Tango Solstice Weekend – 6/27/09
Principle of Creativity in Tango
12:00-1:45pm
During this class, the amazingly simple rock-step that we’ve all experienced at least once in dances besides the Tango, transformed into 12 challenging variations. Stefan and Mitra first partnered with members of the same gender – men with men, women with women – and had us perform a rock step pattern turning our partner a quarter turn to the left. Instead of the traditional open or closed embrace, we took a practice hold which was foreign to me to complete the exercise.
The practice hold (variation 1):
Leaders hands palm up holding partner’s elbows with follower hands holding the leader’s forearm where it bends at the bicep.
The practice hold (variation 2):
Followers clasp the leader’s shoulders from the side and create a vice that lightly engages the muscles in their arms and upper bodies. This muscle engagement aligns the follower’s body and keeps it squared, or in front of, the leaders during these exercises. The leader’s hands are resting down by his sides.
Variation 1:
The base for all the rock-step variations begins with the leader initiating movement by stepping with his left foot forward with the follower stepping back with her right foot. Complete a quarter turn.
Variation 2:
Same as variation 1, but the leader initiates with the right foot stepping forward while the follower steps back with her right foot again. The follower ends the step the same way, but the leader, after rotating a quarter turn to the left, ends with his right foot crossed in front of his left.
Variation 3:
In this variation, the follower rocks back with her left foot first while the leader rocks forward outside partner. This time, as he begins the quarter turn to the left, the positioning of the follower’s body to the leaders creates the lead for a back ocho. The follower pivots to begin the backwards ocho, but stops her momentum when she faces her partner (instead of performing another back ocho).
Possible Combiations:
If done in sets of 3, there are 6 possible variations you can create with this basic rock-step pattern:
- 1 2 3
- 1 3 2
- 2 3 1
- 2 1 3
- 3 2 1
- 3 1 2
This means, perform variation 1, followed by variation 2, then finish with variation 3 and so forth. Try these variations starting with the right foot for 6 more combinations that will surely throw your mind for a loop!
Keep dancing,
Panayiotis Pete Karabetis
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