Cadencia and the Flow of Tango

When we dance tango our body oscillates as its weight shifts from one foot to another. The oscillation can be enhanced by accelerating the motion of the body. This technique is called cadencia. It feels like riding back and forth on a swing, creating a cozy rocking feeling for both dancers but especially for the woman, as she is the one snuggled in his arms and being swayed.

The man swings the woman to one side and the other alternately. Flowing each swing she swivels her hips and pivots her lower body to allow him to reverse the swing in the opposite direction (see Dissociation and Gear Effect). This, in fact, is how ocho is danced. When teaching ocho, tango teachers usually emphasize dissociation, or the rotation of the hips, but many overlook cadencia, or the sway of the body. However, if you combine the two, it not only adds elegance to the movement, but also creates a rocking sensation that makes the movement even more enjoyable.

Doing cadencia requires some space and speed, or else the body cannot swing freely. This is why experienced dancers like to dance in the flow. When the floor is full of experienced dancers, you can see a counterclockwise flow of people like waves surge forward in correspondence with the rhythm of the music, and the speed of the flow is quite fast. But if there are too many novices on the dance floor, then the speed of flow is slowed down. At times it even becomes like a pool of stagnant water.

Novices who have no sense of flow often stay in place practicing steps, disregarding the people behind them waiting for them to move forward. On an empty dance floor that may cause no problem, but in a crowded room, that would obstruct the traffic. Mark Word calls such people "rocks in the stream." You drive to work in the morning and suddenly there is a slow-moving car blocking your way, that is the same kind of feeling. People dancing on a crowded dance floor must not become such "rocks in the stream." I'm not saying that you cannot slow down or pause for a moment, and then move on, which experienced dancers often do, but they do so only when the music tells everyone to slow down or when there is enough space. If the dancers behind you are approaching, then you must keep moving to avoid causing a traffic jam. This is the code, which all dancers have to follow.