Dimitris Bronowski, a tango dancer and writer I admire, in his book The black and white of Argentine tango has a chapter “Downward Spirals vs. Upward Spirals: The Hidden Difference That Changes Everything in Tango”. He reads that chapter here on his blog.
I don’t know about this: whether or not to use torso spirals to ask for curving movements. It strikes me as akin to the age-old question of which came first, the chicken or the egg.
Consider, for example, the difference between milonguero ochos and “regular” ochos. My understanding is that we maintain a flat, no-spiral shape to signify milonguero ochos, where we don’t want our partner’s hips to twist. Whereas we spiral to both alert our partner to the desired styling or the degree of pivot, and to accommodate their movement more comfortably.
Another example. I want to create a perpendicular position with respect to my partner. If they’re the one repositioning, I’m going to ask for that with my spiral, to differentiate it from a weight change. If I’m moving, I’m holding my upper body flat while I pivot below.
Are we saying that torso twists and directional movements from the feet are separate? Heavens no! But even in the weightlessness of space, where we have no footing, it is still possible to twist the body through the physics of angular momentum. It is possible for them to be separate.
Do we even need a twist to signal that we want one or that they will feel more comfortable with a spiral to orient to our next step? No. Where we have matching tone and resistance (Oh, that other bugaboo of tango discussions!), our partner can feel our body wanting to twist, match, and resist it, giving them a “ballet barre” to act against, facilitating their lower-body twist.
I sense a false dichotomy. I have admired the writings of Dimitris and others that talk to us about the importance of beginning the lead for our next step as we approach the finish of our current step. Not after! We want a nice flow of movement, not isolated pivot+step, and not even isolated step+pivot. We want a blended flow of movement. I think that’s mainly what this up-versus-down argument is about.
Are there teachers who actually teach them as isolated movements, with pivots always coming first?!? Raise your hands. 🙂