycare. Although it is certainly a huge step from my lifetime of teaching adults, experiencing dance and music with this group teaches me a lot about how humans learn musicality. I see four groups of learners: the naturals, the interpreters, the mimics, and the not-interested-can-I-play-on-the-swings group.

There are a few children who bounce in time to ANY music I put on, literally unable to wander off to the playground and ignore the beat (I'm one of these). Their bodies understand the beat and feeling of music: the teachers tend to call them "naturals" (i.e., "John is a natural! Look at him!"). Those kids can copy anything I do, with less fine motor skill ability than an adult. They CANNOT dance off the beat. They don't have to count or think about the music, so they can learn the movements easier than the other children. As adult dancers, I probably don't have anything to add to tango musicality: they just "get" it without any help.

Then, there are children who want to participate, are interested in dancing, but tune into the idea of the dance, not the beat; I call them "interpretive" dancers (i.e., "Suzie is being a snowflake!" despite the pounding disco beat to which the others are dancing). These kids like the idea of learning new movements, but they don't worry about the music: what counts is pure motor activity, preferably flowing motions. As adult learners, these are the folks for whom I originally created Naughty Toddler and my other games: less structure, more participation than technique drills (which they won't do!). On the other hand, I think that learning how to flow and play with the movement is fundamental to tango, but not my focus when I talk about musicality.

The third group in preschool dance class are the mimics: they don't necessarily dance on the beat if I don't dance, but if I model a movement to the beat, they repeat it on the beat. After a few sessions, I now see some of them doing those motions to the beat without me. I see a lot of adults learning dance who are in this category: they hear a beat, they like the movement, and they want to learn to put them together better. The exercises we did last night had this focus (see below).

The last group are those totally disinterested in the idea of music and dance, or not willing to try the new activity on the playground yet: each week, one child stands next to me, watching, until I ask him to dance. "No, I don't wanna," he says, and walks off. I think there are a lot of shy kids in this group, so I'm guessing that tango also includes many folks who would have only watched dance as a kid. My guess is that all three divisions of music/movement learners above are also represented in the "I don't wanna" group ;-)

Musicality exercises from Portland Tango II class

Clapping exercises:

• Find the steady beat of the music
• Find the endings of phrases (8- and 16- bar)
• (One we didn't get around to this time) Clap with the melody while someone else claps the rhythm (aha! now you know how we are going to start next week!)

Dancing exercises:

• Pause at the end of each phrase (7&8 or 15&16)
• QQS at the end of each phrase (we did corridas, but try resolutions or . . .)
• Half-speed (step on every other beat, keeping time)
• Slo-mo (Jedi dancing, breath like Darth Vader--hey, it works, don't knock the weird Star Wars jokes!): this is different from half-time movement, as the effect is completely removed from rhythm, so the return to rhythm creates amazing moments of clarity in the dance.

Specific moments to play with musicality:

LISTEN TO THE MUSIC!  Recently, I've seen a lot of intellectual exploration of musicality on the dance floor in Portland that is not connected to the song being played. That is, I've been subjected to slo-mo or pauses or lots of QQQQQQQQQS that DOES NOT fit with the music, simply for a "dramatic" effect. Let the music suggest what to do. What does it feel like?

Pauses: Incorporate in the following moves:

• salida
• walk
• at the cross
• in the middle of ochos

Slowing down (the idea of slo-mo instead of a specific count):

• at the cross
• side steps
• anywhere, really :-)

Adding more quick moves in a row (QQQQS, for example):

• ocho cortado variations
• corridas
• in turns

Different orchestras suggest different musicality elements (in my humble opinion):

Pugliese: For me, Pugliese works best with playing with different length pauses, slo-mo, extra syncopation (QQQQS) and pretty much anything within the scope of tango expression. This music changes tempo, lending itself to the idea of speeding up or slowing down, rather than worrying about double- or half-time. It is not contained music: it gives you tons of energy, of flow, of, well, DRAMA. Go for it! You don't need fancy moves for Pugliese, but fancy musicality: yes!

D'Arienzo: For me, d'Arienzo establishes a strong beat underneath the music, whoomp, whoomp, whoomp. It is like a strong heartbeat driving the music. At the end of phrases, I really hear that QQS (7&8) that we worked on. I don't hear pauses at the end of phrases. I hear sprinklings of syncopation, but not a constant flurry: use them with discretion! Half-time is dramatic here, while slo-mo just doesn't work as well. Various playful mixings of syncopation work sometimes (QQQQS), but listen to the music; don't fabricate!

Tanturi: We'll work more on Tanturi next week, but this is my favorite orchestra. The beat is steady and easy to hear, but the focus is more on the melody and the songs. I sometimes dance on the melody with these songs, returning to the underlying beat in between verses. A steady walking beat is nice, and pauses work well (remember to use different lengths of pauses: listen to the music). Syncopation is found here, but it's not the focus, in my opinion. Slo-mo doesn't work as well, and I use more of the QQS than QQQQS to Tanturi. Because I know these songs really well, I have to try not to hum while I dance. For me, these songs are about the experience of the entire piece of music, not as a vehicle to show off my tango prowess.

Firpo: Sometimes, Firpo's songs sound like tango on crack to me. It's not my favorite orchestra, but its zippy, strong beat provides space to really play with QQS, QQQQS, and other variations of syncopation. Pauses tend to be short (I really use half-time here, not pauses, I think). Slo-mo does not work. I don't feel as if I have much space for interpretation, but other people may not agree with me.

Laurenz: Ah! Here is a tricky one. When you listen to Laurenz, there are a lot of different possibilities within the music. The melody is strong, so you can dance to that. The beat is clear, so you can dance to that. BUT . . . Laurenz has a lot of fun establishing expectations and then trouncing them. For example, he may end a few phrases with a QQS, and then NOT do that, leaving you hanging if you weren't listening. Or, he may emphasize the 2 & 4 beats, rather than the 1 & 3 beats of a measure, so that it moves against your expectation. It's more subtle than Pugliese, but it has a lot to play with.

D'Agostino: I've listened to this orchestra for years. It's not my favorite, but I find that certain songs really attract me. There is depth of feeling, especially through Angel Vargas' lovely voice and interpretation of these tangos. The main element for me is an elegance. The beat doesn't just pound along, but works along with the lyrics, the melody, the singer. I find that I dance the feeling, so I do a lot of pauses, some slo-mo, some half-time, with (I hope) well-placed QQS (not a lot of QQQQS). It is a deliberate, slower tango for me.

ColorTango: I've included a modern orchestra just for comparison. I'm not crazy about them, but they take the songs to an extreme. You wanted slo-mo opportunities? Here they are! You wanted dramatic pauses? You've got it! You want tango on crack, where you can take twenty thousand quick steps before a pause! Here! I don't find it restful to dance to them, but as a musicality exercise, they can't be beat.

Comparative song exercises:

Even the same song, when played by different orchestras, asks for different interpretations by the dancer.  We danced to the following songs:

• Sabado Ingles (d'Arienzo, Firpo)
• Rondando Tu Esquina (Pugliese; next week, d'Agostino)
• Gallo Ciego (Pugliese; next week, d'Arienzo)
• Emancipacion (Pugliese; next week, ColorTango)
• Que Nunca Me Falta (Tanturi, Laurenz--these are next week)
• Amurado (Laurenz, Pugliese--these are next week)
• Doug M. brought Danzarin as his favorite: we'll do this next
• Doug N. is bringing a favorite song next week
• Mike: thanks for the Sabado Ingles by d'Arienzo request!

Other class members: if you have a favorite song, let me know, and we'll add that to the list. We'll keep doing musicality as we tackle the other (movement) requests of the group. See you next week!

Dance floor navigation: games and ideas

Over the past twenty years, I have collected and created exercises to make navigation a fun challenge, rather than a feared part of dancing, especially for beginners. Although I often adapt drills from my teachers, these games all originated as "hey, why don't we . . ." ideas that my University of Oregon students and my Zen Tango students helped me to work through and refine into the following games. Here are the explorations that helped folks to prepare to dance on the crowded tango dance floor at Norse Hall in Portland, for the Valentango Festival.

These games can be played anywhere, to prepare for any kind of dance. However, Norse Hall offers several specific challenges that I addressed in this class:

• The "wall of death" area of the dance circle that faces the main doors into Norse Hall's main ballroom. As dancers circulate, other dancers all try to enter the dance floor at the same place, creating a navigational disaster area.
• The "legs of death" area in the center of the dance floor, where the dancers who want to dance open embrace fancy stuff vie for space with the beginners who ended up in the middle of the floor and can't escape.
• The overcrowding that comes from trying to fit all the festival participants and the local dancers into one ballroom; there are just too many people in one space, but everyone still wants to dance.

Game #1: Solo-couple

When I did my thesis research on lead/follow roles in the Buenos Aires tango community, I was struck by a story about how tango had changed between the 1980s and current tango practice. Several people told me about going to dance in the late 1980s, and watching everyone in a room move as a unit. They said that they didn't see any collisions, and that everyone dancing seemed to flow together in the space.
I think that the older dancers tuned into not only themselves and their partner, but into the energy flow of the room, resulting in a flow of dance that encompassed all dancers. To recreate this feeling, I made a dance game that encourages tuning into the group first and doing tango second.

Rules:

1. Play catchy music (often I use alternative milonga music to get the group moving swiftly).
2. Ask everyone to move through the space in any direction (clockwise, counter-clockwise, through the middle of the group).
3. Remind dancers to relax arms and hands: no hands in pockets or arms folded in front of bodies, etc.
4. No one can stop for the entire song. If someone is in the way, turn in place until there is space to move, and then move.
5. If a collision happens, exhale and relax to reduce the shock of the crash. Do NOT stop or put your hands up to "protect" yourself: although counterintuitive, this helps protect everyone.
6. When the teacher yells "COUPLE!" the dancers grab the nearest person WITHOUT PAUSING, get into some version of an embrace and dance in normal, counterclockwise direction. If a couple is in the way, the dancers can turn in place until space appears. DO NOT stop to get into the embrace and figure out who is leading; negotiate while moving :-)
7. When the teacher yells "SOLO!" let go of your partner and return to the first section of the game, moving through space in any direction, getting into the flow of the music.
8. Repeat.

I usually call "Solo!" when

• A couple stop and cause a traffic jam behind them.
• The flow of the room gets stuck in some other way.
• Dancers begin to work on particular steps instead of focusing on the energy and flow.

Although I would not follow this game to the letter while actually dancing at a milonga, I find that dancers relax more on the dance floor after experiencing Solo-Couple. They have more fun, and they also learn to tune into the couples around them so that the leader can better gauge the available space. Also, many students have noted that this exercise helps them improvise better in the dance because the available space and energy flow suggest movements to them. One last note: I usually have my beginning tango classes do this in the first 1-2 hours of class. I don't think it is ever too early to build navigation tools!

Game #2: Freeway entrance (entering the dance floor after the dance has started)

In many cases in tango, many dancers start to dance after the music begins for a tanda (set of dances). In a space like Norse Hall, most of the dancers are in one quadrant of the room between dances, and therefore, most dancers try to enter the dance floor in the exact same place, creating quite a traffic jam. This game is designed to gain comfort with entering the dance floor while couples whiz by. To me, it feels very much like learning how to yield onto the highway when I was a beginning driver (eek!!!)

In this game, I put the music on, create a circle in the dance space with chairs, and have each couple enter one at a time, gradually adding in couples.

Rules:

1. The leader creates the space on the dance floor, and the follower enters the embrace quickly, and they go. Followers: DO NOT wander out on the dance floor and wait for your partner, thus creating a moving target for other couples!
2. Once a couple is part of the dancing circle, they have right of way. In the GAME (not in reality), each leader is not supposed to adjust for new entrants. S/he may run right over the new couple if they pause too long and get in the way.
3. After everyone is dancing, any couple who wants more practice may exit and re-enter the space.

At a really crowded milonga, couples do not have the luxury of thirty seconds of creating the embrace, connecting to the partner, etc. Use the first dance to adjust to each other. You will have several other dances in the tanda to enjoy after you settle in.

In "real life" in tango, leaders already on the dance floor DO adjust to folks who have just entered the dance space. As a leader, however, I do not enjoy dealing with an oblivious leader who has just taken my pocket of space and who has not noticed the other couples in the immediate vicinity. I catch the eye of the lead behind and in front of me as soon as possible so that they know I am aware of them and their space.

Game #3: The doughnut (learning to dance in your "lane")

At a crowded milonga, there are established lanes of motion. Traditionally, passing other dancers and weaving in and out of lanes was inappropriate. Today, with so many new dancers, I see a lot of lane-jumping, but I try to teach traditional rules. After all, I am an anthropologist and a dancer, so the cultural rules that go with dance are important to me.

Rules:

1. Make a "doughnut hole" in the center of the space with several chairs (put the backs together to cut down on pain when running into them!).
2. If you like, put removable tape (painter's) in circular paths around this (note: it is a *&%*#@* to take off the floor, so I no longer do it, but it is a useful visual aid).
3. Have 2/3 of the class dance in an outer lane, and 1/3 dance in the inner lane. If you have enough people, do three lanes (in my UO classes, I had 30-40 students, which provided enough for three lanes)
4. Partway through, switch who is in the inner lane. Make sure everyone gets a chance to dance in each lane.

This is not a difficult game. Again, I start to use this with beginners, although I originally thought it would only be useful for more experienced dancers. My theory: if beginners know all the rules, they have a better time at dances and come back more often!

Game #4: Traffic jam: learning defensive leading

No matter how good you get at leading tango, there will always be "problem drivers" out on the dance floor. Learning how to avoid crashing into careless leaders, is an important skill, even for new dancers. This game usually leads to some hilarious situations, but also give tentative leaders more confidence about actually getting out on the dance floor.

Rules:

1. Count off couples into two or three groups, depending on the size of the group (for a class with fifteen people, I make it two groups; for more than twenty, I make three groups).
2. Group #1 dances.
3. Group #2 makes it as difficult as possible for Group #1 to dance. As individuals (or couples, although individuals work better), Group #2 can either:

• stand in the way as a stationery object
• channel one of the most annoying dancers in the area (no names, please!) by either repeatedly backing up into other folks, passing them, doing big adornos to trip folks, you name it ;-)
• aim for the better dancers, narrowing the space around them in order to challenge them to figure out how to to continue to dance in the space.

Groups change jobs: Group #2 dances and Group #1 obstructs. After each round, talk about what worked to avoid the obstructions, what didn't. This is a good time to talk about energy and intention: just as you find space when you walk on a crowded city sidewalk, you find space by dancing with intention, headed in the direction you want.

Other good advice for navigating crowded dance spaces (and if you have ideas for games to work on these, let me know!):

• In one of my first tango workshops, thirteen years ago, Daniel Trenner taught us that the leader "takes the hit" for the follower. I still find this to be true. If there is going to be a crash, I use my body, not my follower's body, to cushion the blow.
• Apologize! There will be some crashes during a crowded dance. If you can meet eyes with the other party involved and mouth "Sorry!" that works.  If not, make sure you apologize after the dance if it could have been your fault. Be nice about it: the only time I think it's perhaps OK to be angry at the other couple is if they did something like off-the-ground boleos into you/your partner or something that shows they were not paying attention to the needs of the other dancers. For the most part, they are trying as hard as you are to avoid crashes.
• Elbows, butts & backs: If necessary, use the available surfaces of your body to make room. Don't be pushy, but don't be afraid to ease your way out of a dangerous situation. As a woman who sometimes led, I was a target in Buenos Aires (and sometimes in the USA) for certain men who felt they should "show me a lesson" and "encourage" me not to lead. They cut off my space, tried to squeeze me off the floor, etc. I learned to squeeze by clearing space with my butt (gently) to get my follower away from such situations. I also learned to read the dance floor space and energy ahead of time to avoid such confrontations. Guys: you don't have to do that, but use my experience to boost your own navigational skills!

The soul of tango

Christina wrote: "i am very interested in the "soul" of tango. what is portrayed through the dance. i am a writer and i'm trying to write a piece about having a love like the tango and i need to understand more of the "story line" (i guess you could say) between the partners. if you could help me, it would be greatly appreciated!"

For me, the soul of tango is the energy of the connection between two people. The follower opens up to the leader to be led, and the leader opens up to the follower so that both can feel the dance and read the other person's body. If that risk, that openness, is lacking, the dance holds little meaning for me.

Perhaps one dialogue goes something like this:
"Hi! Here I am, breath, soul, open to risk . . . and carrying ALL my baggage about risk, physical intimacy, past loves, old injuries, future hopes, feelings about my body, EVERYTHING!"
"Did you feel our pasts collide? Oy!"
"Now, empty out all that baggage, open up your soul, and devote the next fifteen minutes of the tanda to being-ness. There is nothing except this step, now, to this music, with this breath."
"I am breathing. I am walking. I am pausing. I feel you breathing, responding to my breath, to my posture, to my adornments. I am listening to the music and to you and to myself."
"Mmm, you led me perfectly to that part of the music! That was fabulous! Oh, right, keep breathing."
"Wow! You follow everything: I just think about it, and you move! Oh, right, keep breathing."
"Thank you!"
"Thank you!"
[both float, still entranced, back to their tables]

For me, tango really is about baring the soul, connecting it to my body and another person's body, and entrusting myself to that person. That's what makes tango so hard: we spend the rest of our life protecting ourselves from the outer world, and then we are supposed to abandon that in tango for pure connection with another soul. Add the body-soul connection of dancing specific steps while communing with another, and it ups the difficulty of achieving that. Add to that the fact that few of us have been taught to be completely self-aware on a body level, and you can see why perfecting tango is a practice that can extend for the rest of your lifetime.

OK, loyal readers (you silent ones who never comment back), please send me YOUR dialogues, silly, serious, confused, sublime; your tango stories.  Thanks!

Swirly twirls in vals: the cadena and a walk-around front sacada turn

We tackled several fun but complex turns in Rachel Lidskog's and my Sunday Specials vals workshop this month. Elizabeth taught the cadena (chain) step, and Rachel taught a walk-around turn, followed by a turn with a leader front sacada. Both sequences can be done in part (use a few steps), completed once, or repeated for a long twirly sequence if there is room.

The cadena (chain step)

I first learned the cadena in a workshop with Fabian Salas in the mid-1990s. The cadena is a crossed system traveling turn. I find it easiest to lead if I have done a complete traveling back ocho with the follower before I start the cadena, but it is possible to simply get into crossed system on your first forward step and launch the cadena directly.

The cadena can be done both turning right (clockwise, CW) and turning left (counter-clockwise CCW). Rachel prefers CCW; I prefer CW because the couple does not need to turn as far to complete each sequence. I will describe what we learned: turning clockwise.

Once the couple is in crossed system, and both partners are on their left feet:

1. The leader rotates the torso to the right (clockwise) so that the follower steps back to the left diagonal with the right foot WHILE the leader steps forward THROUGH that step with the right foot.
2. The leader steps line of dance with the left while continuing the clockwise rotation of the torso (if it helps, think AROUND the follower, but you are really traveling straight down the room). The follower is pivoted on the right foot, and steps diagonally forward line of dance with the left foot.  NOTE: So far, the leader has basically stepped forward, side, down the line of dance, and is now ready to step backwards in the line of dance. The follower has done a back rock step diagonally across the line of dance, and then a front step diagonally across the line of dance, and is now headed line of dance forwards. The second half of the cadena has the leader repeat steps 1 & 2 of the follower, while leading the follower to repeat steps 1 & 2 of the leader.
3. The leader continues to rotate the torso to the right while stepping back diagonally with the right foot (step #1 for follower). The leader leads the follower straight down the line of dance, through this step. OK, this is the hardest part of the cadena: convincing the follower that you REALLY want her/him to step through, rather than around your other foot ;-)
4. The leader continues to rotate the torso to the right (almost done!) while pivoting on the right foot and then stepping forward diagonal with the left foot to finish ready for step #1. The follower steps straight down the line of dance ("around" the partner) with the left to finish ready for step #1 again.

SECRET to the cadena/true confessions: This is simpler if danced in close embrace, but harder in open. If you are in close embrace, you can effectively body-block the follower from stepping around you. I use my entire torso to lead my follower into my space. I use my hip/torso to stop her from doing a back ocho in #1 & 2, and then I roll my hip/torso to the other side of her leg and block her from going around me. As a smaller leader, I can't wrestle my partner into submission (if it comes to wrestling, I am a "gentleman" and let her win!), but if I set up the placement of the step correctly, I can prevent wrestling.

Counter-clockwise cadena: Reverse the entire thing by rotating to the left and starting the cadena with the follower's back cross step with the left (leader steps through with left).

Good luck!

Walk-around turn + turn with leader front sacada

There are two parts to this combination. Either may be used separately (I'll describe them this way) or together (I'll remind you how to combine them at the end). Just like the cadena, you can use a part of the combo, the whole thing, or string several together to make something VERY swirly.

The walk-around turn

• Lead the follower into back traveling ochos in crossed system.
• After the follower steps back on left foot, both dancers have the right foot free. The leader overturns the follower to the leader's right (CW) by rotating the torso as far as possible.
• As the follower begins a three-step turn (back cross with right, open step to left, front cross with right), the leader steps where the follower was standing and then turns in place while follower finishes the walk-around turn.
• This turn progresses down the room because of the leader's "replacement" of the follower (the argument is open whether a step that replaces the partner, but does not step through the partner's step, is a sacada or not; but it's the same idea).
• The follower begins the turn with the center of the turn circle in one place, but then completes the turn around the new center post.
• The leader has several options for the feet during this turn. However, for all of them, make sure they are under you! I see a lot of folks who reach for the "walk-around" idea with their feet, but never arrive on axis during the turn. Push off, leaders! Land with your whole axis in the new spot to make the follower feel good during the turn. Once you accomplish the "walk-around" you can either spin on one foot (harder to do but spiffy-looking) or just turn in a circle while stepping in ONE place with your feet. I tend to do the second when leading a less-advanced follower, just for balance. The spin I save for moments when I know my follower will not need me as a balance point.
• You can: continue on with the dance; repeat this move; or combine it with the turn and leader sacada below.

Turn with leader front sacada

• Turn the follower to the right (CW) around the leader for the following steps: open with the left foot, back cross with the right foot, open with the left foot, etc.
• On the follower's first open step to the left, the leader does a sacada through that step with either foot. A sacada is a step where the leader is taking the place vacated by the follower (or vice versa for a follower sacada). The leader's body must continue to lead the follower around the turn here WHILE the leader moves to a new spot on the floor (where follower used to be). The requires a spiral in the leader's torso. In this sacada, the leader needs to maintain the same distance with the follower as before the sacada.
• As you are doing the sacada through the follower's slow step, the next steps will be quick, quick, slow, and then another slow open step for the follower. You can break out of the turn on any of these steps.
• If you want to repeat just this move, remember that you need to be ready to sacada on the next slow, open step of the follower. To repeat exactly, sacada with the right foot and change weight in place while the follower turns so that you are ready with the right foot again for another round (you can also do a right sacada and then sacada with your left next time, or . . . whatever).
• If you want to link this to the walk-around turn, only use the first move of this turn. The follower steps open to the left, with the leader doing the sacada through with the right foot and changing weight to the left, so that the right foot is free to immediately do another walk-around turn. In this case, the follower has a QQSS QQSS pattern of timing (QQS in the walk-around, slow during your sacada; repeat) and the leader has a SSQQ SSQQ pattern of timing, so the steps work together, but having a pleasing dialogue with each other.

February Sunday Special classes

Rachel Lidskog and I really enjoyed teaching our second monthly workshop together.  Based on our students' VERY helpful feedback, we are changing our offerings for the next session.  From now on, we will have a beginner/advanced beginner level class at 1 PM, followed by intermediate/advanced level workshops at 2 & 3 PM. Thank you for all of your wonderful suggestions!

We're gearing up for Valentango with:

1.  Navigation for the faint-hearted (beginning level and up): come play some games and get strategy secrets for getting around the crowded Valentango dance floor without getting maimed! Learn to read the "traffic" clearly, improve your defensive "driving" and have fun at the same time. (1-2 PM)
2.  Milonga; the rhythm method (more advanced than #1): build your vocabulary of milonga steps that can be done in small spaces. We'll focus on making your milonga more rhythmic and playful in tight spaces. (2-3 PM)
3. Vals: more swoopy things to do--in small areas (swoopettes?): Use the energy of the dance and the music to keep vals swirly, even in bumper-to-bumper tango space. We'll continue adding to our turn vocabulary that we've been building during the past two workshops. (3-4 PM)

Quick updates for Salem Tango I & II

Hi folks! Sorry about the long wait for weekly updates: sick kiddo and then sick myself.  I'm back on-planet!

Tango I: Boy, have we done a lot in two weeks!

• Walking in center "track" or "lane" in parallel system
• Walking to the "outside" in parallel system
• "Maybe, no" to the "inside" in parallel system
• "Maybe, yes, cross" to the inside in parallel system
• pauses (with or without adornos--ornaments)
• Walking in Quick, Quick, Slow (QQS) rhythm (sometimes called a corrida, or "little run")
• The embrace

This week, we'll review "maybe, no" and "maybe, yes, cross" as well as learning the salida ("exit") and front ochos ("figure eights") at the cross.  We'll play games with elasticity and density (and I'll write about that this coming week, hopefully).  We'll also start learning about the music of tango: Pugliese and di Sarli's orchestras, for starters. See you soon!

Tango II: I'll write more this coming week, I promise!  This will be week III for milonga.  We'll review everything this week, as well as adding several new variations for ocho cortado and the Gardelito (Gardel's step). 

Flashy feet: ocho variations for leaders (Salem Tango II)

As a leader, I often find myself wanting to mess around with rhythm while leading beginning or intermediate followers. I want to keep the dance simple so that they can enjoy themselves, but I also want to bring out the playfulness I hear in some music. One of the ways that I do this is to use different accompanying steps while leading ochos for the follower.

Ways to accompany back traveling ochos:

• in crossed system: walk forward while follower does back ochos.

• in parallel system: do forward ochos while follower does back ochos.

• in parallel system: do overturned back ochos while follower does back ochos (note: these are HARD; save them for last).

• in parallel system: do "the crab" while follower does back ochos. This is easiest if leader's body faces diagonally forward towards the center of the room.

• changing systems: using the same foot, step forward cross; change weight in place; step straight forward; change weight in place. That means that you would step forward on the left, step right in place; step forward with the left, step right in place (or all forward steps with the right foot). This is done with all quick steps while the follower does ochos with all slow steps.

There are other harder/more silly ways, but this should keep you busy for some time! When I was learning to do these variations, I practiced putting several steps of each into a pattern (two walks, change systems with a double-step in place & two front ochos & two back ochos & two crabs & two right foot forward system changing versions & two left foot forward system changes, for example).

In the actual dance, you rarely have room for more than two or three sets of back ochos for the follower, so you don't usually get to do all your variations at once. Also, the follower gets bored if you lead them in back ochos constantly while having fun yourself. Mix it up and give the follower some fun stuff, too.

Hint: Get the follower started on a traveling back ocho before you mess around. If the follower can't feel the back ocho lead, things will fall apart. Do not neglect the follower just to show off!

Being able to do a lot of variations is not important in the big picture of tango. If these don't make sense to you, throw them out the window. They do not add to the follower's enjoyment of the dance for the most part. They do not improve your navigation. They do not create world peace. BUT, I find it useful to know that I can use either foot, that I am balanced over my axis, and that I can play with the music when it says PLAY! to me.

As a follower, what I enjoy about the leader doing variations on my ochos:

• I can more deeply enjoy their interpretation of the dance (as long as the music is driving the variations!)

• I can put adornos into my back ochos that work well with groovy, quirky leader variations. I can participate actively in making the dance look good and feel good.

• It urges me towards doing my best with the music, too. It allows me to dialogue. I'll show you what I like to do with these moves next week. I learned some fun things from Florencia Taccetti about really pushing the envelope on "following" ochos :-)

Music for practice:

I'm in the middle of a Canaro kick, so here are a few Canaro tunes that I like to dance to using this idea: La Barra Fuerte; Rodriguez Pena; El Entrerriano; El Otario; and La Clavada.  I'll use these in class next week. Also, I love messing around with these to Tubatango: La Cara de la Luna; El Pensamiento; Nueve de Julio; and Yunta Brava.  Of course, there are a lot of other tunes.  These tunes are all slow enough to play around without tripping over yourself.

Sunday Specials #1: notes on energy, connection, milonga and tango vals

For Rachel Lidskog's and my first day of teaching together, we chose topics that we felt needed more coverage in the Portland tango community: energy, connection, milonga and vals.

Class #1: Energy and connection

Many of you in Portland have yet to experience my strange and fun games to make your tango livelier, more balanced, and more connected. We mixed these up with things that Rachel teaches. We focused on four levels of connection: self, partner, music, and entire group/room/space.

Self:

Axis drill: breathing deeply, imagine that your breath comes up from below the floor, up into your lungs, and then back down through your bones, through the floor, and pushes a large magnet away below the floor. Repeat several times. Then, imagine that every exhale sends the energy & breath up out the top of your head like a fountain or whale spout. After that, take a few breaths sending energy & breath out the top of the head AND down through the feet. Like a shower curtain rod needs the spring on each end to work, you need to have energy going out both ends to balance your axis for the dance.

Moving through space: Move on each exhale and check axis on each inhale. Find your connection to the floor and the ceiling with each step. Think of the shower curtain rod springs: they don't move much, but energy is constantly going out towards both ends; the same thing happens in your body.

Partner

Force field drill: Facing a partner, not touching, and close your eyes. Do the axis drill for several breaths. Now, let each exhale send energy through your partner and towards the wall of the room. Imagine that energy: I like thinking of electricity, but you could picture a color, water, bubbles, fire, whatever--streaming out of you and towards your partner. Take several breaths focusing on a body part, and then enlarge the "force field" of energy you are sending through your partner. I usually follow this pattern: toes; knees; hips; belly button; rib cage; shoulder blades; collar bones (or back of neck); whole body. Then, extend that rectangular force field to a cylinder around yourself, step towards your partner, and dance slow motion, BREATHING and focusing on how the force field keeps your energy towards your partner, even while moving backwards.

I am here drill: Eyes open, standing several feet apart. Say "I am HERE!" as you step vigorously in towards your partner. Stand your ground, eye to eye (or even touching). Then repeat "I am HERE!" as you move back to your original spot. Notice if you step forwards and then shrink back--the point of the exercise is to REALLY be "HERE" and present, ready to dance (Rachel, correct me if I've forgotten something here!).

Follower as the motor of the dance: In open or close embrace, the leader rotates slowly in place, powered by the follower's turn steps. The follower watches his/her right hand while turning towards that hand; focusing on pivoting the feet and hips to allow for a smooth, balanced, RRRRRRRRMMMMM of a turn. When this is really working, the leader can stand on one foot and be turned around! Before you get dizzy, reverse to the other side. The hard part: create a "reverse" embrace so that the leader's right hand is out, with the leader's left arm around the follower so that the follower can watch his/her left hand while turning that way. Leaders: try not to pull or push the follower in this drill. BTW, it's good practice for leading with the chest instead of the arms.

Naughty toddler: Anyone who has led someone who is clearing NOT following can identify with the need to feel confident about leading, no matter what is happening. Naughty toddler is a game in which the follower does ANYTHING his/her little heart desires. Just as when dealing with a real toddler, the leader's job will be easiest if s/he uses the "toddler's" energy and directs it around the dance floor, rather than trying to get the "toddler" to stop!

The second goal of Naughty Toddler to is teach followers to dance with more energy. Too much energy, and you are not following, but leading. Too little energy, and it is very difficult to move the follower anywhere. In between, there is a grey zone, where the leader can be in control, but the follower contributes energy. I find that most followers dance too close to the passive edge of that zone. Whenever I find a lively follower with tons of energy, I enjoy leading more. Even if that person is almost out of control, it is more fun than motivating a comatose dancer! Followers: find "Naughty Toddler" and then tone it down just a hair for optimum following. Leaders: look out! Here come some great dancers!

The music

We are saving the tuning into music for the next set of classes.

The group

Circle community: Rachel says this comes via Alex Krebs. We stood in a circle, touching shoulders. Then, we leaned slightly in and slightly out, feeling how the group could hold up the group. We then moved right and left, feeling how the group compensated for the movement and contributed to it (Rachel, feel free to jump in here!)

Solo-couple: Finding the flow of the entire room adds to the richness of your dance--and helps you to avoid collisions. For Solo-Couple, each person walks in any direction in the room: clockwise, counter-clockwise, straight through the middle of the group, whatever. To avoid collisions, turn in place until you can find a way to move, rather than stopping or backing up. When the teacher hollers COUPLE! grab the closest person and without stopping, move into dancing counter-clockwise in the room, with at least vaguely tango/milonga/vals steps. The point is to keep the flow of the room, tune into that, and use it to make your dance. Because you don't have time to think, as a leader, you must just allow the dance to happen. As the follower, you are in synch with the rest of the room and have a good idea of the space available, which allows you to follow more comfortably.

Energy bunnies/Energy vampires: This is a game that helps you add to--or benefit from--the energy of the room when dancing. What we all dream of is a room of dancers that, when we walk in, we can FEEL the crackle of energy and dancing! Those are the times you can dance for hours and hardly notice fatigue. Conversely, on those nights when you are tired and you get a partner who is also low-energy, it's hard to get through a single tanda. You can give energy to a partner or to the room of dancers (or take energy) as needed. This sounds very woo-woo, but I noticed that all of you felt how much more energy was present after energy bunnies. For the game, each time we passed someone, we gave/took a little energy from that person, accompanied by very fun noises :-) After only about thirty seconds, everyone's energy level was higher, and we stopped to dance a dance, as well as to feel the result of the game. Try it when you are dancing: give energy if your partner needs it, or take some if you need it, and see how it works in "real life."

We'll continue working on drills and games during our next round on December, focusing on making the embrace work better and feel sweeter.

Class #2: Milonga lisa (smooth milonga)

We started with Jorge Nel's great follow-the-leader exercise. This consists of walking in a circle to milonga music, while imitating what the leader is doing. I focus on getting comfortable with quarter turns: walking forward and then turning towards/away from the center to do step together patterns; then either turning to face forwards, or turning the other way to face backwards; but always progressing around the room. For me, this drill helps the leaders become more comfortable with the swift pace of milonga, without being tempted to take big steps. Also, it works into a drill I learned from Tete that we did for val class (more on that below).

Side-together steps: We practiced leading those same patterns (moving into and out of side together steps) with a partner. In order to get your partner to step with you, you need to "squeeze the toothpaste" up to get their feet light enough to follow what you do, or "squeeze the toothpaste" down to put their feet on the ground if they tend to pop up (we revisited this for calecitas, see vals class below).

Corridas: Using the "squeeze toothpaste up" approach, we practiced doing quick-quick-slow traveling patterns in milonga: this brings the follower's steps in a bit so that little steps (thus quicker) are executed to aid in timing the corrida. Also, instead of trying to push two quick steps down the room, try applying as much energy as you need at the beginning of the three steps, so that the pattern naturally ends with a slow at the end of the phrase.

Vai-ven (go-come): I learned this step from Daniel Trenner ages ago, and I like to combine it with other walking patterns to make a nice, elegant milonga style. The step has 6 counts and 6 steps: for the leader, forward on the left; in place on the right and the left; back on the right; in place on the left and the right. The follower starts back, in place for two steps, forward and in place for two steps. Ballroom folks: this is NOT a hesitation step, and it doesn't rise and fall like ballroom waltzes :-)

Rotating grapevine (clockwise): This step works nicely in conjunction with the vai-ven step. It is done here in parallel system. The leader steps forward on the left, through on the right (as if going to the cross), open line-of-dance with the left; those are the first three steps. Then, that is repeated by the follower (forward, step through, side step) while the leader steps backwards (but moving line-of-dance) with the right, backwards with the left (while leading the follower through to the leader's right side), and open line-of-dance with the right (facing IN). On the next step, the leader can step forwards line-of-dance. If you do a vai-ven before and after this move, it feels nice and energized without getting swoopy.

Of course, the rotating grapevine can also be done counterclockwise, but we didn't go there--yet. And, of course, you can do this in crossed system, but that is way harder!

Energizer bunny: Although the follower's role in tango or milonga is NOT to be on autopilot, I find that it helps leaders initially if the follower steps on every beat of the music. The follower does not move around: that's the leader's job. So the follower provides the motor/battery and the leader provides the direction for the dance. We practiced doing this, using both simple walks and step together patterns, and later on after we did several more complex patterns of movements.

Know your milongas: We focused on a few Canaro milongas: No Hay Tierra Como La Mia, Mi Buenos Aires, and Milonga Brava. I find that, the more I know a song, the more I can use syncopated rhythms to play (like corridas). Also, if there are any "breaks" in the song, I know when to put in an earth-shaking pause, right on the money!

In December, we'll learn some more moves and start playing with traspie. We'll continue with getting to know Canaro's milongas, as there are tons of them and they are FUN.

Class #3: Vals Musicality & swoopy moves

For vals, we added a few new moves (or improved them) and worked on musicality.

Music games:

Bim-Bam: This game comes from Luciana Valle.

• All the dancers are responsible for keeping an even paced, steady beat. Everyone makes a noise on the "1" count (like "Bim" or "Bam" if you are Luciana) that differs from any other noises to keep the "2" and "3" counts going; everyone steps ONLY on the "1" beat.
• Next, the "3" beat is added in, making the rhythm feel a bit like a limp: 1 3 1 3 1 3. The dancers make a different noise on "3" to differentiate it from the "1" (i.e., Bim BAM Bim BAM etc.), stepping only on those two beats.
• Obviously, the next version is stepping on the "1" and "2" beats, which accentuates the "1" (BIM Bam BIM Bam etc.).
• There are two other versions, to be used sparingly: stepping on all three counts (perhaps BIM beam bom or something like that?), and pausing for various multiples of three.
• Then, all dancers put the patterns together, moving through the space (still without a partner). The group needs to keep the "1" (BIM) beat going collectively, but can play around within that. I think of this part like learning to scat sing: bee bopp a beeddeeeddee whatever; I dance what I sing.

The Blob: I take complete responsibility for this silly game:

• The group splits up into little blobs of four to six people. The blob is responsible for keeping a steady "1" beat, as in the Bim-Bam game. However, the small group interacts while moving through space. You can be across the room or touching; moving in dialogue or trying to move together on the same counts; running circles around your group, or sticking to the middle for safety, BUT you must be continuing the last step of Bim-Bam: getting comfortable with mixing up the rhythms.
• Then, we move into smaller blobs of two couples and do the same. Explore keeping an eye on the rest of your group but moving further away: how does that feel/work? Now try staying really close together, but working with different parts of the rhythm than the others (12 12 12 when someone is doing 1 3 1 3). Now, try to channel them and do exactly what they are doing.
• Last, break into couples, but still don't touch. Make it a playful conversation of rhythm, where the "follower" doesn't have to stay still or do what the leader wants.

What does the Blob teach? As a follower, I found that I had ideas about rhythm that my partner did not necessarily share. I try to use those moments as adornment, rather than by taking over the lead. If my leader pauses and I hear movement, I can do an adornment with that rhythm. If I hear "1 3" and they lead "12" I can play with the rhythm to make it work for both of us (more on this next time).

As the leader, I realize how much the music helps me make up my pattern of rhythm. Thus, the better I know a song, the better my dance fits with that song and the more my partner likes the dance.

Songs that we worked on:

• Vibraciones del Alma (Canaro)
• La Perfumada Flor (d'Arienzo)
• Mascarita (Laurenz)

We'll work on more songs next time, familiarizing ourselves with tunes that are played a lot in this community. If you have a favorite vals, let us know beforehand, and we'll bring that one to work on. If you want a head start, check out the following:

• Mariquita Mo Mires (Rodriguez)
• Mi Romance (Tanturi)
• Dos Corazones (DeMare)
• Estrellita Mia (Donato)
• Desde el alma (Pugliese and others)

Moves that are fun in vals, Part One

Calecita: The main point of a calecita is that the leader moves around the follower in a giro (turn), with the follower as the center of that circle. Calecitas can end in off-axis, leaning positions, but that is not the main idea. Little calecitas (say, 1/2 revolutions, not off-axis) are great for changing directions with little space available. They also feel WONDERFUL as a follower when used in vals as a way to get a swoopy, suspended feel at the end of a phrase. Remember to:

• Get your follower on axis first.
• "Squeeze the toothpaste" up to help the follower stay on balance on the support leg.
• Keep your steps equidistant from the follower's axis in order to stay on balance. For a counterclockwise calecita, I pivot my hips so that my toes are facing the other direction, and back up around the follower. This is much easier than trying to grapevine in a perfect circle.
• "Squeeze the toothpast" down before asking the follower to travel somewhere else.
• The easiest version of a calecita: take a side step while leading the follower in a side step; lift, turn, release & exit.

As the follower, remember:

• Try to arrive on axis to all steps.
• If "lifted" do not let your heels pop up! Instead, apply active, downward pressure to maintain your balance (using the embrace as a parallel to the ground balance)
• Do not sag against partner!
• Upon feeling the release of the lift, be prepared to travel to a new spot.
• During the calecita, try little adornos that don't knock you off balance: little darts, circles, etc.; or the more dangerous ones like tucking your free heel behind your balance foot.

Traveling turn: I sometimes call this the Dan Turn, as Dan from Alaska used to do these ALL the time (and very well). This traveling turn is done in parallel system, and constantly moves line of dance. Each unit of turn starts with the leader using L foot to travel forward and around the follower, with Follower’s front cross through with the right initiating second half of the turn.The key is make sure that the follower can step through to the leader's left as s/he steps forward line of dance with the right leg each time the turn rotates completely.

Leader: For the first turn, the leader walks into the "maybe" position (starting to walk to the cross) with the right; from there on, the leader doesn't really get to that position, but focuses on keeping the dancers turning. The leader's steps: Through to the inside (R), open (L), backwards (R), backwards (L), open & turning (R), forwards and turning (L); when I get started on this turn, it feels like it has four steps: around follower, slightly backwards, follower around, slightly forwards. Hopefully, one of these versions will help you remember the step!

Follower: back (L), open (R), forward (L), through (R), open (L), back (R). The main element is the through step with the right foot. Once the turn gets going, it feels like: leader steps around, follower forward, follower through, follower turning. Like polka, I find this step super-easy, but not easy to describe! Hope this helps.

Next round (December 14th): More vals steps (turning mostly) and more musicality work.

Walking to the cross in parallel system (Salem Tango I class)

This week, we worked on three related tango elements:

1. switching lanes or tracks
2. "maybe no" steps
3. walking to the cross (maybe, yes, cross)

1. Switching lanes or tracks

In Argentine tango, you can walk in front of your partner, or walk on either side--creating three distinct tracks or lanes. As we mentioned in the first class, your hips and toes define the path of the couple, so this does not change, even when you are walking on the "outside" (follower is closer to middle of the room, leader has moved to his/her own right) or walking on the "inside" (leader is closer to middle of the room, having moved to his/her own left) compared to the follower. What, then, makes this changing lanes possible?

Torso rotation makes it possible to walk in the outside, center or inside track, without changing the direction of the couple in the room. This twist must happen while both people are on their axes, or the twist unbalance the step. Only after the rotation occurs, can the leader step through to the outside or inside: that movement creates the space through which to step!

If I want to step out to the outside track when leading, I twist my torso TOWARDS my follower while on my axis (to my left, or counterclockwise), and then step through to the outside. The follower's torso adjusts to my twist by rotating to face me, so the connection/energy of the couple is still between the partners. The focus of this twist/rotation is--you guessed it--the solar plexus.

To return to the center track, I step back into center, returning my torso to a neutral orientation (no twist). Remember, this is not done with arms or feet: the center of the body returns to center.

If I want to step towards the inside, or center of the room, I twist my torso TOWARDS my follower (to my right, or clockwise) in order to maintain connection and energy, as well as to make room for myself to the "inside" track. The "maybe no" and "maybe yes cross" elements come into play when the leader moves to the inside track.

Note: An experienced leader makes sure that the follower's dance is enhanced, not disturbed, by switching lanes. As a beginner, you can achieve this by:

• making sure that you take your entire body along: don't leave your head in the center lane and take only your legs to the side :-)
• focusing on leading even-length, clear steps for the follower. That means that your own steps to the outside/inside and returning to center, must focus on the forward motion, not a wide diagonal.
• keeping the energy of the connection between the partners, rather than turning your chest to follow your own direction and having the embrace collapse. Imagine that both partners are responsible for holding a little pillow between them while doing this step: at no point should the pillow fall or shoot out the sides of the embrace! That pillow is your energy focus, and keeping it in the middle makes the dance feel smooth to the follower.

2. "Maybe NO"

As far as I know, this terminology is from Daniel Trenner (my first tango teacher). I think it works very well, which is why I've used it for thirteen years! Short ad: Daniel will be coming to Portland to teach for a week in February! Check him out on the Portland tango page: http://portlandtango.com/

When the leader steps through to the inside track, and the follower steps backwards onto the left leg, that is a MAYBE. If the leader returns to the center track immediately (with the next step), that is a NO. In other words, no, we are NOT going to the cross right now! Remember that the torso twist needs to happen before the leader steps to the inside track, while both partners are on axis. If you twist too soon, the follower will try to begin a turn or a grapevine (more on that in later classes) instead of walking. If you twist too late, there's no room for the leader to move through to the inside.

This step can be done to the outside track and returning to center, but it is not really a "maybe no" because we don't walk to the cross on that side. (Well, OK, sometimes you can do that, but it is unusual, and we'll save it for Tango III or IV!).

3. Maybe yes cross (walking to the cross)

When the leader stays in the inside track after the "maybe" step, the next step is "yes" and on the third step, the follower crosses the left leg in front of the right leg and shifts weight onto the left leg. The right leg will then be free for the next step in the dance.

In the current "high school math" version of walking to the cross, the leader will walk to the inside track with the right foot, lead the "yes" step with the left, and then step in place, putting the weight on the right foot while the follower crosses. That way, the leader's left foot will be free for the next step. Warning: this will change! There are many things you can do at the cross, once this is working. For right now, we are walking in parallel system and both partners are taking the same number of weight changes at the cross. More on that later :-)

Torso torsion: The cross is led by a combination of the leader's forward movement and the untwisting of the torso. When done correctly, this step brings the follower across the leader's "inside track" to make this the current center track. For the follower, this is a diagonal step, with an emphasis on the backwards direction. This means that the untwisting has to complement the leader's forward motion; it is a subtle movement of the solar plexus, not a shoving with the arms!

The follower's walking to the cross will be the same for all versions of the step. The back step with the left leg will always be "maybe" and the next step back on the right will either be "no" or "yes". If it is "yes" the follower will scissor the left leg closed in front of the right leg and transfer weight to the left leg, ready to move on the right for the next step.

This is a very stable position in the dance that is based on thigh and knee alignment, not toe alignment! Remember that we talked about leg shape and the shape of the cross. No two people will have the same look because their bodies are different. Keep your thighs together and stack your knees one in front of the other (like Pringles potato chips, both are slightly curved: no locked knees!). Your toes will probably not align with each other perfectly. For me, with my (well let's be nice) strong calves, I cannot get my left toes as far back as my right ones. However, because my knees and thighs are working hard, the shift from right to left is still in place and still on balance. Work up the center of your axis, from the floor to the ceiling, and let your axis support this move.

My two cents: lead the cross or the automatic cross: which is it?

Here's my opinion on this topic: the cross is a codigo, or a convention/rule. We all KNOW that the follower is walking to the cross after the "yes" step, BUT the leader should be allowed to interpret the move. In other words, the follower should not just do the cross automatically, but rather wait to see HOW the leader is interpreting the move vis-a-vis the music. Is it slow? Fast? Abrupt? Smooth? At no point does the follower go on autopilot!

Next week, we'll review this work, and also start doing steps at the cross: ochos and turns!!!!!

Getting into traveling back ochos and exiting (Salem Tango II)

This week, we continued our work with the crossed system. Whereas last week, we changed systems at the cross by leaving out a step, this week, we added a step in the forward walk to switch from parallel to crossed and back again.

There are tons of patterns that you can do from traveling forward (as a leader) and switching into crossed system, but traveling back ochos are an old standard. There are several ways to get into ochos, but I think the easiest is to double-step forwards (step together step) while the follower is walking backwards (two steps), and go right into traveling back ochos.

Leaders! Remember:

• Keep your forward momentum: the ochos are barely rotated. If you turn your body (or, God forbid :-) your feet) from side to side, then your partner is going to give you a less elegant, more weaving ocho. Focus on traveling forward, and let the follower's hips follow the tiny rotation that your chest will make.
• Step near your partner's feet: when I lead traveling back ochos, sometimes I even feel the outside of my partner's foot against the outside of my foot. I step forward, but slightly outside of a narrow track. That means that BOTH my steps are to the forward diagonal, and this makes my partner step directly in front of my foot (as usual), but with the OTHER foot as we are in crossed system, creating a back zigzag (traveling back ochos).
• Push off! Don't swing your feet to get around your partner!

Followers! Remember:

• Push off with your supporting leg and foot. You need to match the step size that the leader requests. Swinging your leg and foot around and back will make you look much less elegant than a very narrow, sinuous ocho will.
• Let your hips rotate gently. The leader should not be pushing you in a wide zigzag (if s/he is, you need to follow it). Just by being in crossed system and having the leader walk, you end up doing back ochos.
• Focus on your energy: this should feel delightful for the leader, not wild and out of control. Keep your axis on balance and breathe, but give energy to the leader so that they can use your ochos to go into other moves. Stretch up your axis so that the leader feels your feet on the ground.

Three alternate ways to get into back ochos:

1. Walk to the outside in parallel and switch to crossed system in the walk. Then, when both people have the right foot free, rotate the follower ACROSS the leader's line of walking and proceed as above for back ochos.
2. Walk to the cross, leave out out to change to crossed system, and go into traveling back ochos from there. I personally don't like this one as a leader or follower, but if it works for you, go for it.
3. Turn your partner in a giro. When you are facing line of dance, make sure that you are exiting in crossed system (if anyone needs to switch weight, it needs to be the leader!) and walk out in traveling back ochos.

Now, you have four ways to get into back ochos. What the heck do you do to escape (er, exit)? Again, there are tons of things to do. Here are the patterns we worked on in class:

• Leader double-steps to return to parallel system and continues walking.
• Continue in crossed system to the outside for a walk.
• Cross to the inside, walking to the cross in crossed system and leaving a step out at the cross, get back into parallel system (I know, I know, all these terms with "cross" in them!)
• Stop traveling, rotate the follower more, and lead a back ocho in place, with variations on leader footwork (more on this another class). From this, we'll build in the paradas, boleos, etc., we started last session.
• Scoop turns: This is what we started at the end of class, so I'll talk more about this and walkaround turns next week after we've got a better handle on them. We'll also work on chain steps (cadenas) that boggle the mind, but are rather fun, later in the session if we have time.

Everyone is doing a great job in class. I especially notice that some of you are much more on axis and balanced even than last week. This will make all the turns we work on this session much easier to execute. Until next week!

Music for tango

Last session, I was remiss in addressing music for tango practice that works well and is readily accessible.  Here are my picks from what is available on iTunes:

Tubatango: this is great for the beat, but does not seem to exist on iTunes. Oh, well, I guess you have to go back to the old masters :-)

Carlos di Sarli:
Glorias del Tango, Carlos di Sarli, Vol. 1 & 2
El Senor de Tango
Serie de Oro, Carlos di Sarli, Vol. 1 & 2

I am a fan of di Sarli's music. It is deliberate, with a clear, precise beat, but it is still nice and romantic, with lyrical melodies. Elegant would be the word I'd use for di Sarli. If you're only going to get one CD, buy one of these first.

Juan d'Arienzo
Glorias del Tango, Carlos di Sarli, Vol. 1 & 2
Serie de Oro, Juan d'Arienzo (has a few with scratchy sound on it)

d'Arienzo is the master of the rhythmic tango: peppy, crisp, lots of oomph!

Ricardo Tanturi (my favorite orchestra)
Serie de Oro, Tanturi, Vol 2 is the only CD iTunes has of Tanturi

Osvaldo Pugliese (another great romantic orchestra)
Serie de Oro, Pugliese is the only CD iTunes has of Pugliese that is danceable. Some people like the ColorTango version of his works and some don't. Listen and see if you like it or not.  Pugliese is harder to dance to than all of these other orchestras because the tempo varies.  At the same time, that really gives a more advanced dancer a lot to play around with!

If you want a sampler, there are about two songs per band of a bunch of the old masters on Tango, The Originals, Vol. 1.  If I were you, I'd listen to it in snippets, and go buy a whole CD of something you really like.

I hope that helps the new folks.  Look at the tango compilation albums, listen to the snippets, and look at orchestra names. Then, go and search for those orchestras and find out what there is. I have enough tango music that I may never buy any more . . . well, not before Christmas!  Have a good week!

Crossed system in tango (Salem Tango II)

Good to see all of you back for another session!  Here is the wish list from the group:

• changes in tempo
• clues for knowing what the leader wants the follower to do
• essential tango turns
• exits and transitions
• moving from open to close embrace and back
• footplay
• "whatever" and "anything" seemed to be the most popular vote; SO . . .

My main theme for the session (into which we can build all of these things) is: crossed system. I think that acquiring an understanding of crossed system opens doors to improvisation and organicity of movement. The Free Dictionary defines organicity as: "resembling a living organism in organization or development; interconnected." I define it as flow in the dance: letting the outcome of one move decide or influence the next movement in the dance; the dance as a living organism.

Crossed system refers to movement where both leader and follower step with the same foot: right and right, or left and left. Combined with parallel system (leader on right, follower on left and vice versa), ALL tango moves are possible. As we barely touched on crossed system in the beginning class (or in the past intermediate sessions), I have decided to focus our work on this theme for six weeks.

Changing systems

There are several ways to change systems.  In all cases, either the leader or the follower must take one more/less step than the other partner. In other words, if the leader leaves a step out while leading the follower in a step, a system change occurs.  Also, if the leader steps twice while the follower is led in one step, a system change occurs.

We practiced changing systems at the cross. This is one place where it is relatively easy to lead the follower to take a step while not changing weight as the leader because the follower is going to change weight in place anyway. We practiced several combinations of steps using this principle:

1. Walking to the cross in parallel system and then walking to the outside track in crossed system. Daniel Trenner used to call this a "three-track" or "three-skis" orientation, as the leader's left foot steps directly in front of the follower's left foot, leaving two tracks for the right feet. Eventually, the leader led back to the inside track, walking to the cross in crossed system and leaving a step out to end in parallel.
2. Walking to the cross in parallel system and then dancing "maybe-no" steps (another Daniel Trenner term). After several "maybe-no" steps, the leader then led to the cross, leaving a step out to finish in parallel.
3. Walking to the cross in parallel system and then walking to the cross in crossed system, thus ending back in parallel system.

Most people understood the concepts and were walking through these patterns more easily by the end of class. The hardest part was using the other foot for the leaders: "maybe yes cross" now meant using "left right leave one out" when "right left step together" (walking to the cross in parallel system) felt much better :-) I promise this will get easier!

As the follower's steps result in the same walk to the cross, all of the movements you know already at the cross work now, no matter what foot the leader used to get to the cross:

• front ochos (Tango I)
• right turn (Tango I)
• left turn (Tango I)
• front parada & stepover (last Tango II)
• front parada, stepover and gancho (last Tango II)

Next week, we'll practice this more, but we will also start the other alternative for switching systems: having the leader double-step (quick quick) while the follower is led in a regular step (slow), either to the side or forward.  You have done both of these before to lead ochos in place or traveling back ochos, but we have not looked at how those moves fit into the dance.

We'll review traveling back ochos (perhaps new for some of you) and begin turns from crossed system that travel in space.  If you have time, practice walking to the cross in both systems and adding in the steps you already know.

Another thing we'll do next week is energy work from Oscar and Georgina.  This should make these transitions more elegant, more part of the dance.  See you next week!

Tango history, the short version

Several people have requested that I put my thesis up on my blog.  The jury is still out on that idea, but here is the one-page summary of Elizabeth's version of tango history.  If you are interested in a copy of my thesis, it costs about $15 to make a copy with a front cover.  I would be glad to do that and mail one to you.  Due to past issues, I will copy it AFTER you have paid me for it :-)

I have taken out the references to make this less academic-feeling, but would be happy to email a bibliography to anyone interested in doing research themselves.

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Tango developed out of the dances of the working class African-Argentines, poor European immigrants, and, to some extent, criollo (people of mixed indigenous and Spanish blood) culture, in the late 1800s in Buenos Aires.  It developed out of a dance called the milonga, which combined the African-Argentine dance, the candombe, with European couple dances and with Afro-Caribbean dance forms. 

The candombe, developed in the Buenos Aires area in the 1800s.  After the international slave trade was banned in 1809, the separate African ethnic dance traditions maintained in Argentina gradually merged into a single dance. By the mid-1800s, the candombe was firmly established in the black community in Buenos Aires.  Candombe contributed its rhythms and torso and hip movement to the development of tango.

European dances contributed the dance embrace and instrumentation to tango.  European couple dances came to Argentina with the original Spanish colonizers as well as with the huge number of immigrants who arrived in the mid- to late- nineteenth century from southern and eastern Europe. Because laws privileged rich landowners, these new immigrants could not buy land easily.  Many settled in Buenos Aires, thus creating a distinct subculture that differed from the creole and black mix in the provinces.  The new immigrants were mostly men, having left their families back in the old country while they looked for work, which created a great imbalance in the number of men and women living in Buenos Aires.  These men lived in collective houses called conventillos in the poor sections of town.  The commonly accepted history is that tango was a male dance, developed by these lower-class men dancing together in the conventillos and on street corners. 

However, tango did not evolve solely in the streets among male immigrants.  It was danced by men and women, recent immigrants and established porteños.  Various ethnic groups met in the academias de baile, or dance halls, of the working class neighborhoods in Buenos Aires where people gathered to drink, gamble, and dance.  In the 1860s and 1870s, with the importation of new European dances such as the waltz, schottische, and mazurka, a new dance form, the milonga, melded together African and European traditions.  The Afro-Cuban habañera, which was the most popular dance at African-Argentine parties in the 1880s, also exerted a strong influence over the rhythm of the new dance. 

By 1883, the milonga was very popular dance among the working classes.  It introduced the European dance embrace (man and woman touching) into the mixture that already existed, but the rhythms and instruments of the milonga were still African.  Depending upon the source, milonga is considered to be either a dance that the poor whites did to imitate and/or mock the candombe of the blacks, or a dance that the black Argentines did to mimic the whites.  Popular myth is that the compadritos (or suburban working-class white men) were the people who imitated the candombe and took it to their dance places as the milonga. 

The tango began as a slower, smoother version of the milonga.  By the mid- to late-1890s, Argentine tango was considered a distinct dance, separate from the milonga and other dance forms.  It was mainly performed in poor areas of Buenos Aires, by working class people, and did not hold a widespread appeal elsewhere.

From 1890 to 1917, tango gained a larger audience in Buenos Aires gradually.  Popular entertainment aimed at working and middle classes incorporated tango songs and the dance into plays, the circus, etc.,  and thus spread tango to more people and made it more acceptable.  Tango continued to be danced in poor neighborhoods on the tenement patios, but during the 1910s, tango music and dance began to be played at upscale nightclubs in the richer areas of town.  Here, a rich young man could develop a taste for tango music and learn to dance it by visiting the dance halls and the brothels of the working class areas.  The popularity of tango among upper-class men spread the dance from lower-class brothels to upper-class brothels. 

These same young men were sent to Europe on grand tours and brought tango with them, introducing it into the Parisian demimonde in the 1910s.  During the ensuing fad for tango, Europeans viewed the dance as a symbol of exotic, Latin sensuality.  They also linked it to Argentine national identity.  Upper-class Argentines were scandalized that a lower-class, improper dance was connected to their nationality: they did not want to be associated with tango. In 1913, an Argentine observer of the Parisian fashion for tango noted, “ . . . the tango is nothing more than an exotic dance, vaguely sinful, that [Europeans] dance for its sensual, perverted and slightly barbaric context”.  The Europeans simplified and codified tango’s steps, and adapted it to be more like European couple dances, so that it easier to dance, less provocative, but still exotic.

After tango won followers in Europe, it became more widely accepted among the middle and upper classes in Argentina.  By the 1920s, tango was popular among most social classes in Argentina.   The middle- and upper-classes adopted the more Europeanized styling as “appropriate.”  The corresponding association of tango with Europe, rather than with the Argentine underclasses, made it acceptable for the more moneyed classes of people in Buenos Aires to indulge in tango.  The support of upper-class male dancers in Argentina also allowed the middle class to adopt tango with less of a lower-class stigma attached to it.

The late 1930s and the 1940s were the Golden Era of tango.  The upswing in the economy after the Depression drew more people to dance halls.  World War II isolated Argentina from the rest of the world, which contributed to the growing popularity of the home-grown tango.  An elderly interviewee told me that “tango was danced in all the clubs . . . and when Carnival came around, the clubs would argue over orchestras [who would get to play where]”.  So many people danced tango that each neighborhood in Buenos Aires developed its own particular dance style.

On the benefits of chaos: Tangofest!

I've noticed that many beginning tango dancers avoid Tangofest. Dancing at events like Tangofest can feel as scary as Boston at rush hour. Some dancers plow around the dance floor, running poor beginners over. There's almost no room, and when you find it, someone else takes it. And some crazy person is leading their partner into leg-flying, death-defying stunts, right in the line of dance.

In reality, leading at Tangofest is what prepared me for normal dancing in Buenos Aires. I learned to dance many steps almost in place.  I learned to use turns as a line of defense when people cut me off. I learned to give the follower room to play in the pauses between traveling forward. I learned to keep an eye out for the space I occupied, and stay moving behind the leader in front of me. You will not learn those skills when you only dance in practicas with tons of space!

Dancing at Tangofest taught me to enjoy subtle, small, musical moments in the dance, both as a leader and a follower. As a leader, I felt no need to try to think up difficult sequences to wow my follower: I was too busy trying to stay alive! As a follower, I learned to close my eyes and trust the leader. After all, if I tightened up when someone got close, the leader couldn't guide me out of harm's way. I relinquished my backseat driver behavior and had more fun. I have some of my best tandas in crowded spaces because it forces me to tune in and focus on the important parts of tango: connection, breath, music, my partner.

Take classes at Tangofest!

One approach to Tangofest is the linear path. Just take classes with one teacher and get one viewpoint and one set of rules for tango. Follow one set of teachers around and take any classes they teach, no matter what level (don't tell ANYONE I said that! The advanced dancers will kill me.). I'm going to do that with Oscar and Georgina this year because I am preparing to teach their style. I want to hear EVERYTHING they say about tango this weekend, including in beginner classes (see you there?).

Another way to approach Tangofest is to embrace chaos. Take all the classes in your level. Accept that, in every class, the teachers may tell you the opposite of the teachers in the last class (stand up straight! Lock ze knees! Never lock ze knees! etc.). In each class, I try to follow the teacher's advice. I ask for clarification and reasons, but I try not to argue. When the class is over, I have almost always learned something new or useful. "Take the best and chuck the rest."

By the end of the weekend, my brain is stuffed full of information that is conflicting and quickly dissipating. I try to take notes and then practice with someone else who was in the class. If I do the sequences or exercises I learned, I will remember them longer.  I assume that only about 10% of what I learned will stick. I also assume that my dancing will get WORSE for a few weeks or months as I incorporate new ideas into my tango.

A few months after Tangofest, I have integrated the new information that I like and have improved my dance. Instead of a linear progression to perfection, I find tango to be little clouds of chaos that clear and leave me in the middle of a gorgeous, sunny day for a while, blinded with the beauty of tango.

GO TO TANGOFEST!

On breathing

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I recently started to reread Taking Root to Fly: ten articles on functional anatomy, by Irene Dowd. As I hadn’t read it in almost twenty years, I was amazed to find how much I use her concepts in my teaching. This week, I want to talk about her article, On Breathing and the information she provides about breathing in order to dance better.

Dowd's suggestions for improving breathing techniques in the body:

• Exhale as much as possible, but don't force it. By exhaling as much as you can, you get more oxygen into your body, which allows you to use your muscles better and avoid fatigue. By not pushing the exhale, you use less effort for breathing, reducing the amount of oxygen your muscles need to function. Reducing the amount of muscle tension you use to breathe also releases the muscle tension in your torso, which relaxes what Dowd calls "the body-mind"--just what we are looking for in tango!
• Let laughter and humor be a part of your dance. This helps you breathe more easily than focusing on making your body breathe. You will notice that a lot of the games I give you in class make people laugh. Many of you noted that you were having fun, or that the movements seemed easier after such exercises. What you don't see because you are dancing is that you ALL move more easily when you laugh and smile! Letting the tension go helps tango.
• Find one picture or idea to think about for breathing, rather than trying to open the lungs, don’t raise the shoulders, relax the solar plexus, breathe into the sides of your lungs, etc. all at the same time. Here are some images to try that Dowd mentions in her article:

1. Focus on the breath going up and down the central axis of the body (this is what we do to prepare for the Force Field exercise).
2. Think of your entire trunk as a cylinder expanding and shrinking in all directions simultaneously
3. imagine the breath is a fountain shooting from out of the very center of the top of the head and flowing down the back, taking all tension with it (this is a basis of my Force Field exercise).
4. think of being a tree whose trunk shoots up through its center growing always taller as the sap flows upward. Just as the tree’s branches and leaves move in the wind, your shoulders, arms and ribs hang, without effort. The less muscle tension and focus that you devote to holding your body upright, the more energy you have to give to your partner and to the dance (we'll do I Am the Fat Lady next week, which works on these ideas).
5. think of your whole trunk as a big elastic balloon. The balloon fills and empties by itself, focusing on the flow of air. Dowd suggests making a sound when exhaling to focus on this (think Superpower and Energy Bunnies!).

Many of you have shared with me that you find it difficult to work on breathing when you "don't know the steps yet." Breathing is MUCH more important than the steps in tango: it connects you with your partner and allows a dialogue of movement that the most careful step execution cannot.

Which is more important for you: perfection or connection? For me, it used to be perfection (and, yes, I'm aware that I am still a perfectionist!), but connection has gradually become more important. After a tanda (dance set), I don't usually bemoan the lack of perfection, but if there was no energy and no connection with the other person's body-mind-soul, I feel cheated. BREATH is fundamental to connection, balance, focus and enjoyment.

Dowd (and I) suggest doing breathing exercises on the floor before trying them standing up. Trying them while dancing is step three. If you would like me to show these exercises to you, we can do that in the next class (just ask). Otherwise, breathing and posture exercises justify a private or small group lesson.

Next week: front ochos and turns at the cross for Tango I; intro to boleos for Tango II. See you then!!

Opening your solar plexus: energy in tango (and class notes for 23 Sept.)

All dancers bring themselves to the dance floor: personality, mood, energy level, balance, musicality--the list is endless. However, energy tops the list. A partner, approaching you for the first time, feels something about your energy and responds to that initial impression on a conscious and subconscious level. Does this person make you feel secure? Does it feel good to connect with that energy? Does this person feel relaxed/tense/etc.? On some level, no matter what steps are done and what music is danced, that energy hit from your partner flavors the tanda (set of dances) and the experience.

When I lead, I always make sure that my solar plexus (the soft spot right below my sternum) is relaxed. The faster the dance, the more open my solar plexus needs to be. The harder my partner is to move, the more released I need to remain in my center. If my partner is tense, my response is to reduce my own tension by softening my solar plexus.

This seems counterintuitive: all the situations I mentioned above seem to demand MORE pressure, more push, more energy in order to dance well. I get more energy by breathing and releasing my solar plexus. When my center is relaxed, I can achieve more with less effort. I need more focus, more intention as to where and how I want my partner to move, but with less push.

Because I am a small person for leading (5'5" and 144 lbs.), many of the folks I lead are bigger than I am. I cannot MAKE them go where I want through brute force. I have to use intention, breath and focus in order to be able to move them. I don't like pushy leads when I follow, so I try not to be a pushy lead when I lead. The only way I can be clear but not pushy, is to keep my energy open and relaxed: I breathe and open my solar plexus.

Things that make leading easier:

1. Commit energy to establishing your own axis. My teacher, Oscar Mandagaran, counsels dancers to focus energy on extending up and down (through the earth, up to the ceiling) and then moving that strong axis around the room. In other words, don't take everything you have and shove it forward and backward in the room: stand tall and let your solar plexus open wide, letting your follower feel all that energy pouring out of you, and then just move them!
2. Send all of your directional energy towards your partner. For example, instead of stepping slightly sideways to avoid your partner's feet, really step TOWARDS them. Focus all of your effort in the direction you want your follower to move. Unless you want a duck waddle, don't do that yourself :-)
3. Whenever you plan to move quickly, such as a corrida (a quick quick slow move), OPEN your solar plexus right before you initiate the movement. Don't think "push" and don't push. Let energy come out of your center and ride that wave.
4. Whenever you plan to do a move that you don't feel 100% comfortable leading yet, open your solar plexus. The last thing you need your partner to feel is that "Oh, sh*&%t" tightness from you. Your partner feels that tension, and tenses for a coming crisis, making it harder for you to lead at all, let alone something difficult for you already. Relax, and your follower will relax.

Things that make following easier:

1. Commit energy to establishing your axis. If you are not on balance, even a good leader has trouble leading you in the dance. Use your breath and energy to create balance and grounding.
2. Send your directional energy TOWARDS your partner, not away in the direction you are traveling. Keeping the energy focused on your leader means that there is a mini force field between the partners, even in close embrace. This protects you from getting stepped on much more than trying to get your feet out from underneath yourself. Also, this gives the leader more energy to play with, reducing the leader's tendency to drive you like a MAC truck.
3. If you feel your partner tense, release your solar plexus. There is no need for both people to stop breathing and get tense. You will be able to keep up with either difficult moves or a poor lead if you are balanced and breathing.
4. Use your breath and relaxed solar plexus as the center of your balance, rather than hanging on the leader. You become a lighter, more responsive follower at the same time that your body is working less. More balance, more fun!

Three levels of energy: self, couple and room

Paying attention to your own breath, axis and energy establishes your own body in the room and the dance. Directing some of that energy towards your partner establishes the connection between the couple, which is the basis of tango. Extending that awareness and energy to the entire room brings the energy of the entire group into play, allowing you to draw from that energy to make your dance.

During my thesis research, several people I interviewed in Buenos Aires told me about how dancing worked when they first started to dance in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They told me that, when they first watched tango, the entire room of dancers moved without running into each other, functioning as one entity. I have seen this happening as well as felt it occurring, and the sense is of the flow of the music, embodied in the group.

I developed the games we played this week, Solo-Couple and Energy Bunnies, to teach awareness of the dance floor and all the dancers, in order to cultivate this exquisite feeling of being as one on the dance floor with everyone else dancing. In Solo-Couple, everyone had a chance to find the flow of the music and the amount of space in the room, and then practiced staying in touch with that feeling while dancing as a couple. In Energy Bunnies, we worked on giving energy to other people and couples, so that the energy on the dance floor builds and in turn, feeds the couple and the individual dancing. Stay tuned for Energy Vampires and Navigation!

Salem Beginner Tango class

Our new concept for this week was switching "lanes" from center to outside and from center to inside. Remember that changing lanes requires long diagonal steps (high school math version, more variations coming soon), with a crossing over/through step. The hips and toes define the direction of the couple, while the torso orientation defines the couple's placement on that traveling line (center, outside, inside, depending on the leader's and follower's position). Also, remember that the leader is not trying to get next to the follower, flattening the embrace, but rather is keeping the circle and connection of the embrace while moving to the outside or inside lane. We'll do more exercises to get used to rotating the hips or torso versus moving the entire body as a block.

Next week, we'll learn to walk to the cross, which requires using the center and inside lanes. As I mentioned in class, you can walk quickly (quick quick slow corridas) or pause in center, outside and inside orientations. Some of you found that it was easier to begin a turn from outside or inside orientation, rather than from a center orientation (hang in there, we'll learn "real" turns very soon). We will also start ochos (figure 8s) next week. See you then!

Salem Tango 2 class: paradas and ganchos

We reviewed front paradas and stepovers this week. Last week, we did these steps from a front ocho after walking to the cross. This week, we tried them from a turn. Stopping a turn is a bit harder than stopping an ocho, as there is more momentum usually in a turn.

For those of you who already felt comfortable with the front parada and stepover, remember that you can do the step using the leg/foot nearer your partner (i.e., leading a follower to your right and doing the parada with your right foot) or the leg/foot further from your partner (i.e., leading a follower to your right and doing the parada with your left leg, which requires you to "flip your hip" before the move). Take those two possibilities and try them to the other side as well; that gives you four versions of the move.

Adding the gancho (hook) only happens when your parada and stepover feel comfortable. Just as there are many kinds of paradas, there are tons of different ganchos. We only worked on one gancho this week: a step that rocked back towards the site of the stepover, creating a gancho for the follower through the leader's leg. This gancho then resolved in a forward step for the follower, continuing on in the dance.

Making space for the leading a follower's gancho

When you lead a gancho for the follower, it is always easier to get the follower closer to you, rather than trying to catch the follower's leg further from your own axis. I always try to set up a gancho on the step before the gancho, so that the actual step is near me and easy for me to reach. As I said earlier, because I am short, I can't do a good gancho if I let the follower get away from my center.

A long, narrow window of space works well for a gancho. It might look like a bigger space to make a wide, open-looking window for a gancho, but it does not work as well. For a real, snappy gancho that is led by the leader (rather than the follower taking over), you need height. By the way, that means that a tall follower will not get as dramatic a gancho from a short leader as a tall leader would provide. Still, we short leaders can lead nice snappy (if not dramatic) ganchos for everyone if we prepare the move correctly.

Please do not lean towards the follower to catch a gancho! This knocks the follower off-axis, preventing a gancho from happening. After all, most people can't fall sideways and let you have control over their "free" leg at the same time :-)  Let the follower's axis remain upright. Only intrude into the follower's space with enough of your foot and leg to allow the gancho to hook through your leg. Keep your body out of the way!

Free your leg, and the rest will follow: follower's tips for ganchos

My first tango teacher, Daniel Trenner, told me, "Never fish for ganchos!" As I understand that now, that means that the follower should not try to gancho when a gancho is not being led. In other words, WAIT! For the gancho we learned this week, that means assuming that a forward step is happening when led out of the stepover, rather than preparing for a gancho by stopping forward motion, grabbing in the quads, and crouching like a tennis player ready to change direction!

Stand up tall, balanced on your axis. Keep your center connected (by energy) with your leader. Assume nothing about the next step. Follow the leader's torso and torsion. If you keep your center pointing towards your leader, the leader's rotation around his/her axis will hook your free leg through the leader's leg, creating the gancho. After the gancho, there is usually a rebound. Therefore, if the gancho was a backwards movement, you rebound forward after it, guided by the leader.

The gesture, or free, leg is only about 20% of the effort for this move. 80% of your focus should be on your axis. The free leg is relaxed at the hip joint, but the hips are mostly stable, moving with the axis. In order to get nice, strong ganchos, the leader has to have the correct timing for the move AND you need to release your leg. If one of those things does not happen, the gancho doesn't work correctly. Please try not to "help" the leader by backleading ganchos: a gancho that is led is fabulous, snappy and organic--and the leader can direct it; a gancho that is self-led is heavy, tends to stop after the upswing, and the leader has to wait until it is done in order to find the follower's axis again. DO NOT fish for ganchos.

The other bit of gancho wisdom I have finally internalized comes both from Daniel Trenner and from Luciana Valle. Daniel looked at me one day, about three years into tango, and said, "If you want to get good, you are going to have to get sloppy." I HATED that, but he was right. I was not allowing the leader freedom over my leg; instead, I was controlling it. Once I actually released my leg, it didn't feel good, but it felt RIGHT, and eventually, it worked all the time. After that, I could start to s culpt the move a bit myself, making it more elegant.

Luciana gave the exercises I used to make my ganchos work. Especially, she made me focus on pointing my knee towards the floor, rather than pulling my ankle/knee up to make a hook. Letting the leg be heavy makes it respond with more snap to the leader, even though at first that feels just plain wierd. We'll do some of her drills, as well as some of Oscar and Georgina's drills, as we progress in class.

We'll continue making these moves parts of our dance in the coming weeks. In addition, folks have asked for boleos, volcadas and colgadas. We will do little baby versions of these, as we learn about the theory of each move, and prepare for Tangofest in Portland. After all, it will be too crowded to do big versions of anything!

GO TO TANGOFEST!!!!! I cannot stress how much "I'm going to do this if it kills me!" focus can come out of one weekend of dancing. Even if you forget every step you learned, even if you are so tired you can barely stand for the last tanda, even if your tango completely falls apart, you will learn something from Tangofest. The sheer numbers of new folks to dance with makes it worth going. If you are too intimidated to dance, go to one of the big milongas and watch the dancers. Watching feet is always an informative thing to do: one old milonguera told me, "Look at their feet and if you like what you see, look up. You will see good connection happening!" Go DANCE!!!!!

Also, my teachers Oscar Mandagaran and Georgina Vargas, are coming back. They are staying with me, and will probably teach at my house. I encourage you to come take a private lesson. They are inspiring. Although they are fabulous stage dancers, they know more about social dance tango and using energy in the body, than most dance teachers put together. Sign up early so that they have space for you (I think they are setting up their own schedule, but I can connect you with them if you want).

See you next week!

Paradas and pasadas (Salem intermediate class)

The term parada comes from the Spanish verb parar, or "stop." A parada is any step that blocks the follower's foot from doing the next step of the dance, creating a pause in motion for a variable amount of time. We worked on front paradas with pasadas (or stepovers).

The leader's job in a parada

There are MANY versions of paradas. For a front parada, the leader performs a parada during/after a follower's front step. We practiced doing this after walking the follower to the cross and leading a front cross step to the leader's right (as if we were doing a front ocho after the cross). After the parada, we led the follower to do a stepover. Then, maintaining the original axis placement, the leader collected both feet in place, finished the follower's step, and exited into other steps.

A VERY IMPORTANT part of the parada is the torso of the leader. This is another part of the parada lead: the foot and leg help and create the impression of a block, but without the "stop" of the torso torsion, no parada should happen. Think of leading front ochos with a stop of motion in the middle; this is pretty much what a parada is.

The foot and leg portion of the lead needs to be correctly placed in order to work well. The leader starts to place the foot as the follower steps forward, but then needs to adjust as the follower pivots to face the other direction. Make sure that the follower has room to completely pivot, rather than stopping with the support foot blocked on the ground.

I place only my little toe on the ground, as I curve my foot up over the follower's instep, around the follower's ankle. This takes quite a bit of rotation of the leg in the hip socket, and may be difficult at first. However, next week, you'll find that this creates a perfect setup to do a gancho without much more preparation. I call this the S-curve, as my upper leg in turned out, my ankle wraps around the follower's ankle, and then my foot curves out again in order to touch the ground.

The leader's torso leads the follower over into the stepover. For right now, the leader will return to the original spot before exiting, but later we will add a sacada here as a variation (more on that later, or check out my earlier blog posts on sacadas if you are feeling impatient).

The easiest way to do this parada is to use the leader's right leg/foot when the follower steps towards the leader's right. However, the leader may use either leg. Using the left leg here requires a very different setup (more on this next week when we add ganchos as well). We also tried the front parada in a turn to the left, with the leader catching the follower's front cross with the leader's left leg/foot. Again, either foot can be used to either side.

The follower's parada

The follower needs to be on axis for this step to work well. If the leader pushes too far forward, the follower cannot remain on balance. Followers: you can help with this by staying CLOSE to the leader. Make a beautiful step of a turn, following an arc around the leader, rather than stepping in a straight line (this takes the follower just a little away from the leader). If the follower stay close, the leader doesn't have to lunge towards the follower, which makes everyone fall over.

The follower needs to pay attention to collecting at the ankles. Before stepping over in the stepover, the follower needs to collect with both ankles together and both feet on the floor, even just for a moment. This cuts down on unattractive flailing legs at this point!

This is true even when the follower adds adornos (ornaments). A good leader will give a follower time to play and do adornos if the music supports that. As a follower, stick to adornos that do not trip couples nearby: darting motions ALONG the leader's floor placement (more on this in class next week), small circles, "clean your shoes" on the leader's ankle/leg, and other small, elegant shapes. Perhaps that is less dramatic than big, flashy adornos, but it doesn't look flashy when you trip other people :-)

Remember that a parada and stepover are very similar to ochos. Pay attention to keeping your center connected to your leader, taking even-sized steps, good balance, etc. And breathe!

My advice to beginning Argentine tango dancers

Welcome, new dancers! I love the first day of class, watchingpeople who come in saying, "Well, I've never danced before" or "I can't dance" go out there and DANCE! I've learned a lot about tango and about teaching tango in the thirteen years I have taught it. Here is what I would have focused on when I started if I had known then what I know now:

1. Have FUN! Many of you came to class with friends or a spouse. You came to enjoy being with other people and learning a new skill. This is not supposed to be the stressful part of your day. Don't worry if you don't have a step perfectly: are you smiling? Do you feel better after class? Did it feel fun, at least for a minute? Good!
2.  Make mistakes! Experiment! When I learned tango, I took it very seriously and did not have fun. I think I could have learned the same amount faster if I had just relaxed and let myself make mistakes. Tango attracts a lot of detail-oriented, intelligent professionals who are used to being very good at what they do. Learning something new as an adult can be difficult because we don't allow ourselves much space to make mistakes or experiment. You do not have to do tango perfectly in order to have a good dance.
3. Focus on the fundamentals of tango: breath, energy, connection to another person. The steps are secondary to the exquisiteness of taking another person into your arms, tuning into their breath and energy, and then moving together. Most dance partners do not care how many steps you know. When the dance is over, do you want them to say, "My, s/he knows a lot of steps!" or do you want them to say, "Oh my goodness, that was fabulous! That felt wonderful!" Learn the music. I play many different orchestras during class. When you hear something you really like, ask me what it was.
4. Listen to different orchestras. Pick one CD, or five songs from iTunes (or go crazy and buy everything in sight). Play that music while you drive, cook, get ready for bed, etc. When those songs are in your body, you will know how to move to them.
5. Practice! You are lucky to have a practica in Salem. I encourage you to go to practice even with one or two hours of dance under your belt. You will learn much more quickly if you take the risk to dance with other people who look much more advanced. They remember being beginners and would love to dance with you. Try to go at least once or twice during this class, and you will find that it really speeds up how quickly you learn.

THEN, after those things are working, worry about the steps. I will teach you the basic steps during this class. In six weeks, you will have enough to get around the dance floor and have other people know you are doing Argentine tango. You can stop there, or spend a year, five years, or the rest of your life learning tango. It's your choice--or is it? They say that "Tango te agarra o no te agarra" (Tango hooks you in, or it doesn't). See you next week!