Women's Common Mistakes in Tango

1. Refusing to surrender
For two partners to dance like one cohesive body, only one of them can lead and the other must follow, otherwise their movements will conflict with each other. The woman must overcome her ego, surrender to the man and follow his lead. Novice women often insist on their independence and refuse to surrender, just like a young bride still so accustomed to her single status that she needs some adjustment before becoming a qualified wife. It often feels more comfortable dancing with a married woman than an unmarried girl, because the latter is still too self-centric. For a woman, learning tango is much more than learning steps, it is also learning to surrender and be one with the man. Women who focus on themselves and do not surrender cannot dance tango well. (See Tango and Trust.)

2. Leaning backwards
A woman not surrendering herself often keeps a distance from the man by leaning backward rather than leaning forward into him. This creates two problems. First, when she leans back, the man cannot lean forward against her and has to assume an upright posture, creating a distance between the two. The original A-shaped frame is changed to an H-shaped frame, and the dance that prioritizes intimacy and synchronization is transformed into one that focuses on individual performance. Second, in the absence of torso contact, communication can only take place through the arms and hands, which is less coherent and less comfortable than the direct torso communication, prone to confusing signals, misunderstandings, coercion, and uncoordinated movements. (See The Fourteenth Pitfall of a Tanguera.)

3. Interfering with the lead
Individual performance is especially evident in societies with a strong presence of individualism and feminism that advocate the independence of the woman, disapprove her surrender to the man, and encourage her to act autonomously. Such propositions are in clash with Argentine tango, which features oneness, surrender, synchronization and harmony rather than individual performance. In tango, the steps of the woman are not initiated by the woman, but are brought out by the man. The woman may beautify the dance, but her embellishments must be in unison and not in conflict with the lead. She should not initiate the step or do her own thing. (See Tango and Gender Equality.)

4. Anticipation
After a step is made, a novice woman often takes the next action automatically at her own anticipation. For example, she hastily chases the beat, or turns her body in the direction that would hinder his next lead, or makes the second, third and fourth ocho on her own until he has to stop her, etc. Although an experienced man may adapt, her initiative interferes with his lead. If the man is unskilled, then there could be frequent conflicts. The woman should not speculate and must develop the habit of waiting and dancing step by step according to the lead rather than her own anticipation.

5. Using arms and hands
Surrender means completely relaxing your body to allow the man to lead you effortlessly. A woman not feeling at home with her craft tends to focus on the steps, so her body is prone to tension. In her nervousness she may grab the man and rely on the help of the arms and hands to execute the steps. Without knowing who has the jitters she blames the man for her sour wrist even though that is caused by her own tension. A woman must develop the ability to execute the steps with her body, hips and legs without the help of her arms and hands. Using arms and hands not only causes her own discomfort but also causes the physical exertion of the man. In my experience that is the most common and disturbing problem among beginners. Once the dancers stop using their arms and hands and switch to using their torsos, their dancing experience will be greatly improved. Of course, the woman still needs to learn how to rely on her torso to follow so that her arms and hands are completely relaxed while dancing. (See The Functions of Various Body Parts in Tango.)

6. Spaghetti body
The woman should move the core or center of her body so that her entire body moves as one coherent piece. She should not only move the part of her body that receives the lead. For instance, when she feels the push on her chest that tells her to move back, she should move her whole body back and not just bend her torso back. When she is led to move to the side, she should move her whole body to the side and not just bend her torso to the side. She should dance with a straight and resilient body, not a curved spaghetti body.

7. Heavy
Heaviness may be related to body weight, but is more often caused by technical errors. A novice woman tends to hold on to the man to help herself with the movement, which not only makes it hard for the man to lead her, but also causes discomfort, fatigue and loss of interest on his part. In order for the man to enjoy dancing with a woman, she needs to make herself light and easy to lead. She must surrender herself, relax her body, keep her own balance, and dance in complete agreement with him. She should not put too much weight on him, grab him with her arms and hands to help herself with the move, or resists or wrestle with him. Women with good sense of equilibrium and are light in dance are much sought after by men. (See Balance and Lightness.)

8. Insuffficient connection
At the same time she shouldn't be so featherweight that he can't feel her. Tango is danced by feeling, as in close embrace the man cannot see her movements and must feel them to know where her axis is, whether she has switched foot, whether she has completed hip rotation or embellishment etc. in order to decide how to lead the next step. If the two dancers cannot feel each other, it's easy for him to take a conflicting lead and for her to follow incorrectly, such as failing to do cruzada, failing to change weight when she should, or adding a step when she shouldn't, etc. Women with such problems need to improve their embrace and connection to allow the man to feel them and allow themselves to feel his lead better. (See Why Women Fail to Do Cruzada.)

9. Not returning to home position on time
Because her torso is attached to his torso in the embrace, the woman needs to swivel her hips in order to step on his side or around him. (See Dissociation and Gear Effect.) When the step is done she needs to swivel her hips back and collect her free leg, that is, to return to the home position - the symmetrical position in line with him - to get ready for the next step. Failure to do so due to pre-judgment or anticipation will delay the next move or even make it impossible, which is a common mistake many women frequently make. Developing the habit of returning to the home position in a timely manner after each step is very important for women.

10. Unrefined musicality
Tango steps can be divided into two groups: that of featured steps such as the forward step in ocho, the rock step in ocho cortado, etc., and that of ancillary actions such as unwinding, hip rotation, pivot, weight change, collection, and adornment, etc. A novice woman tends to focus on the featured steps and neglect ancillary actions. She may be able to step on the beat, but her hip rotation, cross, weight change and embellishment are often made off beat. A woman must be aware that dancing to music is not just stepping on the beat. All movements of her body including the ancillary ones must match the rhythm, tempo and mood of the music perfectly. Cultivating refined musicality is a long-term goal, but it is the most fundamental and important skill that she must develop.

11. Lack of agility
Tango music has four beats in each measure. The first and third beats are the downbeats, the second and fourth beats are the upbeats. One normally acts on the downbeats - the main step is on the first beat, the ancillary action is on the third beat, in the speed of doing two actions in each measure. However, it is often necessary to do two actions, such as taking a forward step and then immediately making a pivot, or stepping back and then immediately crossing one leg in front of the other, or taking a step and then immediately changing weight to the other foot, on two consecutive beats - the main action is on the downbeat, the ancillary action is on the upbeat, in the speed of doing four actions in each measure. Sometimes the main action and the ancillary action even need to be completed on a single beat, such as one leg takes a step while the other leg does an embellishment, in the speed of doing eight actions in each measure. The ability to act swiftly is particularly important in the advanced level that involves very fast footwork. Skilled dancers are prepared for continuous actions and can move swiftly, ready at any moment for the next step, thus can dance at ease and have time to do adornments. Beginners, on the contrary, often are hesitant to act. Their movement is heavy, and they can only step on the downbeat but not on two successive beats, let alone taking two actions on a single beat.

12. Passivity
Following is an active activity that requires focus, sensitivity, agility, and creativity. Novice women not proficient in steps often follow hesitantly and reluctantly. Some take a perfunctory attitude. Others are not emotionally connected. Still others hold back their creativity and become the shadow of their partner. With such passivity it is impossible to dance tango well. A good follower is actively engaged, totally committed and going all out. She's on full display of her emotions, skills, creativity and personality while remaining in complete unison with the man. (See Activity and Passivity in Tango.)

13. Gender neutrality
Some women brought their political correctness into tango. They deny gender differences, refuse to surrender, disobey the lead, hanker for individual performance, reverse gender roles, and advance same-sex partnership, etc. If that kind of tango is what you are after, then good luck. However, if Argentine tango is your aim, then you must learn to be a good follower. In Argentine tango, the woman assumes the feminine role. She surrenders to the man, follows his lead, shines the dance with her flexible body, and pleases him with her femininity. The relationship of the two sexes is only meaningful when they remain who they are as man and woman. Without femininity, tango will lose not only its charm and beauty but also the meaning of its existence. (See The Gender Expression in Tango.)