1166 Complex rhythms?
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 10:32:52 EDT
From: Charles Roques <Crrtango@AOL.COM>
Subject: Complex rhythms?
Russell Ranno wrote:
<<<As a musician who has played both jazz and salsa music for some time I have
never understood what people describe as these "complex rhythmic elements in
tango". In classic tango music I have yet to come across tunes in 5/4 or
7/8, or the use of triplets or eighth note triplets against 4, etc. In
short, there are no polyrhythms or hemiolas. ... I asked the opinion of a
person who is both an accomplished drummer and tango dancer - Chicho. To
paraphrase,
he said that tango music is, in it's essence, a folk music and it's rhythmic
elements are very simple: based upon quarter notes and eighth notes (single
and double times), nothing fancy or complex.>>>
Although I am no great fan of Chicho as a tango dancer, as an ex-musician I
do agree with him and Russell about the rhythms of tango. One of the saving
graces of tango is it's simple and steady beat and reliance on 2/4 and 4/4
rhythm. Talking about the melodic phrasing, which sounds more like what
Stephen is really talking about, is a more sophisticated issue and not
something for beginners looking for a steady beat for walking. That will
confuse them and discourage them because it is plays around the beat. It is a
little like reversing a classic D'Arienzo song such as "9 de Julio" and
starting with the violin melody at the end and telling them to dance to that
and the bandoneon obbligatos instead of the underlying staccato beat of the
bandoneon/violin rhythm that begins the song.
I think another part of the problem may lie with instructors using late and
modern tangos instead of the classics of the "golden age," either when they
teach or at milongas - teachers who grow tired of the classics and try to
"spice up" the classes with newer or more "interesting" songs, or "stage"
music. Tango was and is essentially a dancing music, in a literal sense,
which meant complicated rhythmic changes did not work because they were
difficult to dance to. That is the problem with most of Piazzolla and other
music where the tempo actually does change. Using that music to teach or even
to play at milongas where basic dancers are, is a disservice to them.
Teaching should start with the most basic easy-to-hear rhythmic tangos even
if the instructor is tired of them (and who isn't?)
Perhaps a more immediate issue to address would be the absence of drums or
percussion and teaching students how to listen for the beat without relying
on our own cultural bias of listening for an audible drum beat. That is not
so easy to hear but it is definitely simple and straightforward. That is also
a good reason to not play non-tangos because they only reinforce that
dependence on hearing a drum beat. As Russell said, tango rhythm is not
complex. One of the problems I have always had with musicians teaching
"musicality" for dancers is that many of them like Pablo Aslan, don't dance.
They really just offer interpretative ways of listening. A dancer still has
to find the beat somewhere. I have seen classical pianists have a terrible
time learning to dance tango so where is all their musical knowledge helping?
Cheers,
Charles
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 12:27:41 -0700
From: Master Bard <jnt@NOYAU.COM>
Subject: Re: Complex rhythms?
> * To: TANGO-L@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> * From: Charles Roques <Crrtango@AOL.COM>
> * Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 10:32:52 EDT
> "musicality" for dancers is that many of them like Pablo Aslan, don't dance.
> They really just offer interpretative ways of listening. A dancer still has
> to find the beat somewhere. I have seen classical pianists have a terrible
> time learning to dance tango so where is all their musical knowledge helping?
>
> Cheers,
> Charles
Well, I've got to weight in with my opinion on this subject. I know where
my musical knowledge helps me with dancing and it was NOT with learning
the basics. I had learned to play different rhythms with each of my feet
and hands on a drum kit, but that did not give me any head start on
learning how to move to music and lead a partner. I can't think of any
reason why it should.
Once basic technique has reached a degree of fluency there comes
the question of what to do with it. More and more fancy steps done to the
beat? Many dancers look better and better doing more and more complicated
steps that are synchronized with the beat. That is social dancing. And
that is one of the reason I've stopped dancing socially.
The other possibility is that the technique is used to express the
feelings in the music, the phrases of the melody, the nuances. That
requires listening and caring about the music. The knowledge that comes
from experience of actually playing music can help with that. It's not
really social dancing though. I have come to think of it a personal
dancing and no longer expect it to be relevant to social dancers.
So, I have to agree with Charles that musical knowledge, at least
in the US, doesn't seem to have value in social dance. I find that
frustrating and unfortunate. General athletic ability especially in
gymnastics, martial arts, or whole body skills will be far more useful.
YMMV
Peace,
Jonathan Thornton
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 13:11:33 -0700
From: Rick FromPdx <bugs1959bunny@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Complex rhythms?
We had a very versatile, sought-after contra/folk dance musician here in Portland. He played the banjo, fiddle, guitar, mandolin & most anything else you could play at a dance (although I've never seen him play a Bomard, but Wild Asparagus does!, really cool ancient wind instrument that take a he** of a lot of wind to play & the player's face is usually beet reed). Anyway, I talked to his wife once & asked her why he doesn't dance? She said that when a hot band gets into really good tunes, he forgets about dancing & goes into musicland. I always assumed really good rhythm would make anyone a great dancer, which might be true? I dunnoo...but his love of music is so great, dancing just gets in the way of his enjoyment...r
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 22:29:58 +0100
From: Bruce Stephens <bruce@CENDERIS.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: Complex rhythms?
Master Bard <jnt@NOYAU.COM> writes:
[...]
> Once basic technique has reached a degree of fluency there comes
> the question of what to do with it. More and more fancy steps done to the
> beat? Many dancers look better and better doing more and more complicated
> steps that are synchronized with the beat. That is social dancing. And
> that is one of the reason I've stopped dancing socially.
That's not *all* that there is to social dancing, though. There's
surely an important place for people to interpret the music more
subtly, using very simple movements.
(I just wish people didn't try to do it to milongas---some music
really is simple and rhythmical, and using rhythmical steps is the
right thing to do.)
> The other possibility is that the technique is used to express the
> feelings in the music, the phrases of the melody, the nuances. That
> requires listening and caring about the music. The knowledge that comes
> from experience of actually playing music can help with that. It's not
> really social dancing though.
I think it is, or at least can be.
> I have come to think of it a personal dancing and no longer expect
> it to be relevant to social dancers.
It's probably not something that would fit naturally into teaching for
social dancers. I'm not sure that one needs a musical background to
get it, but it's probably something that requires lots of time, and
lots of listening to the music.
[...]
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 14:16:39 +0200
From: Eero Olli <eero.olli@ISP.UIB.NO>
Subject: Re: Complex rhythms?
I try to explain the 'complexity' of tango rythms to my students as
a) lack of a fixed pattern in accents. There are many different patterns,
and musicians like to play and change them, so one has to LISTEN to the
music instad of lerning THIS pattern IS TANGO.
b) there are multiple rytmical figures simutanously carried by different
instruments.
excercise: make people clap to different instruments
c) the instruments are not 'precice' on the beat. i.e. there is often a
certain flexibility, and if one listens carefully one will notice who
sometimes one instrument comes early on the accent and other times late.
This is (usually) on purpose, just like in jazz.
Excercise: make people clapp:
* early on the beat (='aggressive, hectic)
* late on the beat (='lazy', laid-back)
both should be done in the same tempo, without loosing the sense of tempo.
I use a CD with a drummaschine, to give a dead-fixed-beat. When students
realize, how being on a different part of the beat, changes what they (or
the instruments) are expressing suddenly there is much more musicality in
the dance. It is not about being 'on' the beat. it is about 'relating' to
the beat.
excercice: listen to the instruments, and try to find out when they are
'early' or 'late'.
best,
eero
eero@bergentango.no
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 15:02:36 -0700
From: Rick McGarrey <rickmcg@FLASH.NET>
Subject: Complex rhythms?
It's great to see this discussion of rhythm and tango. Generally, I think
tango dancing has two parts. There is the basic physical technique that
involves learning to maintain posture and equilibrium while stepping. And then
there is the musical part. Each is a formidable task. To do both of these
well is to dance tango at a high level.
My experience has been that most tango classes give relatively little attention
to these two essentials. Basic technique and music are what tango is all
about, but the average class, both in the U.S. and in Argentina, starts with a
few drills, and then skips directly into learning patterns and figures. And as
people memorize more and more complex figures, basic technique and musical
connection suffer. The result is that 90 per cent of tango classes spend 90 per
cent of the time ignoring the parts of the dance that are most important.
I know an Argentine woman who is a very accomplished dancer in the milongas of
Buenos Aries, and I thought her observations might be of interest. She has
been dancing socially here in the U.S. for several months and she has no
interest in promoting workshops, so she is able to speak frankly. She says
that to enjoy a dance, she needs to feel the music along with her partner. On
any given afternoon in Buenos Aires she might dance with people like Miguel
Balbi, Gerard Gelli, Alito, and half a dozen other great dancers. Each feels
the music in a different way, and so each dances in a different way. How does
she follow? The mechanics of the lead may vary- Tete for instance pushes, and
some of the older dancers like Ricardo Vidoort, or Osvaldo Buglione pull down
with the right arm, but she says the mechanics of the lead are not hard to
adjust to. What she really follows is the music. And once she adjusts to the
way the leader hears the music, there is a connection. She hears the same
music, and can move with her partner without much conscious thought of the
mechanics of the lead.
She enjoys dancing in the U.S., but she says that most of the experienced
leaders in this country are doing a mix of technically advanced steps, with
little connection to the music. It is a struggle to follow them. The
milongueros of BsAs are so aware of the music that she can almost tell who in
BsAs will ask her to dance by what music is being played. They only dance when
they feel inspired. She says that without the common ground of shared music,
following the lead becomes mechanical. It may be a technical challenge, but
it's not especially fun.
That's why it's so nice to see music discussed on this list. I think that by
listening a lot to the music, and maybe by studying a little about the poetry
of the lyrics at the heart of tango, we can become less mechanical. (By the
way, I had always heard that it is really Calo, not Di Sarli that is bad luck
in milongas.)
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 19:58:33 -0700
From: Jonathan Thornton <jnt@NOYAU.COM>
Subject: Re: Complex rhythms?
> * To: TANGO-L@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> * From: Rick McGarrey <rickmcg@FLASH.NET>
> * Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 15:02:36 -0700
> interest in promoting workshops, so she is able to speak frankly. She says
> that to enjoy a dance, she needs to feel the music along with her partner. On
> any given afternoon in Buenos Aires she might dance with people like Miguel
> Balbi, Gerard Gelli, Alito, and half a dozen other great dancers. Each feels
> the music in a different way, and so each dances in a different way. How does
> she follow? The mechanics of the lead may vary- Tete for instance pushes, and
> some of the older dancers like Ricardo Vidoort, or Osvaldo Buglione pull down
> with the right arm, but she says the mechanics of the lead are not hard to
> adjust to. What she really follows is the music. And once she adjusts to the
> way the leader hears the music, there is a connection. She hears the same
> music, and can move with her partner without much conscious thought of the
> mechanics of the lead.
>
> She enjoys dancing in the U.S., but she says that most of the experienced
> leaders in this country are doing a mix of technically advanced steps, with
> little connection to the music. It is a struggle to follow them. The
> milongueros of BsAs are so aware of the music that she can almost tell who in
> BsAs will ask her to dance by what music is being played. They only dance when
> they feel inspired. She says that without the common ground of shared music,
> following the lead becomes mechanical. It may be a technical challenge, but
> it's not especially fun.
I love this current discussion and think there has been a lot of
thoughtful contributions. This anecdote by Rick lends a little more weight
to something I have suspected about the dancers in BsAs and that is they
are dancing the feeling and not the gymnastics of "interesting steps".
I wish to suggest a polarity, not an absolute dichotomy but a
dimension. One end is towards dance sport as being stressed by competitive
ballroom dancers. Here athletic ability to music is stressed so that
steps can be judged by pre-established standards. Along the other end of
this continuum is the kind of dancing that Rick narrates from the lady
from Argentina, dancing the feeling of the music.
All of us are phrased organisms. We know how to phrase because that is
what we do. When we breath, when our hearts beat, when we sleep and wake,
and grow hungry, and eat, and when we speak to ourselves or others even in
writing. Tangos are phrased and like all popular songs if they have lyrics
the semantic meaning of the lyrics and the melodic phrases match up. It
doesn't require anyone to analyze the music! When a phrase begins, a
movement begins, as the phrase develops the movement develops to a
climax and then the action falls away to a resolution which is joined to
the next movement. It's how music progresses, poems progress, our writing
our speech.
Is the meaning of dance an athletic activity demonstrating physical
mastery of complex steps and moves? Or is it a human expression of feeling
in movement phrased as sentences, or progressions of tones in melodies, or
progression of bodily movement and gesture. Well, either or both with
varying emphasis. I suspect that Arthur Murray in marketing dance to
Americans came up with a good way to sell what he offered, but not a good
way to teach dance. And I think his simplification has been
incorporated in the way dancing continues to be taught in America. Not
everywhere, and not by everyone.
I also wonder if very many Americans can dance tango as it's danced in
BsAs. It may be too much to ask. I know I can't. I find feeling in tango,
but I can't find the depth of resonance in that music that I find in the
Celtic harmonies that underly the American folk music that I love in the
songs of Dylan, Prine, Emmy Lou Harris.
Some on this list seem to have found a deep resonances with tango. But I
suspect most Americans are only going to be able to grasp the outer forms
of tango. And this is why I have stopped dancing tango. I can't find
enough connection to the music, or to dancers who want to connect to the
feeling in the music instead of doing "elegant steps". For me the steps
are only a support to move with feeling, not the reason to dance. Frank
was getting at the center, the heart, the bodily experience of feeling
communicated in the dance. But, I have this pessimistic feeling that most
Americans are not interested in that sort of dance. I actually hope I'm
wrong.
I look forward to hearing more from all of you on this important topic.
peace,
Jonathan Thornton
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2003 10:07:29 -0500
From: Stephen Brown <Stephen.P.Brown@DAL.FRB.ORG>
Subject: Re: Complex rhythms?
Rick Mc Garrey wrote:
>There is the basic physical technique that involves learning
>to maintain posture and equilibrium while stepping. And then
>there is the musical part. Each is a formidable task. To do
>both of these well is to dance tango at a high level.
These are great comments.
Rick shared the observations of an
>Argentine woman who is a very accomplished dancer in
>the milongas of Buenos Aries.
Rick reports:
>She enjoys dancing in the U.S., but she says that most of
>the experienced leaders in this country are doing a mix of
>technically advanced steps, with little connection to the
>music. It is a struggle to follow them. ... She says that
>without the common ground of shared music, following the
>lead becomes mechanical. It may be a technical challenge, but
>it's not especially fun.
I cannot speak as an Argentine, but I find it difficult to dance with
women who do not connect with the music in the same way I do, however
great are their technical skills. Conversely, I find it relatively easy
to dance with women who connect to the music, even if their technical
skills are relatively limited. The music provides the shared connection.
It is the music that creates the dance. Even if we disagree over the
interpretation of the music, as long as we are both connected to the
music, we will find each other in the dance.
As Rick observes
>...[T]he average class, both in the U.S. and in Argentina, starts
>with a few drills, and then skips directly into learning patterns
>and figures. And as people memorize more and more complex figures,
>basic technique and musical connection suffer.
As Rick suggests most instruction puts the emphasis on technically
advanced steps with little connection to the music or only a rudimentary
connection to the music. In many cases, the Argentine instructors take
knowledge of the music for granted, not realizing that their American
students do not understand the music. In addition, the American
instructors cannot teach what they do not know. Yet, in advancing in our
dancing, musicality maybe more essential, than the steps themselves. I
feel quite fortunate that Andre Samson taught Susan and me so much about
moving to tango music.
For those who have not grown up with the music, the question is how to
integrate a learning of tango music into their learning of the dance.
Learning to hear the beat is an essential element in learning to move to
the music, but it is only the beginning. Among others, both Tom Stermitz
and Dan Boccia have offered ideas about how instructors can help their
students learn to move to the music and in a way that is more than moving
doggedly to the beat.
For the dancer, who cannot find such instruction, Nito Garcia has told
many people, including me, that he can always tell who will dance well
when they pick him up at the airport. Those who dance well have tango
music to play in their car.
>The milongueros of BsAs are so aware of the music that she
>can almost tell who in BsAs will ask her to dance by what
>music is being played. They only dance when they feel
>inspired.
Why dance otherwise? Doing so is pointless. Without the inspiration of
the music, dancing is more like fumbling around in the dark.
With best regards,
Steve
Stephen Brown
Tango Argentino de Tejas
https://www.tejastango.com/
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2003 16:12:42 -0500
From: Stephen Brown <Stephen.P.Brown@DAL.FRB.ORG>
Subject: Re: Complex rhythms?
Robert Hauk wrote:
>I don't think any of the argentine teachers take knowledge of the
>music for granted. I think that they don't see their part as a
>teacher to teach you how to feel the music. That is your part as
>a dancer, and it isn't something that can be taught. You discover
>it while dancing.
My comment that Argentine instructors take knowledge of music for granted
probably did not convey my thoughts very well. I intended my comments to
cover the idea that they expect the students to develop a knowledge of
music on their own. And I do think it is possible to discover a feeling
for the music while dancing, but I also think that a instruction in moving
to the music is valuable.
>I have often wondered what the argentine teachers think of us.
>They teach rooms full of people who have come to learn complex
>steps. ... What are teachers to do?
Yes. I agree that in many cases, the instructors are simply responding to
what the majority students want or seem to want.
From watching people who learn these complex step patterns, it seems as
though most do not understand the underlying structure from which these
steps are constructed, and consequently look upon them as figures
reproduce on the dance floor. The result is the reproduction elaborate
patterns that do not move with the flow of the ronda and are disconnected
from the music.
>I think they have been frustrated over the
>years by trying to teach some of this and
>having someone interrupt and ask when we
>are going to get to the steps.
I can readily understand such frustration. Imagine what is like to teach
people who never develop a basic understanding of the subject you are
teaching. The dancers who developed advanced skills are those who work on
their basics, their technique, and their understanding of the music. Even
within a rarified activity such as Argentine tango, the number who are
willing to do the work seems relatively small.
>[S]tudents have the biggest work to do, and a lot of it is
>not anything a teacher can do for you. The teacher can
>give you tools, and ideas that will help you along your
>journey. You have to walk the road yourself though.
Yes. The student who aspires to be a tango dancer must do the work, but
in providing the tools and ideas to their students, it is the instructor
that is providing a map to the road the student is to walk. Better that
the instructor convey to the student an accurate map. Yet, most classes
and most instructional videos give students the impression that tango is
about learning elaborate figures. It seems as though at least part of the
purpose of this discussion has been for all of us to share our ideas about
how to walk the road.
>Argentine teachers
>I am sure they would be delighted to teach something like
>that if people seemed to want it. Maybe you could get them
>to talk about their feeling of the music, and their ideas
>of improvising with the movement.
Maybe these are ideas for a private lesson. If most of the students
simply want more complicated step patterns, it may be better to work on
these skills away from group classes.
With best regards,
Steve
Stephen Brown
Tango Argentino de Tejas
https://www.tejastango.com/
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2003 22:45:41 -0700
From: Robert Hauk <robhauk@TELEPORT.COM>
Subject: Complex rhythms?
Hey everyone,
I meant to post this to the list, and realized reading what Stephen said
that I hed only sent it to him. This may help to explain what he is
responding to.
Stephen Brown wrote:
> As Rick suggests most instruction puts the emphasis on technically
> advanced steps with little connection to the music or only a rudimentary
> connection to the music. In many cases, the Argentine instructors take
> knowledge of the music for granted, not realizing that their American
> students do not understand the music. In addition, the American
> instructors cannot teach what they do not know. Yet, in advancing in our
> dancing, musicality maybe more essential, than the steps themselves. I
> feel quite fortunate that Andre Samson taught Susan and me so much about
> moving to tango music.
I don't think any of the argentine teachers take knowledge of the music
for granted. I think that they don't see their part as a teacher to
teach you how to feel the music. That is your part as a dancer, and it
isn't something that can be taught. You discover it while dancing.
I have often wondered what the argentine teachers think of us. They
teach rooms full of people who have come to learn complex steps. I
remember one workshop where the teacher was working on a fine point of
how a step worked, it was very interesting to me because the idea had a
lot of application outside the step pattern the guy was teaching. When
he asked if people wanted to do more of this, the people asking for more
steps drowned those of us who were enjoying what he was doing. It
seemed like he gave up in frustration, and began teaching some very
complicated steps, steps that only a few of us could do because we had
been paying attention to the technical point earlier.
When you go to a big festival watch the argentine teachers. They are
teaching complex steps in classes, but what they dance on the social
dance floor is something else. I have never heard anyone speak up in
class to ask for something like they dance socially. I am sure they
would be delighted to teach something like that if people seemed to want
it. Maybe you could get them to talk about their feeling of the music,
and their ideas of improvising with the movement. I think they have
been frustrated over the years by trying to teach some of this and
having someone interrupt and ask when we are going to get to the steps.
What are teachers to do? You as students have the biggest work to do,
and a lot of it is not anything a teacher can do for you. The teacher
can give you tools, and ideas that will help you along your journey.
You have to walk the road yourself though.
Abrazos,
Robert
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2003 13:42:34 -0700
From: Carlos Lima <amilsolrac@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Complex rhythms
Eero Olli <eero.olli@ISP.UIB.NO> wrote:
> (...) I think that clapping excercises are great for figuring out, if a
student is off the beat because of lack of body control or lack of
understanding. (..)<
I have nothing, really, against more advanced clapping exercises, as
suggested by E.O.; perhaps they actually increase a novice's awareness of the
pulse of the music. I doubt that a teacher can afford to take time, from the
legion things that need badly to be covered early on, to get into such
refinements; but this is, at the moment, a prejudice. Since hardly anyone who
survives the first hour has trouble clapping on the pulse, why not experiment
a bit?
What I rather question is the idea of having novices actually play rhythmic
anticipations and ritardos with their feet before they are 100% self-assured
about stepping in STRICT time, with pauses and the simplest traspie's, and
can thereby start some semblance of musical interpretation. This takes a
while. Unlike clapping, a significant minority of novices will find even the
most basic stepping to the music difficult. Their bodies just do not obey
them.
More importantly, as I tried to insinuate in my previous posting, "dancing
around the pulse" is (to my taste) not really a matter of stepping off the
pulse, whether ahead or behind, systematically or varying to taste. Too much
of that, or too much common rubato (the difference between the two is
primarily one of degree, or of articulation versus agogics), will just make
for a mushy feeling. Dancing around the pulse is more like what we could call
"structured rubato": the realization with one's feet of more refined rhythmic
phrases not all made of steps on the pulse, pauses and strict-time traspie's.
(Most recognised grand masters use this to one extent or another.)
I gave a somewhat strange example yesterday. (I did it in my head, and made a
mistake, by the way: it is 14.1 instead of 14.3, and what a difference it
makes!)
Let me give a more normal example, using again yesterday's notation. I could
say it is from Pupi, but I will just say it is inspired by him, to stay on
the safe side. Start with a simple slow-slow pace, like this (Tom Stermitz,
please do not be too angry ...)
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 ...
Now consider this modification (the "decimal part" indicates fourths of a
pulse):
0 1.1 2.2 3.3 4.3 5.3 6.2 7.1 8 9
The dancer slows down from 0 to 3.3, continues the resulting syncopated steps
a little longer (4.3 5.3), then recovers the time lost from 5.3 to 8, where
he resumes the dreaded slow-slow schlepping. Of course it takes some skill to
execute this, and perhaps more than just skill to come up with this in a way
that fits perfectly both the choreographic and the musical discourses. Now
the kind of clapping required to learn this stuff is quite different from
what Eero has proposed. Maybe there is a place for both in advanced classes
and seminars.
Now about what it means to step right on the strong beat. I remember vaguely
an old discussion on the L concerning this. I actually believed the theory
that the strong beat will coincide with the [completion of the] weight
change, but soon reality and logic intruded.
First reality. I know that, if this conclusion came from an authority, I am
doomed. So I will just suggest an experiment. Take a cam corder and film
various walks by perfect dead on dancers, including quite slow walks (e.g.,
every other strong beat in tango) and regular walking to moderate+ milongas.
Put someone in the background drumming the bottom of a pot dead on beat. Then
play in slo-motion, or frame by frame. I think it will be found that the beat
coincides with the moment that the weight is equally divided. At a normal
rate of walk, driving slightly, as practically everyone does, this will be a
split moment after the new foot hits the floor. In a slow, reaching, walk (no
lunging please), it will be discernibly later than this. However, if one
timed the weight change so that the center of gravity is right over the new
support at the beat, it would look very dragged; or even rushed, because one
could be nearly one full period behind the beat. I could be wrong, but this
is what I believe the experiment would show.
About logic. Weight changing in acceptable tango walking goes on
continuously, even though the center of gravity may not travel at a constant
speed. All we can say is that a new change of weight starts when the new foot
hits the ground, and ends when the next begins. This is the only logical
choice I can think of. So, does the beat occur when the new foot hits the
floor? In most cases, just about. But I am sure that this is not what the
weight-change theorists believe.
Cheers,
