Every week, you’ll find on our blog class notes and a summary video from our Wednesday and Sunday tango group classes.

These video and notes are meant to help our students remember what they’ve done in class.

Dimension: The embrace - Theme: Review

In this class, we applied two important concepts that we have studied over the past month (opening & closing the embrace and grounding & lifting) to a couple of beautiful, romantic steps using ochos and a lapiz.

Summary video



 

Beginners & improvers: Forward ocho with lapiz and parada

Top tips

  • Leaders: You need to ground your partner as soon as she starts transferring her weight on to her front leg, so that she doesn’t collect her feet and instead leaves her back leg straight to create the lapiz.
  • Followers: For the lapiz, start with the leg at the back and then bring it to the side in a circular motion. The foot should be pointed, with the big toe on the floor and the leg is straight.

 

Intermediates / Advanced: Intermediates: Backward ocho, change of front and lapiz

Top tips

  • Leaders: To create the change of front, you need to lift your partner to prevent her from changing her weight and dissociate very clearly to create the pivot. Do not pause or your partner might change weight. Your torso should go directly from the angle needed in the backward ocho to the angle needed for your partner to face forward.
  • Followers: For the adornment at the change of front, send your leg back behind you. The movement is circular and clockwise and the feeling is that the free leg makes the supporting leg pivot.

 

Intermediates / Advanced: Version with change of weight

Top tips

  • Leaders: For the change of weight, mark a pause and then extend the embrace to gently push your partner outwards. This should make her change her weight.
  • Followers: Try and be sensitive and distinguish between the change of front -sharp change of dissociation with no pause – and the change of weight – pause and outwards energy-.

 

Homework

Top tips

  • Leaders: Try and lead this step with the grounding (for the lapiz) and without the grounding (which would create a normal parada). Also try and lead both the change of weight and the change of front to get more finesse into your lead.
  • Followers: On your own, you can practice the position for the lapiz. Make sure the free leg stays straight and the big toe is on the floor during the whole move.

 

See you soon on the dancefloor,

Nati y Bruno