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Argentine tango blog
/ with Interaction Design interludes / by Oleh Kovalchuke |
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Before August 2004
Below some of the messages I have posted to Tango-L before August 2004
Jul. 12, 2004 - Dancing with non-opposite sex
Caveat: I dance in close embrace
I have been invited to dance by a man at recent milonga. I had to decline even though he is an interesting dancer with amicable personality. Normally I do not turn down an invitation to dance, especially with someone I have never danced with before. I am also aware of popular tango history - bordellos, man dancing with man etc. However to me tango is very intimate experience (not that this experience necessarily goes anywhere beyond the dance floor). I cannot, nor would I like to share this intimacy with another man.
Can intimacy of tango be taught? I do not think so. I think it comes from personality and I do not think dance can drastically change personality. Rather dance sieves through and chooses suitable personas. It s like Swing - you will not understand it if you have to ask. Instructor can provide the framework: embrace, smaller steps perhaps, but it s hard to fake it.
This reminds me recent post on Tango-L about partner sharing and very insightful comment by the Argentinean milonguero. Something in the vein of "The dance is between the man and the woman who choose to share it. A third party should not make this partner choice for them." I think the reason is the same as in my case. We could potentially share the mechanics but would loose the dance.
Jun. 15, 2004 - On teaching on dance floor
Pia wrote about abundance of anxious women at milongas:
"Yes, Ed! Milongas often have an abundance of women who are so anxious to dance that they will say YES to anyone who asks. We do have the power to improve the overall community by saying NO to leaders who "teach" on the floor..."
As one of my lady friends pointed out: "If leader teaches me at milonga he makes me look bad, as if I do not know what I am doing, hence my chances to dance with good leaders decrease". Obviously she thinks long term. Good habbit in general.
Jun. 1, 2004 - Memorial Day tango festival in Denver. Some impressions with shuffle step to the left.
What a wonderful weekend this was for a tango dancer to be in Denver. So many absolutely fabulous dancers from all over the US and world. Once more I had a chance to confirm that tango is the most cross-cultural dance out there. I personally danced with Bosnian, Korean, Japanese (2), Egyptian, Spaniard, Italian, Peruvian, Russian and Chinese and of course many American followers. All were outstanding dancers. Had I experienced tango trance? You bet. At 6 a.m. Monday morning I was like a kid in a candy store wishing for couple more days of dancing with all of them (perhaps too much like a kid). Thanks to all of you - it was over much too soon.
As usual I took weekend workshops. And as usual Briggita Winkler has managed both to challenge and to entertain as she taught. I have learned new cute hook, which I am going to use - the more you dance the more you learn, and decided not to use another sequence she taught - not everything you learn you dance.
Among other classes Alex Krebs taught one hour milonga workshop. Here he said something I strongly disagree with. Basically that unlike Argentinean women, North American followers cannot do small shuffle step to the left (relative to the line of dance), because they are hardwired by instructors to go into back ochos after this lead. Once he had said that I had led my follower to do that particular shuffle step then to do shuffle step to the right then shuffle step to back ochos. She was North American. I had no problem leading shuffle steps in any direction with all the followers I have danced with at this festival. Perhaps problem is not with geography? At this point I decided to leave the milonga workshop and this is how I happened to learn the cute hook from Briggita's class, which run in parallel in the other room.
Overall - great weekend.
May 27, 2004 - On dancing close and close embrace dancing
Basically the title says it all. Dancing close is not close embrace dancing.
I was reminded of this recently when I had danced with two "beginners" (6 and 9 months of dancing) with whom I had perfect connection and as a result I was able to lead virtually all steps I know without any problems. Those two dancers where highlights of two milongas to me. At the same milongas I have danced with much more experienced dancers (three and more years) who also followed all the steps but connection was rather poor.
The key difference was embrace. Caveat: many experienced followers dance in close embrace, it just happened so that at those two particular milongas prevalent style of my partners was dancing close. The perfect close embrace to me is this: man's right hand reaches almost in the follower's armpit, woman's left hand is where man's left shoulder meets the neck. Here are two illustrations of what I am talking about: http://www.close-embrace.com/southstreetseaport2052304/index.htm. Middle column first row "close embrace" tango, underneath in the second row "dancing close" tango.
Why is embrace important? In perfect embrace I never have to wrestle, try to lead with my arms or shoulders. Our body axes are necessarily perfectly aligned. All I have to worry about is shift in the common axis.
I assume the "dancing close" followers are students of open embrace instructors they could be exceptional dancers, they simply have never being taught the fundamentals of close embrace tango.
Apr. 4, 2004 - "Blah" tangos - why play them?
Tango Colorado has conducted a survey of good DJing practices. While most of the results of the survey make perfect sense (I have pasted recommendations below), one of the most important recommendations is missing. Namely: The music should compel to dance, therefore do the homework and do not play boring songs at milonga.
Even the best orchestras have many "blah" songs recorded. Sometimes DJ forget that milonga is not a showcase of the breadth of their CD collection, but rather a place where dancers would like to dance to inspiring music. Assuming conservatively that at least five tango superhits were recorded per year, after hundred years of tango history one can easily compose 5-10 irresistible The-Greatest-Hits milongas. Why play Donato (with a notable exception of "Ella es asi") or De Caro, especially considering that milonga lasts 3-4 hours and you are playing those orchestras at the expense of much more interesting songs?
Cheers, Oleh Kovalchuke
PS
A DJ can swamped with sheer volume of recorded tangos. A simple way to weed out dull songs is to rip them from the original CD. Before I rip I listen to CD 5-10 times to find songs I truly like. I usually end up with 3-5 outstanding tracks per 20 track CD. When I DJ I play mp3 files from my laptop. This way I never have to think if I will enjoy dancing to any particular song I am going to play I know I will.PPS
The recommendations for DJing based on dancers survey (you can view entire message "DJ Survey comments and resulting guidlines for DJing at TC
practicas" here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TangoColoradoNews/message/998 ):---------snip--------------------
While we do not want to stifle what is a very creative task, we are asking that they play primarily classic tango music, which affords thousands of options. We ask that in the beginning of the evening, the music be less complicated and geared to the beginners. We ask that for the community dance, that up beat tangos be played, not milonga or waltz. We ask that if the DJs want to play some tango-able alternative music, they do so toward the end of the evening.
---------snip----------------------
Mar. 1, 2004 - Role of embrace in close embrace
Michael B Ditkoff wrote:
"The right arm keeps the woman near the man and serves as a receiver of information from the woman. The man can feel which foot the woman is standing through the right arm."
Not me. I feel my partner's feet with my torso. Right arm helps to maintain the connection. However it is not necessary at all. Good follower is quite capable to keep herself near the man.
Feb. 19, 2004 - Music feeling of tango, swing and milonga
Tango - smooth walk/steps/music/feel
Swing (Lindy Hop) - hopping walk/steps/music/feel
Milonga - swaying walk/steps/music/feel (mostly)Feb. 6, 2004 - Developing dance musicality
Sean Dockery wrote:
"I found that singing/humming along with the orquestra while concentrating on my partners feet feeling not looking of course) seems to keep me in tune with phrasing."
Great observation. I have looked around and I found the same thing: I enjoy dancing the most (and a become a better dancer) to melodies which make me hum (in my head... mostly). That's why it is important to listen to tangos when you do not dance - you know what to hum. And that's why Miguel Calo, the hummable orchestra of Golden era, is my favorite orchestra.
Jan. 29, 2004 - Learning steps in open embrace first is not necessary
Lois wrote:
"Don't many people learn a step in open first, then as they get better at it move it to close?"This statement is not true according to my personal experience. There is significant overlap in the steps between open and close embrace steps, therefore it is possible to take open embrace class and do steps in close embrace. _Some_ of the more interesting steps, which I have learned in open embrace class, I have learned by doing them in close embrace from the very start simply because the lead in close embrace is natural and intuitive to me. I grok it. I would struggle to try to learn them as an open embrace steps first.
Of course other, even more exciting steps (small balance related play, lateral shuffle step) are either impossible or would be too strenuous to do in open embrace.
___________________________________
Jan. 30, 2004 Sequel
I have re-read my email and realized to my horror I wasn't lucid enough.
My point is that I do not use open, practice frame to figure out new steps, because the lead is obvious to me in close embrace and so I am comfortable with doing it in close embrace right away. I would be much less comfortable trying to figure it out in open embrace or in open embrace "practice" frame because the dynamic of the lead and follow is quite different in open embrace compare to close and not as intuitive to me. All of the above applies only to those steps which can be done in both open and close embrace.
Finally I understand that I might be an exception from the rule - she did write many, not all people.
Jan. 19, 2004 - Looking for another partner while you dance
The article advocates acting while you dance. I actually disagree and think that we should dance who we are (or at least who we think we are). However one piece of advice is invaluable: "never EVER scan around the room with your eyes and watch other dancers or people on the sidelines". I couldn't agree more. The reasoning here is following: if you do not dance for your current partner, you wouldn't dance for me if I were to invite you. I am not going to invite someone who dances with/for the public, instead with/for me. Of course this is reciprocal - I dance with and for my partner too.
Jan. 14, 2004 - Tango performances: Tango Kinesis and Tango Mujer
There is performance tango and performance tango.
Last year I saw Tango Kinesis and Tango Mujer within one month. Tango Kinesis had the word tango in the name of the troupe, a lot of lifts and some "dramatic" endings, not dissimilar to the one shown on the cover of the book, which begun this thread. I was bored. A quick poll of a few other members of the audience showed that they shared my impression. Then I saw performance by Tango Mujer. This one had "dramatic" and was based on social style of dancing. My memory might be failing me but I do not recall any lifts and certainly no "dramatic" ending of the kind we are talking about. Just real feelings reenacted and result was absolutely spectacular.
I approach tango when I perform it for audience in the theatre from the same perspective: if you dance the real emotion and do not ham it, discerning audience will notice and will appreciate it.
Jan. 6, 2004 - Mechanics of leading with torso in close embrace
In discussion of lead-follow-lead mechanics Brian Dunn quoted Daniel Trenner: "Make her go first, then accompany her".
The issue here is separation of man's torso lead from his feet. The torso lead always precedes the stepping: leader torso lead - follower leg extend - both step (otherwise we would step on each other feet, and beginners often do). I should note that I don't really see any follower lead in this sequence of events. I spend half of the very first lesson teaching leaders how to lead with torso before stepping. Of course when I dance I do not have to think about it since by this time the concept is ingrained in my muscle memory. Hence the apparent smoothness of the lead.
Dec. 24, 2003 - Unled back ochos - where do they come from?
Astrid asked a while ago:
"By the way, I have a question: I was forced to act as a leader in a small practica I was invited to in Berlin, and was taught to lead for a couple of hours. All went well, except for the ochos: the same thing happened again like last time I tried it in Tokyo- as soon as I give the woman a little push, she starts off ochoing on autopilot, one ocho after another, like a clockwork kicking in, even though she had waited for my lead on all other steps. Why do women do that?"
No answer was given at the time so here is what I think:
Beginner followers do that because they are taught the mechanics of back ochos without their leaders. Occasioanlly with the wall as a partner. They often practice static back ochos without partner. Therefore they forget (or do not learn from the very beginning) that they need to wait for the lead.
Once I show the mechanics of the step in my class I have to remind the followeres that back ochos are led like any other step. And then... remind it couple times more.
Dec. 18, 2003 - Two count basic step in tango
Philip Seyer wrote thus:
"From what I'm hearing there are many ways to count the Argentine tango basic. Many refer to an 8 count basic. Daniel Trenner likes a 10 count basic..."
When a beginner asks me to show tango basic I simply walk forward to the beat. The only _essential_ variation is shifting weight in place (to the beat). It's up to the leader when, if and which nonessential variations add to the 2 count basic walk.
This is how I approach teaching tango and that's why I consider tango to be both one of the simplest and one of the most challenging dances to learn.
The 2 count basic fits any tango music. Anything beyond 2 count is not basic enough and shouldn't be called that way, I think.
Dec. 9, 2003 - Tango dance competitions vs. social dancing
Michael wrote:
I understand the reluctance to have Argentine Tango competitions. I think it comes from the manner ballroom competitions are conducted..."
I guess it would have to be similar to Swing or Salsa club competitions: DJ plays one or two songs, competing couples dance, audience applauds. The noisiest applause wins. The results are based on crowd pleasing flashiness of performance. Then again this is what public performance is about, isn't it?
I have participated in the club Salsa competition and there is certain thrill to it. Of course the thrill is very different from the feeling I get from the well connected social tango dance. I personally wouldn't ruin that feeling by competition.
Dec. 9, 2003 - How to dance milonga
Keith Elshaw wrote:
"I will say in observation that (blessed as I am and out of my mind in happiness with the women of Montreal who put up with me) the women who dance good salsa know more how to let their body relax but do things that really make milonga work."
Right on. The latin roots of tango are the most obvious in milonga. Without my salsa dancing partner I would still be walking around stiff as a pole to milonga. The swinging/waivy feel it has can be delivered only with entire body - the hips, the shoulders, the belly.
One milonga set per hour is not enough, in my opinion. I play two milongas after every six-eight tango/valses. Two! Three milongas in a row is a stretch and four in a row is definitely one too many.
Dec. 2, 2003 - "Torso" lead in open embrace vs. torso lead in close embrace
What I am getting from your message is that I am missing arms, which in addition to hands and torso compose frame, preferably firm. Therefore listening with torso in open embrace involves arms, which are attached to torso thus torso becomes involved. I think it should be called frame lead though for open embrace, as opposed to torso lead in close embrace.
Here is simple illustration of fundamental difference between frame and torso lead from my own recent experience. Last Saturday I was able to dance entire tango without arms/hands contact, leading with direct torso contact doing all the steps I would normally lead in close embrace except volcada and single axis turns. Let me ask you this question: can you do the same - dance tango with no arms at a distance (no direct torso contact) doing all the usual steps? Now ask your follower to close her eyes and still follow.
Dec. 1, 2003 - Two styles of tango. Open vs. close embrace.
When I introduce tango to beginners I talk about two basic styles: open vs. close embrace. I think this is natural classification, because it comes from fundamental difference in lead-follow interaction and it influences the way the beginner will be taught (patterns, 8CB being one of them vs. strides). The other distinctions (specific steps, footwork) are more superficial, do not matter as much to me and would be confusing to beginners. Music (alternative vs. classic tango) does not and should not matter either.
Here is small re-post from TangoSprings list which elaborates a bit more.
On two styles of tango dance
I have read an article the other day, which argues that open, not close embrace is authentic way to dance Argentine tango. I started to think about it and the following is summary based on my personal experience.
One can dance tango either in open or in close embrace. Both styles share music and there is significant overlap in footwork, therefore to uninitiated spectators they look very much similar. However these are two entirely different dances from dancer perspective, the fundamental difference being the lead-follower interaction.
Where in open embrace follower has to rely significantly on eyes, intuition and significant pool of memorized steps (sequences), in close embrace all she need to learn is to listen with her torso, recognize slight shifts in balance and to step with confidence where her torso is led. Hence the importance of eyes for open embrace to see where his or her foot is as opposed to posture for close embrace dance. To illustrate this importance observe how people dance in open and in close embrace at next milonga. Open embrace eyes down, close torso forward (better posture, by the way).
Since there are many sequenced steps in open embrace, it is less musical not all sequences fit perfectly within huge variety music phrases of tango songs.
Since close embrace dance is built on individual strides (not sequences), leader can compose any sequences to fit any melody. Moreover leader has wider variety of rhythmic steps in close embrace (side shuffle is one of them with too subtle torso lead for open embrace style).
There is nothing wrong with open embrace dance per se, it is truly beautiful in hands of masters. Because partners are further from each other they can do flamboyant steps impossible in close embrace (the reason why performance tango is usually done in open embrace). However in my opinion, the style is less comfortable and more difficult to learn and to dance to a melody. Also there is usually no room on dance floor for wide steps typical to open embrace style. That's why I tend to classify open embrace style more as performance dance and milonguero style as social dance. As any generalizations this one is flawed: one can dance socially in open embrace in spacious ballroom, and I have performed on stage in close embrace style.
Which style is authentic Argentine tango? Even though I suspect both were danced in the beginning based on floor limitations and partners comfort, I truly don't care. I like close embrace more because it more rhythmic (melodic), intimate and I enjoy tango more in close embrace.
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