Dancing Soul

"Good" vs. "bad": cultural baggage about posture and learning to dance

Recently, I have had many discussions with students about how hard it is to move in a new way. They feel embarrassed, awkward, uncomfortable, and sometimes even dizzy as they try to adjust posturally to salsa and tango. Although a new movement may not feel natural, why do some people have such a strong reaction to new ways of standing, walking and dancing?

We are taught by our culture and our families that there are "good" ways to move and "bad" ways to move. "Good" movement fits with our ideals of how men, women and children should be. "Bad" movements are those that are done by "other" people, or people who don't fit into that particular cultural ideal.

In the United States, there are many different cultural groups.  Many of my students are white adults who grew up in the United States. In this case, I am mostly discussing their struggles against learned "good" cultural behavior, in order to learn salsa and tango, and to find a more aligned body along the way. If the new movement resembles movement that the dancer learned was inappropriate, then not only does the body fight to learn, but the mind must move past old judgments about what movement is "good" or "bad".

What have we been taught?

• "Good": "Stand up straight!" This means pull our shoulders back, our stomachs in, our hips under and raise our chin; the military look.

• "Bad": Relaxing the spine so that the natural curves work, the shoulders release, the hips relax back, and the chin lowers. 

Why is this bad? Because it looks suspiciously like "lazy"; the Puritans would turn in their graves! North Americans have a cultural ideal of looking busy, trying hard, and putting effort into what is done. Relaxing feels and looks too easy to be right ;-)

Another example:

• "Good": "Be a lady!" This means tuck the hips under to hide the buttocks, release the shoulders forward to make sure you aren't flaunting your breasts, and hold your hips in a straight position so you don't call attention to your sexual/sensual body; walking like a "loose" woman. I find this is true more for the 45+ women than the younger women, but many young women from conservative families still have this issue.

• "Bad": Using your hips the way they were created, with side-to-side swing, makes you look like a "bad" girl, encouraging male attention. Letting your hips move back into a more relaxed position gives your body sway and your butt sticks out a bit. Almost all of my female students tell me that they feel as if their butt is REALLY too far out behind them, while I see their hips still tucked forward! Lifting at the solar plexus makes it impossible to hunch over and hide your chest: if you are well-endowed, then so be it! That really makes some women quake.  An entire sector of N. America has learned to hide their bodies, rather than to enjoy their bodies, and I am pushing all of their unconscious buttons while trying to remedy poor alignment issues.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, but I think it illustrates how hard a person has to fight to learn new movement that they have been taught is culturally inappropriate. Is it culturally inappropriate to dance salsa and tango? Is it wrong to go against cultural information you learned as a child or young adult? Why do we have certain actions that are culturally accepted or condemned?

I would like to hear your comments about what you find difficult/awkward/uncomfortable about learning tango and salsa and other couple dances. I'll write more as I receive your comments.

Finding your center: Irene Dowd's article on pelvic structure and alignment

You are now centering your pelvis in relation to the rest of your body, but it is not in a position. It is an ever dynamic balance that allows you your fullest possible range of movement with the least possible muscle work.” (p. 27, Taking Root to Fly)

 

The pelvis is a bowl, or a funnel or . . . what DOES it look like? Check out these images (and the other thousands on Google):

http://www.drugs.com/cg/images/en1291214.jpg

http://www.sandbox.de/osg/stl/pelvis.png

 

Irene Dowd’s article, Finding Your Center, looks at pelvic structure and finding balance/alignment while moving. Dowd describes the pelvis as “the hub of a wheel . . . the point around which the entire body weight balances equally above and below, and to all sides” (p. 20).

The rest of the body is connected from this center by muscles, and when the pelvis moves, the rest of the body moves through space along with it. There are three bones comprising the pelvic girdle: the sacrum, and two os innominata (hip bones). The sacrum functions as the end of the spine and the back of the pelvis. The center of gravity in the body is located in front of the sacrum, in the pelvic bowl.

We have a less stable pelvis than animals that locomote on four legs because of the way the weight of the pelvis balances on the legs. “The spine must sit on the sacrum behind the point where the pelvis sits on the legs so that weight now transfers through it and forward, as well as down to the legs.  Thus the pelvis can still be centered over the legs and yet provide the base for a vertical spine,” but we need to fine-tune our alignment for maximum balance while we move.

The posterior arch of the pelvis

As we can see in cathedrals, an arch can hold up a lot of weight.  The pelvis forms an arch, with the hip bones as the pillars, leaning towards each other.  These are balanced on the femurs, with the hip bones rotating on and around the heads of the femurs. The sacrum is the keystone at the top of the arch.  The keystone is wider on top than on bottom, preventing it from falling out of place; the sacrum is triangular, with the wide end up. This arch transfers the weight of the upper body, through the legs and to the ground.

 

The anterior arch of the pelvis

The front of the pelvis needs to counterbalance that thrust of the spine through to the floor because, as we move, the spine, pelvis and legs move; this is not a fused system. On the front of the pelvis, the cartilage that joins the pelvic bones together, the pubic symphysis, creates the keystone for the anterior arch.  The pillars are the two pelvic bones again, but the front sections (look at that picture of the pelvis again).

 

The flying buttress

I couldn’t resist ;-)  In this case, the shape of the femoral bone/hip joint creates an upward and inward pressure on the pelvic girdle. Much like the shape of flying buttresses on cathedrals, this functions to brace the pelvic arch. The heads of the femurs pushing up and in counterbalances the downward and outward push of the spine on the sacral joints.

 

See-saw: pelvic balancing act

Since we have to move this delicately balanced structure (try moving Notre Dame!), things get a bit more complicated at this point. Dowd points out that most of the weight on this structure is on the back of the pelvis, with little weight on the pubic symphysis:

This would seem to create an embarrassing situation in which the front of the pelvic seesaw would fly up and hit us in the chin unless we exerted considerable effort with the muscles that pass from the front of the thigh to the front of the pelvis in order to hold it down onto the legs. (p. 22)

 

Luckily, there are strong ligaments that help with this process: the ileo-femoral ligament connects across the front of the femoral joint (leg to hip connection) and does a lot of the work for us. This allows the back of the pelvis to tip up slightly, to “balance the seesaw” of forces.

 

Fixing our old habits

Dowd’s assertion that “few of us, however, have found this state in which our pelvis balances on top of our legs and under our spine with only minimal muscular exertion” (p. 22) will be vocally agreed upon by most of my students! Most of us have spent a lot of time trying to “stand up straight” and “tuck it under” and “pull it in” until we’ve taught our body a whole bunch of inefficient ways to balance and move. Dowd mentions how relieved she felt when she started to learn correct alignment: “. . . it was certainly a relief to know that my inability to flatten my spine against a wall while standing with ‘good posture’ was not due to deformity” (p. 23), but to the fact that the spine has three separate curves that counter-balance each other.

The spine just doesn’t work right in a straight line! If you distort any of the three curves in the back, it forces your body to work overtime just to remain balanced while standing and moving.

If you tuck your pelvis forward to forcibly straighten your back, your hips are too far forward for easy balance. You create extra tension in the muscles of the front of the thighs and back of the calves. You also tense your buttocks more and tighten the muscles in the lower thoracic spine (above your hips). That’s a lot of extra work that gets in the way of ease of movement (or tango).

If you rotate your hips too far back, your lower back and the back of your neck take the extra pressure.  In either case, all that extra work does not make movement enjoyable.

Dowd notes: “Remember how your tower of building blocks in nursery school collapsed in a heap when you did not center the blocks directly over each other? This same principle applies to our body.” (p. 24)

If your bones are not stacked up correctly, you need to use a lot of muscle work to stay upright. This makes some muscles work all the time, becoming strong, but not flexible. Other muscles aren’t used enough, becoming too weak to function correctly.

Exercises for finding the right alignment

If it’s hard for you to find the right alignment, Dowd suggests that you rest with your back on a rug or towel (if the floor feels too hard for you), knees up and feet flat on the floor. Make sure your feet are placed so that your hip joints are still in comfortable alignment. Have about a 90 degree angle between your thighs and shins. Rest your arms either 1. above your head on the floor; 2. palms down at your sides; or 3. on your chest or abdomen: pick the easiest of the three positions for you.

 

• Visualize the long, stretchy length of your spine. Remember that it has three curves in it: cervical (neck), thoracic (chest) and lumbar (lower back).
• Imagine your sacrum moving down towards your feet and spreading out.
• Let the floor support you.
• Visualize your lumbar spine relaxing, letting a line of energy come from the center of your pelvis/center of gravity, up along the inside of your lumbar spine.
• Feel how the heads of the femurs can sink deeply into the hip sockets, closer to your center of gravity inside your pelvis.
• Remember how this feels when you stand up: you are aiming for this ease of alignment when standing!
• Your deep core muscles do the work of this alignment: if you feel your abdominals on the surface working hard, you are using the wrong muscles. This entire work of alignment is about LESS effort for more balance and LESS discomfort for more mobility.

 

Feel the difference: memorize the difference

When you get up, get up slowly and stand with your eyes closed for a moment, feeling the alignment again in balance, as it was on the floor. All my dance perfectionists:  Here is what Dowd says about new body postures:

Stand quietly with eyes closed for a moment and be aware of how your body feels now without making any postural adjustments or self judgements [sic].  Sometimes we feel out of balance when we alter some of our habitual patterns of muscle activity, but our sensations can be deceptive. Ask a friend or look in a mirror and see if you are actually more or less centered than before. (p. 27)

 

 My favorite bodyworker in Eugene, Joe, told me it takes six weeks minimum for a new habit to begin to feel natural. Stick with it, dancers!

 

"Visualizing Movement Potential" for tango

I'd like to summarize and expand upon another of Irene Dowd's fabulous articles in Taking Root to Fly. Rereading them all these years after my Movement Fundamentals class (thanks Sherrie Barr, my teacher!), I realize how much these ideas have become the basis of my teaching. Irene Dowd credits HER teacher, Dr. Lulu Sweigard with much of the content of this article, so read her work, too!

Her main idea in this article: the nervous system runs all the systems of the human body. Therefore, if we want to change how we move, we need to change the way our nerves and brain interact with the rest of the body: our neurological pathways. We can change these pathways through conscious attention, by changing our movement habits. 

"Dis-ease" or lack of ease, comes from the body being out of balance. The more the muscles are balanced around a joint, the less stress is put on the body to use and maintain that joint. The more the systems of the body are in balance, the easier it is to move in an efficient and pain-free way. Balance does not mean that the body is at rest, but rather that all muscles and systems have moments of rest and moments of movement, so that no part of the body is being constantly used (or constantly relaxed) and thus becoming fatigued, injured, or too weak to use correctly.

Dr. Sweigard taught correct use of the body through VISUALIZING lines of movement through the body in order to repattern how the body used energy.  She used the "constructive rest position" (lying on the floor, with the feet flat on the floor, knees up, hips/back relaxed, and arms out and up, relaxed against the floor. After the person visualized the movement in this position, she gradually transitioned them to visualizing the movement while standing and then moving around:

"Visualizing a line of movement thorugh the body while not moving can change the habitual patterns of messages being sent from the brain through nerve pathways to the muscles. As long as this constructive new thinking pattern is activated during movement, a new pattern of muscle activity is automatically being used to decrease physical stress and maintain a more balanced alignment of skeletal parts. Over a period of time during which there is continual daily attention to new habit patterns in thinking and action, the body's shape will be transformed." (p. 2)

This is what we are doing in my classes: realigning hips, knees, ankles, feet and body for more efficient balance front-back and left-right. Then, for each movement, we are repatterning how the body moves through a step to make it efficient. Each combination of muscles and joints works in balance with the body. Efficiency removes pain and imbalance. If you are in pain, the first step is to alleviate pain through teaching the body and neural pathways a new way of moving.

If something isn't working, don't just continue to repeat that step: "Not even a worm will persist after repeated negative reinforcement. The solution is to go one step back to something you can do, crawling perhaps." That may mean that you have to learn to stand and walk before learning tango. Master the fundamentals before going on so that you experience success. When you can do a movement, or series of movements, correctly, then the neural pathways have learned that and are ready to do more complex repatterning.

Exercise, part I (on the floor in constructive rest position)

• Lie on the floor in constructive rest position.
• Relax your body, either through visualization (sand or water or ? flowing out of your eyes, ears, hands, toes, wherever you have tension, until the body feels relaxed, open and receptive) or by tensing and then releasing each set of muscles until your body feels relaxed throughout.
• Take time to really bring your body to neutral: this relaxation may take quite some time if you are under stress or have chronic pain in your body. If you do not feel receptive and relaxed, you will not be able to visualize new patterns easily.
• First, visualize the basic, fundamental parts of the new movement. For example, if you want to make arm or leg movements that require your center and spine to support them, visualize a long, stable spine, and then do small or easy movements with the limb you want to use.
• Relax again, while you continue to visualize the flow of strength and stability in your spine, lengthening without working your muscles.
• Now visualize the entire movement you want to do, without moving your body. Imagine the sweep of the energy through your body, through each joint that is needed, through the muscles that will be used. Imagine doing it without pain or difficulty. While you are doing this, your new neural pathways are being created.
• Any time you feel the old pattern (or pain or tightness), go back to the relax/go to neutral phase and start over. If you keep trying while it hurts or while you are clenching your body, the new pathways are NOT being formed.
• Only spend 5-10 minutes doing this at a time: staying in one position for a long time is not good for the body: it contracts some muscles constantly, and lets others relax constantly: what we are trying to avoid ;-)

Exercise, part II (warming up, standing)

• Get up off the floor slowly.
• Start doing small movements to warm up the body: leg joints, arm joints, spine, neck, etc.
• When you feel warmed up, move around doing movements you already know, letting your body feel the "rightness" of these motions.
• Only at this point should you try the movement.

Exercise, part III (doing the new motion)

• Do the new movement, focusing on the small, basic parts of the movement first.
• When you do it correctly, no matter how small a part of the movement is right, congratulate yourself! Give yourself positive encouragement. This is an improvement, even if it is small and gradual.
• Repeat the successful movement until it feels more "natural" than "strange" (your body needs to start to feel the rightness of it to memorize it as "the right way").
• Repeat each day: this helps you learn the right movement through it feeling right, and also helps your body develop the new neural pathways more quickly.

Exercise, part IV (let it go)

• Your body works on neural pathways, and on integrating new information, on its own. Let it do the work!
• Go off and do other things; let go of the new information consciously, and come back to it tomorrow.
• Come back to it daily: if you wait too long, you undo the work you did before, and must start over.

Although a teacher can help you learn what motion is correct, and can check in with you to help you adjust the process if it is not working, most of this work is YOU. Focus on the positive: the mind and body are plastic. The human body and mind can learn to do all sorts of movements. YOUR human body can do this. If you can imagine your body doing a motion, you will eventually be able to perform that motion with your body. Irene Dowd says:

"It takes about two months of daily practice from the time you have started to think about your movement differently to the time that your muscles visibly change shape. While sixty days into the future seems like a long time to wait before a new internal balance brings tangible results, it isn't very long at all in comparison to your whole life which you have already spent developing the form you now have." (p. 6)

Off you go now! I need to do my visualizations of the perfect adorno.

Postural information for dancing Argentine Tango

This is some of the work we've been doing in my Tango Fundamentals class this summer. We are six weeks into this class, with four more to go. I usually wait and post the review as a page, but I'm going to post this much on my blog so that you all read it before coming to class this week ;-)  I'm working on the steps we've done, and will post that ASAP, with updates until the end of classes.

Postural information

Hips

The hips needs to be positioned correctly both from front to back, and side to side. From front to back, the hips have to be aligned in such a way as to take stress off the lower back, while tilting slightly back. This alignment really comes from using the psoas and other core abdominal muscles (I think this will take another blog entry, so hang onto that thought for the moment) to lift and stretch the entire back, so that each vertebra can rotate slightly, with ease.

The way that Georgina got my back into the right position (the first time) was to lift me from my rib cage, until my lower back relaxed, but I had a very lifted, stretched feeling in my abs. Once you find this position, it doesn't vary, but remains uniform throughout the dance.

The side-to-side motion of the hips changes with each step, in the shape of a pendulum. The pendulum motion aids in changing weight and staying on balance. The point of the hip motion is to position the hip joint above the foot arch to maintain balance more easily. It is NOT a hula motion and it is NOT Cuban motion. It helps the dancer to use ALL joints for movement, from the neck to the foot, rather than the knees.

The same motion (both forward/back and side/side) is used by men and women, but it looks different because the pelvic bones are shaped differently. Similarly, a woman with wide hips and a woman with narrow hips will do the same motion, but it will look VERY different. The point is that there is not a correct LOOK, but a correct ALIGNMENT: don't try to make it visually match another dancer whose body is not similar to yours.

Knees

Keep both of them slightly flexed. This aids in balancing the body. Try not to put extra stress on your knees and quadriceps. Keep your knees as together as possible, but focus on keeping the ENERGY in between the knees, whether you can touch them together or not. If you are feeling a lot of work going on in your quads, adjust your hips further back. I've noticed at the milongas that a lot of people dance while crouching a little bit. Tango is not tennis ;-) and we need elegance as well as balance. Remember to stretch up the entire length of your body WHILE keeping the joints released.

Feet

Your feet stay in a V, with the heels together all the time. The "free" foot keeps contact with the floor for energy and balance. In heels, the ankles touch each other, big toe down on the floor. Guys, think about your big toe maintaining connection with the floor in the same way (it will look different because of the heel height). I think of this as a "kick-stand" that provides extra balance. 

Oscar and Georgina say 1% of the weight is on the "free" foot.  I'd agree with that. The weight on the foot is balanced, 1/2 on the ball, 1/2 on the heel. The weight is also balanced down the center line of the foot, although the ankle energy focus is towards the other foot. If you tend to roll in, think about connecting with the outside edge of your foot. If you tend to roll out, like me, focus your attention in, towards the big toe.

Forward steps are ALWAYS heel toe (do you walk down the street toe heel?). Side steps: the heel usually hits right before the ball of the foot, but it depends on the step. Backwards, the foot hits toe heel. If you relax your ankle right before you step, the correct, "normal" anatomically efficient movement will usually happen in all directions.

Solar plexus

Keep your solar plexus lifted all the time. It does NOT tip up and down; it remains the same during the dance. When I lead, I aim my solar plexus a tiny bit above straight ahead. If I tilt my solar plexus down, the follower's feet suddenly get in my way, because I have directed their energy down, rather than out.

The energy of the dancer connects the partners at the solar plexus, even when dancing in styles where the solar plexus is not always touching. I prefer a small V embrace, where the dancers are not facing each other squarely. I still keep my energy towards my leader. When I dance open embrace, I follow all of these postural rules; the dance doesn't change when it opens up unless we get sloppy and sacrifice posture and connection for (poorly-executed) fancy steps.

Contrabody position

Contrabody position, where the solar plexus and hips rotate slightly away from each other, is not a big movement. It is small but occurs in every movement, just as it occurs in your normal walk (if it doesn't occur in your normal walk, we need to work on your non-tango locomotion for improved efficiency off the dance floor ;-) We worked more on this in the intermediate class (for those of you taking both levels), so I'll focus more on this in another entry.

Reminder: next session of classes will begin in early September, both in Portland and Vancouver, WA. If you'd like to sign up for a few private lessons between sessions, now is the time to do that. If you have never studied with me before, I am offering a "first class special" of $10 off my regular rate for one private lesson; as always, if you buy four at a time, you get a fifth one free!

"A little bit better" each time

Last night, I danced a tanda with Oscar Mandagaran, and every time something didn't work, I thought, "Aha, that's going to be in my lesson tomorrow, isn't it?" The nice part is that I no longer get nervous dancing with him; it's another thing to have thirty people watching your feet because you are dancing with the star: that part makes me freak out in a way that someone who has performed dance for twenty plus years should not. "Relax, Ely!" he kept saying every time we passed the corner that was packed with people staring, "You're rigid like a board!". THIS is why I used to dance with my eyes closed, Oscar!

I just finished a private lesson with Oscar and Georgina. I worked with them in June when they were here, and got "homework": work on stepping laterally, pivoting, and stepping forward/backward. That looks like an easy thing to do, but when you are changing how you've been pivoting for fourteen years of tango, it feels frustrating to have to practice to change; why can't I just DO it?

I think about June: Georgina told me to focus on the future of my tango, not look back at past mistakes. Deep breath; starting over is good, starting over is good, starting over is good . . .

I practiced almost every day this past month (OK, usually I am not such a good student, but I knew they'd be back in five weeks, so I had to work). "A little bit better" was the comment. I appreciate the honesty: I know they would tell me if it weren't better, and when they say, "YES! Perfect!" I know they mean that. The new information is working most of the time. "Now, let's work on the subtlety of the move," says Oscar. Ay! A whole new level of what wasn't working well.

However, I know that things are going well when we move on and work on new things. Traspie, a concept I thought I had 100% in my body, turns out to be something I need to improve in my dance. I couldn't feel the subtle differences between big and small moves. In my defense, everyone I dance with tends to use only one style: big OR small. On the other hand, I should be able to do this better ;-)

Oscar dances with me, saying, "See, Georgie? That's what I was talking about last night." Georgina places herself where I can see her and she can see me in the mirror, and guides me through about twenty minutes of doing all sorts of sizes of traspies, with and without pivots, in every direction possible. Then, Oscar dances with me to see if it feels right for the leader. More traspies with pivots. Aha! I am finally getting how to pivot more easily during the traspie; I was doing it too late in the movement. More exercises with Georgina, more dancing with Oscar.

An hour later, I feel that I understand exactly what I need to be doing in traspie, in pivots, and for little adornos around my feet ("Ack! Ely! Don't go so close to your toes! You'll hurt yourself!"). My body doesn't feel exhausted from stretching my torso as long as possible.  My hips don't feel too fatigued from the traspie work, although I now know which muscles SHOULD feel tired if I do this right, a hundred times. I could have done another hour, but there are three more students right after me, so I have to wait for another day.

I feel fabulous, even if this is going to take another fourteen years to be amazing.

Approaching tango from different angles

In my current tango teaching, I've been trying a new approach: alternating very technical, anatomy-based, high-focus work with my crazy, zen games about the flow of energy, organicity of movement, and the FUN of tango.

I have apparently been forgetting the fun aspect too much recently.  A student commented to me that my technique class made tango seem very hard.  Relax the ankle! Don't bend the knees too much! Angle your hip joint for the best balance! Breathe! Stretch the spine! Push off the floor! etc. Yes, all of this is important for beautiful technique, but no wonder some folks give up on tango!

For this coming week, I am going to play tango games. And I do mean play: tango has so much improvisatory scope that the only way to fully explore it is to turn off the analytical part of the brain for a while, and move from the body; let the brain follow along as best as it can.

For my intermediate class, we are going to look at how the flow and energy of a dance movement suggests the next step. Rather than plan an A + B + C approach to the dance, we are going to use momentum and suspension and going on/off balance, to find what move comes next: a turn? a boleo? a pause? What makes sense from the flow of the motion?

What does the music suggest? Slow, fast, pause, what? If you weren't doing tango, what would you do to this music? If you are doing tango to it, what do you see in your head (turning off the "but I don't know how to do that move" part of the brain)? What other move is like that, and may work instead? When the song is over, you should have learned something about that piece of music, as well as having dancing during it. It's not just about the beat . . .

What does the space demand? Oh no, I'm in a tight corner: what could I do? Wow, extra space in front of me: what works here? Geez, that person ALWAYS backs up in front of me: how do I protect my partner? Forget steps: what direction could I go?

What does my partner provide that adds a layer to this dance? Do I have a follower who is giving me tons of extra energy to tap into, or do I have to provide the gas for this dance? Is my leader responsive to my messing around with the dance, or do I need to just give lots of energy, but not a lot of adornos? How can I be the best partner for this person, for this dance?

For my beginners, we'll play naughty toddler again (for some students, this is new next week): the follower does whatever s/he wants to do, and the leader attempts to keep the dance moving more or less line-of-dance, without crashing into furniture or other dancers. We'll find how much energy can be funneled into the dance to make it fun, if out of control. For the leaders, we'll see how easy it is to lead a partner with a lot of energy, and how to use that energy better. For the followers, we'll find out how much energy can be used to make an active follower, and where the out-of-control line lies with each leader.

I'm still working on what else we'll do, but I think we all need a break from being so serious ;-)

Plus, Oscar and Georgina will be here!!!!! I'm kind of nervous about teaching with my teachers watching, and I'm sure they've never seen such a weird tango class, but perhaps it will spark an interesting discussion! Either way, you'll see me taking class with them all weekend, working on technique again. They always inspire me to work harder to make my dance more energized and full of joy, so BRING IT ON!

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!

In honor of the foot: the anatomy of walking and standing in tango

I just re-read Irene Dowd's excellent "In Honor of the Foot" article, from her book, Taking Root to Fly. She details the structure of the foot, exercises to strengthen it, and ways to think about moving that use the foot efficiently.  Although I'd love to just print her article, that would not do :-) so I will just provide you with some ideas from her article as we discuss walking and the use of the foot in tango (Tango I in Salem and in Portland, this is for YOU!).

The platform of the foot is shaped like a trapezoid, with the corners being the ball of the foot (big toe), the ball of the little toe, the inner border of the heel, and the outer border of the heel.
The way the bones of the foot are built make a twisted arch between the heel bone (calcaneus)  and the ball of the foot. The bones that make up this arch can be locked into place or relaxed, "depending on the degree of twist in the foot."
When the inside border of the heel drops (the arch is untwisting), that is called pronation. Some people naturally do this, and extreme pronation is often called having flat feet (guilty here!)
When the arch is raised higher, the outside border rolls out, or supinates. People who tend to do this have "high-arched" feet.

Walking

• A quote from Dowd: "When we walk correctly, it appears that the center of the knee travels directly above the pathway . . . from the center of the heel through the third toe."
• This does not mean that the foot actually moves on a straight line, because the arch of the foot bones creates a more serpentine path of movement (read the article for all the details!). The actual path strikes slightly to the outside of the center of the heel for the heel strike; rolls inside the cuboid bone (next bone forward from the calcaneus) for "midstance"; rolls back more to the outside as the heel comes off the floor in a step; and rolls back to the middle of the big toe as the toes leave the floor.
• The arch of the foot twists and untwists slightly as this happens, relaxing into the floor for stablity, then making a stiff lever to propel the body forward, and relaxing again (whew!).
• The big toe completes the push off of the floor. I think of this as the equivalent to following through when I throw a ball: I don't just leave my toes limp, I use them to complete the transfer to a new location.

Standing

• Dowd says the foot has to work harder to stand than to walk: "This is especially true when you are standing balanced on one foot only. In this circumstance, the foot has to be somewhat mobile because the rest of your body does not stay perfectly still relative to the ground and yet the foot has to be very stable in order to support you."
• The foot has to have equal balance inside (big toe), outside (little toe) and back (heel). Think of an open space between these points, lifted up. I think of a plunger, lifting/suctioning up the center of my foot.  Dowd suggests "a receptive aperture through which energy can come in from the earth." Yeah, like she said!

Remember, the foot needs to both relax and tighten in a series of motions, to complete just one step! To stand, it constants adjusts between these extremes to maintain stability.

Exercises to strength/tune into the foot:

• Put the sole of your foot on the floor, and, with your big toe, practice pushing away a finger or some small object on the floor next to your foot. You are making a fan-shaped motion that spreads your big toe away from your other toes.
• Do the same thing with your little toe. Both of these exercises are hard at first, especially if you've been wearing high heels with itty bitty spaces for your toes ;-)
• Put your foot on the floor, and try to "dome" your foot (lift the center while keeping all corners down). Make sure you are not gripping with your toes: keep them relaxed. This is about the muscles in the center of your foot, not your toe muscles.
• Then, try all three at the same time (ha! no, actually, I just did this while typing, and it is possible).
• After that, start with that exercise, but draw all the toes towards the big toe; then all the toes towards the little toe.

You will be happy to know that Dowd recommends massage in order to loosen up the muscles and bones in your foot, to uncramp muscles as you try these exercises, and to understand the structure of your foot through feeling that structure.

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: "folk dancing" 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.