[Tango-L] Choreography

[astrid]

> friends, I've been seeing that followers have a different view of our
> dances than leaders do.

And what would that be, for exemple? That some of you guys are not half as
hot as you think you are? = )
 (you answered part of my question further down in your posting)

 Good followers pick up on our habits very well;
> they know which turns and elements we favor, which ones we don't, and
> how we tend to move. This is why something uncustomary (according to us
> leaders), even if led perfectly, can surprise them, and wake them up a
> little.

This Sunday I confirmed my suspicion which I have had for a long time:
Cristian Andres Lopez, who dances and teaches at the milonga I go to, and
who finished on 4th place in the tango mundial in BA last summer, has been
trying to "outwit" me at the dance for a long time. Yesterday, again, he
tried all kinds of  steps in unusual directions, unexpected turns and so on
while dancing with me (sometimes I admire his intelligence at inventing ever
new variations). When I followed him in everything, he next danced a
sequence in a fast milonga that was something like a chain of half turns,
moving diagonally in one direction, which he kept speeding up more and more
almost to dizzying point while still keeping in rhythm with the music, like
he was trying to outrun me but he was leading me at the same time. I
followed him in everything and we never lost the connection. At the end of
the dance, he gave me one of his special smiles, like a flash from his magic
blue eyes, full of sparks, and nodded at me.
After I sat down, a memory came to me from a private lesson I once had with
Carlos Gavito. He said:"Tango is like a constant struggle between a man and
a woman. He moves, like a challenge to her, and she goes:'Look, I am already
here!' He moves again, another challenge, and again she goes:' I am already
here!' And so on. He tries to beat here at the game, but with a good dancer,
he can't win, because the move of the woman always says:'See, I am already
here!'"

3am and not tired
Astrid

(yeah, yeah, I'm showing off a little, I know.... It's fun)