The 'Basics' of Tango
Everyone thinks that they don’t need their BASICS, or that they don’t need to revisit their foundation. Wrong. You do. Constantly. Unless you teach, and even then you do – even more so, you must revisit your foundation to help you to fix the errors, and yes you have them, that have crept in that you are unaware of. On this site there are over 800 videos and articles (not including all the other stuff) on Tango Topics for you to watch and learn from. It’s not just the videos, but the articles that contain the most of what you need to know to elevate your dance. We’re not trying to sell you videos here, but instead to inform and engage you to educate yourself wherever possible.
The Lead Step Over Back Sacada
In Tango, we have multiple types of Sacadas, from multiple types of positions, with varying levels of complexities. Typically, the most difficult Sacada to execute for BOTH roles is the Back Sacada. The reason for that is because the Back Sacada usually requires a level of disassociation and applied disassociation...
The Five Pause Types Methodology & Primer
The 5 Pause types are in every piece of tango music you have ever heard from the golden age. They are best described as 'musical rests' or a simply a 'pause'. However unlike normal musical pauses, a Tango Pause is slight different and has very specific characteristics that makes them...
A Method for Tango Improvisation
The Tango Topics Method of Tango Improvisation uses extensions, dissociation/applied dissociation, and individual component movements, as well as Beat and the 5 Pause Types as the building blocks for generating a type of improvisation that can be combined with contemporary tango vocabulary to generate a dance that is easily accessible...
The Structure of a Song (and a Tanda).
A song in Tango (the genre, not to be confused with the entire idea of tango music), consists of 5 to 6 musical paragraphs. Those musical paragraphs are generally 6 to 8 phrases in length. Each one of those phrases is punctuated by 6 to 8 musical pause types based...
What To Practice ?
Today when I’m working with a student, they honestly don’t want to do that kind of work. They just want the answers. “How do I …?” so I show them what to do, and then how to do it. But that starts with going right back to their foundation. If...
