Hi Trini; I have a couple of thoughts. To the first question: The lead comes in stage left and the follow stage right. They don't embrace till the music starts, and the Follow is primarily to the audience side. The performance piece is usually more linear because of the shape of the stage, give space between the audience and performers and the performers do not give recognition to the audience. If the performers are not used to improve, simply walking a lot with a few choreographed moves work good, that are marked out at particular intervals. Also what is really good is if the performers bring in some aspect of them selves, a theme they are interested in or already know about. Unless some one is really good at faking, it does not go very far. I am also a fan of doing some thing that most of the audience could say to them selves "Hey I could do that, but I would do it this way".
For the second question: Unless the audience is about 5-6 rows back every one in the audience will see at least some part of the performance. Giving space between the audience and performers helps. If your going to include some kind of high foot and leg work (I think less is more) so do that type of move a few times and in different spots on the stage. As a side thought: Don’t take the performance personally, expect accolades or that every single person will like a piece. Is something happens like getting out of sync or a trip, do not apologize to the audience and keep going. It was part of the experience the performers had (deal with it) and it was part of the performance for the audience. Do it because it is fun and show off some. Seduction works best when it becomes a question and when it is an accent. Hope that helps. David -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Trini y Sean (PATangoS) Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 12:35 PM To: Tango-L Subject: [Tango-L] demo advice needed Hola everyone! If you’re an anti-performance person, please hit your delete key. So I'm wondering if folks might have some tips regarding demos or performances. Our community has gotten a bunch of demo requests lately, particularly among the college students for their universities or college talent shows. There are a couple of things that pop up for which we're looking for advice. 1. Any tips for handling a demo when the audience is on only 1 side of you, such as on a stage, so that the visually interesting stuff is presented to the audience instead of the back wall? The obvious answer is to practice, but I'm wondering if there are any tricks to help with positioning since folks don’t always know in advance where the audience is and practice time can be limited. 2. In cases where the audience is sitting down and the demo occurs at floor level, it seems that the only ones who get to see the demo is the front row. Those in the back would miss the footwork. So the only solution to keep them involved is to either open the embrace or do higher leg work. Any other ideas? Thanks, Trini de Pittsburgh PATangoS - Pittsburgh Argentine Tango Society Our Mission: To make Argentine Tango Pittsburgh’s most popular social dance! http://patangos.home.comcast.net/ ____________________________________________________________________________ ________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.21/1266 - Release Date: 2/8/2008 10:06 AM No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.21/1266 - Release Date: 2/8/2008 10:06 AM
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