In the article about “Pling” moments, I described how to pick out significant parts of a piece of music to add some musical accents.
Here’s an example of what the “Pling” moment can look like in a slightly longer “Popcorn” moment.
I call it a “Popcorn” moment because our tango teacher friend and musician Steve Morrall, from whom I borrowed it, masterfully manages to create a sound with his mouth and fingers for each of the eight notes in question, reminiscent of popcorn popping.
Curious what this is all about? Well, let me start with the explanation.
The tango where you can hear and dance this “Pling – Popcorn” moment is Loca (The Crazy One) by Manuel Jovés (played here by Juan D’Arienzo).
I don’t think this tango is musically nearly as crazy as the title suggests.
There are, however, four moments that are perfect for a little dancing fireworks display.
Each of these moments consists of eight fast notes that can be easily danced with quick, crisp steps. After that, I think it continues at a relatively leisurely pace (for a D’Arienzo tango) until the next fast moment comes.
In the video, you’ll find these moments at 0.12, 0.29, 1.43, and 1.58.
If you dance these popcorn moments with short, crisp steps, simply forward, forward, forward… and so on, you’re already showing that you know a little about the music and are able to play with it.
Alternatively, you can also perform these quick steps by dancing zigzag steps, changing your weight with each step (for participants in our Sewing Machine Milonga Step classes).
Here, too, once you’ve heard “Loca” a few times, it’s not difficult to recognize and dance these moments.
This article might also be helpful for you.
Dance the “Pling” Moment.
