What are you currently 'working on' in A.T.?-Vol.II
- Thread starter Mario7
- Start date
The teacher seems to be saying that you are not consistently serious enough, but it sounds like you don't wish to be serious all the time. Your teacher's opinion is just one. There is nothing wrong with just having fun, as long as your partner enjoys it, too. IMO, solicit opinions from some of your dance partners to see what they think. This also leads to the question, why are you going to the teacher (or what is it that you are trying to improve)?
If you want it to be playful, you have to figure out a way to play with it. I'm unsure why you would want it to be either sophisticated or not. Is sophisticated a bad quality?
For me, a craftsman is someone who can build already conceived ideas, perhaps beautifully. An artist is one who can come up with those ideas, that others can only duplicate. His mental properties are creativity. A writer uses language as his palette, and language requires symbols, or mental things. A dancer uses his body as his palette. It's an experiential thing, as opposed to a symbolic thing. After you have the tools of tango, then you have to become creative with them. For me, this meant loosing all the fanciness and becoming artistic with the most basic of movements. There is a tremendous amount of variation and expression you can bring to a simple side step.
My tango is playful at times, even humorous. But to me, those are things that exist in the mind. I try to go into my body, and into the music.
Technique can support your dancing, but it can't make your dance.
"Technique is what you fall back on when you run out of inspiration". — Rudolf Nureyev
Rely on your technique to carry you through, but don't rely on it to be your dance. I suggest you loose yourself in your body, your partners body, the interaction between them, and in the music. Sometimes I like to think about playing the music with my partners body, just as I might with a violin (if I could play one).
Mario7
Member
This movement also facinates me. What are you 'starting to get' at this point?:!:
It's hard to say; maybe my own balance, axis, foot placement, timing, energy.
One thing I know is that my partner has to know to crank the molinete, because I can't energize it in this movement. I only try this step with partners who are capable dancers.
Subliminal
Well-Known Member
Interestingly enough, the clockwise turn in CE came up in my last lesson. For me, the main problem seems to be leading it with enough force. I know, force is usually a bad word to use in tango. But according to my teacher, I need to keep connection in the left hand, going slack kills the impulse to turn. Even in apilado, where you can theoretically lead the entire turn with just your chest, she told me that keeping the left hand steady and making micro-adjustments with the right arm improves the connection and comfort of the follower.
That's what I learned... now to put it into practice. Heh.
That's what I learned... now to put it into practice. Heh.
I prefer to adhere to the theory. If I can't manage to maintain the connection and lead in my chest, then I won't do the step. Once I get into the embrace, I don't want to let it go until the music ends.
It's a challenging move for me, but I'm getting better at it.
Mario7
Member
FWIW, I feel the same way and am approaching completion of my third year at AT....very important for me was once during a milonga in my first year, I executed an ocho cortado, one of my first, and the woman said 'but you didn't have to break the embrace'...she was disappointed and it started me thinking..now, I never want to break the embrace and if I am, then I know that there's a better way to do it and that I should find it.
Recently, I've gotten dances with very advanced 'modern' tangueras. I didn't wait for just the 'right' music and so there were songs that required a lot of turning and reverse turns...the women tended towards pulling away as they turned and used leg adornments..it was really exhilerating the battle of the embrace..I went with them and the music but was still able to mantain at least some contact of the close embrace thruout...feeling the spring-like torsion of their bodies was an amazing experience as they turned and turned...hmmm, I wonder if maybe those who dance 'Nuevo' in open hold, aren't missing something?
Recently, I've gotten dances with very advanced 'modern' tangueras. I didn't wait for just the 'right' music and so there were songs that required a lot of turning and reverse turns...the women tended towards pulling away as they turned and used leg adornments..it was really exhilerating the battle of the embrace..I went with them and the music but was still able to mantain at least some contact of the close embrace thruout...feeling the spring-like torsion of their bodies was an amazing experience as they turned and turned...hmmm, I wonder if maybe those who dance 'Nuevo' in open hold, aren't missing something?
...feeling the spring-like torsion of their bodies was an amazing experience as they turned and turned ...hmmm, I wonder if maybe those who dance 'Nuevo' in open hold, aren't missing something?
For me, there's nothing better than feeling the two bodies dancing as one.
hmmm, I wonder if maybe those who dance 'Nuevo' in open hold, aren't missing something?
Why would they? I adore Golder era tango. But when I hear some Neo tango it screams for boleo, volcada, colgada. It is unsuitable to dance CE on those songs for me.
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