Tango Lessons

When we teach Molineta in our courses, there are always two questions from the gentlemen.

How do I take the lady to the molineta?

How can I change the direction of the molineta?

The first question “How do I take the lady to the Molineta?” is easily answered: from every, really every position imaginable.

No matter whether from forward, back or side step, whether from open or crossed step.

The only thing the gentleman has to do is open the door for the lady and then continue to turn around his own axis with his upper body as calmly as possible.

As long as the gentleman turns, the lady follows this rotation as if she were constantly going through a revolving door.

If the gentleman wants to change the direction of the rotation, there is a simple trick to make this comfortable for the lady.

Of course, to stop the lady it would be enough to simply stop and stand still.

The problem is that for the lady this feels like the revolving door is being slammed shut in her face – very abrupt and unpleasant.

It is more pleasant to stop with your feet (no longer moving from the spot), but to rotate the upper body a little further so that the lady is stopped gently.

The lady feels the stop that occurs because the gentleman stops stepping. At the same time, her movement does not stop abruptly (due to the ongoing rotation of the man´s body), but continues a little further and is caught, as if in a safety net.

So it’s a two-step stop.

As soon as the rotation of the gentleman’s upper body has reached its end, both dancers are faced with a moment of pause, comparable to a pendulum that has reached its highest point before swinging back.

This pause is a moment of silence, a kind of taking a breath together, through which the gentleman tells the lady that things are now moving on in the other direction.

By rotating his body, the gentleman has of course built up tension (like a spring), which he can now use to give the lady a lot of momentum when he swings his upper body back. – A movement that most women love.

This change of direction can be made from every step of the molineta, regardless of whether it is a side step, a forward cross or a backward cross.

However, I find the change of direction to be most organic and beautiful in a cross step.

Important for the lady when changing direction from a cross step:

Some ladie´s believe that they always have to do an “ocho” at the peak of the pendulum movement, the moment of lingering (often happens from the forward cross. The lady makes a turn/pivot to continue with a forward cross in the opposite direction).

Yet that’s not the case. If no corresponding signal comes from the gentleman, the lady simply swings back again. That is, forward cross – pause – backward cross.

This post might also be helpful.

Little tango lesson: Use the pendulum movement to dance better

One of the first things we explain to participants in our tango classes is that the gentlemen (or whoever is “leading”) must tell the ladies before they want to do anything new.

But what exactly does that mean?

First example:

As long as the dancers are still standing in front of each other, i.e. have not yet taken a step in the room, the gentleman has to prepare the lady’s step.

From standing to walking, no matter which direction always means “something new”.

If the lady doesn’t get any impulse from the gentleman that she can adapt to and the gentleman just marches off without prior notice, this is at least unpleasant for the lady (possible worse consequences: the gentleman steps on the lady’s feet, bumps into her, throws her off her axis or even knocks her over).

Second example:

The men often begin the dance with a side step to the left (for the lady to the right), the so-called salida.

The salida is more or less perpendicular to the line of the dance. Most of the time however (though not always) the men want to continue in the line of the dance afterwards. This means a change of direction by 90°.

Sounds banal, but of course the gentleman has to inform the lady before making this change of direction because it is something new.

At first the lady only knows that she should take a step to the side. She cannot know what comes next, whether she should go backwards, forwards or to the side again.

Without the gentleman’s impulse she can only guess.

So how does the gentleman non-verbally tell the lady that something new is coming?

Simply through a micro-break, a moment of stillness in which both can realign themselves in their axis and readjust the movement (the inflatable dolphin is helpful for this and other micro-breaks, see link below).

Every time the gentleman straightens up on his axis and takes a deep breath, his energy moves upwards and with it that of the couple , like a pendulum at its highest point.

In this situation, changes in direction are easy and therefore this is the most common position to change direction.

Third example:

If the gentleman wants to stop during the caminada (the tango walk) because there is a “traffic jam” in front of the couple, or the music suggests circular movements instead of linear ones, this is something new.

Given that during the caminada the lady just walks straight backwards she doesn’t see what’s happening behind her.

If the gentleman does not inform her in time that she should stop, this stop will be very abrupt and therefore unpleasant for the lady.

So what does the gentleman do?

He slows down his movements so that the lady feels that something is changing.

Optionally (or additionally) the gentleman can also slightly! increase the pressure of his right hand on the lady’s back, or lower his hand slightly towards her waist to signal a stop.

If the gentleman wants to go on (something new again), he moves his hand up again, or reduces the slight pressure on the lady’s back and inflates the rubber dolphin.

For the lady, these are all unmistakable signals that the stop is over and movement will soon start again (also a signal to stop performing adornos).

In my experience, a significant part of the communication difficulties while dancing tango is due to the fact that the men do not tell the women in good time when they want to do something new, but rush through the tango talking a blue streak.

In case of doubt, it’s usually always better to take a break to give yourself and the lady the opportunity to adjust to everything new.

This makes your life as a tango dancer much more relaxed and therefore more enjoyable.

This article could also be helpful for you.

Tango and the inflatable dolphin – ???

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.

Use the pendulum movement to dance better

“And then we just sat there in frustration”

I hear that far too often from tango beginners who have realized to their chagrin that what they learned in their beginner’s course doesn’t help them at all in real life on the dance floor.

Therefore, at this point a little help in choosing a course, especially if you are still at the beginning of your tango career.

Are you looking for a tango beginner course?

Then you should ask yourself the question why you are doing this. Why do you want to learn tango?

Here are some answers:

1. You love tango music and want to dance to it in good company.
2. You are looking for a partner and want to get to know men/women (Good idea, Tango is ideal for this.)
3. Your husband/boyfriend would like to learn to dance tango with you.
4. Your wife/girlfriend would like to learn to dance tango with you.
5. You would like to become a professional dancer and be on the stage of a tango show.

Let’s be honest:

Point 5 is the least important motivation to learn Argentine tango among all the dancers that I have met so far.

Remain points 1 to 4, which in my experience are by far the most common.

And that means you want to have fun and not stress yourself out.

The good thing is that with Argentine Tango this is easily possible if you avoid the biggest and unfortunately common mistakes you can make on a beginner’s course (and well into intermediate level).

Mistake number 1:

You believe that you are good tango dancers if you know many figures and sequences by heart and can do them at any time, whatever the cost.

A mistake I made myself when I started to dance tango.

My first tango teachers kept asking us during the courses whether we were still working on our posture or musicality, or whether we would rather learn a new figure.

Stupid as we were back then, the whole group almost always shouted in unison “New figure!!!”

And our teachers, who had just started teaching and were perhaps still a little unsure, then showed us even more new figures. They were good at that too. I learned a lot of figures.

The bad thing was that I couldn’t dance it at any milonga because I almost never had the space for it.

So if your tango teachers want to work with you on the important basics, such as posture, contact within the couple and musicality, be grateful to them. It shows that they understand what tango is really about.

Be happy that they are not among those who don’t know much about tango and don´t know better than just cramming figures and sequences of steps into the dance.

Mistake number 2:

You think tango dancing must be exhausting and hard work.

Yes, tango dancing can be exhausting if you make it difficult. But nobody forces you to do that.

You can make life easy for yourself and dance tango easily and relaxed. This is entirely up to you when choosing your tango teacher and the way you dance.

So do yourself and everyone you dance with a big favor and don’t fall into the figure trap.

Mistake number 3:

You think that tango music is difficult to understand and, as a European, you can’t really hear tango music anyway. Unfortunately, many Argentinian tango teachers also believe that.

It’s true that hardly any of you in the golden era of tango were sucking tango music from your mother’s milk. But neither do most Argentines alive today.

Nevertheless, many in Europe assume that Argentinians must have tango in their blood. Why? I don’t know…

But I know one thing. Almost anyone can learn to listen to tango music and at least understand it enough to be able to dance to it beautifully.

And it’s not that difficult! You just have to take a little time to listen. And of course you need a tango teacher who will always encourage you to do the same.

Mistake number 4:

You think you’re a lone fighter in the jungle of the dance floor: “Me against the others.” Or “My partner and me against the others.”

At the beginning of my tango career, I always had the problem that I could never finish the figures I had learned by heart because every time someone was in the way. – Some kind of dance floor rowdy who just boldly danced in my way and blocked me. It goes without saying that I no longer took care concerning THAT Guy.

Of course it was NEVER my fault. I was just trying to dance the figures I learned in class.

And of course I never learned in my beginner’s course what to do when the dance floor gets a bit crowded.

Yes, our tango teachers had already given us some rules of conduct for the milonga.

(Something that obviously you cannot take for granted. In many dance schools, the teachers seem to know nothing about these rules of conduct or to consider them superfluous, as I keep hearing to my astonishment.)

So we knew a little about the codigos of the milonga but we had never practiced how to dance in harmony with all the other couples on a crowded dance floor. We were too busy learning more and more difficult figures dancing them in a rough-and-ready manner.

We hadn’t heard anything at all about the concept of the Ronda, the circle of all dancers, the harmonious togetherness on the dance floor. In the early days of the Tango Argentino Renaissance in Germany in the mid-1990s, nobody knew about such subtleties.

Unfortunately, there is still a number of dance schools today that don’t know anything about it, so they don’t tell their students about it and thus contribute to making their tango lifes unnecessarily difficult and frustrating.

Mistake number 5:

You think that you have to dance tango like you have seen it on “Tango Passion” or other tango shows in theater or television.

This is a huge misunderstanding.

The tango as a social dance, as it was traditionally danced in Buenos Aires, has nothing to do with the tango shows.

I love good tango shows, but dancing in the milonga, together with all the other dancers, is something completely different than a show that follows a fixed choreography. The dancers on stage are professionals with many years of dance experience who train hard for many hours every day.

As normal people who practice tango as a hobby, you can’t keep up and you don’t need to.

Even the professional dancers – and I know many of them – dance very differently in the milonga than on stage.

A tip for all gentlemen: Even very good tango ladies like to dance with beginners if these don’t try to unwind a program of figures that they don’t really master.

If you walk simply to the music in a nice and relaxed way, you will surely put a smile on the lady’s face.

So, if you are looking for a tango beginner’s course, perhaps in connection with a tango holiday, now you know a little better what you should focus on.

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Tanda is the name for a round of dances in Argentine tango.

This dance round (not to be confused with the ronda, the round of all dancers together on the dance floor) usually consists of three to four pieces by the same orchestra, which are also relatively similar.

The purpose of the tanda is, on the one hand, that the dancers can better adjust to the music that is being played and, on the other hand, that the round is officially over after these pieces of music and you have to/can/may look for a new dance partner .

That’s why you leave the dance floor after the tanda to give other dancers a clear view of potential partners for the next tanda (well, for couples freshly fallen in love who don’t dance with anyone else all night, there are definitely exceptions to this rule).

In any case, they swap regularly in this way so that everyone has the chance to dance with a new partner.

Also, if your dance partner hasn’t turned out to be sooo great, or you would just like to dance with someone else, you can stop dancing while saving face for everyone and without offending anyone.

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A short insertion:

In a traditional milonga the tandas are separated by the “cortina – the curtain”

The cortina is a piece of music of a completely different style or genre, obviously no tango, vals or milonga. The cortina is not meant for dancing but signals to everybody that the tanda has finished and that everybody should clear the dance floor.

The cortina can be any kind of music for example classical music, rock´n roll, jazz, pop, chansons whatever the DJ wants as long as it is clearly no tango. It is played only for a minute or so (in big milongas with more people who have to look for a new partner also a little longer). If there are many dancers who like the cortina and start to dance the DJ might play it longer for the fun of it. But that´s rather the exception and in very traditional milongas that´s not very likely to happen.

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Depending on what the Tango DJ’s “lay-on policy” is, a tanda consists of

• Three to four tangos (Concerning the tangos, this depends on the DJ, but you can expect a DJ to always play either three or four tangos at the same milonga)

With valses and milongas, which are usually a bit faster, there are normally only three in a row so that the dancers don’t sweat too much.

As a rule of thumb, the sequence of the tandas in a traditional milonga is always like this:

• Two tandas with tangos

• One tanda with milonga (or vals)

• Two tandas with tangos

• One tanda with vals (or milonga, depending whether the DJ started with vals or milonga)

Sometimes a tanda is also played with other music, such as salsa or boogie woogie, so that the milonga doesn’t get too serious. But that depends on the taste of the DJ or DJane.

This scheme is fairly reliable if you want to know which of the three rhythms of the tango (tango, vals, milonga) is to be played next.

Why is it important to know what music will be played in the next tanda?

Quite simply, because then, if available, you can choose the right dance partner for the next tanda.

After all, once you’ve had tango experience for a while, you don’t just invite anyone who’s available to dance no matter what the music is. Rather, if possible, you look for someone you believe will be a good fit to dance the next tanda with you particularly beautifully.

Argentines are particularly picky about this. But with increasing dance experience, I also have preferences when it comes to invite someone.

For example, I prefer to dance lively, swinging tango valses with dancers who have a little more experience, while I hardly ever ask an absolute beginner to do a vals tanda.

Not because I would generally not dance with beginners, I dance often and with fun with beginners. But I look for tandas with simpler music (e.g. slow tangos by Canaro), where even a lady with little dance experience can dance beautifully and enjoyably.

More complex pieces are simply overwhelming and confuse beginners (of both sexes) more than they are fun to dance to.

I have often heard in discussions among tango dancers that a really good dancer should be able to dance well with any lady to any music. But I don’t see it that way.

When it comes to the dancers who tell me this and claim that they can do it, I often have the impression that this opinion is due to their narcissism and/or lack of understanding for the music and the quality of the dance (or I am simply not a good enough dancer : – ).

Of course, there are also many tangos for which the choice of the “right” dance partner is not particularly important, which means that they are, to a certain extent, “suitable for the masses”.

WIth such tangos from my point of view, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to focus too much on a specific dance partner.

So, and now two more questions that I get asked again and again:

1. Do you have to dance a whole tanda with your chosen partner?

The answer to that is yes, unless that partner turns out to be really awkward, unkempt, or abusive. Then you can also break off the tanda prematurely (in some cases you should do that).

Otherwise, it is impolite to end the tanda prematurely. Even if the partner you choose doesn’t turn out to be the tango god or goddess you were hoping for, you can still dance three or four dances without that being the end of the tango world.

2. Can you still ask for the dance while the tanda is already running?

In principle yes (Argentinians, for example, often wait until they not only know which of the three tango rhythms will be played, but also which orchestra they will hear). However, it is considered impolite not to ask until the last dance of a tanda (in a four-tango tanda, for example, only at the fourth dance).

But you can also see that more relaxed among friends and good acquaintances.

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The Milonga, a place full of secrets and unwritten rules

What is the ronda?

What actually is a milonga?

I have already written about some of these rules.

And here’s another important rule.

After the tanda, escort the lady to her seat.

In a traditional milonga, the gentleman escorts the lady he was dancing with back to her seat after the tanda.

If the place is difficult to reach (for example, a table far from the dance floor), he takes her back to the place at the edge of the dance floor where they met at the beginning of the tanda.

It is, I think rightly, considered impolite to leave the lady standing on the dance floor after the tanda and simply disappear, without further ado, probably without even saying a word of goodbye.

There are a few ladies who find it strange when the gentleman escorts them back to their seat, somewhat old-fashioned. However, the vast majority of women like it and you can be sure that they will remember and like to dance with you again (unless, of course, you are an unpleasant dancer with poor hygiene. The women remember that too. But you don’t want to be that guy, or want you?)

I was credibly assured by several Argentine tango ladies that they would never again dance with a man who was so rude not take them back to their seat.

Of course there are exceptions to these rules.

For example, when the lady after the tanda meets friends on the dance floor with whom she would like to chat a little, if she has to go to the toilet, or does not want to go back to her seat for another reason.

Then all you have to do is to salute friendly and go your own way.

Incidentally, I’ve had very good experiences with the old-fashioned way of offering my arm to the lady I’m accompanying back so that she can hang her arm on mine. Then I am not just simply traipsing next to the lady, but I close the tanda in style. And, as I said, most ladies love it.

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Having used the word tanda a number of times in this article: What exactly is a tanda?

And what does milonga actually mean?

Anyone who starts dancing Tango Argentino will inevitably hear the term “milonga” again and again after a short time.

So the question arises, what actually is “milonga”?

Since milonga means several different things, one can get somewhat confused, especially as a tango beginner. However, the answer is not too difficult.

Originally, the milonga was a form of musical message transmission.

News was spread by traveling singers, the Pajadores, similar to the “Bänkelsänger” in Germany or the Italian “cantastoria”. The songs they sang were called milongas.

Today instead the milonga is better known as a dance, a forerunner of the Tango Argentino, which originated from the Candombe, a ritual dance of the African slaves.

The Tango Argentino does not only include the Tango, but also the Milonga and the Vals Cruzado or Vals Criollo (the Porteño adaption of the Viennese Vals).

The milonga as a dance is somewhat comparable to the polka, which also influenced it (immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe had the polka with them in their musical luggage).

This influence Europeanized the originally African dance, smoothened it and took away some of its originality. For example, the drums, which carry the rhythm and are a defining element in the candombe, are completely absent in most milongas.

The milonga is usually faster, happier and, you might say, earthier than the tango and is often referred to as the “cheerful sister” of the tango.

In contrast to the tango (at least from orchestras like Di Sarli or Pugliese), in which the pause, pausing during the dance, is an important element, in the milonga the rhythm is continuous, driving, originally in 2/4 time, later more often in 4/4 time.

The rhythm of the milonga always makes me think of gauchos galloping across the pampas on their horses: Dam dada dam dam, Dam dada dam dam :-)

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Here is an example of a fun milonga danced by Daniela Pucci and Luis Bianchi.

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There are two different types of Milonga, the Milonga Lisa, in which one step is usually danced on every strong beat, and the “Milonga Traspié”, where the dancers dance small, quick steps in a double time rhythm (for example three steps, dancing also on the “weak” beats ), or deke a movement in a certain direction, only to take it back again immediately (Traspié).

Dancing playfully with the rhythm, that you can do even in the smallest of spaces, helps to interpret the music better and to dance more interestingly even on a crowded dance floor. Even if this may sound complicated for some, it isn’t, because at the Milonga you tend not to make complicated figures.

In a milonga tango is danced as well as vals and milonga.

That brings us to the next meaning of the word milonga.

Milonga is also the name of a tango dance event that usually takes place regularly. The veteran tango dancers in Buenos Aires, who have been dancing tango day after day and/or night after night at a milonga for many years, are therefore not called tangueros, but milongueros.

And last not least the word milonga has still another meaning.

It also designates the venue where a milonga takes place.

Originally, a milonga was the place where black Argentines (both slaves and free) met to dance and it has retained this meaning – the place where you go to dance – to this day.

So you can go to a milonga as a tango dancer and dance the milonga there, though mostly you will dance the tango which is played more often.
Yet the milonga is inseparable from the tango, just as the polka is inseparable from the Viennese waltz.

Dancing milonga is really fun and not difficult.

I keep hearing that “you can’t dance milonga until you’ve had some experience of dancing the slower tango”.

It is then often given the aura of being difficult and unsuitable for beginners.

I think that’s outright nonsense.

From the very beginning, even as a complete beginner, I loved dancing milonga.

Most of the time I found it even easier than dancing tango.

Of course, the milonga has a different character than the tango. But once you know that, it’s not hard to learn. If you want to dance tango, you should definitely learn milonga as well, so that you don’t have to leave the dance floor frustrated at a milonga tanda because “…we haven’t learned milonga yet…”.

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One of the reasons I like tango is that I associate it with a certain feeling for style. Conjuring up a time that was not better but certainly more elegant.

More elegant certainly not everywhere where people danced in the streets and courtyards, but certainly in the milongas of the “golden age” of tango.

Back then it was unthinkable to go to a milonga badly or carelessly dressed.

And this wasn’t just valid for women.

With the blatant excess of women at that time, a man who was not well groomed and did not have a minimum of good manners had little chance of ever dancing with a woman.

Today that has changed. There are usually more women than men at the milongas and the pressure on men to maintain a certain style has decreased significantly.

That is unfortunate. Because as I said, in my opinion tango lives from the fact that it retains a certain style.

It doesn’t have to be old-fashioned. For example, anyone who knows the often freaky and creative outfits of “Chicho” Frumboli knows that style doesn’t have to be dowdy.

Baggy military trousers combined with a slightly worn-out baggy T-shirt and a towel soaked in sweat hanging from the waistband or the hip-pocket of the trousers may indicate a personal touch, but not an excessive sense of style.

Yet for me, style doesn’t just mean a reasonably well-groomed appearance, but also knowing and adhering to the codes of a milonga.

This does not mean that we must readily adopt everything that was valid a hundred years ago.

But many of the traditional milonga rules contribute to the fact that being together at the milongas is more respectful, friendlier, more pleasant for everyone and, as banal as it may sound, makes it a nicer experience.

An experience that I wish for every time I go to a milonga or a tango ball.

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Is there a foolproof way to avoid a “no”, inviting someone to dance?

Mirada and Cabeceo for men

Professional tango ladies are not easy to impress, especially when they have traveled extensively in the tango world. Sometimes the dancing skills of the other milonga visitors and the up-and-coming stars are ridiculed.

However, one dancer who can be found regularly in the milongas of Perugia and the surrounding area always receives great praise, even from the most critical tango divas.

And of course every lady wants to dance with him.

Stefano

Who the heck is Stefano?

Now a gentleman in “the best age” as the saying goes. Graying, mustache, alert look. He could play the experienced, cunning detective in a French crime novel.

What is Stefano doing to attract so much attention from the tango ladies? To be honest, not much.

His repertoire of steps is very manageable. Nevertheless, even the most demanding ladies lie in his arms completely relaxed and smiling happily.

So what’s his secret?

Well, Stefano dances very nicely with the music. That is the most important thing!

This is also the first thing that strikes tango dancers who have seen all possible (and a lot of impossible) kinds of moves, fancy steps and sequences and are unimpressed by dancers who want to show off their complete repertoire of figures.

Stefano on the other hand doesn’t stress his dance partners.

They don’t have to dance through dozens of combinations of steps, they can let themselves fall into the dance, into the music, completely relaxed.

Stefano dances confidently, with an overview of what is happening on the dance floor.

He would never jostle his lady into another couple. His dance partner can feel very safe.

Stefano is not a tango teacher. I don’t think that would suit him at all.

Nevertheless, you can learn a lot from him. At least if you want your dance partner to feel just as comfortable dancing tango as Stefano’s dance partners.

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Don´t fall into the figure trap

In my last article I wrote about how important it is for women to have a relaxed free leg.

If the free leg is not relaxed and loose, it cannot “perform” all the beautiful, sometimes spectacular movements in which the leg actually flies without effort.

All the movements become very cramped and can be performed only with a lot of work.

Even the caminada, normal walking in tango, becomes cramped and unnecessarily exhausting with a “working” free leg.

However, the difficulty for many dancers at the beginning of their tango career (and for dancers who want to learn the lady´s role) is that it is not so easy to relax the free leg.

The problem is that we mistakenly think that we have to work with the free leg, after all it’s the free leg that makes these movements and draws the main attention.

So far so good, but why is this article now called standing leg, standing leg, standing leg?

This is where a little trick comes into play, which we use successfully in our courses.

The opposite pole to the relaxed free leg is the standing leg, which is responsible for carrying our body and keeping us on our axis.

All the movements of our free leg do not start from that free leg, as many assume, but from the body and the standing leg, even if these perform their tasks almost invisibly and quite unspectacularly.

The free leg just hangs loosely relaxed on the hip bone and only moves when the body and/or supporting leg move, similarly to a puppet (albeit without strings :-).

A quirk of our body is that, to put it bluntly, it’s always trying to shovel energy to where our brain tells us we need it.

The corresponding body parts are put into working mode, other body parts that are not needed remain relaxed or are relaxed again.

So if our ladies are having trouble relaxing that free leg, we advise them to think only one thing: Standing leg, standing leg, standing leg.

This almost always solves the problem very quickly. All energy goes where it is needed, namely in the supporting standing leg,

The brain forgets the free leg and this can finally swing happily, relaxed and freely.

Another post that might interest you.

Important for all ladies who dance tango: the relaxed free leg