tangomonkey
Active Member
Will check them out and pass along to my wife. Thanks
My Incompetence
- Thread starter tangomonkey
- Start date
Will check them out and pass along to my wife. Thanks
It probably took about a year and a half, before I started to get there, although I doubt I was leading all that well. I feel I should have gotten to that point a lot quicker than I did, but I seem to learn dance step details rather slowly.
Things that took me a while to realize:
- The lead, and the followers steps are what is important, not my steps.
- When taking a workshop that involves a pattern, make sure you understand what the followers part is (otherwise, you won't know what to lead). You don't have to be able to do it, but you need to understand it.
- When something goes wrong, for me it's usually my foot positioning isn't quite right, or I did something wrong in the prior step.
- Do simple balance exercises (Standing on one foot and doing things like: being still, moving the free foot around, pivoting on one foot).
- Rock steps (and rock step turns) are your friend.
- With respect to leading, what's clear and comfortable for one follower may be not good at all for another follower.
Yeah, most dancers/teachers call quick steps syncopation, although every once in a while, you'll get a teacher who actually knows what syncopation is.
opendoor
Forum Master
Re: syncopation
@ DC, only for my vocabulary book. How do you call steps in double tempo? I would call them doublings, would it be ok? Thx. i. adv.
@ wg, "three steps over two" would be a triole aka triplet. ( aka tercet as well? sorry for my english) Really hard: had a rhythm workshop with Chico Frumbuli at Sitges. Men had to take 2 steps, but lead a woman 3 simultaneously, and the other way round, and some more crazy stuff like this...
@ DC, only for my vocabulary book. How do you call steps in double tempo? I would call them doublings, would it be ok? Thx. i. adv.
@ wg, "three steps over two" would be a triole aka triplet. ( aka tercet as well? sorry for my english) Really hard: had a rhythm workshop with Chico Frumbuli at Sitges. Men had to take 2 steps, but lead a woman 3 simultaneously, and the other way round, and some more crazy stuff like this...
tangomonkey
Active Member
Yes - to a musician. Syncopation is essentially doing nothing on a beat then something on the off-beat, the time between beats. So in 4 beats, counting 1&2&3&4&, pause on a number, remain still (called a "rest" in musical terms) then step on an &. Very simplified and general but hopefully gets the idea across. Since your are "waltgirl" - count 1&2&3&
My first message
Ciao!
I am Francisco from Florence, Italy. How do you do? I'm fine thank you. I can't speack english very well, so if I will make some mistake, please forgive me.
It's more difficult to learn tango for a man, because we have to drive the women. Men don't give it up! Try to go on, because if you give 1000 to tango, than tango will give you 10000.
Tonigth I will go to dance. We stil dance open air.
Good tango to all of you :-D
Ciao!
I am Francisco from Florence, Italy. How do you do? I'm fine thank you. I can't speack english very well, so if I will make some mistake, please forgive me.
It's more difficult to learn tango for a man, because we have to drive the women. Men don't give it up! Try to go on, because if you give 1000 to tango, than tango will give you 10000.
Tonigth I will go to dance. We stil dance open air.
Good tango to all of you :-D
I read some interesting posts. 
I really liked that should concentrate to the follower and her "steps".
I wrote steps under quotations cause step is consequence of upper body movements.
When leader learns to control his upper body very well and has clear translation to the follower than it would be quite easy to the follower to follow.
At my beginning I always had mind body distortion i.e. I didn't lead what I had in my mind.
So it's always good to hear what the follower actually felt.
I really liked that should concentrate to the follower and her "steps".
I wrote steps under quotations cause step is consequence of upper body movements.
When leader learns to control his upper body very well and has clear translation to the follower than it would be quite easy to the follower to follow.
At my beginning I always had mind body distortion i.e. I didn't lead what I had in my mind.
So it's always good to hear what the follower actually felt.
Peaches
Well-Known Member
Eh. Same word, different meaning in different applications. Neither is wrong.
bordertangoman
Well-Known Member
i think this is a good example of a syncopated rhythm La Trampera; the accent is on the inbetween '&'s
would help to have a link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c64cbMcDIyI
would help to have a link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c64cbMcDIyI
I was a musician before I began dancing tango, so I have a musician's understanding of syncopation. Lots of dancers have a mistaken idea of what it means. I'm not actually sure what a dancer's definition would be, if it's not the same as a musician's.
Essentially, it means emphasizing a beat where it's unexpected. In 4/4 time (4 beats/measure), beats 1 and 3 are normally stronger (emphasized) than beats 2 and 4. In waltz time beat 1 is the strong beat. If you emphasize (make strong) any other beat, that is syncopation. In 4/4 time you could emphasize beats 2 or 4, or both. Or you could emphasize any eighth note, such as 1& or 2&, etc. I know this is a musical explanation, but to do syncopations well you should understand musical rhythm.
If you step on beats 1 and 3 (down beats), it's not syncopated. If you step on beats 2 and 4 (up beats), it is syncopation. Same number of steps. If you step on beats 1, 2 and 3, it's double-time, but not necessarily syncopated, unless the movement emphasizes beat 2.
One of the characteristics of tango music is syncopation, as it is for ragtime music.
This link might be helpful in understanding it.
http://cnx.org/content/m11644/latest/
This link might be helpful in understanding it.
http://cnx.org/content/m11644/latest/
newbie
Well-Known Member
Yes. If you step like in ballroom valz (1-2-3 1-2-3 1-2-3 with the 1 on the beat), you have three steps per beat and still no syncopation. The syncopation is more about when you step.
Generally speaking, when dancers are talking about three steps over two, they are talking about a quick-quick slow beat, (or quarter, quarter, half). Triplets (to a musician) are slightly different, where the three beats are evenly spaced (more like in a vals). You don't get triplets in a tango (at least not in any that I've heard).
As for your other question, doublings (or double time, cut time, duplets) is OK, but I think quick steps is understood by pretty much all dancers.
tangomonkey
Active Member
Yeah... we've had whole threads on that.. I'm sure we'll have at least one or two more during your time here.
Sorry to be the one to start it up again...
But this should clarify things. Here's a tango, EL Acomodo by Donato, that shows very nicely what syncopation is. Listen to the accompaniment and watch Homer Ladas's footwork. I can't use links yet so hope this works. (remove the spaces...). If not google - youtube kiss me goodnight homer ladas - and it should be the first link. The dancing starts around 1:10.
w w w . youtube . com/watch?v=4ulYAbh8jEw
And yes Peaches I agree. I f dancers use the word differently that's fine with me. I want to dance, so when in Rome...