GANGING  RUEDA  MOVES

                                              Prepared by Barb Bernstein; Danceintime.com

The Basic Concept

When I first learned to dance Casino Rueda, one thing that made it particularly exciting was ganging the moves.  This was done by calling the next move at the tail-end of the move in progress. We went right from one move into the next with no basic in between.  It made the dance look like a long sequence of movement so it flowed seamlessly when in fact the dance was a series of discrete steps, done back to back. A very simple example of this type of ganging is the step "Festival de Enchufla" or "Festival de Adios." (In these steps, you do three Enchuflas or Adioses in a row respectively, with no basic in between.)

But the concept of ganging can be taken to a higher level, by moving from one move into the next before the first one is done. You don't start the second move at the beginning generally, either. Here is how it works: the second move is called anywhere from 3 to 8 beats before you move into it (depending on many variables). After hearing the call for the second move, the leader must intuit where to leave the first move and at what point in the second move that one starts. Sometimes the point of entry into the second move is intuitively obvious and sometimes it is so non-intuitive that most people have to be taught how to make the transition.

Sometimes there is more than one possible point of entry into the second move. When that is the case, the principle of going to the earliest possible point in the move applies. This creates the longest sequence of movement possible from the ganging, so it's "aesthetically preferable."  It is fun in class, once students are solid on the moves, to do this sort of ganging.

Below are some examples of moves that can be ganged easily.

Beautiful Ganged Sequences of Beginner/Intermediate Level Moves

Kentucky -- Exhibe - Setenta

This sequence is like the beginning of Kentucky Complicado, but you don't finish that move. You basically move into the Exhibe 8 beats before the end of Kentucky. Sententa is called as the man rocks into the circle on his left foot.

Dedo - Enchfula Doble -- Exhibe

In this sequence, you call Enchufla Doble after the first 16 beats (i.e. 12 steps) of Dedo. Note the leader also needs to change which hand he is leading with to do the Enchufla Doble. In order to do the Exhibe at the end, you have to think of the Enchufla Doble as a move with no partner exchange. You want to think in terms of ending it much the way you end Adios con La Hermana or Pa Ti Pa Mi. So leads pull their partner in towards themselves, rather than moving on to the next partner. And once the follower has been pulled in towards the leader, they are in position to execute the Exhibe.

By the way, to make the move a little more interesting, you can always do Exhibe Con Gancho instead of a plain Exhibe. (Exhibe Con Gancho is an Exhibe with a hook and then guy and girl walk around doing 9 steps in 12 beats before they unhook and end with Enchufla etc.)
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Interested in reading about some more ganged sequences, as well as some that involve very advanced moves?  There are many more sequences and lots of additional information at this link:  http://danceintime.com/ganging.htm.