Fwd: CMUBDC tango class newsletter 101-1

Wed Jan 19 13:53:54 EST 2011

Hello Argentine Tango-ers!

Forwarded is a newsletter from your instructor from last week, Jerry. It
covers a summary of what we went over in class, so read it for a quick
review!
See you all tonight!

-Helen Chao
CMUBDC Lessons Coordinator, Spr '11

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: capellan tanguero <capellantanguero at yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 11:29 AM
Subject: CMUBDC tango class newsletter 101-1
To: helenc at andrew.cmu.edu

*CMUBDC / Pittsburgh Tangueros*

*Class Newsletter*

*Tango is walking in an embrace*
------------------------------

*101 Week 1*
*Contents:*

   1. *Tango overview*
   2. *Summary of 1st half of class – Walking*
   3. *Summary of 2nd half of class – Parada-sandwich-pasada*
   4. *Terminology*
   5. *Featured tangueros:*

    -

      Gustavo & Giselle

   1. *Resources *

------------------------------

*Tango Overview*

Thank you to everyone who attended the Argentine tango class last week. I
hope you find tango as rewarding as I do.

Argentine Tango (AT) is diverse dance. It has an immense range of styles and
techniques. It uses music with 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4 time signatures.

AT is different from American tango aka ballroom tango.

   - AT is not codified or standardized. There is no universal syllabus of
   steps.
   - AT thinks of an embrace (hug), rather than a frame.
   - AT uses an upper body connection with the legs and hips apart (in
   American tango the upper body is apart).
   - In AT the leader's feet are directly in front of the followers feet. In
   American tango the feet are slightly offset.
   - AT makes constant use of cross-foot walking, e.g. both leader and
   follower step on their left foot at the same time, or both step on their
   right foot at the same time. This seldom occurs in the ballroom dances.

------------------------------
*Summary of the 1**st** half of class*

*Walking* – Every beginning tango student learns how to walk with a partner.
If you can walk up the stairs, and walk down the street, then you can learn
the “tango walk”. That's not to say it's easy. Most tango dancers work hard
to perfect their walk. There are some challenges:

   - Walking with a partner right in front of you (personal space issues).
   - Synchronizing your walk with your partner (stepping on toes).
   - Walking in a straight line (elegance).
   - Walking without swaying, bobbing, or weaving (stability).

*Embrace* – Salon tango typically uses a V-embrace that is asymmetrical,
i.e. the woman's left side is closer to her partner than her right side
(man's right side is closer to his partner than his left side). Both dancers
maintain their own vertical axis, with the weight on the front part of the
foot.

There is a light contact between the upper bodies, like a hug, but space
between the hips and legs while walking. (This is in contrast to American
tango.)

The woman's left arm is usually around her partner. There is no hard and
fast rule about where she “must” place her hand.

*Forward lean* – The posture has a *slight* forward lean, so that the weight
is primarily on the front part of the foot, i.e. the ball of the foot. Don't
lean so far that you have to clench your toes. You maintain this forward
posture as you start to take the step and throughout the step. When you
finish a step you should have the same amount of lean as when you started
the step, but your weight is now on the other foot. The forward lean is
necessary for both the men and the woman.

*Forward lean for women* – This seems paradoxical. The woman must keep her
body forward even as she extends her leg backward. If the woman does not
keep her weight over the front part of her foot at all times, her feet will
get stepped on. Even thought the woman has a forward lean, she maintains her
own balance, i.e she does not hang on the leader, or use the leader as a
crutch to maintain her balance.

*Forward lean test* (while standing still on both feet) – Try to flex your
base knee to click your heel on the floor. If you can't click your heel on
the floor, then your weight is too far back. On the other hand, if you are
leaning so far forward that your heel is permanently off the floor, you are
too far forward.

*Communicating* – Leaders must communicate when to step, where to step, and
how far to step. Followers must communicate what foot they are on, and where
that foot is. This is done in a fraction of a second, entirely without
words. This communication requires a firm, clear axis.

*Followers' rules* – Here are some important guidelines for the follower:

   - Stay in front of your partner
   - Keep a constant distance from your partner.
   - Keep all your weight on just one foot at a time.
   - Don't shift weight unless there is a lead to shift weight.
   -

   Be sure to watch this clip of Giselle
Anne<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUnjLtLF4ro>to see how you should
walk. The
   first 50 seconds show the basic walking that we covered in our first class.
   Notice how they move together effortlessly. Keep a picture of them in your
   mind when you come to the next class. Pay special attention to the amount
   of forward lean that they have while walking. *Women* pay special
   attention to the way Giselle extends her free leg as she walks backward.
   Notice that her free leg is straight while she extends it.

*Patterns* – The patterns were all based on an 8-count musical phrase. The 8
counts could be thought of as 8 slow walking steps. You practiced four
patterns that fit the 8-count musical phrase. The purpose of the patterns
was to help teach the techniques and concepts described above. The patterns
were:

   - walk-walk-walk-walk weight-change weight-change pause
   - walk-walk-walk-walk check-step weight-change weight-change pause
   - walk-walk-walk-walk check-step weight-change check-step weight-change
   - walk-walk-walk-walk check-step weight-change pause

------------------------------

*Summary of 2nd half of class *

In the 2nd half of the class we worked on a figure that combined three
elements:

   -

   parada
   -

   sandwich
   -

   pasada

*Parada*

The term parada means “to stop”. It means the motion stops. The woman stops
moving because the man stops moving. This stop can occur on the woman's side
step, back step or forward step. In our class we focused on one specific
instance of the parada, stopping the woman's back step.

A parada means that the bodies and feet stop moving. Coincidentally, the man
places his right foot next to the woman's left foot. This creates the
illusion that the man's foot is stopping the woman's foot. *It is only an
illusion*. The woman's foot stopped moving because her body stopped.

You began the parada* *when* *the man leads the woman to pivot clockwise on
her left foot, then he leads her to step back on her right foot. Normally
the woman would collect, i.e. bring her knees and ankles together. However,
the man stops moving his upper body, and uses his right forearm to apply a
minute amount of pressure on the woman's back.

At the same time the man extends his right foot, placing it next to her left
foot. The woman should stop with about 95% of her weight on her back foot
(the right foot). Her left foot remains extended, and in contact with the
floor, but almost weightless.

*Leader's tips:*

The specific parada that you learned in class went to the man's right, i.e.
clockwise. The simplest way to lead this is to change the woman's weight to
her left foot with a simple weight change in place, then pivot her CW on her
left foot, and invite her to step back with her right foot.

It is easier for the woman to pivot CW if she is already moving to the man's
right. This converts the momentum of her step into the pivot. This means
that the parada could be initiated with a simple side step to (the man's)
right.

In our class the parada can occur whenever the woman is stepping back on her
right foot, while moving around to the man's right. This is called a *back
crossing step*. The back crossing step occurs during back ochos. It also
occurs during the molinete. (The molinete sequence is ….forward-side
back-side forward.....) This means that the parada can occur during back
ochos and during the molinete.

*Sandwich*

Next the man moves his left foot so that his feet create a “sandwich” around
the woman's left foot. His feet should only overlap a few inches with her
feet.

*Pasada*

Next the man steps back with his right foot, and leads the woman to shift
her axis forward onto her left foot. Finally, he leads her to step forward
with her right foot. This last step is called a pasada, because the woman
steps over his left foot, i.e. she *passes over* his foot.

*Video of the parada-sandwich-pasada*

Here is a video clip that illustrates the parada/sandwich/pasada
sequenc<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB0OvBQom5w>e
similar to what you learned in class.

------------------------------
*Terminology*

*Weight shifts* – A weight shift means that you shift 100% of your weight
from one foot to the other foot. This occurs whenever you take a step.
However, the phrase “*weight shift*” usually implies “in place”, i.e. shift
the weight from one foot to the other while the body stays on one spot.
Weight shifts can be interspersed with walking. The simplest kind of weight
shift is when both the leader and the follower shift weight in the same
direction at the same time. You practiced simple weight shifts at the
beginning of class.

*Base leg **– *The base leg is the leg you are standing on. In tango the
woman tries to keep all her weight on just the base leg.

*Free leg* – The free leg is the leg that doesn't have any weight. The free
leg is the leg that you will move to when you take the next step. If you are
standing on your left leg, then your free leg is the right leg.

*Free foot *– The free foot remains in contact with the floor, but with no
weight. One way to think of this is that the shoe is on the floor, but the
foot is off the floor. Your free foot remains free whether you are standing
still or walking. In other words the free shoe should remain in contact with
the floor even when you are walking (but no weight). The free foot skims
across the floor as you take a step. This gives beginners extra stability.

*Axis **– *The axis is a straight firm line from the ball of the base foot,
up through the hip, up to the shoulder. The axis is recreated each time you
take a step or shift weight. If your axis is bent, or curved, or floppy,
your partner will not be able to tell what foot you are on.

------------------------------

*Featured Tangeros*

*Gustavo Naveira & Giselle Anne* are two of the big names in the world of
Argentine tango. If you look at some of their clips, you'll quickly see that
they can dance from the spectacular to the sublime.
Clarin, the major Buenos Aires daily paper, identified Gustavo as one of the
major influences on contemporary tango. He was instrumental in the
development of nuevo tango. Gustavo was one of the dancers in the movie "The
Tango Lesson".

Most of their clips on YouTube are spectacular performances intended to wow
the crowd. These performances are somewhat choreographed, in contrast to the
social tango that you are learning in class. However, here is a snippet that
shows them executing the caminda, i.e. the tango
walk<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu05NXBwXNk>,
during the middle of a performance. Notice how they fit their movement to
the music.

------------------------------
*Resources*

   - *Gateway: *There is a single web site that serves as the gateway to all
   the Pittsburgh area tango organizations: Visit
   http://pittsburgh-tango.com/ .

   - *Announcements: *Would you like to receive email announcements of
   future tango events in the Pittsburgh area? Then sign up with
   tangueros-unidos at
   http://list.pitt.edu/mailman/listinfo/Tangueros-Unidos . They send out
   about 1-3 emails per week.

   - *Background:* Are you interested in the background of tango? Then you
   could start with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_Tango or
   http://www.tejastango.com/beginning_tango.html .

------------------------------
*Preview of the next class*

In the next class you will begin working on the woman's ocho. The ocho is
simply a sequence of steps and pivots for the woman. The challenge for the
women will be to learn when to pivot, and when to step, while maintaining a
clear axis. The challenge for the men will be to move around the woman's
axis without pulling her off-balance.

*Events calendar*

Click here for a calendar of Pittsburgh milongas, practicas and
workshops<http://www.pittsburghtangueros.org/calendar.html>.
Once you get to the calendar you can click on individual events to see
additional event details (like addresses).

*weekly events:*

   -

   *Tuesday* practica at WSCC $5-$8 7:30 – 9:30 pm
   -

   *Wednesday* milonga at Peter's Pub *free* 8-9pm lesson; 9-12am dance
   -

   *Thursday* practica at Zafira's $5 7:45 – 9:00pm
   -

   *Sunday* milonga at Wightman $10-15 7-8pm lesson; 8-11pm dance

Future milongas:

   -

   Jan 22 – Absolute Ballroom
   -

   Feb 4 – Rich's
   -

   Feb 12 – Zafira's
   -

   Feb 26 – Absolute Ballroom

*"tango...two hearts, four legs, one dancer"*

Jerry Minshall
412-661-2480
CapellanTanguero at yahoo.com
http://www.pittsburghtangueros.org/classes.html
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