How to Make the Best use of Practicas

Dart in target bullseye

If you want to improve your tango dancing, you have to practice, of course. Many people go to practicas and just dance, and that’s OK as far as it goes, but sometimes they just dance the way they always dance, without really thinking about what needs improving.

It may be more useful if you practice with an objective in mind. For example, an obvious set of objectives if you’ve just attended a class would be

a) to make sure you can do the figures taught in the class,

b) to make sure you understand the techniques used to perform those figures, and

c) to make sure you can integrate those figures into your normal improvisational dancing.

I would also argue that if you are self aware of your own tango abilities (i.e. you know what you do well, and also what you perform poorly), then you can give yourself objectives related to practising the things which you know need improvement, or which you have difficulty performing consistently.

If you have teachers at the practica, then you can ask for input just to check your doing things ‘the right way’ (i.e. with reasonable technique, control of balance and axis etc.). They will be able to see problems you might not be aware of and suggest better ways of doing things, as well as exercises you can do at home.

Of course, this relies on you being able to judge your own abilities reasonably well, and being able to accept that you may have faults which need rectifying. Not all people are willing to admit their faults.

If you recognise yourself here (and I accept it’s difficult to have someone tell you you’re not doing things right, even if they have more expertise), then I would ask you this.

  • Do you want to get more dances?
  • Do you want to have people pleased to dance with you, rather than trying to avoid you?

If so, and you are not feeling that this is the case right now, then you may need to put ego aside in order to improve your tango. Judge your tango guides/teachers by what they can do, and how they teach, and let them help you improve. Listen graciously to the feedback from the people who will dance with you, and make a plan to improve.

Also don’t forget to keep doing the things you do well. We can all get a bit jaded and sloppy if we neglect practice on even the basics of tango.

Don’t waste your practice time. Practice with purpose. Put in the right kind of effort, and the Gods of Tango will smile down upon you… 🙂

How to dance more musically

Musicality in your dance is 50% of the work. Knowing figures and decorations is one thing, but applying them to a given tango tune in a musical fashion which enhances not only the external look of the dance to your audience, but also enhances your own enjoyment of the dance, is another important factor.

So how can you improve your musicality and improve your Argentine Tango interpretation?

1. The most obvious thing is to listen to lots of tango music… traditional tango music… every day… until you begin to recognise all the popular tunes you hear at milongas. This will take time, but will tune your ear to the rhythms and structure of typical tango tunes.

If you don’t have the money to buy tracks/CD’s you can listen to tango tunes from your favourite video service or music streaming website, and if you have on-line radio, there are some good tango stations out there who stream hours of tango music to listeners. So, no excuses! You can squeeze in 1/2 hour of tango music while travelling to/from work, walking the dog, out running, etc. every day 🙂

2. Learn the structure of what you’re listening to. Most Argentine tango tunes (especially those from the Golden Age (early 1930’s – late 1950’s) do have a recognisable structure.

You need to be able to listen to the music and react to it rather than just hearing it as a background noise. Typically, tango tunes are split into phrases which are repeated (with variation) through out the tune. There are often two or three musical themes repeated also, in an ‘A-B-A-B-A’ or ‘A-B-A-B-C’type pattern.

So as well as getting to recognise popular tunes off by heart, knowing the typical structure of a tango tune allows you to anticipate how you might dance to tunes you’ve never heard before as you begin to listen to the first phrases of the tune.

3. Practise dancing musically, of course! When you are in a Practica, don’t be afraid of trying out steps such as rock steps and rebounds to accentuate not just the stepping beat but half beats too. Try out your adornments in a similar manner, and don’t forget to use pauses as well. Smooth elegant tango dancing will always have some pauses in it. Music is written in phrases and sections. Singers have to draw breath. Each of these elements will result in a natural pause in the music, so use them.

In conclusion, if you make a regular habit of listening to tango music, understanding it’s structure and practising your interpretation at Practica, your dancing will become more musical, and your partners will notice 🙂

For more information about dancing with musicality read our new series called ‘Musicality in Tango Dancing

Executing Stylish and Sharp Boleos

This lovely lady shows how to do stylish boleos. I’m not sure about trying to kick yourself in the bottom (you need a lot of flexibility for that – I’ve tried 🙂 ), but the position of the knees is important, making sure the free leg knee does not get in front of the standing leg knee. It also reveals something about ganchos as well. The free leg knee should not be too far forward of the standing leg knee for a gancho either. However, remember that in a crowded dance hall, stick to low boleos so you don’t kick someone else’s bottom!

Enjoy, followers 🙂

So this thing called leading…

Annoyed CoupleSo this thing called ‘leading’ – it’s entirely up to the tango leader to get the follower to go where he wants when he wants, right? The leader is in charge, yes? There is also this other thing called ‘following’ where the tango follower only has to wait to be pushed around, to be given impetus and energy by the leader, correct?

Well, to observe some tango leaders and followers you might imagine this is the case, but it’s not right. I haven’t yet met a man in the whole world that can actually get a woman to do exactly what he wants her to, and it’s true in Argentine tango. Leaders can invite the follower to take a step in his favoured direction but he can’t force them to take it.

Remember that tango is a partner dance and leaders and followers dance in partnership. It really does take two to tango! 🙂

So leaders; allow your followers space and time to express and make adornments. You don’t have to step on every beat, or be in constant movement across the floor. If your follower wants to do a few adornments which might take time, allow it (she might even think you’re a better dancer if you do…), and followers;

if you see that your leader is inviting you into a recognisable figure such as an ocho or giro, please get on with it (while keeping an eye on his lead just in case it’s not what you think 🙂 ). For example, when a leader is stood on one foot trying to turn on the spot while leading you around in a giro, there isn’t much chance he’ll be able to give you energy and impetus as well, so you need to get on with doing the giro, while not getting too far ahead of the leader.

So to sum up, it’s a partner dance, each person has their own role and should be given assistance, space and time to carry it out. Each person is in charge of their own balance, axis and motive power and should not rely too much on the other to provide them (but there will be times… and that’s OK… occasionally…).

By working together you can make a dance seem wonderful. By working against each other, resisting a lead, not being clear in a lead, not allowing time for expression, the end of a dance can’t come soon enough…

Let’s have more wonderful dances! 🙂

Tango Around the World

I’ve been tangoing in a few places in Buenos Aires and around the UK, but not too many other places around the world (yet), so I put this page together so people can add their own suggestions of good tango milongas to visit while abroad. Let us know why you like the places you list, and so on.

So I’ll start you off with…

Buenos Aires, Argentina

There are loads of milongas in Buenos Aires, every night of the week. I have by no means tried them all but these are just a few I’ve been to.

Milonga Parakultural at Salon Canning

One of the longest running dance halls in Buenos Aires, it hosts classes from different teachers almost every night, followed by milongas. Although it’s the same dance hall, on different nights you get a different feel to the milongas because of the variation in patrons and music.

La Milonga de Los Zucca

This place is very unassuming from the outside as are many venues, but walk up the grand stairs and enter the dance hall and you are presented with lots of lovely people in very smart suits, lovely dresses, shiny shoes etc. You definitely want to dress snappily for this milonga.

Club Gricel

This milonga has a nice clubby feel about it, with it’s name in fluorescent lights over the bar. The patrons are just ordinary people like you and me out for a social evening and a bit of dancing.

Confitería Ideal

So you’ve just spent and hour or two in the centre of Buenos Aires trawling around tango shoe shops, trying some (all?) of them on. You finally bought a couple of pairs and desperately want to try them out… now! What could be better than a café just a couple of streets away that will serve coffee, tea, drinks etc. while you tango you’re way around their lovely historic ground floor, in your new shoes of course? The hard working waiter not only serves the tables, but is in charge of the music too! It’s a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours at the end  of a days shopping (or work day for the locals) before heading home.

UPDATE: Sad to say that just after I was in Buenos Aires in 2015, Confiteria Ideal closed for renovations, and as far as I know has still not opened again. If you know different, please update us in the comments.

Tauranga, New Zealand

OK, I admit it. I’ve never been to New Zealand. However I did meet three lovely friendly people, Brenda, Alex, and Richard, from this area (The Bay of Plenty) while on holiday in Buenos Aires. If they were representative of the people in that area, I’m sure the tango milongas in Tauranga must be some of the friendliest places to dance in the Antipodes. If you get down there, give it a whirl and let me know what you think.

Over to you. What are your favourite places to tango world wide?