Watching The Feet

(this thought is also discussed and seen in this video > Watching The Follower’s Feet)

Put simply – If you can see your partner’s feet while dancing with them…there’s a problem.

The problem ? Well actually there are several that you’re completely unaware of.

1.) We have this instinctive desire not to want to hit or hurt anyone, not to step on their toes, not to stub their toes or ours, for obvious reasons. And as a result we tend watch our feet and our partner’s feet so that we can avoid the dreaded ‘toe bashing’ that will invariably occur if we don’t keep an eye on things down there. Hence the desire to watch our partner’s feet.

2.) After a while watching our partner’s feet becomes second nature to us. While we will start the dance with our heads up, we’ll almost invariably droop our heads and then our shoulders so that we can focus on watching our feet.

3.) We have a fear of not stepping in the right places. We need to watch our partners feet and our own so that we can verify and validate that the step is in the right place at the right time. This is failure to develop proprioception. A very important skill that both roles must develop in order to dance well.

4.) We don’t realize it, but we’re actually breaking the visual vertical line of the couple each and every time we watch our partner’s feet.

and lastly…

5.) We will compromise our body position just so that we can watch our partner’s feet. We’ll turn our heads, and then our entire body, and further the Follower will move towards the Lead’s armpit (even more than they do already tsk, tsk, tsk) in order to watch the Lead’s feet. And the Lead will place them in the arm pit just so that they can watch the Follower’s feet.

Why does any of this stuff matter ? Honestly, several reasons –

a.) Visual: The visual vertical line of the couple is broken. We want to create a nice couple silhouette within the embrace construct. And each and every time we watch our partner’s feet we break that visual vertical couple’s silhouette.

b.) Position: The body position and placement of the couple creates an alignment issue that quite factually puts the Follower at a disadvantage that makes them feel as though they’re rushing to catch up.

c.) Vocabulary: At some point you’re going to want to do back sacadas, colgadas, volcadas, or any single axis turn just to name a few, and those movements require mastery over proprioception. 😉

d.) Navigational: While you’re watching your Partner’s feet, you’re not paying attention to what’s coming next, how much space you have to navigate, and the oncoming dancers.

MORE REMINDERS

The Male Follower

This post isn’t about the benefits of Following for the Male that dances, of which there are many, such as hyper awareness of all the things you do not want to do. No. Nor is this post about dancing in heels (which can be quite educational on many, many levels), nor the benefits of actually doing that work. Nor is this post about the simple fact that some men do enjoy Following quite a bit (the author included) and are actually (contrary to what you might believe) pretty good at it. No. Today’s Tango Thought is all about Men That WANT to Follow and some pointers that you want to think about doing.

Read More »

Facility

Facility can be, but is not limited to, Familiarity with Vocabulary, Execution of the Vocabulary, also it’s about Balance, Equilibrium, Kinesthetic Awareness, Kinesthetic Listening, The Neurology of Leading, The Neurology of Following (which is how you respond to something from a follower’s perspective), Proprioception, and last but not least Extending Your Capabilities. We’ll get to that last one in just a bit. Two of the more common aspects of Facility are Execution and Proprioception. So let’s quickly review what Tango Topics means when it refers to these ideas…“

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Musicality Vs. Interpretation

Welcome to the Department of the Obvious Department. Today’s menu of the Obvious includes: Men not asking for directions when lost, Men over talking Women, Men squeezing the living daylights out of their partners, and last but not least the Age of a Man has nothing to do with his ability to get dances!

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More Classes

At some point along the curve of your tango life, continuing to take classes seems like a really stupid idea. You’ve learned everything you need to know to get around the floor. Practice isn’t really that important any longer. And going to Milongas is really the important part, so who needs to practice ?

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The Row of Women That Sit

They’re at every milonga in the world (with an exception or two – Russia & Asia). Every. Milonga. THAT row of women, of a certain age, and a certain disposition, that for a few valid reasons (pretty or not) who are sitting, and not by choice. Most have been sitting for more than an hour or two.

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Compression

Compression’ means that you’re either pulling your partner into you and/or at the same time restricting their movements in a myriad of ways (hand, arm, head). As a Lead this typically manifests itself with your right forearm. As a Follower compression is typically done with your left forearm around your lead’s shoulder (tsk, tsk, tsk, it should not be there).  

Read More »

Saying ‘No’.

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

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Social Dancing

Social Dancing’ means going out with friends, or to meet friends, at a Milonga, for the purpose of getting together to dance Argentine Tango (or most any other dance) better known as ‘Social Tango’. The emphasis is on the social part, and not the technical part.

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Snobby People

The fact is that there are snobby people everywhere. There are always going to be the ‘holier than thou’ among your local group, and really anywhere you travel. The fact is that you can’t get around them, you have to deal with them, and there is a way to do that. Ok, truthfully you could avoid them all night long if you wanted to but that doesn’t help you very much.

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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. 

Read More »

10 REASONS TO SUBSCRIBE

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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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5.) Basic, Premium, and Premium+ users get the ‘Dancing Perspectives’ & ‘The Soup’ sections of the document you just read (Lead, Follow, and Dancing) which are open to you. And that’s where all the good stuff is at. 

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and #10:
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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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