海鷗is right that people usually begin with Waltz, since it involves basic for ballroom dancing, such as the romantic figures to portray, partner skills and relationships, body coordination, dancing techniques, etc ......
Actually, slow dances like Waltz and Foxtrot are even harder to do well than Tango and Quickstep. Slow dances need more body control to show the smoothness. It should look like effortless, like "skating" on the floor. People may get a jump start in Latin if have strong ballet training. But in Standard, the ballet training can certainly give you advantages, but it can't replace the specific techniques in this discipline.
Have fun!
melly2007-03-30 21:04:21回複悄悄話
Thank you very much, 海鷗飛處. You are right. The parterns should cooperate each other, as described in one of Flamenco's essay.Adjusting oneself to cooperate the partener would be the key for a good performance.
"Learning Tango is like learning how to fight with men."
Actually, since the fighting is a performance, I'd think that learning Tango is more like learning how to coorperate with your partner in a show -- one gives signal and the other one follows (oh well, all partner dances are like that ;). Am I right, Flamenco girl?
haha... I was just kidding when I said I wanted to learn Tango first. Tango is like fighting between men and women. Learning Tango is like learning how to fight with men. As Flamenco_girl said, I prefer romance, romantic fighting.haha...Actually, in all ballroom dances, I love Waltz most.
Thanks for your comments.Sounds you are very good at dancing. I danced a long time ago, and just for fun.
海鷗飛處2007-03-30 14:38:30回複悄悄話
melly: Just curious: what made you want to learn Tango first?
IMHO, people usually learn Waltz first to laid a solid foundation for other dances. Although quite different on the surface, Tango and Waltz (and even the Latin dances) share a lot of basic things in common, such as weight control/shift, balance, leg movement, posture, lead/follow, etc.). Waltz's slow, smooth yet powerful motion provides an excellent platform for learning and working on these basic things. Whereas Tango's "added on" sharp, staccato movements are hardly used by other dances and may interfere the learning of the foundamental concepts.
海鷗飛處2007-03-30 14:24:03回複悄悄話
Flamenco_Girl: I have been busy for several days and haven't checked your blog until now (I have a few minutes after work and before going home :). I am so surprised to see you have posted some really good vedios. I love them and will try to find time to watch them again and again. Thank you so much for doing that.
Yes, I dance all the 5 dances in Standard, and 4 dances in American Smooth.
flamenco_girl2007-03-29 10:34:13回複悄悄話
Hey Melly, I didn't know that I was giving you negtive influence here. I thoguht you like "romance" better than "fight" :-)
melly2007-03-28 15:43:00回複悄悄話
I watched all of the new videos.Cool! To me, Waltz and foxtrot are elegant and romantic, Tango is wild and passinate, and quick step is really quick and active. yes, tango is like fighting. I realize that I should learn tango first, then fight with men.haha...
Are you able to perform all kinds of ballroom dances?
flamenco_girl2007-03-28 12:15:57回複悄悄話
Yes Melly, Tango has totally different style to Waltz. Waltz portray synchronized romance between a man and a woman, while Tango portray the fighting between them, i.e. the man say "yes" and the woman say "no".
While there are some differences between competition and show dance. I guess you can tell that. I'll try to write more later. It's interesting to dig into YouTube.
melly2007-03-27 19:26:55回複悄悄話
Looks much more difficult than Waltz.It Matches different taste.Again, their movement is elegant and passinate. It is hard to believe the couple are able to perform well without understanding and maybe imagination to the music and movements.
海鷗is right that people usually begin with Waltz, since it involves basic for ballroom dancing, such as the romantic figures to portray, partner skills and relationships, body coordination, dancing techniques, etc ......
Actually, slow dances like Waltz and Foxtrot are even harder to do well than Tango and Quickstep. Slow dances need more body control to show the smoothness. It should look like effortless, like "skating" on the floor. People may get a jump start in Latin if have strong ballet training. But in Standard, the ballet training can certainly give you advantages, but it can't replace the specific techniques in this discipline.
Have fun!
"Learning Tango is like learning how to fight with men."
Actually, since the fighting is a performance, I'd think that learning Tango is more like learning how to coorperate with your partner in a show -- one gives signal and the other one follows (oh well, all partner dances are like that ;). Am I right, Flamenco girl?
haha... I was just kidding when I said I wanted to learn Tango first. Tango is like fighting between men and women. Learning Tango is like learning how to fight with men. As Flamenco_girl said, I prefer romance, romantic fighting.haha...Actually, in all ballroom dances, I love Waltz most.
Thanks for your comments.Sounds you are very good at dancing. I danced a long time ago, and just for fun.
IMHO, people usually learn Waltz first to laid a solid foundation for other dances. Although quite different on the surface, Tango and Waltz (and even the Latin dances) share a lot of basic things in common, such as weight control/shift, balance, leg movement, posture, lead/follow, etc.). Waltz's slow, smooth yet powerful motion provides an excellent platform for learning and working on these basic things. Whereas Tango's "added on" sharp, staccato movements are hardly used by other dances and may interfere the learning of the foundamental concepts.
Yes, I dance all the 5 dances in Standard, and 4 dances in American Smooth.
Are you able to perform all kinds of ballroom dances?
While there are some differences between competition and show dance. I guess you can tell that. I'll try to write more later. It's interesting to dig into YouTube.