Good Lead for the Tango walk

bastet said:
About the "why" of this.

The best we could come up with was that it was a good way to lead very small steps and if you were going to be dancing really, really small, for an extended period of time with mini body motions causing leads, then we could understand where he was coming from....

Once we tried to do this and take the step size up, problems ensued and we decided that you probably need to go back to the "resistance" method...probably because we didn't have enough practice in it.
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One of the advantages of this style of walking is the further you bend your back leg naturally your front leg can extend further forward allowing you to step longer while still maintaining the posture and balance.
I don’t understand what you mean by small steps? Could you elaborate?
 
Thanks for the comments. Will take some time to assimilate them all, but at least some of the pointers seem simple enough for us beginners to try out immediately.

I am glad that someone pointed out that the problem could well be with me and the senior dancers may be compensating for my mistakes. This is the theme my ballroom instructor is taking with me these days, so you may be right :D!

Hope I haven't given the impression that our Tango instructor is not doing a good job teaching us the basics. She is a more intuitive kind of teacher and doesn't break down everything analytically, hence my question to you all. But we learn a lot from observing her, and most importantly IMO, she has given us a love for the dance and is making me a better follow in all the other dances as well :D.

Thanks again.
 
Albanaich said:
This article is interesting ..
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hi Albanaich, I have to excuse myself: my english is bad, and I can only practice english posting and answering here.

My problem: I really don´t understand whats that article about. Could you put it in your own word for me, please?

many thanks in advance
OD
 
Ceroc or Modern Jive (which is something like East Coast Swing in the USA, or maybe Discofox in Germany) is a completely different dance to Argentine Tango - however, it is very flexible and allows considerable scope for improvisation.

The article describes how to do Argentine Tango moves with partner who has never encountered Tango - you have to improvise everything

It's a real test of the lead. (and great fun)

The point is it is the frame that gives the lead, if you do it right there is only one way for your partner to go and one way to do things.
 
Albanaich said:
Ceroc or Modern Jive (which is something like East Coast Swing in the USA,
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Hi Albanaich

Are there no foot patterns (like a triple step) or other requirements (as in rock and roll to do a move on every other beat) in East Coast Swing?

Is it really as free as Ceroc?
 
East Coast Swing, like Discofox, is a different dance from Modern Jive, though the purpose of all three is pretty much the same, which is to produce a simplified version of Swing with little rhythmic complexity.

It's dumbed down Swing. . . . .

If you look at video's of them its hard to tell which is which - can you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ3cZsvdrnw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5wa1Gup6Jg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wztriiNWEHE

In all three dances none of the people are really trying to 'hit the breaks' or match what they are doing to the music. Contrast with WCS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk_17vLycV8

And Lindy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZfX3OVW7k4

Serious Swing dancers (like Argentine Tango dancers) want to dance rhythmical complex music to show off there improvisational skills
 
ant said:
Hi Albanaich

Are there no foot patterns (like a triple step) or other requirements (as in rock and roll to do a move on every other beat) in East Coast Swing?

Is it really as free as Ceroc?
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the " triple time " ECS rhythm was developed for 2 different reasons.. one to accommodate changing muscial compositions, and as important, to avail the student bodies of most chain schoos to be able to handle the slower tempi( the averg. age in those days was probably close to 60) single time ( E.Coast ) also achieved the same purpose.. and yes, there is a syllabus all the way thru Gold..technique is strictly adhered to..

Oddly enough, altho the chain schools were under the same " banner " , it was unusual to find either coast teaching its counterpart ( WCS for e.g. on the E. coast )
 
Serious Swing dancers (like Argentine Tango dancers) want to dance rhythmical complex music to show off there improvisational skills[/quote]


That does happen at the advanced and Prof. levels..
 
So presumably in films like The Gatecrashers where some form of swing dance is featured, it is ECS (it looks very much like Ceroc) as opposed to WCS or some other swing style.
 
What gets me is that these kind of dancers (Ceroc, East Coast and Discofox) with their tremendous athleticism and skill seem to be completely oblivious to what dancing should be all about.

Is like mistaking Kalibre for real beer. . . . .
 
I've not seen Gatecrashers, but generally representations of Swing in film are generally carried out by trained contemporay dancers with little understanding of the rhythmic structure that underlies the dance.

There are all the aerials and Charleston like moves of Lindy Hop - but they are out of contact with the music.

Contrast that with the Kevin and Carla video. There is one spectacular ariel, and it's postioned in exactly the right place in the music for maximum effect.

If you ask someone who is a trained professional dancer to produce something that 'looks like Argentine Tango' they would come up with something that would fool the public - but not a Tanguero.

This is a classic example. They do the same to Swing when you get it in films.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u6ycs90YIk
 
ant said:
So presumably in films like The Gatecrashers where some form of swing dance is featured, it is ECS (it looks very much like Ceroc) as opposed to WCS or some other swing style.
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West Coast Swing and East Coast Swing is so similar to Tango it’s scary.

WCS (California) is danced in a slot because the floors are more crowded on the West Coast. You stay in your slot (dancing in one direction east to west or north to south)

East Coast Swing (New York) is danced in a circular motion (not slotted) using more of the floor due to uncrowded conditions.

Tango: close embrace (Buenos Aires) using very little floor space because of crowded conditions.
Salon or open embrace (Rosario) Using more floor space because of uncrowded conditions.
 
Albanaich said:
This article is interesting in that it indirectly describes what a good 'Tango' lead is.

What's being discussed is how to lead AT, while dancing East Coast Swing (Ceroc).

http://www.jivetango.co.uk/Articles/Cerochoes.html
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ECS isn't really the same as Ceroc from what I know of the former - but it's not a bad approximation.

That article's quite old - at least a year ago from what I remember - and I'm pretty sure Chris's thinking has progressed since then. For a start, he's not dancing Ceroc much anymore :)
 
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