Open Promenade In Tango

Ballroom Blitz #118

Open Promenade In Tango - Jun 13, 2024

Transcript

Ian: Hey guys and girls from the inter-webs. My name's Ian,

Lindsey: and my name's Lindsey,

Ian & Lindsey: and welcome to Ballroom Blitz.

Ian: Welcome back, dancers, to another Tango Ballroom Blitz. Today we're going to be half recapping something we've done, and doing a new figure; kind of. We're going to be looking at the Open Promenade, which will recap our Open Finishes video link in the description, of course. Let's take a look.

[Demonstration without music]

Ian: So the Open Promenade can be thought of as a Closed Promenade, with an Open Finish. But I'll leave you exploring the Open Finishes video for more on that. But we are essentially doing the same sort of figure as your Closed Promenade, but leaving it with open feet. So in this context, your Open Promenade, the “Open” part doesn't refer to being in Promenade Position, and it's very consistent with Tango language that “Open” often refers not to your frame at all; it refers to what your feet are doing. So your Open Promenade is a walking figure, a “promenading” figure, starting in the Promenade Position, and your feet never close. So let's break that down, it's a super simple figure, only four steps; the traditional slow, quick, quick, slow Tango sandwich. We will get you up and dancing it really, really soon. So let's go with the leaders steps.

Ian: So, leaders, you have arrived somehow in the Promenade Position, and in typical tango fashion, instead of having a weight on the forward foot, like in the swing dancers, we are going to have weight on the rear foot, ready to compress and take a strong walking power step on the leader's left.

We take that step. We can't do much with it, but it does power the next step which takes us down the floor. This second one is a quick. So we've had a slow driving step, and then a quick. On the next quick I am going to prepare to step outside of my partner while leading them to closed position. So at the moment we're both still in promenade. Over this step, I'm going to step slightly more forward than just sidestepping down the line. So I am going to close and side slightly forward, allowing a space for me to step outside of partner with the final slow stepping outside with open feet, the Open Finish, hence the Open Promenade.

So you can almost think of this like a Tango Feather, where you are preparing to step outside of partner, and then stepping outside. But of course we retain all the Tango ideas and rules around that, but it does give you a little bit of a picture in your mind as to what we're trying to do. We have Slow and Quick, prepare to step outside, step outside slow, to end the open finish, hence the Open Promenade. All we have to do and mix into that is close the follower between steps two and three. So here, if we are in promenade, I'm going to use my magical right hand to close the follow between steps two and three, while making sure that I get passage beyond them to take that step outside. If you do that, it's easy as that.

Lindsey: Let's have a look at the following steps. I'm going to use my line of dance this way so I can face you. But I too am starting this in a classic sort of promenade ready position. So we're in a promenade hold with each other. My weight is on my left foot. I am ready to step forward on my right, making sure that I am in a proper promenade position, I'm a little bit tucked behind the leader, so they're going to get there first. That's fine. We take a slow walk on the right. We carry through with that promenade walk on the left. So that will be a sort of across our position.

At this point, so we've had a slow and a quick, we're ready for step three, which is another quick. But we should feel at this point a change in the frame that will make us turn as we step, and this turn, it's not actually turning us around. What we're doing is turning into a closed hold with our partner, but then that final step will feel that they are still traveling, and so that will force us into step four backwards and across ourselves on the left foot and we will end in this position with feet apart in a closed hold, with our leader having taken a step outside of us.

So we have: Slow in promenade. Quick in promenade. Quick sideways closing, and then Slow backwards on our left foot across as our partner steps past us.

[Demonstration with counts]

[Demonstration with music]

Ian:There you go, a bit more of a deep dive into the Open Promenade specifically. Links in the description to the Open Finishes video, which does compare the Closed Promenade to the Open Promenade. But it does deserve its own video. Don't overcomplicate it. Learn to use your Open Finishes. It does give you a lot more, choices for following on.

So, leaders you can add a little bit of variety and a little bit of extra spice and different ways to dance your Tango depending on the music. So give it a go. Try it out. Social Tango is a lot of fun. It should be danced more and more and you should be jumping up for it too. So give it a go and let us know if there's anything you want to say on the channel and as always, keep dancing and we will see you next time.

Ian: Well, that's it for this blitz boys and girls. Don't forget to like,

Lindsey: comment,

Ian: share,

Lindsey: and subscribe.

Ian: See you next time.

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