Tango New Year: now I'm REALLY on my axis

Oscar Mandagaran and Georgina Vargas delivered a kick-ass weekend of workshops for Eugene, OR. Every time I study with them, I am again both inspired to work hard, and amazed at how far I still have to reach for perfection. Wow! A new year of tango has started for me, and with it, New Year's resolutions.

The power of positive thinking

When I told them that I couldn't believe how bad my dancing was before, Georgina said, "Ya se fue, no exista ahora" (that's gone already, it doesn't exist now). "Don't think of the past and mistakes: focus on how good it is now, and how good it's going to be in the near future!" Oscar added. That will be my goal for this year, letting go of old stuff and moving on to great, new, fabulous things in life and tango.

The power of new shoes

One new part of my tango is: my Comme Il Faut, bumble-bee black and yellow, stiletto heeled tango shoes. I had put off buying new shoes for a while (say, oh, seven or eight years?!). Each time I thought about buying shoes, I'd say to myself, OK, the next time I go to Bs As, I'll get more shoes. Well, a few years of working a job with no vacation, then a child, then the move to Portland . . . and suddenly, all my shoes look shabby. Unable to buy NeoTangos in Portland, I caved in and bought Comme Il Faut shoes.

I love these shoes. My feet look sexy, flashy, NEW. They only go with some of my outfits, but who cares? I am now on a shoe-buying frenzy, with two more pair on the way from NeoTango.

I am not someone who spends money easily, so why all the new shoes? Because, after going to the milonga one evening, Oscar and Georgina looked at each other, nodded, and said, "OK, Ely, you must throw out all your old shoes. Your technique is so much better in your new shoes that you look like a different person. Your old shoes are worn down, and are pulling you off your axis.  They MUST go in the trash. Do NOT wear them."

As usual, Oscar and Georgina are correct. Suddenly, I have to be on my axis. With stiletto heels, there is no margin of error: either I'm on axis, or falling over. With these tiny little heels, all the information about relaxing my hips, stretching my solar plexus up, pushing off the floor, really ARRIVING on each step--all this instantly makes more sense. For the first time in my life, the initial wear on my heels slopes in a bit, allowing my ankles to collect, rather than rolling out into my old flat-footed stance. All my old shoes reflect ten years of my dancing. I've gotten better, but they are still fighting me to return to my old ways. Out they go into the trash.

The power of repetition

I am doing my tango exercises daily. Oscar and Georgina gave me exercises to work on. They come back in a month to teach in Portland (yay!), so I have a short-term goal of being able to improve my walks forward and back, lateral steps, pivots (lateral, pivot, forward; lateral, pivot, back) and shoulder blade placement. It's nice to be in a space in tango where I am happy to just make my walk perfect; I know I'll work on the other stuff later. I no longer have to do the "hard" stuff or prove my level. What is important is that I feel all the details in my body in order to help my students understand these elements.

Each time Oscar and Georgina come back (this will be visit #4 in two years), I can feel how my understanding of the dance has deepened. The repetition feels good, and each new level is built upon a strong base, always improving, always becoming more elegant, always becoming more enjoyable for me, with ANY partner. So I will repeat my exercises and get used to my new, improved shoes and my new, improved balance.

The power of community

This year, I am going to collect about me people who are good, positive, lovely folks, and share tango with them. The energy I see and feel in tango seems to be lacking in big chunks of the tango community. I look around, and many people seem to have forgotten that tango is FUN. I see frowns, blank stares, slouchy postures, walled-off energy. Let's get rid of all of that!

I am starting to teach group classes in Eugene again sometime this year. We've got an exciting plan to boost the tango energy and the level of dancing there. I am teaching group classes in Portland, and I'm going to start a milonga or practica this year, somewhere fun (I'm looking at a cool cafe right now): somewhere to come have a cup of coffee, dance, talk to people, build community. I've got some plans for another town or two nearby: a little chain of tango satellites to Portland, connecting communities, creating dancing spaces and people to make even more tango happen in this area.

Community to me means house parties and potlucks. It means coffee outings and going salsa dancing with tangueros. It means going tango dancing with swing dancers. It means telling my neighbors and the people at the playground about tango, and encouraging new dancers to try a turn around the floor. The tango community needs to reach out to not-yet-dancers (I don't believe there are actually non-dancers in the world, just folks who haven't had the opportunity to learn yet). Imagine: the whole city dancing!

The power of beginning another cycle

New classes:

Portland:

Beginners: 7 PM Wednesdays, starting this week! $80/10 weeks, @ 4315 NE Garfield Ave.
Intermediates: 8 PM Wednesdays, starting this week! $80/10 wks, @ 4315 NE Garfield Ave.

Salem:

Beginners: 6:30 PM Tuesdays, starting this week! $65/6 wks, @ The IKE Box, Cottage & Chemeketa
Intermediates: 7:30 PM Tuesdays, starting this week! $65/6 wks., @ the IKE Box, Cottage & Chemeketa

Private lessons: Every third Tuesday, Eugene; every Tuesday evening, Salem; M, W, Th, F, Portland.

Coming soon: classes in Eugene (Mondays) and Vancouver (probably Fridays).
Coming soon: advanced class in Portland, (probably Thursdays)

New attitude, new shoes, new technique, new classes, new focus. Now I'm REALLY on my axis!

A new tanguera experiences Oscar & Georgina--and you can, too!

Oscar Mandagaran and Georgina Vargas are not just for the advanced tango dancer.

After only a few months of tango, one of my students and friends in Portland, Sarah, told me she was headed for Buenos Aires. "You MUST study with Oscar and Georgina!" I told her, and connected her with them. Here's some email she sent me this spring from Bs As:

Email #1: I'm studying with Oscar and Georgina!!!!!!!!!!!! (I think her original version had more exclamation points than that, but I can't find the email to cut and paste)

Email #2: After that first email, I asked her to comment on studying with Oscar & Georgina:

"I´m in BA right now studying with Oscar and Georgina three times a week. Oscar and Georgina are exceptional, and if I could I would insist that anyone learning Tango must learn from them. They exude the essence of tango in their own bodies and dance (it really takes your breath away to see them), but are the most delightful and enthusiastic teachers that I have met.  I am a beginner, but they not only have patience and give me excellent instruction, but they genuinely seem to care about me. In teaching they combine the ability to give highly skillful and timely instruction, demand a high level of participation ("no holidays!", as Oscar loves to say while smiling at the beginning of class), while somehow making you feel like what you are doing is important and good. And to anyone who is intimidated by how completely mouthwatering and delightful and passionate their own dance is to look at, you might take comfort in knowing that I was at a Milonga last night with them where they dance among all the other Milongueras to refuel and be at home. I highly recommend grabbing the opportunity to study with them in Eugene or Portland, with the only reservation being that I will have to share them with you!"

Email #3: Sarah emailed me to say that she had more to say:

 

"Georgina and Oscar developed a way to dance tango that creates a pain free, organic, and natural feeling dance. Since I didn´t realize that about their teaching method before I came to Buenos Aires, this was not why I chose to study with them.  So, it came as a surprise to me to notice over the last three weeks that the pain in my feet and my low back have slowly disappeared.  Because I´ve back pain for years I had no expectations of relief from it.  But I find that I feel more freedom in my body, and well as I said...very suprisingly.. no pain at all when I dance."

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.

I should be out dancing!

Instead, I just spent an hour retyping a review page that the machine had eaten (and I even saved it . . .).  Ah, well.  Portland Fundamentals class, here is your review sheet for last session.  Intermediate folks from Salem and Portland: I promise review sheets are coming soon.  That basement remodel is eating my time.  More on that on my other blog, eventually.

The review sheet is over on the right side of my blog page, under "Pages" which should be easy to spot.  Let me know if there are any questions/steps I forgot to include.

Walking your tango: Irene Dowd's article about "Standing on Two Legs"

Walking seems like any easy thing to do. After all, we learned to do it as tiny children. For many people learning to dance, however, walking turns out to be more difficult than learning new steps. Why is this?

Many of us use our bodies in ways that are inefficient. When walking inefficiently, we put more stress on our bodies than we need to. If more stress is placed on the body, it wears out sooner. Learning to move efficiently enables us to be active longer in life and to enjoy less chronic pain as we age.

With so much energy being expended to maintain balance and posture,less energy and focus is available to deal with the dance itself. Therefore, learning to walk efficiently makes learning to tango much easier. Irene Dowd's article, "Standing on Two Legs," explains how the foot, leg and pelvis are constructed, and provides several excellent images that might help tango dancers move with more energy and less stress.

The foot

The foot is the base of the body, connecting with the earth. In order to stand and walk efficiently, we have to use the foot correctly. Dowd says that

The foot itself is composed of lengthwise and crosswise arches so that each foot is somewhat like a dome with a triangular base. Ideally, when we are standing still, the weight of the leg transfers from the ankle equally forward and back, one half of the weight going through the heel and one half going through the ball of the foot. (p. 30 in Taking Root to Fly)

I further spread that awareness of weight and balance to the four corners of the foot: ball of the big toe; ball of the pinky toe; inside edge of the heel; and the outside edge of the heel.

Walking in space

Using the foot correctly makes it easier to move through space with less effort. That means that more effort can be applied to balance, breath, musicality, the partner, etc.

When we are moving through space, this arch functions as a powerful spring to thrust us forward from one foot to the other through the action of a multitude of muscles on the sole of the foot and back of the leg. When we put the foot back down again, all these muscles relax as long as our foot is pointing straight ahead so that our weight is again supported by the fundamental arch . . . (p. 30)

Now, this seems to not jive with the idea of being slightly turned out in tango. I have pondered this for some time, and I feel that the main point is that the foot must be in a natural position. Most of the dancers that I teach naturally have some degree of turn-out. I believe that what Dowd means by straight (and I have not asked her personally, so apologies Ms. Dowd if I have mis-read!) is your natural turn-out. 

Other joints: ankle, knee and hip

Dowd stresses that  ". . . the aim to keep in mind is allowing the joints to come easily into line with one another."

The joints of the foot and leg need to line up so that the bones of the body support balance, rather than the muscles. Luckily for us humans, our leg bones are constructed in a way that allows these joints to stack up under/over each other easily. That way, muscles aid in movement, but balance is (mostly) finding the right way to stack bones on bones.

The ankle are relatively stable in structure. It is a hinge joint (forward backward movement, no rotation) and has a lot of strong ligaments holding it together. Rotation near the ankle happens within the foot. 

The knee is less stable, but still built to hold you up. It is a hinge joint, like the ankle, but has some rotation (too much, and you rip things, eek). If you hold the knee out of alignment in your normal walk and standing motion, you need to devote a lot of muscle and brain focus to staying balanced.

The femoral (hip) joint is a ball and socket joint, which means that all sorts of cool movement is possible here. Because the femur tilts out from the hip joint and then back towards the knee, the knee lines up directly with the femoral joint (and the ankle). In order to walk efficiently, the pelvis needs to be in an optimal position in order to balance over your feet correctly.

Images to help proper alignment occur

I think of my legs as part of a huge, thick spring coming up from the ground, up my leg bones and up to my center, with each piece of my legs having the same amount of even flex. Of course, this is not physically possible, but it prevents me from using my knees as my balance point, and spreads that strain from my ankles and feet up to my pelvis (if you have any joint injuries, imagine the other joints picking up the slack to protect your body!).

Here are some images that Dowd uses to help you position your body more efficiently:

• Think of your sacrum (center back of your pelvis that is also the lower end of your spine) as very heavily sinking down towards your heels but do not contract your buttock or abdominal muscles to do this, let gravity do all the work while you simple observe in your mind's eye.
• Imagine a line of energy thrusting up from the ground through the center of your foot . . . straight up to the center of your femoral joint (hip joint).
• Think of the centers of your foot, ankle, knee and femoral joint as open gateways for the energy to shoot through from the ground source. This line of energy jets up like a fountain of water from the ground to your pelvis to support you upright and then it streams down from your buttock and all around you like a waterfall to flow out your feels and out each toe in a spreading pool. Remember that your bones provide the upward thrust against the pull of gravity, not your muscles.
• Let your feet remember that they are always a living connection with the earth. Allow each leg its full capacity to be alternately stable as a column and fluid as water.

Learning takes time

For each one of you who has said to me, "But it's not working!" I want to reiterate that tango (and learning to walk efficiently) is a process that your body needs to learn. It takes time for the neural pathways of the new, efficient movement to take precedence over habitual movement pathways. Muscles have to learn to relax (or work harder) to balance in a new way. Motor memory needs time to function easily, memorizing the new pattern or shape your body will use. Dowd says this happens after" . . . much movement practice with a new alignment pattern. . . . In the meantime you must actively concentrate on performing every-day basic movement patterns with your joints in line."

OK, go out there, and WALK!

Note: for those of you who would like to read Irene Dowd in all her glory, the book is Taking Root to Fly, ISBN #0-937645-02-8. Eventually, I will touch on all the articles in this book (perhaps not the one of the anatomy of the eye; you can read that one for yourself!). Irene Dowd has performed modern dance, choreographed, as well as taught neuro-muscular training and dance at Juilliard and several other impressive places, and studied at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical School.

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!

Trying new things, doing new dances

For the first time in my life, I taught preschoolers today: "folkdancing" classes! I am volunteering at Jamie's school, and he wanted me to volunteer in his classroom, not with the wobblers as I had been doing. So, I came up with the idea to teach dance once a week. I was REALLY nervous all day, and spent the entire day preparing for a half hour class!

I LOVED it! And they loved it! Wow! I jumped up and down on the blacktop of the playground for 30 minutes, and didn't even feel tired.

Not that I was really teaching specific folk dances, but I was teaching dance. We ran in circles, hopped, jumped, counted to four, kicked and shook our booties. We did parts of the Chicken Dance (all but the polka part, which turned into "dance like a chicken!"), the West African Ku Ku dance ("flying, swimming, drumming"), part of Mayim (Jewish folk dance from central Europe), part of La Bastringue from French Canada, some merengue, and open interpretive dance.

A few intrepid souls kept up with me for the half hour: four kids stayed for most of it, and perhaps ten others took part at some time. Jamie was REALLY good about sharing Mom, and joined in a bit before going to climb on the play structure. A few teachers took part; some took pictures; some just watched, but I think I can get them in there next time. At the end of the half hour, and few more hesitant kids were almost ready to join in, so I think they'll dance next week, too.

Here's what I learned today:

• dancing in a circle with 3- and 4- and 5- year olds is like herding cats.
• the kids with rhythm can't stay away from the dancing. Like me, when music starts, they start twitching in place, and move as if in trance towards the music.
• Some kids are just fine with doing their own thing, on their own.
• Some kids get up in your face and want you to watch and appreciate only them.
• Some kids come up and say, "I don't want to dance, so I'm not."
• I like that they can join in or not as they like. I wanted more attention and focus before I arrived, but just dancing in the middle of the playground works well.
• I'm going to repeat the same dances for a while (the supervisor of education suggested a month) and let them get used to dancing and to me before we start anything new.

I LOVE DOING THIS! I can't wait for next Wednesday.

Salem review sheets! New Portland and Salem classes start next week

Salem students: if you look at my list of pages on the right hand column, you will see the review sheets for the January-February classes that just finished.  If something does not make sense, please let me know and I'll update the page with clarifications.  See all of you next week for the new classes!

Portland students: I'll post the Ankeny workshop reviews of the milonga and vals classes (Sunday Specials for February) ASAP. See my last post for the navigation games we played.

New Portland classes starting February 22nd:

6:30-7:30 PM Sundays
Fundamentals (beginners or review)

7:30-8:30 PM Sundays
Continuing tango studies (intermediate & advanced)

I am limiting the size of these classes so that everyone gets one-on-one attention each week.  Especially in the continuing class, I'd like to work on using known material to improvise, to make the dance more interesting and energized. As usual, the class content will be tailored to fit the interests and levels of the dancers. Classes are filling quickly, so if you want a slot, please contact me ASAP at 503-284-1411 or ewartluf@gmail.com.

Salem Argentine Tango II Review--February 2009

This session, we worked on milonga and tango vals. Most of the moves we learned can be done in both styles of dance. I will note when I don't use a step in a particular dance. Of course, all of these moves can also be done in tango. Wow! I just finished typing out the instructions for everything we did this session, and it's A LOT!  Good work, folks!  Here are the notes:

Vaiven ("go/come")

• Lead steps forward with left, in place with right, in place with left; and back on right, in place on left, in place on right.
• Step takes six counts (or in vals, six rounds of 123, stepping on the 1s only)
• Works nicely with traveling grapevine as a combination
• Remember to tell the follower to change weight in place twice for each half of the move!

Traveling/rotating grapevine (rotating on line of dance)

• Part 1: Lead steps forward with the left, through to the inside with the right, rotates 90 degrees and steps side/open along the line of dance (first three counts).
• Part 2: Lead steps back with the right, back with the left, and open/side along the line of dance with the right (second three counts).
• The follower does the exact same pattern, beginning with part 2, then doing part 1.
• For me as a leader, I think about this: forward, "maybe" step, open step (make sure you catch up to follower so you are at least parallel along the line of dance); back step, "maybe"--lead the follower to the "inside" (my right) while I step back again, open to move follower down line of dance, facing me and taking a slightly smaller step than I lead for the follower.

Side together steps (line of dance or towards outside of dance floor are safest)

• Remember to change the follower's weight so that they step with you BUT not by doing swing dance style swaying. Try either:
• "squeeze the toothpaste up": gently lift the follower as you would for a calecita or volcada so that s/he moves along with you
• "squeeze the toothpaste down": put the follower's feet firmly on the floor so that s/he can feel your own change of weight and match it.
• You may need to experiment with each new follower to figure out how to best move that person along with your body.
• I like to use side together steps to position myself for other moves, as well as use them in QQS or QQQQS patterns for syncopation.
• possible facings (3 work well):Lead faces towards outside of dance (left side of body moving line of dance);Lead faces towards center of dance floor (right side of body moving line of dance); Lead faces line of dance (right side of body moving towards outside wall).

Corridas ("little runs")

• Quick Quick Slow patterns of movement (QQS for short)
• There are several ways to do this, but we practiced walking in the center "lane" and "squeezing the toothpaste up" to move our partner and ourselves in little, running steps.
• Don't forget to RELEASE the light lift you've used to lead the follower. It also helps to breathe :-)

Ocho cortado (regular)

OK, first let's address this "linear" or "circular" ocho cortado thing: there are MANY ways to do ocho cortado. I teach a linear version of this, as I find that it feels most comfortable for followers. If I want to move into a circular move afterwards, I can make my ocho cortado more circular. If there are people in the way, I can adapt my move as needed to avoid collisions. Don't worry too much about "which is right" but rather focus on: does this work for me and my partner?

From either the "center lane" or from walking to the cross in the "inside lane", the leader:

1. Steps forward with the left foot and back on the right (traditionally a QQ, but can be slow, too);
2. Leader steps back with the left foot (traditionally S, or slow);
3. Leader collects both feet together (quickly); and
4. leader rotates CW (to right) and CCW (to left) to make the follower take an open step and then close into the cross (traditionally QQS as follower steps open on left, open on right, cross onto left).

Follower steps:

1. The follower steps backwards with the right foot and forward with the left (usually QQ, but can be SS)
2. The follower is led to step to the outside (to the leader's right) with the right foot (usually S)
3. The follower is led to take an open/side step around the leader to the left with the left foot, and then to the right with the right foot, closing into the cross and transfering weight onto the left foot in place (usually QQS, but can be SSS). The two open steps are arcs of a circle around the leader's base, so stay near the leader.
4. My favorite adorno on part 3. is what I call my "Dorothy" or "No place like home" move, where I click my heels together lightly on the open step to the left, before stepping back to the right.
   

People who prefer the circular ocho cortado: on part 2., the step backward for the leader becomes a T step behind to support the leader's rotation and to "get out of the way" of the follower (I'll harp on that another time :-)). The follower's forward step becomes the first step of a circular turn around the leader.

Ocho cortado turns

I think of the ocho cortado turn as an ocho cortado split open with something yummy in the middle.

1. Do parts #1 & #2 above, then,
2. Leader remains in place and rotates so that the follower gets a turn of open, back, open, front (usually SQQS timing, but can be SSSS or QQQQ-I never said that);
3. Finish with parts #3 & #4 of the ocho cortado.
4. Leaders: be clear with your partner: do you want a turn? make it energized! Do you want an ocho cortado? Clearly send them back the other way!

Ocho cortado variations

"Charleston" variation:

• do parts #1 & #2, then 
• lead the follower to rock step forward on the left and back on the right (leader mirrors follower movement, doing a back rock step), then
• lead the follower to rock step back on the right and forward on the left (leader mirrors follower movement, doing a forward rock step), until you want to end;
• finish with parts #3 & #4.
• I've named this the Charleston variation because the middle part looks like a Charleston step.
  

"Rudolf Valentino" variation:

• do parts #1 & #2, then
• on part #3, as the follower does the two open/side steps, rotate the follower so that her/his hips face to the leader's left
• both dancers step forward through the middle, like a "paso Americano" if you know that step (if not, ); the leader steps to the left with the right foot, and the follower steps towards the right with the left foot;
• repeat parts #1, 2 and the "Rudolf" version of #3 until you want to end, then
• finish with part #4 OR with a resolucion (leader's steps 6, 7, 8 of the basico, sometimes called a tango close)
  

"Rudolf Valentino+" variation:

• do as in the regular "Rudolf Valentino" above, but add to part #3:
• play with the front (through the middle) rock step you've made with both dancers by rocking through the middle, then retreating and rocking open and repeating that part as often as you like
• finish as in regular ocho cortado, or the resolucion step (tango close).

"El Tano" variation (named after milonguero who led me in these all the time)

• Dance parts #1, 2 and 3 of the regular ocho cortado, BUT
• Before going to the cross to finish the step, lead the follower to take rock steps either behind or in front of her/his right foot, with the left. That is, either about to go to the cross, but without finishing the weight shift, or purposefully making the follower step behind, rather than in front to cross, again not completing the weight shift. All these steps El Tano usually led as quick steps (so, QQQQetc., cross).
• Finish with the regular part #4.

The Gardelito (rock step turn)
Reputed to be one of the few steps that Gardel could dance well.  Of course, who cares if he could sing like he did!

• This is a counterclockwise (left) rocking turn. The leader rocks forward on the left foot, back on the right, so that the follower rocks back on the right and forward on the left.
• It is VERY important for the leader to use torso rotation to turn the Gardelito. This leaves the thighs of the leader together, and makes the follower's turn much more elegant (think: NO COWGIRL!) because they can also keep their thighs together.
• Although this can be led many ways, I prefer to keep the timing even (SSSS or QQQQ) for the duration of the turn.
• I prefer to lead this starting with the leader stepping BACK onto the right foot and then continuing the counterclockwise (left) rotation of this rocking turn with the forward step of the rock. This helps the follower stay with the leader.
• I prefer to exit this turn stepping back onto the right foot (follower forward onto the left), and then moving into a salida; but there are many ways!

Close embrace reminders:

• Balance over own feet (even when leaning, you are still responsible for your own body)
• Bodies meet, THEN embrace
• Stay together, don't escape: think of the connection being from your toes to your head, with a "force field" of energy going through your partner. The solar plexus is the focus of all that energy, but it is not the only place where you connect.
• Your head needs to stay on axis. Followers: you can't get your head out of the leader's way; better to stay on balance. Leaders: if you tilt your head side or forward to touch the follower's, it may pull your axis off-balance. Find a happy medium between good technique and snuggling up :-)
• Your hips are part of your axis. Even if they move to support your balance, they don't go under your partner. Leaders: your hips can't get past the follower when you walk on the "inside" or "outside"; maintain your circle of the embrace so the follower is always slightly ahead of your body, not next to you.
• The embrace: Energy goes around the embrace and through both bodies; energy is constantly renewed, not a static shape if energy is working in the embrace; focus on using breath and the force field energy to create connection/balance; muscles just help support the breath & energy; they are secondary.

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!

Spirals in the body for turn technique

Last week, we worked on leading right turns, left turns and front ochos after walking to the cross. For both the leader and the follower, these turns and ochos are relatively simple IF the spirals around the body's axis are used efficiently.

Leading turns

Leaders tend to muscle through turns and ochos in an effort to lead the follower "clearly". This often ends in the leader (and follower) being off-balance. Yes, your windup for the turn does INDICATE to the follower what you want, but it does not LEAD. To me, this is like turning on your turn signal at the "one-mile-to-the-exit" sign on the highway, but then not turning the steering wheel at the actual exit. The follower has to try to figure out when and how to execute the turn, rather than follow your lead.

So how do you lead efficiently? (I always prefer a clear but subtle lead to being driven like a Mac truck). Spirals! When I lead a turn, I ground my hips. That is, I try to keep them pointing the same direction as the V of my feet. I rotate my torso more freely, as I am more on balance this way. I focus on my solar plexus vs. my hips, making a SMALL spiral in my body, on axis. Only after I establish this spiral do I allow my feet and hips to also turn. I keep this spiral until I want to end the turn, at which point I catch up with my hips and V of my feet.

Trouble-shooting for your turns:

• If your partner seems to pause at each step of the turn, or simply moves step together step instead of doing the grapevine step around you, you are probably NOT using a spiral. Make sure that you are continuing the spiral once you have established it. If that still doesn't work, focus on sending energy out your solar plexus and rotating that with a constant speed (at least for now) until you want the turn to end. BREATHE.
• If you constantly get stuck about two steps into the turn, make sure you take your feet along with you sooner. A lot of folks use their extreme rotation to start a turn and then get stuck. I use most of my rotation, and start rotating in place before I feel torque on my knees or ankles. You will feel like you are making less of a spiral, but your follower will not: they are following the spiral of your torso.
• If your partner seems to always be ahead of your position, perhaps you are pulling with your embrace. When I studied with Mingo Pugliese in Buenos Aires, he said, "Imagine your chest and your shoulders and your arms are all carved out of the same piece of wood." When you spiral, your elbows and hands don't "help" your partner in the turn. Your chest gives that information, which is relayed by the embrace.
• If your partner seems to always be behind your position, perhaps you are clamping down too hard on your embrace. Focus on letting the energy and breath of the movement lead, aided by the body. I think that intention (although very woo-woo) is what really moves the follower; the physical lead only helps that.
• If those suggestions don't fix the problem, see below for follower issues :-). To lead and follow a good turn takes a long time, so be patient with each other!

Following turns

First, I want to emphasize the importance of practicing your turns. The technique you learn here, spiraling your body from your solar plexus to the tips of your toes, applies to all those cool moves you beg me to teach you: boleos, ganchos, etc. Perfect your turns, and leaders will line up to dance with you!

Second, I want to remind you that turn practice is not something you will perfect and move beyond. At least, I haven't. I still work on my turn technique after thirteen years of tango, and it gets better every year. If you are a goal-oriented person, this may sound frustrating. You can set yourself mini-goals to achieve along the way (i.e., a fabulous back cross; a lovely adorno at the end of a turn; etc.).

Third, you can create a beautiful turn regardless of the level of your leader. Although it is not your job to make your leader's dance better, executing gorgeous turns, on balance, with energy, will make both partners' technique look better. Yes, a poor leader can make it harder to turn well, but that is no excuse! I don't "dumb down" my follower technique to follow a beginner or a poor lead: I try to make it the best I can to make the dance feel good for both of us.

OK, now that I've got that off my chest, on to the technique :-) The spiral for the follower differs from the lead spiral. The leader uses grounded feet and hips to stabilize so that the torso can be mobile and rotate. For the follower, the upper torso and solar plexus connect with the leader (whether physically or via breath and energy). That provides the stability to let the hips, legs and feet create the body spiral. I spiral around my own axis in a turn, not around my leader (if you are a tango leaner, there is an aspect of spiral around the leader's axis as well, but we'll leave that for the moment).

I use my body efficiently to get as much spiral as I can. A back cross in a turn is much more than a 180°pivot. When I turn, I use my maximum spiral to make a good, solid back cross in the turn. When my spiral is centered around my own axis, it is easier to create even more spiral. Because my feet are under me, I can then use the floor for stability and balance.

A turn has moments of winding into a spiral and unwinding to neutral for the follower. A front or back cross uses a degree of spiral, while open/side steps return the body to neutral for a moment. Use that constantly changing spiral to make your turns better. If you hold your breath, you cannot unwind as completely, thus taxing your muscles more than necessary. The spiral for turns (and ochos) is very dynamic, which allows you to constantly build your energy, recover balance (if necessary) and tune into the leader. Remember, the leader can choose different speeds for a turn (all slow steps, all quick steps, or the traditional slow slow quick quick), so working on your spiral allows you to respond more subtly to the leader.

When you feel the beginning of a spiral, you know this movement will require pivoting the hips, legs and feet. If you are led in a turn, it is your job to remember which step of the grapevine comes next. It is also your job to keep turning until the leader asks for something different. Hopefully, you will feel the leader's spiral return to neutral, which will return your spiral to neutral, ending a turn. Later on, other moves will come out of the turn, but for right now, you know it's going to be a walk (if you are in my Tango I in Salem :-) ).

Trouble-shooting for your turns:

• If you seem to get further and further away from the leader, so that you cannot stay connected physically, examine your back cross step. This is the hardest step of the turn. If you tend to swing your leg around the back to create your spiral, you are probably tipping your axis over. Try to spiral all the way down to your feet, only sliding your foot behind for the cross step when your hips and legs/feet are completely in their spiral.
• If you seem to be off-balance a lot in your turn, focus on your axis and support leg. A lot of dancers reach with their free leg BEFORE using their support leg to begin a step, worried about being behind on a step. If you push off from your support leg (which might feel as if you are waiting too long to project with the free leg), you will actually arrive at the new location faster! Pushing off FIRST allows your leg to project, but in sync with the leader's axis, so that you will arrive at the same time as the leader, with more energy, on balance. Think: push off support leg, project free leg, follow through with your support leg and toes to land (these three parts have to work in this order).
• If you are having trouble keeping up with the leader's rate of spiral, the only answer is to push off and use ENERGY from the ground up. Think fewer steps and bigger, rather than running around with tiny steps. You are the motor of the turn: rev it up! (This is only possible once you are on balance, so focus on the step above first).
• If you feel that you are always ahead of the leader, focus on the spiral of their torso, not on what their hands are leading. A lot of leaders give you two or three pieces of information, with the arms and torso moving at different rates. I always focus on what the solar plexus is doing and try to ignore extra information from the arms (like the scarecrow's "He went that-a way!" in The Wizard of Oz, you have to figure out which piece of information is the important one!).
• Use ocho technique drills to help you with your front and back cross technique outside of turns, and then apply it to your turns. Like turns, ochos take a long time to perfect: your entire tango life. Again, if you apply yourself to your drills in practice, your dancing will improve on the dance floor.

Salem dancers: see you tomorrow!

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). 

Beginning tango: is there a "right" answer?

Tango has been around for over one hundred years at this point (working on 120-130 years). Over that span of time, there have been hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people who have danced tango, all over the world. Each of those persons has been unique, and has experienced tango through their own viewpoint of dance, their partner, and the world. How can anyone say what the "right" way to dance tango should be?

I approach tango as a body- and energy-based dance, not as a series of steps to be memorized. For each person, tango is built on that specific body, how the dancer sees dance, musicality, approach to learning, and level of comfort with dance structure. For each person, then, there is a "right" answer within the practice of tango.

As a teacher, I have spent many hours both dancing tango and teaching it to other people. I have experimented with many styles of the dance, many embraces, many different partners, different venues on three continents and many different teachers. What I seek to bring to my students is a distillation of that huge body of information, so that I can provide a clear, concise set of movements and tango rules that will work with most other tango dancers.

The most important part of tango to me is body awareness. In order to dance with another person, I need to know where my axis is, find and maintain my balance, breathe, stay tuned into myself. and open my energy to my partner. Once that is achieved, I have much more energy and focus available to dance and play with my partner.

The next step in the dance is to connect with my partner. There is a circle of breath that connects my axis with my partner's axis in a big, tall oval. There is a circle of breath that creates the embrace, using the arms and torsos to physically join the dancers together. In the center, there is also an open, vibrant energy between the solar plexus of the leader and of the follower. All of these continually adjust, breathe, and move while the dance happens. To me, this IS the dance.

Once the partners have connected together and become a unit, I expand that awareness of self and partner to encompass the entire room and all the people dancing. There is a focus on the group that allows each dancer to donate and to borrow energy from the room, in order to maintain a strong flow of energy. This focus on the entire group creates a flow of movement in the room, to the music, that is beautiful to watch (on a practical note, it also helps avoid crashes :-) ).

Only after that do I think about steps. The steps of tango are what distinguish this dance experience from any other couple dance experience. Combined with the music of tango and the energy of the dancers, they make an exquisite dance form, the Argentine tango.

Tango steps--the basic ones--are based on normal, walking patterns. If you know how to walk, you can learn to tango. This means, of course, that if you have postural habits that create difficulties for your body in everyday movement, the same issues will arise in your tango. Do you tighten your knees as you walk? Do you slouch? Do you tilt your hips forward? If you are in my class, I often end up giving people exercises to strengthen their bodies and align the axis, as well as teaching steps.

I advocate walking heel-toe in tango when stepping forward. This is the natural pattern of the walk, and helps keep the dancer on balance and more elegant. I advocate maintaining a slight turnout (heels together, toes out a bit) because most people stand and walk that way. I advocate allowing the hips to move gently in the dance, as in normal walking. Generally, the more you can make your normal walk more efficient, the easier tango will become.

I advocate basically straight-up-and-down axis. Yes, some styles of tango ask for the partners to lean against one another. However, I feel that the connection between the couple is mostly energy. I should be able to balance on my own two feet, rather than hang on my partner. After you have found your own axis and how to use it, then THAT is the time to choose whether you want to be a leaner or not.

Follow your body's cues. If something hurts (apart from the feeling that your muscles are being well-used), talk to me about it. Tango should not hurt. This is not pain for art/beauty/dance's sake. People dance tango until they die, not until it puts them in a wheelchair. Take care, listen to your body, and it will reward you with many more years of dancing.

Review sheet for Salem classes are here!

The snow days are over for my son's preschool (I hope!), so I am finally posting the review sheets for Salem Tango I and II.  Look over on the right side of the page under "pages" and you should be able to open the page and print it.

Reminder: Classes start again on January 6th. Happy New Year!

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.