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Advanced dancer, Argentine tango, Dance, improvise, Musicality, online tango practice, progress in dance, remembering sequences, rhythm, sequences, tango movement lab, Tango practice

Rhythmical Variations – Creating Options

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We practice on musicality, on rhythm, rhythmical variations of steps, on matching sequences to specific musical textures, orchestras, styles… Overall we practice on listening and understanding the music. So what are we really practicing here? Options! Creating options or better yet having options readily available while we improvise.

Rhythmical Variations that create options

One of the most fascinating exercises I have been taught, was by Mariana Montes and Sebastian Arce in a festival in Kalamata Greece, quite a few years back now. It was around the ocho cortado, and how one can perform the step in different rhythms.

The rhythmical variations we were taught back then were so fascinating to me, not only because they offered me different ways to do the same step, and therefore match it to different music but because I got to reshape the step.

Ok! Before I get into that, let me share with you a video where I have reproduced that ocho cortado rhythmical variation exercise so we can actually have a point of reference

Reshaping the ocho cortado

Usually we see the Ocho Cortado as one whole sequence consisting of 6 steps. When we go through the rhythmical variation #1 where we step on the downbeat, every one of these steps, by having its own beat, becomes an entity of its own.

Then when we add the pauses on step #3 and #6 the ocho cortado breaks into 2 sequences instead of 1 and the same happens when we syncopate it.

When we go slow, though we are now playing with one sequence, the sequence is now very flexible, greyed out around the edges almost. And lastly, taking a step on beat #7, shifts the beginning and ending of the sequence around, so we really end up with 6 different sequences.

See how much richer our dance vocabulary has become just by playing with only one of the most basic Tango sequences. Now think of all the other sequences you have learned over the years, can you do something similar? Can you possibly come up with ideas on how shift and reshape those sequences?

Creating options is another skill!

I have learned this from James Altucher who is not a Tango dancer but he is surely an explorer..! So he said, that he practices on his idea muscle daily! Fascinating right?

He uses it for business. We can use it for Tango… and for business of course if you like.
So here is my suggestion, and believe me it is fun..!
Now that you have an idea of how this can work out, take one of the basic Tango sequences, such as the box step or even just walking, write down 5 different ways that you think you can perform that step and then actually try those ideas out with music!

If you need some inspo we will be doing something similar in a Tango Movement Lab on Wednesday 12:15pm going on live through Facebook and Youtube. And if you are looking for even more inspo join our classes that will be full of rhythm and music..!

Hope to see you soon,

Chrisa

Advanced dancer, Argentine tango, be yourself, body awareness, Dance, Emboying the rules, improvise, mindfulness, Musicality, online tango practice, progress in dance, rhythm, tango movement lab, Tango practice

Rhythm, is in us all!

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Rhythm, for some is something effortless and fun and for others a constant effort and frustration. And the truth is that the fact that it is in us all, doesn’t make it any easier to identify.

But lets take things from the beginning…

What is rhythm?

Rhythm is not the beat of the music or dissecting a music phrase in 7, 9, 11, 4 or 8s and it surely is not steps on a beat, like choreography. All these are methods to explore rhythm but neither of them is rhythm in itself.

I would like to suggest that we explore rhythm as a relationship between direction, velocity and distance. And that relationship is affected by mass, inertia, impact, energy we like to spend, shapes we want to create etc. Let’s look at some examples:

  1. elements moving in the same direction at the same time
  2. elements moving in opposite directions at the same time
  3. elements moving in the same direction at an alternate time
  4. elements moving in opposite directions at an alternate time 
  5. repetition which is inherently rhythmical

Practicing rhythm therefore will need to allow us to further explore and become more aware of those relationships; that are more relationships with world and not only with a specific song.

How to practice rhythm

For the month of March, as part of our Movement and Mindfulness workshops, we explored rhythm as described above and so thankfully I have a 1hr video to share with you, that can lead you through explorations on rhythm and hopefully inspire you to come up with your own explorations as well!

I would suggest you spend some time exploring these symmetries with your arms as it is easier compared to working with legs. Also work for a bit without music before you add your favourite music to accompany you. And you can work with all of these symmetries together or focus on one or two of them at a time, whatever works best for you!

Putting it together in a dance

Such explorations I find them extremely useful as they help me understand what I might be doing unconsciously or what I might feel I can’t reach. Whatever the case maybe though, real-life experience and testing is required after every exploration of every kind. If we don’t take what we learn in our real-life how will it stick? How will it become more than just an exercise? And most importantly how will it teach us to a level where we start changing our old habits and building new ones, aka progressing?

So after you complete the explorations above, or anytime during the video that you feel the need or you feel ready, completely let go of the exploration and just dance. Stop doing the exercise, and just dance. Feel how what you have explored so far manifests itself in your dance.

And of course this doesn’t stop there, step out of your practice shoes but take your practice with you. See, notice how rhythm manifests itself in your everyday life, when breathing, walking, shopping, doing the dishes. Make every big or small thing a dance!

Enjoy and join us for more by subscribing!

Chrisa 

P.S: For more on music and rhythm you can check here and here

Argentine tango, Art, be yourself, body awareness, Dance, improvise, Musicality, online tango practice

Music, Rhythm and Mindfulness

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Music and Rhythm is the title of our upcoming workshop happening on Saturday, February 27. It is part of the Mindfulness series but I realized I should have actually included mindfulness in the title. 

Being mindful

Mindfulness; because it is an invitation to explore and tune into the rhythm that is moving our bodies everyday, when we opening and closing eyes, when we are breathing, when our heart is beating, when we are walking and when we are still. But it is also because it is an invitation to acknowledge our bonds with the world. And by bonds I mean:

  1. relating to, responding to and sharing music in a respectful way
  2. attempting to feel the layers, textures, colours, tastes of each music composition
  3. accepting that we won’t most likely be able to capture all the brilliance that goes in a song but
  4. doing the best we can to hear to it, to feel it and open our minds and hearts more and more to it
  5. despite of our preferences; let’s try not to ignore the important elements in the music. For example violins in Fresedo are very prominent we can’t ignore them all the time
  6. showing parts of ourselves when we dance. Allow some vulnerability instead of going into the song with a “technical”, “how-to” approach
  7. acknowledging that our partner might still be trying to tune into their rhythm and offer them support instead of “pointing out” (dance wise) their mistakes 
  8. accept that people listen differently. That might mean that specific partners are not really a good fit for you and vice versa

I was hoping to get to 10, but this is all I got so far… maybe you can share some more with me!

Music and Rhythm is part of being human

We move before we speak! We explore the world through movement and rhythm… Think of a baby bobbing their head, or moving their arms and legs excitedly or how their whole body is involved when they are crying or laughing.

There is rhythm in our breathing, in our pulse, in the movement of different fluids in our bodies. Some would go as far to say that we are movement and rhythm! It could be true, if you think of how we are conceived and how we come to this world

However, as adults, sometimes, we experience difficulty connecting to those rhythms or identifying the rhythm of our movement; which of course then makes it more difficult connecting to an external rhythm such as music.

So what do you say, we try to it rediscover all that, rebuild those connections, together next Saturday February 27 at this Music and Rhythm Workshop.

  1. Hosted online through Facebook and Zoom- links will be shared 2hrs prior to the event
  2. A Pay from the Heart, so there is no set ticket fee, we are welcoming though donations: https://paypal.me/Bautanz?locale.x=en_US
  3. With a recording made available after the class to those interested.

Hope to see you then,

Chrisa