1285 following the follower
Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 22:09:26 EDT
From: Timothy Pogros <TimmyTango@AOL.COM>
Subject: following the follower
I sure it is very humbling when anyone goes to BsAs for the first time.
Thinking their pretty good dancing in the US, and then trying to dance on the
crowded dance floors in BsAs. I can just hear them know, I can't dance.
While on my honey moon in BsAs, I watch and stayed very close to the best
Milonguero in the milongas. On the social dance floor I realized that
the best dancers have no dance steps what so ever. They don't know where
there going till they get there. No choreography. I also tried to watch how
they avoid collisions with other dancers. A good dancer dances with what
dance floor comes available to him, so thinking what dance step I should do
next is impossible.
My conclusion is the leader follows the follower. He sees a place on the
dance floor where they can move to next, and he sends the lady there and he
follows her using any adornments he can. He waits for the next opening and he
sends the lady there again. keeping his heart in front of hers, either by
walking or turning. I also learned that the ladies also play a part in the
movements made. One of the best dancers I met on our trip is named Amanda.
Amanda had been dancing for more than 50 years and has the prettiest legs and
foot work I've ever seen. She taught Joanne and I that the women can stop the
couple if she marks it. And that she also plays a big roll in preventing
collisions, by changing the direction of the couple. I would like to thank
Pichi for introducing Amanda to us, and helping us make every minute of our
trip a memorable one.
My suggestions to any newer people to tango. Don't learn choreography,
including the 8CBS. Learn you walking and turns, and above all improvisation.
Thinking of what dance steps you have to do, takes away your ability to
listen to the music and just react to it.
Dancing to the music is much more important than the difficulty of the dance
step your performing. The simpler the better. Less is more.
Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 19:29:57 -0700
From: Barbara Garvey <barbara@TANGOBAR-PRODUCTIONS.COM>
Subject: Re: following the follower
Hi Tim -- You got it !! Now if only all the leaders in the US/EU/world would
get it, too. Not many people who travel to Buenos Aires, once or dozens of
times, or many who live there, get it. Felicitaciones !
Barbara
Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 20:29:06 -0700
From: Tom English <tom@TANGONOW.COM>
Subject: Re: following the follower
It goes alot deeper than having the follower help to
navigate around the floor. Those who are stuck with
patterns or coreography are, unfortunately, not given the
attention in class to the fact that the leader is actually
the follower.
In one respect, there are three parts to a step, right?
The leader suggests a direction and an intensity, the
follower steps, setting the feel of the step (hopefully,
taking from the leader's communication) and the leader
follows the follower by taking his/her step.
The leader is following.
This has many great side-effects (better balance, etc).
But, the most important, I think, is what I keep hearing
the women saying, "I wish more men would understand this."
So, leaders, pay attention, in case this thread picks up
(which, I wish it would). Following the follower turns
this dance into a dance of communication. And, THAT, my
friends, allows the subtelties between two people to break
out!
On Tue, 13 May 2003 19:29:57 -0700
Barbara Garvey <barbara@TANGOBAR-PRODUCTIONS.COM> wrote:
> Hi Tim -- You got it !! Now if only all the leaders in
> the US/EU/world would
> get it, too. Not many people who travel to Buenos Aires,
> once or dozens of
> times, or many who live there, get it. Felicitaciones !
> Barbara
--
Tom English
TangoNow!
www.tangonow.com
tom@tangonow.com
617-987-2001
Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2006 22:55:37 EDT
From: TimmyTango@aol.com
Subject: [Tango-L] following the follower
In a message dated 7/3/06 7:12:59 PM Central Daylight Time,
jayrabe@hotmail.com writes:
<< Daniel Trenner said in his Portland workshop [perhaps exaggerated for
impact] that follower's should just dance, and leaders should keep up with
them. Of course I'm sure he didn't mean that follower's should abandon
following. My interpretation of his philosophy is that it's identical to
this thread about the follower finding and expressing her voice. >>
What I've learned over the years is that the leaders follow the follower.
When learning and when I teach the ocho, I teach-
Give the women direction
Let her go.
follow her.
Yes, your step might be a micro second after hers.
To understand what I mean
Try beating her to step first, and you'll find out what I mean
Give her direction
Let her go
Beat her there.
It doesn't work!
Date: Wed, 05 Jul 2006 13:45:25 +0200
From: Alexis Cousein <al@sgi.com>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] following the follower
To: TimmyTango@aol.com
Cc: tango-l@mit.edu
TimmyTango@aol.com wrote:
> When learning and when I teach the ocho, I teach-
> Give the women direction
> Let her go.
> follow her.
That is exactly the mode of thinking that Chris (quite rightly)
objected to (even though it's sometimes useful to think of things
this way, it's *very* dangerous to impress that idiom onto
unsuspecting strangers, especially beginners).
If done properly, it's not a discrete sequence of events.
You give the woman direction by moving yourself (not necessarily
your feet, mind you - it can start with a change of balance, or
rotation or movement of the chest), and the connection
*continually* feeds back information about whether you are staying
connected, which both partners use to move together.
I'd *never*, *ever* use the phrase "you let her go", because
that somehow suggests you break the connection and that while
you're both stepping, she's *autonomously* moving and actually
has the lead.
She hasn't, and a good follower will refuse to close a step
when the closure of the step isn't led, illustrating very well
that the *entire* step is led from start to end (even though
the leader also "follows" in the sense that both he and the
followers listen to the connection and adapt their movement to
keep that connection alive the way they want it to be).
--
Alexis Cousein al@sgi.com
Solutions Architect/Senior Systems Engineer SGI
--
Bad grammar makes me [sic].
