Move of the month
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May 06
A volcada
- Basic 1,2,3,4,5.
- Wen arriving on five, the man changes weight and does a little step backward (L foot) away from the lady maintaining his upper body so that the woman won't step with him but lean on him instead.
- He now does a diagonal step with his R foot, away from the woman. Doing so, he leads the lady to describe a kind of circle on the floor with her free L foot.
- He now retransfers his weight to his L foot and in doing so he leads the lady to draw on the floor the reverse circle with her L foot. When her L foot is coming back crossed in front of her R foot, he does a little step with his R foot.
- He steps with his L foot while she changes weight and steps with her R foot. (can be seen as a basic 6, exiting the volcada)
- Basic 7.
April 06
A back sacada followed by a woman barrida and a woman back sacada
- Basic 1 to 5. Then the man steps aside (cross system, see description of Jan06) as he leads the lady in forward ochos (no need to add again that the ochos are fully led: the pivots and the steps forward... you should know it now...)
- When the man is on his R foot and as he leads the next steps fwd of the ocho for the lady, he changes weight so that he steps fwd with his R foot, and lady fwd with her L (so back to normal system...)
- Then he leads the lady into a side step (with her R foot) and he does a back sacada with his L foot (so stepping back after a pivot for him) into her receiving L leg.
- He leads the lady back (on her L leg) and he puts his R foot touching her R foot.
- He now leads the lady in a side step (Well done, of course you've recognised the ubiquitous giro which happens each time the woman goes around the man...) and since his foot is on the way she pushes it in a barrida.
- The woman goes forward after a pasada.
- Then the man changes the direction of the lady and makes her step back (with her R foot), which produces a back sacada into his receiving R leg.
- Side, forward, change of direction, forward, 6, 7, 8.
A good exercise for keen tangueros is to right/left reverse the sequence... (In actual fact, it is a very good exercise to do all the time, with any sequence, in all classes you attend. It forces to think and deconstruct nicely the sequence.) Of course the sequence is now more difficult as the back sacada for the man is done whith his R leg, which is much more tricky due to the asymetrical tango embrace...)
March 06
A man pasada, back sacada followed by woman back sacada
- Basic 1 and 2. Then the man changes weight and steps aside with his L foot while he pivots the lady and makes her step back alongside him (in other words, leading her to a backward ocho...)
- Pivot and backward step for the lady (backward ocho) while the man catches her L foot with his L foot after another change of weight for him. (It is called a tomada. tomar = to take in Spanish)
- The man passes with his R foot (a pasada for the man) while the lady stays on her back foot.
- The man then brings back his L foot cross behind his R one and steps back with his L foot, producing a back sacada into her extended L leg.
- Now, the lady brings her feet together, as always between steps (let's repeat that again, the lady coming back to position 0, which means feet together is what permits tango to be improvised... the lady does not know what the next step will be, so she puts her feet together... otherwise she anticipates the next step and there is no much point to dance anymore really...)
- The man pivots her and makes her step back into his now extended R leg. In other words, it is a sacada produced by the back leg of the lady into the receiving front leg of the man... (same one as in the move of Jul05 in fact, the man sacada was different though)
- Then the man puts his feet together and leads her side and forward (the ubiquitous giro: she went back, side, fwd... each time the lady goes around the man...)
- Basics 6 and 7.
That's it. Pretty nice, not too difficult to lead as long as the lady does not anticipate. Good exercise to alter this sequence so that after the man sacada, the man leads the lady in a backward step as he goes forward... so that the lady can't anticipate what will be coming after the man sacada...
February 06
A back and front boleo followed by a... (I don't know the name, send me the proper name if you know it!
- Basic 1 and 2, but the lady is being led to a back boleo (of her L foot). (It takes a bit of practice to lead such boleos comfortably. The man pivots the lady anti clockwise and change of direction. This produces the boleo) and then
- the man leads a front boleo this time (so pivoting her clockwise this time).
- When she finishes the boleo the man press her a little bit downward to keep her weight on her R foot and he turns around the lady anti clock wise, so she pivots on her R foot, keeping her L leg stretched in front.
- Then the man invites the lady to do a barrida with her L leg. (She can take the initiative of he can leads her by pushing her a bit backward with his L arm while he prevents her to go backwards with his R arm, it is quite subtle, but it works beautifully).
- The lady does now a pasada (the R foot of the man is in front of her, so she needs to step over it, that's what we call a pasada. pasar = to pass)
- Now Flavio leads the lady in a kind of giro: after the fwd step of the pasada, side step, backward step, side step, forward step (this later one not around him) and another forward step (so can be seen as an ocho...) and then 6, 7 and 8.
That's it. Pretty easy this month. No, the intention is not to make you learn ready-made sequences, but it is a very efficient way of learning to study a few properly formed phrases. Once learned you're only half there, you need to de-construct it, and use the vocabulary in your own phrases...
January 06
Let's walk together...
- It starts with the lady doing forward ochos (or forward steps with changes of direction as I prefer to see them, fully led obviously...), the man stepping aside along. (Let's open a parenthesis here: in the cross system: we are in the cross system here, both L feet of each partner move together, contrarily to the normal mirror sytem where it is the L of one partner with the R foot of the other which move together... when can such a change of system happen? when one partner does a change of weight and not the other one... can be done on five for example, the lady will change weight after the cross, if the man does not change weight there, then they now end up in the cross system...)
- And then while she is doing a fwd step with her L foot, rather than pivoting her for a change of direction, the man leads her to a diagonal side step (with her R foot) while he will do the same, but in front of her, with his R foot.
- He now leads her to a diagonal side step with her L foot while he does himself a diagonal side step behind her, with his L foot.
- And again, he now leads her to a diagonal side step with her R foot while he does himself a diagonal side step in front of her with his R foot.
- Now, Flavio is a bit tired of repeating the last two steps so he decides to go forward with his L foot (crossed in front of his R leg, and going a bit down) and leads the lady to do the same.
- He now crosses his R leg in front of his L leg while he leads the lady to do the same.
- He steps diagonal back with his L leg while he leads the lady to do the same.
- He brings back his R leg in front of his L, same for the lady.
- He now crosses his L leg in front of his R, doing so, drawing a circle on the foor and pushing slightly downward the lady is easier to lead the lady to do the same.
- He steps diagonal back with R leg behind the lady as the lady is also led to do the same.
- L leg crosses in front of R, same for lady
- The man now puts his R foot a bit in front of the lady's L foot but does not change weight while he leads the lady to draw a large circle with her R foot, coming up to a soft gancho into his relaxed R leg.
- He now pivots the lady and makes her step back as he pivots himself. He can then lead her to a giro as on the video or can step fwd with his L leg while she steps back with her R...
Obviously, many combinations of such steps are possible. Trying out different combinations makes a very good leading/following exercise. Ok, that's it, Happy New Year to all Flavio's virtual students all over the world and see you next month.
December 05
Our christmas gift: a nice unusual barrida, pasada and sacada.
- It starts with the lady doing forward ochos (the ochos are fully led, i.e. the amount of pivoting in the change of direction and the transfer is led by the man, no “lead one get three for free” schemes as we too often see in UK…)
- When the lady transfers to her L foot, the man catches (with his R foot) her R foot coming back to the zero position, but makes it cross behind her L foot. (That’s the nice modern barrida)
- Then the man transfers the weight of the lady from her L foot to her R foot and leads her to make a step backward: since her (now free) L foot is crossed in front, she has no other choice than lifting it before stepping back. (and ladies can lift it quite high here as a decoration)
- step back, pivoting around the man, step back
- then side step, forward step… (each time the woman goes around the man, it is the ubiquitous giro…)
- forward step, change of direction, forward step (in other words a forward ocho…)
- during her forward ocho, the man does a backward sacada with his L foot (in her receiving lower part of the back leg)
- the ladies goes to position zero as usual (position 0 means feet together, it is fundamental to the tango as it is this position which allows improvisation to happen, the lady being able to go anywhere from there…) and the man leads her again to a another backward step which will produce a sacada to the man's L leg this time!
Simple, stylish, beautiful... that's tango...
November 05
Sequence of barridas
October 05
No description for this month, I am too busy!! However if you think the description is helpful and that we should provide one, then send us an email to let us know at moveofthemonth@tangowithflavio.co.uk!
September 05
- Basic 1, 2
- The man changes weight to his right foot and leads the woman in a normal 3 (back step) while he goes on her left side.
- The man is leading another back step for the lady (so normal step 4 for her) while he does a long side step on her left side (so their bodies are not in front of each others but 90 degrees)
- At the end of the previous step the man is leading a volteo (his weight on his right foot) followed by a front boleo (his weight on his left foot).
- The man is changing weight and pivoting the lady and lead her in a back step (can be seen as a backward ocho..) and at the same time he is closing foot and change weight (again!) so that the steps forward with his right foot. So in fact both partners are now doing a basic step 3.
- step 4 of the basic steps but the man steps with his left foot in front of the lady's right foot, which prevents the cross on 5. In fact this step is just like a step 6 of the basics...
- Side steps for both partners. (step 7 of the basics)
That's it! See you next month for an other simple, stylish, modern tango move...
August 05
Volteo and boleo
- Basic 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, forward ochos for the lady, the man stepping aside to follow her.
- The woman goes forward and the man steps also forward, parallel to her.
- The man leads the lady into an anti-clockwise giro: so side step for the lady while the man pivots on his feet to follow her.
- Back step for the lady and the man catches the extended right foot of the lady with his right foot and sweeps it (a barrida) diagonally: the woman starts in a back step and finishes in a side step. The leg used for the sweep for both partners starts and finishes fully extended (straight), but during the sweep the knee bends (so that the hips stay at the same height, as usual...)
- Then the man pivots the lady so that she goes into another back step while he catches her right foot again, but with his left foot for a change and sweeps her again (from a back step to a side step, like the previous one).
- Then the man pivots the lady so that she goes once more into another back step while he catches her right foot with his right foot this time, and sweeps her again, just like the first barrida.
- You could carry on all night like that, but here Flavio prefers to go to Cafe Rouge with us and therefore chooses after the last barrida to step with her and close feet (also known as position 0), he changes his weight, turns slightly the lady so that she is 90 degrees in front of him and makes her go down with her left leg. (Appreciate in the mirror the position of both partners, the man bent on his right side).
Do I really need to say that this little sequence is as usual fully led? No, surely you know it by now! OK, see you next month!
July 05
A man sacada followed by a woman sacada
That's a really nice step, nice gift for the summer!- Basic 1, 2, 3.
- The man pivots on 3 to produce a back sacada on 4 with his left leg into the left leg of the lady stepping 4.
- The lady has to put her feet together (as she always should in between steps, since she does not know what the next step will be) while the man pivots her fully and makes her step back to produce a back sacada into his right leg.
- This produces a front boleo for the man with his right leg. He can lead the lady side and forward around him (back, side forward, ah ah you recognise the steps of an giro, as always when the lady goes around the man...)
June 05
A sacada, turn and down
- Basic 1, 2.
- The man pivots the lady into a backward step and step aside.
- The man changes the direction of the lady and makes her step back again (in other words she is doing a backward ocho) and the man changes his weight and uses his left leg to produce a sacada into the left leg of the lady.
- This produces a front boleo for the lady with her left leg. The man then turns her anti-clockwise, breaking the embrace by moving his left arm over her head and wrapping her and leading her down with him.
May 05
A sacada and gancho
- Basic 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 with a cross for the man, his right leg behind his left.
- Forward for the lady with the man doing a sacada with his left leg into the low part of her left leg.
- Side step for the lady, while the man pivots and puts his right leg in between her two legs.
- The man puts his weight on his right leg, bends his knee and turns his upper body toward the lady, so that the lady does a gancho with her right leg.
- The man pivots in order to do step 3 of the basic steps.
As usual, this little sequence is fully led by the man...
April 05
- Basic 1, 2, 3.
- The man does no step here and leads the lady in the same direction as basic 4, but in a side position.
- Forward cross of the lady in front of the man, and sacada with the left foot into the back right foot of the lady.
- Change of direction and forward cross for the lady (in other word a fwd ocho), but blocked by the man with his right foot into the right foot of the lady.
- Side step for the lady (in other words she carries on the clock wise giro that she has started since the change of direction…).
- Backward cross for the lady (she carries on the giro..) and the man does a sacada with his left leg into the left thigh of the lady.That leads the lady into
- a front boleo and the man closes feet and change weight making sure he holds the boleo of his partner in place.
- The man holds the lady and turns with her.
- The man releases the lady and leads her down into a side step and pivots her toward him.
- basic 3 ….
As usual, that needs to be fully led by the man...
March 2005
A giro stopped by a double gancho
February 2005
A front pivot in a circling movement
January 2005
A back sacada and man gancho
One beat for every step, starting at position 5:
- Follower does a forward cross (i.e. the first part of an ocho) with her right leg while the leader steps back (diagonal right) on his right foot.
- Follower does another forward cross (with her left foot), while the leader pivots on his right foot and does a backward sacada with his left foot to the back (right) leg of the follower.
- Follower does a side step after a pivot on her right foot (notice that as always, when the follower is turning around the leader, she is doing the steps of the giro…) while the leader is doing a backward gancho with his right leg in between the legs of the follower.
- Follower does a back cross with her left foot (still doing her giro…), the leader closes feet.
- Now, we have a change of direction: the follower pivots on left foot and does another backward cross (so in fact it is a backward ocho..) and the leader steps aside with his right foot.
- Can be followed with any move, starting from position 3..
As always, even if not described above in terms of leading/following, this little sequence is fully led by the leader.