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The Walking Debate

There’s a great deal of debate on this one thought >

Is the foundation of dance really walking ? Or is it something else ?

Is it steps/patterns/figures ?

Is it the music ?

Is it the Milonga experience itself ?

Is it all of this stuff ? Is it none ?

This discussion point is not going to answer that question, but will offer you an opinion that is exceptionally hard to refute, consider if you will the following:

1. ) In order to get from point a. to point b. we either must take some form of transit, or walk…putting one foot in front of the other (or behind).

2.) Without modern forms of transit or transit that involves wheeled motion, or forms of flight, we are relegated to either animal asst’d movement (horse, donkey, elephant, cow…) or our own two feet.

3.) All dances, regardless of the form, require some form of walking locomotion, especially the partner dances. Even ContactImprov requires it to a lesser degree.

If all of that is true, then the world of transit or getting from point a to wherever is really all about walking. If that’s the case then it stands to reason that tango is about the walk as well. And it is important to focus on the quality of the walk, and spend lots of time working on one’s walk because it is the foundation of everything else that you’ll ever do in the dance. Which is to say that the cleaner that you make that walk, the more that you study that walk, the more that you understand that walk, the easier is is to manipulate and it (mentally) to make it bend to your wishes! Draw your own conclusions from there…

Related Terms:

MORE REMINDERS

Couples

February 24, 2017 No Comments

Couples, as a pair, develop their own shorthand for communicating with each other. They remark on events in their time together as ‘that time we did that thing when that thing happened, remember ?’. They invest their emotional time in each other as caring, loving (hopefully), partners that genuinely are invested in each other’s successes (hopefully). In one respect they are to each other intimates, while at the same time they see each other as support mechanisms, and so much more.

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Perfectionism

March 19, 2017 No Comments

There are those of us that separate being ‘good’ as being good enough, and anything beyond that is just ‘unnecessary’. It’s really about getting around the floor, and if no one complains about the embrace, or you don’t hit anything, or anyone, and you can throw in that cool move now and again, so much the better!

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Heel vs. Toe (Lead) ?

June 2, 2017 No Comments

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.

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Magical Improvement

February 25, 2017 No Comments

“She’s not magically going to improve just because you ‘show’ her what she’s supposed to do at that moment.” To make this non gender specific, because this axiom applies to both genders, and both roles. As well as teachers and students. Some teachers know this truth, some teachers learn it the hard way. Clarity: The – “supposed to do” part above. This idea frequently occurs where you have a male Lead that has an expectation of X being followed properly, where X is Traveling Ochos, Volcada, Milonguero Turn, etc. And when it doesn’t they stop their dancing and then show the Follower what was intended. And here’s the magical part, they keep showing them, hoping that it will change the Follower’s behavior and frequently it doesn’t.

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Head Tilt

November 30, 2016 No Comments

The tilt or position of one’s head (for lead or follow) is far more important than you might imagine. First and foremost, where the head points the body tends to follow. There’s a reason for this, your equilibrium, contrary to popular belief your balance is not generated in the center of your belly. This ‘myth’ is better known and often repeated as to indicate your ‘core’ muscles. This is a lie.

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Where’s The Fun ?

February 12, 2017 No Comments

Believe it or not, the ‘fun’ part is everywhere. You are focused on just the outcome of the dancing part. The immediate hit that you get from dancing. But what if you found out that you’re only scratching the surface with Tango. What if you discovered that you’re missing a very important aspect that not only can change the dance from what it is today for you but for it to go far deeper than you ever imagined. What if you found out that the drive to be better is not only a requirement, but it’s the gateway to dancing with better and better partners that you only dream of dancing with but can do because you changed your perspective a bit ?

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Being Criticized

January 8, 2017 No Comments

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.

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