The Colgada is in many ways very similar to the Single Axis Turn. That’s because they share the same basic attributes, and they’re from the same family of vocabulary. So theoretically, if you know one, ha ha ha, you should be able to execute the other. Not true actually, there are stark differences between the two. One primary difference from the Single Axis Turn is that the Social Colgada is done with the partnership in a perpendicular position to each other rotating around a singular axis vs. the Single Axis turn where the partnership is facing each other.
The Colgada Rap! Before we go any further, truthfully Colgadas are typically manhandling events that most Follower’s want to avoid like the plague. The reason is a.) that they’re poorly executed. b.) arm pushing and pulling experiences, and c.) that someone invariably gets hurt because their back has been wrenched this way or that. Most of this occurs because the Lead in question has not learned how to properly generate a Colgada. Where Colgadas get a bad rap is because of these 3 aspects which turns off a lot of people, obviously. However a Social Colgada on the other hand, while it has all the potential for these things to happen, is much smaller, and exists within solely within Close Embrace. It is and can be one of Tango’s more elegant specialty pieces of spice or accent vocabulary.
What is a Colgada ? The word “Colgada” comes from the root Spanish word “Colgar” which translates to English as “Hang”. The word ‘Colgada’ is the past participle version of the verb which adds an ‘ed’ ending to the word. Which when translated to English is ‘Hanged’ or rightfully ‘Hung’. So a Colgada is where the Follower (specifically) is in a state where they’re going hang off their Lead, deliberately, or more specifically, they’re being placed in a position where they’re going to hang. And that’s where we talk about a shared axis, and more importantly balance, all of this fitting within the line and lane of dance.
Ideally, the Colgada itself is not about taking the Follower off-axis, as you may have been told, but rather about creating a state of shared balance & equilibrium along the shared axis between the partnership. As there is always a shared axis between the dancing couple. Truthfully there are actually 6, not one. There’s the lead’s central longitudinal axis, the follower’s central longitudinal axis, and the shared central one between the two dancers which is created by their relationship to each other. It’s the last one that we’re interested in because it generates the space for a Colgada to exist.
From A Following Perspective let’s get this right out of the way immediately. You’re going to fall, backwards or in this case, to the side away from your lead. That’s the whole point of a Colgada in the first place, the falling part. There’s nothing you can do about it, except to engage teh Follower’s Kickstand (see above in the video). However understand something that the “fall” is a controlled hang more than anything else, and the control comes from two important aspects 1.) the elasticity of the couple’s embrace, and 2.) body position, placement, and balance between the couple. 🙂
If there is rigidity in the embrace from either partner, nasty things are going to happen. “Elasticity” in this instance is a somewhat relative term, as there does have to be some firmness there, but not to the point where you’re holding on for dear life! That’s not what a Colgada is about. 😉 So yes, dear Follower, you’re going to fall to the side, and yes you’re going to be off-balance, and quite rightfully it’s going to be a little scary for obvious reasons. No one, absolutely no one wants to fall. However in this instance we actually do want to fall, a bit. Not a lot, just a bit. And that’s where the controlled part comes in. It’s a very controlled ‘hang’ through technique, and more importantly through a shared balance point between the partnership.
Planking: Before we go any further we have to talk about when you “fall”, you’re desire is to stiffen your body, and then ‘Plank’ it to save it from impacting the floor. But before we get there, we’ll engage the Kickstand Mechanism to prevent that from happening. But before the “fall” happens we invoke, as Followers, the ’plank’ of our bodies. What is that ? It means that you’re going to stiffen your body and straighten it out as if it were an elongated piece of wood, falling backwards, hence the term ‘plank’, which refers to a plank of wood. 😉 “Planking” is an error as there is something else we want to do.
Planking is an error when engaging a Colgada. It is however a perfectly natural response to do this. So don’t freak out. However, planking is not what we’re after. We’re actually after something else. This is why we learn the proper position for a Colgada to exist. What’s the more desirable position for us ? For that, you’ll have to see the video. However the descriptive for it is very simple, it’s almost as if you’re sitting, you’re going to send your hips away from your lead, while keeping your torso with them. Or in the case of the Social Colgada, you’re going to be perpendicular to your lead so you want your hips to go away while the side of your torso faces your Lead.
The Controlled Hang: Another aspect of the Colgada is that we want our arms, and hands to a certain degree, to be able to slide almost as if you’re arms were a collapsible telescoping bar. ‘Telescoping’ in the adjective form, meaning that one part slides into another. We do not want rigidity in our arms and/or hands. We also don’t want to hold on for dear life with our hands, like your grabbing the lead’s bicep with your spiny fingers. Not. Less than desirable. Instead we want arms and hands to be able to slide within the Lead’s embrace – hence the ‘telescoping’ part. 🙂
The Kickstand Mechanism: There is a safety mechanism that is built into each and every Colgada, and it’s called The Follower’s Kickstand. What’s that ? It’s where the Follower’s free leg extends backwards as if they were going to step backwards but there’s no weight on it. The Kickstand in this case occurs under ONE condition. If and only if there is no counterbalance (or counter send) from their lead. If there is counterbalance then the Follower should not release from their invited Mordida (see video above).
From a Leading Perspective the Social Colgada is all about balance. It’s the Lead’s job, function, to create physiological balance, a state of equilibrium, within the couple. Mistakenly this is done with your arms, but instead we want to employ counterbalance the Follower with our mass, not our arms. Our arms are there to ‘guide’ our intention, but the real toy here is counterbalance. Truth be told the Lead (the person not the action) is more than likely going to have more mass than their Followers will posses. And as such the counterbalance point will be slight, while at the same time, the proper ‘sitting’ position of the Colgada will be almost, but not quite planking. So, in other words, the break at the waist, will be slight. 🙂
The Used Mordida: A good portion of Leads, overuse the Mordida usually mistakenly in the Salida Step of the dance. What’s a Mordida ? It’s a ‘foot’ sandwich. Where the lead, traps one of the Follower’s feet and sandwiches it between the Lead’s feet. Far too often once a Lead learns how to create a Mordida they use it everywhere. As a place to stop, as a place to reset the couple, as a place to end the dance. This is know on Tango Topics as The Unused Mordida. It’s ‘Unused’ because the Mordida is an indicator to the Follower that something is about to change, usually entering either a Volcada, a Barrida, a Parada, or in this case, a Colgada. However in this case we actually use it and rightfully need it to set up the Colgada, because without our feet are going to slide every which way, and we obviously don’t want that to happen.
The Arm-y Pushme-Pullyou Colgada: Typically most leads use their arms to generate a Colgada, as has been said, however one aspect of this is that once the Colgada starts the Lead will pull the Follower towards them with their arms instead of directing their intention with their mass. One of these is desirable (mass direction), and one these is not (pulling). This type of error makes almost any Colgada very undesirable. So it’s a good idea to learn how to direct that mass, without pulling or pushing so that the experience is a pleasant one and not one of dread for the Follower! Just a hint, this video shows you how to do that, properly.
A Turning Colgada ? The Colgada gets a really bad rap most of the time. It’s poo-poo’d because most people think of it as ‘Nuevo’ vocabulary or open embrace vocabulary. Frequently this type of vocabulary is poorly executed, thereby making it visually unappealing, not to mention wholly uncomfortable. However, this particular version of the Colgada is far from the unsightly ‘nuevo’ aspects that you’re used to seeing, and that’s because of its ‘whoosh’ factor. The ‘whoosh’ is a rush of energy that happens because the couple is turning to one side or the other! Most colgadas are done in linear fashion. This Colgada series is done on the circular, and then to exit the Colgada, the Follower steps, over and (here’s the important part) around their lead! While this can be done in Open Embrace, and there’s nothing wrong with that, doing so tends to take up way too much space, so instead we want to do this in Close Embrace in no more space than a single forward step. Put succinctly, a Social Colgada, when properly executed (hence the video), can be a way to turn the couple down the line of dance! This aspect of the Colgada makes it a very useful and powerful turning tool for the lead to use in 2 ways: 1.) Navigationally. and 2.) The Spice Factor, which we’re not going to get into.
