Happened across this on YouTube just now. Obviously this level of movement by a follower takes years of dedication, commitment, hard work, and practice. Lots and lots of practice.
Showing posts with label "Follower Technique". Show all posts
Showing posts with label "Follower Technique". Show all posts
Sunday, March 8, 2020
Friday, January 17, 2020
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Follower Auto-Lustrada
This is the first time I've seen this. I like it.
[Between timestamp 0:09 & 0:11 - it happens fast in the first few seconds of the video.]
Again, I feel compelled to say I like it.
Did I say I like it?
Let's see if this starts a new trend, kinda like when George started eating candy bars on a plate with a knife and fork on Seinfeld.
[Between timestamp 0:09 & 0:11 - it happens fast in the first few seconds of the video.]
Again, I feel compelled to say I like it.
Did I say I like it?
Let's see if this starts a new trend, kinda like when George started eating candy bars on a plate with a knife and fork on Seinfeld.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Tango Glide de Luxe
[Foto by Alex.Tango.Fuego - from last night]
I DJ'd a live music milonga last night - The Austin Piazzolla Quintet.
They are a talented ensemble and a welcome addition to the Austin tango/music scene.
Being that I don't really do much dancing to Piazzolla (preferring to listen), I had some time on my hands. Or on my eyes, more accurately.
I've always been reluctant to critique what I see, unless it's a fedora or white shoes on a leader. But if I may, I would like to offer a tidbit that hopefully will be perceived as constructive counsel.
I noticed most of the followers were "stepping". On their toes. With heels elevated.
Now I'm not an expert by any means, and I have only taken only one "Follower Technique" class (with Luiza Paes) over the six years I've been dancing tango. But, I have taken lots and lots of classes, workshops, privates, intensivos, blah blah blah. With many different teachers. I was there when they were correcting my partner. I was paying attention to the instruction and feedback they were giving the followers.
As I recall, they all said "heels down" (but not weighted); extend (the leg, to its maximum comfortable natural step, depending on the size of the step being led); and "caress" the floor (just barely caressing - with no real scuffing or shuffling noise from sole contact with the floor). The "heels down" principle is during the step, as the foot is moving backwards, and not an ending default position only after the stepping foot has collected alongside the weighted foot - that one is an embellishment, not a fundamental truth of the tango universe.
Heel down, extend, caress. Glide. Smooth. Liso.
My primary teacher frequently used a story to illustrate/visualize this concept:
"Imagine there are little Lilliputians (from Gulliver's Travels), with ropes tied to your heels, and they are pulling your leg back, from your heel."
Using this visualization exercise, and manifesting this in real time would keep the heel down and extend the leg in a backstep to its maximum comfortable "natural" step.
There are a couple/a few reasons for this as I recall, but I'm only going to focus on one. It really applies only to close embrace - chest-to-breasts. In a more open/separated embrace, "stepping" doesn't really manifest any undesirable effects - except for the aesthetic.
In close embrace, it's a different story. "Stepping" in close embrace imparts a slight verticality to the follower's movement. It can manifest as a "bounce". Gentle-like, but still a slight vertical bounce. Some have called it a bop. At its worst, for me, with shorter followers, it manifested as the top of their head bopping into the bottom of my jaw as we walked. Whenever it happens, the thought actually pops into my head that I should have a mouth guard in my pocket. But that's my own internal tongue-in-cheek overkill twisted humor. Obviously I would never have to resort to that. But it's good for illustrating a worst-case manifestation of the issue.
As I write this, it's dawning on me that I may notice this more, because I am more of a walker in my tango. I walk every chance I get. Every time the music tells me to walk, I walk. Now that I think about it, I (think I) notice most leaders doing lots of other "stuff", but not doing much walking. Maybe this "glide vs. bounce" issue is not so much of an issue if you're not doing much walking? Hmmm.
Heels-down, extending, caressing - "gliding" - imparts a smoothness, almost like a hawk flying in a slipstream in the sky. Or paddling a stripper in the early morning light on a glassy lake. Water skiing on a snake infested cafe' au lait colored Louisiana bayou - so narrow and twisty the ski boat has to come to a complete stop to turn around and go back downstream. So narrow of a channel through the thick cypress that no wind could ever ripple the water's surface. That feeling. Smooth beyond smooth. The word glide is an understatement. Floating. Airy. Dreamy.
How can you tell if it's happening? It's noticeable in the chest-to-breasts contact - the vertical motion can be felt. It's noticeable if there's any cheek-to-cheek contact as well. Or jaw-to-forehead. One might also use a video camera for "diagnostic" purposes.
I noticed it mostly in the women I was watching last night. There were only two or three followers who actually had the caress/glide movement down pat. Two or three out of twenty or thirty. Too few.
My understanding is that followers have to retrain themselves to walk (backwards in 4cm heels), or remake, or reform their backwards movement so that almost all of the verticality is removed - manifesting a much smoother, mas liso, dance. Mucho walking backwards. Mucho practice. Mucho work to get the walk smoothed out.
I could be wrong. Please comment if I am. Share your views and experience with this. Please please purty please.
Again, I'm reluctant to offer "instructional" type posts, and reluctant to bring things up that I see in my own community, because it is so small. Some of the women I noticed this with, I dance with - others I have not had the pleasure of their company on the dance floor. Yet. I hope it doesn't blow up in my face.
This post will be one of the few times I do this. I'm doing it now because I'm selfish.
Yo quiero el tango glide de luxe.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Tango Demons
I just went-a-checking on my MySpace page after a long hiatus/absence. I had asked another MySpacer if I could post one of her (myspace) blog entries on my blog a long time ago. I thought it was a very good treatment of "tango demons", from a follower's perspective obviously.
It seems that there is an undercurrent of tango demons running through the blog and dancing worlds these days. Things just don't seem to be, or feel, 'in the groove' for many of us. For me, I think it's a natural evolution or growth in my own tango world. I think it's partly due to the ongoing economic destabilization. I've got other things on my mind. There is a world out there that needs changing. Change by sheer force of will by the knowing minority. Change by doing and not talking. As they say, "Lead, follow, or get out of the way..."
Anyway, tango seems to be taking a reduced part in my life - really over the past year. It's as strong as ever in my heart and soul, I think about it every day, but I don't 'need' it as badly as I did in the past. I don't need it as frequently. I developed a 'quality over quantity' mindset fairly early on in my tango. It seems that mindset is solidifying to the point I can go for a few months with no milongas.
My demons. We all have our demons in life, and in our tango. It's part of life and it's part of tango. They will make you a better dancer, those demons will.
So on to the primary subject of this post...
Her name is Carrie Whipple. She's a dancer/teacher/Comme il Faut pusher in Portland. With her permission, here it is...thanks Carrie!
Tango Demons
January 23, 2008
By Carrie Whipple
The last time I visited Argentina, I went reluctantly. I went because I had a plane ticket, purchased a year before, that I'd already postponed once and I couldn't push it back again. I went because I felt like I had to, but I wasn't excited about it.
I was nervous to go because I had recently had a tango epiphany, and it was this: I didn't care. I didn't care about doing the technique of a particular turn perfectly, or of pointing my toes or using my heels or lifting my sternum or tucking in my tailbone. I was over it.
The first two and a half years of my tango life were full of these kinds of obsessions, these tango technique nightmares. I was constantly practicing, even when I was at a milonga, I was always thinking about everything I was doing wrong. Everything that proved I was failing.
Part of this self-destructive mindset was a result my unique situation at the time, which put me under an unusually bright spotlight while out dancing tango, but I now know that this particular brand of self-torture is not uncommon for the women of tango. There's a certain kind of personality that finds herself attracted to this dance. The perfectionist excels here, for a while at least. There's something in the fierce challenge of the dance, it is so hard, and so complex, and there's so much to think about, it's a thrill at first. But for some of us, after a time, it becomes impossible to shut down that internal dialogue cataloging all of your mistakes in your head.
At around that two and a half year marker, my personal life caved in around me, and I just gave up on tango. My situation forced me to realize that I wasn't perfect, that I never would be, and surprise, even if I did manage to attain perfection, it wouldn't make me any more in demand as a partner (in life or tango). In fact, the more precise I became in my technique, the less in demand on the social dance floor I seemed to become. I realized that this was because the unique nature of tango. The teamwork required to dance tango well is so much more important than any one person's individual technique.
Here was my big "I get it" moment: I discovered that I was spending all this time in my head critiquing my dance, and my partners could feel my judgment and they felt that I was judging them. Often, I was. When you're in that self-degrading headspace it just flows right over onto those around you, so of course the person in my arms could feel it. If something wasn't going right, I was quick to judge and blame, both myself and my partner. Neither of us was immune. No fun for my partner, I'm sure. And no fun for me, either. I hated tango. Why am I doing this? I asked, again and again.
So, when my world collapsed, and that critical something in me broke, I gave in to my imperfections. I stopped caring about mistakes, and I just started dancing, and the joy of the partnership was suddenly clear to me in a way it hadn't been before. Suddenly, I realized that there was a human being on the other side of my embrace. A person who had maybe had a really rough day at work, or had just received great news from far away, or had just eaten a huge dinner and felt uncomfortable with me leaning against his spaghetti belly. A person who had his own things going on, someone outside my perfectionism, a partner to meet in the middle. It took me out of my head, my relentless thoughts, and gave me something else to focus on, which was good for me.
This was my mindset when I realized I had a free ticket to BsAs that was nearing its expiration date. Going to Argentina was scary for me because I didn't know how to hold on to this new side of tango, the part outside my head. I was worried about the dance floors of Buenos Aires, with all of those experienced dancers sitting on the sides watching everything. And talking about it. I was terrified of dancing with the old milongueros who seemed to be looking for something in me that I wasn't sure I had, even with all that technique. I was worried that I'd slip back into my head too easily if I didn't learn how to stop myself.
So, I made a choice. A choice that seemed incredulous to those whom I told about it. I decided not to take any privates and few classes during my two months in Argentina. I decided to go to the milongas and practicas, and just dance. That's it.
I had demons I was wrestling. Personal, internal, and mean. I needed to focus on the really hard parts of tango. Not the physical, where-do-I-put-my-foot-during-that-sacada parts, but the really hard stuff; the emotional and mental sides of tango. The fears and self-doubt that come up when so-and-so doesn't ask you to dance, or when he does ask you to dance and you mess up. The feelings of exclusion and not being good enough, and even just the incredible frustration of the learning process. These are the hard parts. These are the things I was working on during my last trip to BsAs. I didn't want technique to distract me from that stuff, as it had for the two years before.
And, I believe that that's really the moment that I became a good dancer. It was when I stopped caring about the stuff that really doesn't matter. The partnership. Mutual respect, teamwork, compassion, that's the good stuff.
I'm writing about this now, 2 years later, because I am finding that the stumbling blocks for my students in tango aren't the moves, the steps, the physical parts, though those things can be challenging, for sure. I find that people give up on tango because of the emotional and mental sides of tango. The social interactions that irritate, the frustrations of the learning curve, the downward spiral, all of that. Those things that cause the exact same problems in one's everyday life, but are magnified in tango because of its intensity. People don't leave because they are unable to master ganchos. They leave because they don't want to deal with their demons, and I think that you have to, to stay in tango.
It seems that there is an undercurrent of tango demons running through the blog and dancing worlds these days. Things just don't seem to be, or feel, 'in the groove' for many of us. For me, I think it's a natural evolution or growth in my own tango world. I think it's partly due to the ongoing economic destabilization. I've got other things on my mind. There is a world out there that needs changing. Change by sheer force of will by the knowing minority. Change by doing and not talking. As they say, "Lead, follow, or get out of the way..."
Anyway, tango seems to be taking a reduced part in my life - really over the past year. It's as strong as ever in my heart and soul, I think about it every day, but I don't 'need' it as badly as I did in the past. I don't need it as frequently. I developed a 'quality over quantity' mindset fairly early on in my tango. It seems that mindset is solidifying to the point I can go for a few months with no milongas.
My demons. We all have our demons in life, and in our tango. It's part of life and it's part of tango. They will make you a better dancer, those demons will.
So on to the primary subject of this post...
Her name is Carrie Whipple. She's a dancer/teacher/Comme il Faut pusher in Portland. With her permission, here it is...thanks Carrie!
Tango Demons
January 23, 2008
By Carrie Whipple
The last time I visited Argentina, I went reluctantly. I went because I had a plane ticket, purchased a year before, that I'd already postponed once and I couldn't push it back again. I went because I felt like I had to, but I wasn't excited about it.
I was nervous to go because I had recently had a tango epiphany, and it was this: I didn't care. I didn't care about doing the technique of a particular turn perfectly, or of pointing my toes or using my heels or lifting my sternum or tucking in my tailbone. I was over it.
The first two and a half years of my tango life were full of these kinds of obsessions, these tango technique nightmares. I was constantly practicing, even when I was at a milonga, I was always thinking about everything I was doing wrong. Everything that proved I was failing.
Part of this self-destructive mindset was a result my unique situation at the time, which put me under an unusually bright spotlight while out dancing tango, but I now know that this particular brand of self-torture is not uncommon for the women of tango. There's a certain kind of personality that finds herself attracted to this dance. The perfectionist excels here, for a while at least. There's something in the fierce challenge of the dance, it is so hard, and so complex, and there's so much to think about, it's a thrill at first. But for some of us, after a time, it becomes impossible to shut down that internal dialogue cataloging all of your mistakes in your head.
At around that two and a half year marker, my personal life caved in around me, and I just gave up on tango. My situation forced me to realize that I wasn't perfect, that I never would be, and surprise, even if I did manage to attain perfection, it wouldn't make me any more in demand as a partner (in life or tango). In fact, the more precise I became in my technique, the less in demand on the social dance floor I seemed to become. I realized that this was because the unique nature of tango. The teamwork required to dance tango well is so much more important than any one person's individual technique.
Here was my big "I get it" moment: I discovered that I was spending all this time in my head critiquing my dance, and my partners could feel my judgment and they felt that I was judging them. Often, I was. When you're in that self-degrading headspace it just flows right over onto those around you, so of course the person in my arms could feel it. If something wasn't going right, I was quick to judge and blame, both myself and my partner. Neither of us was immune. No fun for my partner, I'm sure. And no fun for me, either. I hated tango. Why am I doing this? I asked, again and again.
So, when my world collapsed, and that critical something in me broke, I gave in to my imperfections. I stopped caring about mistakes, and I just started dancing, and the joy of the partnership was suddenly clear to me in a way it hadn't been before. Suddenly, I realized that there was a human being on the other side of my embrace. A person who had maybe had a really rough day at work, or had just received great news from far away, or had just eaten a huge dinner and felt uncomfortable with me leaning against his spaghetti belly. A person who had his own things going on, someone outside my perfectionism, a partner to meet in the middle. It took me out of my head, my relentless thoughts, and gave me something else to focus on, which was good for me.
This was my mindset when I realized I had a free ticket to BsAs that was nearing its expiration date. Going to Argentina was scary for me because I didn't know how to hold on to this new side of tango, the part outside my head. I was worried about the dance floors of Buenos Aires, with all of those experienced dancers sitting on the sides watching everything. And talking about it. I was terrified of dancing with the old milongueros who seemed to be looking for something in me that I wasn't sure I had, even with all that technique. I was worried that I'd slip back into my head too easily if I didn't learn how to stop myself.
So, I made a choice. A choice that seemed incredulous to those whom I told about it. I decided not to take any privates and few classes during my two months in Argentina. I decided to go to the milongas and practicas, and just dance. That's it.
I had demons I was wrestling. Personal, internal, and mean. I needed to focus on the really hard parts of tango. Not the physical, where-do-I-put-my-foot-during-that-sacada parts, but the really hard stuff; the emotional and mental sides of tango. The fears and self-doubt that come up when so-and-so doesn't ask you to dance, or when he does ask you to dance and you mess up. The feelings of exclusion and not being good enough, and even just the incredible frustration of the learning process. These are the hard parts. These are the things I was working on during my last trip to BsAs. I didn't want technique to distract me from that stuff, as it had for the two years before.
And, I believe that that's really the moment that I became a good dancer. It was when I stopped caring about the stuff that really doesn't matter. The partnership. Mutual respect, teamwork, compassion, that's the good stuff.
I'm writing about this now, 2 years later, because I am finding that the stumbling blocks for my students in tango aren't the moves, the steps, the physical parts, though those things can be challenging, for sure. I find that people give up on tango because of the emotional and mental sides of tango. The social interactions that irritate, the frustrations of the learning curve, the downward spiral, all of that. Those things that cause the exact same problems in one's everyday life, but are magnified in tango because of its intensity. People don't leave because they are unable to master ganchos. They leave because they don't want to deal with their demons, and I think that you have to, to stay in tango.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
On Tango :: Surrender through, not to...
I've been reading "Woman's Love, Man's Freedom" by David Deida off and on for many years now. The copy I have is spiral bound and dog-eared, pre-publication I believe. I think it may have been the precursor to his book "The Way of the Superior Man", but I can't be sure. I've been reading that one off and on now for many years as well. It seems I read all my books that way. Off and on. For many years.
So you've heard me talk about surrender before. Not so much surrender, but "The Surrender". *Not* submission and all that drivel. Some women seem to have it, some women don't. Some nail it on the first embrace of the first lesson, some take more time, some never...never. I was going to say never master it. Or never learn it. Or never get it. Or never do it. Or refuse and refute the concept. It's not a concept. It's a feeling. It's emotional. It's metaphysical. It's hard to say if it can be learned or mastered or taught or explained.
Deida did a good job in Chapter 3, 'Surrender Through, Not To'. As I was reading, it seemed he was talking about tango.
Here it is....intended for men and women, lead and follow...replace lover with follower or leader, and sexual with tango...I suppose...and also, you should understand that 'love' goes beyond romantic love...touched by true love as I have said before...the true, untainted, universal love of the universe...that thread of energy I like to call love...it has nothing to do with romance...that's a separate topic...okay, I digress...
Here it is...
Practice surrendering not to your own fears, nor to the demands of another, but directly to love. Do your best to feel through you own resistance as well as your lover's. Behind all resistive emotion is the motive for love. The desire to give and receive love underlies every emotional action and reaction, including hurt and anger, in yourself and in your partner.
Whatever the emotion - anger, fear, closure - feel through it, breathe through it, relax through it, into the love which lies behind it. And then, actively, surrender to that love. Open as that love. Magnify love by loving.
True sexual and spiritual surrender is not about adapting yourself to what will appease your partner. Nor is it about surrendering to your own momentary emotional needs. True surrender is about relaxing through these secondary needs, both yours and your partner's, and magnifying the primary desire to give and receive love.
I sit here, and wonder, is tango simply a vehicle, a method, through which two human beings can bi-laterally give and receive love? Three minutes. Immersed in the music. Immersed in love? Is that what makes tango so powerful?
I wonder.
So you've heard me talk about surrender before. Not so much surrender, but "The Surrender". *Not* submission and all that drivel. Some women seem to have it, some women don't. Some nail it on the first embrace of the first lesson, some take more time, some never...never. I was going to say never master it. Or never learn it. Or never get it. Or never do it. Or refuse and refute the concept. It's not a concept. It's a feeling. It's emotional. It's metaphysical. It's hard to say if it can be learned or mastered or taught or explained.
Deida did a good job in Chapter 3, 'Surrender Through, Not To'. As I was reading, it seemed he was talking about tango.
Here it is....intended for men and women, lead and follow...replace lover with follower or leader, and sexual with tango...I suppose...and also, you should understand that 'love' goes beyond romantic love...touched by true love as I have said before...the true, untainted, universal love of the universe...that thread of energy I like to call love...it has nothing to do with romance...that's a separate topic...okay, I digress...
Here it is...
Practice surrendering not to your own fears, nor to the demands of another, but directly to love. Do your best to feel through you own resistance as well as your lover's. Behind all resistive emotion is the motive for love. The desire to give and receive love underlies every emotional action and reaction, including hurt and anger, in yourself and in your partner.
Whatever the emotion - anger, fear, closure - feel through it, breathe through it, relax through it, into the love which lies behind it. And then, actively, surrender to that love. Open as that love. Magnify love by loving.
True sexual and spiritual surrender is not about adapting yourself to what will appease your partner. Nor is it about surrendering to your own momentary emotional needs. True surrender is about relaxing through these secondary needs, both yours and your partner's, and magnifying the primary desire to give and receive love.
I sit here, and wonder, is tango simply a vehicle, a method, through which two human beings can bi-laterally give and receive love? Three minutes. Immersed in the music. Immersed in love? Is that what makes tango so powerful?
I wonder.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
On Boleos
[I tried to find a photo with a woman doing a boleo, but I couldn't... which tells you where I've been dancing...]
From Limerick Tango, this one bears repeating in every class, practica, milonga and blog across the land...
"You don't *do* boleos. Boleos happen." [Limerick Tango]
At the aforementioned recent tango event, unled boleos were being done all over the place.
The difficult part is conveying that instantaneous state of controlled flaccidity or ready relaxation in the free leg, alternating from leg to leg, so that the leader can cause a boleo to happen.
Comments?
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Tango One Liners :: #0001
Photo by Alex.Tango.Fuego
For followers, there is really nothing to remember in tango. This is an acknowledged gross oversimplification.
But, there are three primary things to remember, with every fiber of your being, remember without thinking, ingrained in your heart and soul...
Numero Uno :: Commit
As in commit to one foot and only one foot at a time...commit to 100% of your weight being on that one foot...unless you feel a lead to do otherwise...
Numero Dos :: Collect
Collect your now free, relaxed foot/leg, right up next to the active foot, the one carrying your weight, the one 'working'...think in terms of 'ready relaxation' and/or 'controlled flaccidity' with the free leg...but don't think...
(there are all kinds of stylistic things with regard to collecting, but for brevity, I won't go into...)
Numero Tres :: Wait
Wait for the lead. Don't anticipate. Don't think. Feel the music. Feel the lead. Listen to the music. Listen to the lead. Wait. Wait for the lead.
Numero Cuatro :: Surrender
The 'surrender' is a difficult one to verbalize. It's not submission, it's permission. Give me permission to control your axis in space and time. By your leave, allow me to control the placement of your feet on the dance floor. Surrender yourself to me to be led. Give yourself to me. Trust in me that I will protect you on the dance floor. Trust in me that I will not lead you beyond your experience.
This was more than three things and more than one line, but you get the point - short and sweet - and hopefully helpful to both followers and leaders who are learning - or have forgotten.
Make this your new mantra - Surrender :: Commit :: Collect :: Wait
Plus, I figger I'd better write ~something~ about tango once in a while.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
A well timed, well placed slap...
A comment I made over at Debbi's blog last night, well, my reflection on the comment this morning made me think of this scene from one of the Trinity westerns...
Her blog post is about a comment a prick leader made to a group of women, and the comment below is a follow-up to my first comment that "someone shoulda slapped the shit out of him"...
Here's the comment:
I think a well timed, well placed slap, delivered with the proper amount of force, can be a beautiful thing when a man is being an asshole.
That's what women did in the old days when a man made inappropriate advances or comments, right? At least that's the way it's always portrayed in film. If another man was witness to it, especially if she was close to him (wife, daughter, etc.), it would fall upon him to defend her honor, no? A duel, swordplay, a gunfight, or a general ass-kicking.
Again, I'm not advocating violence - I'm not a violent man, have never been in a fist fight in my life, have never been slapped as I recall, but I just find it interesting to talk about (and ponder) this subject.
I did however, have my right ear lobe half bit off by one of my ex's. I was being an asshole. We made mad, passionate love after the bleeding stopped. I can still feel the scar line where her two front teeth parted my flesh.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Follower Energy :: Deep Tango Thoughts
Colbay over at The Tango Hours mentioned it. Debbi at An Ever Fixed Mark touches on it in her private with Shorey.
You might call it follower energy. Or perhaps power. It's the concept of the follower not being passive at all. The absence of energy is what I have called a lazy follower. Not passive, active. Relaxed, but listening. Poised.
The leader leads with intention, the follower should follow with intention. Her intention to "take" the step. Not just take the step, but "TAKE" it. I'm having a hard time verbalizing what's in my mind on this. I will have to leave it at this - it's not just stepping. There's more to it.
Jaimes Freidgen has us do an exercise at a workshop once. In particular, it was on the molinete, and it was intended to illustrate the follower's energy level when taking her steps - back-side-forward - around the leader. He had the leaders stand on one foot, with the other leg extended out to the side, with a block frame. The follower was to take her steps around the leader, and pivot him on his active (standing) foot. First one way, then the leader changes feet and the follower goes the other way.
This energy level can be extended to walking and most/all other steps I would think. The crux is the delicate balance of it all. Not to seem lazy/flaccid, yet also not to seem too athletic, not to be backleading, or to feel like the follower is "getting away" from you or overstepping the lead.
I wonder, is this concept the difference between a heavy (feeling) and a light follower? Some followers (regardless of their physical stature) feel like a ton of bricks. Some feel like a feather mounted on ball bearings. These would be the two ends of the spectrum. I like it somewhere closer to the feather - but not too light.
This is a topic that I struggle with, when dancing with a few particular practice partners. Used to struggle with, since I no longer practice regularly. Eventually, I just gave up on it and kept my mouth shut.
Ladies? Your thoughts?
You might call it follower energy. Or perhaps power. It's the concept of the follower not being passive at all. The absence of energy is what I have called a lazy follower. Not passive, active. Relaxed, but listening. Poised.
The leader leads with intention, the follower should follow with intention. Her intention to "take" the step. Not just take the step, but "TAKE" it. I'm having a hard time verbalizing what's in my mind on this. I will have to leave it at this - it's not just stepping. There's more to it.
Jaimes Freidgen has us do an exercise at a workshop once. In particular, it was on the molinete, and it was intended to illustrate the follower's energy level when taking her steps - back-side-forward - around the leader. He had the leaders stand on one foot, with the other leg extended out to the side, with a block frame. The follower was to take her steps around the leader, and pivot him on his active (standing) foot. First one way, then the leader changes feet and the follower goes the other way.
This energy level can be extended to walking and most/all other steps I would think. The crux is the delicate balance of it all. Not to seem lazy/flaccid, yet also not to seem too athletic, not to be backleading, or to feel like the follower is "getting away" from you or overstepping the lead.
I wonder, is this concept the difference between a heavy (feeling) and a light follower? Some followers (regardless of their physical stature) feel like a ton of bricks. Some feel like a feather mounted on ball bearings. These would be the two ends of the spectrum. I like it somewhere closer to the feather - but not too light.
This is a topic that I struggle with, when dancing with a few particular practice partners. Used to struggle with, since I no longer practice regularly. Eventually, I just gave up on it and kept my mouth shut.
Ladies? Your thoughts?
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Followers :: The step "is" the embellishment...
I was just looking for some audio of Osvaldo Fresedo's "Vida Mia" - the long, slow, really orchestral version with Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet - when I ran across this. Gustavo y Giselle Anne dancing to another Fresedo song "Araca la cana".
I was watching and noticed that Giselle Anne doesn't do much in the way of embellishments - a tap here, a flourish there - that's about it.
The quality and character of her step, her movement. The "way" she moves - is in fact the embellishment. The extension and reach of her leg - embellishes and brings attention to her leg. The angle and attitude and trajectory of her foot - her ankle - brings attention to her feet.
Her waiting for the lead and not anticipating is a beautiful embellishment in and of itself.
Am I making sense here?
The quality and character of motion through time and space...
I was watching and noticed that Giselle Anne doesn't do much in the way of embellishments - a tap here, a flourish there - that's about it.
The quality and character of her step, her movement. The "way" she moves - is in fact the embellishment. The extension and reach of her leg - embellishes and brings attention to her leg. The angle and attitude and trajectory of her foot - her ankle - brings attention to her feet.
Her waiting for the lead and not anticipating is a beautiful embellishment in and of itself.
Am I making sense here?
The quality and character of motion through time and space...
Friday, May 2, 2008
The Volcada :: Homer & Cristina
Brought to us by m i l e s of tangobliss...Homer & Cristina's very, very smooth volcadas. I get alot of hits from folks Googling for "volcada technique" so I figgered I'd post this as part of my "Tango Blogging/Googling Enrichment Program". There's not a lot of technique discussed, well, not any discussion of technique, but this is what they are supposed to look like.
Personally, I like the volcada on the close side cuz hardly no one duz it...(volcada with her right leg)...
Personally, I like the volcada on the close side cuz hardly no one duz it...(volcada with her right leg)...
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Debbi gets it!!!!!!!!!!! :: Followers do not have a "style"...
Julito
Originally uploaded by Sata
I bow down before Debbi, Queen of Tango. This horse pic was the only one I could find. I was trying to find a knight or someone bowing down, very deeply, before the queen - but no such luck.
Check out Debbi's post about how she adopts the style of whatever leader she is dancing with. This is the sign of a truly great follower. A follower who does not have her own style. All of my teachers have always said this.
I forgot about this. Kinda.
Anyway, I just think it's cool that Debbi posted about this.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Tango::Superfast Traspie - Honestly
Thierry LeCocq y Delphine Blanco...very fast feet...dancing a milonga demo....to Francisco Canaro's "No Hay Tierra Como La Mia"...
I think I may have posted this a couple of weeks ago...if so, here it is again...
I think I may have posted this a couple of weeks ago...if so, here it is again...
Saturday, October 13, 2007
The Molinete - Lead & Follow
I am going to get into this topic in depth in the coming days. You know this ladies - front-side-back or back-side-front - however it was taught/learned.
I have a theory and I want to get some follower input.
I have a theory and I want to get some follower input.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Tango :: Fuck me back...
Okay, I'm up way too early...I had a dream my cell phone was ringing....
First...can I use the word "fuck" in blog-land? Any censors out there?
Here's the deal...I SINCERELY HOPE I DON'T OFFEND ANYONE WITH THIS POST...
I find that the best dances (to me, personally) are when the follower dances with "energy". The best way I have found to describe this is this::
(note my choice of the word fuck, versus "making love", when in reality I am more of a "making love" kinda guy...)
"When I fuck a woman, and she just lays there, it is still very good sex (usually)...BUT, when she doesn't just lay there, and she chooses to meet my energy with her own energy, when she chooses to 'fuck me back'...it can be mindblowinglyunbelievable sex."
Caveat: In my own defense, I haven't been involved with women who don't reciprocate sexually...except for my first ex-wife...she had a tendency to just lay there...I don't/won't go there anymore...life is too short for that...
For me, tango is the same...there are women who just "lay there"...are like a blob of mush or jello....and then there are the women who "tango me back"...and that's when it is really, really good...
But, I think this is very, very difficult for a follower to achieve, and therefore very, very rare...for me personally, I would say one in twenty followers...in my humble experience...
First...can I use the word "fuck" in blog-land? Any censors out there?
Here's the deal...I SINCERELY HOPE I DON'T OFFEND ANYONE WITH THIS POST...
I find that the best dances (to me, personally) are when the follower dances with "energy". The best way I have found to describe this is this::
(note my choice of the word fuck, versus "making love", when in reality I am more of a "making love" kinda guy...)
"When I fuck a woman, and she just lays there, it is still very good sex (usually)...BUT, when she doesn't just lay there, and she chooses to meet my energy with her own energy, when she chooses to 'fuck me back'...it can be mindblowinglyunbelievable sex."
Caveat: In my own defense, I haven't been involved with women who don't reciprocate sexually...except for my first ex-wife...she had a tendency to just lay there...I don't/won't go there anymore...life is too short for that...
For me, tango is the same...there are women who just "lay there"...are like a blob of mush or jello....and then there are the women who "tango me back"...and that's when it is really, really good...
But, I think this is very, very difficult for a follower to achieve, and therefore very, very rare...for me personally, I would say one in twenty followers...in my humble experience...
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