Tango is not only a fascinating dance but also a fascinating philosophy, culture and lifestyle. The search of tango is the search of connection, love, fellowship, unity, harmony and beauty, i.e., an idealism that is not consistent with the dehumanizing reality of the modern world. The world divides us into individuals, but tango unites us into a team, community and species. In tango we are not individualists, feminists, nationalists, Democrats, Republicans, etc., but interconnected and interdependent members of the human family. Tango calls us to tear down the walls, to build bridges, and to regain humanity through affinity, altruism, cooperation, and accommodation. It is a dance that teaches the world to love.



February 27, 2016

Floorcraft, Choreography and Hastiness


In tango, we move counterclockwise along the line of dance, but our dancing route is not a straight line. Rather, it is a random course with alternate right and left moves, forward and backward steps and various turns. If our legs were brushes, they would leave on the dance floor marks with different characteristics - neat or messy, robust or graceful, beautiful or ugly, interesting or boring, etc., just like a work of calligraphy. This work of calligraphy is not only two dimensional, composed of steps in single or multiple sizes and directions, it also has a time dimension, involving steps in mono or diverse speeds and rhythms.

Students may think of floorcraft as navigation rules, such as traveling on your own lane and avoiding frequent lane changes, not dancing against traffic, keeping a proper distance from the couple dancing in front of you, not doing spot dancing that may hold up traffic, avoiding dangerous steps, etc. But floorcraft is more than a safety protocol. It is also an important component of choreography, an art by its own right. Dancers may be skillful in dance techniques, but their choreography can still be artless. The following is an example.




These students are quite skilled dancers. Their embrace, posture, footwork and techniques are all good. The obvious problem is hastiness. They danced with great eagerness, constantly chasing the beat regardless of the changing mood of music. There is hardly any break, rest, slow motion, subtlety, and emotional expressions in their dance.

Dancers must understand that dancing to music is not stepping on every beat. Dance is like any other composition art. In writing you need to use punctuation marks, in painting you need to use empty space, in calligraphy you need to leave margins, and in tango you need to pause. Silence is also an expression, which sometimes speaks more than words. Pause, slow motion, suspension and pose should all be a part of your tango vocabulary.

In comparison, the following clip is a slightly better example.




In this video, while many dancers still dance in a beat-chasing way, there are few exceptions. The glaring example is the couple in white and purple appeared from 0:00-0:35 in the middle and again 0:55-1:05 to the right. The man danced in a relaxed and patient way, giving the woman enough time to finish her steps and not rushing her to chase the beat. Sometimes he paused to enjoy the silence, adding an interesting variety to the choreography.

When it comes to choreography and dance speed, we have much to learn from the milongueros.




As you can see, the milongueros dance at a much slower pace. They don't chase the beat, neither do they dance at a monotonic speed. Instead, they use a lot of pauses, slow motions and subtle expressions in their choreography. Their attention is on the music and feelings rather than steps, and their dance seems more interesting, meaningful, and deep. (See Steps and Choreoraphy.)

It must be pointed out that plotting the dance is the role of the man. The woman's role is to synchronize the movements and beautify the dance, but she cannot change the choreography. That responsibility lies in the leader. Too often, the leader is so focused on leading the steps that he forgets his duty to make the choreography interesting. This, of course, does not mean that the woman has nothing to do with choreography. Often the couple rushes because the woman dances with great haste, leaving the man little choice but rush with her.

As a good example, in the video below the woman combines tension and relaxation in her dance within the time allowed by the man, turning her dance into an artistic expression rather than a gymnastics exercise.





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