Club 19 Class Notes, July 2012

2012 Class Notes: Jan | Feb | March | April | May | June | July

These are the class notes for July 2012 Tango classes in Club 19, Southgate.

2nd July:

Foundations class: Posture, walking, back ochos

One nice movement which we can use this switch for is "travelling ochos" - that is back ochos with only a small degree of pivot, so that these are mostly travelling in the direction of the line of dance.

Leaders, you can get into these ocho movements with a change of weight, and similarly get out of them and back into parallel walking with another change of weight.

More information:

Salon class: Walking in a crossed system

You don't always have to walk "mirrored" (in parallel). There are several variations you can use - we looked at 2-track to 3-track walking. The technique here is for the leaders to transfer weight, but without leading a transfer for the follower, moving between "2-track" (parallel) amd "3-track" (crossed) walking.

Key points

  • Rhythmically, think "Slow-quick-quick-slow-quick-quick" for the leaders and "slow-slow-slow-slow" for the followers.
  • Leaders, keep the chest oriented toward the followers, not to the side. But keep your feet facing forwards; so dissociation again.
  • Also, keep a steady sure lead - don't jump about and vary the pace, just because you're moving your feet in a different way.
  • Followers, follow the lead from the chest, don't pay too much attention to what the leader does with his feet.

This diagram (hopefully) helps explain the "track concept":

Nuevo class: Barrida and gancho

We did a barrida ("sweep") as part of a giro movement, sweeping the follower's foot after the backstep of a back ocho.

We also added on a hook or "gancho" movement, where:

  1. Follower steps over the leader's extended leg, then reverses the foot movement to "flick" in a hook underneath the man's leg.
  2. Leader straightens his right leg to flick the lady's leg back out (into a forward step)

Key points:

  • Do not "kick" or even "push" the follower's foot for the barrida - the sweep is an illusion.
  • Dissociation is vital to set up the gancho step.