Everyone who learns tango sooner or later hears that whoever dances the male role transmits the movement impulses to the lady from the chest.
“You have to lead with your chest, not your arms” is one of the instructions you often hear from tango teachers.
This is a standard sentence, especially when leading ochos.
But is that really true?
Of course it is right that a man should not pull the lady with his arms, tug her or force her in the direction he wants.
But on the one hand, “leading with your chest” is far too imprecise and doesn’t really describe how the impulse for the lead really works, and on the other hand, if you do it right, you can as well lead with your arms.
For example, I know a tango teacher who primarily “leads” gently but clearly with his fingertips. This isn’t what I do or recommend, but it works.
When dancing in an open embrace, if you do it correctly, you can easily use your arms to lead the lady´s movements. This opens up a variety of possibilities for the dancers to play with.
Where a man’s impulses are really transmitted primarily through the chest is when dancing in the close embrace.
However, here too the statement that one leads with the chest is too short-sighted and not really thought through.
The problem is that a fairly large part of men misunderstand this and turn their body around a vertical axis with too much force in order to lead ochos.
Unfortunately that vertical axis stays permanently between their legs.
This means that they do not shift their weight clearly from one leg to the other.
The result of this is that the lady does not receive the clear but gentle circular impulse that leads her into a pleasant backward turn, but is only thrown back and forth by the gentleman’s strongly wobbling shoulder movements.
Even if the gentleman doesn’t pull or push with his arms, it’s a rather unpleasant experience for the lady.
Well, you can do it that way (and too many men do that) and it somehow works, but it’s definitely not the best way to lead back ochos.
It is much easier, more pleasant and more elegant to simply use the dynamics of the movement.
This occurs when you accompany the lady’s backward steps with slightly diagonal steps while walking forward. It is important that the gentleman makes a pendulum movement and completely shifts his weight with each step.
It is also important that the gentleman maintains good posture, i.e. stands straight and neither bends forward nor backwards.
Through this straight posture, he allows his body to create all the necessary, subtle movements that he needs to not lead a backward “ocho” (from the not clearly defined chest), but simply let it happen in a pleasant way.
In our courses we of course practice this with the men, and it’s actually easier to show than to describe.
The men feel firsthand the difference between “leading with their chest” and “using the dynamics of the movement”.
Anyone who has experienced this will know without a doubt for the rest of their life as a tango dancer which is the more pleasant method that also puts a smile on the ladie´s faces.
You can find out more about the pendulum movement in tango here.
