Tango Technique

You Can Dance Often Without Improving

David Tango Technique , ,
adult dance classes near me

In all aspects of life, whether that be relationships, finance, spirituality, fitness or skills such as dancing Tango, you are either improving/ moving forward, or declining/ getting worse. There is no standing still.

With regard to dance, practicing basic technique pays huge dividends in your overall development. Just 6 minutes a day is enough to continue your improvement. The consistency is the key.

Another suggestion is to practice for at least 6 minutes before you go out dancing socially. From this pre-milonga Tango practice, you can choose one to two things that you can focus on at the milonga. This pre-milonga practice also helps to ‘set’ your axis and increase your body awareness.

The purpose of your practice is to allow you to dance with great technique unconsciously. It is very difficult and inefficient to consciously ‘think’ your way through movement. Practice is the time to think and analyse your movement and then when it comes time to dance, Just Dance!

Competitive instincts are far stronger than technique, i.e. in a social environment, you will do whatever you have to do to manage your way through the dance. This is not always good in your overall development as a Tango dancer. It is therefore, important to be ‘ready’ to dance in a non-controlled environment, otherwise, it can negatively impact your development. It is therefore important to maintain a suitable balance of practice and social dancing. Learning to dance at Milongas is very much a hatchet way of developing your dance. As Keiran Perkins once said, “The result is the easy part. Swimmers don’t train 40 hours a week just to get fit; you can do that in 1/3 of the time. The hours are put in week after week to ensure that at the exact moment when you are under pressure, you’re tired and physically and emotionally drained, your worst habit is perfection.” Now, I realize that you dancing Tango and Kieran Perkins competing at an elite sporting level are different in many ways, however, the concept of preparation is the same. Practise basic movements such as walking, ochos, and molinete continually so that it is difficult not to do it well in any situation.

For optimal rate of improvement, a separate set of eyes can have great affect. If you want to do it alone, it may take 15 years to reach the level of proficiency you aspire to whereas with the help of a coach/ teacher, you may cut that down to 5 years. Tango lessons can therefore be invaluable in your overall development.

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In summary, the legendary cellist Pablo Casals was asked why he continued to practice at age 90. “Because, I think I‘m making progress,” he replied.

What Makes an Advanced Tango Dancer?

David Tango Technique , ,
Advanced Tango Classes Brisbane

All tango beginners start at the same level but progress at different rates and in their own ways. They are all novices, often unsure about what to do first, how to walk, and how to embrace a partner. The first time at a milonga can be a harrowing experience for some as they take their first step into the world of dancing tango socially.

Ideally, it would take one to two years for a beginner to reach the intermediate level, another three to four years to reach an advanced level, and five more years to reach a master level. Then again, there isn’t really any standard as to how long it would take a person to progress into another level. It all boils down to their individual pace. Some would only take 3-4 years to reach the master level while others get stuck in the intermediate level for 10 years.

Advanced Tango Classes BrisbaneUnlike learning ballet, there is no prescribed order in progressing from one level to another. It’s just a matter of signing up for a particular class. It’s commonplace to find a variety of different levels of dancer in a single Tango class or workshop. Anybody can learn tango. Whether you’re musical or not, or whether you move easily or not, it doesn’t matter. You could be young or old. There is no right or wrong reason for wanting to learn tango. It may be to meet a potential partner, general exercise or the challenge of learning a new skill. What matters is that you enjoy the dance whilst you’re learning the basics and slowly discovering the wonders of dancing tango.

So how does one become an advanced dancer? Just like in any other domain, one has to have the passion and the drive to learn tango along with religiously following a routine of practice. However, one should not settle on just taking Tango classes or lessons. Going to milongas is also an important part of the learning process. On the other hand, if you keep going to milongas without properly learning the basics, you will only enhance your bad habits. It needs to be a good mixture of both.

Passion without dedication amounts to nothing in becoming an advanced tango dancer. This and, of course, good tango teachers to guide you and teach you what you need to learn are paramount. Unlike traditional professional dance education though, there is no standard way of teaching or a good way of dancing. It’s basically about what you want and what the teacher can offer you. Tango teachers are of every kind, not only in the style with which they dance but also the way in which they teach. There are no good or bad teachers, some are just more suited to different students. You just have to find the one whose style of teaching works best for you.

When can we say that a person is advanced in tango? Well, for starters, an advanced dancer has good posture, feels at ease when dancing, and someone who has a comfortable yet functional embrace. The leader is able to navigate around the floor safely whilst effectively leading their partner and the follower should be able to keep their balance without the leader’s help and complete their movements whilst maintaining connection to their partner.

We can say that a dancer is truly advanced when they know how to adjust their dancing to effectively dance with their partner, no matter what their partner’s level of expertise. No matter how good you are at dancing, you should be able to dance according to your partners ability.

Advanced dancers should also be musical, able to improvise easily, and, of course, someone who has a good understanding of the tango vocabulary. When you consider all of the aspects it takes to be truly an advanced Tango dancer, very few dancers actually can be considered such.

At the end of the day, however, whether you are considered an advanced tango dancer or not, it will always be about the connection that you create with your partner and the enjoyment you derive from dancing tango.

Learning Tango: More Than Just Learning a Dance

David Tango Technique , ,
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Argentine Tango is classified as a dance, but what sets it apart from other dances is that the process of learning and teaching tango is unlike that of the rest. In fact, learning tango is not even comparable to learning a dance. If anything, it’s more akin to learning a language.

Tango Lessons near meA dance that’s more like a language—how do you learn that? Well, just think of it as similar to learning a new language. So, the basics are to first learn the vocabulary (steps), then the pronunciation (execution of steps) and then the grammatical rules (rules that apply to the tango style that you are dancing). Simple concept, right?

Now, here comes the challenging part. In learning a language, you have to have something to say in order to practice speaking with another person. And for you to be understood, you have to say it well. The ability to express yourself clearly has little to do with the language itself but comes from your innate ability to be creative in expressing yourself. The exact same idea goes with learning and teaching tango.

A language teacher would teach you the language with its structure and order. At the same time, they would try to teach you literature so you could understand and master reading in that language. When it comes to creativity, it is entirely yours to incorporate to the language but the teacher is still going to at least try to teach you how it’s done. A tango teacher can teach you the steps and how to dance them well. They can be a language and literature professor all in one and it’s a significantly difficult task that only few know how to do.

What I usually hear people complain about tango teachers is why they keep teaching sequences. Why they keep repeating the same sequence over and over like robots and that they never teach about the creative part of dancing tango.

You see, the equivalent “words” in tango is steps and the sequence its poetry. In order for you to create good poetry is when you have read countless poems by other people. Yes, you can write your own poems without being influenced by others but you could do even better with more ideas and styles learned from others. Tango teachers, especially in Tango classes, teach you sequences to inspire you to cultivate your own creativity not by showing you exactly how it’s done but by leading you in the right direction.

Not everybody can create their own sequence though and most tango dancers will only keep the sequences of others, even tango professionals. And that’s perfectly fine. Students who are aspiring to learn the dance must be able to reach a certain level of understanding in order for them to appreciate the small things in dancing Tango.

For you to enjoy a certain sequence of steps, you have to have tried other sequences created by other dancers to see what you like and suits you best. You can either stick to just one way of dancing or sequences that you like or create your own movement as you see fit. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you are in the moment and experience the emotion brought about by the dance that is Tango.

In Tango lessons and classes at the Brisbane House of Tango, we endeavour to not only teach you how to move in a natural way but also encourage you to explore your own creativity in dancing Tango.

Connection

David Tango Technique , ,
Argentine Tango near me

Tango Classes Brisbane

It’s deep connection with self and another, it’s cerebral and completely free of mind, it’s masculine and feminine. It’s sensual. It’s physical. It’s movement meditation. It’s tango. Come give yourself this lifetime gift…

For those who have not been stung by the Tango Bug yet, or those who have tried it but lost interest, this probably sounds exaggerated or foolish, even. But allow me to change your mind.

More often than not, what comes to mind when people hear ‘Argentine Tango’ is ‘Dancing With the Stars’ or Al Pacino’s tango scene in ‘Scent of a Woman’ which, by the way, is pretty impressive. Hate to be the bearer of bad news but it’s NOT. Well, at least, it’s not all that.  It’s way more just a mere dance. The more you get to experience tango, the more it becomes apparent that tango is life.

So how and where did tango begin? The origins of tango roots from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Buenos Aires is a port city which is why it was flocked by immigrants around the early 1900s. Different people coming from different countries with varying cultures have settled in and called themselves Porteños. It was the fusion of multiple cultures, styles of music and dance, instruments and ideas that bore Argentine Tango and allowed it to thrive for the years to come.

Alright, so enough of the history lesson. The point I’m driving at here, however, is that tango is not about the traditional Ballroom stereotype it has been known for – with its false eyelashes, spray tans and pomp a-la sequins. Simply put, Argentine Tango is a soulful, modest, improvised dance created by a diverse wealth of cultures, arts and influences.

Tango is meant to be danced, not performed. It should not be choreographed. You are not going to dance in order to impress or be watched by an audience. Tango is all about self-expression with the use of body language just like any other social dance.

To be able to express yourself and connect with your partner, presence is required. This presence is otherwise known as “connection”. In tango, there are three most important types of connection and they are:

  1. Centering yourself (Connecting with the floor) – this type of connection simply means to feel your weight and feet on the floor. It’s being aware of your physical and mental state where you align your spine, release your body tension and clear your mind of any thoughts. Listen to yourself. So, the next time that you are idly just standing on the bus stop or waiting in line during lunch-time, try turning your attention to the soles of your feet and recognise the fact that whilst gravity pulls the weight of your body downward, at the same time, the floor holds you up.
  2. Building Relationships (Connecting with your partner) – when you master the art of centering yourself, it enables you to connect with others and build relationships. As I have mentioned above, tango is not about technicality or choreography. It is about self-expression and feeling the music. It becomes even more magical when we connect with our partner and become more responsive to them.
  3. Connecting with the universe (Connecting with the music) – tango is a walking dance. It is an improvised walk that is relaxed yet vibrating with expressive energy. It is elegantly smooth but varies with the beat and the pulse of the music.

Whilst we recognise that tango is a man and a woman’s elegant walk to tango music, we must also remember that tango is a feeling expressed through dance. If there is lack of emotion shared between a man and a woman in embrace, then it is nothing but a series of synchronised motion. Music is your source of emotion and emotion is what you share with your partner communicated through the embrace. All that is going on while you are walking through the music makes up the fundamental ingredients of tango.

Source: http://urbanspiritual.org/2013/05/23/tango-is-life-part-1-connecting-with-yourself/

https://tangovoice.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/the-essence-of-tango-argentino/