Tango Improvisation
Tango Improvisation
Argentine Tango is improvisational, which makes each dance unique. However, it is a skill that can take quite awhile to acquire and can be a frustratingly slow element to master. So what can we do to improve our improvisational skills?
Here are some ideas for both leaders and followers beyond practicing with your partner:
1) You need a level of competence with the technique and vocabulary of the dance. When movements become part of your body’s memory, you’ll be able to execute steps without having to think much about it. For improvisation this needs to be second nature – like being able to drive a car while thinking about something else. You need to not be distracted by your body, so you can really listen to the music and react to it. So practice skills, like balance, ochos, walking, pivots and, often overlooked, breathing.
2) Familiarity with tango music and the general structure of tango songs will also make improvisation easier. If you have heard the piece before, you have time to set up your next move slightly ahead of time. It is very difficult to react to music you have never heard before. Yet if you listen to tango music after awhile you will start to recognize the way the songs are structured and you’ll have a good idea about what’s coming, even if you don’t recognize the particular song.
3) Visualization is helpful to practice how you might dance to a particular song. You can do this anytime you hear music. Athletes use this technique to improve their performance and research shows that it is almost as good as physically practicing.
4) Don’t think that it always takes two to tango. Try practicing alone. This gives you the opportunity to have the perfect partner that always leads/follows what you want, so you can focus on your technique. Dance to a complete song that you improvise through.
5) Dance with strangers. Nothing makes you as alert and prepared with your entire skill set as dancing with someone you never danced with before. The dance could go anywhere and you need to be ready. It can be a bit nerve-racking, but it is the best at improving your improvisational dancing skills. Quite the rush, really.
Have you found anything else that has helped your improvisational skills?
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Comments
Developing Flexibility...
As a leader, I am continually building my vocabulary of options or step choices. For a simple example; one I learned how to get in and out of ochos, I made it a point to practice doing that on both sides, from forward walking, backward walking, from molinete, from the cross, etc. So I play with all the different combinations in my mind and try them out physically, to get them in my body.
This is interesting, because typically I find that one or two options come easily and others aren't as natural and are more challenging. I think this is perhaps because I have tendencies to favor one leg or one side for example. So thinking it through, putting it into action and becoming more familiar with each combination helps to make the more awkward possibilities feel more natural.
This fits with your idea above of getting it into body memory. Once these possible combinations are more familiar to my body, they do tend to flow out more easily, spontaneously in the dance.
That being said, I do this kind of experimentation more at practicas and in private, one-on-one sessions with friends. Once I'm at the milonga, the focus is more on staying in the flow of connection with my partner and the music. Although I will still bring in new, fun combinations on the 2nd or 3rd song of the tanda.
Patrick