Forgive me posting this here A Throp , but it's the best place to find you!

I promised you some sensible advice on footcare and exercises for tango. It has taken me an age to find this article for you so please forgive the delay. I had forgotten that I had stashed it away in a special AT file.

http://argentinetangoclub.org/footcare/

Hope you find it useful. Best wishes for 2014. May we tango 'til we drop!

The thread that used to be called "Strictly Argentine Tango" has been renamed to:

Argentine Tango Music

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1763697

Ahh gosh Thank you so much Sofakat. I didn't think you would remember but I am very grateful indeed. Went to tango last night and sure as eggs is eggs woke up in the night with cramp in my calf.

Best wishes for the New Year to you too. I have my last Milonga of the year tomorrow - tea dance and then no dancing until NYE.

Can't do a detailed critique (I'm far too slow at picking up footwork and identifying steps) but on playing back Sophie's tango it looked pretty good (much better than I thought it was). It had recognisable tango steps but sometimes repeated more than once (but nothing wrong with that as better to do less things well than lots of things badly.). There was still a fair variety of steps though. For example, I spotted (I think) amongst others a few open reverse turns (lady outside), progressive link into chase (with one of its many endings), a couple of oversways.

Feet looked ok (heel/toes). Didn't notice if she used the side of the foot on certain steps. Knees reasonably bent I think (as they should be). Frame fairly good although it breaks now and then.

Yes, quite good generally.


I'm going to look at that dissertion you posted.

Can I just thank everyone for their contributions to this thread so far, please? I'm a dunce when it comes to technicalities of dancing, but I love it so much. Enjoying a performance whilst recognising certain techniques is, for me, so much more interesting than enjoying it for it's own sake (which I do do and have enjoyed whilst knowing nothing about it, but - well, I suppose it gives the enjoyment another dimension).

None of that probably makes any sense, to be fair, but anyway, thank you.

It makes perfect sense ! It is of paramount importance to dance with good and correct technique otherwise you cannot achieve the correct action.The technique is there to make the application of the steps easier, to make dancing easier, not more difficult. When you start learning and understanding, it is great to be able to watch and analyse, to recognise what dancers are doing, whether right or wrong. ( that means some pro's too)

It was like that for me with cricket.

Thank goodness, and yes, I can see how you're quite right, and I know what you mean about watching the pro dancers' technique as well. They certainly vary from dancer to dancer on SCD!

One FM recently posted a video of this year's (or last year's?) World Latin competition, and it was accompanied by explanations of what the dancers were doing, what the judges were looking for, and how parts worked or didn't work. That voice-over was totally fascinating. Plus, the male dancers were hilarious to watch, what with all that slicked-back, flicked-out Latin hair and everything.


Haha I'm very very sorry, but no amount of techie knowledge of cricket will enable me to watch it. None.

I managed to scribble down a few notes, whilst trying to sit back and enjoy..not easy. Not to mention the spinning camera, so uou don't get a good view to observe, particularly feet.
Comments are not aimed to critisise in a bad way, just noted things that could be improved.

I thought this QS was much better than first time around, although still very slightly out of sync in places.
Susanna's head position still not right, right side too open, should be towards Kevin, even in promenade position.

Her body line/shape (back) is a bit weak and could be picked p and help towards partner, would create a stronger look.

Not too much connection but it is harder in QS due to the speed, twists and turns of the choreo. Her left arm was not very good, bad left hand placement and no styling. Her frame in general in QS could be improved. QS is a swing dance and there was no swing, when Kevin was making pronounced swing steps, she did not swing with him.

Any comments for discussion, please post...I'll continue with the other dances..

I thought this was lovely, very smooth transitions mainly, smooth in general. Lovely body shaping from Abbey, easily the best topline and frame from any celeb this year. Very strong competitive look. Lovely projection and pick up towards Aljaz.
Couple of camera shots showed a few missed heels, and she is too high out of the floor. Should be on flexed knees throughout. Reason as to why she fell off balance in the contra check - not enough pressure into the floor.
I loved it but my big grumble wold be aimed at Aljaz, as for me, not enough content in hold. But beautifully danced with emotion.

Contraversial comments now, after what the judges say, but here goes..perhaps its because Natalie is so good, I expect more...

If you ignore the fringed dress, I actually didn't spot too much natural hip action. The hips were too square, there should be a forward/backward figure or 8 action going on, settling into the hip of the standing leg, even at the speed of CCC. Very hard to do, but I didn't see much, if any. Lack of foot pressure which, to me, was noticeable in the cuban breaks. Very nicely danced, but for my tastes, a bit too "clean". Need a bit more earthiness.

Found this to be a little " skippy" as too high out of legs and floor. The foot work that I saw was not precise and clean enough.
Her neck still looked wrong, needs to be stretched on both sides more. Left arm and hand not overly good, back looked a little heavy with right shoulder lifting at times.Better projection needed.
Good effort though in a very difficult technical dance.

Thank you, Jennifer. I enjoyed A & A's and S & B's first dances best of the four, so good to know my impressions can be justified technically! I even identified that Sophie's shoulders were a bit high at times - go me. Loved the end of her dance, though. Looking forward to your impressions of the showdances. Is it harder to critique these?

Yes I think they are, I have watched these for my own enjoyment. Hope you enjoyed them. Nat/Artem as you have expected, slick and technically brilliant, but I enjoyed Abbeys more, as, for me, had attack, passion and drama. But each to their own of course

I enjoyed Natalie and Artem's the most, as I thought it was real entertainment. My favourite showdance ever is Tom and Camilla's (even though I didn't much like them through the competition) for the same reason. I though Abbey looked a little ungainly in the lifts, which is odd as she's usually so elegant - probably just cos her legs are so long.

Would be really interested to hear opinions on Abbey's QS compared to Susanna's.

Abbeys QS was full on, high energy. Most problems I could see were in PP. Head position could be improved, rightside too open, causing problem with position of right shoulder. Gapping still evident and she should be further into partners right side. Little too high in legs, more use of foot pressure would help too.
Great effort though.

I may find dance spins difficult but getting better; but I used to be quite good at right arm finger spin ... and now that Swann has retired mid series perhaps a few weeks in the sun might be handy ...

Thanks for that. I'll look at it again with your comments in mind.

That dissertation is quite good reading.

Thank you for those comments on each of the first dances Jennifer. Most interesting.

Comments much appreciated !
It was hard to do as I wanted to enjoy the overall dances, without having to analyse and look away to write things down. Of course I could have recorded and watched later, but not the same after the event.
Hope you enjoyed the final, I did.

Go Henry! Otherwise I might have to inflict my very slow Slinga Malinga on them. (copyright my son!) on them!!

You know what I didn't think Natalie had that much natural hip action in the ccc so it's nice to see someone who knows thinking the same.

I can believe it. I find it hard enough to concentrate on the celeb and not let my eye be drawn to the pro ( especially the girls) so I am mightily impressed.

I just want to thank all of you who contributed to this thread and those who tried on previous threads to bring a little sanity into the madness of these boards.

I have learned a lot, come to appreciate Charleston, got some tips for taking care of my feet and legs so I can dance more and had some delightful conversations with some wonderful people (and Henry - only joking H!) and some belly laughs too. What could be nicer?

I hope to catch you all before you all disperse. I haven't gone completely but I have one more dance this afternoon and then I will hang up my suede soles for the year and focus on Christmas. I don't think it will be well attended Milonga so as we will have space a friend and I are planning to experiment and try to dance an AT to this.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yGepLq77Oc. Not everyone's cup of tea and it may not work. But I was a Floydy before I danced so am keen to see if I can put my musical tastes together.

Anyway enough waffle. Thank you all so much for your friendship and fun over recent weeks. It has made the series, which already feels like it was a brilliant one despite my various quibbles - the retrospective rose tinted specs are already on, so much more enjoyable. Hope you all have a lovely time at Christmas and I wish you all the happiest of new years. Dance your socks off folks xxxx

Thanks Throppy for the special mention in that dispatch. I know I'm like the SCD band - not just wonderful but "wonderful wonderful" ...

Hey let's see if we can keep this thread going over the year. Feel free all to PM me if it gets (even more) interesting and I've gone AWOL.

I like Pink Floyd (one of the very few non salsa, tango, opera or Jazz CDs I have) - but Cymbaline sounds adventurous.