Controlling the Free Leg - Circles And Cool Differences

For The Followers: Once you get to this video, it requires a certain amount of faith. Once you build up the training to recognize a lead which takes you in different directions, then you have to believe what's led when what's led is counter-intuitive. You need to not let the mind, or the training, get in the way of the body.

For The Leaders: This gives an amazing freedom in tango.

Artist Name:: Mandragora Tango
Song Title:: Milonga Carrieguera
Album Title:: Siete Tandas
Artist Website:: http://www.mandragoratango.com

From website: Mandrágora Tango is a tango band headed by bandoneonist Bob Barnes and guitarist Scott Mateo Davies, 2 Minneapolis-based musicians who are wildly passionate about tango. We have been playing tango for dancing and listening since 2001 and we are still going strong. We've played in over 40 cities all over the United States.

00:10: And everytime we do that, everybody thinks,
"That's choreographed."
00:14: But it's not. He just led it.
00:18: So it's a natural extension of
what we were doing before.
00:21: You went back, to one side. You went forward.
And now we just make them all blend together.
00:24: So I take her a little bit back - to her back,
my forward.
00:27: And then this time, instead of pulling her back forward,
I just pull her the slightest bit side...
00:31: ..and the slightest bit forward, at the same time. So it's a little diagonal.
N. Curvy.
00:37: And likewise, instead of going straight in, I go -
or straight back, I go on that diagonal.
00:43: So you do the same circle with your body,
that you do with the leg.
00:47: Let's do it - just do it.
00:55: Isn't that cool?
00:58: We're not done.
00:59: I knew that.
01:00: Alright, so you can do circles.
But you can also do opposite things. Right?
01:03: So, in the first chapter we did things together.
01:06: And now I'm going to say, you can do things that are
relating to each other but...
01:10: ..not identical. The same way ochos
relate to each other but we don't do the same thing.
01:13: So, for example, instead of always being the case
that when she points forward, I point forward,...
01:18: ..we can also do...
01:21: ..or we can also do...
01:25: Right? Where I know she's going back
and she goes, "dah" and I go "dah, dah"...
01:29: N: That's kind of cool.
D: Or whatever it is...
01:30: Or she can go and I can go...
01:32: And then she can come in and I can come in.
01:36: And, so, you can do all this stuff because you have this
knowledge, as the leader,...
01:40: ..of what the follower is going to do
and you can make cool shapes.
01:42: So the point is, it's really hard to get but
it's really worth it for all the stuff it lets you do.

Series:: Controlling the Free Leg
Tags:: Follow, Technique, Mystic Secrets, Lead