[Tango-L] Leading embellishments

[Sergio Vandekier]

Martin says:  "Please explain how would you lead some or all of the embellishments shown in Jennifer Bratt's channel on embellishments:http://www.youtube.com/user/BewitchingBlackLotus"

Astrid adds "According to Carlos Gavito, Melina Brufman, Gustavo Saenz, Oscar Mandagaran and a few others I have learned from, not necessarily"...

(Astrid refers to leading embellishments).

I agree with Astrid: embellishments may be led, but not necessarily. 

There are different types of embellishments (firuletes) the woman does.

Many of them are little moves, (some not so little), she does with her feet to adorn front or back ochos for instance, those little moves, she executes by
herself, without a lead; she *adds* them to her normal movements. They can be added almost at any moment during the dance, even during the 
molinetes (giros) and of course during pauses. The woman that learns to do them, embellishes the dance in an enormous way. She certainly belongs to a group apart of a different type of dancing. She is admired by everyone.

The most important thing is that she should not disturb the dance, they should be added without causing the man to become
annoyed by sudden unexpected, delaying, jerky moves.

When I said *We* lead the embellishments I referred to we, us, our group. We certainly lead Boleos of different types:
Low (different degrees), mid and high boleos. Amagues (front boleos) , normal and high, the last ones in different shapes.
Back straight boleos. We lead embellishments on the side step, at the beginning of walked turns, etc, etc.

I am not going to explain how I lead each one of those embellishments, I would suggest that you obtain the video of
Diego Difalco and Carolina Zokalski on Technique for the Follower.  This video shows the different firuletes the woman can do 
and Diego explains in detail how to lead them.

For instance: when you lead a boleo, if you want this adorno to be low you slightly press (project a down intention) and the woman 
executes a low boleo the lower the intention the bigger the boleo on the floor. If you project an upward intention (this may be done with your
torso or your right hand on her back) she will do a high boleo. You may also start with a low boleo and finish with a high amague, etc.

You indirectly ask for embellishments (still lead) when you either dance slowly or when you allow extra time for her to express herself executing
her adornments.  The same happens when you allow the "automatic" (a bad word, I recently learned) cross to occur, in reality you still are 
leading as you exert a choice, either the cross happens or not. 

Summary : you lead *almost* everything but you cannot determine the way she steps, walks or the little things that she adds to her steps.

Have a nice Sunday, Sergio.


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