Practica: Abrazo testing lab

Please! 

Pay careful attention to these variations of abrazos presented below and try to find the one most suitable for yourself!

Try remember, to feel the most comfortable position for your arms and how high/low you can move them and still feel ok.

Another abrazo option is the position of your elbows - how far from the body and how much in front of the shoulder line they can be.

Let an intensive experimenting start!

Here some guide lines for you:

1. Are the bodies totally facing each others?
There is also a possibility that the bodies have an offset of a few cm

2. Are the bodies parallel?

3. Or maybe the bodies are in V-form?
An Embrace where at the man’s right side and the woman’s left side (closed side have a body contact but at the open side there is a slight opening.

         

Two more videos about how the abrazo is kept stable and when it is continuously changing.

If you are more a verbal person the link below is a endless basket of treasures for you! For the others please check the vocabulary in the end of the posting and some of the summaries!

Find all the stuff here!

https://youtu.be/KLY5izQng2o

https://youtu.be/f34FLD5s0KI

https://youtu.be/E2dIIWXIFyI

https://youtu.be/iZxTwu9PiFY

https://tangovoice.wordpress.com/category/el-abrazo/

Practica : Milonga rhythm

When you start to become friends with the milonga music you may find a musical structure coming up again and again!  Listen if you recognize the one here in the beginning:

 It is called habanera and as you notice the spaces between the strikes are different. You can follow the pattern with your fingers in this way!

  

 Milonga Sentimental has a lot of habaneras which you can follow  by your hand!

                                      

This stable structure makes it easier for us to place ur steps - the possibilities are there even if it sometimes can be difficult to hear them directly. Below you find two measures and the habanera rhythm is on the  blue line. Basic steps are placed on the red ones

The most common double step is created by stepping on H3 H4 H1. 

It is accepted to use   B1 c B2  or B1 k B2 for double steps.

Some more information and questions you will find on my other blog: Check the posting 

What is Chicho doing?
His milonga is a mystery for me - I do not know what he is doing differently compared to others. Therefore I am coming back to his dancing all the time.

If you are serious about tango music you should check Joaquin Amenabars book 

TANGO 

Let's dance to the music!

http://www.joaquinamenabar.com/

Practica: Milonga repetition

You remember the figure where we stepped backward and forward? You can exercise by stepping together with Jordi who is showing us the possibilities for regular steps as well as double time steps. If you do this one minute video every now and then before our next meeting you will be able to adapt this to the music and you are more ready for some variations!
Here you have Jordi!

Oscar and Georgina are doing the figure I called an Americana forward and backward!

Please pay attention that the supporting legs, those not participating in the Americana build, are not mowing so much, just a little to make the couple advance some in the line of dance!

YES you are right: they are moving here on a clock wise line but remember that we did it in counter clock wise way! Leaders were facing the wall!

Here is the entire video for you! The figure is turning up at 0.47 starting quite calmly and then 1.20 in many hilarious variations! Try to follow the speed they put up, look at the screen and make your solo training with them!

If the speed is too much for today use the possibility to play the video in slower manner. You maybe don't have the button yet but here a link to fix it!

http://leadingladyl.blogspot.se/2014/09/you-can-control-speed-in-youtube.html

Remember we need a lot of solo exercise! 

Start today 

and you are ready for a partner when we meet next time!

Jordi

https://youtu.be/4FB3_KgFgOc

Oscar y Georgina

https://youtu.be/gmPT1zMLYDg

Basic training for October - November 2015

I have struggled with finding suitable workouts for the period August - September!

I have for a long time been working with the videos on Fitnessblender channel and I just LOVE them! But I think that it is good for your body to change the training method every now and then: That is the reason to change the videos every two months as well as within a week. I think also that a change of a channel can have a positive effect, putting my body to work differently when  there is a change of instructor.

I have found a few candidates which I tested but did not want to stay with them for a longer time. I post the channel links below in case you find suitable workouts among the videos
Body prject:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFjc9H89-RpWuIStDqhO7AQ/videos
My knees did not agree with the rich variety of side movements!
Popsuger: https://www.youtube.com/user/popsugartvfit/videos
I had problem with the girlish shouts and talk here!

Then I landed at Jessica Smith TV and here I will stay for a while! She had prepared a lot of different workouts with uncomplicated sweat driving movements and basic supporting talk. I get a strong feel of a professional workout leader!
I will pick a cardio video for period and my testing has shown that it makes me work - I am totally soaked after these 20 mins.

I will start and end the week with a pilates workout with Sophie, a young instructor from Australia (?). It is a harder 30 minutes I am used to but its ok! Three other days will be with Jessica's 20 minutes video. Let's work before the fireplace!

Tuesadays, Wednesdays and Fridays are dedicated for this lady!

Sophie for Mondays and Saturdays!  (I can do the training lying on the floooooor!  :)  )

https://youtu.be/Z2gZuLIL0NM
https://youtu.be/VvrHo1NDITY

Basic training for June - July 2015

Yes!  It is a long time ago I updated my BASIC training section here. During May I was hiking around in South Korea for four weeks. One tango festival, several milongas in other cities, a lot of temples and other interesting buildings as well as beautiful food and sceneries!  It was a pre-trip decision that the daily walks and dancing will be enough for my body. (You can check my other blogs for photos and videos)

Back home in the end of May I started to get on the track again. It was a lazy start with a private pilates program and a cardio workout from Fitnessblender  - my favorites.

This is my toughest cardio attempt and I must say that I am not there yet - I think I have jumped it through properly only once.. . .

If I feel ever so slight pain in my joints I stop jumping and run the rest of the program by stepping the various  jumping-jack options!  The push ups give me a sweat cover anyhow!

So it have been a pilates/cardio workout five days a week: Mon-Wed and Fri-Sat as usual.

I have some weeks to go before the change in the end of July! 

Test the workout you too! 

It is the second most popular on their site!