"You'll see: life becomes a narrative when you dance 'La cumparsita'."
Miguel Ramón Franco,
Lunfardia en Villa Gesell
EU SOU O SAMBA...
... sou natural aqui do RIO DE JANEIRO (Brasil)
TANGO AS DANCE
"The shape of the tango is amde up of moments: a swift sudden entrance, a sweep of the feet, an advance, a retreat, a halt and a start, a displacement of hips, and a freeze, as if hanging in air" (PABLO ZIEGLER, 1997)
Guillermo Abrahan e Luciana Franco
segunda-feira, 5 de novembro de 2007
SUDDEN HALTS, SUDDEN BREAKS (CORTES E QUEBRADAS)
“Tony Droughon, an early hip-hop dance star, talking about b-boys ending a spin with a ‘freeze’: ‘imagine, you’re spinning, as fast as you can, and then you stop, in a beautiful position.”
ROBERT FARRIS THOMPSON, “Hip-Hop 101”, in William Eric Perkins, ed., Droppin’Science (1996)
ROBERT FARRIS THOMPSON, “Hip-Hop 101”, in William Eric Perkins, ed., Droppin’Science (1996)
THE DELIBERATE STUMBLE (TRASPIÉ)
Traspié starts off with the first step of the salida, the step to the side of the lead’s left foot.
Continuing, the man moves forward, the woman retreats. Then comes a syncope: as the woman continues back, the man offbeats two steps to the side. He does this crossing left over right.
Pam-pam goes the offbeat, doubling the time. At the completion of the sequence the man blocks his partner’s foot, breaking her motion, preventing her from crossing her feet.
They continue. The man makes another traspié, that is, a counter-beat move, two steps on one note, crossing his feet or bringing his feet tight together. This blocks, once again, the crossover. She takes a simple step back
Continuing, the man moves forward, the woman retreats. Then comes a syncope: as the woman continues back, the man offbeats two steps to the side. He does this crossing left over right.
Pam-pam goes the offbeat, doubling the time. At the completion of the sequence the man blocks his partner’s foot, breaking her motion, preventing her from crossing her feet.
They continue. The man makes another traspié, that is, a counter-beat move, two steps on one note, crossing his feet or bringing his feet tight together. This blocks, once again, the crossover. She takes a simple step back
THE START OF THE DANCE (SALIDA)
According to one veteran, Mingo Pugliese, there is no such as a basic in tango. All major steps, he says, from the basic. We know what he means: unlike a dance with just one or two moves, the figures of tango combine and recombine like a furious kaleidoscope.
The tango does have a starting point, the salida, literally a stage entrance. The salida begins with a walk and ends with the man bringing his feet together while the woman crosses left over right. This opening moment can recur many times, string together like pearls further moments of the dance.
Before beginning the salida, in zero position, the couples stands quietly, taking up the embrace of the tango. Then comes the first move, the man opening up with a step to the side (paso de costado) with his left foot: uno afuera (step one [with the left] to the side), Lampazo called it.
The tango does have a starting point, the salida, literally a stage entrance. The salida begins with a walk and ends with the man bringing his feet together while the woman crosses left over right. This opening moment can recur many times, string together like pearls further moments of the dance.
Before beginning the salida, in zero position, the couples stands quietly, taking up the embrace of the tango. Then comes the first move, the man opening up with a step to the side (paso de costado) with his left foot: uno afuera (step one [with the left] to the side), Lampazo called it.
THE LEAD (LA MARCA)
“Tango can be discussed and we do talk about it but like everything genuine it conceals a secret.”
JORGE LUIS BORGES, La historia del Tango”, Obras completas (1974)
JORGE LUIS BORGES, La historia del Tango”, Obras completas (1974)
CIRCLING COUNTERCLOCKWISE: THE PART OF THE SUN BECOMES THE PART OF THE TANGO
“When I asked why (tango couples) circle counterclockwise they told me: because it’s always been that way.”
OSCAR MORAN, La pareja de tango (1999)
“The jazz composer, Thelonius Monk, frequently rose from his piano and proceeded to dance in a counterclockwise direction, his feet beating out intricate figures before he returned to the piano.”
STERLING STUCKEY, Slave Culture: Nationalist Theory and the Foundations of Black America (1987)
OSCAR MORAN, La pareja de tango (1999)
“The jazz composer, Thelonius Monk, frequently rose from his piano and proceeded to dance in a counterclockwise direction, his feet beating out intricate figures before he returned to the piano.”
STERLING STUCKEY, Slave Culture: Nationalist Theory and the Foundations of Black America (1987)
STERN FACE AND SEALED LIPS (CARA FEA)
Establishing their embrace, dancers set their expression, usually deadpan. It distantly relates to the admired detaches expression of dancers among the Yoriba of Nigeria and Bakongo on Kongo. Lapazo called the effect cara fea (ugly face). It goes back to back compadritos and, before that, to camdombe.
Unaware of the mask of black cool and its history, certain critics of tango have misread these signs of control. One called the tango as cold as reptile, another as “an expressionless dance… for automatons.”
This rule of the milonga can be honored in the brech. Young couples sometimes smile at each other and old troupers do, too. Bur talking is normally taboo. Why? It dissipates the power of the dance.
Unaware of the mask of black cool and its history, certain critics of tango have misread these signs of control. One called the tango as cold as reptile, another as “an expressionless dance… for automatons.”
This rule of the milonga can be honored in the brech. Young couples sometimes smile at each other and old troupers do, too. Bur talking is normally taboo. Why? It dissipates the power of the dance.
EMBRACE AND WAIT: THE SART OF THE TANGO
“In tango there is a moment before the dance begins where the man very lightly touches the woman and she is so adept, she sort of can be knocked over with a feather as he touches her.”
EVA BABITZ, Tango, Two-Step, and the L.A. Night (1999)
“Tango habitués do not start dancing when the music begins – perhaps they are resting or absorbing the melody”
OSCAR MORAN, La pareja de tango: Filosofia y baile (1999)
sábado, 3 de novembro de 2007
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