[Tango-L] heel or toe - Eryk

[Andreas Wichter]

Hello Eryk,

Am 13.07.2007 um 11:11 schrieb Eryk Wolski:

> I did not said that embellishments ar not important.
> I just claim that what the base of your free leg does
> is an embellishment.

I am reluctant to further argue the point, but it is part of the step, 
isn´t it? The way you move your leg is part of the way you step. What I 
was mainly talking about is the moment of connecting and the subsequent 
process of letting the weight settle on the foot.
What you said sounded to me a bit like it doesn´t matter what the 
leg/foot does. I think it does. The Aesthestics of the movement 
generate a feeling - it feels different to me if I move my leg in 
different ways. I don´t want to argue hen and eggs things, and cause 
and effect are not always clear here.

> The TOE OR HEAL FIRST in the projection of the free
> leg is an embellishment!

Then your definition of embellishment differs from mine a bit. I´d 
refer to the post of Tom about heel or toe, as he said all that needs 
to be said. Toe or heel first have, or can have, technical effects (and 
causes).

> With your free leg you are doing embellishments. I
> start a step with a projection. And I can choose to
> project toe or heal first.

True. But it does have an effect on the subsequent movement, so for me 
it is an integral part of the chosen step.

> The projected leg can go
> for the contact with the floor, but I also can
> withdraw the projection. If I want to look elegant i
> probably will try to emulate Pablos Footwork.

I think you have workshops vids on your channel of Osvaldo Zotto. He´s 
one of the most elegant dancers ever, but he does it with quite a 
different way of walking. Hard to choose who to emulate...

>  But note
> he dances Di Sarli and the Villa Urquiza style goes
> fine with it! Dance Pugliese the same way and you will
> look a bit out of place!

I agree 100% that you shouldn´t dance the same way to different music. 
I´d like to see Pablo and Noelia dance Pugliese. I think there´s 
nothing on youtube yet.

>
>
> Meanwhile, your weight rests on the other leg (not the
> free one) and if you want to have stability you have
> to rest on you HEEL and you are using the toes to
> balance. Try standing on your toes and doing an lapis!
> Good luck!

You´re not putting more weight on the heel than on the ball of the 
foot, are you? If you mean using the heel as a stabilizer (how much 
actual weight can differ according to the situation), that´s fine with 
me.

>
> Fantastic video! I had actually the pleasure to take
> several class by Pablo Rodriguez this spring in the
> UK.

Yup, I saw the vid on your channel. I like him. Very impressive how one 
so young can dance in such a "mature" fashion.

>
> And thanks to all for this very interesting discussion
> about how to walk in the tango!

I hope I wasn´t coming across as overly direct, but as you seem to live 
in Germany you probably don´t need to many "IMHO" s and such. ;-)
The thing with discussions like this is that it´s quite difficult to be 
entirely clear about complex things like movement without resorting to 
the occasional demonstration. I usually try to stay out of it and just 
do my stuff.

Cheers,
Andreas