Vocabulary - Take 2 - Leaders - Boleo
The idea of a throw and then a sharp stop creating a resulting kick from the follower occurs in quite a few different steps.
If you ever had one of those toys as a child which was a wooden board with an elastic string connecting a ball to it, you can understand what the movement is like. You would bounce the ball on the board and, when you stopped, the ball would stretch away, reach the limit and then snap back.
That's a lot like a boleo, where you "throw" her out and then, at your sharp stop, her momentum keeps going to throw out her leg. But that's also a lot like a front boleo, or a gancho or a kick between the legs.
- Artist Name:
- Juan D'Arienzo
- Song Title:
- 9 de Julio
- Album Title:
- RCA Victor 100 Años - Juan D'Arienzo
Known as "El Rey del Compás" (King of the Beat), his music is played often at milongas. The instrumentals are the classic rhythmic tangos with a strong staccato dance rhythm.
- 00:05
- Guys, as you lead the boleo, we’ll talk about
some of the details that we didn’t get to earlier… - 00:10
- ..but you’ll see that there, my right arm is free.
- 00:14
- So that, the instinct is to do the boleo like this...
- 00:17
- D: ..where you throw it.
N: I'm not going to like this. - 00:20
- But I don’t let go of my right arm
until my body is very distorted. - 00:23
- And so you want to make sure that as you throw the boleo...
- 00:26
- ..you move the right arm in,
so she has full range of motion in her hips to pivot. - 00:31
- But that you also can keep your own axis.
- 00:36
- So if you watch my right arm,
I’ll go here but I’ll slide it in. - 00:43
- Or alternatively, as I send her out...
- 00:45
- ..then I’ll let go and let it slide
and then grab her again. - 00:50
- That’s feels really powerful when you do that.
- 00:52
- Well that’s not about the let go,
that’s about the sending. - 00:57
- Also for the guys, there’s often this instinct of going...
- 01:00
- ..backward or forwards into her space.
- 01:02
- And so if I lead a boleo like this, ...
- 01:04
- ..invisible woman, I'm..
- 01:06
- .. not going to inflict it on.
- 01:08
- So we go here. If I do this,
you can imagine that the lady... - 01:12
- ..who’s right here would have a hard time
being balanced. - 01:14
- Likewise, if I’m like this.
- 01:15
- So I want you to think that you’re going to
maintain your own axis... - 01:18
- ..and you’re going to throw it
and then bring her back. - 01:21
- And you see that I have the vertical line.
- 01:31
- Now there are many kind of boleos.
- 01:34
- So if I’m the follower, that’s a boleo
or this is a boleo. - 01:42
- Or...that’s a boleo or this is a boleo.
- 01:48
- Right so all these different kinds of boleos
and you can’t... - 01:53
- ..you can’t really say to her,
“I want this one particular boleo.” - 01:56
- I mean you can, so you can lead
and in your lead request a specific boleo. - 02:02
- But it’s very hard. It’s a very subtle thing.
- 02:04
- So I’m going to talk about some of the different leads
for the different boleos… - 02:06
- ..realizing that in real life, you’ll be lucky
if you get exactly what you ask for. - 02:11
- You want something even vaguely similar
and that’s a success. - 02:15
- So first one, if I want her to do boleo along the ground,
instead of kicking up… - 02:19
- ..I’ll push down and out.
- 02:21
- So the air boleo, if you look at my right arm
and my energy… - 02:24
- ..I send it that way and I stop.
- 02:28
- But if I want it along the floor,
I’ll push down a little bit. - 02:37
- So that was the air.
- 02:42
- That’s the floor.
- 02:43
- Yes, and I didn’t know which one
he was going to do first. - 02:45
- Right, so that’s how it works.
- 02:46
- So there’s that versus that.
- 02:54
- There are other kinds and
we’re going to skip them for now... - 02:57
- ..and we’re going to jump topics
and mention that… - 03:00
- ..leaders, you’re responsible for the navigation.
- 03:03
- So as you’re dancing follower around the room...
- 03:06
- ..and you’re carefully not running her into people
and chairs and walls and stuff. - 03:11
- You also want to be careful of running her foot
into people or chairs or walls. - 03:15
- So when you lead a boleo, make sure that there’s sort of
nothing in the path of destruction and death. - 03:20
- Path of destruction.
