On Thursday, September 10 (That's three weeks from now,) Firehouse Tango will be at the Twin Door Tavern (formerly Victor's Maywood Inn), less than a mile from The Knights of Columbus.   The time and schedule is the same as always. The place will change, the price will be lower, and you CANNOT bring wine.

Twin Door Tavern - Victor's Maywood Inn

122 W. Pleasant Avenue
Maywood, N.J. 07607-1235
(201) 843-8022

  http://www.twindoortavern.com/index.html

Thursday, September 5

7:00 - 7::30  :             Basic tango lesson with Fran Chesleigh

7:30 - 8:30   :                Intermediate tango lesson with Fran Chesleigh

8:30  - 11:00 PM      Milonga

Admission is only $10 and includes lessons and milonga.  The Twin Door Tavern has an excellent menu and bar.  We encourage you to try both.  Please do not bring wine.

For additional information, call Sue at 201-825-1570

Hi everyone, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. During our recent series of Tango Tips, our goal has been to define a "lead/follow mechanism"; i.e., a precise, practical method for inviting and responding appropriately to leads. We suggested that the lead comes directly from something the leader does with his upper body, from his chest (el pecho) as Argentine teachers often describe it -- rather than from some kind of stimulus emanating from his arms, legs, or any other part of his body. (For more information about this, you might be interested in rereading our last four Tango Tips.)

It is essential, I think, to add at this point that success with leading/following calls for a skilled, experienced leader/follower rather than one who doesn't yet understand the lead/follow mechanism. Unskilled, inexperienced partners must undergo very patient, very focussed training in order to develop these crucial skills.

Over the past two weeks, we've discussed what is often called the "weight change in place" -- el cambio de peso en su lugar. First, we looked at this movement from the leader's standpoint; then, last week, Pat talked about it from the follower's point of view. Today, we're going to focus on the first of our three basic traveling elements -- the step to the side, or el paso al lado, sometimes referred to as el paso al costado.

As a basic element, the step to the side is exactly what the words say it is -- a lateral movement through space to the left or right, initiated by the leader, executed by the follower, and accompanied by the leader. I'm going to break the lead/follow mechanism and its resulting actions down into four distinct parts:

1.     Lowering

2.     Initiating movement through space

3.     Traveling

4.     Balancing (creating the neutral position)

Let's talk about each of these four parts separately.

Lowering:

Our leader is going to do something here that he hasn't done when inviting la pausa or el cambio de peso en su lugar. He is going to start his lead by flexing his knees very slightly in order to lower his torso. He will do this immediately preceding his invitation to the follower to travel through space. This lowering is going to serve as an indication to the follower that he is asking her to travel -- rather than to make a weight change in place. The flexion at the knees is based on an element of natural human movement in which someone who is about to take a step of any kind will tend instinctively to flex at the knees (thereby lowering slightly) in preparation for the movement -- rather than simply falling in the direction he/she wants to go, or possibly even rising in some way. The leader lowers his torso in this way in preparation for leading any traveling movement. As we will learn during future Tango Tips, this will include not only side steps, but forward and backward steps as well.

Initiating movement through space:

Immediately following this lowering of his torso, the leader will begin to move his entire body in the direction to which he has elected to travel -- in this case, to the side. The movement of his torso as he commences this traveling action tells the follower that he wants her to move to the side.

Traveling:

Once the leader has provided his follower with the above-described, two-part lead (lowering, followed immediately by sideward movement of his torso), both partners now move independently of one another as they travel through space. There is no need for the leader to "carry" the follower through this lateral movement. The follower knows exactly what she has been invited to do, and she does it.

Balancing (Creating the neutral position):

At the end of the traveling phase of the movement, both leader and follower bring themselves into balance independently. In Tango, balance means creating a condition in which one is standing on one foot comfortably without having to use one's other foot to avoid falling. The good leader doesn't help his follower to balance -- or hinder her from balancing -- in any way. The good follower doesn't rely on her leader to stop her from falling or stumbling at the end of a step. This means that both leader and follower must be acutely conscious of getting to the end of a step with balance in mind -- not rushing headlong into the step (as we so often see on the dance floor), and either hoping for the best or simply being oblivious of the need to balance at the end.

If all goes well, a skilled follower will be able to finish each step in balance, unassisted (and unimpeded) by her leader, thereby creating a condition I'm going to call "neutral." This means that she is able to bring herself to balanced rest, and is therefore completely ready for any further movement that her leader may wish to invite. On the other hand, if she is out of balance -- i.e., falling in one direction or another at the end of a step either because of her own actions or those of an incompetent leader -- she can't be invited to do much of anything in that moment except fight for her balance.

Next week, we'll hear from Pat about the follower's experience in being invited to take a step to the side, including her response to the lead, her execution of the movement, and her attempt to balance at its completion. In the meantime, we hope you'll feel free to ask us any questions you may have about this movement, or about lead/follow in general.

Please join us for our Saturday Practica at Dardo Galletto Studios, 151 West 46^th Street (between 6^th and 7^th Avenues), 11^th floor; 2-4pm, $10 per person. (Bringing a partner isn't necessary.) We think it’s just like being in Buenos Aires! Pat and I will both be on hand to answer any questions you may have about your dancing, and to help you with material you're working on. Plus you get a new “must-have” tango move each week! If you’d like a private lesson, call Fran directly at 212-662-7692, or email him at franchesleigh@mac.com  

Don’t forget to visit our Web site at www.franchesleigh.com and join is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/franchesleighllc

The following folks helped set up, break down and clean up before and after the milonga. Without them, there would be no Firehouse Tango.

• ​Tsipoyra Sartan - and thanks for helping Elena with the door
• Steve Maisch
• ​​Steve Turi​
• Jesse Barton​​