Tango Dancing FAQ

Dancing - what is tango?

One possible definition is "Tango is an improvised dance based on mutual communication such that two people move as one." But, of course, everyone who dances has their own image of Tango.

Leader Hang-ups

Typical leader insecurities are fall into one of these two categories:

• All the other leaders here are much better than me and I'll look a fool.
• The followers are really good and they'll get bored dancing with me 'cos I don't have any fancy steps.

Firstly, don't worry about what other leaders might think. You're not going to be dancing with them. However good they look, they've probably got just as many insecurities as you have. Anyone who doesn't think their dancing could improve is never going to be a good dancer. As for the good followers, they're not looking for fancy moves. If you ask a good follower her opinion of dancing with a particular leader they'll say things like (on the good side):

• It was smooth and flowing.
• His lead was really clear.
• It was fun!
• He was very grounded. (meaning balanced solid-feeling, not wobbling around).
• He had great presence. (Very hard to define, but try and get some...).

And on the bad side:

• He had me in a Vulcan death grip.
• He danced me into other dancers/the furniture/the orchestra pit/the car park.
• He dragged me around.
• I didn't know what he wanted me to do... (unclear lead).
• ...and then he started telling me what he was leading. (never do this!!)

Being boring comes pretty low on the list. Be gentle and considerate of your partner and clear in your lead and she'll enjoy it.

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Follower Hang-ups

Typical follower insecurities are:

• I don't know these fancy moves everyone's doing. I won't be able to follow these leaders.
• (while dancing) I don't know what he wants me to do next!

As a follower, it's not your responsibility to 'know the moves'. In fact, the more 'moves' you know the more likely you are to anticipate your leader's next step. He won't like that (see below). And if you don't know what your leader wants you to do, just wait until he makes it clear: that's his job, make him do it. Typical leaders' comments on dancing with a particular follower might be:

• She had wonderful balance.
• She kept a really straight axis. (She kept nice and staight and balanced during turns)
• She was really sensitive to my lead. She responded actively.
• She waited for my lead and didn't anticipate.

And on the bad side:

• She kept on doing her own thing and I just had to wait til she'd finished.
• She had me in a Vulcan death grip. I've lost the use of one of my arms now.
• She changed her weight unexpectedly. I was tripping over her feet.
• She didn't listen to my lead at all. It was like dancing with an airport baggage trolley.

And of course:

• Absolutely useless, but she was so gorgeous!! Did you see the dress she was wearing! If you can use the word 'wearing'. It was practically sprayed on! I mean, is it legal to dress like that? And her legs; they just never seemed to end. etc, etc... (Remember: most leaders are men...)

Not knowing the moves is irrelevant with a good leader. Listen for the lead and respond quickly when you are sure what it is. Keep your own balance and don't make him support you. Don't put in stuff you think he probably meant. Or alternatively, dress to kill.

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The Tango Environment

A tango milonga is a public, social environment and, as in pubs and clubs, you're going to meet fun people, interesting people, and a few weirdos. As ever, the trick is get with the fun and interesting people, while ditching the losers. Tango has its own rules of engagement to help you do this.

Asking people to dance

Anyone can invite any else to dance. The only question you have to ask yourself is: 'Do I feel lucky?'. It may be only 20 feet round the edge of the dance floor to your intended partner, but it can be 2 miles back in the rain after a refusal. Can you handle the possible rejection? To avoid an ignominious retreat, ask a fellow leader/follower who is familiar with the scene who is likely to accept and who isn't. But if you leave it too late in the evening, people are often too tired to dance with someone new.

How long do I have to dance with this person?

Having secured a partner, hopefully they'll be wonderful. But you may discover them to be not on your wavelength. A three song stretch is considered polite before making one's excuses. Some popular excuses are:

• I don't like the music (not bad),
• I'm tired (obviously not at the beginning of the evening),
• My friend's just leaving. I need to say goodbye (Hmm...)
• I need to go to the toilet (Oh, please...),

Best of all is:

• My feet are tired!

This debilitating tango medical condition seems to affect mainly women. It's particularly convenient as, unlike a broken leg or a brain haemorrage, you can recover in a few minutes and pick a different partner. And of course, it could be the truth.

Uncomfortable Dances

Dancing tango should never be uncomfortable or painful. Dancing even a few dances in an uncomfortable or distorted position could spoil the rest of the milonga for you, so resist leaners, clingers and the Vulcan death grip gently but firmly. Of course, if you're a persistant offender, you could get a reputation for it (See follower and leaders hang-ups).

Close embrace

Close embrace means sharing your personal space with someone. Before dancing close with a new partner, it's best to dance open for a few dances to tune into each other. Then offer a closer embrace. It's up to the partner to accept it. If you want to dance close, make sure you're in a fit state to get that close to someone who you don't know that well and may not be too forgiving. How can I put this? If you don't smell good, the stranger you're dancing with is likely to stay that way, and your usual partners may not be too keen either.

Technique and Posture

We've seen many talented dancers from different countries and/or "schools" of tango dancing, all of whom danced beautifully, but none of whom danced alike. I suppose this is because, as technique becomes better, individual character shows through more and more. There is no definitive style of walking or holding oneself, and to attach oneself to a particular "style" and condemn all others stifles improvement. Perhaps, for us tango-mortals, it's better to remember that there are many ways to dance badly. If you can learn to root out bad habits of technique and posture, you'll be much freer to dance as you want to. Here are few points to think about.

Balance and posture

Improving posture and balance can have an almost magical effect. Suddenly things which didn't work are easy and new moves and steps just appear. We generally suggest, in the beginning, that you use their natural relaxed posture and walking movement for dancing tango (with the emphasis on relaxed ). You can hone your posture as your dancing improves. In fact, improving your posture is the major component of improvement. The classic tango posture is "vertical and slightly forwards". One way to describe this posture is to imagine a dancer sideways on. The shoulders and the centres of the hips and the knees should form a straight, vertical line, passing into the ground about a third of the way from the front of the foot. Obviously, to maintain this posture continually while dancing, it's going to require some kind of elaborate flexible scaffolding on wheels. What you need is to learn how this posture feels and keep it mind as you dance. When things don't work on the dance floor, correct your posture until it feels right again and hopefully the problem will go away.

Toe or heel?

"Should my foot land toe first or heel first?" There's no rule here, really. If you watch good dancers, you'll notice they do both within any one dance. It's probably best not to worry about this and deal with other problems first.

Relax!

Just as your hold on your partner should be relaxed and comfortable, so should the way you hold your own body. Getting rid of the tension in our bodies sounds so simple, but it can take a lot of work to first become aware of it and then smooth it away. I notice my right shoulder is tense as I write this. Why? I blame my parents, of course. We need to keep only enough muscular tension in our bodies to maintain our balance and posture as we move. (Anything less than that and we'd probably look drunk.) Tension in various bits of us can cause a range of problems:

• When we dance, we lead and follow with as much of our body as possible, so if our body is tense we can't communicate with each other and our communication is weakened.
• If our backs are tense, they aren't held straight and won't allow us to twist properly, so our axes will not be straight and we won't be able to giro nicely.
• If our legs are tense, we won't be able to walk smoothly and with presence.

If you're not relaxed or your posture or balance is off, your partner can normally feel it. If you have a regular practice partner, ask them to tell you if they feel any tension in you. Good feedback is the quickest way to improve. Of course, if you keep saying, "Are my shoulders hunched? Is my back straight? Am I walking funny?", etc, they'll think you're a paranoid lunatic, so take it easy.

Don't waste time trying to dance like Eric or Pablo Verron. That's Eric's and Pablo Verron's job. Yours is to dance like you.

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More tango enjoyment by dancing better

In the culture of tango there seems to be a ethos of "improving yourself" and "I want to dance better". Some tango people do go to some extremes with this and become class/workshop fanatics, but if they enjoy it why not? Quite often people seem to find that if they are not enjoying tango/life so much anymore then improving an.shtmlect of their tango dancing can bring the enjoyment back and all the benefits of increased self-esteem as well. Do not be afraid of taking a break from tango if you need to, this is a very fine thing to do if it is right for you.

A thought: to practice dancing the man's part in the dance a partner is required for most things to see if the lead is working as this is the main responsibility of the man's part in the dance. To practice the woman's part sometimes a partner is necessary to practice the following.shtmlect of the woman's part, but there are many other important things in the woman's role in tango such as elegance, posture and musical expression. Most of the better women tango dancers seem to have done some contemporary dance, ballet and other body control things.... physical things that compliment tango dancing.

A nice quote: " I was suddenly reminded of a sentence I'd read elsewhere that illustrates the interaction of musical expression between dance partners in last night's class.
"The man indicates, the lady leads, and the man follows".
Women are not pieces of wood. We feel and are moved by the music, and express it with our body movements. How beautifully a dance is thus formed... "