Milonga Introductory Vocabulary - Crab

This was taught to us as a milonga basic. One of the interesting things about milonga is that there is no consensus on what a basic is. So there are lots of milonga basics. This is our second step which is "the basic" for milonga.

One thing that works very nicely from a musical perspective is the way you can go on the 4th step which can be on the 4th beat of music. There can be a little bit of extra breadth and suspension as you have "and" and step forward (or back for the follower) into the "one".

We want to say something like "after the breadth and suspension, comes the fall, as you go into the one and onward."

Artist Name:: Aníbal Troilo
Song Title:: La Milonga Y Yo
Album Title:: Che Buenos Aires - 1969/1970
Artist Website:: http://www.troilo.com.ar/

(From Wikipedia): Anibal Troilo was a bandoneon player, composer, arranger and bandleader in Argentina. His orquesta típica was among the most popular with social dancers during the golden age of tango (1940-1955), but he changed to a concert sound by the late 1950s. Troilo's orchestra is best known for its instrumentals and also recorded with many vocalists.

00:05: So, this step was taught to me as the crab. We'll show you.
00:10: Once the music comes back on.
00:12: It's another 4-count basic, that we can use.
00:29: And so, really, what we're doing, for the guys, there's first a step... I'm going to call it a step zero, which you do once to prep.
00:35: So, normally, when we're dancing tango, we start with a man's weight on his right foot and the lady's on her left, and then we go into stuff.
00:43: In many of the milonga combinations I'm teaching, we start with the guys right foot, and the lady's left foot.
00:49: And partly that's because of direction, but partly not.
00:54: So, here, I'm going to start with a zero, and then after that, I'll go... forward, forward, side, together.
01:04: So, for the guys, you've got: one, two... side, together.
01:13: One more time, different angle.
01:15: So, I step side, turning to my right, side, turning to your right, so you can get outside partner.
01:21: One step. On my second step, I'm going to cross a little bit over, so you see that I'm not walking straight forward, like that.
01:28: What I'm doing is I'm going side, and I'm going one, two, travels a little to the side.
01:34: For the followers, you have the natural opposite.
01:36: When he goes side, you go side, but you're turning to your right to see him. Then you have one, two.
01:42: So, once again, you see how my right foot goes to my left shoulder.
01:49: Here's our zero, one, two; one more time, here's our zero, one, two.
01:56: Now, after that, we have a weight change.
01:59: For the guys, you have zero, one, two... So that they can see, move a little that way.
02:06: Three is side, four is together, and I'm adding a hover, to go into next thing.
02:11: So, if you think musically, sometimes they have this thing, where
02:14: You'll listen to music, and you'll go, "One, two, three, FOUR, one", and so our hover's accenting that four.
02:21: So, we have: side, forward, forward, side, together, and then you'll go forward.
02:29: And it's the natural opposite for the ladies.
02:34: Back, back, side, together, hover, and then out.
02:41: So, we have prep...
02:58: Now, there's another point I would like to make, which is that
03:02: That moment of hover can be really cool, and really special.
03:05: Because there's this like *inhales*, and then you go.
03:08: So, as we do this, watch, maybe not the first time you watch the video, but the second or third; you can watch the hover, and then hit.
03:24: And don't make too big a thing of it.

Series:: Milonga Introductory Vocabulary
Tags:: Milonga