03/06/2024
If you have been involved within the Argentine Tango community for any length of time, you will have become aware of workshops or videos demonstrating a series of moves called either Followers ‘decorations’, ’adornments’ or ‘embellishments’.
As a Beginner, I remember watching clips of these types of movements and thinking that this was an integral part of the role of the Follower and indeed it is, but not the way I thought!
I spent a lot of time practicing movements and becoming frustrated at my lack of ability. Then when I did feel that I could actually do the required movement, being completely puzzled at how I was supposed to put this movement into the dance itself!
To be quite honest, that’s the way most Followers still think of these types of movements, for want of a better word, we’ll call them ‘decorations’, although you will see by the end of this article what I really feel they are.
My position on decorations changed when Leo started to teach me. At the beginning, when I first danced with him, I would try to ‘decorate’ the dancing in the only way I knew how, thinking it was what was expected of me. This proved not to be the case and I was quickly made aware that I was putting in decorations in the wrong places, at times which weren’t appropriate for the music or for the movement.
At this point the real reason of decorations was explained to me and it went something like this. Decorations are in fact a ‘tool’, to enable the Follower or Leader with another movement. They are also an expression of musicality.
This is why I said at the beginning that ‘decoration’ is for me an inappropriate description as it designates these movements to be just frivolous accompaniments to the dance. Nothing could be further from the truth. I use decorations to help me achieve another movement.
A typical example:
The Leader leads a back ocho but the Follower can feel the speed and rotation is quite extreme. For me, it would be a good idea to put a decoration called ‘an enrosque’, into that point because the dynamic of the enrosque will help achieve the faster pivot or rotation to be with the Leaders movement. The decoration does not slow down the Leader, it will be musical and it will be helpful which is why I say that the word ‘decoration’ is a misconception and perhaps ‘tool’ would be the better description.
I think decorations are over emphasised in todays Tango. I see too many Followers putting in endless decorations which are not musical or necessary and it detracts from the dance. I also see an awful lot of inelegant decorations which make the Followers legs and body position look very ugly.
Of course these ‘tools’ can look very beautiful which is why they have been translated into words such as ‘decorations’ or ‘adornments’. However, I do believe that by viewing them with this light, the real purpose of the decoration has become lost. Therefore, it is important to rethink the mindset, because as the community will continue to call them decorations, their real purpose should not be forgotten.
So, to conclude, the decoration helps me with the precision, balance, synchronisation and musicality for the improvisation.
If you are interested in discovering the real purpose of these beautiful movements and finding out about the ways you can use them, then I frequently run Ladies Technique classes which covers these very points!
