...Pedro
Sanchez said to me a few years back.
It
wasn't intended scornfully: he was
just
trying to get through to me how tango is danced in Buenos
Aires. 'Con el cuerpo!' he kept saying. With the body! It took me
a
while to
realise that
he
was talking about the upper
body.
I
thought
of this
recently, sitting watching the dancing at a London milonga. Dancers
who've learned in London (and
elsewhere) prioritise
the footwork, which can be elaborate and
skilfull.
But that's where the energy begins and ends. The upper bodies tend to
be largely inert, and
the dance looks dull and incomplete.
Poorly-trained
teachers, even
from Buenos Aires, have learned little more than footwork, and that's
what they
practice
and teach.
In
any case it's
only recently that close embrace has become widely acceptable here: if
you don't contact your partner with your upper body there's not much
need to use it when you dance. But
once you do dance in contact with partners,
everything changes. It's a whole different dance.
Another
quote: as
Silvia
Ceriani, the late Tete Rusconi's dance partner said, 'If you want to
dance, you have to move your body!'
This
appeared
recently: a video
of the late Eduardo Aguirre,
who spent the last ten years of his life in
Europe, teaching
with Yvonne Meissner.
He
passed
away in
2010 and I
know is greatly missed by partners he danced with. Sadly,
almost inexplicably,
he taught only
briefly in
the UK. Where do you see the energy in this dance? He's showing what the feet do, but to me that's not the important part: the energy is in the upper body.
I'm
sure
we've
all learned
much more precise and fine-looking ways of using our feet in turns –
but have
we learned to dance, and dance
with such warmth and energy? I think this
clip makes quite
clear that the 'cuerpo' isn't the feet! It's a very
bodily way of moving, an abundantly physical dance. This is a classroom demo
and might be a bit exaggerated, but it
shows the
movement clearly.
Towards
the end of
the clip he
and Yvonne dance briefly with music and show how, just turning, you
can
follow the surges in the music. A
short, great lesson in dance and musicality. Así
se baila el tango!
That's
how tango is danced! Wonderful.
Thanks to Patricia Muller for that one.
3 comments:
Nice article. Thanks TC. You've put your finger on probably the most important difference in movement between what the Argentines call dancing tango, and what most in the UK call dancing tango.
"Eduardo Aguirre... almost inexplicably, he taught only briefly in the UK."
Some of the explanation was apparent to those like myself who learned with him. What he was trying to put over was incompatible and actually opposed to what most classgoers had learned from UK-based teachers, and so inevitably his teaching was not well received. If he'd been here ten years later, he would have found a few more learners here ready to receive what he was offering. I'm sad he's no longer with us.
I agree but from a different perspective. I see too many London dancers reach out with their feet, or be caught in poses unbalanced and awkward.
To move well, whilst maintaining a good posture and pose, and remain dignified, we keep our feet under us.
This coincides with what you say - we move with the body, and never plant our feet "out there somewhere". And this helps the follower too - you're moving, instead of your feet are over there and you are here .. confused.
http://insearchoftango.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/word-of-advice-2.html
Hi Anon, and thanks for the link. You've reminded me of a couple of slow motion clips I posted in 2009, one showing Luisito Ferraris, who grew up in the milongas of Buenos Aires, and one showing 'Junior' Cevila, a well-known show dancer, about exactly this topic of sticking a leg out without first moving the upper body. In the clips, both are taking a simple step to the left. Guess which one steps before moving the upper body!
http://tangocommuter1.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/back-to-grach-2-nothing-about-coloured.html
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