El Chino Necchi Sept 2024
Building your tango tool box
Use entire surface of feet, and use extremities to find stability in the middle.
Jump a few inches: how you land is good posture
Use the floor.
Each is responsible for moving their own axis. An exercise is for the follow to do side steps and the leader to move with them.
Dialogue tonal, or dialog of tone: match your partner’s tone.
Increasing your lead and follow skills (Sat 21st 5:30)
Use contrabody to relate to your partner.
Walk with follow in straight line and leader to right and left.
Walk with leader in straight line and follow to right and left.
Pillow exercise: first walk with a pillow held in front of your center of gravity, imagining your center of gravity in the pillow. Be careful to keep the pillow in the same place, not letting it collapse.
Now walk with a partner, holding the pillow between you.
Now walk with a partner, moving your center of gravity into the partner.
I found this difficult to take dynamic steps without some collapse, I think because the follows aren’t used to taking strong steps.
Use contrabody to lead pivots and weight changes
Follow can use leaders frame to power their pivots.
Leaders contrabody is amplified in follows pivots.
Stepping to the right place can provide most of a pivot lead, e.g. for back ochos outstepping the follow is in and of itself a lead for the pivot.
Sequence:
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Side step L
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leader changes feet, leading the follow to stay on R foot.
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Leader walks inside follow, front L, side R, outstepping the follows back L, back R.
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The outstep leads a pivot: repeat the front L, side R at least once.
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To exit, lead to cross (see principle 3)
The free leg is subordinate to the center of gravity, or axis.
Exercise to see this:
walk to cross by:
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Forward step L 1/2 step, leaving follow double-weighted.
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Follow lifts up L (front) foot: to do this they need to support their weight on the leader, mostly his L hand.
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The leader can now swing the free leg around, such as to the cross, to a back cross, to a boleo, etc.
Improve communication and improvisation 2nd class
Leader invites — follow steps — leader follows.
Follow resists step and then finally takes it. Leader goes down, opposite direction to step, and then steps, in sort of a hyperbola. This is only needed for the first step of a sequence.
Try leading things you aren’t used to. For instance get to a parade after a front pivot… what can you lead other than a step over?
Lead basic 8 in mirror image: lead doing the follows part.
Waking up my tango Sat 4:00 28th
Jump for posture
Use the floor (practice big steps)
Keep same distance in embrace, creating some resistance.
Pull down shoulder blades
8 beats Slow Fast
Practice we need one rhythm per phrase or it can get too chaotic
Do this with basic 8
What my partner needs 5:30 class
What does partner need?
Confidence Time and quality of time
Expand!
Exercise prevent a front ocho
Feel your partner
Slow ochos
Free leg subordinate to axis
Collect happens because I arrive
Follow slower than leader
See how long to wait before first step
Sun
Giros sunday 4:00
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Both do giros
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Get on axis on each step, especially pivots
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Lead with one arm
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Follow stop after each pivot
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Follow stop in middle of step (see angles between hips)
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2 arms change direction with rebound
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Change direction with pivots
Back pivot is harder due to geometry. An easy back pivot involves outstepping the follow, which may not happen here. Leader can step with follow here.
Exit of the 40s
On first front L step lead media Luna Pivot
End with quebrada
Boleos Sunday 5:30
Follow pivots using leader as wall
Leader changes feet to lead pivot
With no lead . Arrive on axis . pivot finish pivot . Raise leg lower leg . Pivot back Now lead pivot with more energy than ochos to lead boleo
Contra hips go with step around but shoulders with partner
Compaction to stop movement, eg stop and side step or weird back step
Generally release compaction when legs go up. Otherwise old style boleo
Try slow boleo
Try freeze. Raise up compaction
From side step
Leader front step to back step
Follow front step follow r outside pivot to back step. Then contra to get boleo.