Today’s Topic is NOT a simple idea that never gets it’s due, but if I have anything to say about it, it will soon enough.
One of the reasons the topic never gets its due is the fact that the topic is insanely nebulous. In 16 years of teaching I never found a way to easily and quickly talk about this idea.
Floorcraft.
Here is one of my most recent attempts at describing ‘Floorcraft’:
Tango Floorcraft refers to a whole cadre of practices, relationships, and awarenesses that we have to be fully cognizant of in order to dance argentine tango as a Lead or as a Follow.
Primarily Tango Floorcraft deals with Five Things:
a.) Spacing. b.) Vocabulary. c.) Music. d.) Containment. and 5.) Line of Dance.
To spell that out a bit.
Spacing: Refers to the spacing between yourself and the couples around you AND the maintenance of that space at all times. That space cannot change once established. You cannot crowd OR lag in the position you’re in at all. Ever.
Vocabulary: Refers to the appropriate use of vocabulary choices within your space. Which is to say throwing boleos left and right is probably not a good idea if the space you have to work in is less than a few millimeters. So ‘appropriate’ means being mindful of your surrounding and making vocabulary choices that respect the space around you.
Music: Refers to the use of that vocabulary fitting within the musical time one has. Which is not just the beat of the music, but also the all-important pauses of the music which allow for us to employ structure on what we are doing.
Containment: This takes Vocabulary to a whole different level. It means to keep things contained within your sphere or tile of space. Meaning your vocabulary choices (Lead or Follow) can NEVER extend beyond that space, ever. You must keep things close to you. There is an exception to this, and it’s only when you’re in the outer track, where you angle your vocabulary choices away from the line and lane of dance, but instead on the 45 towards the tables and chairs.
Line of Dance: You would think that this one is easy and it’s probably the hardest of them all. In short, it means to keep the line of dance flowing forwards, always. It means utilizing the previous 4 items and whatever you are doing MUST keep things moving down the line of dance. Most people fail at this and never give it a second thought because they’re too focused on the end result and not the space they’re occupying.
As you can clearly see, these are broad stroke topics that each require individual study, but when you inevitably put them together it will push you right to your limits.
Let’s just look at 2 of those topics. The Vocabulary and the Musical Interpretation components.
Both require mastery over the application of both WITHIN a Social Tango environment. The vocabulary component alone requires you to have extensive experience over how to manage Social Tango Vocabulary like the Five Figures of Argentine Tango within the line of dance, it must be second nature to you. If it isn’t then you’re going to stumble… a LOT. Next is a system of Musical Interpretation that is easily transferrable outside of the 8 count beat mindset that so often permeates dancing to tango music. It is for this reason a system like the Five Pause Types of Tango Music is perfectly suited for Social Tango. And it’s application in Floorcraft works exceptionally well.
Most teachers, not all, but a lot teachers ONLY focus on the Vocabulary aspect, and place it in time to the music and call this ‘Floorcraft’. When, as you can see, it is WAY more than that. It is, IMO, an error to focus on these two components ONLY and nothing else without talking, showing, and explaining the rest of these things.
This is why the topic of Floorcraft is not easy to talk about in a few sentences. And anyone that tells you differently either hasn’t thought about it enough or is selling you soap. And that’s me being KIND!
I should point out that one possible destination of good, patient, deliberate practice of floorcraft skills is in fact DEEPER INTIMACY with EVERY partner you dance with. Assuming both are practicing good floorcraft skills. It most certainly allows for the pathway to ‘Transcendence’ to occur. See ‘Transcedence’ Here > https://www.facebook.com/share/v/153nsxP5PA/
Put simply, to do this well, even under the best of conditions, is in fact it’s insanely complex, and difficult, and requires lots and lots of practice to do efficiently, cleanly, clearly and exceptionally well.