80  the lift in calecita

Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 22:44:18 EDT
From: Timothy Pogros <TimmyTango@AOL.COM>
Subject: the lift in calecita

Lift or no lift!
The man has to tell the lady that he want her to stop somehow, and stand
poised on her right toe in position.
I wouldn't call it a lift. Using the word lift, one might think of using
their arms to raise the lady. I my self say that this so called lift is not
in the arms, but in the rib cage. It would be like a man inhaling a large
breath of air. Doing this make the frame straighter, like standing at
attention. Lowering or exhaling lets the lady know it time to move.
I also use this technique in my 8cb seleda at the 2nd and 5th position. I
always raise the lady when I want her to stop. Starting the lift as I leave
one step and ending the lift at the end of the step. Not ending the step and
then finally raising the lady.

Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 21:57:12 -0700
From: JC Dill <tango@VO.CNCHOST.COM>
Subject: Re: the lift in calecita

On 07:44 PM 7/10/01, Timothy Pogros wrote:
>Lift or no lift!
>The man has to tell the lady that he want her to stop somehow, and stand
>poised on her right toe in position.

Why? Is she going to go somewhere even when he doesn't *lead* her to go
somewhere? If so, why?

jc

Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 22:51:28 -0700
From: Mark Sussex <doktordogg@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: the lift in calecita

--- Timothy Pogros <TimmyTango@AOL.COM> wrote:

> Lift or no lift!
> The man has to tell the lady that he want her to
> stop somehow, and stand
> poised on her right toe in position.

He has to tell her more than that. Lifting says,
"both of us are stopping here for a minute." If you
go to a carrousel or bridge, you then also have to
say, "you stay here, even though I'm going."

Even though I'm not an expert, my experience
(including another milonga tonight, where I did these
steps without "coaching" anybody) show me I'm onto
something regarding my idea about a rotational lead to
lock the follower's back foot. I don't think my idea
is uniquely mine. I figured it out by watching a
Gavito tape in slow motion. Then I did it, and it
worked. It works every time.

Mark

Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 09:58:28 -0700
From: Mark Sussex <doktordogg@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: the lift in calecita

--- JC Dill <tango@VO.CNCHOST.COM> wrote:

> Is she going to go somewhere even when he
> doesn't *lead* her to go
> somewhere? If so, why?

Weight shift.

Mark

Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 12:52:25 -0400
From: Barbara Kountouzi <vk25@DREXEL.EDU>
Subject: Re: the lift in calecita

TimmyTango wrote:

>The man has to tell the lady that he want her to stop somehow, and stand
>poised on her right toe in position. Lowering or exhaling lets the lady know

it time to move.

>I also use this technique in my 8cb seleda at the 2nd and 5th position. I
>always raise the lady when I want her to stop. Starting the lift as I leave
>one step and ending the lift at the end of the step. Not ending the step and
>then finally raising the lady.

this, though well said, reminded me of another issue about calecita with the
lean from a woman's perspective: the importance of bringing the woman BACK TO
HER AXIS before moving out of the calecita. There are men whoknow how to give
the right lead for the woman to 'freeze' in axis and wait, but many of them
start moving without bringing her back to axis. I cannot stress enough what a
disaster this is. It is not enough to lower or exhale or whatever have you,
because when I lean I am in a vulnerable position; of course, I have my
responsibilities such as controlling my abs, posture etc., but aside from that
I depend on the man's movement and cannot take a step while leaning. No matter
how perfect the lead for exiting the lean might be, if the man does not bring
me to axis first, I simply cannot move! I am just mentioning this as a point
to be stressed when teaching the calecita with the lean.

Barbara

Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 01:32:26 -0400
From: Tanguero Chino <tanguerochino@NETSCAPE.NET>
Subject: Re: the lift in calecita

> Timothy Pogros wrote:
>
> The man has to tell the lady that he want her to
> stop somehow, and stand poised on her right toe
> in position.

You hit the nail right on the head, Timmy.

It's all about communication!

Every follower is different, so is every leader. How the couple communicate with each other ultimately depends on what works best. Even then, what worked in one instance may not work the next time it is done.

I speculate that the term "lift" was probably invented by some tango teacher who, failing to teach the leader how to achieve the proper frame first, needed a more obvious signal that can be easily taught. Even with the proper frame, some followers require a clearer signal than others, thus the "lift".

I prefer to describe the signal as "a tighter embrace". (Please, DO NOT squish the follower!)

Another point that I have not seen discussed (did I miss it?) is pausing. By pausing before starting the Calecita, even for just one beat, I found that most followers will understand the signal. Now, maybe my right arm has already been conditioned to unconciously tighten the embrace, even "lifting", but isn't that what it's all about? Moving together to the music without concious effort of communication. Telepathy anyone?

Telepathic Calecitas to all.

Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 08:05:42 -0700
From: JC Dill <tango@VO.CNCHOST.COM>
Subject: Re: the lift in calecita

On 09:58 AM 7/11/01, Mark Sussex wrote:
>--- JC Dill <tango@VO.CNCHOST.COM> wrote:
>
>> Is she going to go somewhere even when he
>> doesn't *lead* her to go
>> somewhere? If so, why?
>
>Weight shift.

If the leader's weight shift is transmitted to the woman, it's a lead, if
it isn't, it isn't.

For example, if you lead the first 5 counts of an 8 count basic with the
standard (leader's) steps of:

step back on the right foot
step to the side on the left foot
step forward with the right foot
step forward with the left foot
step right together with the left (follower crosses)

You want the follower to take one step each time you take one step. But
what about when you do:

step back on the right foot
step to the side on the left foot, bring the right together with the left
and change weight
step forward with the left foot
step forward with the right foot
step left together with the right (follower crosses)

How do you keep the follower from changing weight at the end of the second
step when you step together and change weight? Do you give some special
lead that indicates "I'm taking a step, but you shouldn't step with
me"? Or do you just take your step (changing your weight) without
transmitting a lead to your follower?

The lead into the calecita is done the same way. You don't need to make it
any more complicated!

The key to leading this movement is for the leader to be able to move one's
own body away from the follower without "leading" her to follow. This can
be done without a special lead that says "stay there", simply by not
leading her to step. But it can only be done if the follower can rely on
you to "lead every step". Because most leaders don't lead every step,
followers get into a habit of anticipating and treating any movement of the
leader as if he means it to be a lead, and then you find yourself trying to
say "I'm moving, but I'm not leading" and creating special leads to
indicate that. It all goes away when you get back to leading every step,
and NOT LEADING when you don't want her to step.

It's simple, but (unfortunately) often it's hard because it's not what you
have already learned to do.

jc