[Tango-L] Leading with hands... and even legs

[Jonathan Thornton]

I think it was the second work shop I took with Daniel Trenner whem he was
introducing the concept of leading and following with playful exercises and
he mentioned there were even "hair leads". I woke up when I heard that but
was utterly mystified having no clue what he was talking about.

Some years later I took a class in contact improvisation (and note that
Daniel had originally gone to Argentina to teach contact improv) and now I
know what hair leads are!

So yeah when two people are tuned into each other there are many dimensions
of leading and following. Social dance tends to focus on the areas of
challenging technique I think but it can go way beyond that.

Jonathan Thornton

On Tue, 27 Jun 2006 12:09 +0100 (BST), Chris, UK <tl2 at chrisjj.com> wrote:
>
> OK, some dancers report that good social dancers do not lead with their
> hands, others report that they do.
>
> But look, the "don't" reports come from people who have felt it. Whereas
> the "do" reports come from people who have seen it, e.g.
>
> > The milongueros I see in Bs As lead with everything; All of their body
>
> Perhaps this is because, as in all of tango, you cannot tell what is
> really
> happening by sight. And the only one who really can tell /how/ the guy is
> leading is the girl who is feeling it.
>
> Why are there class teachers saying "lead with hands"? Well, notice these
> are ones who teach by sight, not feel.
>
> But the girls are saying they don't like it. Because it does not feel
> good.
>
> Guys, what is more important to us: giving the girls what they want, or
> giving the girls what a teacher wants?
>
> .
>
> Then there's the advice of Viejo Milonguero who yesterday demanded
>
> > when you talk about technique, specify "the way I dance I do this or
> that"
> > and that will be fine but refrain to speak for the tango world as a
> whole,
> > because it is wrong.
>
> but today specifies how we should dance, as follows:
>
> > It is when you go beyond that level of dancing that you are going to use
> > your torso, your arms, your hands, your legs and more, to lead."
>
> Wow. Does anyone here have experience of being lead by the /legs/?
>
> How did you avoid falling over? Was it in some kind of nuevo tango which,
> turning tradition upside down, has the couple embrace with their legs so
> that they can dance on their hands? <smile>
>
> Chris
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-- 
"The tango can be debated, and we have debates over it,
but it still encloses, as does all that which is truthful, a secret."
Jorge Luis Borges