Embrace...open or close?

pianistamediano said:
As I was saying to a friend, since moving here, I have found that the things I spent absurd amounts of time and effort on — the music, the embrace, and listening to my partner (with a healthy amount of technique to facilitate these things) seem to be worth mere pennies here.
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That isn't true, but you do need to be noticed one way or another - if your dancing doesnt stand out on the pista then you need to more actively cabeceo and/or socialize (you usually give off the impression that you're there to chill out more than dance)
 
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Rabbit said:
..also generate actual sound with their feet.
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Many years ago: Before I ventured onto the dance floor of the milonga at prime time, I often sat on the edge for hours and watched the couples dancing.

At some point I noticed that dancers also make sound. Those were moments of transcendence. This almost indescribable harmony of polyrhythmic steps with the creaking and groaning of the sprung floor. indescribably poignant.
 
Rabbit said:
... without needing to mark notes that aren't there. You can follow some internal countermelody that you improvised, but the trouble is generally no one else can actually hear that, because we are translating from music language to dance language and not the other way.
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That's a great point! That's one of the ways I perceive "noise" in a person's dance, whether I'm watching them or dancing with them.
 
Interesting discussion on musicality -- in the middle of a thread on the embrace. DanceMentor asked that we consider moving significant tangents to correctly titled threads when this happens so people can find them easier. Would this be a good example of this?
 
pianistamediano said:
I fully intend to continue pursuing my own path, and to ignore the prevailing obsession with status, steps, and relative lack of respect for the music present here.

(I get way more dances at marathons in Europe anyway, so I'll be travelling as much as my salary allows! :))
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Let me know (pm) which ones you go to in case we are at the same place.
 
Bailango said:
If someone has not developed their own style yet and wish to model a good social dancing, I would point them to him (esp a lot of followers who want to lead). Later on they can diverge but modeling him can be a good starting point for someone that doesn't wish to be extravagant or do too many figures and wants to be musical.

I only discovered him on here. Long after I had my preferences of how I want to dance.

To me, model doesn't mean copying. It is about the approach both philosophical and on the dance floor.
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Well, philosophical, perhaps yes. It's one of the reasons I admire him. On the dance floor, no. There are other dancers who came up with Vidort who I find much more interesting and more to my taste. For example, Blas Catrenau, El Nene Masci, maybe Cacho Dante.
 
ArbeeNYC said:
How else do you map it?
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Some dancers use the rhythm like a metronome. They are stepping on the beat and moving. They could as well be stepping to a metronome than the music. Their movement and steps have no texture, they seem to move more mechanically, you can't see music in their movie or rhythm in their steps.
 
opendoor said:
He was famous for incorporating many traspie-steps and doublings. I would be glad if you could carry on with this style.
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I would be VERY glad!


When I saw him dancing socially in milongas it was with a nuanced musicality, but without the flamboyance of performance.

When I posted some videos of one of his workshops (without sound)


I wrote:

On September 21, 2008 I learned that Omar Vega had died the night before in Buenos Aires. Omar Vega had been teaching Tango since the 1980s and was a student of the old maestros of Buenos Aires including the Milonga master known as Pepito Avellaneda. Omar became a master himself and put his own mark on the joyful dance he shared with the world. He appeared in Sally Potters movie the Tango Lesson. He was a wonderful teacher and a wonderful dancer. He once said: I want to put my 24 years of tango experience - which is not many years for tango, because one never stops learning, and when someone says now I know everything in tango, it is the beginning of the end for that person - into keeping the flame of the tango alive, and making the flame stronger so that tango will never die. I want to give tango even more force, and encourage people who don't dance to learn tango, as well as cultivate those who already have a gift for dance. In this cultivation I include creating steps, sequences, alterations and ideas, not only for each dancers benefit, but also for the benefit of the art of tango dance, whether on the social dance floor or on the stage. Above all, I would like to see the people who have danced for more than 50 years be an example for young people, and help them in their tango. His DVD - Omar Vega Milonga con Traspie DVD Vol 1 - Beginner to Advanced Available from - http://www.celebratetango.com/store/omarvega.htmlI found a couple of his vide recordings at the library : The milonga of Omar Vega [videorecording] / presented by Bridge to the Tango Video ; produced, translated and edited by Daniel Trenner. West Medford, Mass. : Bridge to the Tango, c1998.The tango of Omar Vega [videorecording] / presented by Bridge to the Tango Video ; produced, translated and edited by Daniel Trenner.
 
tangobro said:
I would be VERY glad!


When I saw him dancing socially in milongas it was with a nuanced musicality, but without the flamboyance of performance.

When I posted some videos of one of his workshops (without sound)


I wrote:

On September 21, 2008 I learned that Omar Vega had died the night before in Buenos Aires. Omar Vega had been teaching Tango since the 1980s and was a student of the old maestros of Buenos Aires including the Milonga master known as Pepito Avellaneda. Omar became a master himself and put his own mark on the joyful dance he shared with the world. He appeared in Sally Potters movie the Tango Lesson. He was a wonderful teacher and a wonderful dancer. He once said: I want to put my 24 years of tango experience - which is not many years for tango, because one never stops learning, and when someone says now I know everything in tango, it is the beginning of the end for that person - into keeping the flame of the tango alive, and making the flame stronger so that tango will never die. I want to give tango even more force, and encourage people who don't dance to learn tango, as well as cultivate those who already have a gift for dance. In this cultivation I include creating steps, sequences, alterations and ideas, not only for each dancers benefit, but also for the benefit of the art of tango dance, whether on the social dance floor or on the stage. Above all, I would like to see the people who have danced for more than 50 years be an example for young people, and help them in their tango. His DVD - Omar Vega Milonga con Traspie DVD Vol 1 - Beginner to Advanced Available from - http://www.celebratetango.com/store/omarvega.htmlI found a couple of his vide recordings at the library : The milonga of Omar Vega [videorecording] / presented by Bridge to the Tango Video ; produced, translated and edited by Daniel Trenner. West Medford, Mass. : Bridge to the Tango, c1998.The tango of Omar Vega [videorecording] / presented by Bridge to the Tango Video ; produced, translated and edited by Daniel Trenner.
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Speaking of which, which dancer is Omar Vega in this video? I'm very bad at recognising faces. Also, if anyone could identify the other dancers...
 
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