Category: Technique

We would like to believe that we are perfect that everything that we do functions to what we believe is ‘right’ or ‘good’ or to our ideals of these things. They don’t have to be perfect, but things have to work. The problem with this line of reasoning is that a good portion of the time, this is essentially operating in a vacuum without external input, or external query, or oversight. This way of operating (anything really) can be desirable and it can also be less than desirable. A good portion of the time it’s less than desirable, but you don’t know that because you live in a bubble of information that is self deluding and self created. Think election 2016 and you’ll sort of get the idea of where this is going. 

Related to Tango ? Yes. This is entirely related to Tango. Without clear, clean, and honest feedback from the people that we dance with we can never change what we’re doing, or even know that change is required. And that’s the kicker right there, for a lot of you reading this and watching the video above, change is required, the problem is that you don’t know it. And furthermore, rightfully so, you’re afraid to ask for feedback because it means change, which means work You’re fearful of the work involved, that it will be hard, difficult, work. Further still that work will, or so you believe, uncover your ignorance around X, Y, and Z. And no one, absolutely no one wants to look like they’re ignorant of the facts. And when you really get down to it, you just don’t want to do that kind of work for something that is supposed to be ‘fun’. Right ? But here’s the kicker, you absolutely need to do that work. And you absolutely need to start from a place of ignorance. Why ? Think of it as if you were going to do your taxes for the year. And you forget a few things that are the difference between paying no taxes (cool) and paying hundreds of dollars/euros/rubles/etc in taxes. And all because you left out a few very important details. It’s the details that matter. Get those details right, and you pay no taxes. Get them wrong, or don’t supply them, and there goes your tango budget for the year! How is this related to Tango ? The details matter in Tango, everywhere, everywhere.

Qualified Feedback. The fact is that good portion of people are 1.) not comfortable giving feedback. 2.) don’t feel qualified (because they’re not a teacher) to give feedback. and/or 3.) that they could be of any help to you because they don’t want to feel responsible or give you false information. At the same time we want to give qualified feedback, and receive qualified feedback, from a qualified source or a source of information that has a track record of teaching. The fact is that most people do have qualified feedback, they just don’t know how to put into a form that is useful to anyone. At the same time, we also have to give feedback that is useful and helpful to someone else. The fact is most people can’t do this, they feel overwhelmed as to what to say to someone without hurting their feelings, while at the same time providing useful information that could help someone.

So here’s how to give constructive feedback. Use “I” statements. Example ? “I feel pressure from your right arm and shoulder” or “I see that you’re watching my feet” or “I know that we’re not on the beat”. And so on. However those statements don’t go far enough, you must be specific in exactly what isn’t working in your opinion. Note the very last words there -“in your opinion”. Understand that you are not the sole of all wisdom and as such you have an opinion about how things operate, so you must state things as such. Saying anything more than that, unless you teach professionally, makes you seem arrogant and out of touch with reality. Further you must keep whatever feedback you do offer limited to you and what you are experiencing and not extend that to what your teachers have said, or what others have said. Example: “I am feeling pressure from your right arm and shoulder, and it’s causing me pain to have to resist you like that”. And not,“My teacher said that you have to resist me” or “Chicho said…” Got it? What this boils down to is that we want the feedback to be authentic and real. 

Where to give Feedback ? There is really only one appropriate place to give someone feedback, and that is at a practica (as defined in the video above). Never while dancing with someone, even if they ask for it and make it ‘ok’ for you to do so. Never while on a social dance floor at a Milonga. Ever. Again, not even if they ask for it.

When to give Feedback ? When someone has specifically asked for it, and/or when you have cleared with them first if they would like to hear some feedback about their dance. But only under those conditions. Any other time, it is not appropriate to do so.

Asking For Feedback ? There’s a desirable way to ask for feedback and dare I say it, an effective one. And there is an ineffective method of doing so. Lots of them actually. By example a very desirable method would be to say directly to someone at a practica, “I would love some feedback about my embrace from you, if you feel comfortable giving it ?”. Notice that it was specific and not nebulous. The questioner asked specifically what they wanted feedback on and didn’t just leave it at “Feedback”. Also notice that the questioner gave them the opportunity to not participate at all, “if you feel comfortable giving it”. This part is absolutely critical to getting direct feedback and making someone feel ok with giving you feedback.

Asking To Give Feedback ? It’s important to recognize even though you may have tons of information to hand someone about their dance, that they quite honestly don’t want to know about it, especially from the likes of you! So how do figure out if someone wants feedback ? Ask them. “Would you like some feedback about your embrace ?” or their walk, or their ochos. And so on. If they don’t want any, and no coaxing either, then you must, absolutely must let it go. 

What To Feedback ? This one is difficult but there are generally four areas that we want to talk about when giving feedback, and really 5 if we’re being detailed. And of course we’re being detailed.

1.) The Embrace (yours and theirs)

2.) Posture (yours and theirs)

3.) Compression, Pressure, Force, Rigidity, and Resistance.

4.) Walking – The stability and equilibrium of the walk.

and 5.) Applied Disassociation. (Pivots! Oy!)

Most times your feedback will be limited to item #1, the Embrace. Relating that something isn’t working. But really the rest of it comes into play when you start to think about it. And again, we’re using “I” statements to reference this stuff. “I am feeling a lot of _____________ (pressure, tension, force, lightness, softness) from your right arm along my back. It feels _________ (nice, not nice, painful, hurtful, etc).” The more detailed you are with this stuff the more helpful it is.

Too Much Feedback ? Yes. You can in fact overwhelm people with too much feedback and this happens a lot especially with beginner teachers, they suffer from this problem as well. So here’s a good rule of thumb. No more than 3 things to feedback in one dance. And really just the one. So you can mention the 3 things that are going on. But focus on just the most prominent one and stay with it until they get what you’re on about.

The Last Word. The fact is that just because you gave someone feedback, does not mean that they’re going to change magically. Recognize and understand that people like what they’re doing. They don’t see anything wrong with it, or right with it for that matter. A good portion of the time what they’re doing is unconscious behavior and because it is that, you may have to remind them every few steps that they’re doing X, Y, and Z. Which is to say that most people will revert to what’s comfortable for them and instead of doing what’s right for the dance, they’ll revert to what’s comfortable for them to do. And more frequently than you would imagine. Like as in, every 2 or 3 steps! So reminders are kinda helpful here, and lots of them. At the same time, you have to remember something, that too many reminders and you’ll drive someone crazy. So it’s important to let a few go by and then remind someone, let 10 more screw ups go by and then gently remind them and so on. Oh and by the way, if you like this website, and the resulting videos, and want to actually, oh I don’t know…become a better dancer ? you might want to hit that annoying button in between the paragraphs…just saying. 😉

“Resistance, give me resistance! I can’t feel you!“. Followers hear this so often that it begs the question if Leads learn this as part of their technique classes on “How to be annoying in 10 seconds or less!” or “10 things to say to your Follower that will piss them off!”. Piss them off ? Yup. Why ? From a Leading perspective you’re screaming to your Followers that you need to control them, and that’s all you know and or can hear. From a Following perspective, it screams…”I am unstable” and “I need to hang on you!”. Tango is all about nuance, and that means asking your dance partners to move in a way that does not use ‘force’ on any level. While you think or believe that you would never, ever, force your dancing partners to do X, the fact is that you do it constantly with every partner. Until you are properly trained to hear this aspect of dancing, you will continue to do it. Today’s Tango Topic deals with the first step in this process of changing how we dance for the better. This topic is only a stepping stone. While the article and video, and really this website are those first stepping stones, the reality is that this is all about learning the kinesthetics of the situation, and that means studying with an Intention Based Teacher. But first we have to define, Intention Based Dancing.

What is Intention Based Dancing? In its simplest form ‘Intention’ is really about not using pressure, tension, or force, with one’s arms, or hands in any way, shape, or form to communicate an idea, a thought, or a movement. But rather the idea of ‘Intention’ is to intend to do something. To propose, to invite, to advice, to guide, to profer…these are all statements that we, as dancers, are asking our Partners to engage X. Where X can be, but is not limited to, a specific piece of tango vocabulary (Ocho, Cross, Molinete), a timing change, an embrace change, etc. Typically Intention is action of the Lead to the Follower, however the Follower can and should reciprocate this idea and practice as often as possible. We propose to our partners that we would like X to happen. That proposal is generally an extremely light physiological, and tactile contact, where the contact is not pressured at all. But rather the direction that we are going in is the intention of what X can be. This is the foundation of Intention Based Dancing. Because, as a rule, we use this technique throughout the entire lifecycle of a dance with our partners. 

From a Following perspective: Truth be told, you have been told so often, in nearly every class or workshop, by Female teachers (who rightfully should know better) and Male teachers that you must … ‘wait for your lead‘. As a result, that waiting turns into lag, or hesitation, in you. You get so used to ‘waiting’ and hesitation that you become reliant on that hesitation to do everything! That lag results in the Lead needing to push or force you to do X, Y, and Z which as a result turns into…resistance. In this instance, you want to move with the intent of what is being asked of you, quickly and decisively. As you feel the intent to move, GO! Don’t sit there and wait to be pushed to do something…GO! This is better known in the Tango Topics world as MYA (Move Your Ass). These statements can easily lead one to believe that we’re talking about an out of control Follower, or a willful Follower that is willy-nilly going wherever they feel the need to. That’s not the case. The intent in this case is very small, your goal is to read that ‘small’ part and then to interpret it as either forward, side, back, or incremental, and either linear or circular and then to go with it while at the same time following a basic principle: Staying ‘with‘ your Lead. 

From a Leading perspective: You believe erroneously that you must apply force, pressure, tension, and ask for resistance to get what you want out of your Followers. When the complete opposite is true. Yes, you can apply force to them to get them to do what you want. This methodology, however, says that you must control them. It also says to them that you don’t trust them and can’t rely on them to listen to what you’re leading, and then to execute it. Furthermore what it also says is that they will never, ever be able to hear the level of precision that you desire the most. Put simply if you don’t take the ‘guiding’ (ahem… and this is being kind when using that word…it’s more ‘steering’ and rough steering at that) platform of your arms and hands away from them, then they’ll never be able to control that stuff themselves because you’re too busy being heavy-handed. As a result they’ll never learn how to manage their own stability, and their own bodily control. Further still, you’ll never learn to lead someone with nuance instead of Force! And beyond that, you’ll never be able to tell when you have a Follower in your arms that responds to effortless dancing because you’re too busy over-functioning, over-managing, over-controlling them! Further still is that there is no way to separate what’s your’s and what’s theirs if you’re constantly forcing your dance partner to do X, Y, and Z. There’s only one game here, and that’s you telling, or dictating to the Follower what they should do. The whole point is to suggest, invite, engage…not tell! No one, absolutely no one likes to be told what to do. So if you don’t like it, what on god’s green earth makes you believe the Follower is going to enjoy it ? 

From a Dancing perspective: Most of this topic has dealt with resistance and it’s deleterious effects on the dancing couple. However, what would happen if you removed all that ‘stuff’ above ? What would happen if you were to engage stability as a Follower, where you didn’t need to be so heavy handed as a Lead ? What would happen if you were be responsible for your own walk, your own embrace, your own individual component of the dance ? What would happen ? Freedom is what happens! Options and opportunities happen! At first there is a lack of precision that occurs, and then later on the more that you practice this way of dancing the more precise control you have over the tiniest of things. For one thing there’s less sweat! This was of dancing is almost unreal! The dancing couple that is engaging in Intention Based Dancing is lighter, appears and acts effortless, there’s less stress on the couple as a whole, and more over far more precision in technique as well as musically. Over time what ends up happening to those people that dance from intention, both parties enjoy the experience and can then access the whole reason that they’re there for in the first place: Tango Nirvana. Now comes the kicker – a good portion of the better dancers use this ‘way’ of dancing. They don’t require the things described here because they know that something else is possible! Not all of them but a good portion of them employ this way of dancing.

Think of This: Applying resistance, tension, force, compression: Each time that you apply any of these things in any level of measure, it’s like a jarring transition from sleep! Do you like it when your alarm clock goes off first thing in the morning ? Probably not. Guess what ? You’re doing the same thing here with all that stuff to your dancing partners!

How do you change ? First do you want to change ? Put another way, do you want to wake your partners as if you were an alarm clock ? Probably not. Guess what ? You’re doing just that in a myriad of ways from your walk to your embrace to the choice of vocabulary. From a ‘THUD‘ to ‘Compression’ and everything in between. So if the answer to that question is a “I’d like to do that but it sounds like too much work and too much effort…” then thank you very much for reading, and have a lovely day!  Otherwise if the answer to that question is an emphatic “Yes Miles!!!” then there are a few solutions for you.

The Free Tip – Actual Change ? Sadly. This is not something that you can learn from a video. More specifically you can not learn the kinesthetics from a video. However, you can learn the vocabulary and how to move from a video. The kinesthetics is something that must be felt and then replicated over time with someone who can adjust how you feel in every aspect of your embrace and your walk at the same time. And this means from a Leading perspective as well as from a Following perspective. 😉 

Truth be told this isn’t just about the embrace for either party. That is a mistake that a good portion of dancers make. If you change just the embrace, that everything will be fine. No. It won’t. You must address both the walk and the embrace at the same time for issues of stability and clarity and cleanliness from every possible perspective. This change is also about the precise control that you have over that walk, without hanging, pulling or pushing on your partner! Failure to address both aspects and you’re just putting money into someone else’s pocket and wasting your time.

“Collection”, this is an odd word in the Tango world. It has come to mean that we, as dancers, want to bring our feet ‘together’ in some fashion. Some people refer to this idea or concept as “closing” your feet. Meaning to close the gap that naturally exists between them from a standing position where our legs are slightly apart to create more stability in our stance. ‘Collection’ is a refined version of this idea that exists 2 primary reasons. The first is very practical. And the second is purely visual. We’ll get to those in just a moment. There is another form of Collection that we want to start to be crystal clear about in today’s Tango world.

There’s a very clear reason why we need a clearer distinction of this word we use to define “Collection”. The reason has everything to do with the competition based Tango that is occurring with greater and greater frequency – The Mundials come to mind. As such there is greater attention to detail on precision-based Tango that is more focused on what things look like than their social function counterparts. Hence a bit of distinction that is required when talking about ‘Collection’ or more importantly ‘Social Collection’.

The Visual Idea. From a Leading or Following perspective, when we’re talking about Collection what is generally taught is usually the visual idea of collection. Not just bringing your feet together but generating a visual inverted triangular tapered form of the body to the legs to the feet. And as such we want to make that taper as clean, and sharp as possible. So for this reason you’ll see a good portion of dancers who have been taught to will pull one leg slightly behind the other, and one foot off at an angle. In either Lead or Follow it’s right behind left for a variety of reasons. The reason this is done is to remove the gap between the shins and ankles that naturally occurs in some people’s legs and feet. Further it creates that ‘nice’ taper that we desire. Why not left behind right ? Because from a salida step we tend to go (lead) left into (follower) right. Meaning that the Lead will step forward with their left leg/foot first, and the Follower will step backwards with their right. The visual idea is really all about the visual lines that are generated in either partner when coming together and creating a nice architecture. That’s it, that’s all and Collection, in the way that it’s taught and presented above, in both partners contributes to that.

The Practical Idea. From either roles perspective the idea of Collection makes things very clear that we’re in the right place, doing the right thing, at the right time. From the Lead’s perspective it helps to clarify that the follower is in the right place when they collect so that they can proceed. It’s really easy to see or in this case ‘feel’ that the Follower is off and then to adjust for that ‘off’. Frequently however, that off is never adjusted for and the Follower ends up in the Lead’s armpit. 🙁 From a Follower’s perspective it’s the same idea only that when your lead collects it creates certainty in you. Think of the ‘cowboy walk’ when leading any of the 8 types of ochos.

From a Dancing Reality Social Collection is really about the practical idea of bringing your feet together not for the visual idea but rather out of function more than anything else. It makes things rather simple and easy, that you’re not performing for the 15th row! Social Collection doesn’t mind that there is a tiny gap between your legs at the ankles to the knees, but rather it’s more important that you’re in the right place at the right time. Now if you want you can go the extra step (no pun intended) by creating a cleaner visual, however most people don’t and won’t go that extra step because it’s too much work for them. It’s another thing they have to remember and that’s already too much for them. So again, we’re at Social Collection. So if we define Social Collection as being too lazy but being practical. What’s it’s opposite ? Performance Collection! And that’s a whole different animal.

The reality is that a good portion of you are going to look at this video above, disagree with it because your teacher told you ages ago that collection is supposed to be the visual reason. But in reality do you actually understand any of what’s been said above ? Or did you just watch the video ? There’s a reason why we want Social Collection above all else that has not been mentioned, and it has everything to do with the role of the Follower as they’re being led to an Argentine Cross. Mind you this is just 1 of 3 reasons, but this is the most prominent. Think Armpit Dancer, and you’ll begin to get an idea of what’s going on, as a matter of fact, go look at that video, it talks about this aspect of Performance Collection. That’s the reality. Put simply if you as a Lead, want your Follower in your armpit, please keep doing what you’re doing, and pay this topic no mind.  Or if you as a Follower like being in your Lead’s armpit and quite literally behind your lead, then again….don’t pay any attention to this topic. It’s a complete waste of your time.

Let’s dispense with a few misnomers right out of the gate. 1.) Balance is not the same thing as Stability. 2.) Balance is a component of Stability. 3.) Your stability is generated via 3 very different mechanisms that are all connect via your nervous system. And so that we’re clear on this one, one of them is not your ‘core‘, and anyone that tells you different is either lying through their eye-teeth, or doesn’t understand anatomy and physiology of the human body. Truth be told, your ‘core‘ muscles have absolutely nothing to do with stability. Nada. Zip. Zero. 

A Ballet Rise is an exercise that every Tango dancer should be familiar with before they put on a pair of heels as either a lead or a follow, it does not matter. The exercise is designed specifically to strengthen your very, very, very weak muscles and more importantly the tendons around the first 5 metatarsals of your foot. For some people that walk in heels all day long, those tendons will be a bit stronger than some, but not always. The tendons that surround the 5 Metatarsals are the weakest for a variety of reasons, and for some people they never bother to strengthen them mostly because no one tells them that they need to do so, and as a direct result of the lack of work (read that as exercise) that they’re not doing, they’ll end up with weak tendons, and thereby unable to hold a walking or articulated foot position, or they’ll land improperly and not be able to recover from it, and or the more common of the affectations is clear and present lack of stability. This singular exercise is quite possibly the single most important exercise that they will ever need to do. And yes, believe or not, they do not know how to do this. But you’re a smart person, right ? You know how to do this, right ? Right ? Hmmmm, well just as a refresher you should watch the teaser video above to refresh your memory.

Truthfully when this topic comes up for students, they make a few very important and key errors. Not the least of which is going too fast. This exercise isn’t about speed. Speed teaches and strengthens nothing. This is about going slow. Very slow. The slower, the better! 

What is a ‘Ballet Rise’?  It is where the feet are placed together in what Tango Topics calls ‘Social Collection’, with the first metatarsals touching, and the heels touching. With one’s feet firmly planted on the floor, and the weight distributed slightly forward from the arch towards the metatarsals, and just forward of them. The dancer would rise their body upwards just using the the metatarsals in what is called a ‘relevé‘. This is done SLOWLY, on an 8 count. Very slowly. The slower, the better. And then, slowly down on an 8 count. This is one ballet rise. Theoretically one would do 10 of these each morning. The video above shows you what an Ballet Rise is. Please go watch.  

The Problem ? Most dancers tend to think that their stability comes from their ‘core’. This is not true. Their stability comes from first and foremost their awareness of it, that’s their equilibrium, which is generated in their inner ear. And secondly that information is transmitted to their feet. The problem comes when a.) the feet are in heels. b.) the ankle and tendons that surround it, and the 25 bones of the feet, and those tendons, are WEAK. So as a result of their tendon weakness, the dancer loses their balance nearly instantly when walking. The other side of this problem is that as we get older, the problem increases for a whole host of reasons. Most notably that the thing that’s generating the dancer’s awareness of their own instability is becoming more and more ‘brittle’ every day (that’s the sillia in your inner ear).

It should be noted that some people will have difficulty with this practice for a variety of reasons, most notably that the muscles and tendons that are used in this practice aren’t strong enough. Further one may still have issues with their equilibrium as well, which has nothing to do with the muscular or tendon strength that is required here. So it’s important to recognize that a few things have to happen here. One of which is a little time and a little patience, and two after about 3 weeks of doing this every morning right after you get up one of two things should start to happen. 1.) You’re able to do this with some difficulty. or 2.) You’re still not able to do this yet. If it’s the latter of the two, then there are equilibrium issues that need to be addressed before going any further. 😉 

The Benefits ? The benefits of this exercise will take time to show up. It’s not going to magically happen over night. Get used to that fact. This exercise requires patience, practice, and persistence to see the benefits. And quite honestly just because you do this a few times, nothing is going to magically change in your dance. Nothing. The exercise must performed religiously every. single. day. before you start your day!  The benefits will be felt gradually, and in specific how your foot comes in contact with the floor. You’ll feel a bit more control, a bit more stability and a bit more as if you can do what you want with very little effort. That’s because you’re building up the strength in the tendons around the bones in question. Something you quite honestly don’t use all that often in quite this way. This exercise forces you to use those tendons in new and expansive ways that you will end up using in tango whether or not you realize it or not. One benefit is that you will finally be able to control that super enrosque that you want, or an over-rotation because the muscles of the foot have been strengthened for you to effectively hold your weight. Whereas prior to this work, you would fall out of the rotation or enrosque! Still another benefit is that you’ll be able to hold a backstep for a few seconds longer without wobbling, or a forward step without needing to hold onto your Follower for stability! See there’s that word again, stability! In short, control the foot, and you control the application of your stability! Oh and before we forget, so the 3 things above that control your stability ? 1.) Your feet. 2.) Your inner ear. 3.) Your cerebellum! Your ‘balance’ is an affectation of your inner ear, not (for the love of christ) your ‘core’, please stop repeating that lie.

About The Video: It’s in one section, and is 10m:09s in length, and is for both roles as a practice exercise to be done everyday.