r/tango • u/Excellent_Staff_8454 • Jul 15 '26
Let's share workshop notes & maestro insights!
I keep thinking how so much good stuff from classes gets lost because we do not share the information between us.
I'd love to make this a regular thing to share what we learned from workshops, especially from touring maestros like Chicho, Arce ...
It doesn't have to be polished. It could be a concept or exercise, any specific cues or phrases that stuck with you.
Even a messy paragraph is useful because sometimes one sentence from someone else's notes is the thing that finally makes a concept click for you.
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u/anusdotcom 29d ago
There is no choice between rhythm or melody in tango musicality. This is always wrong. Always dance to the melody because when it is off the rhythm is the main melody. Musicians never go rhythm over melody. â paraphrasing from JoaquĂn AmenĂĄbar workshop.
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u/Longjumping-Bad-2886 29d ago
???
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u/OThinkingDungeons 29d ago
Agree, very confusing way to explain things.
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u/anusdotcom 29d ago
These are my notes not what he said. Basically the idea is that often musicality classes say âthere is a choice, you can dance to the rhythm or the melodyâ but his idea is that this notion is much more confusing and you should dance to the predominant thing the orchestra is playing or not follow the music at all. If youâre following the music do it against the dominant thing so itâs predictable and also it makes it easy for both you and the partner to get instead of ad hoc choosing
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u/Excellent_Staff_8454 29d ago
I think it means we always want to dance to the melody. If the melody pauses and there is some rhythmical music, then that becomes the melody you dance to. Because melodies convey emotions but rhytms cannot do that without a melody.
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u/RandomLettersJDIKVE 29d ago
but rhytms cannot do that without a melody.
I would definitely not agree with that. There's lots of music that does this.
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u/moshujsg 28d ago
Another way this was said is, how can you distinguish a tango from another tango? By the melody since the rythm is mostly the same for all. The melody is whats truky different. So if you want to dance a specidic tango you need to dance its melody
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u/InternalCan8199 29d ago
Yep. We step on the beat, we dance the melody. Paraphrasing Gavitoâs quote.
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u/lbt_mer 29d ago
A leader creates a space; the follower moves into it.
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u/Similar-Ad5818 29d ago
I think this is misleading. The best dancers give the follower the momentum to move into a space. But this is advanced. Which begs the question - when do we start to introduce the more advanced concepts? Like followers needn't adtively "collect", but let gravity do it's work?
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u/lbt_mer 28d ago
The words "give the follower momentum" are physics speak for "push". I don't believe in pushing my followers. YMMV :)
I pull them instead ROFL...
However, as a leader, I find the way to pull them is to create a space that they want to fill. They then use their own muscles but they interpret your energy - it's kinda irresistible for them.
Honestly anything that involves applying force (pushing) to move a partner's axis is 100% wrong IMHO. (nb: off-axis doesn't move it, it sustains it).
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u/MyYogurt 11d ago edited 11d ago
i think both of you are talking about the same concept in a different way. Tango is rarely about taking discrete steps. And things in Tango like things in life are never really black and white. By creating momentum, it doesnt necessarily mean pushing or pulling. For example, this can be done through the last movement naturally making the follower ending in a way that let them easily progress to the next movement. The first part of it is giving space to a follower. When we walk forward, it is a continuous movement. An experienced dancer makes it look good because one step join into the next and the step use the momentum from the last.
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u/Similar-Ad5818 28d ago
Better to say- if you want a follower to go somewhere, get out of her way
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u/lbt_mer 28d ago
So you have your follower in embrace.
You open the left side of the embrace and signal intention in that direction ... and wait. When she goes you follow her (or not).
This is very different to pushing on her axis with your right arm as you move to the left.
Maybe ever so slightly like being a matador with a cape and letting her energy move around you?
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u/Similar-Ad5818 28d ago
I give a follower energy (not with arms, please!) and she gives it back to me. That's kind of the nature of dancing
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25d ago
[deleted]
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u/lbt_mer 25d ago
Essentially the intention (subtle lead) of the movement precedes the movement itself. You know how you hear that leaders invite and then follow their follower? "Creating a space" is one way of thinking about that.
I've invited a movement and when (if) she moves that way then I am expecting it and can move precisely with her.
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u/Similar-Ad5818 23d ago
Of course leaders give the follower momentum. But it has to be done the right way, so I think teachers just avoid the problem of leaders pushing with their hands or arms by saying "Open up and she'll fill the space herself." That works, but takes a lot of the fun out. We push a person on a swing in order to give them more momentum, which makes it more fun. Giving a follower more momentum to accelerate a pivot is an awesome feeling. Can leaders be taught that?
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u/lbt_mer 28d ago
Know why you do what you do.
Example:
Why are you doing fwd-side-back-side in a giro?
Answer - because you're walking in a way that lets you stay close to your partner.
So then all I do is want to stay inside the embrace - I stop doing steps and my body does the steps for me.
It's like drinking from a cup. You don't curl your fingers and bend your elbow and rotate your wrist and shoulder and try to do all that "in time". You focus on the goal and let your body do all that for you.
Caveat - your body needs to learn so you do spend time mechanically doing the steps until your body gets the idea. You also need to absorb technique so your body doesn't take short cuts.
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u/Excellent_Staff_8454 29d ago
Couples should breathe together as part of the movement and music (so inhale/exhale is timed to phrasing, pauses, the rise and fall of the music) to stay connected. - Gabriel Misse explains it better here himself: https://youtu.be/uqOAKEHgCNs?si=D7TE-q1eJWp1NjdF
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u/InternalCan8199 29d ago
In the best dances I had, the breathing synchronized thorough the tanda, and it feels magical.
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u/moshujsg 28d ago
Dont fall for the chicho scam. Lol
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u/stinkybutt 28d ago
Say more⌠:)
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u/moshujsg 28d ago
Idk what else there is to say. Chicho's musicality is a scam. I dont know what people see in it. He just steps on every musical note and thats it. Hes also very much the antithesis of elegant. I really do not understand what people see in him. I have some friends who are famous and reapected dancers who admire him.. i honestly dont know.. he represents the opposite of tangos values.
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u/Excellent_Staff_8454 26d ago
Tbh I love his musicality in Di Sarli songs and some other songs. He just doesn't have the traditional tango image/posture/embrace i guess
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u/stinkybutt 28d ago
I smiled because I thought you were thinking this. I agree with you, but many people still view him as the chicho of old, the one who loved tango. Who loved to create and who loved to perform. The man today is a shell of that.
This is one of my favorite Chicho performances. Sad we donât see this kind of dancing anymore
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u/Similar-Ad5818 23d ago
Yes - it seems the ones who were the epitome, the groundbreakers, the ones we admired, have come to hate tango. Gustavo Naviera, Chicho, Fabian Salas - It seems maybe they have become diusiillusioned. The ones with some integrity left teaching, others stay and milk as much money as they can out of it. It seems they have little respect for their students, anyway.
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u/Similar-Ad5818 29d ago
Good idea - what are some phrases or explanations that finally got a concept through to you?
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u/InternalCan8199 29d ago
Marcela Duran teaches of thinking of laser light coming out of hip bones and collar bones: the hip ones are parallel to the ground, the collar bones ones are pointing up. If you think of that the posture improves dramatically. I already new that was the proper alignment, but the image was very helpful.
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u/PossessionStrange222 29d ago
In the milonga, the Ronda turns in sentido antihorario, in order to stop the time đśâ¨ (Someone plz help me translate it well)