Ankles lines?

[mangos]

Hi Sorry if this is a silly question, but I'm super new to the whole Argentine Tango scene:

I noticed that some of the ladies, especially when walking sideways, move by breaking the line of the ankle (everting their foot) and moving their foot to the side by sliding the inner ball along the floor, so that there is not a straight line from hip to toe, instead of leading the foot slide with their toe or with the entire ball of the foot flat.

It's not just "slide entire ball of foot on floor, then step," it's "bend ankle sideways, slide inner ball of foot along floor, then step." I hope this description makes sense--if there's a word for that move, I don't know it.

Is this just a style thing, or is this the proper way to do it? Thanks!

 

[Ampster]

Hi Sorry if this is a silly question, but I'm super new to the whole Argentine Tango scene:

I noticed that some of the ladies, especially when walking sideways, move by breaking the line of the ankle (everting their foot) and moving their foot to the side by sliding the inner ball along the floor, so that there is not a straight line from hip to toe, instead of leading the foot slide with their toe or with the entire ball of the foot flat.

It's not just "slide entire ball of foot on floor, then step," it's "bend ankle sideways, slide inner ball of foot along floor, then step." I hope this description makes sense--if there's a word for that move, I don't know it.

Is this just a style thing, or is this the proper way to do it? Thanks!

Hello mangos, is this what you're talking about?

It's both a style thing, and an integral part of the AT walk. In AT the weight changes concentrate on one leg, or the other, leaving the other unweighted leg/foot to do styling embellishments like this. The result is a very smooth, elegant, and sexy walk.

 

[mangos]

Hello mangos, is this what you're talking about?

It's both a style thing, and an integral part of the AT walk. In AT the weight changes concentrate on one leg, or the other, leaving the other unweighted leg/foot to do styling embellishments like this. The result is a very smooth, elegant, and sexy walk.

I think so. Thanks I found a YouTube video where the woman is doing a lot of it in the first 7 seconds of the clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN0o_ZgdCL0
By the way, is there a name for that bent-ankle foot slide move?

 

[Steve Pastor]

Welcome to AT, mangos, where the opinions are as different as the number of styles!

"Normal" walking and stepping to the side, etc, do not include any "embellishment", although the free foot is, of course, free to do them as Ampster notes.

I would say that you should avoid them until you have a very strong grasp of the basics.

"Embellishments" are also know as: decorations, adornos, or firulletes; the later two being of course Spanish.

Jennifer Bratt has created an excellent article, with videos, on embellishments.
http://www.close-embrace.com/embellishmentarchive.html

 

[Ampster]

I would say that you should avoid them until you have a very strong grasp of the basics.

Mangos, I would second that! That is a maxim in AT. Learn the basics first, before anything else. Without a good grasp of the basics, anything else that follows looks bad. It becomes a matter of mimicry and not technique.

 

[Aurora]

In ballet, we always called these "winged" feet (as opposed to "sickled" feet, where you bend your foot inward at the ankle).

 

[mangos]

Thanks for the replies and advice. The article and videos on embellishments are super helpful. I won't try any of that yet, because I'd probably just slip and hurt myself lol. It's kind of hard to watch those videos and focus on the moves, because I keep getting distracted by all the gorgeous shoes!

 

[barrefly]

mangos, ...thanks for the link.

I took my daughter to her first milango last night. There were a lot of people there. As I expected, the average age of the leads was about 55. (My daugthter is 15). We were there for about an hr., and she was only asked to dance once, by a very friendly asian man who was nice enough to bring his entire table to our table, and intro. them to my daughter. Oddly, the dance that he ask for was w.c. swing. (I don't have a clue how he knew she danced w.c. swing). No one asked her for an A.T. dance.
Still, it wasn't a big deal because everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.
We just sat and watched.

What my daughter and I noticed is that it seemed apparent that the really good follows had beautiful foot work. She was already aware of the feet "adornos" to some extent,...but it was new to me. I have also thought that a women's feet in heels is very beautiful, and this just gave me one more reason to love A.T.
Mango's clip is a perfect example. (Did anyone notice the woman's arch...wow).

Added: Don't feel bad for my daughter. Afterwards, I took her to a salsa club that her partner was at and slept in the car while she danced the night away, until near 2am. It was the first time she went to a club unchaparoned.
I am sure she had a great time.

 

[Lilly_of_the_valley]

By the way, is there a name for that bent-ankle foot slide move?

I believe it is called articulation
When you move, you need to articulate all your joints, feet, ankles, everything. As it was already mentioned above, it allows smooth, grounded weight shifts, provides resistance necessary to make the connection work, and "to hold the music with your feet". It looks beautiful, and it if functional at the same time, as many things in Argentine tango are.
I am sorry, perhaps, all this seems a little confusing right now. A good teacher will explain it much better to you in person, in the context of following the lead and the music.