[Tango-L] No moves heeps?

[Tom Stermitz]

I disagree that the woman should keep her hips from moving.

(1) It is a physical impossibility
(2) Look at the dancers in the milongas: EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM  
moves their hips.

So, I'm not sure what you actually mean, because it can't be  
literally be: "no moves heeps".

I think sometimes a teacher says something, and then all their  
students continue saying the same thing irregardless of whether it is  
true or not. The toe-first is another example. Watch what the teacher  
does, sometimes it is the opposite of what they say.


HIPS IN TANGO

Salsa has a specific hip motion. Tango does also, but not the same  
one. Certainly it is a lot less.

Changing weight in tango involves a bunch of different things, and  
hip movement is one of them.

If you are up on your hips, and trying to keep them from moving, then  
you are creating a series of difficulties:

(1) Balance is harder
(2) Shock absorption is harder
(3) Going up on your hips leads to stiff knees, making stick-legs.
(4) Follower feels stiff or choppy to the leader
(5) Makes it hard to dance milonga tras-pie
(6) Makes it hard to do a smooth cross.
(7) Makes it harder to do shooth ochos
(8) Makes it harder to do fast boleos

Obviously, these issues are easier to explain in person than over email.



On Jan 25, 2007, at 1:51 PM, Deby Novitz wrote:

> Janis I do not want to disagree with you publicly, but I too live  
> here,
> and I am out quite a bit in the milongas, especially now that  
> almost all
> my English students are on vacation. ...
>
> First of all complaining about young dancers moving their hips and
> shoulders.  So do the old ones.  So do the not so young ones.  So  
> do the
> not so old ones.  This is not a new thing.  It is an old thing.  It is
> called bad posture, bad habits.  Especially if they came from  
> salsa.  If
> you don't have a good teacher to correct this, then you continue  
> dancing
> this way.  I came to tango from salsa.  It took me over a year to  
> break
> what I call the "salsa hip."
>
> Today when Fernando and I were teaching a student from Canada she  
> moved
> her hips and shoulders.  It was how she learned to dance in  
> Canada.  She
> knew it wasn't right when she came here.  In our lesson with her we
> concentrated on her posture and axis.  Where to put her weight.  It  
> was
> the first time anyone had "correctly" addressed these issues with her.
> She and a few of our other students noticed and have commented to  
> us how
> many women dance here with their butt sticking out.  Another form  
> of bad
> posture. I suppose if you didn't know better as one of my students
> didn't, you would think this is how they dance in Buenos Aires.