tango lecture by Karen Hilton

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD4qh0p3eY0

Notes:
1. Tango must be a very accurate dance. The placement of foot, the arm needs to be accurate. 

2. posture/hold in the tango: In swing dances, man's right cuff is at the junction of the ladie's arm and the body. In Tango, it is the fore arm (one cuff up) that is at the junction of the ladie's arm and body. Consequently, the man's right arm and hand is placed in center of the lady's back, common mistake is too low. Lady's left arm is parallel to the floor.  The pressure from the right hand, left hand, and the diaphragm are all the same (say 7 out of 10), a common mistake is having 30 on the hands and 5 at the diaphragm (32:45).


3. Tango Stance: two flat feet, knees slightly inside the feet. This is tango stance. Move the two knees in unisance. Put the hands inside the thighs and feel the thighs working against each other.
Put hands on the outside of the thighs, then pick up the forearm and hands to extend to the front. Push elbows into the side of the body. make very short and very sharp turns. This is the feeling of turns in tango, it should be compact, and internal. (eg. tango telespin)

4. Body speed: the turns in tango is on the same level as there is no rise and fall. It's only left and right.  is coordinated from the knees to the center of the body (belly button, Qi area), (like a triangle) then up to the elbows, (like reverse triangle).

5. Foot speed: kicking cigarite box exercise.

6. Close Promenade step. Timing:, from the PP, the foot striket the floor at 1 (16:55 ask the question, 17:28 is the answer.). on the close step, lady is on the inside edge of the right foot, inside edge of whole foot.

7.  turning 5 step:  2 different timing variation: traditional timing(QQS&S), and a different one: QQQQS(21:51)
8. Spanish drag (27:12): the man's right knee is toward the inside of the foot, (in and under to give the girl a marvalous shape)

9. Quarter beat(29:41): Timing: Q&Q&S. Foot speed.

10. Fallaway reverse Slip pivot (35:15). Accuracy of the body line. Pay attention to the direction of the center. The center turns left, left for the first two steps, then turn right on the third step. Then left again to change positions with the lady.  Common mistake is to turn left the whole way through.

fallaway whisk

Just a collection of videos on tango Fall away whisk.

Hiltons' teaching video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_Hpf1slOXw
He said the man should put the left foot under the right shoulder but it seems that the later people (Luca, GP are not doing that any more).

Pino's demonstration. 1:36
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-FEJAJkzVA,

GG's version, with Anna,


GG's version, with Anastasia, 00:57
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlQ2RPWozSU

Luca and Loraine, 00:38
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqQtn10G4ns

Mirko Gozzoli & Edita Daniute, Tango

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlyuPB2VWvo


1. interesting choreography following fall away whisk .

2. example of big top at time 1:14-- 1:16.

3. Interesting choreography at 1:23 -- 1:28.

Note for Pino Tango Video

There are my notes for Pion Tango videos.

mod lesson pino tpp005 entries to pp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaVNG5NOL9o
00:11 -- progressive link, especially on back view of man
04:06 -- progressive link, see the demonstration of this.

mod lesson pino tpp006 promenade figures
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Vkh2oUiqMc
1:00 -- side cross (i.e. skater lock), fallaway reverse slip pivot


mod lesson pino tpp007 figures of reverse turns
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49jSmQzZz4M
01:05 -- open reverse turn, with lady outside. Notice the how timing of the first slow is timed with the movement.
03:32 -- Open Revrse turn from samefoot lunge ending: the timing used here is &QQS&S to end in PP. (&SQQ&S is how we do it?)

mod lesson pino tpp008 figures of natural turns
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-FEJAJkzVA
00:07 -- Natural Promenade Turn.
01:36 -- Natural Promenade Turn & Fallaway Whisk. This shows the fall away whisk is proceeded with the natural promeande turn.
02:03 -- Natural Promenade Turn & Outside Spin.  ( in the routine at the corner from short wall to big top long wall)
02:21 -- Chase to Whisk ( in the routine, from first long wall to second short wall). Notice at the whisk position (02:27),
weight is split between two feet, and upperbody still poised toward forward,instead of backward.
And foot are diagonal toward partern (as much as possible while still maintain the whisk positiioin).

standard lesson with Ikaika 6/19/2012

Today we continued to work on Tango.
1. We practiced staying in between foot from one step to the next.  Do this slowly first, then speed up the music.
2. on the skater lock step, need to pay attention to use the left foot before closing.
3. place foot, no swivels
4. we had the exercise of practicing forward step in tango, the standing foot has knee going down and lifting the free leg knee. free leg ankle extended as a result. 

standard lesson with Ikaika on 6/16/2012

Tango:

1. link. how did the guy indicate the direction and how much turn to have in the link: shift body weight over the foot.  Lady needs to pay attention to open right side around the left side, not open right side around the spine (which will turn the left side forward, and ruin the hold). In other words, my body should be like a normal door, with the hinge on the left side, not like a revolving door with the hinge in the center.
He demonstrated to me with Pilate ball on the rotation of the body. The body rotates because the force was applied to the side of the body (rather then the center of the body), this allows the body to rotate, right side going back in this case. but I still need to keep the movement of the whole body going back, it's not rotation in place, and the rotation should have left side as the axis, not the spine as axis.

See the Peter Eagleton video of tango on youtube (http://youtu.be/rJ3cWxpRji8). Notice how Brenda did the link with a precise foot placement, and at the end the foot are not really far apart.

2. close promenade: In the forward steps, I need to make sure to keep my left front pushed toward the man's left side. then roll on it to get back to close position. I need to step on the inside edge of the right foot on the closing step. This relates to the point of placing the foot, not swiveling the foot.

3. Fall away whisk: How did the guy indicate the amount of turn early:Before the whisk step, there is a pivoting link step after getting into close position. This is the same step as in the natural pivot turn. Need to do this pivoting action correctly, then a lot of the turns is already done here.

4. No swivels on the foot, place the foot with the turned in position on the right foot already when going backward.  Example, in reverse turn.
5. Remember to stack up the blocks in the reverse turn, especially in the outside partner step, don't shift the hip to the left and the upper ribcage to the right, keep it stacked up vertical, (almost feel like toward left). I have a tendency to shift the upper ribcage part of the vertical stack toward the right, getting it into the guy's space, and loose balance on the next step.   Also on the outside partner step, it's not the femma went outside partner, it's only the part below the knee goes outside partner.

6. on the walks back, need to place foot, and receive on the back foot, keep a pressure toward the partner in the upper body, don't leave from there.  don't change the tilt of the upper body to move back.  The movement in tango are place foot, receive with leg, place foot, receive by bending back leg, not by using upper body.

7. On the second half of the telespin step, I also need to try to place the right foot, not swivel it.



8. Questions: for some reason, I couldn't close completely in the close step.

standard lesson with Ikaika on 6/15/2012

Foxtrot:
1. I need to use the front foot to push back, not just throw the upper body back. Especially in  reverse turn, when I'm getting onto the heel turn, use the front foot for as long as possible till the heel to propel myself back, don't jump back using body weight, just let it happen as I push using the front foot.

2. On the reverse turn, the focus is not to get on the heel and stay on the heel, I need to keep in mind that I still need to keep the center of the partnership moving forward, so after I turned toward down line of dance, I need to shift weight from the heel of right foot toward the ball of the left foot, instead of pausing on the the heel of the right foot.

3. The lady can be active without disturbing the three aspects that should be controlled by the guy: a direction. b. timing, c. position. So can be active in the upper ribcage to head, can be active to respond to the shaping. But can not leave without keeping the frontal projection.

Tango:
1. when we have Try to keep the Achilles long, not the front shin part long. In tango, walking forward, the foot work is heel flat, not heel toe, so we never release the back foot to the toe, we pick up the foot when only ball of foot is still touch the ground. This keeps us from having a tendency to swing and rise.

2. Link: every walking step in tango is supposed to turn 1/16th of a turn. The last step of the link (i.e. the step I put down the left foot) should turn no more than 1/4 of a turn, so if link turns more more than that (like 180 degree in my example), the majority of the turn should be done in the back step on the right foot. Basically the guy should give me a signal on the amount of turn we need to have on the first step, then I need to make sure to read and finish the majority of the turn when I'm placing my right foot, when the turn is bigger, I need to do almost a contra check step.

3. Fall away whisk: read the turn from early on, so that the left forward step is already getting the turn.

Lesson with Ieva on 5/1/2012

We worked on Waltz today

1.      Posture:

a.      Need to keep the posture picked up. Like the handsomely picked up position.

2.      Movement:

a.      Use the lowering for the movement, do not do the lowering with no purpose.

3.      Left whisk:

a.      Weight on inside of the standing foot (left foot)

b.      Left foot need to move to place quickly.

c.      In the step going into the left whisk, use foot pressure to travel through the partner, not around.

d.      She talked to Denis about not turning too much at the end?

e.      Throw away over sway: she said that foot can not cross, but shoulder can turn more if partner turns more.

4.      Zigzag:

a.      Keep the upper body still relative to partner’s position, do not slide back and forth

5.      Natural Pivots:

a.      In forward step, quickly move weight onto right foot (turned out) and turn.

Questions for Ieva,

1.      Reverse turns:

a.      How do we do tumble turn, where to step my right foot, why does he step on my left foot?

b.      Also this happens in the telespin step.

2.      Tango:

a.      Can we work on some tango basics?

b.      What are the basics for tango walk, and progressive link, then close promenade?

handsomely pinned -- Lesson with Ikaika 4/25/2012

Had two lessons with Ikaika last week.

Work trips to CA feels so much like  a vacation!

At the lesson, we talked about maintaining a structure of the couple.

11.  Structure:

a.      Feel like handsomely pinned to the partner at ribcage, (not at hip!, don’t worry about keeping connection at the hip, This is different from Danny’s version)

b.      This is a similar like what Ieva talked about picking up the bra strap, and put it toward the ball of the foot.

22. Coming out of PP, need to land on the inside of the big toe, and move toward the partner.

3. Double reverse, look at the comp video, notice that I was falling back weighted on coming out of the double reverse, this is not how to create shape, remember forward onto the ball of the foot, handsomely pinned.

Standard lesson with Katusha

Today's lesson we worked on foxtrot.
1. Shape:
a. an exercise is to stand with right side next to the wall, stretch left but push to the right to stretch left, so we have the equal stretch on both side. And this shape and stretch is maintained within, but supported by the partner.
b. When trying to shape head/upper shoulder back, the spine is shifted forward first, so there is a bigger contrast between the lower part of the spine, and the upper part (+ neck, head), but over all the stardum is staying at the same spot in space.
c. In prominade position, the stretch is exactly the opposite. stretch to right on the right, but stretch to the left at the base area (from above hip to bra strap area shift left, then above part stretch right).
2. spine keep toward the partner, even during the shapes. Lady's spine mirror what Leader's spine do.
3. The stretch both side somehow helped me to keep the arms connected to the body. Denis reported improvement in quickstep.
4. Reverse turn, under turn it, so that it ends with a slight rotation to the right.
5. CBM, she said to think of the two shoulders moving at different speeds.

Standard lesson with GP 2/4/2012

What a fantastic lesson today.  We worked on techniques.

1. Lady's job is to only move forward and backward. Let the guy to the job of direction and turning,

Reverse Figures
Eg A: Applying this in big top: Big top is three forward steps, with a swivel and pivot in the middle. after the outside swivel, on the big top steps, just step forward, do not try to get around, just go forward (down line of dance) on left foot, then forward with right foot, as soon as the right foot touches the ground, swivel on BOTH foot, then close left foot to right foot, pivot (meaning turning body and foot at the same time), then step forward with left foot.

 Eg B: Fall away slip pivot. first three step is stepping straight back, At the end of the third step (right foot back), rise and continue to go back with head, then the man will turn the lady and make it a slip pivot.

Eg C: weave from PP: forward with right foot
a. forward left
b. forward right, do not try to cut across him.
c. swivel, (keep head right).
d. forward left.

Eg D: double reverse over spin:
back step on right foot, left foot close to right foot, and heel turn, forward with right foot, swivel with both foot once right foot touches the floor, (turn head to right), cross the left foot in front of left foot. right foot back, pivot on right foot.

Thoughts: tumble turn is similar to the second part of the double reverse over spin.

Questions:
1. How to apply this to reverse step in reverse outside swivel in tango? Is it back right foot, pivot foot and body, forward left step,


Natural figures:

Eg E: Natrual Spin turn and Pivots: remember to go forward, not going around.
a. turn body right to match with the partner as stepping forward on the right foot. (very important, do not try to go around).
b. then step forward on the left foot, (not around).
c. swivel both feet to the right, as soon as the foot touch the floor,

d. move weight back to left foot,
e. pivot on left foot. (turn body and foot at the same time)
f. forward with right foot again, repeat a.

2. In forward movement, the power of the movement come from the bending of the the shin of the front foot. It is like a horse that pulls the carriage(body) forward. The incorrect way is to push from the back foot.  This provides more control of the movement, much less likely to let the momentem of the body taking control. Especially so in tango. 
Eg: reverse outside swivel. In syllabus, the reverse outside swivel is a reverse turn+ swivel. The difference in open step is that the lady doesn't swivel, only the guy does the swivel. The girl only just turn the body to the left to face the guy, As I'm moving the left foot forward, I need to keep my body to the left as the guy is moving from my right side to my left side.  But I continue to move forward on my foot.

After the reverse outside swivel, do not stop, continue with the forward step in the big top right away.

Standard Lesson with Danny

1. We continued the conversation on rotation in waltz.

2. In double reverse: the person going back does the rotation, the person going forward needs to move. So it is lady rotate, man move; then switch to lady move, man rotate. In the over spin part, lady rotate again. man move.  At this point, we get into something like a PP for a brief moment, before step out to the left whisk.

3. In natural turn, the leader sends his signal at the & before the 1, by bending the ankle. the difference between bending the ankle and bending the knee is that bending ankle shift the body forward, while bending the knee could keep the person in place (like sitting down, instead of moving forward). And it's the moving forward that is giving the signal to the girl to step out.

4. Swing and sway of the natural turn: the leader sway left to stop the turn. Not exactly sure if it's sway we are talking about here, because he said it's something in the legs that he is doing. He called this counter rotation.


Quick Step.
1. need to make sure that the legs are before the body in closed position. In promenade position, can keep the body tilted because nobody is in front of you.
2. pepper pot step has Q&QQQ, the first Q& each are 1/4 of a count. 

General.
1. He asked us for a stronger/warm connection/fit, especially at the beginning of a partnership. 
2. He asked me to free my upper body for rotations. He said I was too stiff to follow his lead. So I was able to correct it, and he said it was good.

Standard Lesson with Giampiero

Today we continued on Foxtrot. After we clarified the routine. We got into the topics below

1. Foxtrot Timing: Instead of trying to do SQQSQQSQQ, we try to do SS|&SS|&SS. i.e we change the steps from 2 1 1 measure into 1.5, 2, 0.5 measure. The reason we do this is because we should accelerate when going down, but slow down when rising. In the SQQ scheme, we are slowing in the downward movement but speed up in the rising part. In the new &SS scheme, we drag out the rising part.

2. Posture: what is vertical?  (Forgot his precise answer now). However, he emphasized on the proper alignment of the pelvic bone to establish verticality. Basically after the pelvic bone is properly directly (most likely a very slightly tucked sensation for me). It is then aligned with the center of the thigh. and the chest. This line is directly above center of the foot in Waltz and foxtrot. above ball of the foot in quickstep, and slightly behind center of the foot in tango (not sure if it is as far behind as on the heel though) . This shift depends on the amount of bend in the knee.
 The correctly alignment of the pelvic bone needs to be maintained through out the dance. This is how  it guarantees that the upper body is properly aligned relatively to lower body.

Need to double check the definition of verticality with him next time. Need to verify on the three point of alignment next time.

3. we also talked about timing the moving back of the upper body, the lower of the standing leg, the preparation of the moving leg. They need to be timed in the same way relative to each other.  I seems to have a tendency to leave the upper body forward. so he told me to release my upper body.And they will natually push my standing leg to do the Heel part of the TH movement.  Right now I often skip that. I don't put my heel down.

4. On reverse turn, we talked about the left foot closing step should happen after the heel turn is done, and as soon as I close, I'm ready to go forward, so this is a forward step, not a backward step.  This would make it easier to

5. Use the leg that is ahead of the movement as soon as possible. Feel like a horse dragging the carriage, not pushing the carriage. When going backward, same principle, feel like the foot is like the wheels of the car when driving backward.

ballrom dance competition floor size

I was wondering the size of the ballroom competition floors. So I did some research online and summarize it here.


USA Dance rules state:
5.7.8 Competition floors for recognized competitions must be a minimum of 60 feet long by 36 feet wide. (They do not specify a maximum size however and they do not specify a difference for champ events).
NDCA Rules state:
III. 21. Floors for competition must be a minimum of 60 feet long and a minimum of 36 feet wide, or 2,160 square feet. Floors for Championship events must be a minimum of 66 feet long and a minimum of 42 feet wide.


Premier ballroom (fremont, CA) -- 45ft x 72ft

MIT: 48' x 80'. roughly
MAC: 40 x 76 or 40 x 80
Nationals: 40 x 80

Starlight: 85' x