Haplo said:
The local instructors here likewise, always carry on with the "walking" exercise. Walking is important, but not as important as posture (depending on the style of tango you learning) in my view. Particularly in open embrace.
I somehow think that all these walking exercises originated from the movie “The Tango Lesson” in which it was the first thing she learnt in Tango was walking. Also I found that each instructor has his or her own version on what walking is. Very annoying and confusing I'm sure for new students.
The main role of a teacher is to annoy and confuse, so saying here is some more........... :wink: :wink:
The Importance of Walking in Tango
1. The beat is at a walking pace (or the pace of a steady heartbeat someone once said)
2. Walking with your partner is the essence of tango. The connection between leader and follower is fundamental to dance well. I signal, she moves, I follow.
3. Stopping, starting and the neutral position. On how not to dance like a train…. When a train starts to move the links between the carriages open and when the train slows or stops the carriages then bump into each other. In tango the leader and the follower do NOT want to move this way. (One lady made a comment to me about her "buffers" but I did not understand. I think maybe she was being rude. Or funny) The movement needs to be smooth and together whether the embrace is closed or open whether it is Milonga, Tango or Vals.
In between steps one should be standing perfectly balanced on one foot the other barely above the ground ankles closed.. From here you have a choice of which direction to step (or pivot). The leader when he wants to stop has to signal early -–with his own body of course so the follower has time to check her momentum. A good exercise for beginners is to walk at a half beat and pause in the neutral position between steps - on one’s own and with a partner.
4. Smoothness, Axis and Balance. In Tango and Vals the body should glide with minimum of up and down movement.
This is achieved by a slight bend in the knee – but as little as possible. We are not aiming to walk like Groucho Marx. One has to be responsible for one’s own axis. Any exercise that improves balance will be useful. But one also needs to be able to stay balanced with one’s weight tilted slightly forward. Here the toes and the balls of the foot need toning to do their part, but the key to balance is to………
5. Dissociation: This simply means we have our chest maintaining a connection with our partner while our hips and therefore legs are facing another direction. This allows walking alongside, and a countless number of possibilities of taking a different step to our partner, but still accompanying them.
6. Weight change; Parallel and Cross System: As a leader we need to communicate a weight change that we want the woman to follow, and to disguise the one that we don’t. This leads into a variety of contra steps that if the leader can use to move from Parallel to Cross Systems and back, and to facilitate backward ochos. Of course what helps here is knowing what our partner is on by feeling where her weight is. (I have suggested that leaders count the steps or go mentally left –right- left –right so they know where the follower’s weight is ; this is the King Canute system of teaching :-showing what doesn’t work and what does)
7. Then we can start playing with the steps: using contra-steps, rocking steps; feints; change of length of stride; acceleration; rebound. I find that when people start learning Milonga in a close embrace when they come back to dancing tango they will have improved, because you have to keep it simple and repetitious because of the tempo of the music. Keep doing the same four steps and stay in beat is hard enough and there’s no time for the leader to plan anything complicated or anything at all.
8. The Most Important Thing about Walking is To Listen to the Music. Always 51% attention to the music. I see people so focussed on the steps that they don’t hear the music stop, let alone all the wonderful things the composer and the musicians are creating. Let the music suggest how you walk.
