Embellishments - Detailed Technique for 2 Embellishments
It helps a lot to understand where a movement is coming from. With embellishments, many times, the lift of the leg needs to come from the hip.
When a foot beats over and then escapes, it most often is also something that happens as a logical result of the movement of the hip, rather than as something the follower does purposely.
It surprises people how easy it is for us to tell the difference, but there is a huge difference in how natural or unnatural the movement looks.
It also surprises people how hard it is (for many) to learn to just let the embellishment flow rather than doing it.
As a case study, if you were to tap your toe on the ground or strike your heel, you can ask what muscles are engaged and which ones are the most important. We would say the low back, the butt and the upper thigh. Yet, many people, when they exercise this type of movement (or a front boleo) make it about the muscles around their knee and their ankle rather than about the muscles around their hip and thigh. When it is about these wrong things, then the movement becomes stiff and stilted.
As always, it's about the core.
- Artist Name:
- Osvaldo Pugliese
- Song Title:
- A Orlando Goñi
- Album Title:
- Osvaldo Pugliese - 40 Obras Fundamentales
- Artist Website:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osvaldo_Pugliese
(From Wikipedia): He developed dramatic arrangements that retained strong elements of the walking beat of salon tango but also heralded the development of concert-style tango music. Some of his music, mostly since the 50s, is used for theatrical dance performances. In Buenos Aires, Pugliese is often played later in the evening when the dancers want to dance more slowly, impressionistically and intimately.
- 00:05
- So, we're going to break down two embellishments. And we're going to do them in great detail.
- 00:09
- So, at least with these two, you'll have some detailed instructions.
- 00:15
- And they are, one for front ocho, one for back ocho.
- 00:27
- And here, back ocho.
- 00:33
- So, for the front ocho, for the ladies, as you do this,
- 00:36
- The first thing that you want to think about is making sure that you kick the leg up,
- 00:41
- And then bring it down, while you're facing away, before you turn.
- 00:45
- N: Well, that's the second thing.
D: What's the first thing?
N: The first thing is that the leg needs to come up from the hip. - 00:53
- D: OK, so, as we do this,
N: He's the girl.
D: OK, I'm the girl. - 00:57
- Let's go this way, actually.
- 01:00
- We go. I bring it up. I bring it in. I bring it down. And then, it pivots.
- 01:10
- With the leg, at the beginning, if you look at the side view,
- 01:13
- I step forward. It goes up. I bend the knee.
- 01:18
- And that lets you go higher, right? So, the leg straight only goes so high.
- 01:21
- But, you bend the knee, it lets it come higher. You beat it in. And when you beat it in, you keep it tight to yourself.
- 01:28
- D: And then, you pivot.
N: So, you want the knee to cross over the other leg, as much as it will. - 01:33
- So, we have: go that way. Kick up, bang. Bend the knee. Let it come down along your own leg.
- 01:40
- N: And then you pivot.
D: And then you pivot. - 01:42
- And notice, that, during the pivot, I kept the feet in this configuration here.
- 01:47
- So, after I cross over... The foot's crossed over. I pivot, while it's crossed over. And then, go out.
- 01:55
- N: That's really beautiful, when it goes fast. Do it fast.
D: So, if we do it more smoothly... - 02:08
- It's especially really beautiful, when you do it.
- 02:12
- So, there's that.
- 02:13
- N: The ochos?
D: And, with the ochos, with the back ochos,
N: Back ochos. - 02:22
- So, it's your hips, that are making the... Your foot just, kind of, falls in there, and then your hips make it bounce.
- 02:27
- Right. So, I'm not pulling my foot in, as much as I'm turning my hips.
- 02:31
- And the knee bends, and the foot beats in by itself.
- 02:33
- And then, as the hips continue to pivot, it beats out again.
- 02:37
- Right. So, it's all about the rotation of the hips.
- 02:40
- Drawing the thighs tight, bang. When my calf hits my shin, as I turn - bang, it bounces out, escapes. And then, you go on.
- 02:48
- N: And when it escapes, it escapes very tight.
D: Yes.
N: So, show that. - 03:03
- And, in general, as you do all these embellishments, or use tango style...
- 03:10
- Overall, I want you to think about the tightness of the thighs.
- 03:14
- So, you'll see, as we do all of these different kinds of embellishments, and, in fact, all of our movement,
- 03:18
- We always have the thighs tight, the calves tight, the feet tight.
