walk this way

Just a quite note about this website.

I am not the soul of all tango wisdom. That’s obvious. I am however a dancer that’s traveled further and farther than most. I teach now, mostly beginners and intermediates that are coming along the path behind me. I am by no means a ‘know it all’. What’s contained in these pages is the expression of some things that I have picked up along the way. I have been humbled more times than I can shake a stick at. I have tread a path ahead of most of you that you can’t even begin to imagine, so please take my words with a grain of salt or if you see some point of brilliance in them, share them, or not. I don’t really care. What I do care about is that this site is a work in progress and that as time goes forward I will correct the language of the know it all, and try from time to time to offer some helpful hints here and there that I have learned along the way. Maybe something will spark some resonance in someone somewhere and if that happens, I’d be very happy. If not, then there’s nothing here that you need to see further than to know that there is another dancer out here to dance with. Remember first and foremost I am a dancer, secondly I am a teacher of what I have learned. That’s it, that’s all.

These are just some random thoughts that I’ve had in observations of “Good Leaders” vs. “Challengeing Leaders”. I’ve noticed a lot of followers don’t actually check out a lead before they dance with a lead, and there really are no tell tale signs except the follower’s grapevine, eg: word of mouth about who’s good who to stay away from. Continuing on, there are some leaders who exhibit all of the signs below and still create a good experience, and there are still others who exhibit all of what’s below and create a challenging experience. From what I have observed Its about taste more often than naught, and what ‘feels’ good. I am by no means the soul of all wisdom, I’m just not. I have traveled further and farther than a lot, and far more than those just starting out. So pay attention or don’t. One thing is clear though, its better to err on the side of caution than naught at all. These are guidelines and observations and nothing more than that. Not rules.

1.) Right Arm/Left Hand. Pay close attention to the leaders right arm around the follower in close embrace, if you see wrinkles in the follower”s fabric from where the leader’s arm is, and an indentation of the follower’s clothing from his right arm…this is a good indicator that the leader is compressing the embrace, meaning pulling the follower into the leader. There is such a thing as having a ‘firm’ embrace, but that’s not what’s going on here. The difference between a firm embrace and this affect, is that the firm embrace is nearly always acting as a corral or container. Whereas in this case, its clear and simple compression, to hold the follower close to the leader, because the leader believes that that is how you tell the follower where to go. Be very careful. At the same time watch the leader’s left hand. Pay attention to the leader’s left hand hold. If that hand hold looks tight, like its a grip, it probably is! At the same time, pay very close attention to whether or not the leader uses the left arm as a metronome, as a way to keep time, because that left arm is connected to his left hand, which is connected to the follower’s right hand and right arm, and that means that the leader is literally jerking the follower around. Some people like this, I am not one of them. There is an exception here, and its a stylistic exception in my opinion. And its only in my opinion but when the leader is using the embrace or architecture of the dance to emphasize a musical point!

2.) Body Placement. Be cognisent of where the leader places the follower on the leader’s body in close embrace! If its off to the side…this could be a sign of trouble. This is my opinion here: The leader should be placing the follower just the left of the leader’s gigline (buttons on the shirt) and keeping the follower there. If the leader places the follower under the leader’s right arm, then the leader is literally asking the follower to change the geometry of the follower’s basic vocabulary, and not in a good way, but a challenging one. For example, if its ochos, then the ocho becomes flattened and linear. If its an argentine cross, then the result is an elongated forward crossing step where the cross is not clean and can’t be (feet together as they cross behind one another) because its physically impossible. There is such a thing as using what’s referred to as a “V” embrace, and that’s not what I’m on about. In the “V” embrace there is space between the bodies to allow for movement and the change in bio-geometry.

3.) Hips. Watch the leader’s hips, if they open in opposition of the follower in anything except for a back sacada or a reverse molenete…boy are you in for trouble. The leader’s hips should be parellel to his followers and in line with them…even in the cross, even in an ocho cortado. Hips to hips.

4.) Feet. Feet, feet, feet, feet. Clean feet. If the leader’s feet are pointing anywhere else except at his follower you have a problem child. What is meant by “Clean feet” is that you pay attention to ‘when’ the leader collects and ‘how’ the leader collects. The ‘when’ should be as the leader moves his center of gravity to closure or completion. The ‘how’ should be on a square, meaning the leader’s pads of the feet should be touching, the heels touch each other. There should be NO misalignment whatsoever. Period. If the leader can’t bring the leader’s feet together, then the leader will expect the follower to do a lot more work than the follower needs to, such as guess work as to where the leader wanted a weight change. To be fair, there are some leaders, even the best in the world who break this unwritten guide of ‘clean feet’ based on several factors, not the least of which is musicality, style, and last but not least, comfort. However, in all of those cases it is a choice, and not about being sloppy. And again to be fair, some leaders are just sloppy, forgetful, and unclean, including this author.

5.) Walking. The leader’s walk, if its gaping, loping, or just looks like its not anything but walking out for a stroll…its going to be rough dancing with this leader. You want a leader who literally ‘strolls’ with you. You want THIS

6.) Musicality! This should be at the top of this list. However, here it is at number 6. What is musicality ? In its simplest form, the ability for a leader (and a follower) to hear the primary beat of the music and to follow it religiously. Above and beyond that is the real meaning behind musicality, and that’s the ability to take the musical beat and interpret it to do something else. This is an excellent example of a leader who uses the primary beat, to step on, and uses several accent beats in her boleos, as well as creating several terciary beats on top of what’s in the music.

7.) Clean. Clean Shirt, Clean Pants, Clean Shoes. Just Clean. Recently Shaven. If it looks nice, chances are it smells nice. Not always the case if it’s a busy lead, but hopefully this leader brings a change of shirt or jacket!

8.) Roughness. You are looking for jerky moves, and even in milonga. In my opinion, I believe that a leader’s movement should be smooth, clean, clear, almost like the leader is skating on glass. Nothing about what the leader does should disrupt the follower’s walk. Period. No if’s, and’s, or but’s about it. If it does, you’re in for a rocky ride.

9.) Posture. It should be relaxed and comfortable looking, not slouched, and at the same time, not stiff. What you should not see is ram rod straight, like the leader’s got a shaft up …. or slouched over. If the leader is hunched over, this means that the leader is literally taking away the chest from the followers, and that means in close embrace you literally have nothing to listen to (which is bad for the follower that hasn’t studied open embrace!). At the same time if the leader is ramrod then that means he’s stiff and moves like a board and that also means you’re going to get jerked around, staccato movements, jerky, shaky movements that are based on force and not gentility and balance. Side note: The leader’s head (this one is a deal breaker for me) should be upright, not into his followers necks – head over shoulders, Shoulder’s Over Hips, Hips over Feet! There are very few leaders that can actually pull off head into followers neck because it sends the energy of the lead outward and into the floor instead where it should be center of gravity!

10.) Navigation & Floorcraft. This one is key. If the leader can’t drive, then the license to drive should be revoked! Which is to say that you’re going to get bumped and chaffed all night long. If a leader is running figures all through out the tanda dance, you’re in it deep. Period. Pay attention here. Ask yourself this: Is this leader doing the same pattern over and over and over again with NO variation ? This is not about vocabulary but rather the vocabulary that the leader choses to show off the follower, and how the leader places that in the music, with the follower!

And now for the kicker, how much space the leader takes up to do that, whether its small and leaves no trace or when the leader’s driving other leaders just make a hole! One more thing…excessive ganchos or boleos into the lane, line and progression of dance is that the leader’s not aware of what the affect is on the space around the dance. Anything where the follower’s legs leave a standing position, should be pointed away from anyone else.

Again these are ideas, thoughts, and observations…NOT rules. They are guidelines. The language may depict “Do’s” and “Don’ts”, but its not to be taken as such, but rather a very strongly worded guideline for what to pay attention to while a follower is watching a room full of leaders.

First and foremost, I am NOT the sole of all tango wisdom. These are some things, a few ideas, that I’ve played with, and that I’ve picked up along the way. Some may be right on, some misguided, some clear, and some not. Secondly this is an experimental project, it is an idea born of many long conversations with lots of tango teachers, many social dancers, and many tango students. All of these things have shaped, formed, turned, cooled, heated, and changed my ideas in ways I hadn’t even considered. Thirdly, I am by no means stating these things as absolute fact, but rather ideas to be shared, thought about, talked about, and at the very least, compared and contrasted, and at the very most, used as a teaching rod for someone else. If it serves that purpose…I’ll be very pleased. That said…please, read on:

Many moons ago, as a I was beginning my tango journey, and still thinking that I had many roads to walk. I still do by the way, I’m not done yet, simply because I teach. Its beginning was on a beach in Freeport, TX, teaching a beginner follower the foundations of her side of the embrace. It was born out of the many months I spent training a series of students in Houston, and the many months since then of answering the same questions over and over and over again.

Me being the programmer/software developer/web architect that I have been for the last 12 years (as of this writing), I saw the need to streamline the process of educating the student, and really myself (remember that we teach that which we most need to learn or practice!), and so I set to work about creating that streamlining process. But as I started down the pathway, a problem arose; one of many to come: How to create a series of videos that talk about tango but don’t necessarily talk about the mind-numbing details of technique that can create distance between the material and the student. And still another problem arose while I was thinking about the first: At the same time create a sense of ease or facileness with the dance itself. Talk about your tall orders. Sheesh! What I was hearing from my private lessons with beginner and ‘intermediate’ students was that the dance was too hard, difficult, complicated…etc. That the music really didn’t turn them on at all (well the leaders anyway). And that there were too many steps to learn, remember, and then use. It all looked so difficult and daunting to them.

Out in the field, or in the Tango World, everyone and their grandmother was teaching tango and at the same time, not talking about the underlaying technique at all, but just showing the demonstration of a particular movement or feature, and its left to the student to figure out how it was done. Not all teachers are like that by the way, there are a few that actually teach the underlaying technique and then take that technique and exemplify it and show branches of the technique tree, showing you where and HOW you can apply that technique. By example: Go out to YouTube and watch any of the hundreds (if not thousands by now) of either performance, or didactic demo videos (just by example) and you see absolutely nothing about the underlaying technique, just the application of that technique within the confines of a dance. There’s nothing wrong with this idea because it generates interest in the teacher, and puts money in their pocket eventually. It does create a problem that we as dancers run into (literally) every night that we go out social dancing: Leaders that push, pull, and repeat, and followers that hang, hover, and compress holding on for dear life! What it boils down to really is its the economics of the situation. Its because if a teacher shows the underlaying technique involved they’re giving their bread and butter away for free, and why bother taking private lessons in the first place, right ? When you can simply go out to YouTube and pull up a video by your favorite teacher talking about technique and showing you when, where, and how. Right ?

Another place was born out of learning to teach the dance itself. As a student of the dance, I had to take every class that I went to 3 times. Once as a Lead, Twice as a follower, and still a Third as a teacher (actually several times from several different teachers). As a teacher I had to learn multiple perspectives on the same technique and language that other teachers used. Still another was learning different modalities to talk about the same idea and technique. Which is to say that not all students learn the same way, some are visual students, some are auditory, some are kinesthetic. So for each, you have to create different modalities to explain the same material.

And still another place was seeing that the dance itself was so foreign to many people, off-putting, beautiful but off-putting. Its that there’s that “old squeaky music” danced by “old people” syndrome going on. When as we know, its not that at all.

As I started and restarted, stopped, rethought, discussed, started again, and again, and again, I kept seeing more and more reasons why such a project just wouldn’t work. Not a singular reason why it would. What would be its end product ? How would it be shot ? How would it be used ? All of these things. And more over, was I the right guy to be talking about any of this stuff ? And even more over than any of that, would anyone be watching them ? My original goal with this project was to create a place where I could talk about the foundations of the dance, making it accessible, easy to get, and demystifying it at the same time. Over time, my goal became much much simpler: I just wanted to do it and see what would happen. I wasn’t interested in making any money, and I wasn’t interested in being famous, and I certainly wasn’t interested in any kind of notoriety. The last thing in the world I need right now is *MORE* notoriety. If anything I need less! One thing that refused to go away though in my thinking was I realized that most people can’t handle more than 1 clear idea at a time over a 30 minute period. As a teacher you present an idea, and then you spend 30 minutes re-explaining that same idea over and over and over again, until the student gets what’s really going on. What came out of that is that in that 30 minutes, you actually do only 2 to 5 minutes of actual teaching, and the rest is reinforcement of that idea. That’s just how some people learn. Its not meant as a put down, its just that some people learn differently than others. So a requirement for this project was that whatever I did, had to be short, quick, and to the point: Succinct!

And that’s where this idea for Two Minute Tango came from, to talk about tango but at the same time make it accessible, easy to understand, presented in an atmosphere where you can clearly and cleanly see that this technique leads to X, Y, and Z.

See for yourself.

At some point in the near future, I’d like to open this project up to other people, and have them share their ideas with the project. However, there are some requirements that I’d like to have ironed out before hand…but I am headed in that direction.

I’m sitting with a visiting Tanguero in NYC while I wait for a truck to move a friend. And we get into a quick scuff up about Valz time. I say that Argentine Tango can be broken down and taught in 4, 3, 2 time. He argues back that its 4, 6, 2. I look at him like he’s got six heads, and tell him he’s flat out mistaken. 6 ? Let’s back up a bit…to clear things up.

Tango is 4/4 time. Vals is 3/4 time. Milonga is 2/4. Hence the 4,3,2. Got it. So what was he on about ? That Vals is 6/8 time. And that he knows a few musicians that will correct me endlessly. I point out to him that Vals is 3/4 time and then go on to show him several resources to back up my assertion. He waives that off to point out that there is a subtle difference in 6/8 time that makes it radically different from 3/4 time. Again shaking my head at him, I point out that they are the same thing, then go on to point out one thing that we both agree on which is this, when you are counting time in Vals, you count “One, Two, Three” with the primary beat being on the 1, and not the 3. Although there is a Vals rhythm, several in fact, that you can put to that so that emphasis is on the 3, and not the 1. Its very similar in temperature to the idea of Sincopa in Tango where you have a strong and a weak beat.

Naturally we agreed to disagree, and went back to our respective corners to argue another day (smile).

Noted reading so that we’re all on the same page:

Dos, Cuatro, Sincopa, and in case that link is dead, you can go here.
Also please look at this YouTube Video on Sincopa and Musicality.