Dancing and teaching are not the same things. Choosing a teacher based on whether or not they dance well as the sole criteria for whether or not the can teach you to dance is not a good idea. These are two very different skills. Far too often people make the mistake (followers) of being impressed by this the skill to dance thinking that equates to the skill to teach.
What is Intention Based Dancing? In its simplest form ‘Intention’ is really about not using pressure, tension, or force, with one’s arms, or hands in any way, shape, or form to communicate an idea, a thought, or a movement. But rather the idea of ‘Intention’ is to intend to do something. To propose, to invite, to advice, to guide, to profer…these are all statements that we, as dancers, are asking our Partners to engage X.
Let’s dispense with a few misnomers right out of the gate. 1.) Balance is not the same thing as Stability. 2.) Balance is a component of Stability. 3.) Your stability is generated via 3 very different mechanisms that are all connect via your nervous system. And so that we’re clear on this one, one of them is not your ‘core’, and anyone that tells you different is either lying through their eye-teeth, or doesn’t understand anatomy and physiology of the human body. Truth be told, your ‘core’ muscles have absolutely nothing to do with stability. Nada. Zip. Zero.
What is an Arm Pit Dancer ? Put simply the Arm Pit Dancer is where most Leads place their Followers in their arm pit in order to dance with the Follower. Here’s the strange part > Most Followers willingly go there and stay there! To be fair, most Leads have a compressive embrace with their right arm so the Follower can not necessarily change their bodily position even if they were a.) aware. and b.) wanted to do so. Why is this a problem ? Read on….
Leads you have a role and a job, several, and one of them is creating an embrace structure that is comfortable for the Follower while at the same time creates the iconic visual that is a Tango embrace, that allows for maximum effect with minimal input. Put another way, you have 3 primary goals: 1.) Navigation. 2.) Architecture. and 3.) Music. Under the category of Architecture we have 2 sub-categories. 2a.) Form. and 2b.) Vocabulary. Think of 2a as what we look like (the visual), and think of 2b as what you do with 2a in time to 3, while employing 1. And all of that starts with – Engaging The Embrace.
What is a ‘Gooey’ Gancho ? In specific it means that while this particular variety is usually executed from the Follower’s position, the Lead can and should under certain conditions engage in the same variation but not for the same reasons that the Follower will. So what is it ? In specific it is a slow motion Gancho, and in particular the ‘Launching’ leg of the dancer who is being “Gancho’d”. Everything prior to the Gancho happening is not the ‘Gooey’ part. The ‘Gooey’ part comes when the leg that is being lifted moves to engage the hooking action of the Gancho in a very slow, but very deliberate way. Very slow. 🙂
Why Should You Signup ? The simplest reason is that you won’t find this stuff anywhere else. It’s a different kind of tango education. It will help you to understand what you want, how to do it, and why you want to do things with Intention in mind. It will show you how to listen to the music, and how to create different types of vocabulary, as well as how to engage in the milonga environment. This site is all about showing you a better pathway towards a type of tango that reinforces the ideas of Social Tango thru Intention Based Dancing.
