[Tango-L] musicality

[Trini y Sean (PATangoS)]

Hi Randy,

You're correct in thinking that always having ankles or
knees together on the half-beat (upbeat) limits one's
musicality.  But that guideline is useful for teaching
people how to time their leg movements and help them stay
balanced.  However, if you watch how experienced women
ornament, you know this guideline can be broken.

If you're interested in expanding your musicality toward a
more advanced notion, here's a suggestion.  Think of a step
has having at least 4 distinct parts:
- leg extension,
- weight transfer,
- leg closure,
- pivot (if needed).
In general, the leg is fully extended on the strong beat
(downbeat) and the weight transferred/leg closed on the
half-beat (upbeat).  Most dancers do this without realizing
it.  One might think of a pre-lead as a 5th part, but let's
not get into that for simplicity.

Each of these parts can have their own velocity and express
the music differently.  Each can occur over several strong
beats or be more impulsive.  For example, a man can lead a
woman to do an impulsive leg extension but a slow weight
transfer and leg closure.  Or the woman can choose an
impulsive leg closure as an adornment.  And she can do a
languid or impulsive pivot, as well.  Try playing with
these pieces to the music, and you'll discover a lot more
options.

As a follower, I like to know what timing my leader intends
before he asks me to extend my leg for the downbeat which
clues me in on the upbeat.  He can do this by the way he
uses his upper body or how much he bends/does not bend his
standing leg.  That would be the pre-lead.  Hope this
helps.

Back to finishing my taxes.

Trini de Pittsburgh


--- Michael <tangomaniac at cavtel.net> wrote:

> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <rockies at comcast.net>
> To: "Trini y Sean (PATangoS)" <patangos at yahoo.com>;
> "Tango-L" <Tango-L at mit.edu>
> Cc: "WHITE 95 R" <white95r at hotmail.com>; "Tango Society
> of Central Illinois" <tango.society at gmail.com>
> Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2007 11:32 PM
> Subject: Re: [Tango-L] was 'Salon again', now musicality
> 
> 
> Trini said:
> > 
> > So the velocity at which one moves is something we
> consider
> > in structuring our material.  We start beginners 
> dancing
> > rhythmically (Rodriguez, D'Arienzo) and then we slow
> them
> > down (D'Agostino, DiSarli) and now we're working with
> them
> > on impulse (Pugliese) and slowing them way down.  It's
> at
> > this point that I think we can start working on being
> more
> > elegant.  What do others do regarding velocity of
> movement?
> > 
> > Trini de Pittsburgh
> 
> This brings up another topic. I read somewhere that to be
> on the compas means that your ankles should exactly pass
> each other on the half beat as a leader. But doesn't that
> limit musicality? to me, the velocity of the step changes
> from start to finish in order to express musicality. I'm
> sure musicality is expressed in the upper body somewhat,
> but in A tango, we are taught to be relaxed, not a lot of
> upper body motion. So.. which is best? Changing velocity
> while stepping, or timing any changes to occur on the
> half interval? (seems a lot more difficult to me, but
> possible... it might give an asymmetrical step which may
> not look very elegant)
> 
> Cheers,
> Randy F
>

PATangoS - Pittsburgh Argentine Tango Society 
Our Mission: To make Argentine Tango Pittsburgh's most popular social dance. 
http://patangos.home.comcast.net/ 


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