The Dictionary of Tango
Five Social Figures
There are five figures that we use all the time when dancing Argentine Tango.1.) Walks2.) Ochos.3.) Turns. 4.) Crosses.5.) Cortados.Within each one of these there are multiple types of figures. To be clearer, there are: 6 Ways of Walking,8 Types of Ochos,8 Types of Turns,256 Types of Argentine Crosses,and 8
Alternates
What are Alternates ? Alternates are the 6th Way of Walking which is a Tango Topics ONLY construct. An Alternate is where the Lead steps with the same foot in one of 2 different spots, over and over again. Spot #1 is the Inside spot which is the Inside the
Forward Intention
Forward Intention has been defined by inference only, and demonstrated visually on this site in 3 different places: Intention Based Dancing, The Second Step Problem, Leading Technique, not to mention being discussed ad-nauseam in nearly every single Tango Topic in some way, shape, or form. However, again, for the sake of clarity
8 Types of Ochos
There are 8 Types of Ochos in Argentine Tango. 1.) Milonguero (Or “Lazy”) Ochos. 2.) Linear Ochos. 3.) Traveling Ochos. 4.) Circular Ochos. 5.) Over-Rotated Ochos. 6.) Anti Ochos. 7.) Milonga Ochos. 8.) Dynamic Ochos. Please see the related Article/Video for more information.
8 Types of Turns
There are 8 Types of Turns in Argentine Tango. 1.) The Walking Turn. 2.) The Media Luna 3.) The Argentine Calesita 4.) The Argentine Rock Step 5.) Ocho Cortado (Linear Version / Circular Version) 6.) Colgada Turns / Single Axis Turns. 7.) The Follower’s Molinete / The Lead’s Giro 8.)
The 5 Pause Types
The Five Pause Types refers to FIVE of the THIRTEEN types of auditory markers which occur with great frequency in either Tango, Vals, or Milonga music only. Employing the Five Pause Types is one way of starting the process of Interpreting the Music. It is not the only way, but
Walking
Walk or Walking. There are 6 ways of walking in Argentine Tango. However, most teachers, only talk the two more common versions of the Tango walk: Parallel & Cross System walking. However, Tango Topics talks about 6 different ways, which are: 1.) Parallel System. 2.) Cross System. 3.) Milonguero Ochos. 4.) Inside Snake
Embrace
The Embrace is what identifies Argentine Tango as Tango, while most social dances have a version of an embrace, Tango’s embrace format is unique in the dance world. It is usually an asymmetrical arm embrace, where the Lead’s left arm and the Follower’s right arm are angled at the elbow
Entrega
The word “Entregarse” in Spanish, especially its street usage, has no actual translation to English. The word typically means “to surrender” in English. And it’s not quite right, nor is its street usage, “to give in”. Something is missing… The verb is typically conjugated to it’s 3rd person singular and
Vocabulary Trap
The Vocabulary Trap is part of the Lead Mindset believe that most Leads fall into when they first start dancing. The Vocabulary Trap, sometimes referred to as the Pattern Fallacy, is the belief that a Lead must learn more and more and more vocabulary…steps, patterns, and figures in order to
Lead Mindset
Lead Mindset is a way of thinking that pertains solely to the Lead of the dance. Lead Mindset is a belief system that presupposes that the only way a Follower will be happy dancing with a particular Lead is by having that Lead study chains of vocabulary, and intricate, complex,