"Turning on a Dime"

— Compact Rotations in Vals Time —

Monday - November 28, 2011

90-minute Workshop — 7:00 - 8:30 pm

Supervised Práctica — 8:30 - 10:00 pm

at:    American Legion Dance Hall

877 Ralston (at 9th) Near the UNR, Reno, Nevada

All Levels Welcome — $20 / dancer

More About Vals + the Workshop

One of the three canonical "genres" of Tango music, vals is a graceful rhythm in 3/4 time — and true to its European origins, it retains a playful swirling quality that invites us to catch and flow with the sound of the music by dancing some circles of our own.

But unlike Old World forms with their predictable patterns, strict synchronization and standardized "steps," dancing vals in Tango is a paradigm of New World individuality and vitality. While the music of vals lends a continuous and regular shape to our wider shared soundscape, in Tango this common frame of reference serves us more as a backdrop and starting point for an investigation of movements, feelings and creative expression that are uniquely our own.

Among the many challenges of dancing vals is how to artfully reconcile our encounter with these two contributing factors — the swirling regularity of the music and Tango's deeply improvisational nature — in ways that expand upon the potential of both aspects, and help us deepen our experience of the dance:

• How do we add the kind of beguiling curves, turns and rotations that vals music invites us to explore ... yet fit them seamlessly into a dance form that is renowned for a much more linear idea: its famous "walk?"

• Do we put our focus entirely on the strong beat and let the music cascade around us ... or can we explore the softer interbeats — the two's and three's of the one-two-three — and still keep pace with the flavor and pulse of the music?

• And how do we connect these ideas to what we already know in ways that let us improvise in the moment, share space with our neighbors, and keep in full communication with our partners?

In this 90-minute "Turning on a Dime" workshop, we will take a closer look at these issues and more — uncovering some of the mechanics that inform rotational situations in Tango, catching and expressing the playful energy of vals music, and coordinating our sensitivity and imagination with that of our partners in ways that help us float and soar on the dance floor.

 

After this Monday Night Workshop, please stay for the Práctica - 8:30 - 10:00 ...

Stephen will be on hand to answer your questions about anything Tango

For more Information about Learning + Dancing Argentine Tango in Reno:

RenoTango — and — Reno Tango Meetup

And more on a Workshop with Stephen + Deb in Nevada City on 11/29:

"Around the World in 180°" - Tango's Media Vuelta