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Argentine Tango, Comox Valley, connection, Courtenay, Tango, tango practica, Vancouver Island Tango, walking
We are all diamonds in the rough when it comes to tango. I believe each and every person can become a great dancer if they constantly have an open mind and are willing to work on their technique, alone and with a partner. Yes, I am talking about Tango Fundamentals. Most everyone in my small group gets excited about Fundamentals class. I think it is because they are starting to realize that good technique = good dancing. That’s why we call it our FUNdamentals class because it is F.U.N.
Here are three ‘simple’ fundamentals that we practice:
Pivoting. Such a simple thing yet so hard to do with elegance, balance, and frame. For me the true testament of a great tango follow is her pivots. Quick, light, and collected is what we strive for. Leads pivot too and this helps with their walking…
Walking. Again simple but so difficult to do beautifully. If both lead and follow walk ‘on the line’ it is easier to a) stay in a comfortable embrace with chests facing one another, and b) stay to the line-of-dance and keep our balance….
Balance. I find this is a learned skill. If each dancer is responsible for his or her own balance there is a comfort and connection in the embrace. If one or both are struggling with their balance -and where their balance is – then the embrace can turn into a tiresome wrestling match.
I have only touched on three fundamental techniques. What are some essential fundamentals for you and your dancing?
How about an acronym…?
F – Frame: Knowing where your body should be and, as far as necessary, keeping it there.
U – Understated: Elegance is always restrained, controlled, refined.
N – Neutral: Being in your balance (like you said); for a follow, after a step, returning to neutral, without anticipation, to wait; for a lead, once you’ve led a figure, wait for her to complete it.
Nice Linda! Looks like a good class outline….
I believe we don’t have to achieve “greatness” as a dancer or anything else in life for that matter. What is important is that we all dance our own dance. I’ve been a dancer all my life, and I hope to dance the rest of it.
For me ‘greatness’ is the opposite of mediocrity. Each persons idea of great will be different but we should always be learning and trying to improve. When I say great it is someone with a great attitude and a good spirit, someone who has great curiosity and a great respect for tango. I see too many dancers (and regular folk) settle for ‘good enough’ when they could be aiming for Great.
I give my all to whatever I do: my best. That’s enough for me. I don’t need to achieve greatness to be admired by others. Then I’m doing it for someone else, not myself. I was an average student, a mediocre pianist and oboist, an average secretary, an enthusiastic dance instructor, and a good mother. If I could go back, I wouldn’t change anything or try any harder than I did. I did my best and that all I expect from myself.
Too much focus on technique can ruin our dance. The music makes us dance!
I guess I just can’t settle for less than my best. Greatness is probably better when self-defined, and dancing is always good. But… Why settle?
In my “other life”, a teach belly dance. It can be a sublime expression of the unknowable, or it can be a technically perfect robotic shell. Yet the expression will not happen without the technique.
I see it this way… Each form, each move is a syllable, a sound. A completed movement (start to finish) is a word. Transitions are the conjunctions and whatnot that join subject to predicate/object. Movements plus transitions create sentences. And then, and only then, will dancing with feeling, with soul, with spirit create poetry.
To express the soul without the discipline of form is mere babbling. I won’t settle for babbling.
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“We should always be trying to improve.”
I don’t think so. Most improvement comes without trying. Dance well, and you will dance better. Until your limit. Whereupon trying does you more harm than good.
The only need for people to always try to improve is from the teachers making money out of the struggle.