Dancing Soul

Learning to lead is easier if you know how to follow tango

Many women I work with notice that they are learning to lead much faster than beginning male dancers. Why is this?

First, you already know the moves in tango. For example, if you have followed walking to the cross (the cruzada) five thousand times, it is not a new step. Even if you have trouble turning steps around in your head, the fact that you have been on the receiving end of the cruzada means that you already have data to plug into that move as a leader.

Second, you know what you DON'T like in a leader. If it annoys you that leaders push with their left hand, or don't use a solid marca to help you do the step they have in their mind, you are less likely to attempt to lead a step that way. Furthermore, you know what moves don't feel comfortable for the follower, and you can avoid those steps as a leader, even if they are fun for the leader; that triple boleo leg wrap thing is out! You have a checklist in your head of what a good leader does that you can follow as you learn to lead.

Third, you have prior experience dancing to the music. You already have favorite orchestras, or favorite songs. You are not building an understanding of the music from scratch, as a new leader would who does not have tango following experience. This seems to be true for milonga and vals especially, since many women admit to me that they are learning to lead so that they don't have to sit out milonga and vals tandas :-)

Fourth, you already know the other ladies at the milongas. Unlike a beginning male leader, you have friends who are willing to dance with you because they are your friends, right from the start. You have already done your "wait until they can recognize you" time in the community. Because many women start leading when they are advanced intermediate or advanced dancers, they already know the more advanced followers; this also speeds up learning time, as dancing with beginners is just harder.

Three out of four of these conditions were ALSO met for men, back when my teachers such as Tete (we miss him!) learned to dance.  In an interview, he told me about learning to dance with the other boys, and following for about a year and a half (the time changed the different times he told me this story) until he got tired of it and insisted on being allowed to lead.

The Argentine men who learned to dance this way, already knew what the move felt like as a follower. They had an understanding of what felt good (or didn't feel good) as a follower.  They knew the music from growing up around it. They didn't have instant access to lots of good followers, however: their friends had to beg dances as favors from the more advanced women, or they had to do the long wait for acceptance by the women in the community--until they were acknowledged to be a good dancer.

That means that a woman learning to lead today (unless she is starting both roles as a beginner, as I did), has many advantages. And, guys, perhaps you might consider working more on your following skills, right from the beginning: it may speed up your learning process! We can't be Argentine, but we can be good tango leaders!

Building stronger technique in the tango community (teaching to the weak spots)

Trying new things as a teacher

I have taught Argentine tango since 1996, and taught in Portland, Oregon since 2008. During that time, I have addressed many issues that arose in my community's dance technique. Each time I have focused on something that seems lacking in our dance, that weak spot has either disappeared, or at the very least, started to improve.

I began to teach my Body Dynamics class two years ago.  I realized that we needed to focus more on technique, and less on combinations, if we wanted to have a better level of dancing in Portland. With stretching and drills--instead of combinations--that class has helped my students arrive at a higher level of dance, faster than their peers, no matter what level of my other classes they attend.

I have hesitated to expand my new style of teaching into my other classes because I was afraid that folks would say, "But that's not how a tango class is supposed to be!" However, I cannot ignore how much faster the Body Dynamics students improve. Even if this is not the "traditional" way to teach tango, I need to push my comfort envelope as a teacher, and apply what I've learned the past few years to my classes.

I find it difficult to find enough time to revamp all of my lesson plans! Somehow, teaching 25 hours a week and being a mom of a child who needs an alternative school, medical visits, occupational therapy, a personal trainer for social skills, etc. does not leave a lot of time to plan. However, my new session that is starting this week (and early next week for my more advanced classes) will be a bit different.

 

The plan

What is changing:

• a bit of stretching and focusing on the body in each class, not just in Body Dynamics
• a small chunk of drills for each class, so that the combinations work better
• more focus on musicality: THIS is our community's weak spot at the present
• finding more energy in each step of the dance/combination by using the body correctly
• improving connection between partners, so that each part of the dance feels better
• dancing more vals and milonga in my classes; we need more practice in these dances
• working on making space for adornos and pauses in the dance; more dialogue between partners

I am practicing each day myself, and reviewing videos of my personal lessons from Oscar and Georgina. If my students see how hard I am working, I think they will feel empowered to work hard, too. After all, with Argentine tango, you will never get bored, because you can never dance perfectly: there is always more you can learn/practice/do in the dance. For me, that is why I am still doing this dance.

 

Class descriptions

Top Ten Tango Moves (Fundamentals)

I don't have a dedicated "beginner" tango class because we ALL need to work on our tango fundamentals. My class usually has some complete beginners, as well as intermediates reviewing, and folks learning "the other role" who already are advanced at leading or following. Class is at the Om (14 NE 10th in Portland) on Thursdays at 7 PM.

This class covers (depending on the level of the folks who show up):

• basic anatomy info for dancing tango
• easy warmup exercises to make learning work better
• walking
• walking to the cross in parallel and crossed systems
• walk variants for more/less space
• 1-3 versions of ocho cortado (linear, lateral, circular)
• front ochos
• back ochos
• turns to the right and left
• basic paradas
• tango, vals and milonga musicality basics
• axis, posture, balance
• using "the marca" (chest, arm, hand) to lead clearly
• adornos and pausas for the follower to play
• navigation and dancing in small spaces, right from the beginning
• cultural info (tandas, cabeceo practice, etc.) to help navigate going out dancing

 

Next 10 Tango Moves

This class is aimed at intermediate dancers, and is more fluid in content.  Most people who take it have danced at least six months, up to about three years. However, some folks have danced for many years, but like to take a class Thursdays before the milonga that is a block away. Class is at the Om (14 NE 10th, Portland) at 8 PM on Thursdays.

The plan for the next few months:

• warming up the body quickly to improve dancing
• improving mental focus for the dance and for learning
• Romantic tango musicality and moves
• vals focus (we did milonga last year, but not vals)
• turns: new entrances and exits
• calesitas
• boleos
• pauses and adornos to make the dance more dramatic/express the music better
• front & back ochos (and new variants)
• basic quebradas & enrosques for turns and deep ochos
• pivot and turn work for followers
• understanding syncopation better, and using it :-)
• creating your own combinations from what you know: personalizing your tango

 

Take It To The Next Level (advanced, minimum 2+ years dancing)

My advanced class is a one-room schoolhouse, with dancers who have done Argentine tango for anywhere between two and ten years. Many of them have come to me from other styles of tango, and are re-learning/polishing/adjusting their dance, as well as moving up to an advanced level. This class has an extremely varied range of topics during the course of the year. Luckily, many people take Body Dynamics for the hour before class, so many are already warmed up by the time class starts (Mondays at 8 PM at the Om, 14 NE 10th in Portland).

Most of what I teach in my advanced class comes out of Oscar Mandagaran and Georgina Vargas' repertoire, as they have been my main teachers since 2000. However, I also draw on Chicho Frumboli's teacher training classes for tango; Omar Vega's milonga traspie classes; and Tete Rusconi's vals classes, all of which I took in Buenos Aires over the years.

For the next chunk of time, here is the plan:

• light warmup, using the music for the day (different orchestras, different moods)
• musicality: vals, milonga and tango (romantic and rhythmic styles), and different "flavors" of tango
• leading technique: working on using "the marca" well, in order to have a broader range of material that works
• following technique: adornos, deep pivots for turns, boleos, etc., fabulous turns, you name it!
• exploring personal style: using the moves we work on to put together your own combinations, rather than just getting out on the dance floor and copying what I taught that week
• a new combination every week that focuses on the theme of the six-week session (I have a chunk of turns from Oscar and Georgina with quebradas, enrosques, lapices for the leaders; combos with pauses and adorno space for the followers; gorgeous moves for vals and tango; and probably playing with volcadas, although that may be in the New Year, depending on how fast we get through material...
• putting more sensuous, dynamic energy into the dance, so that EVERY step rocks: moving like a panther, like a lion
• more input from students about what topics we cover, as this is more of a master class with folks working on different aspects of a move, depending on level

 

Body Dynamics

Body Dynamics is not changing: this class is designed the way I would like to have ALL of my tango levels! Class is Mondays at 7 PM at the Om, 14 NE 10th in Portland.  Here is the current setup:

• 20 minutes of stretching
• 20 minutes of basic drills for balance, posture, pivoting, energy
• 20 minutes of targeted work on specific moves that will be used in my intermediate and advanced classes during the six-week session
• lots of peer coaching and working one-on-one, but not in designated lead-follow couples, so women get to know the other women and men get to know the other men: community-building!
• mix of traditional and alternative music

Hope to see some of you there!

 

 

 

Heels down or heels up?

A Facebook discussion going on about whether you should have your heels down or up for dancing tango made me decide to tell my pain-to-no-pain story about why I changed my technique to using my heels on the floor for Argentine Tango.

When I started dancing tango in 1995, no one told us what to do with our heels. Many of the teachers who came through were men who focused on teaching combinations of fancy steps. Although I was studying and taking notes every workshop I took, I have no notes on what to do with my feet from those first few years, except for Luciana Valle's advice to "lick the floor with your feet" which focused on articulating your step, but we seemed to mostly practice it walking forward, so again, I had few notes on how to walk backwards.

My first few visits to Buenos Aires in 1999-2001, I spent a few months dancing and trying different techniques.  I studied with Tete and Silvia, Omar Vega, Chicho Frumboli, Gustavo and Giselle, Luciana Valle, Jose Garafolo, Chiche and Marta, the Puglieses, Graciela Gonzalez, and Oscar Mandagaran. As usual, no two teachers said exactly the same thing, as many of them danced different styles. I ended up with a lot of material to teach in terms of patterns and steps, but no clear path in terms of walking technique.

Dancing in the milongas, I learned to get my heels down, so that I didn't spike other people, and so that I had better balance. This helped cut down on the toe pain and lower back pain that I got when dancing for long periods of time. However, I didn't really start changing my technique until I brought Oscar Mandagaran and Georgina Vargas to Portland and Eugene, Oregon, for workshops in 2008.

I started my private lessons with them telling them all the things in their technique that I wasn't going to do (not a very flexible student!). They patiently took their time to explain WHY they did each thing that I had been told not to do, and to dance it with me.

One of the things they changed about my dance was how I used my feet. They had me articulate through my foot, using natural walking movement, so that I was not tensing my foot, or popping up on my heels, or rolling out, but rather moving efficiently. When you walk backwards in "real life," you roll over your heel, letting your toes relax off the floor. Not only does this give you better balance and less work for each step, it allows you to really MOVE when you step, in a much more powerful way than pushing off your poor toes.

This new approach to walking removed my foot pain on the dance floor: I can now work an 8-hour teaching day and end up with tired, but not painful, feet. When I dance at the milongas, my feet hold up better than the rest of me: I go home because I am sleepy, not sore!

Another benefit to rolling through my heels and working my feet correctly was that people immediately commented on how much better my technique looked. Now when I go dancing in Buenos Aires, women touch me on the arm on the way back to my seat, and say, "Pretty feet!" and "Who is your teacher?"

 It took a grueling six months to start to retool my dance after dancing tango on a daily basis for thirteen years, but it was worth it! I constantly try to improve my dance, and study with Oscar and Georgina as much as possible, so that I can teach the technique as clearly as possible.

Day Two: Dancing

Another day spent with: "Come on, Ely! You used to know this!" and gentle scolding about not taking enough time to practice. It's nice when your teachers want you to become a better person as well as a better dancer ("Take time for yourself!"), so I am not complaining. I know that, by the time I leave, my dance will be better than ever before; but it's hard to do the tune-up part sometimes.

The focus today: finding just the right amount of stretch in the body while keeping the knees softer, so that all my pivots land on balance and don't ever lean toward the leader or move away. This is harder than it sounds, but I could feel the rightness of what they said, even though it took an hour and a half to really nail it. When I went to the milonga in the evening, I managed to dance correctly for about four tandas before I could no longer feel what was right. After that, it came and went for the rest of the evening.

I don't think it's cheating to go to the same place two nights in a row, especially when different folks inhabit the space. We went back to the Centro Cultural Leonesa (Humberto 1, 1462) for the late afternoon to evening milonga. Arriving at 8 PM, we missed the opportunity to sit across from most of the guys, and got put in a corner. However, as the guys had to walk past our corner if they wanted to get to the rest of the room, we were in a good space compared to where most tourists were stuck. I only sat out one tanda for the evening. After a lesson and 4.5 hours of dancing, my feet are tired, but I did all that in brand new shoes (more on that next post), so no complaints there.

Tonight made up for last night: mostly great dances, with the only not great dances being with folks from the USA and Europe. Another goal of mine: make North Americans dance musically!!! It was SO frustrating to feel more competent dancing than many of the old milongueros, but off the music. I prefer dancing the milongueros 4-5 steps, but really, really on the music.

My best musical tanda tonight was with a guy who kept grinning and saying, "Fun!" in between songs (kind of a goofball). However, we had danced one set before, and he told me he wanted to dance again. The music started, and I looked up, accepted his cabeceo from a distance far enough away that I could have said no, and got up to dance. It was Varela! I only started listening to Varela in the past few months (thanks, Vadym!), and I LOVED this tanda!

1. 1. Fueron Tres Años
2. Noche De Cabaret
3. Y Todavía Te Quiero
4. Y Te Parece Todavia

This made me feel wonderful because I knew what the orchestra was, and the old milonguero had no idea. Also, I played a set of Varela this summer when I was Djing, and I played two of these, so I really nailed the musicality for those. I had an amazingly musical set with an OK dancer who got into the energy/feeling of what I was feeling: wow again! I went up to the DJ when I left, and asked what he had played in the Varela set, because I had never heard #2 in the set. I think I like this better than Pugliese right now. I am going to buy some albums!

I missed out on chacarera because I forgot they played it at this milonga, and so did not set up a partner for it. However, I got a partner for part of the tropical set, and merengued my little heart out. I wish we played sets of salsa/cumbia/merengue and "rock 'n roll" (swing) at our milongas. Hmm.

A lovely evening out dancing!

 

 

Day One, Round Five

People kept asking me if I was excited about going to Buenos Aires, and I kept saying, "Not really." I had so much else going on in my life, plus the added tasks to get ready to be gone for a few weeks, that I really only got excited when I walked out the door of the airport into warm, humid sunshine, and thought, "I'm home!" I felt that way the first time I came here, and I still feel that way.

Luis picked us up at the airport and sang us tangos all the way into the city.  Then he said, "Your turn!" and I ended up singing some opera because I don't know any tangos by heart.  HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE??? OK, new goal: learn a few tangos to sing. If some middle-aged guy can do it, so can I!

Call home, unpack, nap #1.

Landed at 10 am, and in the studio dancing by 5 PM. After an hour and a half lesson, I once again feel that I'm never going to get good at this dance. This happens every time, but I don't usually have a lesson the first day, so in a way, the "maybe I should quit teaching this dance and become something else" moment is good to get over right away. I have new things to think about that Oscar and Georgina assure me I used to know, but must have forgotten. Luckily, I am a kinesthetic learner, so by the end of the lesson, I could feel what I was doing wrong and correct it most of the time.

Main problem today (because you KNOW it's going to change each day): I need to turn my feet out just a teensy bit more, and suddenly, my turns work better. Also, I've gotten lazy with having the precise amount of flexion needed at the knees to keep my hips aligned, and I am supposed to be able to lift my abdominals even more at all times, while breathing and fixing my feet, knees and hips. A note to my students: I told you they were going to work on my basics, didn't I?

After that, nap #2.

We headed out and had dinner at Café Victoria: Entre Ríos 114, Congreso. Gayle had a chicken breast with steamed vegetables (squash, carrots, zucchini, etc.). I had tortilla espanol, which I love, and a portion of faina, a gluten-free, garbanzo-based flatbread, and a glass of wine. Prices have shot up in the past 1.5 years, with that kind of meal costing almost double what it did in 2010: 100 pesos this time, compared to about 50-60 pesos in 2010. Inflation here is insane at the moment.

Nino Bien, Humberto 1 (Humberto Primo) 1462, is an old mainstay of a milonga. There were fewer people than in 2010, but still a nice crowd. I saw a lot of familiar faces from before, and we both had some nice tandas. It was Luis' birthday; he's been the maitre d' there since I don't know when, but I remember him in 1999 when he wore jeans, not a suit like now. The entrance cost was 20 pesos in 2010, and is now 30 pesos: another example of price jumps.

My feet and legs are still swollen from the flight, despite getting some exercise and some rest. We agreed to leave early (1 am), grabbed a taxi home despite being teased at the door about going home early by a guy who looked familiar and was just arriving.

That's all until tomorrow, folks. Oh, I mean today, don't I? Time to call my nene (my kiddo) and say goodnight.

 

Oscar and Georgina's classes this week in Portland

I hope that ALL of you get to at least one workshop with Oscar and Georgina while they are here: these are the best teachers I've ever studied with, and after ten years of study with Oscar, I'm still getting new information out of each lesson I take with him and Georgina.

If you only come to ONE class, show up Wednesday night to the Density and Elasticity class at 8:15 PM at the Om Studio, 14 NE 10th (near Burnside, 1 block from Norse Hall). How you use your energy, breath, and balance in tango makes your dance either OK--or amazing. This class teaches you how to use your body like a spring-loaded, gliding, energy-filled tango machine. This is how you stay on balance, all the time, ready to explode into action! I've taken this class about five times, and each time, I learn something new to improve my dance.

BEGINNING LEVEL CLASS: I encourage anyone new to Oscar and Georgina, as well as beginning dancers, to attend the Thursday 6 PM class at the Om. This class works on connection and the embrace with a partner--something we can all benefit from!

FOLKLORE! The 7 PM class on Thursday will be either chacarera or zamba (the two dances we do here at milongas). Oscar was the national malambo champion at 19 (the men's percussive dance) and Georgina is an amazing folk dancer as well. Come learn from the masters these seductive, lovely partner dances!

REMEMBER: if you bring in the flyer for the workshops (or print one off of this blog), you get $5 off the price of the two Thursday lessons. Print some for your friends, and bring them along!

WEEKEND CLASSES: Noon on Saturday, the subject is different kinds of turns. Noon on Sunday, it's walking like a porteno: come find out why Oscar and Georgina's style of walking works better on the dance floor, and how much easier it is to look good doing it! Both of these classes are all levels.

Intermediate/advanced classes will happen Saturday and Sunday at 1:30 PM. On Saturday, the subject is Vals and musicality. On Sunday, the subject is elegant social dancing, putting together some sweet new combinations for us to add into our daily dancing.

ADVANCED class: You asked for advanced classes, where you could work on harder material, delving into the technique more in-depth, Portland, so SHOW UP PLEASE! 8 PM Monday night at the Om. And yes, you can bring a partner and not change partners that night, although you know my opinion that changing partners helps you learn faster ;-)

All of the advanced dancers and teachers who showed up last time for beginning classes, thank you for being great models of how to keep learning, even after decades of dancing. I hope to see you again, and spread the word!

Beginning Argentine tango can be fun: basic building blocks and improvisation II

Learning Argentine tango has to be fun, or students will give up before they even taste the dance. There is a belief that the dance is hard to learn; it takes time to get good, but I can teach the fundamental ideas in an hour or two, and survival skills in about ten hours of class. I've been dancing tango since 1995, and I still am working on making my dance better. My point is: the individual chooses what level of tango they wish to reach; my job as the teacher is make that wish become reality.

I try to make every class have elements of fun, even if we are working hard on technique. There are at least ten minutes of each hour class that deal with pure play, fun and connecting with other people. After all, what do we want for our tango community? I want folks who are fun, who like to play and experiment, who pay attention to their surroundings and the people around them; joyous, kind folk who I want to dance with!

Yes, of course I want to train dancers who are the best in the world, with perfect technique, but maybe not everyone wants to be that dancer; private lessons are the place to do that deep training.

Back to group lessons and teaching beginners to have fun with tango. This is Part Two of this series. You can read Part One before or after this; there will be at least a Part Three, and perhaps more later on.

Pauses and adornos

One of the hardest things for new dancers to do, is to incorporate pauses into the dance. I start work on this the first day of class by providing a REASON to pause: adornos (ornaments)! Until dancers know the music well, there is a tendency to step on every beat, making a very monotone, flat-line kind of dance. Adding adornos in gives the dancers a chance to feel how pauses enrich the dance; it also makes folks feel like they are "dancing"--very important if you want them to head out to the dance floor with confidence.

It takes new followers at least a few seconds to realize that the couple has really paused. Then, there are the seconds devoted to thinking, "Hey! I could adorn here!" After that, time is needed to decide which kind of adorno to do. Only then does the dancer start to actually adorn (the time is shorter for the leader, as that person KNOWS the couple is going to pause).

Unfortunately, most leaders tend to pause for very short amounts of time. By the time the follower figures out there is space/time for adornos, the leader has already begun to move. So, how can beginning followers get practice doing adornos?

On the first day of class, I only show one adorno. That way, the time devoted to choosing an adorno is eliminated. I have everyone stand on one foot and trace their name, in cursive script, on the floor. I encourage them to think that they are leaving a deep mark in sand so that the leg is relaxed and heavy on the floor; this better approximates adorno technique that they will learn later. This also allows all dancers to stop worrying if they are performing the adorno correctly: they ALL know how to write their name (OK, with the hand ;-)). This way, they are able to add an element of personal style to their tango immediately, and a bit of PLAY, which makes everyone smile and keep dancing.

Energy and connection

This is the CENTRAL idea in tango, not a nice thing to add in after you know where your feet are moving. In fact, the steps can emanate from a strong flow of energy--some people never actually learn many steps, but tune into the partner and just dance (this is more successful for following, but it also works for leading).

I build energy exercises into at least every other class, to make sure that students have tools to use to connect with their own body, their partner, and the space in the room.

Self: Axis and breath exercise

Most of my energy exercises are done with the eyes closed, as I find that helps most dancers imagine how energy moves without getting distracted. For people who struggle with balance, don't require them to close their eyes.

Imagine that you have a hollow body, and can breathe up from the floor, through your legs, hips and torso, into your lungs, and then exhale out the top of your head, like a whale spout. Focus on the open cylinder of your body, and fill it with breath. Each exhale, even if you can't feel the energy follow this path, imagine it moving up your body, into your lungs, and out the top of your head.

Now, imagine the path reverse: breathing in the top of your head, expanding your lungs, and exhaling through your feet, as if you are pushing a magnet away from the underside of the floor with your energy (this is an image Oscar Mandagaran taught me, ten years ago).

Feel how the ENERGY of your body, and the BREATH, can be a column straight up from the floor, even though your body has curves and bends and joints. That continuity of energy and breath helps keep you grounded and contributes to your balance while you dance.

Partner: Force field exercise

This exercise usually yields the most immediate results of any of my energy exercises. For many dancers, close embrace tango is scary because "there's not enough room for my feet!" Each person is so aware of their own axis and body, that they forget to connect to the partner with their ENTIRE body.

Now, obviously, it is impossible to touch from head to toe while dancing. However, it is necessary to connect with energy from head to toe; this exercise facilitates that.

Pick your favorite color (i.e., red), or energy source (i.e., electricity), or element (i.e., water, fire) or implement (i.e. laser), and direct it THROUGH your partner, to the opposite wall. I personally like red, laser-beam-like fire; others like blue water, gold bubbles, purple lightening, etc. 

I add this on after the axis exercise. Have dancers face another dancer, close enough for their personal space to touch, but not actually touching. Leave at least 6 inches to a foot between the couple. Close your eyes, unclench your hands, relax your feet and knees (you may need to repeat these instructions during the exercise, as folks tense up sometimes).

Now, every time you exhale, send the [red laser fire] energy THROUGH your partner, to the opposite wall. As the dancers breath, I gradually add additional points to send energy through, until the entire couple is a person-shaped force field directed at and through the partner:

• toes (add one thing every 2-4 breaths)
• knees ("Toes, knees.")
• hips ("Toes, knees, hips." etc.)
• belly button (to make them laugh/relax)
• ribcage
• neck
• head
• whole body

Watch the group, and see which points of focus improve dancers' connections, and which make them revert to old habits. It will give you (and hopefully them) insight into what parts of the body need more/less energy to help balance and connection work best. I've found that often "Toes!" helps 3/4 of the followers: instead of trying to escape from the leader's feet, keeping the energy TOWARDS the leader, helps the follower avoid being stepped on, and is key to many followers improving their balance.

When all the body has been engaged, I do a second part of this exercise (sometimes, I stop here, and do the second part the next time we do the exercise). Without opening the eyes, move towards your partner until you are touching. Make an embrace (practice or actual, depending on level of class). Keep doing the force field exercise, but on each exhale, MOVE somewhere in space (one step). Inhale. Do it again. Everyone is moving slow motion, so there are few collisions. Encourage folks to do this with their eyes closed, rather than to cheat: it changes how they use their force field, extending it AROUND the couple like a bumper!

Group: Solo-couple exercise

Getting into the flow of the dance requires the couple to tune into the energy of the entire room. If that doesn't happen, collisions reduce the enjoyment that comes with tuning into the partner. To facilitate that, I teach a game I call solo-couple.

First, all the dancers move around the room IN ANY DIRECTION, swirling around with the music and tuning into the physical space. If someone is in the way, instead of stopping or changing direction, the dancer will simply turn in place until there is a space to move to. Arms and bodies need to stay relaxed in case of collision (I tell students to exhale if hit, so the impact will be reduced). I encourage dancers to actually LOOK at each other :-)

When I yell COUPLE! everyone grabs the nearest other dancer WITHOUT STOPPING, and keeps moving in space, turning in place when there is no room, and otherwise moving to new spaces. When someone stops, or the traffic starts to get congested, I yell SOLO, and we go back to the first part.

Although in real life, tango does not float around in space without pauses, I have found this exercise very helpful for new dancers. The ongoing nature of the rules imposes moving without forethought, thus removing the analytical block a lot of new leaders have, to responding to the music and available space to make a dance. Also, once this exercise works, a dancer learns to tune into the movement through space of the group as a whole, making it easier to navigate comfortably as more complex issues arise (such as a couple in front pausing for a long time).

Naughty Toddler

Naughty Toddler is my favorite game right now (since I thought of it about six years ago!). It offers benefits to both leaders and followers that allow a complete beginner to get out on the dance floor, have fun, and not hurt anyone else ;-)

Just as it is difficult for the average adult to convince a toddler NOT to do something, but easy to divert their attention to another activity, it is easy for a leader to divert the follower's energy into more positive, tango-like activity, rather than to wrestle the follower into submission. Usually, a follower's mistakes come from not dancing perfectly, rather than not paying attention, but the leader experiences those moments as being out of control. What if we use those moments to reassure the leader that, no matter how badly the dance goes, s/he can make a good/safe dance from the chaos?

Not only that, but a lot of

In Naughty Toddler, the person "following" is NOT following. That person can do anything s/he likes, whether it is to do adornos for the whole song, turns, ochos, walking; or even dancing badly on purpose--hanging on the leader, not waiting, being noodly or too tense, etc. I have NEVER met a dancer who didn't come to love this game; it's a good stress-reducer, too, if folks are frustrated about their dance.

The "leader" hangs on for dear life. I suggest holding firmly to the "follower's" shoulders, just in case of malfunction :-)

Traffic

It is of paramount importance to accustom new leaders to the reality of dancing with people in the way. I start this in my beginner's class with the traffic game. For beginners, I usually incorporate this game into solo-couple, or into the Tete exercise (see Part One). I pretend to be the "bad" dancer on the dance floor, staying in one place for too long, backing up into traffic, cutting across the dance floor randomly, etc. (this also helps beginners understand what NOT to do on the dance floor).

Next, I designate half or a third of the class to be "traffic" and obstruct the other dancers. If the room is too big and folks can escape, I have them use only part of the room.

As the space gets smaller or the amount of traffic increases, the dancers get better and better. This happens in every class. I think that the game helps new leaders turn off their brains and just dance as they are forced to make decisions based on other people's decisions/behavior.

Another variation of this game, is to do the same thing, but with a ring of chairs in the middle ("the doughnut") that prevents dancers from floating across the center of the dance space.

New leaders emerge from this exercise with new confidence (as in Naughty Toddler) because they overcame obstacles and did well. New followers learn the importance of keeping their heels near the floor and staying on axis to allow the leader to deal with traffic; and trust the leaders more.

Alignment

This is the hard part of dancing: not the steps, but standing and moving efficiently.  I teach this along with the fun pieces, one or two ideas each class. In more advanced classes, I cover the same material again, with more drills, more explanation, etc. In beginning classes, I try to help dancers understand that this should feel easy/comfortable/less difficult than what they are doing. For many of us, this will feel "strange" but not wrong.

Nitty gritty about body alignment (skip this if you are just going for the meat; read it if you really plan to get good at tango):

1. The bones of the body hold the body up, with minimal help from the muscles. That leaves the muscles to dance/play.
2. The connection with the floor (hopefully, your feet!) is grounded, relaxed and balanced. Half the body's weight is over the ball of the foot, and half over the heel. The toes are released, not gripped for balance or fear ;-)
3. The ankles are relaxed!
4. The knees are relaxed and slightly flexed. They are used as part of the "spring" from the ground, up through the pelvis, that allows you to move in a balanced way.
5. The hips are back so that the head of the femur is tucked into the pelvis. This allows the bones to do the work, rather than the ligaments and muscles across the front of the hip joint. In other words, the opposite of the North American slouch. This is the hardest part of basic alignment to learn as a laidback, slouching "yankee" (what norte americanos are called in Buenos Aires by guys like Tete).
6. The lower back is elongated and soft: the hips are moved back at the hip joint, NOT by curving the lower back.
7. The whole spine is elongated, so that the solar plexus opens towards the partner, creating an energetic, lively connection.
8. The head is relaxed, balanced on the spine.

Remember, keep the fun factor up, along with the time for each person to really DANCE, and you will enjoy your classes more, along with your students.

Improving musicality through contrast: Milonga/vals class notes

This session of my intermediate/advanced Wednesday night class, we are looking at musicality through contrast. First, we learn a figure. Then, we try it to either milonga or vals music. We explore how many ways the movement can go with the music, especially in terms of slowing it down for adornos :-)  Then, we try the figure to the other music, and make adaptations to make the musicality flow better.

Not every pattern works well in tango, milonga AND vals. There are some moves I prefer in just one dance, or in tango and vals, but not milonga (or vals and milonga, but not tango). I am not in the camp that believes these dances have different moves. Yes, there are some things I tend to do more in milonga than tango, etc., but for me, the deciding factor is: does this movement work to this music? If it does, then I use it. After all, this suite of dances are street dances! Who says we have to follow all the rules?

I'm using a lot of figures that I've learned from Oscar Mandagaran and Georgina Vargas because THEY WILL BE HERE IN A MONTH!!!!!! Hopefully, this preparation will help those of you who are new to Oscar and Georgina, so that you can get optimal levels of information in one short week.

Good for vals: Salida with a change of direction

This figure is on Oscar and Georgina's wonderful Rhythmic Tango DVD (#4).

1. Lead a parallel, regular side step to the leader's left.
2. Lightly lead the follower to remain on the right foot by suspending her/him ON AXIS in place, while the leader shifts onto the right (into crossed system). The follower will feel the leader's chest shift sideways, but no one else should see this; it's slight. The leader's hips and chest change to the side in order to avoid pushing the follower over. The leader is now ready to walk to the outside track (on the follower's left side).
3. Release the suspension, and step. Leader steps forward with the left; follower steps back with the left.
4. Leader arrives on axis on left, with the right remaining behind as a "kickstand" to help maintain balance (if this is not working, remember that you can also bring your right foot up to the left to make your axis work better). The hips need to stay mainly oriented line-of-dance, but the torso will twist from left to right. The follower lands on the left, is led to pivot the hips clockwise, ready to step with the right.
5. Leader takes a side step to the right, follower does a back cross step in the same direction. Suggestion: make this a forward diagonal, leaders! This reduces the angle the follower needs to pivot, making it simpler for a more beginning dancer to succeed in maintaining balance and looking good.
6. Leader can switch feet in place while suspending the follower to exit in parallel, or stay on the same foot to exit in crossed system. Follower is "unwound" to prepare for a back left step, line-of-dance.
7. Exit to steps 6-7-8 of the basic, or to the cross.

Places to mess around to make the musicality work: This pattern takes a nice 8 measure phrase to complete, OR it can take longer if the music tells you to SLOW down: it depends on the song. I like to suspend the follower after #1 and at #6 so adornos can happen, but I try to make this music-dependent.  One of my peeves is to see leaders trying to be dramatic by introducing slow and quick elements into the dance, but without listening to the music!! Believe me, the person you are leading usually prefers the dance to fit the music.

Same beginning, with a simpler pattern to move faster for milonga

The pattern above is HARD to do in milonga unless you have a follower who stays on-axis, on-balance. If you or your follower tend to fall over, . . . change it to make it more milonga-friendly.

1. Do the same salida and switch systems/tracks as above, and the first step (#1, 2, 3 above).
2. Walk a counter-clockwise circle (to the left), either as a regular circle, or as a "back step, back 1/2 ocho"--what I showed as I learned it from Jose Garafolo--that has a less even feel, but is funkier and feels great in milonga.
3. Exit into whatever, moving line-of-dance (end of basic, to the cross, parallel or crossed system).

Musicality variations: You can do little corridas (quick quick slow) in this circle, or walk it in even counts. This also makes an elegant step for vals, by the way, where it can be slowed down and/or adornos added.

Vary the ingredients a little, get another move: boleo milonguero (Rhythmic DVD #6)

This move I prefer in vals (and tango), but several students showed great prowess in making this a milonga move. As a rule, I don't lead boleos in the milonga because few followers can stay on axis while pivoting that quickly, BUT that doesn't mean you can't lead it; be judicious in your choices.

1. Do #1, 2 & 3 from above.
2. Instead of a pivot to the leader's right and an open step, the leader leads a boleo on the ground (boleo milonguero) with the follower's pivot, rebounding into:
3. a back right diagonal step on the right for the leader and a forward step with the right for the follower, through to the leader's right side.
4. Same #6 and 7 as above.

Some notes on leading boleos, as these were new to some of you:

Leader:

• must be on axis to lead a boleo
• use back leg, knees one behind the other, for balance and stability
• knees are relaxed, providing shock absorption
• there is a slight suspension of the axis before leading the boleo
• the boleo feels like a corkscrew motion, down around the axis and back up, if it is working correctly
• hips remain forward, torso rotates
• careful on foot placement: keep your V, and don't let your back foot/ankle turn in

Follower:

• must be on axis
• hips do the pivot work; don't swing the leg
• knees meet and rebound, with the free leg rebounding back the way it came
• the leader's torso leads the hip pivot, which leads the leg release (because of this, the "whip" of the follower's leg does not end when the leader rebounds, but slightly behind, like the end of a whip vs. the handle)
• keep the feet in their V, so that the shape of the boleo remains constant and looks good (remember how inelegant it looked when I showed you the toes in version I was seeing in class? ;-) )
• ankles, knees and hips are slightly flexed at all times for shock absorption, but make sure you don't sink in the boleo: this is a rebound, not a collapse

Again, nice places to add adornos are at the first side step and after the rebound of the boleo (so, at original #1 and #6-7 of the first move. In essence, because all these steps are built off of the same main structural beginning and end, the best place for adornos remains the same. Also, boleos can be different speeds. In vals, I like folks to lead me in a slower, sweeter boleo, rather than a WHAM! movement, allowing me time to really pivot well with my hips, and giving the boleo a more swoopy, vals feeling.

Introducing the quebrada as an elegant, stabilizing element of the dance

As I hear my next lesson knocking on the door, I'll finish here, and go over this step in my next blog entry. Stay tuned!

Beginning Argentine tango can be fun: basic building blocks and improvisation I

One thing I learned when I studied with Alito Alessi to prepare for Danceability  workshops in Eugene, OR, was to focus on the main idea of a movement. What is the essence of this move? That way, no matter what skill level each dancer reaches in class, the main ideas walk out of the studio with each person. Everyone succeeds and everyone has fun.

In tango, the essence of the dance is walking, pausing, changing direction and turning (with some fancy stuff thrown in), in tune with another body/soul. Tango is merely a particular style of moving while doing those activities. That is what I teach in my beginning tango class, rather than a lot of specific tango steps. If a dancer is deeply interested in tango, there will always be time to learn more steps later on. Over the past fifteen years, I've explored many ways to teach tango.  Now, I have changed my teaching style to make tango less serious, more fun, and more based on improvisation right from the start.

I started this post a few weeks ago, and finally realized that I need to publish it part by part, so that I eventually finish it! Here's the first part of what we did in the beginner's class last session.

Getting started

I do encourage new dancers to tell the partner which foot to start on by shifting themselves (and their partner) onto one foot, ONCE. I don't think that treading in place is good way to start a dance; instead, shift weight one time, and then walk. That way, the first step of the dance is smooth, traveling line-of-dance (LOD) and relaxed, which paves the way for a more successful dance.

Walking

My main teachers, Oscar Mandagaran and Georgina Vargas, walk like big cats. When you lead Georgina, you can FEEL the purr of the cat, or the engine, or whatever it feels like to you as the leader. When you follow Oscar, it's almost impossible to make a mistake because his walk has so much power and connection that you are drawn into the dance. What they say is, "Walk like a tiger, not a kitty cat!"

Walking in tango is easy: it's like walking in real life. If you walk heel-toe when going forward; toe-heel when backing up; and remember to breath, you have 75% of tango already! A lot of what I do in private lessons focuses around repatterning the student's body to more efficient, balanced locomotion and stance. In group classes, I introduce the elements of posture and movement, but one-on-one is limited by class size.

Right, left, right, left . . .

You have one choice when stepping: the foot that you have free from weight. You have four choices of direction: forward, backward, right and left. 

There are two systems of movement in Argentine tango: parallel and crossed systems. In parallel system, the leader steps on the left when the follower steps on the right. In the crossed system, the leader steps on the right when the follower steps on the right. It is the changing from parallel to crossed system that gives Argentine tango so many choices, because it is the orientation of the leader to the follower that creates the matrix of possible steps in the dance. For some folks, the plethora of available steps is what makes tango a bit overwhelming at first, rather than freeing.

I encourage new dancers to get into the flow of the music and experiment with intention: tell the follower where you want them to step, using your energy/intention. Don't worry a lot about which foot the other person is on at first; just keep breathing and keep moving. With practice, it becomes much easier to figure out which foot the follower is standing on, and to actually LEAD the follower to take a specific step in time/space. For now, think about accuracy of direction in space and let the follower respond to that.

Changing directions

There are a lot of reasons why tango is made up of direction changes. Most of these reasons are called the dancers in your way in front of you, behind you, and next to you ;-)  Seriously, the dance floor is often crowded, and the beauty of the improvisation that is tango, is that you can make a tiny little dance, almost in place on the dance floor, and REALLY dance! Rebounds (traspie steps, rock steps, check steps, whatever you want to call them) and ochos are basic ways to change direction in tango.

Rebounds

A rebound is any step that returns to its original position on the dance floor. This requires that the dancer move to a new space, release the foot into the floor with weight over it, and then move back to the original foot. For example, if the leader steps forward on the left foot, the rebound brings the leader back onto the right foot, ready again to use the left foot. I think of steps like these as: front/side/back rebounds, named by the original direction of the first step. Other people call these traspie steps, check steps, or rock steps.

Yes, this is technically two steps, but I think of it as one motion; I find that helps most beginners get the main idea: making changing directions easy (whether for navigation, fun, or by accident).

The ball analogy

When you bounce a ball, as the ball encounters the floor, it compresses and widens into the floor, in preparation for rebounding up. Just like bouncing a basketball, the energy/weight of the step needs to press through/against the floor before returning: you can't bounce a ball and have it rebound BEFORE it hits the floor! It's the same idea with the body. 

Stopping the body early, or by tightening the muscles, is like trying to get the ball back before it hits the floor. Use the follower's body (and the leader's body, of course) to gauge the best moment to rebound. Make the step work for you. Playing Naughty Toddler (see below) is a good way to get used to how easy it is to make the rebound work FOR you.

Ochos

Ochos are rebounds with a twist. Front ochos consist of the follower doing two consecutive front steps, making a figure eight in front of the leader; or two back steps (much harder). However, the basic idea is to change directions (here, from right to left, or vice versa), and return to the original location.

Note: This is the same outcome as a rock, but happens if the follower is on the "other" foot and has to cross over to go in the requested direction. That way, the follower has two possibilities to respond to the leader, both of which work, and both of which achieve the needed direction change. If the leader knows what foot the follower is on, s/he can lead more successfully, but if not, the follower can "survive" and still look good.

More on ochos in another post.

Turning

There are only two directions to turn: right and left.

There are three kinds of turns. You can turn in place, around the leader. You can turn in place, around the follower (not usually called a turn in tango). You can also turn while traveling down the floor.

Tete's turning exercise

Years ago, I had the opportunity to take weekly classes from Tete in Buenos Aires. He had an exercise where we walked around the room and did half or whole turns while continuing to travel around the room; he would yell, "Turn!" and we would. He encouraged us to practice turning right and left, and returning to facing forward both by continuing to turn the same we started, and by reversing to the other direction. No specific turns were taught: the followers were expected to keep upright and step as needed to maintain balance.

It turns out the there are only two outcomes of such a turn: the couple is walking in parallel system (leader's right, follower's left, for example), or in crossed system (leader's right, follower's right, for example). That means you are exiting either in traveling back ochos, or in parallel walks. Simple--as long as you don't panic about what feet are being used.

As a complete beginner, most people do this fine, but start stumbling when they realize that the follower is on the "other" foot. Quick fix: turn again! You have a 50-50 chance of ending up in parallel system. If you can hang in there with the unstructured state of this exercise, you will see that there is an organic quality to the movement that works, even when both dancers are beginners, and not sure of what is happening. I encourage that tuning into the flow of the dance: that's what makes dancers look like they know what's happening, and eventually, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy! At some point, the leader DOES start to know what foot the follower is on and vice versa.

For those of you who are more structured (or for the purists in tango), this might make you tear your hair out. However, I'm finding that my students hit the dance floor a lot earlier, and with as much success, as folks who are carefully studying steps and learning forms, but who are too scared to go out dancing. Knowing that it's OK to not know 100% of what is going on, can be very freeing.

A lot of my beginners are afraid to go tango dancing because they feel that everyone is watching, and will judge their dance. I send them to Portland's Wednesday night alternative music dance--and go to dance with them--because that is seen as the least judgmental venue for new dancers to explore tango. I myself notice that I am willing to experiment more to alternative music, while traditional music brings out my best technique; of course, I'm used to the "everyone is watching" feeling :-)

Milonga traspie: rebound steps

Traspie steps; check steps; rock steps; rebound steps: What DO you call those quick-quick thingies that are in milonga, tango and vals?

I call them rebound steps because focusing on the elasticity of this step, rather than the speed of the step, makes for a much more efficient (and thus quick) execution of this kind of movement. Because milonga is faster than tango (and most valses), learning to do the rebound step is especially pertinent.

I was not taught this method when I first learned tango, but my main teachers, Oscar Mandagaran and Georgina Vargas proved to me that it worked better. After arguing about it for a while, they simply led me (and had me lead) their style of rebound and HOLY COW! it was a lot easier. Twelve years into fifteen years of tango, and I completely changed my approach and can easily lead most followers, even beginners, in milonga. And you can, too! (and Oscar and Georgina will be back in Portland and Eugene in August and November, lucky us!)

Rebound steps

A rebound step is any step that moves away from a given point and then returns to that initial location. For example, the first two steps of an ocho cortado for the leader are forward on the left, and then back on the right. Another example: a "traspie" step to the side before moving forward line-of-dance sends the leader to the side and then back to the original location.

Think of each two-piece rebound step as one unit: rather than "rock, rock" or "quick, quick" imagine that the movement in your foot and body is more like bouncing a ball: it hits the ground and rebounds up to your hand as one motion.

Ball bouncing

Nothing on YouTube was exactly what I wanted to show you, but this is close. See how the ball flattens into the ground and then rebounds in one smooth motion? That is what the arch of your foot is doing when you do a rebound step. If you do this while leading the follower to execute the same step, you can easily change directions at any speed.

Using the ball bouncing idea, notice that:

1. The ball does not stop motion when it hits the floor. Instead, it flattens and then rebounds. Make sure you do not stop your motion.
2. The ball does not stop a few inches from the floor and then come back up. Make sure that you do not signal for the follower to change direction until his/her foot has softened into the floor. The follower cannot change direction easily until the moment that the foot softens. Indicating a lead "early" to give the follower time to react, slows this move down.
3. When the ball finishes the rebounding motion, it comes back to center (or back to your hand). Make sure that your rebound finishes back on axis/balance before moving to a new location.

Things that are different from an actual ball bouncing:

1. Don't sink in your knees to lower your body! Stay at the same height while doing this move. The knees are naturally lightly flexed at all times to aid in balance and smoothness of move.
2. Any direction you send your partner, they will rebound back to you. Think of a combination of handball (trying to send it straight back to yourself, however) and bouncing a ball.
3. You don't have to push on the ball with your hand to make this happen: move your body, and the follower will be moved. I hope. If not, play naughty toddler!

How to break yourself of old traspie habits

It's one thing to understand how and why a rebound step works better when done this way. It's a much more time-intensive activity to relearn the step, which is why I've begun teaching this as one of the first steps in tango, milonga and vals classes.

My suggestions:

1. Dance slow motion: slow motion movement will help you find how far transfer your weight before rebounding. Abandon the need to make this move go quickly: as soon as it works slow, it will start to work at faster speeds.
2. Close your eyes: learn to SENSE the movement of the follower, either in close or open embrace. When you can feel the follower's foot hit and soften into the floor, you will be able to reverse the follower's direction without much effort on either person's part.
3. Play naughty toddler: I've noticed that most leaders do a great job leading rebound steps when forced to by a follower who is not paying attention and is full-on dancing. After all, stopping early to "signal" a change in direction won't work with this kind of follower! If they are about to run into someone, most leaders do a wonderful job of using the follower's body and weight to change direction ;-)
4. Ask the follower for feedback: if one of you can feel the transfer of weight and the right time to change direction, you can teach each other the rebound step. If that is the leader, the follower can be told while dancing. If the follower feels it, but not the lead, practice slow motion and verbally cuing the leader ("Now!") until the leader feels confident about leading the step.

Until the new neural pathway is established in your brain, you will need to methodically and slowly repattern your body to access the new pathway first (this is why the new motion feels "weird" or "strange"--it is not the one that feels "right" to the body until the new pathway has been established). I've looked online for a good, short version of explaining how the body builds neural pathways, but most are either too simplistic, or too long. If you are interested in this information, go play on Google, and let me know if YOU find a good article! Thanks!

Inspiration

If you need any inspiration, check out Oscar and Georgina dancing a milonga, and watch their tons of lovely rebound steps! Now, go practice!