Level 3 September - October 2017

Practice Resources

Tango Music for practicing and dancing

(Reposting this here in case you missed it in previous terms).

Here's a link to help you better understand tango music for dancing.

Link to 250 songs

The following link will download a fabulous collection of 250 of the most popular songs (tango, vals and milonga) played in milongas around the world! Focus for now only on the tangos. Also focus on instrumental songs as opposed to vocals as these are easier to find the beat. Di Sarli is one of the better orchestras to start with:

http://www.muraterdemsel.com/250TANGO.zip

This link goes to a zip file (little less than a 1 GB file).

Spotify

I recommend the following album on Spotify: 'Serie de Oro' by Carlos di Sarli. This album has good songs for practicing. Avoid the last song 'Tu Palida Voz' as it's a vals.

Week 7 (starting October 16)

In North Sydney we introduced Giro to the left from Americana:

In Bondi we introduced the following combination: Parallel Cross - Americana - Sandwich:

Week 6 (starting October 9)

We introduced the Ocho Cortado from Salida:

We then improvised by alternating between leading the Americana and Ocho Cortado from Salida or Parallel Cross. The former moves can both be entered from the latter.

Week 5 (starting October 2)

We reviewed the Parallel Cross - Americana - Cross System Cross - Resolution combination emphasising:

- musicality

- pausing (where you can and can't pause in this combination)

- working with and controlling 'momentum'

Here's an improvisation using this combination of moves and playing with the music:

Week 4 (starting September 25)

We introduced the Salida Americana.

Americana means any step where the couple step Forward facing the same direction. This resembles a walk in the park by sweethearts (except they may hold their hands together whereas in tango the embrace is preserved).

Here we link the Americana with the Parallel Cross (entry for Americana) and Cross System Cross (exiting from Americana):

Week 3 (starting September 18)

In North Sydney we focused on:

1) Navigation - including a useful and simple 3 Step Turn to change direction:

2) Giros (Parallel and Cross System) and showed an alternate version of the Giro to the Right - where Leader steps Forward as he leads Follower into the first Back Step of the Giro:

In Bondi we:

Focused on Giros from Parallel and Cross System Crosses.
Parallel Cross - single and double time
Looked at the musical options for Parallel and Cross System Crosses

Week 2 (starting September 11)

We focused on:

Cross System Cross
Giro to the Right from Cross System Cross

We showed the difference in timing with Parallel Cross and Cross System Cross. While it is possible to do the Cross in single and double time for both - the Parallel is ideal for a single time crossing and the Cross System for double time.

We also played with using pausing and switching between single, double and halftime to keep the dance interesting and unpredictable.

Week 1 (starting September 4)

We focused on:

Walking technique
Leading form the torso
The difference in leading forward and back circular cross steps and Ochos.
'Standing start' Giros

Here's some videos showing 'standing start' giros: