[Tango-L] Interesting question

[Tom Stermitz]

Different situations often call for different techniques.

A stage dancer often stylizes with very specific foot placement, but a social dancer typically uses the whole foot (depending of course!)

For example:

 - in order to pivot, the follower must obviously lift the heel.
 - when walking backwards, the follower will be lighter if she passes her weight across the foot: ball - heel - release.
 - when walking backwards, a follower who stretches her floating leg’s heel downwards will have a more relaxed, stretched (not reached) leg.
 - when walking forwards, a heal - ball stride will allow passing the weight across the foot for more control.

Many stage dancers and teachers will tell leaders to land with the ball of the foot. Again, on stage you may have specific stylistic needs. But, most social dancers will walk by passing the weight across the heel and then the ball. 

This is not often obvious in the moment, as their foot appears to land flat.

And, frequently teachers will say one thing even while they do the other!



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lois Donnay
> Sent: Sunday, April 26, 2015 10:53 PM
> 
> 
> 
> "Help!  A tango teacher told me to keep my heels on the floor - I should use the heels on my tango shoes to stand on. I've been working hard to do that, even though it didn't feel very natural….
> - that was me) says I should keep my heels just slightly off the floor - only if I really need balance should they touch the floor. What is right?? And why do teachers seem to contradict each other so often?"
> 
> 
> 
> Ever heard of that - a teacher who tells followers to keep their heels on the floor "your shoes have heels for a reason!"
> 
> Lois
>