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Style, and Leading/Following

I tend to agree with Rick McGarrey on a lot of things, and this is one of them. Style? Really? Is that different from posture, connection, musicality? Or is it just a means of selling you something? Milonguero, Villa Urquiza, Tango Nuevo, Neotango, Apilado...Good grief....

Tango is straightforward as long as there is a leader and a follower. They are two sides of the same mirror, and learning one means that one has largely learned the other. It's a bio-mechanical relationship based on simple rules of posture, connection and movement. This simple relationship makes it very easy to lead and follow complex movements at a range of speeds to fit tango's expressive music. On-axis, off-axis, it's very easy and straightforward as long as there is one leader and one follower, and it's also easy for the partners to change roles mid-dance if they wish.

Moving from the lead-follow model to an interpretive model with a "man's role" and a "woman's role" makes it difficult to progress and limits the range of possible expression without resorting to things such as 3-step set-piece choreos. The molinete is an example of this kind of thing. It's a natural motion, easily led, but which is always taught as a step for the woman to know and uncork when she thinks that it's time to 'walk the giro'.

Nuevo and a lot of tango has gone to a kind of "after you-after me" model which requires interpretation on the part of both partners as to where to step. This interpretation time means that the couples tend to dance slowly enough for the interpretation to take place ie "Which set-piece is this one, again...?"

And hip turns? Dear God, don't get me started on hip turns...



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Location: Wellington Wellington

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