2009/04/21

Songs without endings

Quick post: the other night I went to a milonga where the dj for whatever reason played a noticeably large proportion of songs that don't end with the "chan-chan" but instead have that pause followed by the looooong drawn out exit. I pretty much hate dancing to those kinds of endings, never know what to do with them. I generally just stop when the rhythm does. So I was just wondering, if anybody cares to share, what do you leaders usually do? Do you dance through it? Or as a follower, do you mind if the leader stops before the song *technically* ends, or do you prefer when a leader actually does something with those held notes? Also, do you like, dislike, or have no opinion on these types of endings?

5 comments:

Mari said...

It's so ironic that you posted about this - it happened twice at the last milonga I went to.

My leader adapted by slowing down a step we had just learned in class (that I don't know the name of) - where I turned around him and then he caught my leg with his in sort of a wrap - just holding it there. I looked at him with a "huh?" expression I'm sure, and he whispered "wait" - so I did. I slowly lowered my leg down his as the music ended.

Then I giggled because I'd done something pretty.

Malevito said...

Hi Mari, how are you?

Ah, well doing something pretty is one thing. Even better, it probably felt really good, too.

Thanks for sharing!

ModernTanguera said...

I don't mind if we stop moving our feet, but I prefer to stay in the embrace until the music ends completely (and am always happy when we keep moving somehow, even just moving our torsos slightly). The way it is done depends on the partnership we have created thus far--I just don't like it when the embrace is dropped abruptly.

Malevito said...

Hi ModernTanguera, how are you?

This makes perfect sense. I admit I sometimes will ease off the embrace before the song fades completely but I understand how it would be nice to remain.

Okay, so then on the flip side, how do you feel if the leader keeps moving through the denouement as if the rhythm never stopped? For example, many of the songs with these endings are in vals time, so if the leader keeps dancing in vals time even after it's no longer present in the song...

Thanks for the comment!

tangocherie said...

I hate it when the leader drops his embrace and just "gives up" when the end of the song is a long drawn out couple of notes. He needs to think of something to do with those moments and not to abruptly just leave the lady hanging.

In fact, Ruben and I give a class on this topic. What works perfectly here is "armonization." The embrace is kept until the very end, and the man simply "plays the lady" like the violin or voice in the song--moving her slightly, moving around her, slight twisting, but keeping her close to his heart until the last note.

BTW, Mari, if you were to end a tango here in BsAs in that way, with your leg wrapped around the guy, he will invite you to coffee for sure! (This movement conveys another message beside dance in BsAs.)