[Tango-L] Toe First?

[Huck Kennedy]

On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 8:30 AM, Mario <sopelote at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>  From a student of Javier (a great walker) who sees walking 'toe first' as 'old fashioned'..
>  He teaches heel first and his student has the following to say;
>  "Don't worry about which way to walk, just walk naturally like you are walking on the street [...]"

     I don't know about some people like Javier who apparently even
came waltzing out of the womb elegantly, but if I were to tango the
same way I look walking down the street like a goofball, I'd never get
any dances.

     Who was it, Gavito, who after dancing 30 years remarked to
someone, "I think I worked out another kink in my walking this morning
in practica," or something to that effect.

     Giving such "just walk naturally" advice to a raw beginniner off
the street to get him off to at least some kind of a reasonable start
is probably a good idea, but to leave it at that, and pretend that
good elegant tango results from "just walking naturally" instead of
from years of polished refinement, is patent nonsense.

Huck