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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 is all about the steps, patterns, and figures is known as ‘Show’ Tango, ’Scenario’ Tango, ‘Stage’ Tango, ‘Fantasia’ Tango, or Presentation Tango.

Another way to talk about this kind of Tango which is best classified/described as Posing-Every-3-Steps-Performance-Tango-To-Overly-Dramatic-Music-From-The-Late-60’s-That-Resembles-A-Wrestling-Match that can not be used on a social dance floor, ever!

These are steps, patterns, figures that are taught as a way to sell classes or a teaching couple, to package what they do that works for them in a performance. This stuff can not actually be used in the line of dance because it’s usually too big. However if it is reduced, made smaller (which no one ever talks about or displays), then it may be used, possibly. However given the space and size of that planeos, boleos, colgadas, volcadas and what not takes up, generally not. However this is exactly what gets paraded around as ‘Social Tango’. It’s not. It’s Presentation Tango. The overly sharp bodily lines. The pointed toes, elbows, and legs.  The very rough, and forceful movements. The huge, gaping steps, taking up oodles of space. The figures, after patterns, after more ‘steps’, repeated endlessly….all of which actually has no relationship to what’s happening in the music. This is Presentation Tango. 

Presentation Tango does not work on a social dance floor. Ever. There’s no space for it. Especially in Buenos Aires or a crowded dance floor. 

To be fair there are some good aspects of Presentation Tango. It does teach, and reinforce, that the dancer (not the couple), the individual, must focus on being clean in their execution of X, that they must employ good posture everywhere not just momentarily, that they must apply a bit of ‘spit & polish’ to everything that they do…from their walk to their embrace to their vocabulary choices within the line and lane of dance all within the musical construct of tango, vals, or milonga. However make no mistake, Presentation Tango has no place on a social dance floor, it should not be confused as Social Tango.  

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MORE REMINDERS

5 Reasons

January 22, 2017 No Comments

Why does someone enter the Tango world ? What drives them to engage in Argentine Tango ? Not what makes them stay but why do they get involved with Argentine Tango ? There are commonalities to why someone walks this pathway, no pun intended. These are distilled down to about Five Common Reasons why someone enters Tango. These are the reasons why and not the reasons why someone stays in Tango. Those are very different reasons, but rather why they started dancing in the first place.

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The Taxi Dancer Paradox

March 5, 2017 No Comments

The Taxi Dancer Paradox is that hiring or being one creates an undesirable social stigma and yet at the same time is actually a very practical, if not entirely reasonable resource to have available to solve the ‘waiting’ for a dance problem.

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Dancing In Berlin

February 21, 2017 No Comments

Berlin is known for many reasons around the world, it’s culture, it’s Berlin accent of German, it’s fact as a post-cold war city, and most recently the financial capital of Europe. Tango was certainly not on that list. If however, you happen to be a Tango dancer, and at a very specific place in your dance, then you have heard Yoda-like whispers of “Berlin…you should go to Berlin…”. There’s a reason for those whispers, which has turned into ‘talk’. It’s because there is a reason for all the ‘fuss’ over Tango in Berlin.

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Physiological Control

January 31, 2017 No Comments

Control is a really hard thing to get. It takes a while to have precise, or precision, control over exact foot placement, which is insanely important. It takes time to build up the necessary minute control that one needs to have over one’s body. A millimeter here, a millimeter there, cumulatively, can make all the difference between a dance that sucks (for both parties) and one that is absolutely fabulous. Precision control is where all the toys are at.

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Discomfort

April 30, 2017 No Comments

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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Low Heels

December 11, 2016 No Comments

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. 

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The ‘Passion’ Lie

February 14, 2017 No Comments

“The Passion of Tango” or “Tango is a Passionate Dance”. You have heard these statements repeated over and over again, from so many people, teachers, dancers, and teacher/performers that it’s almost like second nature at this point. These statements and others like them promote an idea or a series of ideas about Argentine Tango that get people into the dance, and ultimately to stay with the dance.

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Learning The Other Side

May 15, 2018 No Comments

Let’s get right to the heart of the question, "Why on earth would anyone want to learn the other side of the embrace ?". The answer to that question is actually not a singular answer, there are actually 5 good reasons why you learn the other role that you may or may not disagree with. They are as follows:

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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 dancing! Whereas 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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