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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

The Walking Debate

A good portion of Follower’s close their eyes while dancing. The Lead, obviously, can’t close their eyes, but they do cast their eyes towards the floor to watch their Follower’s feet (tsk, tsk, tsk). They close their eyes for a variety of reasons: 1.) To be able to concentrate better. 2.) To ‘feel’ their partner in a more ‘connected’ way. 3.) To not be so distracted by the rest of the room. 4.) To feel more intimate. 5.) To tune out.

Read More »

Heel vs. Toe (Lead) ?

Today’s Thought is a very old debate with a twist, as you’ll soon see. The Debate ? To step forward (or side) with a Heel strike first OR a Toe point first. So let’s debate, shall we ? The Heel Side: This side of the debate says that you can and should, when stepping forward, step forward as if you were walking on the street, normally. You would use the heel in a natural way, allowing it to strike the pavement or the floor (in the case of dancing) as you would normally. There’s nothing about this idea that is new. This is something that you don’t necessarily need to learn a whole lot about, as it just ‘happens’. There’s not a lot to it really.

Read More »

Tango Accents

You may not realize this but you have an accent. The place that you live in, the people that you dance with, the teachers that you have studied with, and last but not least, the variation of those ideas from the original, creates a local tango ‘accent’. Every city where Tango is danced has an accent which is specific to that place and to that place alone. Boston, San Francisco, Paris, London, Berlin, Moscow, etc. They all have one, up to and including Buenos Aires, especially Buenos Aires! The difference between your local flavor of Tango and say Boston, Paris, and London, is like night and day within a spectrum of ideas.

Read More »

Being Criticized

The truth is that this is critical feedback, about what you’re doing and how you’re doing it. Hopefully that critical feedback or criticism is done with exacting detail, which is needed for analysis, breakdown, and then reconstruction or rebuilding your posture, walk, embrace, vocabulary, and/or musical interpretation. Without that critical feedback, you will continue to make the same mistakes over and over again thinking that everything is happy and lovely when in fact it’s not.

Read More »

Couple Exercises

There are lots of really good tango exercises for your feet, your balance, your stability, but there aren’t so many for the couple to practice. Or so you would think. The really obvious ones are 1.) The Molinete Together Exercise. 2.) The No Arms Exercise. and  3.) The Walk Together Exercise.

Read More »

Good Lead ?

There are many things to look for in a ‘Good’ Lead. Like for instance, the ability to keep time within the beat structure meaning that they’re placing their Follower’s on beat and not necessarily themselves. Still another is their posture which is reflected in the Follower’s posture as well. Still one more is the ‘cleanliness’ by which they execute a particular piece of vocabulary. That said ‘execution’ is done sharply, with snap and polish, and shows off their Follower, and in doing so, themselves. 😉 Those are some good signs of what qualifies as a ‘good’ lead (the action, not the person).

Read More »

The Negative of Tango

There is distinct negative side to Tango. Ask anyone that has done any level of work to improve their dance, and they’ll tell you that it is at once eye opening, again blistering, noxious and wholly demoralizing. Demoralizing to the point where they want to quit dancing altogether.

Read More »

Saying ‘No’.

So without further variance, below is a 10 step process in “How to say ‘No’, and not dance with Y!” 🙂

Read More »

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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!

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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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