Limerick Tango

My last post on boleos acquired some attention (here, here, here and here). So I thought, rather than just make sweeping statements, I’d share some of the tips and techniques that led me to that conclusion.

The boleo is a whip-like action. Please note the use of the term ‘whip-like’ and not whipping.

In which case go fetch your bull whips.

You don’t have one so we will resort to flicking towels like you used to do to your siblings when you were younger instead.

Practice flicking your towel. Flicking it into free space will do, there is no need to call round to your siblings home and chase them round the bedroom like you used to. Concentrate on getting a good cracking sound with your towel.

You will note that a good whipping action is achieved not when all of the towel has been played forward and then pulled back but when the middle or the ‘belly’ of the towel has reached its furthest extent. To achieve the cracking sound you are using the forward going momentum of the trailing tip which flips forward as you pull back. Any hesitation between throwing forward and pulling back and that stored momentum will dissapate.

Now to putting that into physical practice. Partner yourself with the back of a chair. Stand with your weight on your left foot and your right leg free and easy. Pivot on your left foot clockwise shy of 90° and then counter-clockwise by turning first from the chest and allowing that movement to wind down through the hips and into the feet and the legs. Do that motion freely and easily for a while letting your right leg hang rag-doll like. Now as you turn out and you feel the back of your right knee reach its furthest extent turn back against the movement. If your leg is free and easy the lower half should flick up whip-like as you counter rotate.

My other tip for boloes is practicing a particular leg wrap. He leads a side step to the open side. As he does he places his right foot between hers effectively preventing her from collecting her feet together. He then impels her torso, and with it her free leg, backwards before bringing it in towards him casuing her to wrap her free leg around his. I have always found that the practice of this movement is approached with a certain timmidity that when insinuated into the free leg captures exactly the ease of movement required for quality boleos.