“Collection”, this is an odd word in the Tango world. It has come to mean that we, as dancers, want to bring our feet ‘together’ in some fashion. Some people refer to this idea or concept as “closing” your feet. Meaning to close the gap that naturally exists between them from a standing position where our legs are slightly apart to create more stability in our stance. ‘Collection’ is a refined version of this idea that exists 2 primary reasons. The first is very practical. And the second is purely visual. We’ll get to those in just a moment. There is another form of Collection that we want to start to be crystal clear about in today’s Tango world.
There’s a very clear reason why we need a clearer distinction of this word we use to define “Collection”. The reason has everything to do with the competition based Tango that is occurring with greater and greater frequency – The Mundials come to mind. As such there is greater attention to detail on precision based Tango that is more focused on what things look like than their social function counterparts. Hence a bit of distinction that is required when talking about ‘Collection’ or more importantly ‘Social Collection’.
What is “Collection” ? The idea and action that we think of as “Collection” is an activity for both roles. The practice has several different connotations. Sometimes when you hear the word “Collection” some people hear it as bringing their legs ‘close’ together. Some people hear the word as bringing their ankles close together. Some people hear it as bringing their knees close but not touching. Some people hear it as bringing one’s feet near to each other with a slight “V” shape to them where the ankles may touch, but the 1st metatarsals do not. Some people add a slight bend to their knee in that last one. There are many different versions of this idea of “Collection”.
Social Collection, on the other hand, is a Tango Topics specific. 🙂 This idea refers to bringing one’s feet together. The 1st Metatarsals of the feet must be touching, and the inside skin or fabric or shoes of the heel space must be touching at the same time. Sometimes this may not be possible due to the shape of your ankles. Sometimes it’s the shape of your thighs that gets in the way of this happening. But ideally this is what we call Social Collection. So why is it “SOCIAL” ? Because ideally we want to do this when we’re out SOCIAL dancing!
The Visual Idea. From a Leading or Following perspective, when we’re talking about Collection what is generally taught is usually the visual idea of collection. Not just bringing your feet together but generating a visual inverted triangular tapered form of the body to the legs to the feet. And as such we want to make that taper as clean, and sharp as possible. So for this reason you’ll see a good portion of dancers who have been taught to will pull one leg slightly behind the other, and one foot off at an angle. In either Lead or Follow it’s right behind left for a variety of reasons. The reason this is done is to remove the gap between the shins and ankles that naturally occurs in some people’s legs and feet. Further it creates that ‘nice’ taper that we desire. Why not left behind right ? Because from a salida step we tend to go (lead) left into (follower) right. Meaning that the Lead will step forward with their left leg/foot first, and the Follower will step backwards with their right. The visual idea is really all about the visual lines that are generated in either partner when coming together and creating a nice architecture. That’s it, that’s all and Collection, in the way that it’s taught and presented above, in both partners contributes to that.
The Practical Idea. From either roles perspective the idea of Collection makes things very clear that we’re in the right place, doing the right thing, at the right time. From the Lead’s perspective it helps to clarify that the follower is in the right place when they collect so that they can proceed. It’s really easy to see or in this case ‘feel’ that the Follower is off and then to adjust for that ‘off’. Frequently however, that off is never adjusted for and the Follower ends up in the Lead’s armpit. 🙁 From a Follower’s perspective it’s the same idea only that when your lead collects it creates certainty in you. Think of the ‘cowboy walk’ when leading any of the 8 types of ochos.
From a Dancing Reality Social Collection is really about the practical idea of bringing your feet together not for the visual idea but rather out of function more than anything else. It makes things rather simple and easy, that you’re not performing for the 15th row! Social Collection doesn’t mind that there is a tiny gap between your legs at the ankles to the knees, but rather it’s more important that you’re in the right place at the right time. Now if you want you can go the extra step (no pun intended) by creating a cleaner visual, however most people don’t and won’t go that extra step because it’s too much work for them. It’s another thing they have to remember and that’s already too much for them. So again, we’re at Social Collection. So if we define Social Collection as being too lazy but being practical. What’s it’s opposite ? Performance Collection! And that’s a whole different animal.
The reality is that a good portion of you are going to look at this video above, disagree with it because your teacher told you ages ago that collection is supposed to be the visual reason. But in reality do you actually understand any of what’s been said above ? Or did you just watch the video ? There’s a reason why we want Social Collection above all else that has not been mentioned, and it has everything to do with the role of the Follower as they’re being led to an Argentine Cross. Mind you this is just 1 of 3 reasons, but this is the most prominent. Think Armpit Dancer, and you’ll begin to get an idea of what’s going on, as a matter of fact, go look at that video, it talks about this aspect of Performance Collection. That’s the reality. Put simply if you as a Lead, want your Follower in your armpit, please keep doing what you’re doing, and pay this topic no mind. Or if you as a Follower like being in your Lead’s armpit and quite literally behind your lead, then again….don’t pay any attention to this topic. It’s a complete waste of your time.
The Soup. This is a choice on your part. It’s a functional choice. One that requires you to be diligent about what it is that you want to do and be like to dance with. Every time that you don’t collect your feet you create instability in yourself and uncertainty in your partners. Collect.
Let’s back up a bit and talk about the other 2 reasons mentioned above. Reason #2 has everything to do with walking on 2 separate but equal walking paths. You want your walking paths to come as close to your body meridian as possible without crossing over it. Body Meridian ? See your foundation video on Presence. Crossing over that meridian creates instabilities that quite honestly create more problems for us than we would like. Crossing over is also a bit like walking on a tight rope or ‘slacklining’ neither of which we want to do in tango, nor should we. And the reason is that Tango is a walking dance (even though it’s become a turning nightmare over the years), and as that’s the case, we want that walk to resemble a normal street walk (that’s been cleaned up a bit here and there). Reason #3 is all about something that happens for the Follower which can create problems for the couple. When the free foot is placed behind the standing foot to remove the unsightly line, the body wants to follow this way of moving. As a result the foot wants to turn out, which in turn creates a potential instability by landing on the 5th metatarsal. The turning of the foot a bit leads to an ‘opening of the hip’ or a slight rotation of the free hip as the back step occurs. This opening or rotation tends to lead to upper body rotation which in turn creates a less than desirable body position and then later on, body placement for both partners. It essentially, left unchecked, leads to Armpit dancing. It’s like a domino effect. Where the foot goes, the body follows.
Let’s talk about Social Collection. Social Collection is a distinction that I believe is required to separate itself from the frill of Performance-based dancing. In one respect it frees you from having to conform to the mixture of Performance-based tango that gets passed off as Social dancing (think – steps, patterns, and figures) and in another respect, it opens a door to greater precision.
While this form of collection is functional, as it serves our purposes very nicely, it also has the benefit of training you to be very clear about your equilibrium and stability, and in specific what part of your foot – read that as what bones are under stress. Furthermore, you’ll have a greater deal of control when it comes to the exercises that are laid out in the exercise section of videos. Instead of, I believe, the singular foot that is dominant in Tango today.
Social Collection also resolves those issues outlined above, but not without training and retraining and hyper-awareness that a.) it’s happening. b.) a desire to change what you’re doing for the better. The first part requires a mirror. A literal mirror and a figurative one. The literal is obvious, you’ll need to do some mirror work to correct the problem. The figurative one is having a teacher that will point this stuff out to you ad nauseum! (Ahem -> Think -> Intensive Study). Just a thought for you to consider. Start with the videos and see how far that gets you.