[Tango-L] Heel-first versus Toe-first, teaching history

[Alexis Cousein]

Keith wrote:
> Tom, Manuel and other heel-walkers,
> 
> Yes, learning Tango with a 'normal sidewalk walk' does make everything a 
> lot easier. But that's often how their Tango ends up - looking like they're 
> walking around the dance floor. 

Nothing wrong with that (looking natural). There's more to tango than the way
yo land on your feet. Frequently, people landing on the ball of their
feet (when walking forward) simply look affected and have a stunted walk
that doesn't flow naturally, and that's not a good thing. To walk landing
on the ball of the foot first (and not the toes, we aren't talking about ballet
pointes here) with grace requires a lot of training and a different way of
using the calf muscles, and not everyone masters this.

Yes, many tango masters have actually mastered the art of doing this. Others
only appear to do so, landing on their heel but managing not to show the sole
of their feet too much. Sometimes, wearing higher heels (for men) helps in
tricking the audience into thinking you're not landing heel first.

-- 
Alexis Cousein                                  al at sgi.com
Senior Systems Engineer/Solutions Architect     SGI/Silicon Graphics
--
<If I have seen further, it is by standing on reference manuals>