[Tango-L] Heels first vs. toes first

[Sergio Vandekier]

Tom says: " Focussing on details of foot placement, specifically telling a
beginner to land toe first, is a huge distraction from more important
things, like standing upright, walking boldly forward, walking in a
straight line, leading the follower, learning tango steps."

What follows is an attempt to share my experience. It is not an attempt to 
change the way you dance or the form you teach. It does not imply either 
that I am the owner of the truth and you are wrong.

This brings to mind several elements : Instructors of tango develop a 
certain sequence that follow in their teaching process.

When during this process should we introduce instruction in proper tango 
walk.

I have discussed this subject with many well known tango instructors.  Nito 
Garcia, Osvaldo Zotto, Carlos Copello, Lampazo,   (and many others Mingo and 
Pablo Pugliese).  I used to spend lots of time with them, as personal friend 
and also because frequently I was the translator in the USA and in Buenos 
Aires for their lessons. I also learned to dance from them. Most of them in 
turn learned to dance from social dancers not from stage performers. Due to 
their excellent training some of them ended up doing stage dancing and 
teaching.

Tango walk is not a secondary matter, probably it is the most important part 
of the dance. One can dance Argentine Tango, just walking. There are many 
ways to walk. Heel first could be one of them if done properly.

My experience of all my life and over 20 years of dancing tango regularly is 
that most Argentine instructors teach  TOES FIRST.  Most milongueros step 
toes first. This gives a particular look and feeling to their dance.

LAMPAZO, always taught  ONLY THE TANGO WALK FOR A WHOLE WEEK , to beginners 
before he taught anything else, I myself used to go to Club Sin Rumbo and 
walk for one hour every day.

OSVALDO ZOTTO used to tell me that he himself practiced the tango walk every 
day and so we did together the same with Nito who always starts his lessons 
(it does not matter the level) with a set of exercises being the most 
important the TANGO WALK.
Orlando Paiva admired for his elegance and the flowing tango walk he has , 
also practiced his skills and always taught exercises to walk and to pivot .

I understand perfectly well what Tom is expressing.  I frequently 
experienced similar feelings.

I usually start my lessons with a set of exercises including the Tango walk 
but I allow the beginner to walk as he pleases... for a while. As we repeat 
those exercises again and again they slowly change their walk without 
knowing it.  Most students seem to enjoy the exercises very much, there are 
few that routinely arrive late to avoid the exercises, they never become 
good dancers.

My impression is that to teach heel first for a long time and then to 
attempt to change it to toe first is going to be more difficult or 
impossible.

Most of the instructors I ever met teaching heel first were foreigners and 
frequently coming from ballroom dancing.

Finally we should ask ourselves if the pretension of attracting more 
students and decreasing the attrition rate justifies changing the nature of 
the dance.

It is possible to teach to walk in different ways as we know from ballet and 
from ballroom.
Flat footed, toe-first, heel first.  It is possible to achieve a genuine 
look dancing heel first (many dancers at Sunderland).

Finally stepping toe-first properly should not cause any pain or injury.

Please continue to dance and teach the way it pleases you.

Un abrazo, Sergio.

_________________________________________________________________
Exercise your brain! Try Flexicon. 
http://games.msn.com/en/flexicon/default.htm?icid=flexicon_hmemailtaglinemarch07