Abduct
Adduction is bringing limbs toward the centerline of the body. Abduction is pulling them away. Marks need to abduct the leading arm when marking lateral directions (side steps, ochos, molinete lineal, giros).
Align
We realign our legs in relation to every step. In tango we take three kinds of steps: front, back and side. Here are the positions for each. The hips/pelvis should be rectalinear to the direction of step. (Note the grid in the diagrams.) The base leg should be in external rotation relative to the hips. There […]
Amble
Animal gaits are categorized according to how many beats the four footfalls make, four-beat (ambling), three-beat (canter and gallop), and two-beat (trot and pace). Almost always in tango we want a clean two-beat walk, either pace-system, in which the mirrored feet move at the same time, or trot-system, in which the feet move in diagonal pairs. […]
Arabesque
Arabesque is a ballet position in which the leg is raised high in the air according to a certain formal shape. In ballet, both legs are always externally rotated. Tango maintains this tradition for two reasons. It enables the base leg’s muscles to work more strongly. It creates a classic look with the free leg. The […]
Arc
The common term “axis” is the beginning of the problem with common technique. ‘Axis’ is about creating your balance alone, without connection and without interference of external forces. We use instead a concept designed for partner dance, shared balance, communication, and absorbing changing force between the partners: The Arch of Connection. For the arch, you […]
Arch of Connection
What is powerful about Argentine Tango in comparison with other dances is the priority placed on and the care taken to develop perfect physical connection between the partners. This precise connection makes communication more exact, makes the touch of the partners more tender, and makes possible more subtle musicality. Precisely connected motion is the foremost […]
Base leg
Most of the time we are standing on one leg, so base refers to the weight-bearing leg, and will be used in the singular throughout this section. Sometimes we are standing on both legs, in which case we are lucky to have double the resources, two base legs. Function: Connection We position the base leg into […]
Change of Embrace
The embrace changes, slightly, with every step, and throughout the step, to accommodate the realignment of the arch of connection. These changes are constituted by allowing our arcs to move as needed inside the space of the existing embrace, whatever that is. When the partners are moving in the same direction, shoulder-flexion and elbow flexion should not change. […]
Co-contraction
Co-contraction is a method of using our muscles to increase the power of our bodies. We use co-contraction for several things in tango. To intensify connection To create elasticity To put power into the Revel’s free leg, maximizing a projection What is co-contraction? Co-contraction is a biomechanical function of our muscles. Our muscles work in pairs. […]
Conservation of co-contraction
We can hold a co-contraction from one movement and use it for the next one. The most common example is alteracion, a rebote that pivots and releases in a new direction. We use co-contraction when we want to hold the power, momentum, or torsion of one movement and go directly into the next, instead of first releasing. Examples: From […]
Contra Voleo
A Voleo = projection + power. The power comes from co-contraction. The mark creates co-contraction and the revel’s body mirrors it. The power can be delivered in two ways Pro voleo: He adds power in the same direction as the projection. The benefit of this kind of voleo is that the Mark controls the speed, dynamic and exit […]
Decelerate
To decelerate, we need a control system. For steps, the control system, is the process of extension of the joints into the step. A parada is a step decelerated to a stop at some point during the transfer. To decelerate the revel’s leg when it’s in the air, we use conservation of co-contraction. We can […]
Dynamic
To make our dance interesting and to be able to respond to diverse music, we need the capacity to change the dynamic, or quality of movement, of the step. This is the Mark’s responsibility and prerogative as the creative in the dance. The Revel is always responsible for matching the dynamic. It’s especially noticeable in […]
Embrace
Is the embrace the source of our connection? No. The embrace is the last mile. We position the lower body into an arc and aim it at our partner’s base leg to create an arch of connection. The embrace completes the arch of connection. To keep the embrace taut and agile, we use only two instructions: external rotation […]
Extend
Tango movements can be specified in terms of the position and action of joints and the contraction of muscles to stabilize them and create power. Our muscles flex and extend, support, and rotate our joints. If we understand motion in these terms, it’s easy to send the right instructions to our bodies, and to verify […]
External rotation
Internal rotation (medial rotation) is rotation toward the center of the body. External rotation (lateral rotation) is rotation away from the center of the body. Base leg To be strong and stable, the base leg should always be in external rotation. When we are standing with weight on two feet, we have two base […]
Fast
Most bad dancing is dancing that is too fast for the dancer’s current skill level. To move faster, we need to intensify the arch with continuous muscle contraction, but not a very hard contraction which will prevent us from moving quickly. We need to decrease the amount of force, so that we don’t need very […]
First projection
Normal steps have two projections, one at the beginning, and the second one at the end of the step. Once the old base leg has fully extended, it will be free of weight, it will become the new free leg and it will extend toward its former position. This is the second projection. The newly-freed […]
Flex
Tango movements can be specified in terms of the position and action of joints and the contraction of muscles to stabilize them and create power. Our muscles flex and extend, support, and rotate our joints. If we understand motion in these terms, it’s easy to send the right instructions to our bodies, and to verify […]
Force
Our muscles burn fuel for the energy to contract. Muscles do not create energy (deprecated), they use energy. These contractions create power, which is expressed as force and velocity. Wikipedia Power is created through different kinds of contractions (concentric, eccentric, isometric). Force, at a velocity, is transmitted to the partner. The structure of the arch of […]
Free leg
I have danced with many revels who have beautiful feet but feel like bricks or are inattentive, and this is why I treat the free leg’s aesthetic as the final refinement of an active dancing body. The revel’s beauty comes from her arc. Her free leg belongs to the mark. Refining the aesthetic of the […]
Gait
When we walk with a partner, we become a four-legged animal, with the accompanying gait possibilities. Animal gaits are categorized according to how many beats the four footfalls make, four-beat (ambling), three-beat (canter and gallop), and two-beat (trot and pace). Almost always in tango we want a clean two-beat walk, either pace-system (conventionally known as ‘parallel system’, deprecated) […]
Geometry
Geometric aspects of tango: The architecture of the arch of connection. Direction: For the Mark there are four fundamental directions, all relative to his own body: away from him, toward him, and lateral to him. The Revel’s free leg always moves in the direction indicated by the Mark’s power – to the limit defined by the […]
Intention
Intention is always the very first part of the next movement. To create intention we prepare our bodies for a new direction and communicate about that with the partner, without going there yet! The relation with the partner, through the arch of connection, helps us to sense and make micro adjustments during this moment. If […]
Internal rotation
Internal rotation (medial rotation) is rotation toward the center of the body. External rotation (lateral rotation) is rotation away from the center of the body. Base leg To be strong and stable, the base leg should always be in external rotation. When we are standing with weight on two feet, we have two base legs. External rotation increases stability by […]
lateral
Lateral is a direction relative to the Mark’s body. It means to his left or his right. It doesn’t matter which foot he’s on, which foot the Revel is on, or in which ways their bodies are oriented (facing each other, perpendicular), shoulder-to-shoulder, or even backwards. It doesn’t matter if he wants her to take […]
Pace-system
Replaces ‘parallel-system’ and ‘mirror-system’ (deprecated). When walking front and back, we need two concepts to describe precisely the improvisational possibilities. The first is where we are walking. We can walk on two, three, or four tracks. The second concept is which pair of legs move simultaneously. To identify accurate terminology, we refer to the science of the […]
Pivot
A pivot is a rotation of the body without a step. One muscle group in in the body is responsible for all rotation around the spine: the obliques. We can pivot in one foot in both feet. In both cases the only part of the base leg’s foot which touches the floor is the ball […]
pointed toes
The free leg’s toes should always be pointed as they extend into projection or when they are in the air. Pointing the toes means extending the ankle joint fully and contracting the muscles of the arch of the foot. Avoid contracting the muscles of the arch of the foot in a way that twists the foot […]
Power
Our muscles burn fuel for the energy to contract. Muscles do not create energy (deprecated), they use energy. These contractions create power, which is expressed as force and velocity. Wikipedia Power is created through different kinds of contractions (concentric, eccentric, isometric). Force, at a velocity, is transmitted to the partner. The structure of the arch of […]
Pro voleo
A Voleo = projection + power. The power comes from co-contraction. The mark creates co-contraction and the revel’s body mirrors it. The power can be delivered in two ways Pro voleo: He adds power in the same direction as the projection. The benefit of this kind of voleo is that the Mark controls the speed, dynamic and exit […]
Project
To create a movement, we make two sequential operations: First, the mark shows intention toward a direction, and the revel prepares her body by [1] adjusting her arc and [2] beginning to extend her free leg in accord. This dual preparation is called projection. Second, the movement is completed. If the movement is a step, the mark moves […]
Second projection
Normal steps have two projections, one at the beginning, and the second one at the end of the step. Once the old base leg has fully extended, it will be free of weight, it will become the new free leg and it will extend toward its former position. This is the second projection. The newly-freed old base […]
shoulder-flexion
The shoulder joint is the most complex joint in the body, with the most possibilities for motion. You can spend a lot of money with teachers telling you to “relax” your shoulders. This instruction is ineffective, because as soon as we start to concentrate, we tend to tense and lift the shoulders. Rather than trying […]
Spiral
Tango’s aesthetic (and substance) is about consequence between bodies. This is why in powerful movements, the revel’s movement will always be a little later than the mark’s. He cracks a whip of power through her body and her foot is the tip of the whip. The revel’s movement is a sexy, languid –sometimes even blasé– […]
Track
In tango, we walk in gaits, almost always trot-system and pace-system, occasionally amble-system. We place these gaits on geometry on the floor, using a maximum of four tracks. on which each dancer’s feet occupy two adjacent tracks. When using three or four tracks, the Mark can shift to either side of the Revel. When walking […]
Transfer
Every step in tango, like every move, is marked in two sequential parts: intention/projection and transfer. The intention/projection is just information. It’s sufficiently subtle (1-2mm) that the revel does not move her arc. She intensifies the position of her arc, and begins to extend her free leg in the direction indicated. The transfer of weight is a […]
Trot-system
Replaces ‘cross-system’ and ‘threeleg-system’ (deprecated). When walking front and back, we need two concepts to describe precisely the improvisational possibilities. The first is where we are walking. We can walk on two, three, or four tracks. The second concept is which pair of legs move simultaneously. To identify accurate terminology, we refer to the science of the […]
Vertical circle
Dancing, we move and communicate in both horizontal and vertical dimensions. The horizontal plane is the floor, on which we paint lines (by walking in different ways), circles (giros), and intersections (sacadas). We also move in the vertical plane. The most fundamental vertical movement is flexion and extension of the knee joint, through which we […]
