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The Lead
Prerequisit - The walk.
Last Page Update - 3-06-08
When one becomes better at the physical act of walking, with Tango style, they will start wanting to know where to go with it. ~ There are two considerations here. ~ Of walking as a leader or of walking as a follower. ~ We’ll need to discuss each separately at times but where we do not specify which, please consider that it applies to both.
* Important facts for Tango dancers to know and live by.
What is written below is how Tango ‘conversations’ are carried on. ~ The rules of debate. ~ The basic ‘give and take’. ~ In no particular order. ~ All are equally important in their own way. ~ Memorize everything.
* We should start by touching on some pretty touchy stuff.
Actually it’s sort of funny, but sadly true. ~ What we all go through... ~ It matters not that one is a leader or a follower, trying to learn or to teach, or simply trying to enjoy a dance. ~ It is a case that there are always those, the partner knows, who are simply, and utterly, jerks. ~ And try as one may, to be as nice as can be, they take it only as freedom to get worse. ~ Has anyone heard from the follower, “That’s not what you led.” :-/ ~ Or from the leader, “That’s not what I led.” ~ ?? ~ You see..? ~ I told you it was funny. ~ So let’s try to say those things anymore. ~ Remarks like “That’s not a proper move.” and “So’s your old man.” are all in the same category. ~ The fifth grade. ~ How can one say an improvised move is not acceptable for instance? ~ Or which of two (leader or follower) or more, possibilities *really* went wrong? ~ Just Tango on. ~ Have you never heard the expression “There are no mistakes in Tango.”? ~ The only mistake is to blame the other person. ~ It is not cool.
What should happen from lead and follow ‘errors’ is that both learn a little more. ~ This is not something to complain about. ~ Learn that you may even both be right, each in your own way. ~ There are ‘alternatives’ in Tango. ~ Each may have a version from a different person. ~ From those who just teach just their own ways. ~ But of course, either.., or neither.., may be correct. ~ We’ve certainly covered that before. ~ So once more we come to the fact that when two people are trying to improvise, to do it right, they need to be ready to improvise. :->
Once again, and imbed this in your mind, if a follower follows the leads she feels, and *stops* when she feels NO lead.., be one given or not.., NOTHING can go wrong. ~ Tango on.
When a leader knows his lead was missed, he will learn to do better the next time. ~ It needs to be ‘clearer’ when he gives it again. ~ He may have been just a little bit sloppy? ~ Or perhaps to do it differently next time, if he can? ~ He wants to learn what makes his follower tick, not to tick her off. ~ So he silently strives to learn her ways. ~ Isn’t that a nicer way to tanGo?
A follower, looking for a lead on every step, may not feel the one that was given at a particular time. ~ So that is where she stops.., to await for one she can feel. ~ Whatever it is to be, the same lead or a new one, nothing is lost but a musical beat or two. ~ And the ‘hesitation’ may have looked even better than if she had gotten it right away.
What too often happens though, is that the follower keeps right on going and acting funny. ~ Making up moves and dancing on.., like she’s the Energizer Bunny.
And last... ~ And for this we all can thank the Tango gods. ~ They can do no wrong. ~ If a follower mistakes a lead and does the wrong move, the leader simply assumes he led it that way, and carries on as though he did. ~ She’ll come back to the fold with the next move done right, and in the end think the leader’s terrific. ~ She’ll love him the more. ~ Of course she may not get better this way. ~ But the leader? ~ He will have grown in many ways, reputation and more.
* The Frame.
The ‘frame’ is basically a circle, created by and passing through the arms and shoulders of each of the connected partners as they dance. ~ They embrace each other with the idea that they must move as one. ~ One part of the ring being all parts of the ring. ~ One part of the circle moves, all parts of it move. ~ In a similar direction and manner. ~ The leader half of the circle causes the motion. ~ The follower half of the circle responds to the motion. ~ The circle must remain firm in this respect. ~ If it is loose and limber, leads will be lost.
Particular details of the ‘parts’ of the circle and how they inter-act and re-act, with and to each other, will be gone into as they become relevent.
There is something more to think about. ~ The Tango frame is of course not a truly circular circle. ~ As seen from above it is shaped more like a heart. ~ Or a perhaps a teardrop. ~ We hope you come to dance Tango with those kinds of feelings.
* The lead comes only from within the limits of the leader’s upper body.
That is the ‘Frame’. ~ As it was described above. ~ That area of the chest, shoulders and arms of each partner when they are together. ~ You must know this and remember it. ~ It is the area to concentrate on. ~ Concentrate my @#$! ~ It is the only area to even vaguely consider. ;-> ~ Seriously..., many followers do not undedrstand this. ~ Apparently they don’t think it is ‘important’. ~ But it is important. ~ Very!
It is completely frustrating for a leader to dance with another leader. ~ Followers need to center on the leader’s chest and go with the frame. ~ That is all there is to it. ~ Really. ~ Try it. ~ And as they say.., you will like it. ~ Make use of being in front of the leader. ~ Pay attention to his shoulders, chest, arms and overall lateral motions. ~ Go with it. ~ Do not think about your feet.., or his. ~ All four of them will move by themselves. ~ With precious few exceptions there is nothing to think about except the leader and the frame and going with it alone and on your own...
Most important. ~ And we’ve said it before, because it is very important. ~ If a follower does not sense a lead for any particular step, she must *STOP MOVING*!!! ~ The leader does not want her to make up her own moves. ~ To keep ‘winging it’ as it were. ~ Not!!!
Followers, you must remember this. ~ There is no question here. ~ You do not have to look up wonderlingly when you do not feel a lead. ~ All you need to know is that you just don’t feel one. ~ That in itself is a lead. ~ Just enjoy the break and the rest and you might even embellsh yourself... ~ Please understand that *no* lead is very much a part of Tango. ~ You cannot pick and choose the ‘rules’ to go with while ignoring the rest. ~ You must know and go with all of them.
The follower must NOT worry about a leader’s arbitrary weight changes nor what he’s doing with his feet. ~ Especially she should never ‘adjust’ what she may feel are ‘obviously mistaken’ leads, that will cause her to walk right into the leader. ~ She needs to take them as given. ~ Go ahead. ~ DO it. ~ Walk into him. ~ He wants you to. ~ The lead is the lead. ~ Nothing else matters. ~ No second guessing. ~ No conscious thinking at all! ~ Just feel for them. ~ Get primal. ~ Respond directly and you cannot go wrong.
And again, if you don’t feel a lead, stop moving. ~ Wait for something you do feel. ~ Simply start tapping your toe on the floor or maybe do something ‘slinky’ to make use of the time he is giving you. ~ The leader will know you’re waiting. ~ Because he IS there with you. ~ Right? :-) ~ He’s most likely waiting for you to do something on your own, if you want to, or thought enough to do so. ~ But don’t ask the leader what to do. ~ Do nothing if you have any questions, I’m answering them all for you now. ~ If you don’t trust the leader to know what to do with you, stop dancing with him. ~ Think about it. ~ I’m just trying to give people some good advice here. ~ Followers need to accept whatever they feel throughout the entire dance and go just with it. ~ When a leader feels a follower actually responding to all of his body’s movements, he will brighten right up and really start working at making you happy you’re with him. ~ So simply enjoy doing whatever comes along and don’t whine or opine on what you think should have been done. ~ Then you will be a true Tanguera follower. ~ Otherwise you are trying to be a leader.
Everything depends on the each partner staying with the other’s upper body. ~ Neither should ever look down to the floor or at either’s feet for any reason. ~ You don’t need to do this and if you start it will take you a very long time to learn how to look up again. ~ You’ll have set yourself back a very long way.
It has been said that the best way to learn Tango is to start immediately with the more difficult ‘Close Embrace’. ~ If only for the fact that you then cannot look down. ~ It is that important that you do not.
* The follower must stay directly in front of the leader.
This is the primary lead. ~ Nothing else counts if you do not do this first. ~ Although there will always be some slight degree of lag. ~ The closer the embrace, the less the lag. ~ But in any case, the follower needs to keep trying to ‘catch up’ with the leader as he pivots and turns. ~ Why? ~ Because those pivots and turns are the leads. ~ They are telling the follower to do them and to go in those directions. ~ Line up those clavicles. ~ It is the followers constant goal to be as one with the leader. ~ Nothing else matters. ~ Followers need to know how that is done, because the doing of it is what must be done.
Here’s the way it is done.
* The distance between the partners must remain constant.
Being ‘in front’ of your partner must necessarily accept various ‘modifications’ caused by the particular ‘style’ you are dancing. ~ The true concept is to stay ‘centered’. ~ The couple may in fact be head on, tight together at the chest and shoulders, or a V shaped frame (as seen from above), or Salon style which keeps them apart by some distance. ~ There are others.
The couple determines the dance and therefore what their embrace and center will be at the start. ~ They will maintain these ‘settings’ throughout the dance. ~ The only changes made will be to the tempo of the music that they’re listening to and ‘Close Embrace’ will likly have to open a bit for some move to be done.
* The length of their steps should be relatively constant and ‘significant’.
As you dance, you will see that slow tunes allow for longer steps. ~ A ‘Milonga’, with a quick beat will not allow the time it takes to do the longer ones. ~ So the fast dances are done with shorter, quicker steps. ~ Milongas also limit the dancers to the most basic of moves, simply because there is no time, and also because there will be very little room between the short stepping feet for the leader to play.
But whatever you do, and whatever is possible, it should be considered necessary to keep it that way till the end. ~ The leader needs to know where the follower’s feet will be. ~ He want’s them to be where he expects them to be. ~ Followers need to put them there, every time. ~ Followers must train themselves to maintain a more-or-less ‘steady’ distance to their steps. ~ One that can be relied upon by the leader. ~ The leader of course will still be the primary decision maker when any instant changes are to be made in the steps.., either timewise or distance
All of this allows the leader to play at will. ~ He may want to displace, wrap, drag, or so on, but the follower’s feet must be in place, and allow the room, for this to happen.
When the leader plays, the follower must ignore his feet. ~ Where they are and what they’re doing. ~ The follower needs only to carry on with what she was led to do, and of course taking her lead only from the upper body. ~ If she finds a foot in her way as she’s about to move hers, she simply keeps her wits about her and her foot to the floor while she slides around his, as though it was not there at all. ~ Or go over it if there is no alternative. ~ Then to continue as if nothing unusual had happened ~ That is most important. ~ To continue as though the foot belonged, and was accepted. ~ It was, after all, meant to be an illusion of his foot displacing hers. ~ So in this way it will be, as the follower actually displaces herself.
* Followers keep their shoulders parallel to the leader.
The follower needs to keep her shoulders parallel to the leader as he twists and turns around her and around the floor. ~ The follower’s upper body must mirror the leader’s upper body at all times. ~ As with the need to stay in front of your leader, this is yet another ‘given’. ~ Followers must just do it. ~ Even when the leader makes a move to ‘outside partner’. ~ (Leader’s right foot outside partner’s right, or the less-frequent leader’s left outside partner’s left ). ~ Their shoulders are then offset but they retain their parallel and ‘centered’ relationship.
Parallel shoulders are one of the characteristic ‘looks’ of Tango and a constant rule to follow. ~ They are also used to lead some ‘inertia’ type moves. ~ ‘Voleo’ and ‘Cross’ for example. ~ As well as to assist in zig-zags and other decorative walks where the entire body goes with the pivots below. ~ Remember it is possible to walk in some of these patterns without any shoulder help, but when the leader’s move, the follower’s must go the same way too.
Parallel shoulders basically control the turning of the upper body for ‘looks’ but not necessarily the amount of pivot given to the hips and feet. ~ Followrs can in fact be led to do a pivot while not turning their shoulders at all. ~ They are totally separate leads and each must be followed, but independent of the other.
* The three directions a follower may step.
For now, while litterally thousands of directions may occur in conjunction with the pivot, remember that there are only three steps of Tango, when not including the pivot or other ‘modifiers’. ~ They are backward, forward, and to either the left or right side. ~ You may not have realized that’s all there is to Tango, but it is so.
Two of the steps are forward and backward. ~ The foot in motion can go in either of those directions.
When considering the side step, the foot in motion can only go to the side from which it is on the body. ~ The left leg can only go to the left, and the right leg only to the right. ~ To go in the wrong directions they would each be stopped by the other foot. ~ Ergo, the follower cannot do a side step with the wrong foot. ~ There are no mistakes in Tango.
In all cases, the follower will only have to try and stay in front of the leader’s center. ~ Her feet will know how to get there. ~ Not to mention that the leader has already decided and set up how it will be done.
If those three available directions are not exactly where the leader wants to go, such as continuing a walk in the same direction, he will rotate the follower the required number of degrees so her moving foot is oriented to where he wants it to go, again by only moving in a forward, backward or sideways manner. ~ This is where his lead comes in and the follower must understand not to think about it. ~ Just feel it.., and go with it. ~ Learn to pivot so that it appears smoth and easy.
* The ‘pivot’, and how to move your lady.
In practice, the pivot is very fluid. ~ But for now we will take baby steps. ~ Please picture the absolute basic ideas as they are described. ~ We’ll be very detailed. ~ Unfortunately detail in itself makes it longer and seemingly more complicated. ~ But please bear with us. ~ You are being ‘immersed’. ~ Simply visualise for now and it will all come together and work for you in the end.
Pivots are used to change the direction that the dancers are facing (walking) at any one time. ~ There is a constant need for the leader to pivot the follower, as there are only those three particular directions to which a follower can step herself. ~ To the front, the side, or back. ~ When those three don’t allow moving in a *desired* direction, the leader needs to pivot the follower to a point where one of the steps does allow the follower to go where he wants her to go. ~ Remember the leader need to keep making things happen as they come into play. ~ He wants to avoid other people, not hit the walls or furniture, and most of all he wants to entrance his follower. ~ Overloading her senses with variety is the way they play.
Remember here that we are talking mostly about the leader leading the follower to pivot. ~ He of course may or may not pivot himself. ~ Whatever and however he moves is primarily to provide the frame leads that he want’s to be taken by the follower, and secondarily to simply keep up with her. ~ He does whatever he needs to do to cause her to go in the directions he wants to go and then his feet do what they need to do to stay with her. ~ Remember that in Tango’s most basic form, the leader is dancing the ladies feet in his head. ~ He leads her to her direction and movement, but then of course he must stay with her.
So in moving about the floor, the leader may may use the pivot ever so slightly, to simply follow the curve of the Line Of Dance. ~ Or dancers may do a zig-zag, using 90 degree pivots as they move along the floor. ~ Or they can go for even more. ~ To 180 degree increments, going nowhere forward in the L.O.D., but producing the well known and ubiquitous figure eight. ~ The Ocho, you know?
There is no end to the number of degrees one pivot may involve. ~ Pivots are stops in the lateral movement of the dancers. ~They are where the leader can change direction ever so slightly or, on the other hand, he may hold the follower balanced on her axis, while he walks totally around her, pivoting her in a complete circle or more.
To reitterate slightly. ~ The pivot is an integral part of the dance but it is not part of the walk as such. ~ A pivot is done when the partner is *not moving* horizontally in any direction. ~ A pivot can be done by either the follower or the leader at any time it is called for by the leader. ~ The leader will typically stop both himself and the follower and invite her to rotate on her axis to a particular direction. ~ When the lady has finished turning, by herself, or the leader has stopped walking around her axis, etc., the leader will then move in the direction they are to go.. ~ The leader should never ‘force’ the lady into a pivot, nor to try and hurry it. ~ The leader must ask for one, and then wait for it to happen, before moving on. ~ On the followers part, she must of course always do what she needs to do in time with the music.
* The two extended arms.
The left arm of the leader and the right arm of the follower form an important element of the frame. ~ I refer to the follower’s arm as a ‘rudder’. ~ Yes.., I know that term is not very eloquent either. ~ But that’s what it comes down to. ~ And to me, analogies that work are much more important. ~ The arm is the major lead for doing the pivot as described above.
The partners must keep mutual pressure applied to each other’s palms as they dance. ~ The follower ‘resists’ pressure from the leader with pressure of her own. ~ When she feels an ‘overcoming’ pressure from the leader, it sends a signal through her brain to her hips and feet. ~ It will tell her to pivot them in a C.W. direction on her weight bearing foot when the leader stops moving so she can do that. ~ She will pivot to a point dictated by the pressure, his shoulders, and/or the path she must stay within.., such as the ‘closeness’ she must maintain with the leader as she is led to circle around him.
We will explain more of this below, but for now the follower is never to let the hand ‘give way’ to a pressure. ~ To go ‘soft’ in other words? ~ Leads are lost when they are simply ‘absorbed’. ~ IOW, the hand must remain hard fixed and in place, as we have previously talked about. ~ Keep that in mind at all times. ~ ‘Respond’ to the pressure applied to the palm, but do not let the palm or hand or arm give way, and yield their relative position to it.
If the follower feels a lessening of pressure on her palm. ~ As the leader moves his frame and hand counterclockwise (C.C.W.) away from hers. ~ The follower is then similarly signaled to do a C.C.W. pivot on her upcoming weight bearing foot, when the ankles come together. ~ Again to the degree the pressure is released, the shoulders turn, and the path she must stay within.
As with pressure or release of pressure on the palm asking for clockwise ( C.W.) or counterclockwise (C.C.W.) pivots respectively, there are other lead signals that play a roll. ~ It is all of the leader’s movement to the frame that determines the degree of turn or movement. ~ Whether they as a couple are to stop, move in a straight line, or the follower is to circle the leader, etc., the leader will make it obvious to a ‘sensing’ partner what is needed for her to do. ~ She knows her need to stay parallel and centered, outside or flat on. ~
The follower should also know when the pressure or lack of pressure will NOT be a factor. ~ Simply put, that will be most of the time. ~ There are no pivots, and therefore no ‘palm pressure’, when walking forward or backward for instance. ~ Or when taking a side step to the left with the left foot.., and visa versa. ~ The ‘pressure’ or ‘release’ is only required when the leader wants the follower to move sideways, and she is on the ‘wrong’ foot for that direction. ~ In that case the pivot must turn her to a C.W. or C.C.W. direction, in order for her to then step *forward* or *backward* to continue the ‘sideways’ direction. ~ As the bird said, ‘Nevermore’.
So, here’s a summary. ~ Followers must concentrate on staying at the very front of the leader. ~ They will concentrate on moving their upper body to mirror his upper body. ~ They will concentrate on maintaining the distance that was set between their upper bodies. ~ They will also maintain their own balance and move entirely under their own power to be where they want to be.
Only when the leader wants to change the followers basic direction, will he stop her and pivot her, and perhaps pivot himself at this same time. ~ The follower must be aware this can happen at any time.
Now.., after all is said and done, it is not exactly like that. ~ All the segments of the dance that we have isolated to describe in separate pieces, actually do happen in a very fluid continuous motion.
Of course, a pivot is always done on the weight bearing ‘axis’ foot. ~ The free and moving foot comes to the midpoint, alongside this axis foot and, as the pivot begins, the free foot stays ‘attached’ to the side of the pivoting foot, to be carried around it in what amounts to be a continuously moving hairpin turn. ~ At the end of the pivot and that hairpin turn, the free foot simply continues on in the direction it was led to travel.., without hesitation. ~ At no point in the pivot did ‘everything’ stop all at once from traveling ‘somewhere’.
The chair exercise.
This is probably the best single thing you can do on your own to practice moving around the floor in Tango. ~ And it applies equally to both leader or follower. ~ It covers much of what you’ll need to know and do with your partner on the floor. ~ But here your partner will be a chair. ~ Never touching the chair, you will learn to move around it under your own power. ~ You will learn to keep your own balance and to pivot correctly. ~ You will learn to face and stay close to your partner at all times. ~ It has you doing everything by yourself, not able to rely on your partner to help. ~ So it will also make you swear. :-)
But then you will begin to smile.
This routine is normally ‘seen’ in class. ~ But here you will have to see it in your mind. ~ But this is better. ~ As each and every detail can be put down to stay, and never forgotten or skipped in any way. ~ Reading it here, you’ll be sure to get it all. ~ And if you forget, you can read it again. ~ Please do that and you’ll see you needed to...
To start, place any normal chair in the middle of an open space. ~ It is now your partner. ~ It consists of two sides, a front, and a back. ~ Conveniently arranged, as you circle the chair, in the same lead order as a ‘Grapevine’ pattern. ~ Front, side, back, side. ~ This fact will help you remember what steps you are to take as you move around the chair.., or rather your ‘partner’. ~ You simply match your steps to where you are at the time. ~ Side step made ‘at the side of the chair’, etc. ~ Did I need to say that? ~ This will make it easier for you to remember which step to take, because your leader now has no arms to lead them.
As you look at the chair, imagine that a large ‘X’ has been taped, or otherwise outlined, on the floor directly beneath the chair. ~ The four legs of the chair are each sitting on one of the outbound legs of that ‘X’. ~ In fact the lines of the ‘X’ extend out from the chair for some distance beyond the legs in all four directions. ~ These lines are exactly where you will step as you move around the chair. ~ Step only on the lines. ~ The lines are there for that purpose and they must be used if you are to do this correctly. ~ Remember too that you need to stay close to your partner, so place your feet on the line (tape), as ‘close’ to that particular chair leg as is reasonable. ~ Usually about 6 inches from them. ~ Can you picture that? ~ Good!
A chair is a square, so it really doesn’t matter which corner you start on.., but we want to relate the side, front, and back of the chair to the moves of the same name. ~ So start at the front left corner of the chair as one would sit in it. ~ Stand at that corner, on the extended taped line, and face across the front of the chair to the line of the X that extends out from the opposite front corner.
Consider your partner to be facing you at all times, with no upper body shoulder movement or other ‘english’, beyond simply revolving on his own axis to always face toward you. ~ This is simply to keep it simple, until you become better at moving and controlling your lower body and balance. ~ The partner’s imaginary shoulders will stay in line with an imaginary circle that goes round the chair. ~ His shoulders will always be straight on to you, so your shoulders must stay parallel with his. ~ And in line with that same imaginary circle as well.
At this moment, with you at the ‘starting’ position and your partner facing you, without moving your feet, turn your upper body 1/8 CW turn, or 45 degrees to your right, and face your partner (the chair) too. ~ Continue to visualize your partner being there, always straight on to you as you move around the chair. ~ And, you must concentrate on keeping your shoulders parallel to it. ~ At least as much as you can as you do the following steps. ~ You will get better and better at it and that of course is what we’re going for.
You will be doing a continuous grapevine pattern around your partner the chair. ~ As you will learn, these steps can be done by a leader around a follower, a follower around a leader or each around each other. ~ A molinette. ~ So you are learning to move in very practical ways here. ~ The chair exercise is a very concise and worthwhile method of practice. ~ So please excuse and accept the time it takes to be so exact and precise in describing it, so you do understand what it takes and it is done correctly.
In starting, again remember that each step you take must be either straight forward, straight sideways, or straight backward from the direction you are facing at the time. ~ Therefore if you are facing a direction where you cannot step to where your foot needs to be, to stay close and in front of your partner, your body must pivot to a point that will allow it. ~ It must be turned in that direction before the actual ‘move’ lead is given. ~ Never attempt to move before any pivot is completed, ever.
Keep facing the center of the chair with your upper body twisted at the waist so it is pointed in that direction at all times. ~ Shoulders need to stay parallel to the ‘leader’ and in line with that imaginary circle as you continue around your partner doing all four steps.
We start with a forward step simply because you will be traversing the forward edge of the chair. ~ This means your weight must be on your left leg. ~ To begin you will move your right foot forward to where it can be placed on the line at the opposite front corner. ~ Keeping it the 6 to 8 inches from the chair leg. ~ Remember you are to keep your weight on the left leg as you place your right foot. ~ Bending your left leg as required to allow the right leg to reach that forward distance. ~ Remember you started by facing 45 degrees to your right, toward your partner. ~ As you now transfer your weight from your left to your right leg, and as your left foot is coming across the front of the chair towards the mid-point, your upper body will also be covering the distance. ~ As it does, it will have to increase its twist to 90 degrees at the halfway point of this transition, the middle of the front of the chair. ~ There your legs will in effect be, more or less, in line with east and west, and your shoulders and upper body in line with north and south.
As your left foot continues to the new corner and ankle mid-point of the move, and your weight is being placed on the right foot, one can see if they are following me, that at this point the upper body would have to be twisted even further around to its right, to the 135 degree point. ~ Basically to the rear of the direction of travel. ~ Still facing the middle of the chair from this ‘new’ corner, as you were doing at the previous corner. ~ Your upper body should have turned but your hips and legs did not. They are still pointed in the forward direction. ~ Hmmm... Can this be right?
Rest assured, it will not be painful, or even necessary. ~ Hurting yourself is not a requirement in Tango. ~ The waist, in practice, will hardly, if ever, be required to twist more than 90 degrees. ~ We are really only going through what the lower body needs to do with the chair, while trying to plan for what you will be need to know later.
Why you will not have to go past the 90 degree point in twisting your waist, is that the leader will most likely be twisting his upper body too, while leading you, for you to stay more easily parallel. ~ IOW, he will be taking on some of the degrees himself and sharing the load. ~ There is also the fact, in fact, that this move in practice is done in a circle, not a square. ~ There will be no sharp angular corners to require this type of looking back to make it all work. ~ So again just bare with us for now and try to keep your shoulders pointed towards the middle of the chair ‘as much as possible’. ~ It’s more your lower half that we’re trying to train at this time.
So... now you are at the second corner, with your right foot 6 to 8 inches from that particular leg of the chair. ~ You have brought your left foot to where the ankles touch again, at the ‘closing’ of the forward step. ~ Your balance and weight are on the right foot.~ Now pivot CW 180 degrees to face back where you came from. ~ This brings the free foot all the way around the weight bearing foot as it was pivoted, so it is now in a position to move sideways to your left, along the side of the chair. ~ It also untwists you from the 90-135 degree right twist, all the way around to where you will be facing the chair, 45 degress to your left now.
So you do the side step. ~ The left foot reaches across to the next tape line on the floor and steps on it. ~ At this point your legs will be in a full side stepping position. ~ Side steps are the easiest step to take, and here you must learn and know that they are always to be made using a similar distance as the spacing of a forward or backward step. ~ Never use the side step as a ‘shuffle’ to get from a forward to a backward step. ~ The leader relys on each step being significant so he has room to play if he wishes. ~ Followers sometimes tend to cut the side step short, so reaching all the way to the chair corners will help you learn to always take them fully.
As you do this forward and side step combintation, your shoulders will have kept moving in a circle and so you will still be straight on to the center of your partner. ~ As you should always be.
As you complete the side step by bringing your right foot to the closing, and your ankles are touching again, you will be standing on the X ‘line’ at the left rear, and facing 45 degrees to your right to the chair’s center. ~ You will know that this position calls for a back step, as you are about to traverse the back of the chair. ~ Here, if the chair was indeed a leader, you would be getting palm pressure, shoulder rotations, etc., to indicate the need for a pivot. ~ But you already know what needs to be done. ~ Your right foot must go around behind the left foot and land on the tape line directly in front of you. ~ That of course can’t be done without a pivot. ~ So while still trying very hard to keep your shoulders in line with the ‘circle’ you turn your lower body at the hips.
Your weight is still on your left foot and you pivot on it a full 180 degrees in a CW direction, ~ This will cause you to completely turn around and you will now be facing backward to the back of the chair. You have in effect, circled the left foot and now you may simply step backwards to the next and last ‘X’ line, ending with your weight on your right foot.
Here you will find that you start repeating yourself. ~ As you bring your left, trailing foot to the closing at this last corner, it will pass touch and continue off to your left. ~ Back to the original corner. ~ Finish by bringing your right foot across to the midpoint.. ~ You will be where you were when this started started. ~ Do it again.
Then, when you’re good in one direction around the chair, go in the other direction.
Your partner will love how well you dance Tango.
MOVES
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