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New Dynamics in Argentine Tango

From an individual method to a global

methodology

by Alexandru Eugen Cristea

Bucharest Social Dance

After more than a century of dance evolution, its high time we

considered some of the changes in the peoples perception systems

Because we all dance tango, and many of us also teach it, for so many years,

and we all have some !ind of a personal methodology

"here is a lot of information available, from the old#fashioned boo!s

and D$Ds to the up#to#date online training programs li!e those of %auricio

Castro, Sebastian Arce and Sebastian Achaval, all teaching us their

methodology

But what is the essence of all these teaching methods& 's there

something that belongs to all of them without being owned by anyone in

particular& As the years have passed, ' have identi(ed some new reference

points in order to better understand the structure of the dance and its

organic pattern of movement 'n the material that follows, ' will present to

you two of these fundamental concepts that help us identify the new

dynamics in Argentine "ango As always, a new understanding comes from a

new way of using our mind, ma!ing connections that were unavailable in thepast And from these new connections, comes a new way of dancing, hence,

new dynamics

CIRCULARITY

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"he (rst concept we will describe is that of circularity "his is not

something entirely new, we have an idea about it )ere we have three types

of circularity*

+ )oriontal circularity- $ertical circularity. Diagonal circularity

"he horiontal circularity is used for pivots, such as the ones that ma!e

(gures such as ocho adelanteand ocho atras

"he vertical circularity is used to change the weight, from one foot to

the other, traspie /i!e from 0ollowers right foot to her left foot, as we are

facing the 0ollower "his type of circularity loo!s li!e the letter 123, but

upside#down

"he diagonal circularity is used in such elements as circularhigh back

boleo, where the !nees of the 0ollower are apart 4 the boleo 1invented3 by

Eugenia 5arrilla

A linear back boleowill use a vertical circularity, but in another plan of

movement, from down to up Aplaneowill use a horiontal circularity "he

three basic steps 4 open step, front cross and bac! cross 4 will have a

downward vertical circularity

But the best way to distinguish between all this characteristic (gures of

Argentine "ango is to use the concept of levels

LEVELS

"he second concept is that of levels 6e will consider three levels at

(rst, and after that, all the seven levels

't is 7ust li!e a house has a ground 8oor, (rst 8oor, etc 'n Argentine

"ango, we can consider the ground 8oor 4 level zero4 as being the caminar

Both partners are wal!ing together9 this is level ero, from this we build up 4

and down 4 our organic structure

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'f we wal! together and at some point the /eader pro7ects his impulse 4

marca4 a little down, the 0ollower will naturally stop with her feet apart and

straight !nees 't is 7ust li!e in a balanceo "his will be our ! level

'f we ta!e the energy a little up while the 0ollower has her feet

collected, this will generate a change of weight 4 traspie "his will beconsidered as "! level

'f we will stop here, we will understand that a lot of Argentine "ango

movements and step combinations and (gures will be based on 7ust these

three basic levels Also, it is crucial to understand that when we spea! of

levels, we are considering the marca, where the /eader actually leads his

impulse, not the end result of his lead

'f the couple is wal!ing, and the /eader wants to stop the 0ollower, he

has two options* either stop her with the feet apart 4 this is ! level, or withthe feet collected 4 this is zero level

"he ganchosof the follower are at zero levelalso, because they are

an intercepted step 'f you want a balanceo, a cunita, an ocho cortadoor a

sandwicitto, you will need to pro7ect you impulse, as a /eader, to ! level

'f you want a calesita, a sostenida, a high boleo, you will need the "!

level

But this is not the end9 for we have also #-, #. and :-, :. levels /ets

explain them by examples, as it is the easiest way to understand

'f you want the 0ollower to raise her foot up to !nee level, this is "#

level )ere we have the kick type of boleos, thepiernazzo, and the llevaldas

'f you need the 0ollower to bend the !nee of the leg that has weight,

you will use # level At this level there will be movements such as lapiz,

planeo, corte

0or the 0ollower to 7ump or for movements such as sentada, we will

use "$ level 'f we want her to 8ex the weighted foot all the way down, this

will be considered $ level

As you can see, all the movements in Argentine "ango can be

explained and led in more detail with the concept of levels Some

movements are a combination of levels, starting at one level and ending at

another one Some other movements 4 li!e circular boleos 4 can be

performed at several levels with di;erent results

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0or the classical circular boleo, only with the hips, will use level zero

0or a high classical boleo, where the !nees are together, but the foot goes

up, we will use "! level 0or a nuevo type of boleo, where the !nees are

apart, or for a cuatro type of boleo, we will use "# level