Note To Followers

Ladies:

Have you ever found yourself dancing with a man who, in his infinite wisdom, decides to make you the recipient of his vast tango experience, as he uses the tanda as an opportunity to instruct you?

Of course you have. All followers have.

So there is something you need to know: Attempting to instruct during a milonga is rude, and you should not have to put up with it.

And even if you do not mind, you should never encourage it. Because it is rude.

 So how do we handle it? Well, you have a choice, depending on your level of tolerance, how much you like the leader, and whether or not you ever want to dance with him again.

 1: If you like him and would like to dance with him again: "Can we just dance? I am really enjoying this tanda."

 2: If you don't care if you never dance with him again, but you are not feeling particularly intolerant: Wait until the song ends, say "Thank you" and end the dance. Then don't dance with him again.

 3: If you don't care if you never dance with him again, AND he has really irritated you: Stop dancing in the middle of the song and walk off, leaving him standing there looking like a fool. The advantage to this is that he will never ask you to dance again,

 The last is the nuclear option. You should probably opt for either 1 or 2, unless he is a supreme jerk. And most leaders who do this are not supreme jerks, just well-meaning guys who should know better.

  What you should NOT do is nothing. If you allow him to teach you on the dance floor in the middle of a milonga, you are BOTH complicit in an act of rudeness. Turning the milonga into a private lesson, even from the best of motives, bothers the couples around you, and disturbs the flow of the ronda.

 And having said that, ladies, never NEVER ask for instruction during a milonga. It puts the leader in the awkward spot of having to refuse. If you need that kind of instruction, go to a practica.

Thought For the Day

Teaching beginners to start their Tango with a back step is like teaching a toddler to mouth obscenities.

They do not understand it.

It is socially unacceptable.

It is likely to have negative consequences when they come out with it at inappropriate times.

Tango: Drama or Emotion?

Those of us who have danced Tango for years love the way the shared improvisation to the music allows us to express emotion through the music and the dance. In the best Tangos, the brain is taken out of the equation. Our Tango takes on an almost Zen quality, in which the music, our partner, and all the other dancers in the ronda all come together to express the emotions of the dance.

The problem is that, in Tango as in life, we all too often mistake DRAMA for EMOTION.

When we dance with DRAMA, the focus is on the performance, not on the music, or the connection. And the result often kills the EMOTION.

The DRAMATIC dancers dance figure after figure - ganchos, boleos, sacadas, volcadas - and their dance becomes all about the figures. Women do embellishment after decoration after adornment, giving the impression that they are too restless to actually hear the music. Dancers race around the floor using big, dramatic steps, ignoring the subtle rhythms and emotions that are so much a part of traditional Tangos, and breaking the emotional rapport of all the other couples in the ronda.

We dance to nuevo and alternative Tangos in which the DRAMA slaps you in the face, and scorn the golden age Tangos with their complex, genuine emotions.

And in the process, we lose the true meaning of Tango.

That is not to say there is never a place for DRAMA in Tango. Some tangos call forth dramatic emotions.

But a Tango danced only in the primary colors of DRAMA is an adolescent Tango, not without merit, but lacking depth. The mature Tango dances all the colors of emotion; not just the bright red, yellow and blue, but the mauve, violet,and sage, and even the broken colors, as the music moves us.

Our Tango should be an intimate conversation. We should not shout our emotions to the whole room. When we dance the drama of the music, it should be quiet, considerate drama, without disturbing all the other intimate conversations going on.

Dancing Tango at the salon is a little like singing in a choir. Each part contributes to the beauty of the music, with no one voice overwhelming the rest. And the end result is a harmonious whole.

Some Myths About the Tango Walk

I remember going to a workshop some years ago and being told, "In Argentina they used to make you walk for 6 months before they let you do anything else."

Right.

And when I was a child I had to walk 6 miles to school in the snow.

Uphill.

Both ways.

I have danced Tango for 30 years, all over the world, with dancers who started dancing Tango as long ago as the 1940's. Not one of them ever spent 6 months "just walking" - if by "just walking" you mean pacing around the floor by yourself, in eternal search of "the perfect walk".
But Tango is a walking dance. So let's explore some of the myths of "The Tango Walk".

Myth One: "There is one Ideal Tango Walk. And we all aspire to it"

There are many different ways to walk in Tango, and none of them are the "One True Way". Here is a suggestion: google "great Argentine Tango". Watch how the couples dance. You will notice that the walking styles look very different. They use their feet and knees differently. Some walk heel-toe, while others appear to walk toe-heel. Some lean forward, or stick their chests out. Some stand straight over their feet.  Chances are you will like some more than others. That's OK. Tango leaves lots of room for personal style.

The best dancers have many different tango walks. A good dancer will modify his or her walk to fit each new partner, to fit the music, to suit the quality of the dance floor or the quality of the other dancers on the dance floor. You do not dance the same on a concrete surface as on a smooth wooden floor. You dance differently on a crowded floor than on an open floor. Even the shoes you wear can slightly change your walk.

Myth Two: "You can learn the Tango walk by yourself"

You can practice such things as finding your axis and balance, transferring your weight, forward and backward swivels, and so on by yourself. But it truly takes two to Tango, and you cannot really learn the so-called Tango Walk without doing it with a partner. Balance changes when you have to take into account the balance of your partner. Swivels feel different when done with a partner. The axis of a partnership is not exactly the same as your individual axis. Your walk does not really become a Tango  Walk until you can do it with a partner.

Myth Three: "You need to learn how to walk before you learn anything else"

OK, there is some truth here. But not the way we often think of it. Walking in Tango involves far more than just mechanically schlepping around the floor putting one foot in front of  (or behind) the other. Tango is all  about walking. Everything we do in Tango involves walking. We learn to walk to the heartbeat of the music. We learn to speed it up or slow it down. We learn to change directions. We learn to incorporate rock steps,swivels, and turns. But this is ALL walking. Everything we do in tango involves learning to walk, improving our walk, finding different ways to walk. In Tango we never stop learning to walk.

 Myth Four: "All a leader (or follower) needs to be an enjoyable partner is a good walk"

Again, yes and no. Certainly without a balanced, comfortable walk you will never be a truly enjoyable partner. But if all you know how to do is put one foot in front of the other you will NOT be an enjoyable partner, no matter how elegantly you do it.

You need a whole lot more to be a good tango dancer - things you should be learning from the very beginning. You need to be able to dance to the music, which involves listening to and understanding the music, and interpreting it with rhythm changes and pauses. You need to be able to maneuver in traffic, which involves learning how to dance in place. A"good walk" must include all these things. As a leader, you must not only be able to do these things; you must be able to lead them. And as a folllower, you need to be able to do all these things as your leader leads them.

 What you don't need is a whole lot of fancy, impressive figures. Those can be learned later, if you like. But most, while fun, are unnecessary, and indeed, are impossible to execute safely on a crowded dance floor.

A good Tango Walk is balanced, relaxed, comfortable to the partner, and done to the music. Everything else is personal style. Yes, a good walk is important. But it is less important for how it looks, than for how it nurtures the partnership connection. Because that connection is the one truly indispensable aspect of Argentine Tango.

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Jumping Into The Debate About the Dreaded 8-Count Basic

The so-called 8 count basic, where the leader starts with a back step, then a side step, a lead to the cross, followed by a forward-side resolution, is taught by many tango teachers to total beginners. I have heard lots of explanations as to why they do this - it gets beginners dancing,  it has all the basic movements of the dance, and so on.

I never teach the 8 count basic. Here is why.

1: It is NOT the basic Argentine Tango step. The basic Argentine Tango step is the walk.

2: Good dancers NEVER use it. Why would you teach something that you, personally, would never use?

3: It includes movements that are socially unacceptable. Starting your tango with a leader's back step is like merging onto a highway and immediately putting your car into reverse. In some places this will result in an immediate request to leave the dance floor.

4: Tango is an improvisational dance. An 8 count choreography is the antithesis of improvisation.

5: It doesn't work. A milonga has a unique ebb and flow of movement among the dancers on the floor. The 8 count basic never fits within that ebb and flow.

6: Once a beginner has learned the pattern it takes a long time to get them to let go of it. Why not just avoid the whole problem and not teach it in the first place?

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Tango Culture vs Tango Cult

 One of the things I love about Tango how it is infused with the culture that produced it. But in some Tango groups, appreciation of culture has crossed into slavish devotion to a cult.

 What do I mean by "a cult"? Well, in a cult there is a series of authoritarian rules. And members of the cult derive much of their identity from  unquestioningly following the rules of the cult.  Cult members dress alike, talk alike, act alike. Those who do not adhere strictly to these rules are excluded from the cult.

So when does Tango culture cross over into Tango Cult?  Here are a few examples.

 I have 3 pairs of Tango shoes. One very flashy "brand name" with 3-inch heels, and 2 much simpler, lower-heeled generic pairs. And I occasionally dance in low-heeled Ballroom shoes. Or jazz sneakers. Or moccasins. They all work. But there are communities where, if I do not wear my one pair of Comme Il Fauts, I get asked to dance less, and people assume I am a beginner. That is the sign of a Tango cult.

 I know the Spanish names for all the Tango figures. But I am just as likely to use the English names. English is my native language, after all, and I live in an English-speaking country. But in some communities people will correct me if I use English terms, even though they know exactly what I mean. That is the sign of a Tango cult.

 Tango Culture includes the unspoken invitation to dance - mirada and cabeseo. Tango Cult will not accept a polite verbal request for a dance.

 Tango culture recognizes that there are many ways to dance Tango. Tango Cult says there is only one true way to dance Tango - usually the style of the local Tango guru. Cults have gurus.

 Sharing Tango Culture should be an act of inclusion, not an initiation into an exclusionary club. Cults are exclusionary. I want my Tango community to be warmly inviting.

Not a cult.

You Don't Learn To Dance in Class

I had just finished teaching a drop-in beginner class to a group of 14 students. The music for the milonga was playing, and  one couple from the class started to change their shoes. I encouraged them to stay a bit and dance. One of them replied "We want to get good first".

This reflects a major fallacy among a lot of tango students - that they can learn to dance in a class.

You cannot learn to dance in a class. Classes give you tools for dancing - tools that you can then use to learn to actually dance. But classes do not teach you to dance. Neither, in spite of what many dance teachers tell you, do private lessons.

You learn to dance by getting out on the dance floor and putting to use all those tools and concepts you have been learning in classes and private lessons. Until you do that, you have not begun to learn to dance.

This is even more true for Tango than for most partner dances, given the improvisational nature of the dance. Almost anyone can learn choreography in a class. But improvisation can only be learned on the dance floor.

Beginners who start dancing socially from day one become good dancers much more quickly than those who wait. Don't be afraid of developing bad habits. Bad habits can be corrected.  And don't be afraid of what other people think. The ones who matter will respect your determination to learn.

So get out on the floor and dance - it really is the only way to learn.

A brief note to experienced members of a tango community. Encourage your beginners! A tango community that does not grow eventually dies.

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