Last Saturday (4/4/2015) I went to Tulsa Spring Swing event,
watched contests, met and danced with friends until late night (5am). I got to
do this more often.
I happened to have a couple of Tango with alternative (WCS)
music. It was fun (thanks!)
Switching dances reminded me of the big difference in connections in the two very different dances.
.
[To begin with, I'll define the word "connection"
in a narrow sense here; "physical connection to get the partner dance work
in the mechanistic sense". Please temporarily disregard other aspects of
the word "connection", such as psychological connection, sense of
camaraderie, history between the partners, and all other fuzzy feelings often
talked in Tango.]
Tango connection is through upper body, usually through
chest (heart). The leader uses his chest to specify her axis, shift her axis
(walking), and cue her axis rotation. Since he connects her with a large part
of body (chest-torso), he has a great deal of control. If the connection is made
well, the two bodies merge and move as one.
In contrast, for WCS, the main connection point is two
fingers. With the small area, he sends her cues for her motions, supports
momentum and weight. He can still have her body, but the feel is much more on
sensing direction of momentum and "energy". There are many other
contact points, like forearm, upperarm, palm, even foot or leg,...but most of
the time, it's a part of his limbs and not a part of his torso. That way, both
dancers can move freely.
Here is an idea. Tango uses legs to make the dance look
fancier. How about importing the idea to WCS? A direction WCS can evolve is to
widen the use of his (and her) limbs as the lead-follow connection point. Some
WCS competitors already use underleg spins and other leg-based lead to spice up
their routine. Maybe you can try fancier leg-based lead-follow in WCS. Why not?
Any takers?
If no takers, maybe I should try it myself in another late night dances. I am a scientist, and I experiment. That way, it's less
boring, more fun, and perhaps I can be among few who do something unusual and
fancy before most others.
4/4/2015
