[Tango-L] Heel-first versus Toe-first

[Tom Stermitz]

It's good to hear from you again, Barbara.


Stage or Social? Beginners, Intermediates or Advanced? Trained  
dancers or normal people? This is an issue of correct context, not an  
issue of some intrinsic truth.

It is my view that if you see tango as a street dance, walking should  
be a little more natural, whereas if you see tango as a stage  
performance, then details of appearance become more important. Most  
(95%) of my students are normal people who are NEVER going to dance  
on stage, and I'm primarily concerned with getting them up and  
dancing in a social context.

So many of the teachers in Sergio's list are fundamentally  
performance dancers, are well-trained if not professional dancers.  
They primarily instruct in stage dancing, even if their students are  
often social dancers. I know that the immediate response will be that  
they also dance socially.... (True, but does this prove they aren't  
fundamentally stage dancers?) (I hasten to add, there is nothing  
wrong with stage dancing. )

To get a better idea of how social dancers move, maybe we should look  
at some videos of actual social dancing. Watch what they do instead  
of what they say. Barbara suggests that as well.


On Mar 13, 2007, at 11:52 AM, Barbara Garvey wrote:

> ... From an ascetic point of view, and a physical practical point  
> of view,
> stepping on the ball of the foot first not only looks better,  
> results in
> longer steps, helps avoid stepping on the partner's toes, and most
> specifically makes it possible to pivot at any moment to execute a  
> turn
> or simply move around a crowded floor. Stepping heel-first seems to  
> work
> for small non-turning steps (strict s.miller "milonguero" style) and
> also in the huge strides of nuevo exhibition dancing, when  
> floorcraft is
> not an issue. Or in plain walking, although it doesn't look so good.

I disagree with the comment that toe-first results in longer strides.  
Nor does it avoid stepping on her foot.

Quite the opposite, actually. If the leader's foot gets out in front  
of his body, then his partner shortens her stride and she gets  
stepped on (because she is measuring her stride from his body). The  
real issue is whether the leader's hips (and body) are carried  
forward over the ball of the foot. This is possible with landing on  
the balls, but it is a WHOLE lot easier using the heel-ball technique.

This gets back to Trini's comment, that foot placement isn't the main  
issue. Instead, we want movements or strides that make the body move  
in a natural, balanced manner.


INSTRUCTIONAL METHODOLOGY AND CONSEQUENCES

I submit that striding forward heel-ball is far, far easier and  
solves more problems (like balance) for beginner leaders. I get  
beginner and intermediate leaders who have been instructed to dance  
ball-first, and they have weird, mincing steps, they don't feel the  
ground solidly, they take uncertain, tentative strides. If I ask them  
to stand upright, walk normally, land with your hips over your balls,  
don't lead with the toes, then I can (sometimes) succeed at  
countering the bad habits. It is kind of weird to start  by telling  
them to do exactly the opposite of toe-heel.

Not that toe first is wrong, but 95% of my students do not have  
formal dance training, and worrying about leading with the toes  
distracts them from learning good posture, and causes them to embed  
bad habits.


> Stability is a function of posture and balance. Great posture is not
> only about looking good, but is necessary for leading and following  
> and
> equilibrium. Plus as a person grows older, as we all will with any  
> luck,
> posture and balance become more and more crucial in everyday life  
> (I'm 73).

I'm completely in agreement here.

> As for worrying about the effect on various muscles, that mystifies  
> me.
> Everything we do uses, stresses, stretches, affects any number of
> muscles, and that's a good thing, yes?? Muscles are there to be used.

Well, the dance teacher has to be aware of the consequences of their  
teaching. To ask a beginner to dance toe first causes them to worry  
about distracting details and carry the body in a completely  
different way from normal. On the other hand, asking them to stride  
heel first recalls their lifetime of walking down sidewalks. They can  
use those finite brain muscles to think about dancing (moving a  
partner through space) instead of Dahncing (worrying about details).

The dance teacher pays attention to what languag and what methodology  
causes which muscles to activate, and how students actually learn  
balance and posture. Learning is a layered process that progresses  
faster if you understand and use prior layers that are already in place.


> Correct posture presupposes a strong core which makes it possible to
> move without dropping one's hip.

Well, correct posture MAY come from a strong core, but I would say  
balance and tone are more important. I have a student with very weak  
muscles (an illness), who has great posture. In fact, she has little  
choice about core strength, and has learned how to stack her skeleton  
and bones so that she can dance nicely with great posture and balance.

She isn't going to do volcadas, however.


> Only confusion results from taking as gospel everything any given
> teacher says -- how about filtering opinions through common sense and
> personal experience?.  How about keeping one's eyes and mind open?  We
> have been going to milongas in Argentina since 1987; a sea change
> happened in 1994 when Susana Miller began teaching and promoting
> "milonguero style".  When we were in Bs As recently, after a 6-year

My first visit was in 1996. The milonguero style dominated at a few  
of the clubs, and the dancers in these clubs, masters of the  
"milonguero style" were older gentlemen, who were certainly not  
trained by Susana Miller. Susana (among others) may have been  
responsible for introducing huge numbers of people taking up tango,  
but she didn't invent the style.

She translated it from the milongueros who were already dancing it at  
those clubs.