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Buenos
Aires
Mingo
and Esther Pugliese arrived.
Mingo
has been dancing tango since 1948 and is
the last - very junior - surviving member
of that group of Tangueros who, in the
'40s and '50s, revolutionised Argentine
Tango by adapting its moves to the 4*4
time that had become the norm for Tango
music and, in so doing, involved the
follower as an equal partner in the dance
for the first time.
The
group, led by Carlos Esteves - Petroleo,
refined the tango embrace from the
crouched, stifling hold of the canyengue
to the looser, more upright, embrace we
know today. They invented the giro and
ochos that have become the central theme
of Tango. Petroleo himself is credited
with the invention of the sobre paso,
giro, arastre, boleo and pique.
Mingo
began by telling us something about the
"code" they developed to
improve the feeling of tango back in the
40s:
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Always begin, if
you have free space, by stepping wide to
the left on the leader's left foot. If
you don't have space, but have space in
front, step forward on the left foot;
and, if even that doesn't work, take a
shorter step back on the leader's right. |
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When the leader
walks offset, the upper body of both
partners is displaced so as to maintain
their connection. Merely turning the
torso to bring the follower back in front
of him should be enough to bring the
follower into a cross - the crusada.
Indeed,
if the leader does not want the follower
to cross, he must lead this by blocking
her foot slightly to prevent it coming
across.
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