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Low Heels

This isn’t rocket science. It’s pure fact. Lower heels for the Follower aren’t exactly the sexiest things in the world. All the attention is on the High Heel and the shape of the foot, calf, and thigh that the high heel generates as a result. The Low heel ? Not so much with that. It’s like the poor cousin, ne’er do-well that comes close but not quite. Uuuugh.

However, there are some things you should realize about the Low Heel.

1.) While the High Heel gets all the attention, it’s not the healthiest thing you could do to your body. It puts undue strain on the nerves of the foot, it creates pressure for the bones for long periods of time that the foot was not designed for. The Low Heel does NOT do this. Because it’s low, the shape of the shoe and the shape of the foot, the impact of stress and pressures on the foot is far less, so therefore it stands to reason that the foot can handle the strains and pressures longer in lower heels.

2.) While the High Heel comes in all sorts of colors, shapes, sizes, and styles…the Low Heel does as well! Just because they’re low doesn’t mean that they don’t sell! They do. Quite frequently.

3.) A good low heel usually has good, if not better padding than the higher heel. This statement is subjective. The reality is that the shoes are made exactly the same way. The only difference is height of the heel and as a result the shape of the arch support. Other than that, the shoes are identical.

4.) You can learn to dance in Low Heels the same way that you dance in High Heels. Actually, truth be told, you can create a more desirable learning environment for yourself by starting out in Low Heels and then when you feel ready you can start your High Heel training. What the Low Heel does is create a stepping stone for the Follower to start their heel work so that they can make a slow, but steady transition into the Higher Heels.

5.) High Heels, Low Heels, the price is usually the same for the shoe. Don’t expect because they’re lower heels that you should pay less for the shoe. The workmanship is the same. The materials are the same. Why would you believe that you should pay less for them ?

6.) While it may sound like the Lower Heel are like training wheels, they’re not. The same work is required in High Heels as it is in Lower Heels or Flats for that matter. The techniques are exactly the same. The only difference is the balancing point, and of course your equilibrium, and learning to manage the same stuff in ever-increasing heights. So just because the heels are low to the ground does not mean that instantly everything is easier. No. It’s the same amount of work. Just a different perception of height!

7.) Believe it or not there are quite a few of the Older Milongueras that danced exclusively in lower heels because they knew they were more comfortable. Not. That’s a fallacy. The reality is that the High Heel in Tango is a recent invention. The Low Heel was the staple of Argentine Tango for DECADES! 😉

8.) The stem of the Lower Heel is usually bigger, and that tends to make the shoe slightly more heavy. However that doesn’t need to be the case. The shoe can be made with a slightly less heavy stem and still be ‘low’.

9.) The fallacy that only old ladies wear these things is just that…a fallacy.

10.) At the end of the day, it’s a shoe to put on your foot, and if it makes you comfortable and you can dance, then there’s nothing wrong with that. Don’t hate just because it’s a lower heel. Don’t judge because it’s a lower heel.

MORE REMINDERS

Toe vs. Heel (Follower) ?

In case you have been living under a rock, this Thought is going to shock you somewhat. There is a debate that has been raging for quite some time now. The debate ? Should the Follower step forward with their heel first, or their toe first ? Better known as the Heel or Toe debate only for Followers, not for Leads as is the usual debated topic.

Read More »

Discomfort

Far too often we experience ‘discomfort’ when dancing. Most of the time we discard it and just accept it as the price we have to pay in order to dance with X, or so that we don’t have to sit through yet another milonga tanda, etc. Sometimes we feel that discomfort, and sometimes we don’t but in general it’s there, most of the time.

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The Follower’s Work

The Follower’s Work. These words may come as a surprise to you dear reader considering that this page has seemingly ‘bashed’ or disparaged the role of the Follow in any number of ways, however: The role of the Follower is work. This is by no means a complete list, but just a taste: A Follower must master in order to ‘dance’ with a particular Lead their stability, their walk backwards, and forwards to the side without wobbling.

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Getting To Buenos Aires

You’ve been dancing for a while, and you keep seeing these posts about Buenos Aires. Your dream has slowly developed to go to Buenos Aires, to experience for yourself what all the fuss is about. First there’s the dancing, you’ve heard it’s the best. There’s the shoes! OMG the shoes. Then there are friends that have been and rave about teacher X or Milonga Y. You’ve see the videos of performances at Salon Canning (but didn’t know it was Salon Canning), the pictures from Milongas, and thought to yourself that it didn’t look all that challenging than your local milonga there are just more people. You’ve heard that Spanish isn’t necessarily a requirement because there’s a lot of foreigners that speak English, and a good portion of the teachers speak it too. So you if you went, you wouldn’t really need to learn Spanish. 

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Fear of Milonga

The fact is that some folks have a justifiable fear of Milonga! No not the dance party, nor the music at the milonga, no…this fear refers to the abject fear that is expressed by some people when Milonga music is played because now they must dance ‘Milonga’ moves to milonga music. The reason ? Either it’s the speed at which it is seemingly danced, or the music that is perceived to be ‘fast’, movements/steps/patterns/figures that are associated and specific to Milonga. Some people just freak right out when it comes to milonga. Some people actually break out in a cold sweat at the very thought of it, Lead or Follow.

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Presentation Tango

There is a very popular idea in Tango that gets paraded around a lot, an idea which gets confused with Social Tango which is NOT Social Tango at all but rather it’s about the steps, patterns, and figures is known as ‘Show’ Tango, ’Scenario’ Tango, ‘Stage’ Tango, ‘Fantasia’ Tango, or Presentation Tango.

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The Birthday Song

The Benefits of a Birthday Song. There are a few, but important, benefits to having a Birthday Song for one or more people at the Milonga. 1.) From an organizational position, the Milonga Organizer can use this as a way to advertise the weekly Milonga. "It’s Miles’ Birthday, Come and Dance with him into the wee hours!". That sort of thing. 2.) It’s a way for the Community to come together and support one of their own.

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Milan for Followers

A good spot for Followers to plan their next Tango vacation is: Milano. Why ? Several reasons. 1.) The men dress nicely for Milongas. No. It’s true. They actually dress up for Milongas. And as has said before in Vol 3. (Truism 1096), nothing screams ‘come hither’ more to a woman than a man in a tailored suit! And in this case, usually the shoes are handmade as well. 2.) Then there’s the fact that they smell nice.

Read More »

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1.) Free Users get to see 5 of the 125 Different Tango Topics on the site. Plus you get access to the entire Tango Reminders and Tango Ideas sections of the site. These are short form Topic descriptors with a little detail about the topic and the video.

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Keep something in the back of your mind: What you’re seeing in a youtube video is a couple that is performing for the 15th row for a room full of people. They’re not social dancingWhereas this website is all about ‘Social Tango’  or how to make things function on a social dance floor. Social Dance floor ? Your local milonga! They are showing you flashy moves as a presentation, to show off! But not stopping and talking about how this works which is what you need to see. This website and all of it’s content show you the how and  why you’d want to put that piece of vocabulary there, or how to make things work. This website is all about those things and more!

You could watch Tango YouTube videos and thereby spend your time, trying to infer, and figure out how things may work in that particular situation. Bend your body this way or that, twist and force this position or that. Place your foot here or there and figure it out. This is known as Tango Twister.  Which can be a lot of fun, but more than likely it won’t help you, because you’re missing something: The explanation from an experienced teacher showing you how to properly excute this stuff from a Leading Perspective as well as from a Following Perspective!

The goal of YouTube videos is to get you to study with those teachers in person. The goal of Tango Topics videos allows you to work at your own pace, in the comfort of your own space, so that you can play them over and over again to improve your understanding of the vocabulary or technique being described to therefore better your dancing experience. The goal of classes and workshops is to get you to come back over and over and over again, thereby spending more money with that teacher. This website and the videos under it are here to act as a resource for you to help you to improve your dance. Pay once and you’re done.

Eventually, one way or another you’re going to pay for this lesson, either here and now, or with them. TANSTAAFL! The difference between that lesson and this ? Is that you get to play this lesson over and over and over again. Further still, there are supporting materials (other videos) that help to explain the language and the underlying technique of how and why things work, so you can easily reference those things in the corresponding articles that go with the material, and or any language in the Tango Topics Dictionary. 

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