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Raquel Makow and Maxi Copello at Lake Merritt Dance Center 9/15/2019



Raquel Makow and Maxi Copello were at the Lake Merritt Dance Center. The first class was a walking class and the second class was basic sacadas. The performances were electric!

Both classes were well attended.  The walking class used their usual format of a basic walking technique followed by pairs exercises where followers sat in one of two chairs and walked with the next leader in line.  Two things I noticed in the walking class:

Raquel is what I call a "hybrid" heel/toe walker.  I first saw this style of walking with Oscar and Georgina.  The dancer brushes the floor with their big toe at all times but...at the very last instant in a forward step the dancer flicks the foot up and lands heel first.  It's a tricky style of walking but I've switched to this style in walking practice for about a year now.  It does make for a very elegant style of walking if the dancer is also collecting their knees and not just their feet.

In the backwards walking class an amague was added as an embellishment.  (a quick crossing of the ankles before continuing to step back).  Leaders were told to keep their heels close to the floor at all times.  But followers were told to keep their foot pointed down during the ankle cross.  It's an elegant look but it's practical too.  It makes it a lot harder for the follower to cut the top of her standing foot with the stiletto heel of her free foot when she uncrosses her ankles!  (I have seen that.)

SIGNALING OPEN OR CLOSE EMBRACE AT FIRST EMBRACE:

In response to a question Raquel and Maxi demonstrated how followers and leaders signal their partners at first embrace if they want to dance open or close.  With followers it's the thumb of the left hand.   If the follower grips the leader's biceps with her thumb and fingers in a circle around the muscle and stiffens her entire left arm she can easily push off the leader and keep him from getting close.  But if he just lays her hand on his arm with all her fingers together including the thumb then her left hand is free to slide up and down the leader's arm into close embrace if the leader wants or stay in open embrace.

For leaders, open or close embrace is signaled by the leader's left hand.  If he stiffens the left arm and pushes with the base of the hand it's a clear signal to the follower that he wants to dance open embrace.  If the follower doesn't have a "noodle" arm that is totally soft then she'll get the signal.

SIGNALING TRANSITIONS BETWEEN OPEN AND CLOSE EMBRACE:

For dancers like Raquel and Maxi who use a flexible embrace (switching between open and close) the signaling is primarily with the leaders left hand.  If he pushes against her hand with his left and adjusts his right hand to the other side of her rib cage it is a clear signal he is transitioning from close to open embrace.  At the end of the pattern when he wants to switch back to close embrace he draws the follower in with his left hand and slides his right hand back around her rib cage.











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