[Tango-L] What Does It Take to Dance Tango?

[astrid]

> Extending the leg backwards more than a little bit forces
> the body to lean forward and put weight on both feet to
> keep from falling over.  Big no-no.

Big no-no for someone who is not yet able to isolate the leg from the hip.
And this is one of the first things you train when you learn the tango walk.
IF you have a teacher who teaches the walk.

 Aside from wearing
> heels taller than they are stable on (endemic to tango
> everywhere), excess leg extension is the major reason
> women hang off men's shoulders.

Good grief, Chris , who are you dancing with? Have you checked your own
tango posture in close embrace?
>
> The place to get the extra distance a woman needs to match
> the longer stride of men (aside from men taking somewhat
> shorter steps) is the push off from the trailing leg.

Push off from the standing leg, you mean. The trailing leg is doing what it
says, and cannot push.
The woman should only use that push if it is matched by a lead from the man,
otherwise you get that clos-open-close banging connection.

 A
> bigger push-off allows her to reach back more without
> losing equilibrium, just like stepping forward.  But short
> men leading tall women would step backwards the same way.

Step backwards like that as a man and you have a good chance to crash into
the couple behind you.
>
> It is instructive that Mimi taught both men and women how
> to walk walk forwards and backwards using the same exercises.
> To do them without falling over, you had to stand on one
> foot securely and use your knees and hips and the muscles
> of the inner thigh.

These are the muscles you use a lot in tango. Not just to "do the exercises
without falling over".

> >   Regarding spinal movement, for men,
> > it's more bottom-up, whereas with women, it is more
> > top-down.

> Haven't much looked at that.  I can think of several
> places where the twist has to go top down for me,
> though.

The giro, e.g., something someone once called the "prelead" on tango-l.

> >   There are also a lot of things men can do so
> > that the woman can be comfortable, such as making the chest
> > convex or concave.  Obviously, women do not need to change
> > the convexity or concavity of their chests to accommodate a
> > step (as far as I know, anyway, aside than colgadas).

> I have a problem with the word "comfort".  All too often,
> "comfort" means what we are used to doing, not what is
> correct.
...I used to think I knew what was good.

You are being very discrete in your criticism, Chris.
>
> In any case, if a woman has good posture, she needs no
> accommodations.

Well, actually, you embrace a tall woman quite differently from a short one.

 Moreover, these adjustments can take the
> man out of a place of optimal posture himself.

Esp. if the adjustment is the wrong one.

Dancing
> with a lot of women who require the same accommodation
> will only make the accommodation a matter of habit.

Yes. The blind leading the blind.


Astrid