[Tango-L] colgadas- not so nuevo

[Nussbaum, Martin]

Sharukh writes that colgadas are new. I believe  they were done forever,
in a smaller scale, anytime you have a stop (parada) and a passing over
step (posada), there is a moment, however brief, where the follower is
off axis. Particularly if you were in close embrace when you did this,
as the woman has no space to stay completely on axis.  All that was done
recently in colgada was to exaggerate the passing over step.  It can
also be thought of as an amplified version of a turn in which the woman
is maintained in one spot on one foot and the man walks around her,
pivoting her.   I forgot the Spanish word for that. The only difference
for the colgada version is the distance of the body cores, requiring
counterbalance,  and the placement of the mans steps close and around
her standing foot.  To me, maybe the only innovation in nuevo is the use
of soltadas, and the use of other body parts to lead, as chicho
sometimes does, ie, the back, the shoulder. .  but even there, there is
some precedent in the old style of shadow dancing where the man was
behind the woman, so chicho just innovated to have the woman behind the
man for a few steps.  Actually, even soltadas may not be so nuevo -
there were probably stage dancers who transitioned between shadow doble
and normal facing embraces within a single piece, thus creating a moment
of soltada.    
There is nothing new under the sun, so sayeth Ecclesiastes. 
-Martin Nussbaum