Layering
Some quick reflections after the past two weekends of workshops with Hsueh-tze Lee and partly due to the short discussion we had on the approaches to learning.
For someone not having the luxury of “Tango immersion”, either in Buenos Aires or in the various Tango strongholds in Europe or USA, from a purely technical point of view, I like to imagine the learning process for Tango as a little bit like an onion. An onion has many layers. At the core, there are the basic philosophical principles. The next layer out will be some generic techniques. Finally we come to the outer layer of “style” that is usually the first thing people see.
Active following
Over the last weekend, Hsueh-tze Lee had just completed the latest series of workshops in Singapore.
As on previous trips, she again emphasized the benefits of “active following” for followers. In fact, after having taken her classes as well as having danced with her in the milongas, I have very high regard for her excellent following and sensitive leading, and some first-hand experience of how active following can enhance the dance experience.
Now what do I mean (or what I understood it to be, from leader’s perspective) by “active following”?
The simple truth
Over the past weekend, I attended the first half of Hsueh-tze’s Art of Tango workshop series which will run over two weekends. I am happy to say that while some of the materials taught were already familiar to me, I was still able to pick up many subtle technical points. If anything, I think her demonstration of different ways of dancing to D’Arienzo’s “La Bruja” was well worth the price of admission, as they say!
Something that was mentioned in the class really stuck in my mind. A statement which Hsueh-tze attributed to one of her former students went something like this:
A good leader makes everything “simple” (for the follower).
Here the word “simple” can be taken to mean “effortless”. In other words, a key characteristic of a good lead is clarity, so that there is no ambiguity in the follower’s mind and no further interpretation is necessary.
Smooth
After coming across a clip that showed that in Tango three was not necessarily “a crowd”, here is something lovely that, to me, carries the message that age is not barrier to the creation of beauty. Lovely.
Does anyone know the name of this track? I actually have this song in my archive but unfortunately it was copied without the title…