Musical Interpretation Workshops
Musical Interpretation as you understand it is needlessly complex, time consuming, and, quite honestly, just a pain in the ass.
The fact is NO ONE wants to do the kind of work in a “musicality” workshop weekend. No one. You sit in chairs listening to snippets of music from a very specific composer for an hour learning to identify patterns of that specific composer from a musical perspective. And there in lay the problem > Most people are not not musicians!
Most ‘musicality‘ workshops and their underpinnings come from understanding musical concepts. Usually about 10 minutes in, and now armed with a sheeth of papers that are mind-numbingly boring, you’re done. Fast forward 2 hours later and you may have gleaned an idea or two but more than likely you haven’t learned to apply what you’re ‘learning’ to how YOU dance!
The Five Pause Types Methodology
Enter the The 5 Pause Types Methodology that uses your way of dancing, does not modify it at all, uses YOUR vocabulary choices, and applies it in logical straight forward manner!
Simply > The 5 Pause Types Methodology is a way of identifying dead simple markers in the music. Then applying a few simple rules to those markers. And finally applying a filter for structure to create a 1 to 1 relationship in what you’re hearing in the music to what you’re seeing when someone dances the 5 Pause Types!
In Short > With the 5 Pause Types Methodology there’s no complicated steps, patterns, and/or figures to learn. There’s no songs to memorize. There are no phrase types that only happen once in a blue moon with a specific orchestra. Nope. None of that.
Bonus Points > And as a side benefit, if everyone is dancing the Methodology, it literally cleans up the ronda! And who doesn’t like a cleaner, safer, well spaced ronda! Oh and this stuff works on a very, very, very crowded dance floor. As a matter of fact, the more crowded, the better!
I know those sound like bold claims, and coming from anyone else they might be. But I come with receipts! Most of which is on this website, all you need to do is look for it. It’s all here. You can subscribe to the site and get an overview of what I talk about and how I talk about it.
The Workshops
There are three workshops in this weekend of musical education. The first is a foundation workshop on the embrace, walking, and intention based dancing. All workshops will be taught in English with German sprinkled in for clarity. Each is 3 hours in length and is included in the package. Gender Balance is not required here. You do NOT need a partner, however having someone that you know in the room to work with in the rotation will be helpful. These workshops are ROLE agnostic.
This weekend is PERFECT for DOUBLE ROLE dancers that want to add clear musical education to their dancing! This weekend is also ideal for beginners who want to create clarity in their dancing with thier skills. And this weekend ideal for advancing dancers that want to explore another idea of musical interpretation that will enhance what they’re doing!
Day 1: The Walking Hug
This is the foundational work that everyone needs no matter how ‘advanced’ you are. You may think that know what you’re doing but I assure you this workshop will help you to clarify and make clean what you’re doing with your choices. It will go over how to walk, and how to embrace your partner regardless of role or who long you have been dancing. It will then go over 3 basic moves: Milonguero Ochos, Milonguero Turns, and an Argentine Cross, all while adhering to the guiding principles of Intention Based Dancing. No partner is necessary however having one will be helpful to have in the room. You will be encouraged to swap roles with every new idea presented.
Day 2: The Five Pause Types
This is the foundation of the weekend, and sadly you must do a bit of sitting and listening. But once you do sit and listen, then you’ll be up and walking, and yes dancing. The Five Pause Types do require a bit of repetition to hear them reliably. Which is why I’ve built in a lot of time to exercise and to hear what you’re doing and why.
In this workshop we will go over 10 orchestras that you choose, and you will hear that this stuff applies across all orchestras. You will learn all 5 Pause Types and the basic rule of the Methodology and why it exists!
Day 3: What To Do & When
This workshop is all about the rules of the methodology. While you can dance the pauses, any way you want and a lot of people do, this workshop shows you that there is structure to you’re doing.
Also contained in this workshop you will be introduced to the ideas of Alternation and Symmetry. Which helps you to create a clearer, and cleaner structure.