This post is born out of the discussion of a post in Alex's blog. I am sure this has been discussed around in a blog somewhere but I can't remember where. Anyway, what we're talking about is if weight matters.
By self experience I say that I have danced with some heavy followers that were light as a plume and with some (misleadingly) skinny followers that were has heavy has a lorry (or truck, if you're on the other side of the Atlantic ;o) So, weight on itself has absolutely no influence on the dance. If you can hold your weight, if you can be strong enough to carry all your package on your own, then you'll be light as a feather. In other words, you'll be as heavy as how much you ask your partner to carry.
Being grounded is something completely different. You can be obese and still not being close to be grounded. You can be slim and fit and yet drill down into the floor without passing the weight to your partner. Juana Sepulveda is a very good example. Slim, beautiful, gracious. But you'll notice that when she takes a step, especially in pivots she drills into the floor but she holds her own weight.
One my early teachers once told me "In tango, try to step the underfloor and never the floor". it makes absolute sense. To be decisive and to make your movements as clear as water you have to put all your weight into the floor (action) and transform the upward motion (reaction) into whatever you want to do.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Heavyness and being grounded - two completely different things!
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3 comments:
Good stuff, Ricky. Groundedness is one of those very difficult concepts to understand, much less master. I like the visualization of "step the underfloor" (or subfloor as we call it here). I will have to try that the next time I dance. Take care...
Oh !! So true, so insightful. I've had all those experiences you mention...
And that's why it can be painful to dance with people that buy all that super-mega-apilado moviesque way of dancing and have no idea of how to avoid smashing the other person...
Dear Alex and tango padawan, thanks for your comments.
I was very lucky that the concept of "groundedness" was introduced early in my learning and I could picture it very well. I could not do it for a long time due to a persistent injury that didn't allow me to put all my weight in one leg. But that is gone now.
The other thing to say is that to maximise your groundedness your knees should be relaxed (not flexed) because if your legs are very stiff your dance becomes very bumpy.
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