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Tag: close embrace

Dancing In A Small Space – Extended

Dancing In A Small Space is not without its challenges for a lot of dancers, space, obviously being chief among them. It doesn’t matter what role you’re dancing, you will still experience one, if not multiple, challenges. One common of those areas of concern is, for the Lead, keeping things small enough- at all times while at the same time not being repetitive (hence this post). As a side note, a Lead will tend towards compressing the embrace to ‘protect’ the Follower and may not realize that their version of an embrace is already compressive! So to them adding more compression with their hand or forearm to protect the Follower further, they’re completely aware that they’re adding compression, but what they’re unaware of is just how much compression is there to begin with! For the Follower, the reason that DIASS is challenging is the clear but obvious awareness that the floor is crowded and that they must keep things as tight as possible without injuring one’s self or any of the dancing couples around them. That means so that we’re clear: 1.) The Follower’s Molinete, and in specific their back step, must not go away from their Lead. 2.) The Follower’s Cross (The Argentine Cross), must be clean and small. 3.) Stability is absolutely crucial to your awareness of your surroundings. IF you’re wobbling all over the place, you’re fighting your stability and what not and are not aware of how much space you’re taking up! And that’s just the tip of the scary iceberg. God help you if you’re in BsAs for the first time, trying to dance at either Salon Canning, Villa Malcolm, El Beso…or the like. You’re going to be challenged in ways that this article will not mention but has mentioned in either our BsAs articles (seen here), or our other articles on Dancing In A Small Space.

All that said, there’s another challenge with Dancing In A Small Space, and that’s the “Lead’s Fallacy”. What’s that ? It’s where the Lead believes, erroneously so, that they can and should add much more vocabulary to keep the Follower interested, or to keep the Follower from being bored, or to seemingly elevate themselves to a better class of dancer. Not true. It is erroneous thinking that will not solve your problems in any way, shape, or form.

Truthfully you can dance the 5 Social Figures of Argentine Tango all night long and never feel a need to expand on it. It should be noted that usually adding more vocabulary is not necessarily a good thing. Ideally what needs to happen is a complete exploration of the variances of the vocabulary that you currently have access to. Again, not to sound like a broken record, this also means from a Leading perspective as well as a Following perspective. Which is to say: Understand what you’re doing. Explore Your Dance! This is also why it is absolutely crucial that the Lead and the Follower understand the Six Ways of Walking in all of their fabulous and wonderful permutations. There’s a reason why this site keeps advocating this idea, and that’s not only because it works, it’s because you could quite conceivably dance nothing but the Six Ways of Walking all night long with every partner and they’d never be bored, you’d never be bored, and you’d have near-infinite exploration of the dance! And then there’s the next layer, that’s adding the musical permutations that can be explored. Hundreds upon hundreds of vocabulary variations that you can think of and then some.

So unless these things are done then Today’s Tango Topic is absolutely pointless! That said, let’s dive into today’s topic of Dancing In A Small Space: The Extended Vocabulary Edition (EVE).

What is DIASS: EVE ? In short, this is a series of 8 pieces of tango vocabulary that tangotopics has identified to be used as accent or “spice” in addition to Five Social Figures (and its variations) as well as volume 1 and volume 2 of Dancing In A Small Space (DIASS) in Argentine Tango. The key component in the sentence here is ‘ACCENT’ or ‘SPICE’. Most of this stuff is a little flash, with the exception of #7 and #8, but aside from those things this stuff is purely to be used as more than a variation and as a singular usage at best. They should not be used as the repetitive movement over and over again so as to annoy one partner and one’s partner should not expect it, nor should it be required of them either!

This isn’t rocket science, it’s really simply in fact. ‘EVE’ as we’re calling it, is really just a conglomeration of vocabulary that you see everyday at Milongas that has been modified to fit within the line, and lane, of dance with one monster modification: They’re Smaller than their regular kissin’ cousins. The idea is to make this stuff fit inside the lane of dance, and fit inside the line of dance, and more importantly to take up no more space than the standing spot that you’re currently over. No stepping backwards (mostly). No breaking the line of dance. No exiting one’s lane. One must keep the ronda moving at all times. This is the Marathon/Encuentro/BsAs environment where things are packed tighter than a snail’s ass! In this environment things have to ‘fit’ precisely, otherwise blood or bones will be exposed and we don’t want that to happen…ever. To be fair, and while it was mentioned above, we’re mentioning it here in its definition as a reminder, do not attempt some of this stuff until you mastered walking cleanly, clearly, and without wobbling or needing your partner to walk. If you can’t walk backwards by yourself in a pair of 3 in heels without crossing over your natural body meridian or you can not walk (as a Lead) without crossing over the body’s natural meridian or supinating your feet to do so, then there are issues to say the least that need to be addressed.

Notation: When the “What is … ” section of an article is blue, that means that the article is freely available to registered, users. When the section is yellow, the article is still free, but the video is for paid users. 😉

What are in the Eight Pieces of Vocabulary in EVE ?

1.) – Follower’s Calecita. (All users) This is basically the Follower walking in Forward or Backsteps (although the latter is uncommon and some difficult to actually lead for a variety of reasons, most notably: habit) around their Lead. Calecitas can be done in Open or Close Embrace, but in this case because we’re talking about DIASS methodology, we’re talking in Close Embrace and making things very small and gradual for both roles. All users.

2.) – The Simple Sacada. (Freemium/Subscriber) The Simple Sacada can be done in Open or Close Embrace, but this is DIASS so we’re employing it here in small spaces as methodology to engage a turn. Which by the way has an interesting possible side effect where the Follower can be led to engage in a Milonguero Turn as a result instead of the resolution that you see above. The Tango Topics Subscriber sees both of these options in the full 22-Minute video. 🙂

3.) – Argentine Enganche/Wrap. (Subscriber Only) In North America we call this a ‘Wrap’. Where the Follower’s leg wraps between and around the Lead’s. The problem with these pieces of vocabulary are that they can go wildly wrong, mostly on the part of the Follower who is unconscious of their leg and what has to happen to it. 😉 And when we’re talking about DIASS methodology, that wrap has to be insanely tight, small, and fast. The Follower has to get in and out just as quickly.

4.) – Single Axis Turn. (Subscriber Only) Seemingly this piece of Tango vocabulary was made for DIASS methodology. Thankfully it takes up very little space. The only problem with it is its entry point, and a failure to engage the Mordita (the foot sandwich). A lot of Followers, and rightfully so, mistake the opening of the Single Axis Turn for a Volcada. Why ? That’s because they start out almost exactly the same way. And due to the prevalence of the Volcada over a Single Axis turn the Follower will mistakenly think “Ahh Volcada”, and thereby release their ‘free’ foot/leg and allow it to swing free. While this isn’t such a huge thing. It does impede the required centrifugal force that is generated by the turn itself. Thereby slowing down the turn.

5.) – Social Volcada. (Subscriber Only) Yes you can add a Volcada to DIASS. Should you ? That’s a completely different story. All we’ll say is this: Use. It. Sparingly. Like as in ONCE IN A BLUE MOON! There’s a reason why this entire topic is accent vocabulary and not the meat of the dance. This piece completely exemplifies it. Yes it’s loads of fun, and yes it’s cool. But to engage it as your goto move…not so much with that! That said, the SOCIAL Volcada is not an egregious one. Meaning it’s really small and fits within the line and lane of dance. It’s nothing more than a glorified argentine cross, that’s a bit more flashy. There are several examples of this piece of vocabulary here on Tango Topics, here’s just one of them:

Plays from YouTube. Pressing play connects you to YouTube. Privacy

6.) – Floating Cross. (Subscriber Only) Arguably on this list this one will create an enormous amount of confusion, because watching the floating cross, and doing/feeling the floating cross are two very different things. There is a tiny amount of ‘lilt’, and that lilt is the floating part. It’s a glorified Follower’s Back Cross, but it’s a back cross that takes its time.

7.) – Parallel System Rock Step. (Subscriber Only) The quintessential goto move for most Leads. They use it so often and with such frequency that you’d think that it was one of the 7 primary foundational moves. That’s not true of course. But still. This piece, when used properly and not overused (hint, hint, hint … remember this is accent vocabulary here), can create an interesting surprise for the Follower. At the same time the Follower has loads of options to play with Rock Step adornments and amagues, especially with the resolution. The two problems, as with all adornments and amagues is always a.) the Lead not rushing through X. and b.) time! The other problem with the Step Step/Resolution is that it is all too easy for this thing to violate the prime directive of DIASS. It can take up too much space! Oddly enough this particular Rock Step can lead (no pun intended) to the last item on this list….

8.) – Ocho Cortado. (Subscriber Only) THE goto move of most leads in DIASS, but oddly enough it was left out of the first 2 iterations but was included in the FIVE SOCIAL MOVES

When are Different Vocabulary Used and Why ?

In certain types of Tango Events one particular type of moves are used more often and more predominantly than others. The reason is that some types of vocabulary work best depending on the venue and the type of Tango being invoked or danced. For instance:

Weekly, Local Milonga ? All 8
Marathon? All 8
Festival or Mini-Festival ? All 8
Encuentro ? All but #1 & 3.
Buenos Aires ? It depends on the venue. But, all but #1,#3,#5. There’s no space for that noise.

About The Video. Total runtime for this video is: 25:55. This is a combined video format, lead and follow technique are mixed together.

October 10, 2019
Dancing In A Small Space – Addendum

(Important Notation: If you haven’t seen the Article/Video on “DIASS”, look at that first, otherwise this stuff isn’t going to make a whole lot of sense to you!)

Quite possibly you’ve been at a Milonga and the available space continues to decrease to the point that it feels cloistered, because of that you feel like you can’t do anything at all. What’s worse, whether you know it or not, due to this experience (from a leading perspective) you start to repeat the same things over and over again, and (from a following perspective) you feel like a record stuck on repeat. Not only is your vocabulary limited at this juncture, but your embrace becomes compressive, restrictive, and wholly uninviting.

There are a few reasons for this experience to occur, not the least of which is the Fear Of Hitting Someone or Something! And if you’re thinking of this stuff solely from a Leading perspective, think again. Fear happens for both roles, the more cloistered things become, the more disjointed and compressive the dance ‘devolves’ into. It is for this reason that we need to learn how to Dance In A Small Space (DIASS). Honestly, there are very few classes, workshops, and/or tutorials on this stuff. Which has to do with the fact that it’s because the topic is so wide and so incredibly vast that it almost seems like you shouldn’t bother in the first place. Nothing could be further from the truth! Factually speaking, very few teachers talk about this stuff for a few more reasons, because the topic takes into consideration Close Embrace, Close Embrace vocabulary, Navigation, Floorcraft, Musical Interpretation, and the Neurology of Leading, as well as the Experience of Following (which are not the same things by any stretch of the imagination). Tango Topics has already produced a video on this nebulous topic called, “Dancing In A Small Space”. Today’s Tango Topic video is an addendum to Dancing In A Small Space. That said, let’s dive right into Dancing In A Small Space (DIASS) – The Addendum Edition!

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First a reminder of What is “Dancing In A Small Space” (or ‘DIASS’ as Tango Topics refers to this idea) ! There are two parts to the answer to this question:

First, in it’s simplest form, it’s all about the vocabulary and engaging Five pieces of Tango vocabulary. The Five Pieces ?

1.) The 5 of the 6 Ways of Walking.
2.) Milonguero Ochos (sometimes referred to as ‘Lazy’ Ochos)
3.) Milonguero Turns (not the Follower’s Molinete).
4.) Back and Forward Crosses (not the Argentine variety, there’s no space!).
And 5.) Linear (and Circular) Ocho Cortados.

This is all done in Close Embrace. 🙂 You’re welcome.

Note that there are no Sacadas, Colgadas, Volcadas, Ganchos, Boloeos, or Death Drops and/or Drags. None. However, there are a whole bunch more pieces of Tango vocabulary that almost never get talked about, or thought of here, that can also be applied, such as Calesitas, Paradas (Step Over), Pasadas (Drags & Sweeps), ’Patter’ (sometimes referred to as ‘Pitter-Patter’), The Incrementals (see Golden Nugget Extensions), just to name a few.

Secondly, there’s the actual ‘Dancing’ part of the statement which is more about movement more than anything else. Said movement is done in a very confined space, no bigger than one-meter square if that. The people that practice this way of dancing, while they may not be conscious of it, there is a sincere desire to not to take up space, mostly because there isn’t any space to begin with. This is moving in a milonga environment really, where the distance between couples, on all sides, is no more than about the length of one hand (about 17 centimeters). So from the perspective of the Small Space Dancer, there is precious little space to ‘do’ anything at all due to the conditions of the Ronda, so as a result of this confinement, the dancing part is really about the minimal. Everything is done either around the lead, or the space that the couple currently occupies and does not extend beyond that space. Quite factually, depending on which city we’re in when dancing this way (Buenos Aires comes to mind), one would take up no more space than the space that one’s feet occupy at that moment in time, and no more than that, but without moving from that spot!

About The Video. This video comes in at 12m:01s in 8 sections in HD 1920×1060 resolution. Lead and Follower is combined and commingled, in both videos. This is NOT a technique video. For the technique on each of these topics, please see their respective areas linked in the text below.

Section 1 – Introduction – 00:00:26
Section 2 – Cross Body Incrementals – 00:00:37
Section 3 – Closed Sided Turn – 00:01:51
Section 4 – Close Side Turn Trick – 00:01:36
Section 5 – Media Luna – 00:01:47
Section 6 – Follower Reminder for DIASS – 00:00:37
Section 7 – Example of 4 Ideas – 00:01:48
Section 8 – The Wrap Up/Example – 00:02:55

December 21, 2017
Dancing In A Small Space – Primary

Dancing In A Small Space. You’re at a Milonga, early, and you have lots and lots of space to dance. There are a few couples dancing, and it feels so spacious to dance ‘freely’. As the night progresses, more and more people show up to the Milonga, and before you know it, there are more and more people on the floor, and about an hour or so later, there is hardly any room to move on the floor. And right about this point, the DJ is hitting their ‘stride’. This is the moment that you get annoyed, pissed really, that you can’t do what you want to do. You begin to cut your ideas short, you inadvertently bump into people, your partner has stepped on someone or so you think, elbows are seemingly everywhere, your choices musically become stilted, and on top of all of that, you feel claustrophobic. As a result, you change lanes out of the outer track of dance, hoping that that will be a little better. Everyone always wants to be in the outer track of dancing. A little while later, the same thing happens, you’re crowded again. You change lanes to the inner mob scene where it’s just chaos and no lane or line of dance, it’s just bodies moving in their own space and god help you if you survive. You step off the floor, and looking at the outer track of dancing and wonder, “How do they dance like that? All bunched up!” or “How is that pleasurable?”. What’s the ‘that’ ? Dancing In A Small Space!

What is a ‘Dancing In A Small Space’ ? There are two parts to the answer to this question:

Before we answer that question, there is a misperception that ‘Dancing In A Small Space‘ is strictly “Milonguero” Style of dancing. This is not the case at all. Whether you believe it or not, this is not necessarily a ‘style’ of dance. It’s a marketing term to address a series of ideas that fit under the umbrella of “Salon” dancing. Salon Dancing is vast umbrella that includes most of the styles of Argentine Tango that we’re most familiar with. Dancing In A Small Space is a practical concept that borrows heavily from all of those forms, not just one style. Whatever embrace you use or are comfortable with the ideas contained in this video series can be exceptionally helpful to you.

First, in it’s simplest form, it’s all about the vocabulary and engaging Five pieces of Tango vocabulary. The Five Pieces? 1.) 5 of the 6 Ways of Walking. 2.) Milonguero Ochos (sometimes referred to as ‘Lazy’ Ochos). 3.) Milonguero Turns (not the Follower’s Molinete). 4.) Back and Forward Crosses (not the Argentine Cross, there’s no space!). And 5.) Linear (and Circular) Ocho Cortados. This is all done in Close Embrace. Note that there are no Sacadas, Colgadas, Volcadas, Ganchos, Boloeos, or Death Drops and/or Drags. None. Not in typical sense. However it should be noted that the Social Vocabulary ideas can be interjected here: The Social Turns, The Single-Axis Turn, The Close Embrace Sacadas, etc. However, there are a whole bunch more pieces of Tango vocabulary that almost never get talked about, or thought of here, that can also be applied, such as Calesitas, Paradas (Step Over), Pasadas (Drags & Sweeps), ’Patter’ (sometimes referred to as ‘Pitter-Patter’), The Incrementals (see Golden Nugget Extensions), just to name a few.

Secondly, there’s the actual ‘Dancing’ part of the statement which is more about movement more than anything else. Said movement is done in a very confined space, no bigger than one-meter square, if that. The people that practice this way of dancing, are consciously aware of not taking any more space than is absolutely needed. This is dancing in very crowded milonga environment really, where the distance between couples, on all sides, is no more than about the length of one hand (about 17 centimeters, if that). So from the perspective of the Small Space Dancer, there is seemingly (operative word) precious little space to ‘do’ anything due to the conditions of the ronda, so as a result of this seeming confinement, the dancing part is really about the minimal. Everything is done either around the lead, or the space that the couple currently occupies and does not extend beyond that space. Quite factually, one would take up no more space than the space that one’s feet occupy at that moment in time, and no more than that, but without moving from that spot!

The Biggest Problem! Is perception. How’s that ? A frequent problem that crops up for a lot of people is that they think or believe that the only way to make this stuff work is by pulling their partner into them with their arms, and to go one step further by holding their partner very still, trying to steady their partner, and compressing even more. There’s lots of tension, pressure, and compression.

This is not true. You do not need to hold on tight to your partner in order to make this stuff work. Truth be told the solution to making Dancing In A Small Space function is actually all about body placement and in specific foot placement and weight distribution. Place these things in the right position and you’re good to go. Put them in less than optimal positions and you’re quite literally screwed and end up squeezing the living daylights out of your partners!

Let’s Talk About Fear. The other side of the perception problem is the reality that Dancing In A Small Space is going to freak you out! You’re going to be afraid of X, whatever X may be. Mostly because it’s unfamiliar to you. Most leads lose their collective minds when they have to navigate at a crowded Milonga. They’d rather sit than have to step all over someone’s feet or stumbling and bumbling here and there and apologizing everywhere. So rather than dance to their favorite Di Sarli or De Caro, they’ll sit out and wait for the floor to clear a bit. Followers have a slightly different bend on fear, it’s the fear of stepping on someone’s feet, and not necessarily their partners. It’s OTHER people’s feet. Why ? Because they know they’re in 3 in heels and those things are like lethal weapons on their own. One good ‘stomp’ and that’s someone’s night right there at a hospital emergency room!

Confusion & Consternation. In one respect YouTube has been the biggest boon to Argentine Tango in the last 50 years since Petroleo came along. And that’s because of the proliferation of everyone’s sharing of their ideas of the form, there are way too many notable examples of Tango on youtube to name here. However, the less than desirable is that when you see dancing on YouTube, it is very infrequently actual social dancing. It’s a performance. So the belief or idea in your head when you watch X, Y, and Z performance is that what you’re seeing should be doable on a social dance floor. The reality is that most of that stuff is a.) under certain conditions. and b.) if and only if you drop the egregiousness of the movements themselves. Further still is that fact that what you’re seeing IS A PERFORMANCE, not actual social dancing. Whether you realize it or not, you’re being fooled into seeing that things work on a social dance floor. Yes they work when there’s lots of space, however…when there’s loads of people on the floor and you have no more than a few centimeters between yourself and the next couple ? Not so much with that! Which is to say that, more than likely the performance-y side of what you’re seeing does not work on a crowded dance floor because there’s no space for that stuff. Not now, not ever.

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How Do You Dance In A Small Space ? Carefully. Which is easier written/said, than actually done.

To be clear this is not an easy practice to learn. There are precious few teachers or dancers that talk about this stuff. Occasionally you’ll find a random class on the subject, at a workshop weekend, or a tango festival but for the most part the people that dance the principles of Dancing In A Small Space, divided up into it’s component elemental vocabulary. It is only during those vocabulary sessions that the thought of how to make things smaller, tighter, much more confined is left up to the instructor to ‘mention’, and that’s assuming that they mention this stuff at all. Usually, they don’t. And so that we’re clear here, this statement or descriptive is not to disparage anyone’s teaching or a specific teacher in any way, shape, or form. Some teachers have a full load and a lot on their minds and this stuff is way down on their list of things to remind you about. Hence this video series. Further down the rabbit hole of ‘Carefully’, while there are very few teachers that talk about this stuff, there are even fewer resources that can be used to practice this stuff. You would think that practicing this stuff in the line of dance would be a good place. And it is to a degree, however, a Milonga is not practice, that’s what a ‘Practica’ is for. A Milonga can be a good experience, but it’s no substitute for actual practicing of the guiding principles of Dancing In A Small Space.

The How Part:

1.) Smaller. You would think that just making things smaller would help. It does to a degree. Yes, learning to confine and control one’s body in the execution of X, Y, and/or Z is absolutely crucial. Truthfully the thing that makes this stuff work, is not necessarily about the vocabulary used, but rather about the length of the steps taken, and just how judicious one can be with not only one’s feet, but rather one’s legs!

2.) Economy. Honestly this is about an economy of motion. Typically on a social dance floor you have the freedom to move and do whatever you want, and take up oodles of space to do it. However, when under the conditions of Dancing In A Small Space, you must look for other ways to do exactly the same thing, but without taking up space to do it. Enter – The Economy of Motion. Why take 5 steps when 1 will do ? Why move forward when there’s no reason to do so, especially when there’s no space to move forward ? Under these conditions one must learn to utilize the space that one has, and work in the minimal. Exceptionally minimal.

3.) Solo Practice. The reality of Dancing In A Small Space is that it doesn’t just ‘happen’. Not by a long shot. This stuff takes time and patience to get, and so that we’re clear about this one, not at a Milonga! Practice in this case is actually spent in private practice working by one’s self, on one’s execution of one’s technique. This is really about conditioning one’s body to respond in a very specific way, on command. And like it or not there’s only one way to do that: Solo Practice.

4.) Private Practice with Tools. You’re going to ask yourself, once you feel like you’ve done the Solo practice execution thing to death, what and how do you actually practice with another person in the embrace ? There are a few exercises that one can train one’s self to do be able to respond to Dancing In A Small Space. There are several ideas laid out in the video above, so you’ll have to see the video to get an idea of what’s there in terms of ideas. But one simple idea is working on making things economical and small, without sacrificing the quality of motion, or form, or speed of what you would normally do. However, this is about conditioning so there are limits that must be place on the dancer so that they learn to mitigate these things, without sacrificing anything. That’s the trick right there.

About The Video. This video comes in at two parts: Section 1 on the Vocabulary of Small Space Dancing is 22m:46s in length in 11 Sub-Sections. Section 2 is on the How Part of Small Space Dancing and is 13m:49s in 2 Sections. Lead and Follower is combined and commingled, in both videos. This is NOT a technique video. For the technique on each of these topics, please see their respective areas linked in the text below.

Section 1 – The Vocabulary

Sub-Section 1 – Introduction – 00:02:14
Sub-Section 2 – The Walking Turn – 6 Ways of Walking – 00:02:00
Sub-Section 3 – The Milonguero Turn – 00:01:40
Sub-Section 4 – The Linear Ocho Cortado – 00:02:38
Sub-Section 5 – Ideas In Context (Example) – 00:00:38
Sub-Section 6 – Calesita – 00:00:30
Sub-Section 7 – Circular Patter (with Example) – 00:02:25 [seen above]
Sub-Section 8 – Linear Patter (with Example) – 00:02:29
Sub-Section 9 – Ideas In Context Part 2 – 00:00:58
Sub-Section 10 – Back Crosses – 00:00:31
Sub-Section 11 – A Few Exercises – 00:05:44

Section 2 – The How Part

Sub-Section 1 – The Example Idea – 00:05:41
Sub-Section 2 – Resetting The Couple – 00:07:58

October 5, 2017
Five Social Figures Variations – DIASS Edition

Dancing In A Small Space. Typically the idea of dancing within a confined or restricted space is a fearful one for the inexperienced Lead or Follower. Most of that fear exists in either hitting something or someone, or not being able to contain or control what one is doing. So when things in the line of dance get really confined some people get really nervous, and they can’t think outside the box that they’ve put themselves into. The idea of dancing in this environment plays it’s out in a few places, either a crowded local milonga during a special event like a live orchestra, or at a Marathon, an Encuentro (in Europe, not in the United States), or at any Milonga in Buenos Aries. Tango Topics has defined this idea before of what that means and issued two (actually 3, and now 4) videos on the subject of Dancing In A Small Space which we call “DIASS” for short. Today we further the ‘DIASS’ idea a bit by adding a few variations to a theme. The theme being the Five Common Social Figures or the 5 things that we do constantly on at Milonga within the line and lane of dance. Those Five Common Social Figures are as follows:

1.) Walking.
2.) Ochos.
3.) Turns.
4.) Crosses.
5.) Cortados.

To be clear, as there’s a lot of room for interpretation in what those five things actually mean. So let’s clear that up right now:

1.) Walking. Means that we’re engaging only 1 (Parallel System on 2 Tracks) of the 6 Ways of Walking as a foundation of movement.

2.) Ochos. Typically the idea of Ochos engages 2 of the possible 8 types of Ochos > The ‘Lazy’ or Milonguero Ocho or the Traveling Ocho (Forward or Back).

3.) Turns. Turns in Argentine Tango refers to 2 of the possible 8 types of Turns that are commonly used in Argentine Tango. The Follower’s Molinete to the Lead’s Giro, and The Milonguero Turn.

4.) Crosses. Usually when we’re talking about Crosses, we commonly only refer to one type of cross. However, there are in fact multiple variations and several types of Crosses. In this instance we’re only referring to 1 out of 256 types of Argentine Crosses – The common or Normal Cross.

5.) Cortado. In most people’s minds there is only one type of Cortado. However, if you’ve been following this site for some time, you’ll note that’s not the case. In this instance, we’re only referring to the Linear Ocho Cortado from the Closed Side of the Embrace.

These are the Five Social Figures. For more detail on the subject, please go look at the full video in the tangotopics archive.

Using these five figures as a foundation we can create numerous variations on a theme that work with in the line and lane of dance. Those ‘variations on a theme’ are the foundation of this video which are Five Social Figures Variations that we’re exploring today in today’s Tango Topic.

First a reminder of What is “Dancing In A Small Space” (or ‘DIASS’ as Tango Topics refers to this idea) ! There are two parts to the answer to this question:

First, in it’s simplest form, it’s all about the vocabulary and engaging Five pieces of Tango vocabulary. The Five Pieces ? 1.) The 5 of the 6 Ways of Walking. 2.) Milonguero Ochos (sometimes referred to as ‘Lazy’ Ochos)3.) Milonguero Turns (not the Follower’s Molinete). 4.) Back and Forward Crosses (not the Argentine variety, there’s no space!). And 5.) Linear (and Circular) Ocho Cortados. This is all done in Close Embrace. Note that there are no Sacadas, Colgadas, Volcadas, Ganchos, Boloeos, or Death Drops and/or Drags. None. However, there are a whole bunch more pieces of Tango vocabulary that almost never get talked about, or thought of here, that can also be applied, such as Calesitas, Paradas (Step Over), Pasadas (Drags & Sweeps), ’Patter’ (sometimes referred to as ‘Pitter-Patter’), The Incrementals (see Golden Nugget Extensions), just to name a few.

Secondly, there’s the actual ‘Dancing’ part of the statement which is more about movement more than anything else. Said movement is done in a very confined space, no bigger than one meter square, if that. The people that practice this way of dancing, while they may not be conscious of it, there is a sincere desire to not to take up space, mostly because there isn’t any space to begin with. This is moving in milonga environment really, where the distance between couples, on all sides, is no more than about the length of one hand (about 17 centimeters). So from the perspective of the Small Space Dancer, there is precious little space to ‘do’ anything at all due to the conditions of the ronda, so as a result of this confinement, the dancing part is really about the minimal. Everything is done either around the lead, or the space that the couple current occupies and does not extend beyond that space. Quite factually, depending on which city we’re in when dancing this way (Buenos Aires comes to mind), one would take up no more space than the space that one’s feet occupy at that moment in time, and no more than that, but without moving from that spot!

February 10, 2020
4 Social Dancing Tools

Argentine Tango consists of 3 steps, and only 3 steps: Your Left and Your Right. The 3rd is the Weight Change! 🙂 Another way that people talk about Tango’s steps is to say that the there are only 3 steps: Forward, Side, and Back. Either way you look at it, at some point, usually with the music, the dancers move from position to position via some kind of walking. The are 2 common walking systems in Argentine Tango: 1.) Parallel System Walking and 2.) Cross System Walking. In Parallel Walking, which is sometimes referred to as “Opposite Foot” walking, whereby the Lead steps into the Follower’s Walking paths with the Opposite Foot. For instance if the Lead steps with their Left, the Follower will extend with their Right, and so on. As Tango has grown, developed, and changed, while Parallel system is used as a good tool to get people up and dancing, the star of the show has always been Cross System Walking and Vocabulary. In today’s topic we’re talking about 4 Common Social Dancing Tools that use Parallel Walking as the entry point and NOT Cross System. Meaning ? We’ll start out using Parallel Walking system and then focus on the Transition point on the way to Four very common pieces of Tango vocabulary. So without further adieu, Tango Topics presents the Four Social Dancing Tools.

What are the ‘Four Social Dancing Tools’ ? First, what is a ‘tool’ as we’re defining it here ? A tool is a commonly used element that, and really it’s a transition from one thing to the next, that we use ubiquitously and don’t really pay a lot of attention to because it’s a stepping stone to the really cool thing we have in our minds. This is a tool. It’s the thing we use to make something else. Think of it as a Foundation, or a maker tool. A tool to make other things. And in this case, the Four Social Dancing Tools are maker tools with lots and lots and lots of variation built into them. 😉

These tools are the meat and potatoes of Social Dancing on the whole. While the cool vocabulary (think: Colgada, Volcada, Sacada, Gancho, Boleo, etc) is … ummmm … flashy, this stuff, the Four Social Dancing Tools that are sitting around them, or leading up to them and from them, is where the entire dance is at. Think of it this way, if you remove all the cool, flashy vocab from your dance, what’s left ? The Four Social Dancing Tools!

At the same time, those Four Social Dancing Tools, are really about the Transition points between going from Parallel Walking System to Cross System, most of the time. It should be noted that the Transition point is usually a point of inflection for a lot of dancers. Meaning ? It’s the point where most people have issues. By example the transition is usually where an in/experienced Lead will do one of several things, if not altogether, to get from point a to point b. 1.) They’ll compress the embrace (squeeze their Followers into them with their right forearm to hold them in place or to keep them close). 2.) They’ll rush their Followers and push them from position to position. 3.) They’ll haphazardly invoke leads to do X, Y, and Z, and not complete or follow through on the vocabulary, thinking that the Follower will just ‘get it’ and complete the half-thought that was invoked.

The Four Social Dancing Tools are:

Type 1: Parallel Walking > Milonguero Ochos
Type 2: Parallel Walking > Milonguero Turns
Type 3: Parallel Walking > Traveling Ochos
Type 4: Parallel Walking > Follower’s Molinete

Why Do You Need This Stuff ? Foundation, Foundation, Foundation. That’s why. Or put another way, because these tools work the foundation in a really good way, by breaking them down to their component elements. No one wants to admit that they need help. That their dance isn’t stellar. Furthermore you really don’t know that your dancing skills aren’t absolutely amazing until you see a room full of people all dancing way better than you are. There’s a reason those people have achieved ‘better’. It’s doing work like what you see in the video above. Being able to turn this stuff on and off as if it were a switch. A good portion of the time when we’re dancing we only think about the ‘cool’ toys in our dancing and we neglect the one thing that makes those cool toys possible: Our Foundation. That is, in case you’re not paying attention, this video series and others like it. By employing these four commonly used social dancing elements as your Foundation we work on the underlying elements as well, trying to make them cleaner, sharper, crisper, and that much more fluid. This isn’t about perfection, so get that thought right out of your head, but rather about making our dance flow more freely. There’s knowing the steps of a sequence, and then there’s dancing, and these are not the same things. You can know the steps, but dancing is a whole different thing. These four things can help with that process of ‘dancing’. Dancing does not happen on it’s own. It takes years of practice to create the seamless, flow, and fluidity that you see some dancers exhibit. Seemingly creating something out of nothing and wondering how that was done. These Four Social Dancing Tools are how that was done. By focusing on the foundational elements in each! So if you want your dance to improve, it’s not the fancy vocabulary. It’s make the stuff that surrounds it stellar! This is that ‘stuff’ that surrounds the fancy vocab!

About The Video. This video comes in a combined 50m:37s in length in 4 sections. There is no Lead or Follower Technique explained in this video at all.

Type 1: Parallel Walking > Milonguero Ochos (00:12:33)
Type 2: Parallel Walking > Milonguero Turns (00:13:55)
Type 3: Parallel Walking > Traveling Ochos (00:12:42)
Type 4: Parallel Walking > Follower’s Molinete (00:11:27)

February 6, 2019
Walking Systems

In today’s Tango world when we talk about the foundations of Tango, we talk about “how” to walk. Or actually the mechanics of how we walk, how we extend our legs, what happens to the knees, what happens to the ankles, what happens to the feet, and how we land our feet as a Lead or as a Follow. These things are vitally important as to how to move efficiently, effectively, and with ease. Suffice it said that these things, the how-we-do parts are a matter of opinion in some cases, an informed opinion in others, and still this stuff is not a settled issue at this point almost 100 years on going forward. The reason we mention these things is because this video is not about how to walk, or how to land your foot, or even how to extend your leg. But rather it’s about the different ways, 18 in fact, in which we walk in regards to Tango. And these things are insanely important for two reasons as it relates to Argentine Tango: 1.) Because these 18 ideas are the foundation of everything that you will ever do with regards to tango. They’re the step into and out of every piece of vocabulary. 2.) These 18 ideas are very nature of versatility and really they’re the foundation of improvisation! If you study and practice these ideas to the point of mindful repetition, then you will have the ability that we all seek: Improvisation. That’s not a sales boast to get you to register. That’s a fact. These 18 ideas comprise the pathway that we all seek as Leads or as Follows, to inspire, enhance, and generate a creative interpretation of the Music, or to improvise to any piece of music regardless of genre, or partner, using nothing more than forward steps and back steps! That said, let’s dive into what Tango Topics calls “Walking Systems for 2019“.

What are Walking Systems ? These are the many different ways that we can walk in Argentine Tango. Not the how-we-walk but the multiple methods to the ways in which we might want to walk, first canonized by Gustavo Naveira & Fabian Salas, and then expanded upon here for your edification. The ideas comprise a composite or overall vantage point that no matter what situation one is in, there is a walking solution for that situation. One example of this is the Walking Turn. Most Leads, when they hit an obstacle in their pathway, will invoke a Rock Step as a way to solve that problem. It’s their go-to move. A Walking Turn on the other hand, is another more creative way to solve the same problem while at the same time creates far more options and opportunities for both roles to engage in musically as well as from a vocabulary perspective and a navigational perspective. Tango Topics Walking Systems provide a way into any situation and any number of ways out of a situation that does not include a piece of specialty vocabulary (Volcada, Sacada, Colgada, Parada, Pasada, Boleo, Gancho, Calesita, Rock Step/Resolution, Single Axis Turn, etc) as a possible resolution, or for that matter any of the 7 of the 8 Types of Ochos, OR any of the 8 Types of Turns, or for that matter an Argentine Cross as a potential resolution! No. Walking Systems are the Resolution! They’re the solution to each and every issue that you can come up with. Not to mention they also solve an age old problem for most Leads, “What do I do next ?”. Walking Systems is one of the simplest yet most powerful answers to that question! Because not only do Walking Systems answer the question they go far beyond it!

Years ago when Gustavo and Fabian came up with a way of describing Walking Systems, as they pertain to Argentine Tango, it was a way of systemizing or standardization of the dance. Meaning that if you could look at something and describe what was happening with a simple phrase, then you could also repeat it and build on it! Those standardizations became what we now know today as the two predominant ways in which we talk about Tango Vocabulary and the dance as a whole: Either a piece of vocabulary is done in Parallel System, or Cross System.

Tango Topics Walking Systems for 2019 encompasses these two primary ideas and adds a bit more to them each, and then goes far beyond them to encompass 4 other ideas which on the surface may appear to not be one or the other, but in reality is both at the same time as you’ll see especially when you get to the section on “Alternates”!!!

Walking Systems expands on these ideas by using Orientation changes, Changes of the Embrace, and lastly a completely new idea (for some of you) that almost never gets talked about but is in fact quite revolutionary in our opinion!

These are Walking Systems for 2019 going forward as Tango Topics sees them.

Why do you need this stuff ? Think of Walking Systems as what you do AFTER you’ve learned the foundations of how one walks as a Lead or Follow. Walking Systems are what you can do with that walk. Hence the ‘ideas’ part above. Another reason why you need this topic in your understanding of Tango is Versatility. And still, another is, and a longer answer, Improvisation. The fact is that you could do worse by just studying this stuff alone. If you did nothing else except studying walking and walking systems, you’d already be ahead of the game but the reality is that most people study the mechanics of walking for about 5 minutes and then move on to the vocabulary that they see everyone else doing, Ochos, Turns, Crosses, and then the specialty vocabulary which is studying all the crazy stuff they think that Followers want so that their Follower’s don’t become bored (Volcadas, Colgadas, etc). This is commonly known as Lead Mindset. This mindset a false belief system that, erroneously, believes that the Lead must perform all sorts of vocabulary and have a dizzying array of said vocabulary that will keep the Follower entertained in the course of dancing with said Lead. This is, of course, not true but no one wants to hear that fact.

Versatility means that these 18 ideas by themselves are just that, ideas. Implying that on their own they’re not going to do much for you. However, when you place one idea behind another and continually swap them out for the next, something very interesting begins to occur: Facility. You begin to have ease, a comfort with exploring the “What If…” realm. At the same time when you put them together, they can form an entire dance all on their own without doing anything else! We know, we’ve spent entire nights doing nothing but these ideas just to prove a point to see how successful or interesting this stuff can get. Versatility means that as a Lead, or as a Follow, you become so conversant with these ideas that variations of these ideas start to emerge on their own! And there are more here that we haven’t even begun to touch on.

Now to the longer answer, is that while no one has said anything about how to put things together, meaning that a Lead must choreograph an entire song on the fly right from the moment they step on the floor. That ‘choreography’ has to come from somewhere, right ? One place it could come from is steps, patterns, and figures. There is a certain comfort in employing steps, patterns, and figures. It gives one a false sense of competency. The real test comes when you run out of figures to employ, lest you repeat one’s self (which we do not want to do), and then you’re stuck with the problem you had when you started. What do next ?!?!?!? Again, you’ve run out of figures and you don’t want to repeat yourself. And this is where Walking Systems comes into play. They replace the need to invoke figures. Completely. It should be noted that another problem with the steps/patterns/figures solution is that somewhere about 10th or 15th figure, and after you’ve danced with every Potential Partner in the room, they all have your number and what you’re capable of doing! Further still is that in order to keep yourself from being ‘stale’ you absolutely must learn new material constantly and pepper in an ever-dizzying array to one-up yourself. How do you spell work ? We spell it “steps, patterns, and figures”. Which is to say, “Not so much with that idea!”.

Improvisation refers to two things: 1.) It refers to creation on the fly of singular or individual steps not a group or pattern of steps or figures but nothing more than walking forwards or backward. But it’s how you do that, hence the walking systems themselves which creates variety. 2.) It refers to the musical interpretation of one note for one step. Which gives you greater levels of granular control over what you’re doing in a dizzying array of possibilities.

The Walking Systems

Before we get into the systems themselves, it’s important to recognize that we walk on paths or ‘tracks’. Meaning that our feet (ankles, and 1st metatarsals) pass very close to each other (slide next to). This is known as “passing through collection”. These tracks do not cross over each other except in very specific circumstances. Think of train tracks, that are very close to each other. Typically there are 2 tracks of walking paths, sometimes there are 3, and sometimes there are 4. Sometimes, as you’ll see, their “Orientation” changes, meaning that in order for some of this stuff to work, either the Lead or the Follower must change their orientation towards or away from their partner in the line of dance. And sometimes that orientation change may invoke an embrace change. That said, on to the Walking Systems:

1.) Parallel System. This walking tool comes in 3 flavors, 1 of which we use all the time. It is the staple of the dance. This system is walking with a partner using opposite feet.

Example: If Follower is led to step backward with their Right leg/foot, the Lead steps into that space that has been vacated with their Left leg/foot, and then continue on with the Lead stepping with their Right leg/foot into the space that Follower just vacated with their Left leg/foot.

This walking system can be done on 2 or 4 tracks without an orientation change and is done without crossing over the body’s natural meridian. As well as on 2, 3, or 4 tracks with an orientation change. However, in the case of 3 or 4 track, these variations can only be achieved by changing the position or orientation of the Follower by use of an “Americana” Embrace either to place the Follower to the side of the Lead or directly in front of the Lead!

The 3 flavors of Parallel Walking are:

Type 1a – 2 Track Parallel walking (with and without an orientation change).
Type 1b – 3 Track Parallel with an orientation change. And
Type 1c – 4 Track walking with and without an orientation change.

2.) Cross System. This complex walking tool comes in 3 flavors, as well as 3 different types of entry variations, and 2 different exit variations. This system is walking with a partner uses the same feet.

Example: If the Lead steps with their Left leg/foot, the Follower is led to step with their corresponding Left leg/foot, and then continues on with the Lead stepping with their Right leg/foot, and the Follower stepping with their Right leg/foot at the same time.

This walking system can be done on 3 or 4 tracks walking without an orientation change (not shown in the video above), and 2, 3, or 4 tracks with an orientation change. 2, 3, or 4 track these variations must use an “Americana” embrace format either to place the Follower to the side of the Lead, or directly in front of the Lead!

The Two Flavors of Cross System Walking are:

Type 2a – 3 Track Walking without an orientation change using 1 of the 3 entry methods below.
Type 2b – 4 Track Walking with an orientation change.

3 Types of Entry Points to Cross System:

a.) Step/Half-Step. (see video) This method can only be used while in motion walking down the line of dance.
b.) Weight-Change/Step. (see video) This method can only be used from a standing position and is ideally used or invoked from one of the 5 Musical Pause types.
c.) Cross Behind Method. (see video) This method is used as the ‘flashy’ version and can be used from a standing position or while in motion.

2 Different Exits from Cross System:

a.) Step/Half-Step. (see video) In this method, the half-step is on the same side that you entered on with step/half-step.
b.) Inverse Half-Step Method. (see video) In this method, the half-step is on the opposite side of the foot that you entered on with step/half-step.

3.) ‘Lazy’ Ochos. This walking tool comes in 2 flavors, the common Follower’s version, and the less common Lead version. This walking tool is where the Follower (or Lead, self-lead’s themselves) is led to stepping across their natural body meridian with each step.

Example: If the Lead steps with their Right, the Follower is led to step with their Right diagonally across their body meridian at a 45-degree pathway angle, while keeping the foot in alignment with the floorboards and not allowing the hips to rotate in any way, shape, or form.

All 3 types of entry points and both exit types can be used with ‘Lazy’ Ochos. It should be noted that Lazy (sometimes referred as to Milonguero Ochos) are both a Walking System and an Ocho in their own right.

Type 3a – “Lazy” Follower Ochos.
Type 3b – “Lazy” Lead Ochos.

Surely that’s not all the walking systems, right ? You’re right. It’s not. This is just a taste. 😉 An informed tease. Nothing has been left out of this first 22 minutes of video, including footwork. However, the thing we did leave out was the other ELEVEN walking systems! If you want to read about the other walking ideas, and see examples of them, especially the Type 6 Walking System, which in our opinion is the Bee’s Knees, then you’ll need to register as a Freemium User which costs nothing and you get to read about the other eleven Walking Systems for 2019! If you want to go one step further, no pun intended, and actually Subscribe to Tango Topics, meaning to spend a few dollars/euros/rubles/pesos…then you can see the entire 1hr and 22-minute video on Walking Systems as Tango Topics sees it! Plus you get access to over 400 videos on a wide range of topics and techniques. What have you got to lose ?

June 7, 2019
Five Social Figures

You’ve been dancing a while, and as you’ve become more and more proficient with the dance, something begins to dawn on you. And this ‘something’ happens for both roles but it’s not immediate. It only happens after you’ve gotten over the learning hump that happens for us all. And then started the refinement hump. It’s near the end of that second phase of the learning curve that this realization occurs. As a side note, not everyone comes to this realization. Some people in fact, never come to it. They’re still stuck in the perpetual cycle of “More IS Better”. Meaning more vocabulary is better. It’s not by the way, but no matter how often you share this stuff with them, no matter how many times you tell them “Less is more”, they can not and will not see that. Uuuuuugh. Assuming that they start the third phase of their development, understanding the music…not learning it, but understanding it, it is generally about this point in time where the realization occurs.

In case you’re not clear on the Four Phases of Tango Development:

Phase 1 is Learning the Vocabulary and the Codigos of the Dance for the Milonga Environment.

Phase 2 is the Refinements of Phase 1, meaning that you’re in a state of constant refinement of the abilities and techniques of the Vocabulary employed.

Phase 3 is the Musical Understanding of the Dance. This is not learning the music of the dance. That happens in Phases 1 & 2 to a limited degree. And in that case it’s more becoming familiar with the music because it’s played so often, but not really paying a whole lot of attention to it. Phase 3 is where we start to get serious about the orchestras, the structure of the music, the origins of the music, and start to hear the nuances of the music. That last part will go on a long, long, long time even after we’ve passed into the next and last Phase of our development.

Phase 4 is the Social Dancer is Born.

To be honest, some people…ok, MOST people skip Phase 3 entirely and graduate to being a Social Dancer without ever having done their musical homework. At the same time Phase 2 (Refinement) and Phase 3 (Musical Understanding) is not necessarily predicated on each other. They can, and sometimes do, happen concurrently with each other, and very rarely does Phase 3 happen in Phase 1. Just as a side note, with our Intensive Study program this actually does happen and quite frequently. They’re not mutually inclusive.

Today’s Tango Topic is that realization that occurs at near about the end of Phase 2 and/or somewhere in Phase 3. It’s one that we have referenced sporadically in our writings that we’ve sometimes called “Four Common Figures” or “Four Social Dancing Tools” or something very similar. When we stopped and thought about it, it was no longer 4 but in fact 5. It’s really 6, but the 6th is implied and not really a figure, but it’s always there and has a distinct bearing on the other 5!

So what on earth is this mysterious ‘thing’ that we’ve referenced so sporadically and we haven’t mentioned until this sentence ? Today’s Tango Topic is the title of the video: Five Social Figures.

What are the Five Social Figures ? In its really basic form, it’s the 5 things that we do all night long with every dance partner. We do these things so often and with such ubiquity that we don’t even consider that we’re doing them or the implications they have for what we’re doing with them, musically or from a floorcraft perspective. The five are detailed below but they are in order of precedence: 1.) Walking. 2.) Ochos. 3.) Turns. 4.) Crosses. & 5.) The Cortado. You can stop reading here, but we can tell you that the vocabulary we just mentioned is kinda barebones and just scratches the surface. And there’s a sort of a gotcha that’s waiting for you near the end of all of this. So you can skip to the end now and read the gotcha, or read on through.

Why Do You Need This Stuff ? Several reasons. First and foremost, your foundation! Honestly, this should come as a no surprise to you, but if you’re studying with anyone, you’ll notice that they continually take you ‘back’ to 4 simple things: Forward Steps, Side Steps, Back Steps, and your embrace. Because these four things are the foundation of the dance. Embedded in those four things are a host of other things that you are more than likely lacking or you have forgotten about. And it’s those 4 things that are continually screwing up your ability to dance the way you want to dance. So it’s not rocket science what we’re on about here. It’s simple foundational stuff. Which, the deeper you go, you realize isn’t so simple and is in fact far more complex than you thought or you understood. The simpler things appear, the more difficult they are in certain situations, this is one of them. Secondly, this is about understanding your vocabulary and not just from a Leading perspective, but also how it’s received by the Follower, thereby the Follower’s perspective. How it’s understood and why things happen or progress as they do. The issue here is assumptions and lots of them. We want to eradicate those assumptions and make absolutely clear why things happen. And the only way to do that is to remove the assumptions completely. Still, another reason why this stuff is important has everything to do with something that we vehemently and passionately believe in: Facility. Facility, in this case, means the ability to do X, Y, or Z. The Five Social Figures affects your underlying Facility to execute whatever you want to dance, in whatever way or to whatever style or genre of music from a Leading OR Following perspective. It effects Every. Single. Part of the dance! Everything. Facility also means the ability to execute what you desire and WHEN you desire it. Tango vocabulary (Ochos, Crosses, Sacadas, Volcadas, etc) is great, but if you can’t execute that stuff in time to the music, it kinda falls flat. So…ummm yeah, FACILITY! Want one more ? Variations! Let’s roll back the article a bit. Remember we reminded you that you dance the same things over and over and over again ? Dancing Symmetrically opens up loads of options and opportunities for you that more than likely didn’t see. For example: Playing with a Mirror Cross opens up the possibility of leading the Follower to a forward step to the Open Side of the Embrace, which only happens … ummm … NEVER! Gosh, have you thought of what do after that ? Well, here’s an opportunity to do precisely that. Discover the possibilities! And that’s all based on taking that one extra step and resolving differently. There are LOADS more of these things. All of your preconceived notions of what you think the dance is about all changes. And change, whether you believe it or not, is a very good thing. So yeah, you need this stuff.

April 11, 2019
Close Embrace Sacadas

When we’re first starting out with Tango, both roles see the idea of a sacada as cool, flashy, or impressive. And they are until you realize one simple, but immutable, fact: They’re illusions…of walking technique. The Sacada happens due to an intersection of the Follower’s walk into the Lead’s or vice versa. At the same time, the Sacada is usually relegated to something that is done in open embrace and/or thought of as ’nuevo tango’ vocabulary. You can thank Gustavo Naivera, Fabian Salas, and later on “Chicho” for that one. The Sacada was around long before those three came onto the scene. It just so happens that they made it very popular. One aspect of the Sacada is while they are typically done in open embrace because of the space needed for them and certain variations of them. There is a version of them that is purely for Close Embrace, hence today’s topic: The Close Embrace Sacada!

What is a Close Embrace Sacada ? It is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a Sacada that’s done from Close Embrace. It’s a controlled displacement where either the Lead or the Follower’s leg will be displaced in a very controlled and refined way. Typically the Close Embrace Sacada is done from the Lead onto the Follower, typically.

From a Dancing Perspective, the Close Embrace Sacada looks intimate, intricate, and above all else, very hot. No doubt about it. Done right, it screams “WOW”. Done poorly, and well…not so much with that. And that’s exactly what happens most of the time. The intent is there but the execution is poor. So we end up missing the whole effect. Either the intersecting step (lead or follow) was too shallow, too deep, or missed entirely. All of which happen quite frequently. It is only with time and patience, and a lot of practice that we ‘learn’ through trial and error (more error than trial) to execute with precision the a Close Embrace Sacada. To be clear, this variant of Sacadas require precision control, precise intent, and precision execution. To alleviate this problem of precision, you’ll see a lot of Leads (and some Followers) quite honestly watch the feet of themselves and their partners (I make this mistake myself from time to time especially on over-rotated back sacadas). This is a major no-no! It breaks the illusion! This is where we talk about one of my favorite topics that almost no teacher talks about – Proprioception from a Tango Perspective. What’s that ? It’s the ability to sense where your partner is in space and time WITHOUT looking! This is not something that you just learn and it happens. There is no class on this stuff. It is a skill that you build through time, with time, with lots and lots and lots of trial and error. Unfortunately that ‘error’ results in someone’s feet getting bruised sometimes. Trust me, you learn pretty damned quickly after that! Add in Close Embrace Sacadas and this skill is an absolutely necessity! Failure to build this skill and the Close Embrace Sacada is going to be the Close Embrace Bloody and Bruised Toe Extravaganza of Your Worst Nightmares! So how do we develop this skill ? Simple. Stop watching your partner’s feet. That’s the starting point.

Free Tip: The closer you are, and the tighter the arc of your step around your partner (forward, side, or back), the tighter the resulting Sacada becomes!

Pre-Requisites: 1.) You must have mastered your walk first and foremost to the point where you are not using your partner (either lead or follow) for stabilization. 2.) You must be familiar with the principles of the Sacada itself.

About The Video. This video is 21:45 in length in 9 Sections. Both Lead and Follow technique is co-combined.

Overview – 00:58
Lead Technique Review – 01:05
Follower Technique Review – 00:48
Sacadas For Close Embrace Technique – 05:01
Follower’s Close Embrace Sacada – 03:41
Follower Forward Step to Lead’s Forward Step – 01:08
The Other Follower’s Forward Step – 02:05
Footwork Details – 04:48
Examples and Review – 01:38

October 26, 2016