Standard routines or sequences you use

[QPO]

still what we need to improve this year is being able to stop and and then resume the routine without looking flustered (not that we do that all the time) but just pick up and move somewhere else without effort

[elisedance]

still what we need to improve this year is being able to stop and and then resume the routine without looking flustered (not that we do that all the time) but just pick up and move somewhere else without effort

we are working on this too - coach noticed that we were inclined to make gestures when we made an error - effectively drawing the judges attention.  That we have to fix because if you look carefully most of the other dancers are making mistakes all the time, they just don't show it.

[QPO]

yes most people would not know what your routine is so it is only you, one of our friends made a boo boo and opened her eyes like she was Bambi! So it was evident had she not done that know one would have known other than the two of them.

[cornutt]

do you have routines that you do on the floor or do you make up the steps as you go along. I have heard from a competitor that when he competed he did not learn routines and only learnt steps and then went out and used the floor and steps that could fit. People use to compliment him on his floor craft.

I don't dance set routines in competition.  I've tried it a couple of times, and I find that the effort of recalling choreography and fitting it to the floor conditions is harder than improvising.  I do sometimes put together walls -- short sequences that will carry me the length of one wall.  In smooth, it's not that hard to stretch one continuing step across a whole wall.     But I have to have a good picture of the traffic and a good view down the floor as I turn the corner, or I won't do it.

[Dora-Satya Veda]

I find that the effort of recalling choreography and fitting it to the floor conditions is harder than improvising. 

I can't tell you how good it is to hear that. Wonderful!

[QPO]

so do you teach your students figures? or do they still learn a routine as well

[Dora-Satya Veda]

so do you teach your students figures? or do they still learn a routine as well

I am not sure if you are asking me or not but I am going to answer the question.   

If I teach syllabus then I will teach at least a couple of precedes and follows for each step. This gives the option even at syllabus level to floor craft at any time. If the couple is out of syllabus then I will give "short sides"/small grouping that can be intermixed. If they insist on a routine then I will always give sides that are fairly short and then "chewing gums" so that the sides can be extend to fit any floor. They will have a series of "chewing gums" that can be used to either extend a side or that can be danced as a short side. I have found that this way gives the couple the most freedom. They have grouping and then the man chooses from those grouping what he feels like dancing at that very moment. It might be a little scary for couples that has not been trained to think on their feet  but after a while it become second nature.

I am not saying this is the only way to do it but that is the way that I was taught and the way I teach. It worked fairly well for my partner and me and it seems to work for the couples that I teach.

DSV

[QPO]

Ok well we have learnt a short side and a long side, but when we practice often the floor is crowded so we get to move it around and come back to where we should be. I have yet to feel confident for V to move off the patterns we know as he changes himself to be more open and I loose the feel of what he wants me to do. But that is practice on both our parts. I don't want to lay blame...it is about experience

[ZPomeroy]

Ok, i would really like some help from you guys (and girls of course ) on ideas for sequences or even just a step or two to put into a tango routine i'm choreographing. It's been so long since I've actually done tango that I've lost all inspiration for choreographing it, thanks for the help in advance

Zac

[elisedance]

I will be reading this one with avid interest (our routine is, well, boring...)

[catsmeow]

Try using a back open promenade in tango Zac

[elisedance]

so now we need the video example capability - just think if we could share practise tapes??

[Dora-Satya Veda]

Try using a back open promenade in tango Zac

A Back Open Promenade, Heel Pull, Zig-Zag, Heel Pull, Left Side Walks, Counter Point, Same Foot Lunge, Five Step. Short and with a lot of action.

[socialdancer]

still what we need to improve this year is being able to stop and and then resume the routine without looking flustered (not that we do that all the time) but just pick up and move somewhere else without effort

we are working on this too - coach noticed that we were inclined to make gestures when we made an error - effectively drawing the judges attention.  That we have to fix because if you look carefully most of the other dancers are making mistakes all the time, they just don't show it.

We have a saying that "the only difference between a mistake and a new variation is the look on your face"

[QPO]

still what we need to improve this year is being able to stop and and then resume the routine without looking flustered (not that we do that all the time) but just pick up and move somewhere else without effort

we are working on this too - coach noticed that we were inclined to make gestures when we made an error - effectively drawing the judges attention.  That we have to fix because if you look carefully most of the other dancers are making mistakes all the time, they just don't show it.

We have a saying that "the only difference between a mistake and a new variation is the look on your face"

that is a great one! Welcome