TANGO WORKSHOPS BY TOM STERMITZ "MUSICAL MEANING AND EXPRESSIVE MOVEMENT" or "How not to dance like a robot" MINNEAPOLIS JANUARY 14-16, 2005
Sponsored by: Lois Donnay [email protected] http://www.mndance.com 612.822.8436 DETAILS BELOW More details about the Tom Stermitz workshops January 14th to 16th are currently available on my website at http://www.mndance.com. You will not want to miss these! Tom is an articulate and experienced teacher, and is responsible for the intimate understanding of tango (both the dance and the music) that you can experience in Colorado. He will be available for privates - first come first served. You can preregister for lessons or privates at any of my lessons here, or if you can catch me off the dancefloor at Babalu's. That is the weekend of the Black Dog milonga, and we will have another workshop there - concentrating on floorcraft! Tom will also do the DJ'ing there. Great News! Tom Stermitz, the excellent Argentine tango teacher and organizer from Colorado, will be in the Twin Cities the weekend of January 14th-17th. Tom is the organizer of the Memorial Day and Labor Day tango festivals, and is widely credited for the high quality of tango in Colorado. I know many of you have traveled to these festivals and know how great they are! To learn more about Tom visit here: http://www.tango.org or http://www.tango.org/testimonial.html Tom will give a series of workshops while he is here, and is working on a great curriculum that will benefit us. He will also be available for privates. That will be the weekend of the Black Dog milonga, so we'll have a special workshop and event there, and Tom will DJ. ALL CLASSES WILL INCLUDE ADVANCED MATERIAL Please note that advanced concepts of musicality, technique and improvisation will be a part of all classes. Even the Saturady classes labeled "Adv-beginner" will include ideas and material that will interest and challenge both Advanced Intermediate dancers if you have not previously worked with Tom. Tom will reorganize your fundamental conception of tango by showing how Improvisation elements intereact with musical phrasing and rhythms. Each class will start or end with exercises on technique, musical phrasing, movement energy, sarhythms, decorations, and connection etc. SUNDAY'S CLASSES ASSUME YOU UNDERSTAND THE PHRASING AND MUSICAL FRAMEWORK PRESENTED ON SATURDAY. Workshops will be held at the Old Arizona Studio on 28th and Nicollet Ave S http://www.oldarizona.com/ Saturday: Adv-Beginner and up (at least 3mo experience) 12.00 pm Registration/Warmup 12.30 pm 2a Close Embrace Vocabulary: 2.00 pm 2b Ochos, Ocho Cortados: Vocabulary & Improvisation 3.30 pm 2c Milonga: Vocabulary 7:00 pm Black Dog Milonga - Navigation & Floorcraft $8/class and milonga. Tom will be our DJ! Lowertown St Paul. Sunday Intermediate/Advanced (at least 6mo experience) 12.00 pm Registration/Warmup 12.30 pm 3a Ochos, Pivots & Alterations: Interm/Adv vocabulary 2.00 pm 4b Advanced Close-embrace Figures: Rhythm, Decorations & Counterpoint 3.30 pm 4c Milonga Tras pie $20 per Weekend classes, $55 for three, $95 for six. Additional $5 discount per class for full-time students or anyone who has visited one of the Denver festivals! Private lessons, (limited number): [email protected] ~ Musical Interpretation ~ "MEANING AND EXPRESSIVE MOVEMENT": or "How not to dance like a robot" - by Tom Stermitz, - http://www.tango.org - [email protected] One of the primary concepts in musicality is the following: "Movement energy needs to correspond to the musical energy. (Correspond could mean a number of things including contrasting to or synchronizing with). (1) Musicality begins with beat and rhythm. Tango has four fundamental rhythms: - Slow, Walking Beat - Staccatto (half-beat or waltz 2/3 or 3/3) - Dramatic Pause (while beats slip away) - Syncopations (Troilo in particular) (2) Tango music is phrased, usually by 4 + 4 = 8 count walking beats. Phrasing means your movement has commas & periods at the phrase endings. A phrase initiates with energy or an impulse to start the momentum moving, and ends with momentum slowing down. There is a suspension and surge. (3) There is the concept of lyricism which has to do with melody and breath. There is an "arc of meaning", a musical sweep that flies across the phrase or multiple phrases. (All non-robotic human activity has this expressive arc, i.e. walking across the room to open a door, kicking a socker ball) (4) Finally, Musicality is about contrasts, of which there are many varieties. One contrast of interest is between repetition and variation. Tom Stermitz [email protected] 303-388-2560 Lois Donnay [email protected] 3142 1st Ave S. Minneapolis, MN 55408 www.mndance.com 612.822.8436
