Club 19 Class Notes, June 2012

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


11th June: Tempo, Cadencia, Pasada, Sacada

Beginner class: Tempo and crossed-system cadencia

Posture: lean forwards until your toes curl ("like a cat"), then lean backwards slowly until they've just uncurled - that's the posture you should retain during your dancing.

We looked at changing tempo within the dancing - changing from slow movements to quick ones. We practiced walking in single-time and double-time, and varying between single and double time stepping.

Key points:

  • Your average "speed" should stay pretty much constant - double-time steps should be half-size.
  • So don't lead a double-time movement simply by rushing forwards.
  • Whenever you change tempo - going into and out of double-time, for example - you need to clearly lead that change of tempo. Don't yank your partner around.

We then looked at a cadencia-in-crossed system variation, involving:

  • Man sidestep left, change weight (woman sidesteps, no weight change)
  • Man does a standard cadencia sequence (rock forwards and back, then sidestep)
  • Woman rocks back and forwards, then pivots and steps in a back ocho

This illustrates the quick-quick-slow movements.

Salon class: pasadas in small spaces

Mark took the class through several variations, using barridas (sweeps) and pasadas (step overs) in a small space.

Key points

  • Movements are small
  • When the woman is stepping over, she has "control" - you're letting her decide how to decorate your leg :)
  • Sweeps are not kicks!

Nuevo class: Sacada-giro-lapiz-sacada-colgada sequence

Basically, everything at once...!

The woman does a forward-side-back step (part of a giro), in an anti-clockwise direction around the man. The complicated bit is mainly for the men...

  1. Man steps forward onto his right foot, sacada-ing the woman as she's stepping forwards
    Woman steps forward onto her left foot
  2. Man pivots anti-clockwise on right foot, decorating with a lapiz movement (anti-clockwise) with his left leg
    Woman takes a sidestep onto her right foot
  3. Man continues to pivot, then steps forward onto his left foot, after the woman has stepped back on her left foot
    Woman steps back onto her left foot
  4. The woman finishes the back step wirh a slight "sit back" to create a colgada (lean away) from the man - important not to lean back but to sit back, otherwise the leader may have back strain or fall forwards...
  5. Using the momentum of the colgada, the man then "rebounds" the woman into a forward ocho step.

Key points

  • Sounds simple. It's not.
  • Requires good stability from the woman, if she pulls the man even slightly during the sidestep he'll lose his balance
  • Similarly, requires stability from the man, to do the lapiz whilst leading the giro.

18th June: Musicality, enrosques and giros

Beginner class: Musical interpretation

We spent some time simply walking to the music, understanding the tempo, and working on the embrace and the walk. We looked at some pauses, and some adornments for the leaders and followers, whilst pausing.

Nuevo class: enrosques and giros

For the Tango Nuevo class, we initially split into male / female groups: the women focussing on giros, and the men focussing on enrosques.

We then put these two components together, to ensure the men could lead giros from a stable base point, making a giro sequence more natural and more smooth.

We also briefly examined using sacadas with ochos.