Off the back of a weekend that required me to leave work early and sleep cray hours to finally get back into a semi-human mode of work and sleep. Thoughts?
When I first started tango, I jumped straight into a Fire & Ice festival in Ann Arbor January of 2010. That was my first taste of a tango festival which was relatively social and a good scene in hindsight.
Coming back to Malaysia I've participated in the KL Festival every single year, Singapore festival twice, Taiwan festival once (24 hour on a whim - fuck it all flight), Shanghai festival once. Other than that the flavour of the day nowadays is definitely geared more toward marathons/encuentros, and for a good reason. Festivals in this part of the world are seriously so tipped toward a certain "type" that it is far more worth my money and sanity to go for the social dancing rather than the festival format.
Granted, lessons were good, always learning, picking up new things. Competition was, so-so for me, was kind of nervous stepping on stage but to some degree you know who are sureshots almost from the start. Good to see the judges had certain standards and morals which they upheld. Winners were well deserved but you can't help to feel tired at this old scene again.
Milongas. Nothing to say la, felt like TXP all over again.
Private Class - Maxi
Tons of things to fix, as always.
1) Embrace & Elevation
- Sucking in or closing the ribs is a wrong way to think about it, rather action it by lifting from the core and the abs, once you do that the upper torso naturally elevates upward (watch the shoulders raising)
- Think about zipping a tight pair of jeans, that is the same action that causes the energy to be sent upward
- 3 points of contact, the right hand, the center of the torso and the left elbow connected to the guy, not a weight slumping on top of him, but rather an active energy and pressure on those points, boobs on a platform (the guys), right elbow in front of you, not behind - don't think of pushing the guys hand, rather think of just grasping his hand with energy (not squeezing to death either)
- When you prepare the embrace, keep the heels together, try and get the feet close to the guy, pelvis away, elevate the torso, create a circular energy from both hands to the center
- Tip - look inward first as the embrace starts rather than past his shoulder, otherwise there is a tendency for the right shoulder to collapse too far inward and the setup is compromised from the start - if the embrace is too parallel, the lead has nothing to hold on to (where he would normally hold onto the right upper shoulder area)
2) Setting up for the walk
- Think about moving the pelvis/hip away to create space, at the same time - send the energy forward to match the guy, and absorb the intention that he is sending
- Don't absorb the energy, instead, take it and use it to create dynamism
- Also think in the standing leg, the standing leg powers the movement to its conclusion before the next cycle starts
- Send the leg to infinity
- The butt area should be elevated, rather than having the energy downward
- Watch the collapsing in the in-between steps (weight changes/shifts); keep the energy always elevated
3) Ochos
- Stretch! Use the same theory as the walk forward to disassociate and create the stretch
- When you use the wall, your opposite butt should be visible, creating a line that is all the way stretched around the torso
- Don't kick out the leg in an arc (don't swing), rather swing the hips then the leg is an extension
- The right hand can push against the guy to turn - DEMAND THE ENERGY
4) Other pointers
- To activate the back muscle, act as though you are crunching a pilates ball (does not need to be too hard, putting a bit of pressure downward; think of also activating the pecs in front as this is also connected
- This can be used to lock into the guys right arm and so he can feel the torso even more - this creates an energy all the way around
- Connection is fluid, you can move across different connection points, and you have to for different movements
When I first started tango, I jumped straight into a Fire & Ice festival in Ann Arbor January of 2010. That was my first taste of a tango festival which was relatively social and a good scene in hindsight.
Coming back to Malaysia I've participated in the KL Festival every single year, Singapore festival twice, Taiwan festival once (24 hour on a whim - fuck it all flight), Shanghai festival once. Other than that the flavour of the day nowadays is definitely geared more toward marathons/encuentros, and for a good reason. Festivals in this part of the world are seriously so tipped toward a certain "type" that it is far more worth my money and sanity to go for the social dancing rather than the festival format.
Granted, lessons were good, always learning, picking up new things. Competition was, so-so for me, was kind of nervous stepping on stage but to some degree you know who are sureshots almost from the start. Good to see the judges had certain standards and morals which they upheld. Winners were well deserved but you can't help to feel tired at this old scene again.
Milongas. Nothing to say la, felt like TXP all over again.
Private Class - Maxi
Tons of things to fix, as always.
1) Embrace & Elevation
- Sucking in or closing the ribs is a wrong way to think about it, rather action it by lifting from the core and the abs, once you do that the upper torso naturally elevates upward (watch the shoulders raising)
- Think about zipping a tight pair of jeans, that is the same action that causes the energy to be sent upward
- 3 points of contact, the right hand, the center of the torso and the left elbow connected to the guy, not a weight slumping on top of him, but rather an active energy and pressure on those points, boobs on a platform (the guys), right elbow in front of you, not behind - don't think of pushing the guys hand, rather think of just grasping his hand with energy (not squeezing to death either)
- When you prepare the embrace, keep the heels together, try and get the feet close to the guy, pelvis away, elevate the torso, create a circular energy from both hands to the center
- Tip - look inward first as the embrace starts rather than past his shoulder, otherwise there is a tendency for the right shoulder to collapse too far inward and the setup is compromised from the start - if the embrace is too parallel, the lead has nothing to hold on to (where he would normally hold onto the right upper shoulder area)
2) Setting up for the walk
- Think about moving the pelvis/hip away to create space, at the same time - send the energy forward to match the guy, and absorb the intention that he is sending
- Don't absorb the energy, instead, take it and use it to create dynamism
- Also think in the standing leg, the standing leg powers the movement to its conclusion before the next cycle starts
- Send the leg to infinity
- The butt area should be elevated, rather than having the energy downward
- Watch the collapsing in the in-between steps (weight changes/shifts); keep the energy always elevated
3) Ochos
- Stretch! Use the same theory as the walk forward to disassociate and create the stretch
- When you use the wall, your opposite butt should be visible, creating a line that is all the way stretched around the torso
- Don't kick out the leg in an arc (don't swing), rather swing the hips then the leg is an extension
- The right hand can push against the guy to turn - DEMAND THE ENERGY
4) Other pointers
- To activate the back muscle, act as though you are crunching a pilates ball (does not need to be too hard, putting a bit of pressure downward; think of also activating the pecs in front as this is also connected
- This can be used to lock into the guys right arm and so he can feel the torso even more - this creates an energy all the way around
- Connection is fluid, you can move across different connection points, and you have to for different movements
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