Embellishments - At the Freno
This really is a place for followers to choose what happens in a more macroscopic way, while still being traditional. And they can do this without getting in the way of the lead/follow. But really, if you do a single embellishment or if you layer a number of embellishments together, think about what you are showing the world. Ask, "can my movements have a clearer direction?", "do I have a real understanding of the technique behind this particular movement?", "does what I have chosen to do fit with the music or with the mood between myself and the leader at this moment?"
When embellishments are chosen carefully and are well executed, they can add interest to the dance both for the audience and for the interpersonal conversation you are having.
- Artist Name:
- Jaime Wilensky
- Song Title:
- Aquella Noche
- Album Title:
- Tango Nuevo 2
(From Latinpulsemusic.com): This is nuevo "electrified" tango produced and arranged by Jaime Wilensky. Aquella Noche is a tango with a gothic sound and theme.
- 00:05
- Every time we have way too many women in a class
- 00:07
- or we don't know what to do to keep a class really happy.
- 00:10
- The answer, it never fails.
- 00:11
- If we teach embellish, and I have this thing
- 00:15
- because I think that people embellish too much,
- 00:17
- but at least if they're going to embellish,
- 00:19
- they should embellish in a way that looks beautiful.
- 00:21
- So what we're gonna do now is show you a, a ton
- 00:23
- of embellishments in certain different circumstances
- 00:26
- and you can pick them off and practice them.
- 00:28
- And a few of them will give you a little more technique
- 00:30
- about, but we just wanna show you a lot
- 00:33
- Now and remember and rule of thumb in a song, you wanna do
- 00:37
- two embellishments maybe, and two
- 00:39
- Is one too many. Yes.
- 00:41
- So, so, so less is more,
- 00:42
- but if you're gonna do it, do it well.
- 00:46
- So these are embellishments at the freno,
- 01:24
- You know, he checks his watch.
- 01:26
- There are a lot of them. Yeah,
- 01:27
- That's good.
- 01:28
- So if we go over those, I'm just numbering them.
- 01:30
- So the first one, I'm the girl Now, actually, the first, uh,
- 01:34
- one is you drag up his leg, right? So you're here.
- 01:37
- Oh, wash my Skirt. Okay. She drags up my leg.
- 01:40
- Yeah, he always wants to do this in, in the skirt.
- 01:42
- It's a little difficult. It's just you flex your foot
- 01:46
- and then with the top of your foot, you go up his leg,
- 01:50
- make sure he can really feel it, or it doesn't count.
- 01:52
- And don't go too fast. This doesn't have as much
- 01:55
- Act. Yeah,
- 01:56
- you okay? It doesn't, not the same.
- 02:01
- And another One and another one.
- 02:02
- Um, from there you might do a
- 02:03
- boleo, which is what you did first.
- 02:05
- So you're in a freo and you can
- 02:06
- just pivot on the ball of the foot.
- 02:07
- And this is just throw back, bang, boleo, come back.
- 02:14
- It's, it's not lead. You were gonna show some.
- 02:17
- Oh yes.
- 02:22
- So from here, I mean, you can do a lot of stuff.
- 02:25
- So there's, first, there's what you do
- 02:27
- before you walk over, you can hit the back foot first, cut
- 02:31
- behind yourself, touch his leg, roll up,
- 02:34
- go up your own leg there I'm going foot along my leg
- 02:37
- With the knee pointing over.
- 02:39
- Walk over, you check.
- 02:41
- Maybe beat over, kick over here.
- 02:45
- This is in the hips. Yeah.
- 02:47
- That's important that it be the hips that drive that.
- 02:50
- Right Now, small circle, smiling away.
- 02:53
- If you know that he's balanced,
- 02:54
- you can't see it at that angle.
- 02:56
- But for example, over here, after I came back
- 03:00
- and I beat, I did a small lean away if
- 03:03
- I knew he was good for it.
- 03:05
- So a lot of things. So I'm gonna show, uh, each one
- 03:09
- of a large number of embellishments slowly,
- 03:11
- but I'm only gonna show it once and talk about it once.
- 03:13
- And then you can just watch that segment
- 03:15
- often and practice it.
- 03:17
- So, for example, first one,
- 03:19
- you can drag up along the guy's leg
- 03:21
- because, uh, she has a skirt.
- 03:22
- I'm gonna use a chair as a proxy for a leg.
- 03:27
- Or, you know, if you're at home, here's the guy's leg
- 03:32
- you can drag with a top of your ankle up along his leg
- 03:35
- and then down along his leg.
- 03:37
- It was better with a, with a light, with a real leg.
- 03:41
- Um, different thing is that when he's here
- 03:48
- in the freo, you can bolle yourself.
- 03:52
- Remember, tighten the thighs, pivot on the ball of the foot.
- 03:54
- Or you can do other kinds of boleo yourself.
- 03:58
- Actually, with that one, you can't, you hook my leg,
- 04:00
- Um, depending, right? So I
- 04:01
- can pivot, hook around her foot even
- 04:02
- and come back, or his foot.
- 04:04
- When you walk over, you can make that special.
- 04:06
- You can drag up along your own leg.
- 04:08
- Notice my foot is pointed. You walk over as long
- 04:10
- as you don't shift, and as long
- 04:11
- as you hold him down, he won't move.
- 04:13
- You can take that time to do other things.
- 04:15
- If I kick up, you can kick straight up
- 04:18
- or you can kick bending the knee.
- 04:21
- As I'm there, I can pivot in and out.
- 04:23
- I drive that from my hips.
- 04:25
- You should do a flick because
- 04:26
- everybody in the world does a flick.
- 04:28
- You can do a flick if you like,
- 04:29
- but everyone in the world does it.
- 04:31
- So don't, well,
- 04:32
- They don't do it that way. Yeah.
- 04:33
- So, um, you can get to the end and circle with the foot,
- 04:37
- and then you can come back once again
- 04:40
- for practice, that's fine.
- 04:41
- But if you do each one of those
- 04:43
- after the leader waiting for you, for who know,
- 04:46
- he's looking at his watch, you know,
- 04:48
- the song finishes. Do one
- 04:49
- And his song. Do
- 04:50
- one at one freno,
- 04:52
- and then in a different song do a different one.
- 04:54
- So you'll have this whole group of them,
- 04:55
- but just don't throw them all in at once.
- 04:57
- Then use them up.
