Tango Traditions

Tradition.

Such a common word in our tango world: traditional milongas, traditional dance, traditional music... The milongueros promote the traditions, the neos break-up with them up, the dancers from Villa Urquiza abide by them and others seem to hate them because they limit their freedom. Ok, I am polarising, but how often was I called a tango-nazi, because I suggest the use certain guidelines at tango events! This post is to demonstrate how fluid the concept of traditions in tango actually is and how careful one has to be with these expressions.

What's that?

Wikipedia says: "A tradition is a belief or behaviour passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past."

I find traditions quite neat, because they provide guidelines about how to behave and put things into a larger (historical) context. Conservatives have their traditions, as have communists or anarchists. My group of friends has its traditions, e.g. meeting every year for dinner on X-Mas eve. Whenever a couple of people stay connected for a longer period, some form of tradition will appear.

The "codigos" represent an important part of tradition for a large population in tango.

But here's the problem: Tango as a dance had basically disappeared after the 50s. Milongas and dance halls closed or turned to playing new styles of music like Rock’n Roll. Only few people continued dancing tango and this was either in the sheltered environment of their families or as stage dancers. So when tango-dancing had its revival in the late 70s one could not just take up where it had stopped. There was no "unbroken tradition" of the dance and its rules of behaviour.

To specify: Over 20 years, the dance had mostly been preserved by the stage dancers who promoted a glamour version, upgraded with elements of classical and ballroom dance. So what the world was presented as tango argentino was far removed from the original social dance. Only in the late 80s and 90s, the "old milongueros" finally felt encouraged to tell their story about “the real” tango. Hurrah! Yes, but... actually most dancers of the golden era had passed and tango-culture had been suppressed in the years of dictatorship. Many of those who now emerged as connoisseurs had still been very young in the golden era and experienced it second-hand via their elders. Yes, there were also older dancers with very specific memories, but we all know the process of retroactive glorification and how little valid information actually is preserved in our minds over a stretch of 20-40 years. Right? So everyone told a different story. A lot of knowledge about how tango was danced and celebrated had been lost. Some of that is being re-discovered by serious research until day.

So, let’s be honest: the reanimation of tango culture was also a very complex re-invention and a lot of what we think we know is pure myth.

I discovered tango in 1995 and started taking it more seriously in 2000. I was lucky because my most influential german teachers (Just + Christel Kuhl) back then visited Buenos Aires on a very regular basis. They were seriously trying to grasp the real thing and felt a strong need to distinct their milongas from the many places where tango escenario or the free forms of tango nuevo were cultivated. “Authentic” milongas were still rare and ours was one of the first in Germany. If one can call it that...

Because every time my teachers visited BA, they came back with new, sometimes wild stories that painted a diverse pictures of tango culture - all of them authentic. You think that invitations in BA were always and everywhere done by mirada + cabeceo? Nope. At some milongas it was totally fine for men to ask a women directly. At others you had to get permission from her mother or husband. In other places they used early variations of mirada and cabeceo. I remember that one story when Christel had rejected a mirada of an elder milonguero and he came to their table, started jerking it up and down until he had intimidated poor Christel into dancing with him. The same goes for musical set-ups. You believe that tango was always presented in tandas and with cortinas? Far from it! One of the most renowned Argentinean djs who toured Europe in the early 2000s was Felix Picherna. As far as I remember, he did not use any cortinas, he changed the amount of tangos, milongas and valses randomly and he sometimes even mixed all three styles in one tanda. So in these years, when the authentic social dance of the porteños was being spread all around the world, it was in no way clear, what authentic actually meant.

You notice that I am still not using the term “traditional”, because back then, I did not not hear it that often. It might not even have been used in BA, because it had always been obvious, that in milongas one danced tango de salón, social tango. This differentiation from stage tango seemed to be enough to define the "what and how". The rest of the "rules" varied depending on the milonga or was vague. There was not ONE tango tradition. There were as many as milongas or at least as barrios.

This means, that when our tango community organised their first “Milongas como en Buenos Aires” to promote the “authentic tango of the porteños”,we had to make a choice about what this implied.

From what I can tell from conversations with Argentinians the same process happened in Buenos Aires, where the big influx of tango tourists and young people created a need for civilisation and specification. Unsaid guidelines had to be transferred into “reglas” and “codigos”. A common denominator had to be defined. And to implement these codigos, it helped to base them (at least virtually) on tradition. This is where the term “traditional” became important: “This is how we always did it, these are our traditions”, helped to make people respect the guidelines. Back then, I was not so much aware of this creative process, but looking back I find it amazing, how everyone helped to actually shape a common set of traditions.

So these are the "traditional" codigos that I have witnessed being implemented over the last 25 years:

Dancing in an unbroken embrace: The actual form of the embrace (parallel close, v-form, a little open...) always depended on the pre-dominant style of the alpha-dancers in a community. At encuentros milongueros, we now often find a more or less parallel close embrace, but no one will be expelled for loosening the embrace a bit once in a while.

Use of “classical” music: Around the turn of the millennium, this would include non-argentine old tangos or contemporary orchestras. In the early years of encuentros (2008-14), contemporary orchestras were pretty much undesirable and musical choices were limited to extended golden era: the late 20s to the late 50s. In recent years, the custom of using newer and contemporary orchestras has made a revival. Some djs now play exclusively 40s-60s + contemporary. This is totally a matter of personal taste and the directions that the organisers of specific events give.

Presentation of music in tandas and with cortinas: Tandas seemed to used quite early, at least as far as I can think back. It also makes sense to imagine them in golden age milongas, where the orchestras played shorts sets of similar music, but this is pure speculation. The introduction of short cortinas took definitely longer. See below.

Constant movement in the ronda and certain guidelines on how to do so: It took many years to fine tune the system. When I started teaching in 2001, it was e.g, still ok to overtake other couples in the ronda and we practised it in classes. Nowadays you won't see anyone doing it. If it is a good ronda.

Invitation by mirada and cabeceo: The concept of mirada and cabeceo itself developed hugely from “guy getting up and instead of asking verbally, just nodding from a short distance” over “guy looking and nodding, but staying seated” to a bidirectional process in which partners choose actively. And to take advantage of this form of invitation you needed a specific set-up of the location. In our home milonga e.g. the dance floor was on one side of the room and everyone was seated at tables on the other facing in all directions. To allow for better m+c, we changed the seating so that a central dance floor with tables around it was created. Now everyone could potentially make eye-contact with everyone else without having to get up or break their necks. As you can see, I don't see this specific seating arrangement as a tradition, more a necessity to allow for one.

Leaving the pista after a tanda to be free to dance with another person and to allow for mirada and cabeceo: At some moment, it became more common to change partners frequently and not to stick too long with one partner. This was also when cortinas had to implemented, because the organisers had to make sure, that everyone cleared the floor at the same time. Amongst porteños, a cortina might not have been necessary, because everyone knew the orchestras and therefore knew when to sit down again. That is, when the dj even played tandas. 

Apart from the quite common codigos, other "traditions" where typical for certain sub-groups amongst the social dancers or certain milongas:

Separate seating: This set-up is used in some milongas in BA, only very few outside of BA and some more - but by far not all - encuentros milongueros. Please note that the first encuentros (Raduno Milonguero in Impruneta, YSM in Crema, Les Cigales, then the FCA) were very social gatherings where no-one would have thought of separating men and women. This developed later, when fans of milongas like the Cachirulo in BA started organising encuentros. It is in now way universal in the "traditional" tango world.

Elegant attire: I guess that was always very much depending on where and when you lived. A lot of milongueros in BA will be proud to dress very neatly as do most Italians dancers. But just go to an encuentro or so-called "traditional milonga" anywhere else and you'll find all kinds of clothing styles, including jeans and flat shoes for women. Sometimes there will be one "elegant milonga" during an encuentro, but even then the term will be interpreted very individually. We stopped announcing the gala milonga on Saturday evening of our FCA after several people complained about Detlef's too casual outfit. Yup...

There is one other "tradition" that for me actually is a non-tradition, but that I need to discuss here, because it has become relevant in recent discussions on social media:

Mandatory gender-typical dance roles:
Myth has it that tango in the olden days was danced among men and you can also find vintage pictures with women dancing together. But as far as I can tell, dancing the non-gender-typical role was never very common, so one could call the dance of men with women a tradition in most couple dances.
Yet in my tango-world, this vague tradition never resulted in the declaration of a codigo.
My first teacher in 1995 was a leading women as well as the second. It did not strike me in any way weird, because it was obvious that women would be more interested in dancing and become engaged in it. When I discovered “authentic” tango, I for the first time met a few people who opposed the idea of leading women, but even my conservative teachers would not forbid it at their milongas. As long as only a small number of women would lead and almost no men follow, it was never a big deal. I soon started leading a bit - it was the logical thing to do, in particular as I started teaching in 2001. Why would one only want to see one side of the medal? And I was not the only one, wherever I went in the next 19 years - at every festival, milonga (traditional or not) or encuentro milonguero - I met leading ladies and - much more seldom - following men.
The same goes for BA. Yes, dancing the unconventional roles seems still to be frowned upon in a majority of the conventional milongas, but it still exists and always did. I remember one special occasion: Detlef and I had given a demo in the conservative “A Puro Tango” milonga in Salon Canning. I think it was in 2007. In spite of the intimidating setting, I decided to lead a young lady. Coming from the dance floor we got stopped by an older women. Instead of criticising, she complimented us and next invited my friend for the a tanda - by the way verbally. I then went on dancing with male milongueros who did not shun me for having lead. I had expected problems - there were none.
But that has changed in recent years: A strong need to restrict dancers to the gender-typical roles has developed alongside and because of the fact, that more and more people started changing roles. The increased role-fluidity applies not only to "non-traditional" queer-tango or open-role-events. Many of the "traditional" events like encuentros milongueros invite dancers to register as followers, leaders and double-rolers to create a role- rather than a gender-balance. You can now even see men dancing together at the oldest existing encuentro in Italy. This would not have been imaginable when it started in 2008.
But this is starting to bug a part of the community. I think that what we are experiencing is a formerly marginal phenomenon that expands into mainstream and thereby causes a radicalisation of those who had before just mildly rejected it. They become hyper-traditional and react accordingly, e.g. by organising events in which the dance in a gender-a-typical role is not only frowned upon but actually forbidden. I find this regrettable but also understand it as a natural course of human behaviour as we can see in all other fields of society and politics. I hope it will - after a period of friction - dissolve in a new, freer handling of this specific question.

So... traditions... a difficult concept in tango!

As a dancer, organiser, teacher and even blogger I have not only seen them evolve, put into a logical context and specified, I have actually consciously participated in this process of "traditionalisation". This is why I am also critical towards the over-usage of the word. It could be understood in a broader sense, because there have always been guidelines to bring order into the chaos of our tango world. But they have not been carved in stone by some tango god in the epoca d'oro and were never universal. They always varied in different communities and are constantly being adapted to the needs of each new generation of dancers. Some codigos are very recent developments.

I am now using mirada and cabeceo for invitations. But who knows, what the future will bring? Most likely a special app for the phone. I will surely be amongst the first who try it out.

Because tango is no anachronistic role-playing game. It is real life. 


A more personal note:
People always assume that we are very old fashioned aka "traditional" because we dance a rather unspectacular social dance in a close embrace and promote the usage of the main codigos at our events. But already from what I've written above, you can see, that you have to be careful with labels. If you then take into consideration, that we use tango nuevo as a teaching method, that I dance both roles, that we teach beginners both roles consequently from the beginning, that we change roles as teachers constantly, that at our events, there is always a large number of double-rolers... well? And there is no separate seating at our events. Won't be before hell freezes over! So... yup traditional... One does not need to do high voleos and open the embrace or cut the ronda to live in the modern world!

Incompatibilities

In this very nerdy tango-related post, I want to point out, how some common follower’s techniques or habits can make improvisation and navigation difficult and a comfortable embrace or good connection hard to achieve. 

I know that this post might antagonise female dancers - as much as my last blog was popular amongst women. Please be assured, that I do not write to insult or criticise, but to help create more awareness about the outcome of specific tango techniques. 

I am here not speaking about beginners who are struggling with their posture and actually might not yet have a technique. This is why I will not comment on issues that are considered as "mistakes", no matter what approach you follow: bad posture, a general lack of control over tension and relaxation, not carrying the weight of your arms, hanging on your leader or pushing too hard against him/her, stepping away from your partner, not knowing the music, not actively taking spaces...

Let’s assume that a dancer with some experience has sorted out most of those issues or is as least aware of them.

I am explicitly addressing "advanced" followers. You will dance at Milongas, Encuentros and Marathons. You look super elegant and do the most complex moves with ease. You might even be a successful teacher or performer. But that does not mean that your techniques are universal or helpful in all situations or with all partners. 

Don’t get me wrong: I do not think, that followers should have to adapt to every technique of any leader. On the contrary, that is the leaders job as well. I will, e.g. not pivot when not being given the space to build up my top-to-down spiral. But I will usually find a way to make the movement happen without having to compromise my ideas. Or I will not do so, being aware that this leader might not want to dance with me again. It is my choice. But I assume, that very few followers consciously want to hurt their partners or block movements. This is why I will describe advantages and disadvantages of techniques and habits.

I am aware that how I useful I find a technique, is defined by my priorities. Let me point them out:

• A soft embrace and deep connection
• Organic and comfortable movements
• Real improvisation
• Musicality
• Social dancing

As I have written before: for me as a social dancer, it is about how it feels from the inside and not how it looks from the outside. Elegance is a plus, but no top priority. And my priorities determine the techniques and concepts that I use and teach.

Other teachers or dancers have different priorities and will therefore use differing concepts and techniques. So when I am disappointed by someone’s technique, another leader might be perfectly happy dancing with the same person.

Before shrugging off my blog as the quirky ideas of a mediocre dancer, please remember that I have been teaching for 18 years all over Europe and the USA. Therefore: If a follower’s techniques are incompatible with mine, they might be incompatible with others as well. Not least with the ones of my teaching partner. How often do you think that Detlef is disappointed by how uncomfortable a dance was and by how little he could improvise? I still remember when he came back from a milonga in Rome, almost having cried on the dance floor, because none of the women was willing to do a shift of weight to their right foot.

In this blog, I am mainly writing from the perspective of a leader. Let me comment on that as well:

As a teacher, it was alway my standard to understand whatever we do in class from the perspective of both roles and be capable of leading it. This is why all of the following observations have been confirmed in the class context as well as on the social dance floor. In a crowded ronda, in a close embrace, I usually stick to simpler movements than in class: variations of the walk, milonguero ochos, simple turns… The more disappointing it is, when some of these very basic moves will absolutely not function.

Sure, I (like any other leader, also Detlef) make mistakes, but please be assured, that after so many years of in-detail analysis, I will always be able to tell, why a movement did not function in a given moment. So when I could not step out to the right lane, I might not have prepared this properly by turning my leg in the hip and by this opening a space. But it might also have been the follower’s doing, because she did not open her left side due to her asymmetric embrace. In this complex dance and communication, both partners contribute to the successes and failures. This post is about the follower’s part in the interaction.

My dear friend Ms Hedgehog has recently written a great blog on what it takes to be a good social dancer. She focusses on the positive aspects and I agree with everything she writes. But because of being my usual critical self, I will rather present a list of techniques and habits that can make the dance less agreeable or even limit improvisation significantly. 

The order below is coincidental.

1. Projection of the free leg

This is commonly taught by teachers with the idea of "making space for the leader’s front step". With the tiniest invitation, the follower will project her free leg to an extended position using a significant amount of muscular control in this leg. 

Advantages of this technique:

• Lazy leaders get super results. They just hint at something and the follower will terminate the whole move on her own.
• Looks very elegant because the legs are nicely extended.

Disadvantages of this technique: 

• The leg is not really free and lead-able. Changing the length or speed of a step, as well as re-directing or stoping the movement is much harder, because the leg is already on a trajectory towards an anticipated direction. Therefore improvisation and musicality will be limited. 
• Often, this technique inhibits small steps altogether, because the leg will be extended into a long step on principle. This will endanger navigation on the social dance floor. It is not always the fault of the leader when a follower runs into other dancers and hurts them by stepping down with a lot of energy. 
• Loss of connection. When dancing with a follower who uses this technique, I will only feel connected in the initial moment of the movement, but during the transfer the connection is lost because her leg moves independently from her gravity centre. I would like to feel connected on every inch of the transfer.

What we teach: We concentrate on pushing from the supporting leg and letting the free leg move with the gravity centre like a pendulum. It is relaxed and has roots in the floor. Thanks to this approach, we also never have to think where to put this leg. Agreed: It looks less elegant.

2. Closing the position as quickly as possible

This technique is often connected to the projection of the leg and has the same advantages and disadvantages. In particular traspiés (or rock-steps) are difficult to communicate because they happen in the open position and leaders often have to stop those followers with their arms in order to prevent an automatic closing.

What we teach: a closing will eventually happen by a complete transfer of axis onto the new supporting leg and coming back (up) to a straight leg.

3. Overactive rotation of the hips and automatic pivoting

A lot of teachers stress that the hips most be rotated as quickly as possible in order to allow for speedy pivots with a big angle. 

Advantages:

• Leaders, who don’t want to dissociate get super results.
• Pivots and ochos remain a follower’s movement and nothing in the leader’s body will distract from it. (Or this is what a famous teacher once told me.)

Disadvantages:

• Basically the same as in 1, because improvisation and connection are inhibited. Ever tried to lead a milonguero ocho (without pivots) with such a follower? Or just change the angle of rotation in a pivot? Impossible, because she will automatically rotate her hips to a maximum. Or try rotating your upper body towards your partner to compensate for an offset of feet: she will most likely pivot a little and therefore the next step might go into a different direction than intended. Walking in crossed system is often impossible and unintended crosses happen. 

What we teach: Lazy hips. A rotation will only happen when it is communicated by an opening of space around the axis of the follower, so that she can create a spiral in her body from top to down. No opening equals no pivot.

4. Step on one line

A lot of teachers ask followers to walk on a virtual line, therefore they will position one leg behind the other when walking backwards or forwards. 

Advantages:

• This is elegant because the position will always look closed. Leaders who change direction with almost every step, might never notice the disadvantages of this technique.

Disadvantages: 

• Try walking front-to-front with such a follower’s technique for more than 2 steps. It feels very weird, because she will aways position her free leg directly where you want to go with your next step. You constantly have to compensate by opening your position laterally. Later have her walk on two lines and follow her free leg. That will feel completely different.

What we teach: Step on two neighboured lines.

5. Have musical automatisms

A lot of followers will automatically double the speed in a number of movements: the Ocho Cortado, the cross, the back and side step of the molinette structure… This comes from teaching steps linked to fixed rhythmical patterns and I cannot find any advantages in this approach.

Just imagine: I want to lead a turn in normal speed to slow music, starting with the back step of the follower - I invite her to pivot and - whooosh - she’s already finished the turn. ARGH!

Also the contrary is a problem: you might want to speed up for a longer time because the melody says 12341234 (think D’Arienzo), but she slows down after the second step (123_), because she is used to quick-quick-slow patterns. It will be impossible to interpret the melodic rhythm.

What we teach: Adapt the movement to the music. Don’t ever memorise a rhythmical pattern with a figure. Learn any step/figure in a default variation (normal of half speed). Then practise changing speed in every possible position.

6. Have movement automatisms

The result of traditional step learning is that followers (and leaders) will develop very strong preferences for certain movements and are often incapable of dancing variations. 

I mentioned above how Detlef often does not succeed in inviting followers to do a simple shift of weight to the right foot because they block the movement. No problems changing to the left.

Sorry, but I cannot think of any advantage in creating these strong habits, so I am just going to point out some of the typical habits:

• Dancing a cross only on the usual side and expecting to be "forced" into a cross with the right left in front of the left leg instead of just reacting to the same leading mechanism on the other side.
• Being used to stepping forward with the left food in the "8-count-basic", but blocking any front-to-front forward movement with the right foot. Walking forward with the right leg on the outer lane in an ocho cortado might still work, but stepping forward into the space of the leader just will not function. Trying to prepare this step forward, I had followers change leg, turn their hips or even fall onto me, because they rather do a volcada than stepping forward with their right leg. Ask Detlef to tell you his story of that very tall and heavy follower doing a volcada instead of a front step. His back was hurting for days!
• Cross or uncross automatically. Do you know, how many variations there might be around the traditional cross - apart from doing it on the other side as mentioned above? And did you know that you might prevent a leader to walk on the outside lane for a longer period, because you cross automatically after 2 steps? Are you expecting him to "block" the crossing?
• Automatically projecting your leg into a back step after a pivot because you expect an ocho to happen. What if the leader takes the pivot back?
• Automatically rotating the hip to a neutral position after a back or front step in a turned movement, because you expect a side step to happen. This result of lifelong molinette practise will prevent any variation in turns.

The list is endless. Unfortunately, these automatisms prevent everything that goes away from the traditional patterns as well as any real improvisation without fixed patterns, based on freely linking the smallest elements.

Sure, if you dance with a leader who repeats patterns without actually communicating them, it helps to know them in order to make the dance work. But do you really want to be so unflexibel?

What we teach: Be prepared for any movement in any given moment. Also: Relax the free leg and let it fall towards the floor with its own weight, so that your body is also physically prepared to react naturally to unusual and/or subtle movements. 

A note: Yes, dancing with leaders who really improvise can be challenging and might feel stressful. Even I sometimes enjoy dancing with someone more predictable, in particular when I am tired. But I would not always want to dance that way.

A second note: Dancing with very creative leaders requires much more focus on the communication, so there won’t be much capacity left for decorations. You either have to ask more actively for the time/space to decorate or skip decorations altogether. Which is what I do. And you won’t see a lot of followers who are dancing with Detlef do a lot of firuletes either.

A third note: Yes, even Detlef has these automatisms because he learned tango based on steps before we started teaching and breaking up these patterns. In the first years, we also taught more figures but nowadays, we seldom teach steps anymore. And if we do so, we will vary them in manifold ways to prevent automatisms. This is why some of our students dance much more freely than we do. 

7. Push with the head

I don’t think that any teacher consciously instructs followers to drop their head or to push their forehead against the leaders right cheek or forehead. But a lot of advanced dancers do so because of misunderstood cuddling or the wish to imitate the aesthetics of famous dancers. 

Advantages:

• Looks feminine?

Disadvantages: 

• Starts hurting after a while because of increased tension of neck-muscles. 
• Leaders move their head into a left-bent position to get out of the way. (I once watched Detlef tilt his head more and more to the side because of the follower invading his space with her head. He looked really stupid.)
• Inhibits movements to the so-called closed side. (See 7.)
• Often has a negative effect on stability of axis, even without the pushing.

What we teach: Hold the head upright and in line with your spine. Search for head contact only if it is anatomically possible.

8. Push with the right arm and/or asymmetrical embrace

A high tension in the right arm of the follower is very often taught in combination with a stable v-frame. Often followers are told to give resistance so that force (or at least tension) can be applied to communicate pivots. In the v-embrace, the other side is often closed and the two shoulders will usually be much nearer than the ones on the so-called open side. I know that v-hold does not necessarily imply a pushing arm, but the problems created are comparable.

The positive effects of this technique:

• I am not sure, but one obviously does not need dissociation. A follower can remain more passive and let herself be pushed or pulled into pivots. The strong frame might also increase stability when doing automatic pivots with a spiral starting below (see above). It is certainly easier than doing pivots actively by creating a spiral from top-to-down. 

The negative effects of the technique:

• Any pushing or tension in the arms just feels less comfortable and starts hurting after a while. Even Detlef (who works out on a regular basis) can sometimes barely stand the pain a fragile follower causes with her strong right arm. You don’t believe me? Ask him.
• With a right rigid arm, the follower pushes herself into an asymmetrical position. So even if a v-shape is not intended, an open and closed side are created. You can see that with many "milonguero" dancers who are starting out with a parallel chest-to-chest position, but then open to a v-hold in ochos or turns.
• A general v-hold or pushing arm results in movements feeling uncomfortable or even being impossible into one direction. Try to walk on the right outside lane in parallel system with a follower who pushes with her right arm or brings her left shoulder so much forward that she cannot dissociate to the left anymore. You won’t succeed. Most likely it won’t even be possible to walk straight without her pulling you to the right side, because she not only opens her right side but also turns her hips with her as a result. This makes navigation really hard. And please examine your back-ocho technique: there will often a nice opening for an organic pivot on the follower’s right leg, but the pivot on her left leg is initiated by the leader pulling her with his right arm.  Or she will pivot automatically. I find it illogical to use different techniques on the two sides.
• In general v-shape will also affect all musicality as it inhibits free change of speed and step length on both sides. (This is a huge topic!)

What we teach: Have soft arms. We want to embrace, not to have a stable "frame". We connect and exchange information in the centre. The leader opens spaces that the follower takes actively. We are therefore searching for a parallel position of the upper bodies and want to be free to execute all movements comfortably to both sides.

Note: When dancing with a leader who uses either active pushing/pulling with the arms or at least relies on the stable frame for building up a tension for a pivot, I will not compromise my priorities and start pushing, but rather find other ways to make the movement work: Either create a counter-spiral in the body or not pivot and reach the end position by doing a milonguero-ocho. My arms remain soft.

9. Dropping, lifting or swinging the hips

Sometimes this comes from the wish to look sexy and might result in a slight difficulty of taking steps back speedily. But very often such a hip movement comes from consciously or inadvertently wanting to pull the free leg to the axis in the end phase of movements. In dynamic steps the phenomenon might not occur, because the initial push is enough to transport the axis fully to the new leg, but try a very slow transport of axis in a back step of the follower. In the last moment it might feel, as if the follower is breaking away and her axis gets wobbly.

What we teach: The hips remain calm and parallel to the floor. The transfer of axis is done by the former supporting leg that pushes until the axis is above the new leg in particular in slow motion.

10. Be overactive

A lot of advanced followers seem to think, that they constantly have to do something in order to dance interestingly or musically. They will decorate, insert double steps, change weight without invitation, move, move, move. They never stand still. Being calm equals being boring. Right?

This is very handy for leaders who do not have a clear leading technique or who are un-inspired, but I think that constant activity makes it impossible to build up a more intimate connection. Sure, feel free to fill spaces, to add to the dance, to give input to the leader. But please: don’t move all the time. Can we not just stand for a second. Slow down? Enjoy the embrace? Just listen to this tiny piano fill? Just honour the end of the phrase? Does tango have to be so nervous?

When I dance with a guy who expects me to act all the time without inviting me properly, I might do so. For a short while. But then I usually get bored, because of the lack of interaction and communication. So I might just stand and embrace. You’d be surprised at what can happen then! 

So. This is it. Sorry to be a know-it-all. 

I am aware, that every dancer will make her personal choices. I always assure our students, that our techniques are just options amongst many. But I am strongly doubting that everyone actually makes conscious choices. I so wish that advanced dancers were more aware of their techniques and possible outcomes. Not only for the sake of the leaders, but for your own comfort and clarity. So that you can make better informed choices!


P.S.
Some might think, that they now understand our entire technical concepts. Nothing I can do about it, apart from saying: buy our Book + DVD Caminar Abrazados and you'll how much more there is to it. Or visit one of our classes. You might be surprised. And no, I am not ashamed of self-advertising. ;-)

Beanpoles & Backbends

A couple of weeks ago, I was at a marathon-encuentro mixer. It was a well organised event in a beautiful city, I met a few (not many) old friends... but that‘s not what I want to write about.

This article is an instructional paper. I usually don‘t use this medium for teaching purposes. I teach in class or via my book+DVD. But the majority of people I want to reach with this information might not visit our (Detlef's and my) classes or buy our product and I don‘t want to criticise my partners during a Milonga. This is why I decided to broach the issue of „la postura“ in my blog, something that I've been wanting to do for a couple of years. Yesterday, a young lady encouraged me to do so. 
(Many, many more details about this topic can be found here.)

Anyway...

The above mentioned event was populated by lots of lovely, mostly young dancers, who come from a marathon background. They are inventive in their movements, have an interesting musicality and dance - as this is the custom nowadays - in a close(r) embrace. So you would think, that I must have enjoyed it a lot. I did, but there was also a problem: very often, my back started hurting. It did not hurt before dancing and it usually does not cause any problems at all. Yes, I am older than most of the young ladies at this event, but I am not yet that old and I do Yoga on a regular basis. I am not as bendy as a gymnast, but I manage well enough, thank you, sir!

So this post is about where I believe that the pain in my back came from.

Many marathony dancers used to dance in open embrace originally or have learned from teachers who still do or did so in the past. That is totally fine and we often also use open embrace in our classes out of pedagogical reasons. But, as we want to dance in a close embrace at a Milonga, we teach a posture, that will work out no matter which distance you choose. Please be aware, that many teachers who used to dance in open embrace don‘t. Although they might dance close embrace nowadays, they might not have updated their concept of a posture but stick to the original idea of the leader standing very upright, with the bodyweight distributed over the whole foot. Kind of an ideal everyday posture, like a perfectly upright beanpole. It might look like this:

Looks fine, doesn‘t it?
But if you use this posture in close embrace, you will "force" your partner to either lean on you or stick out her butt in order to create a chest contact and still have enough space for the feet. Because only few teachers nowadays encourage dancing „apilado“ (off axis, leaning) and most women feel uncomfortable weighing on their partners, many followers will instinctively choose option two. It allows them to keep their gravity centre above their feet. This posture might look like this:

Silly, eh?
When dancing with a partner in a close embrace, it might not look quite as crass and some even find it sexy. But I can tell you: it is not healthy. Dancing with a constant backbend compresses the vertebrae, uses a lot of muscular tension, inhibits natural dissociation and does actually interrupt the flow of the leading signals from top to down. If a communicative signal is supposed to „run through“ the axis, should it not remain unbroken?
Let us not speak about the long-terms downsides of such a posture. Many yoga teachers nowadays abstain from encouraging their students to aim for hyper-flexibility because they know about the risks of such a practise. So please keep in mind: You (or your lovely partner) will not be young forever, but you might still want to dance Tango without hurting.

Ok, everyone knows that the spine is naturally curved. Depending on your personal physique, you may see a more or less defined curve when standing upright and looking at yourself from the side. We don‘t want to work against that, e.g. by pulling the the hips downwards or even tilting them forwards. 

We just suggest that you stand straight, but shift the body weight a little more to your metatarsals. Not to the toes though, because we don‘t want to lose our balance and lean onto our partner. This little adaptation will allow you to dance in a close embrace and you will still have space for your feet. It might look like this:

The difference to the posture above is minimal, but it changes everything, because now both partners can stand upright: 
(Please don‘t tell me, that I stick out my butt as well. What you see are the natural curves of my spine and well... the rest of my body. The only way to get rid of those would be to go on a stricter diet.)

So, in my opinion, these are your options of dancing without forcing yourself or your partner into an unhealthy posture or dancing off-axis:

1. If you (as a leader) don‘t want to change your posture, because you are used to a certain form of stability by having part of your bodyweight above your heel: Fine. Keep your posture, but dance in a more open embrace. There is nothing wrong about it and it does not mean that you have to dance unsocially. You might take up a little more space in the ronda, but if you pay attention, everything will be ok. 
Look at the following video of Gustavo Naveira and Giselle Anne. Both of them stand very upright most of the time and open the embrace, when they need more space for their feet and legs. In any case, Giselle Anne does not have to stick out her behind. (Nevertheless: don‘t do all the stuff that they are dancing at a Milonga, please.)

2. Adapt your posture to allow for both partners to keep their spine upright. If you still don‘t know how, please work with specialised teachers.
Check out a dancing video that we made for our DVD. I have chosen it, because you can often see us from the side and the light allows for a good visibility. You can also watch an initially faulty posture changing to the better: Check out the first couple of seconds when we go into the embrace. In the beginning, Detlef is standing with his body weight a little bit too much towards his heels. His mistake! In order to create a connection, I then break my axis and lean my upper body towards him. I should not have done that, but maintained my posture and therefore show him how to position himself, as I tell our students. My mistake!
Fortunately (whilst already being in the embrace) Detlef also shifts his weight to the front of his feet and all of a sudden, my posture is good again. Both of our axes remain upright throughout most of the dance and we‘ve got enough space for our feet. (We don‘t claim to be perfect though.)

3. Grow a Milonguero belly! The belly will keep your partner further away, so that you have got enough space for the feet. If the follower is shorter than you (only then!), she will even find a nice soft spot to make contact to with her upper body without having to bend. 
Look at the following video by Tete - in particular the moment when he and Sylvia go into the embrace. By the way: Tete was a famous dancer and teacher who, like most Milongueros of that era answered „Tango de Salón“ when someone asked him, what style he danced. But that is yet another story...

So, cheers to the Milonguero belly!

Edit: 

Please note that I don't want to put all the blame on the leaders. There are many, many things that followers can do to put themselves into a disadvantageous position or to hurt the leaders. This post concentrates one one particular feature of the leader's posture and the consequences for the followers, because I have experienced this situation to a larger extent and I believe it to be a typical problem of recent developments.

If you want to work on the details of your posture and connection, I encourage you to buy our book+DVD. ;-)

Manifesto For The Pause

A spectre is haunting the european Tango community - the spectre of speed. All the parties have entered into a secret alliance to promote this trend: Milongueros and Nuevoists, Salon dancers  and those imitating the brilliant young couples, who inspire dancers from all backgrounds.

Nah... really... I don‘t know, if it is everywhere, but it seems to be everywhere I go: the urge to run on the dancefloor. People are running to D‘Arienzo, they are running to Calo, they are running in the Milongas and they are running in the Encuentros. They run with small steps, when there is no space and they run with huge steps, when the dancefloor is empty. But they never pause. I dance with them or I watch them from the side of the dancefloor. And I want to shout out: Stop running!

Sure, you‘ll think: „This is Melina with her preference for Di Sarli. She is just lazy and overly sentimental.“

Yes, I love my slow lyrical Tangos and I do like moving with a certain calm fluidity. But, those who have met me in the last three years, might have noticed that I also like dancing very energetically. I also love rhythmic variation and discover more possibilities every day. Past weekend, there were a few Tandas, when I practically went berserk and could not move fast enough. Ask Andreas. ;-)

But there is always a moment to pause in every Tango: it might be at the end of a musical phrase or when the singer starts or when a violin takes over... Even the most rhythmical and speedy Tangos have their „slow and lyrical“ moments, when you might want to change to half speed or pause for a full measure... Or longer... This is when you breathe, when you reconnect to your partner, when you concentrate on the embrace rather than on the movement, or just listen. There are Tangos that inspire a constant calm pace and many pauses and there are Tangos in which these moments of peace a rare and precious. But no Tango requires us to run all the time!

And is not only me longing for a pause.

I talk to women, I watch them dancing ... and guess what: they are not always happy. Sure, there are many reasons to not feel good in the arms of the partner, but one of them is stress. „He does not let me breathe“, one lovely, very experienced Milonguera complained to me about her partner. And I have heard this so often... Sure, women also want to move (some more than others), they don‘t want to be bored by shuffling about. But they don‘t want to be stressed-out either. And high speed will even get even more stressful when it is combined with insufficient leading signals or too big movements. This is where the torture starts! 

For me, there is one particular case that I find most annoying: You dance with a man who‘s got a real nice embrace, who moves fluently and has the capacity to cuddle, but... he just won‘t stop. He will go on in a constant pace and miss-out every moment to slow down, to connect even better... You know that this would be a lovely, very special moment… you wait for that moment... but it just won‘t come. This guy drives me crazy!

As well as the other „runners“. ;-)

But who are they and how can followers respond to them?

Beginners: 
With a little bit of luck, they have heard about he basic beat and will connect to it by walking to all the strong notes. Usually these are the 1 and 3 in a measure. (Yes, you can also count 1212 instead of 1234, but let us not get into a that discussion please.) Sometimes, beginners might know how to dance a quick-quick slow (123- or 1-34), but most likely, they won‘t know ho to speed up constantly (1234) or dance half speed (1---). Although I think, that even Tango novices can be taught how to slow down or make pauses, I would want to cut them slack. I am happy with their basic knowledge of music and will do my best to not alienate them by complaining or back-leading. I will give them my best posture, my nicest embrace and encourage them in every possible non-patronising-way to develop their musicality and skills. 

Dancers with a insufficient technique:
A lot of dancers (leaders AND followers) just don‘t have the proper technique to move slowly. Because of a lack of dissociation, a constant misplacing of feet or other deficiencies, they do not find a proper balance. They cannot make a slow transition or even stand on one foot for more than a second without waggling. This is why they have to move constantly. Sometimes, these can be seemingly advanced dancers. They will do the most complex moves and you might not even notice their lack of balance. As long as they keep on moving, these moments of instability pass by very quickly. Slowness is an amplifier, a magnifying glass for every technical deficiency. 
As a teacher, I challenge every one to try it out in order to achieve a better technique and more musical variation.
As a follower in a social dance context, I cannot do so much. I can try deliver my best technique to better the balance of the couple, but I won‘t be able to compensate all their „flaws“. So, as long as it does not get really uncomfortable and the leading signals are clear enough, I will go along with their constant moves. But I will make an active musical choice: With these dancers, I will rather dance very rhythmical music, Tangos, Milongas and Valses in which the „calm“ moments are rare and I won‘t long for them so much. I will not dance a slow Di Sarli or romantic Fresedo with a dancer, who struggles with his balance in a slow move.

Musical researchers: 
Nowadays, many dancers, who work hard on their musicality. This is great and I encourage this in every way, as a teacher and dancer. (See related post.) So, lots of Milongueros have - maybe just recently - discovered rhythmic variety. They have learned how to spice up their dance with double speed, with syncopations, triplets, upbeats... they listen closely to every beat and don‘t want to miss one possibility to depict the melodic rhythm. Fine. But guess what: there are different layers of information in every given moment and when the bandoneons play a syncopation, another instrument might play only one legato note. Why not focus on that instrument for an instant? Or chose consciously to listen to the syncopation, to just be with it in your head and heart, but not step to it. Connecting to the melodic rhythm does not mean that we have to dance every possible note. We want to interpret the music, we don‘t want to imitate it with out feet. 
I do love dancing with someone who knows how to communicate rhythmical variety and knows his Tangos. But there is pleasure and there is overindulgence. So what can I do as a follower to not be „forced“ into his fever of rhythmical variation? Provided that a leader has got an acceptable technique and won‘t fall when he has to pause: I can do a lot!
I can slow him down actively: I can resist a little stronger whilst walking backwards, I can pause in a front or side step or I can delay a pivot with a restrained spiral movement. I can use all my technical abilities to communicate my musicality. Mind, I don‘t want to force my partner, I want to „make suggestions“. But beware: communicating on such a high level not only requires good technical skills, but also a deep knowledge of Tango music. I will surely not slow down when the music tells us to speed up. I will find the right moment. So ladies: please become musical researchers as well! If you don‘t know the music, you can only follow (him running around) - if you are able to listen to the music, you can dance.
I can seduce my partner: I may signal him in a more (or less) subtle way how I feel about his constant urge to move: In between two Tangos, I can tell him, how much I like those moments of stillness in the music and the deep connection that may come from them, how much I like moving slowly, when the music inspires me to do so. At the start of a romantic Tango, I can give him my cuddliest embrace and show how nice it can be to take a few moments to cherish nearness. Who would want to resist?
I use both strategies, depending on my mood, the particular dancer and the result I want to  achieve. Very often, I am quite happy with the results. When I want to achieve more, I mention it in class or I write a blog article.
But if all strategies fail and I‘ve got the impression, that a particular guy only uses me as a means to show off his brilliant musicality without listening to what I need... well... I will just not dance with him again. Or maybe only if I happen to be in a „running and trying to catch every rhythmical variation“ mood as well.
Dear leaders: If you dance with a highly musical, but over-active follower, you might use the same techniques to slow her down, do not „force“ her to stand still. But if you dance with a women giving you „hints“ to slow down, do not be offended, accept her wish to interpret the music in a slightly different way. A dance in which both partners are happy sure is reward enough. 

Leaders with a momentum-technique:
Some leaders rather use momentum, strong impulses coming from fast and big movements, rather than circular chest movements to give their leading signals. This is an acceptable technical approach - as long as the space on the dancefloor and the music allow for it. It works nicely in demos - but not so good on a social dancefloor. These dancers often have a very self-confident appeal and everything seems to be perfect as long as they move energetically. But the moment they have to diminish the size or speed of their steps, they seem to loose „presence“ and the leading signals get very unclear. Sometimes, they even come to an absolute stop, if surrounded by other dancers, because they just don‘t know how to move in a limited space.
These are very tricky situations. In a way, these guys might be good dancers and they might even have an interesting musicality, but their technical concept does not enable them to move more calmly. The good thing is: most of them are not beginners and have at least basic knowledge of alternative communication techniques. I will therefore use all my skill and persuasion to slow them down as described above. They will usually find ways to „lead“ in a more subtle way „on the fly“. If not and if they are a danger for the social dancefloor, I will not dance with them anymore - or only when there is enough space. ;-)

Those who are afraid of closeness:
When there is no or little movement, it is only you, the music and the partner. These are the moments when feelings come up, when closeness is experienced. So many dancers long for this nearness to another human being and may even dance Tango because of it. But there are also those who are afraid of being too close to someone else. Most of them will dance a more open or step-oriented style of Tango. But some may be socialised in a close-embrace environment, but cannot wholly give in to this idea. They will dance physically close, but they will not commit. They will move all the time, they will decorate, they will develop energy... but they will not stand still.
What can you do, to not put them off, to not frighten them? You don‘t want to overwhelm them with a too intimate embrace. I try to radiate calmness, I will be very rooted in the floor, a little lazy... but have a non-invasive, not too tight embrace. I will try to show that they can slow down without getting „involved“ too deeply. They might even „open up“ over the time and learn to connect more profoundly in the dance. 

As an experienced dancer, given a little time, you can do quite a lot to have an influence on how your partner moves. But all of this has to be done carefully and he may have a whole set of reasons why he does not want to pause or cannot do so. As "followers", we don‘t want to „teach“ on the dancefloor, we don‘t want to impose our musicality and we are certainly no psychologists. It is not our job to offer a therapy to our partners but to enjoy the music together.

And this is why, in the end, we just have to make a choice. Do we want to run and move all the time or do we want to allow ourselves to slow down once in a while? And breathe. And feel. And listen.

I choose to stop.

Now.



P.S. Just to make sure, that EVERYONE got me. Here are my definitions:
Slow down: moving constantly, but with a very slow speed (half speed 1--- or slower)
Pause: not transferring gravity centre at all for the duration of at least one measure.
So, if you don't use double speed, but still walk all the time with "normal speed" (el compas, 1 and 3), I might still count you amongst the "runners". There are also those who run slowly... ;-)

P.P.S. I know that lots of men will approve of my post too, but will reject my words with a relieved: "Thank god, I am not amongst these runners." Please consider carefully, if this is really the case. ;-)

P.P.P.S. I have written this post mostly from the perspective of a follower, who feels "rushed" by leaders. But it is obvious, that followers can be "runners" as well, especially all those ladies with the habit to decorate every possible or impossible moment of the dance. I comment on over-active women briefly in the section about "musical researchers" above, but I have mentioned the misusage of Adornos already much earlier. See here.