[Tango-L] on grace

[Oleh Kovalchuke]

Tango is the dance of shifting axis and dynamic balance. Connection
between the two dancers is
needed to communicate the shifts in the body axis and the mastery of
dynamic balance by each of
the dancers in required to maintain steady connection. The subtlety of
the shifts in the axis of
the couple is what gives tango its smoothness, unpredictability and grace.

Those dancers, who are not aware of these fundamental principles of
lead and follow communication
resort to all kinds of replacement  techniques. One is to hop up and
down to indicate that the step is
about to be executed – this technique is often employed by complete beginners.

Another popular replacement technique is what I call "polka style"
tango. Here the leader shakes up
and down his left arm to beat the lead. The result can be comic as in
this clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVV83rj9aOc  (at 2 min 50 sec) or more
subtle as, when Ricardo
Viqueira does it. Ricardo is a good dancer, his steps are fun to
watch, yet when Ricardo dances, his
tango is not nearly as smooth as it can be. For examples of smooth,
balance-and-axis based lead see
this playlist of milongueros:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=A721E79AA4385DA6  (a great
example of smooth milonga dancing from the list:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuw-1Dfe10M
compare to Ricardo's milonga: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdn7M62MtMk ).

-- 
Oleh Kovalchuke
Argentine Tango: Connection | Balance | Rhythm
http://www.tangospring.com/tangoblog.htm