Tango with a sibling in the Olympics?

[DerekWeb]

Today's Wall Street Journal:

"Four of the ice-dancing pairs competing in Vancouver are siblings—and this year, there's a compulsory tango routine. How they get around the awkwardness."

 

[Peaches]

Today's Wall Street Journal:

"Four of the ice-dancing pairs competing in Vancouver are siblings—and this year, there's a compulsory tango routine. How they get around the awkwardness."

Seems to me, if they've been doing ice dancing together they've already had to deal with as much awkwardness as they'll ever run across. The type of dance is pretty much immaterial at this point.

I do wonder, though, what the characteristics of an ice tango would be, cuz it's not like you can get that tango stalking motion thing going.

 

[piimapoika]

How about this for tango on ice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF0xto5UJx0 ... though the tango is Dutch, not Argentine.

 

[Lilly_of_the_valley]

Interestingly, the first Olympic champions in ice skating also had tango as a compulsory dance in 1976:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Baa8-oqJLOI

 

[Zoopsia59]

Today's Wall Street Journal:

"Four of the ice-dancing pairs competing in Vancouver are siblings—and this year, there's a compulsory tango routine. How they get around the awkwardness."

The compulsory AT choreography is no more intimate and sexy than any of the other compulsory dances, so I don't know what awkwardness they are talking about.

Below are links to several couples doing this routine in various competitions including the 98 Olympics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5-WWjjuDKk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t51HaNV4HBU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OJxObwphJc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9mZnKrbduo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mknF3EFTyHY

The first couple gets the closest to what we might think of as an AT posture with clear forward projection in the upper body and less in the lower body... But pay attention to the commentary! The distance in their hips is actually a detriment according to the judging standards of ice dance which requires the couple to be closer together in the hip area.

So in reality, there's not much about the ice dance compulsory AT routine (which as you can see from the different dates has not changed in, like, well... forever) that is AT-ish. It seems to be seriously influenced by Ballroom just as all ice dance compulsories were.

 

[Zoopsia59]

How about this for tango on ice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF0xto5UJx0 ... though the tango is Dutch, not Argentine.

This is the same compulsory dance as done in all the later videos I posted. That pretty much gives you an idea of how long this routine has been around unchanged.

So its not really "Dutch" rather than "Argentine'... its just the ISU compulsory dance choreography for what they call the Argentine Tango rhythm.

They baffle me in other dances too... the Rhumba included in this video sounds far more like a Salsa or ChaCha to me. The dancers pick the music based on it matching a specific rhythm though, and I guess this meets the qualifications for "Rhumba" rhythm.

 

[Zoopsia59]

Today's Wall Street Journal:

"Four of the ice-dancing pairs competing in Vancouver are siblings—and this year, there's a compulsory tango routine. How they get around the awkwardness."

And now for something completely different.
I guess this is one way to get around any supposed awkwardness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZO8V0LQWeY&NR=1&feature=fvwp

 

[Zoopsia59]

Interestingly, the first Olympic champions in ice skating also had tango as a compulsory dance in 1976:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Baa8-oqJLOI

This appears to be more of a free skate than a compulsory dance. The rules might have been different then (I"m not familiar with the original history of ice dance competition events) but for some time now, all the Compulsory dances involve repeating the pattern 3 times around the rink with variations allowed only in the opening and closing moves. Even the OSP (Original set pattern) followed the "repeat 3 times" rule. The most famous OSP was probably the paso doble routine by Torville and Dean... so interesting that you barely noticed that it was repetitive. (I didn't post a link because it has nothing to do with AT)

 

[Ampster]

So in reality, there's not much about the ice dance compulsory AT routine (which as you can see from the different dates has not changed in, like, well... forever) that is AT-ish. It seems to be seriously influenced by Ballroom just as all ice dance compulsories were.

Just saw it. It's not AT-ish at all. It's ballroom tango on ice.

 

[wooh]

While there is a "Argentine Tango" in ice dancing, that's not what they did at this year's Olympics. It was "Tango Romantica."

 

[Zoopsia59]

While there is a "Argentine Tango" in ice dancing, that's not what they did at this year's Olympics. It was "Tango Romantica."

Yes... the pattern was different from the ones I posted.

 

[Steve Pastor]

I don't know what awkwardness they are talking about

Something of a tangent here, but there are many, many examples of writers getting things wrong.

 

[Angel HI]

And, for those of you who skate, or even... not, you can't really expect that the 2 dances (floor/ice) would have anything in common. I have coached ice dancing for years, and all of the dances, not just tango, share nothing but the names.