Next Thursday, May 10 - Birthday of Marta Bautis, Lesson by Walter Monteblanco

We are planning to add lots of extra-special delights next Thursday including.

•           Extra hour of fun and dancing
•           Door prizes        
•          Let's dress up and have a ball.
  
•           Sue will make her famous brisket with carrots, string beans, and potatoes and Terri will make her equally famous arroz con pollo.  If anyone else would like to bring something for the occasion, please let me know.   

As always, admission of $15 includes dinner, lesson, dancing and socializing with some of the nicest folks around.  The event is at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 105 Grove Avenue, Maywood, NJ 07607.  For additional information call Sue at  201-826-6602. 

The schedule for the evening is:

7:00 - 7:30      Basic Argentine Tango lesson with Fran Chesleigh & Pat Altman 

7:30 - 8:30          Intermediate Argentine Tango lesson with Fran Chesleigh & Pat Altman   

8:30 - 10:00     Buffet opens and recorded music for dancing by DJ Sue

10:00 -            drawings

10:30 - 12:00    Dancing to recorded music by DJ Sue

Admission includes dinner, lesson, dancing, and socializing with some of the nicest folks around

Hi everyone, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. Learning to dance social Tango involves building a very specific set of skills and techniques, developing a working repertoire of steps or figures, and lots of practice over a long period of time. Last week, I outlined the initial part of my own pedagogy. Today, I’m going to spell it out a bit. Just to bring you up to speed, here is a recap of what I call “Part 1” of my system:

Part 1 — “Tango is a way to walk”

1.     Introduction to the lead/follow mechanism in five fundamental improvised linear interactions between lead and follower.

2.     Use of lead/follow in structured and improvised start/stop walking exercises.

3.     Introduction to improvised rhythmic movement.

4.     Introduction to short suggested sequences and sequence choices in building improvisations.

5.     Two common pre-determined fundamental Tango sequences — la cunita and la cruzada.

6.     Introduction to simple pivots.

7.     Introduction to the parallel and crossed systems of linear movement.

Let’s take a quick look at each of these elements:

1.     The first thing I focus on with my students is what I refer to as the lead/follow mechanism. Basically, this is the way in which the leader and follower learn to interact with one another in order to produce movement of any kind. I identify five “linear” elements of movement — weight changes in place, pauses, side steps, forward steps, and backward steps. For each of these elements, I teach a very specific way for a leader to invite an appropriate response from his follower, based on common principles of human movement.

2.     Once a leader and follower are able to cooperate in producing individual isolated movements for all five elements, we move on to a series of structured and improvisational exercises, designed to connect individual elements in the dance.

A typical structured exercise might be the following:

Leader steps forward, executes a pause, steps forward, executes a weight change in place; then repeats, using the opposite leg to begin the exercise.

Continuing in this way, a typical improvisational exercise might be the following:

Leader chooses from among three elements (forward, pause, weight change in place). At the end of each movement, he chooses from the same limited group for his next lead. This enables the leader and follower to begin using linear elements in creating their own individual dance.

3.     Learning to dance involves learning to move to music. As my Argentine teachers have said to me again and again over the years: “Without music, there is no dance.” I begin the process of teaching my students to dance to music by introducing the idea of moving to the first beat of each musical measure. (For non-musicians, this involves first learning to identify this beat by listening to music, clapping the appropriate beats, then executing actual movement in place by themselves — and finally in the embrace with a partner). In my preliminary lead/follow exercise, leaders are restricted to forward steps only. Thereafter, they are asked to incorporate forward and side steps in concert with pauses. Eventually, we advance to doubling the time (dancing to half notes), and finally, improvising movement, using both whole note and half note movement.

A lot of leaders erroneously believe (sometimes because they’ve actually been taught) that the needs of the music come first. This is contrary to what I teach. Throughout this series of musical exercises, I stress very strongly the leader’s primary responsibility is to put the needs of his follower first; i.e., if he’s ready to move and she’s not, wait until she’s ready (meaning that she has finished what she was asked to do and is comfortably in balance).

4.     Once students are able to incorporate the lead/follow mechanism in the context of rhythmic movement, we create various simple improvisations, using these developing skills in a limited group of linear elements (usually forward, in-place and pause). Such exercises introduce the idea of navigating the dance floor in an appropriate way.

5.     At this juncture in the process, I usually introduce two commonly used step patterns. The first of these is the left-turning rocking movement, often referred to as la cunita. (This sequence is sometimes called el Gardelito, named after the great singer Carlos Gardel, who, whenever he danced, loved to incorporate this sequence. Be sure to check him out on YouTube!) The second step pattern I introduce here is the sequence, which ends in the follower’s traditional cross or la cruzada.

Nota bene: In my own teaching, la cruzada is executed by the follower as a consequence of the leader’s moving outside-partner on her right side (his left). The next time she’s able to use her left foot, she automatically crosses in front of her right — unless her leader does something which prevents her from doing so. I am aware, of course, of the assertion by some teachers that this movement needs to specifically led, using a special manipulation of the follower. When I myself learned to dance Tango in the 1980s, no such idea existed. I have come to believe that this imposed lead is an invention, which developed later, and I advise my own students that ultimately, they’ll have to make up their own minds about it. (I fully realize that this can create uncomfortable controversies in lead/follow interactions on the dance floor, but that’s Tango, folks!)

6.     Next on my teaching schedule is what I call the “sixth” element of the dance — the pivot.) Eventually, this crucial movement will become the basis for much of the more advanced repertoire in Tango — ocho, molinete, calicita, boleo, colgada, volcada, etc.) The pivot needs to be learned by both leader and follower, although this movement is used far more often in the social dance by followers in the execution of common sequences, involving ocho and molinete. My primary focus in teaching the pivot is to train leaders in properly inviting followers to execute this movement slowly and in balance. In teaching this element, I attempt to carefully refine the leader’s skill so that his invitation is not a push or carry, and so that the follower is not operating on automatic in moving from her pivot to her walking step (in ocho or molinete), and ultimately to her alignment with the leader.

7.     At the conclusion of “Part 1” in my pedagogic approach to linear movement, I briefly introduce the idea of two systems in Tango — parallel and crossed. In American/European dance, we only use the so-called “parallel” system. (In fact, we don’t even give this way of moving a name.) However, in Argentina the “crossed” system is integral to understanding and properly executing the dance. For this reason, special terms have been invented in order to differentiate the two ways of moving.

Next week, I’m going to outline and describe elements of “Part 2” of my pedagogic approach to teaching social Tango. In the meantime, I think it’s important to point out that most of what I’ve talked about today — all the preliminary skills and techniques I’ve concentrated on in this Tango Tip — are often routinely ignored in Tango classes. “Just show us the steps” is the rule. “We’ll learn that other stuff some other time.”

And that, like it or not, is the reason most people never learn to dance Tango. If you’ve been dancing Tango for many years, and still “don’t get it,” this is almost certainly why. Please don’t allow yourself to be one of those people. The basics, although difficult to master, and may seem tedious, are absolutely essential.

Pat and I will be visiting family in England next week, so we’ll see you, when we return on May 17. Happy dancing!

Every Monday at 8:30 p.m., Fran and Pat teach a one-hour class entirely devoted to the study of adornment for both leaders and followers. We focus on the precise way in which dancers should use their legs in order to move in the appropriate style of Tango. We also help you build a powerful vocabulary of exciting adornments, which you can incorporate into your dance.

People have been asking us to teach this class for years – and now, at last, we’re delighted to offer it. Be sure not to miss this opportunity to learn the art of adornos right from the ground up! And while you’re at it, why not enroll yourself in our 7:30 p.m. Intermediate Tango Class. This will give you a full Monday evening of Tango.

See you then.

If you like the idea of keeping American social dance alive -- not competitive or performance dancing, but real social dance the way it was traditionally done -- we invite you to join us every Tuesday evening at 7:30 p.m. for a fun-filled 2-hour social dance fix.

Class One

Concentrating on authentic American Foxtrot, Triple Swing and Salsa

Class Two

West Coast Swing, Waltz and Rumba

Tuesdays, 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

Studios 353, 2^nd floor

353 W. 48^th Street (between 8^th & 9^th Avenues)

New York City

The longest-running and friendliest practica in NYC! Come join our happy group of social tango dancers, whose sole purpose is to enjoy dancing and to practice what they’re learning. Everyone dances! Essential Tango Therapy! Pat and I will be on hand to answer any questions you may have, and help you with material you’re working on. Plus you get a new “must-have” move each week! No partner required, all levels. Dardo Galletto Studios, 151 West 46^th Street, 11^th floor, (bet. 6^th & 7^th Aves) www.franchesleigh.com

If you’d like a private lesson, you can visit our website at www.franchesleigh.com, call Fran directly at 212-662-7692, or email him at franchesleigh@mac.com Join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/franchesleighllc

Thanks to all who helped throughout the night.