[Tango-L] Leading and following

[Igor Polk]

Exactly, Andy, you said it very well. Your message is very useful to me - I
have figured out what is going on when beginners "wobble", but

still the term "pass through your axis" is misleading and imprecise for me.

I can see that it is an equivalent "pass your center of gravity over the
ball of the foot with total control, management of the speed at that
moment". It is important, but it does not always happen in tango. There many
moments when it is not like that. And these moments feel very good.

What you mean with the excellent description of the Cat Walk, is the ability
to control, manage your movements at any point and moment, including the one
when the center of gravity is above a ball of the foot. But it is true only
for slow motions, or where Corte is not used, or when Apilado is not used.
In Apilado Lady's axis is never vertical: she can not pass over her foot,
she just not supposed to do it. In a sense, she is always on her tilted axis
at any millisecond ).

"Movement is reversible at any time". Good ! Excellent ! But what about
movements which are sharp and fast? And they are not reversible? Are they
wrong ?



2. "This is the point where the leader can change the direction without
force".
Why you are so afraid of this word "Force"?

You should see the dance of Miriam Larici and Hugo Patyn yesterday at Nora's
Tango Week in San Francisco! So much Force! Ahhhhhh-mazing ! Great !!

Come to think about it, even in the position of absolute balance ( very
shaky one), when she is a ballerina standing one a tiptoe, one has to apply
some not really small force to start rotating her. Exactly because her body
has inertia !

It is not a "Force" which is scary, but application of force in the wrong
moment, wrong direction, excessive, too small, unpredictable, unclear, or
just plain wrong.



* * *
Words and names are very important. One of the consequences of the wrong
naming, believe it or not, is the restriction of creativity. Every word puts
a boundary between named and not named. At the same time this word, a new
name makes other associations in our mind. Through this it is possible to
assign other, sometimes misleading qualities to the named subject. And it
can reject qualities which exists or could exist in the named subject which
puts a lock on creative transformation of it.

Shortly. Names are important, if you want them to be clear.


I write the answer since you mentioned me, thanks!

A One  - Igor.



--------------------
astrid schrieb:
> This sounds bizarre. Like, while they step, they would be off their axis.
> How can you "pass through your axis"??
>
It means for a split of a second the center of gravity of the body must
be on a vertical line over the foot. This is the point where the leader
can change the direction without force. One can argue it is always like
that when you walk, but try to walk in slow motion. Most beginners begin
to wobble and stumble. In a normal speed walk there is a inertia force
which keeps you in balance, even when you are not over the foot.
Another effect of not passing that point is "falling" on the next step.
The ideal "cat walk" is to keep balance an one foot, place the other
without shifting weight and shift first when the foot is in place. In
this case there is not one moment when you are out of balance. The
movement is completely reversible at any point and any speed, especially
important to avoid collisions when someone is suddenly crossing the way.
Ideal cat walker: Miguel Zotto.

Andy