[Tango-L] So, what is better, heel of toe?

[Trini y Sean (PATangoS)]

Interesting.  I'll have to experiment with that.

We're heel-first teachers, but our invited guest for a
pre-milonga lesson last night is a toe-first teacher.  So
he taught his way, which is fine because in earlier lessons
we've alway explained why we teach heel-first.  People can
make up their own minds.

Anyway, it turns out that the teacher dances toe-first
because he has heel spurs, so toe-first is less painful for
him.  One of my new beginning students has the same issue,
so I'll be working with him on toe-first.

For me it all goes back to dancing with the WHOLE body.  I
teach heel-first because it makes it much easier for people
to develop their kinesthetic sense of themselves.  I'd
rather that they focus on spinal movement and its
relationship to the standing leg and rest of the body.

I suspect that toe-first teachers may spend more time on
just walking straight with no turning than other teachers. 
Perhaps they have an audience that is patience enough to
handle that or who will actually work on walking exercises
by themselves.  If so, great.  Personally, I prefer to get
people out to a milonga as fast as possible and have them
feel as if they can successfully navigate, even if the
milonga has a lot of "gas molecules".

Trini de Pittsburgh



--- Igor Polk <ipolk at virtuar.com> wrote:

> I mean landing right on the heel. 
> 
> I agree, it is rare ..
> 
> Move your toe to the side, and you can do it even for
> long steps. For short
> steps it is so easy.
> 
> That is for men.
> 
> For women it is even easier.
> 
> If you have high heels on..
> 
> Igor.
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Trini y Sean (PATangoS) [mailto:patangos at yahoo.com]
> 
> Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 11:18
> To: Igor Polk; Tango-L at MIT.EDU
> Subject: Re: [Tango-L] So, what is better, heel of toe?
> 
> --- Igor Polk <ipolk at virtuar.com> wrote:
> 
> > Or not. Stepping backward, landing on the heel extends
> leg straighter, on the toe - we can
> > bend the leg in a different way. 
> 
> 
> Landing on the heel first going backwards, Igor?  Sounds
> like a lot of clopping to me.  Do you mean rolling back
> onto the heel after landing with the ball of the foot?
> 
> Trini de Pittsburgh






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