When we’re talking about Floorcraft, today’s Practical Floorcraft Advice is not the first thing that comes to people’s minds. Truthfully it’s not in the top 10 or 20. And it should be, but isn’t. We might even go so far to say that most people wouldn’t even consider today’s topic a Floorcraft issue at all. Really! When we’re talking about Floorcraft, we tend to think of not running into people as the top most item of ‘Floorcraft’ and that’s about it. Honestly, while the topic itself sounds about as interesting as watching paint dry in the hot sun, it’s a simple thing that has can change your dancing parameters far more than you realize. By making a small change in the direction with which things are lead and followed (yes, Followers you do have a role here!) it can create a far more satisfying dance on the whole, while at the same time generate a safer dancing environment for everyone involved. Today we look at Floorcraft 105 – Angling The Vocabulary and why it’s important.
What does “Angling The Vocabulary” mean ? In its simplest and most complex forms, it is exactly what it sounds like: You’re going to angle your vocabulary choices a bit towards the outer track at a 45-degree angle. That’s it. That’s all. So for instance, if you’re going to use an Argentine Cross, instead of launching it down the line of dance, which is typically what happens, you want to redirect it so that it goes off at a 45 degree angle against the lane of dance (See: the 7 Basic Moves of Tango detailed below for more information). However the places where this stuff takes on its true nature is not in the basic moves of Tango but in the specialty vocabulary of Argentine Tango! Specialty What ? Think: Volcada, Colgada, etc. These are the ‘Speciality’ Vocabulary choices (See below in the Lead’s Perspective for a more complete list). In these instances where the Follower is being led to do some craaaaaazy stuff, in these places, you want to angle these choices against the lane of dance, not the ‘line’ of dance, but the lane of your dancing. With the exception of the social variations of these piece of vocabulary which were actually designed to work within the lane of dance, their larger cousins were not.
Social Variations ? Think: Social Volcada, Social Colgada, Social Boleo, Milonguero Turns, Milonguero Ochos. If you’re not clear on those elements. Then you want to go visit each of the links above to get some more details on each. But when talking about Social Vocabulary, it was designed (by Tango Topics) specifically to work within the Line and Lane of dance with Floorcraft issues in mind! They’re perfect for what we call DIASS or Dancing in Small Space. However, their non-Social variations are NOT designed for DIASS and in those instances because they tend to take up ooodles of space and to be somewhat disruptive of the lane of dance that you’re in and can cause harm on multiple levels, we want to do make one small change to them, and that’s Angle Them so that they can do no one any harm in any way, shape, or form.
Why do you want to do this ? 3 Reasons. 1.) Because it allows for a safer dancing environment. 2.) It protects the Follower from getting stepped on by another Lead. 3.) It has the added benefit of opening up the door to create other options and opportunities that you wouldn’t ordinarily think of.