[Tango-L] Two of My Teaching Pet Peeves

[Tom Stermitz]

I share your two pet peeves (three if you think about it):
- How to walk in a straight line.
- How not to step on her feet. How not to get stepped on.
- How to walk to the cross without going too far outside.

(part 2)

WALKING IN A STRAIGHT LINE

As your body moves forward, your foot should land under your center of  
balance. If she is in front of you, then you are also stepping under  
her center of balance. This is true by stupid definition: It is called  
"walking without falling over". But, there is a real reason why  
leaders have difficulty with balance and walking in a straight line.  
He is trying to avoid stepping on her, and compensates by moving his  
feet to either side. On the follower's side, she tries to overstep  
backwards to get her feet out of the way.

Solutions:

Leader needs to move forward in a natural "side walk" stride. A  
purposeful, upright, bold stride of the leader helps everything: Land  
heel-ball, end with the weight transfer with his "hips, heart and  
head" over the ball of the foot. This keeps his posture forward,  
upright and on balance. The follower's connection to his body moves  
her backward, and her feet can "naturally" float to catch her body.

Landing on the ball of the foot is a stylistic treatment, that is a  
direct contradiction of 20 or 40 years of daily walking. Maybe it's  
desirable for some versions of tango (stage, for example), but for  
regular social dancing it is so much better to work with normal,  
natural movements. If you teach a class of beginners to lead with the  
toes or ball of the foot, you will produce a class of guys worried  
about their feet and mincing across the room instead of moving their  
bodies boldly.


WALKING BACKWARDS GRACEFULLY

Walking "naturally" backwards means that the ACTIVE leg is the  
supporting leg, the one that pushes her body through space, and the  
FLOATING leg stretches downwards and back, rather than reaching.  
Reaching and engaging the butt muscles, digs into her SI joints. The  
recently popular, "culo alegre" style of arching the lower back makes  
this much worse. Maybe the 20-year old ballerina is not yet injured,  
but for normal women, the wear and tear on the back is really harmful.  
Consider also that pregnancy loosens a woman's joints, and has a  
specific impact on the SI joints.

There is a simple way to address this: Keep your heels downward,  
almost grazing the floor. A gently straight leg comes from keeping a  
soft butt, stretching the inner thigh, psoas and lower tummy, and  
stretching the achilles.

Quick survey: How many women have sore backs after a workshop weekend?
- Do you reach back or stretch downwards?
- Is your butt soft or tight muscles?
- Are you trying to take big steps?
- How's your core support?
- Is your belly-button pulled toward your backbone?
- Is your heel pointed downward?

Secondly, reaching way back, away from the leader disconnects the  
woman's leg from herself. She is guessing how long the stride will be,  
rather than matching the float of her leg to his forward movement. The  
most connected strides come when the leader's and follower's legs  
match speed and distance. One of the best exercises I have to discover  
this is for the follower to "almost brush his thigh" as it comes  
forward. If she can slow down her float to match his tempo, she will  
always be out of his way, and never out of connection, both internal  
and with him.

Tom Stermitz
http://www.tango.org
Denver, CO 80207