Been putting on the hat of a leader over this past week and enjoying it even more. Yeah I have no idea how to do giros or sacadas, and don't talk about ganchos either, but what I've figured is that as long as musicality is there, as long as connection exists, both parties enjoy it.
This has made me wonder about something though-I always thought that leaders were having all the fun at the start-in the sense that the steps that are taken in this dance are dependent on the leaders to have trained and learnt them-as a follower you can follow even if you don't know much about what you are doing, as long as the leader does. All the classes then seem to be about the leader's steps.
But then I've also come to realise that, as a leader, you are expected to craft the dance to understand the steps through the viewpoint of the lady, and maybe this is where many teachers don't emphasize enough. That every step you take, you have to realise what signals you are giving out in order to make the dance happen. That's quite a bit of responsibility really, and then I wonder, how does the leader then dance for himself? Perhaps this is where the leads differ-that magic element that every follower seeks, where they realise, 'hey, this is comfortable, no leg is going to suddenly stick out for me to kick or trip over'..and that is far, far more enjoyable than a dance filled with the most variations. The leader that dances for the follower is always going to be the dance that we prefer.
The best analogy I can think of is that it fits like a tailored dress-to your proportions, your fit and definitely not off the rack-this is the goal I think as a leader, to be able to provide that fit, based on the level of the follower, and just not to force it!
Anyway, checked out Sg tango over the week-lovely dances and always good to try out new leads. What I have realised with one particular lead is the ease and comfort that he makes the moves happen, even some of the more complicated ones like the sacada-leg wrap thing that I often end up tripping over with others who do it. Musicality is also super spot on and highly enjoyable, and it's almost a throwback to the days of AA and beginning classes where Avik would be trying out moves that I would not be conscious about, but ended up being able to do. It's interesting because after this many years of dancing it takes quite a bit for me to get back to that feeling again.
The best dancers really make you feel transcendent, that you don't care for once how you look to the people around the room because you are just so happy and immersed in the moment-hitting the sweet spot of dancing and completely disconnected from reality. Communication to the next level!
So to sum it up-couture tango. That's the goal >_<.
This has made me wonder about something though-I always thought that leaders were having all the fun at the start-in the sense that the steps that are taken in this dance are dependent on the leaders to have trained and learnt them-as a follower you can follow even if you don't know much about what you are doing, as long as the leader does. All the classes then seem to be about the leader's steps.
But then I've also come to realise that, as a leader, you are expected to craft the dance to understand the steps through the viewpoint of the lady, and maybe this is where many teachers don't emphasize enough. That every step you take, you have to realise what signals you are giving out in order to make the dance happen. That's quite a bit of responsibility really, and then I wonder, how does the leader then dance for himself? Perhaps this is where the leads differ-that magic element that every follower seeks, where they realise, 'hey, this is comfortable, no leg is going to suddenly stick out for me to kick or trip over'..and that is far, far more enjoyable than a dance filled with the most variations. The leader that dances for the follower is always going to be the dance that we prefer.
The best analogy I can think of is that it fits like a tailored dress-to your proportions, your fit and definitely not off the rack-this is the goal I think as a leader, to be able to provide that fit, based on the level of the follower, and just not to force it!
Anyway, checked out Sg tango over the week-lovely dances and always good to try out new leads. What I have realised with one particular lead is the ease and comfort that he makes the moves happen, even some of the more complicated ones like the sacada-leg wrap thing that I often end up tripping over with others who do it. Musicality is also super spot on and highly enjoyable, and it's almost a throwback to the days of AA and beginning classes where Avik would be trying out moves that I would not be conscious about, but ended up being able to do. It's interesting because after this many years of dancing it takes quite a bit for me to get back to that feeling again.
The best dancers really make you feel transcendent, that you don't care for once how you look to the people around the room because you are just so happy and immersed in the moment-hitting the sweet spot of dancing and completely disconnected from reality. Communication to the next level!
So to sum it up-couture tango. That's the goal >_<.
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