Cool Ways to Travel - Adv - Prep For Cadena - Man's Gancho
(Nancy speaking): I have a theory about teaching which requires that I occupy the student's conscious mind with something collateral to what I plan to teach and then sneak the true teaching in to his backbrain. That's a very simplified explanation. Ask me and I'll be glad to tell you more.
This is basically what we are doing in these 2 videos. The important thing we want to teach is that very difficult J step for the follower and the lead that makes this happen. Along with the placement of both partners' feet. But what people think about is the coming gancho and how to make that work. This mind-on-the-gancho effect gets them to learn the beginning of the cadena just as a by product.
We have found this remarkably more effective and much less confusing than trying to teach the cadena in a more straightforward way. When we finally come to put the pieces of cadena together, students find that they already have the crucial elements to make it work taught into their body (while they were making the gancho and following drag work).
- Artist Name:
- Trio Garufa
----- Song 1 -----
Artist Name:
Song Title:
La Bordona
Album Title:
Artist Website:
http:// http://www.triogarufa.com/
From website: Trio Garufa is an international ensemble dedicated to performing authentic Argentine music. They have performed across Argentina, Canada and the US. Trio Garufa performs traditional Argentine tango, modern tango styles such as Astor Piazzolla's music or electro tangos, original tango compositions, and Argentine folk music. Their music is exciting, virtuosic, and rooted in the dance. They are the only tango ensemble in the US to have performed extensively in the milongas (tango dance clubs) of Buenos Aires. The group includes Guillermo García, guitar (Argentina) Adrian Jost, bandoneon (Switzerland) and Sascha Jacobsen, string bass (California).
----- Song 2 -----
Artist Name:
Song Title:
Malena
Album Title:
Artist Website:
From website: Trio Garufa is an international ensemble dedicated to performing authentic Argentine music. They have performed across Argentina, Canada and the US. Trio Garufa performs traditional Argentine tango, modern tango styles such as Astor Piazzolla's music or electro tangos, original tango compositions, and Argentine folk music. Their music is exciting, virtuosic, and rooted in the dance. They are the only tango ensemble in the US to have performed extensively in the milongas (tango dance clubs) of Buenos Aires. The group includes Guillermo García, guitar (Argentina) Adrian Jost, bandoneon (Switzerland) and Sascha Jacobsen, string bass (California).
- 00:16
- That was cadena. And this is the start of
a series on cadena. - 00:22
- Usually when we teach cadena in class…
- 00:24
- ..it’s really hard for people to get their minds
around what the step’s about. - 00:27
- So we broke it down into two pieces…
- 00:30
- ..and created this little gimmick,
which is that the first piece ends with gancho, - 00:36
- And the second piece ends with drag.
- 00:38
- And people when they learn it then,
can learn the important part of the shaping of the step… - 00:43
- ..with their minds on the gancho and the drag.
- 00:45
- So it doesn’t stay so confusing.
- 00:47
- And then after, in the third video,
we’ll put them all together. - 00:52
- N: So…
D: So… - 00:54
- So this is the first half.
- 00:57
- So we’re going to start: side, he changes.
- 01:00
- And now she’s going to go back
and then around in a ‘J’ - 01:04
- So back and around.
- 01:05
- And I’m going through her leg.
- 01:07
- Which means that he has to hit me right here.
- 01:14
- Different angle; side, he changes.
- 01:17
- And then I take her back and then around,
so I can go through her thigh. - 01:21
- When he gets through my thigh and hits my leg…
- 01:24
- ..it makes my leg cross over like this,
I don’t step on it, I step out a little bit. - 01:28
- And I pivot a little on my left foot.
- 01:34
- And now after that, you see her step out, very small…
- 01:37
- ..and then I go with it and bigger,
because I’m trying to get around her. - 01:43
- One more time, let’s do that.
And I’m going to keep going. - 01:51
- And now here…
- 01:52
- ..in, well - we’re going to cut this.
- 01:56
- So after this it’s not cadena,
but it’ll break it in pieces… - 01:59
- ..so it’s easier to learn.
- 02:00
- I’m going to go straight back,
she’ll go forward into a lunge… - 02:03
- ..so I can go, "bang", gancho.
- 02:07
- And that, all by itself, makes a kind of cool combination.
- 02:10
- Let’s do it all together.
- 02:30
- Now some comments: for the followers…
- 02:33
- ..the instinct is to go away from the leader.
- 02:37
- And I really want you to go towards the leader when you lunge.
- 02:40
- So, if you’re the leader, this is what followers usually do.
- 02:43
- They’re here and they go 'lunge'.
- 02:45
- And the leader is over here.
- 02:46
- So instead when you lunge forward,
I want you to go ‘lunge’... - 02:50
- ..and keep it straight towards him.
- 02:52
- And you want to move your weight very far forward…
- 02:54
- ..because that gives the leader
more room to gancho. - 02:56
- For the leaders, it’s easier if your left foot steps...
- 03:01
- ..some place really close to my left foot.
- 03:04
- So, if you step way far away…
- 03:06
- Right, or wrong actually, is what I should say.
- 03:09
- I shouldn’t say right, I should say wrong.
- 03:11
- Right is the wrong idea.
- 03:13
- So from here, if when she steps, give it a go…
- 03:16
- ..I step way over here.
- 03:17
- Then when I want to gancho,
you know, I don’t make it or… - 03:21
- He does make it.
Not exactly the tango look. - 03:22
- Yeah my gancho.
- 03:30
- So she takes that ‘J’ around me,
I go through her, around her, square up. - 03:35
- Here, it’s going to be a lunge, so it’s down and under to lead.
- 03:38
- She goes forward, close.
- 03:41
- I turn my hips away for the gancho.
- 03:43
- See how far open I am.
See how close our feet are. - 03:48
- Can we show that in the foot camera,
so that they can see your left foot in relation to mine? - 03:53
- So that’s really the key to making a man’s gancho work…
- 03:57
- ..it’s the key to making any man’s gancho work.
- 04:02
- Because that’s what lets him balance.
- 04:04
- So you see that my foot is right next to her foot,
so I can gancho. - 04:10
- Because if he is not balanced over his left…
- 04:13
- N: ..then the gancho looks something like -
D: Lets scoot... - 04:15
- ..a little more this way.
- 04:16
- So usually what you’ll see when people do this,
is something like this. - 04:20
- Exactly, because he can’t balance over his left foot…
- 04:23
- Because I’m too far away.
- 04:24
- But if I’m right up there, then he can stay straight.
- 04:28
- And do as many ganchos as his heart desires…
- 04:31
- ..and more than my heart desires.
- 04:34
- Just a hint.
