[Tango-L] Musicality (Feets Don't Fail Me Now)

[Keith Elshaw]

Those of you who have been around a while might understand why earlier I
wanted to make it clear that I had not said musicality was about the feet.

I was talking about weight (where it is is what your partner needs to
know); moving with the lower body and keeping the upper body clean and
clear for support and direction.

Trying to be a great dancer by concentrating on your feet would be taking
it all down a dangerous path.

Well, with my last email in my mind, I've just been dancing.

And I'm thinking - wait a minute - feet are not to be apologized away!

Where would we be without them?   :-)

Sooner or later, the good student has to learn a lot about how to use them.

A clean dancer has a beautiful way of using their feet. That's a big
reason you are a clean dancer. Duh.

One thing I suggest all new dancers should know:

Generally speaking, your toes should always be pointing in the direction
on your nose. That's the line. Gotta have good lines to be a clean dancer.

If a man leads you to a sandwhich position, point those toes straight
ahead when you land! Nothing sillier than trying to sandwich a woman's
foot and it's pointing way off to the direction she just came from without
completing her pivot.

PIVOTS. Key element of tango. Need your feet for them, too!

I'm sort of kidding. Why should we be embarrased about talking about how
important the feet are?

So, yes, I express a lot of my musicality by making my feet do some
talking for me. Who doesn't?


But for the new person, you probably shouldn't be TRYING to do things via
your feet to find what musicality is to you.

Not until you've got the upper body all nice and calm and supportive and
elegent; where your weight is and going to be SO, so clear; really being
smooth inside the music.

Musicality isn't about jumping around and doing things.

But I would say a lot of it for me is being playful with weight shift and
rhythmic explorations from the waist down.

All dancers have a special relationship with their feet.

If they are working for us, they are our wings.

Next - shoes.

No, just kidding again.