Tango is not only a fascinating dance but also a fascinating philosophy, culture and lifestyle. The search of tango is the search of connection, love, fellowship, unity, harmony and beauty, i.e., an idealism that is not consistent with the dehumanizing reality of the modern world. The world divides us into individuals, but tango unites us into a team, community and species. In tango we are not individualists, feminists, nationalists, Democrats, Republicans, etc., but interconnected and interdependent members of the human family. Tango calls us to tear down the walls, to build bridges, and to regain humanity through affinity, altruism, cooperation, and accommodation. It is a dance that teaches the world to love.



February 22, 2022

Steps and Choreography


Many leaders focus only on the steps and don't pay enough attention to the choreography when they lead the dance. In fact, the quality of a tango is determined more by choreography than steps.

To explain this, let's take a closer look at how the milongueros dance tango.












In the dance of the milongueros, the most impressive thing is not their steps, but their dance arrangement or choreography, which has the following common characteristics.

1. They dance at a slower pace, allowing the woman to follow in a restful, comfortable, and elegant manner.

2. Every step is well thought out and clearly led, focusing on expressing feelings, not on impression.

3. There is a pause after each phrase, just like there is a punctuation mark after each sentence.

4. The pause is not completely still, but in subtle motion to give the woman a chance to do embellishments.

5. The steps are simple, small, but pulsating, like surging waves rather than flowing water.

6. Between two steps is a soft transition, often in the form of a slow turn, preparing the next surge in a different direction.

7. Surging step, pause, soft transition, and another surging step constitute the basic rhythm of the dance. This arrangement can better reflect the music, sentiment and feelings that characterize social tango.

The dance of the milongueros is in sharp contrast to our tango, which tends to be busy, hasty and beat-chasing, prioritizing steps rather than feelings. If their tango is art, then ours is more like gymnastics. We tend to step on every beat and dance at a hurried, monotonous pace, leaving little room for the woman to do decorations. There is a lack of pause, slow motion, subtlety, depth and emotional expressions in our tango. The following is an example.




These are not novices but fairly skilled dancers. In fact, the quality of their dance is better than most such scenes found online. I chose this clip to illustrate that dance techniques and choreography are two seperate skills. What most dancers need more is the latter. (See Floorcraft, Choreography and Hastiness.)

Of course, there's a learning curve. In the following video, I saw some progress.




Some dnacers in this video seem to have learned the style of the milongueros. One shining example is the man in the hat appeared in 3:10-3:50, who used a lot of pauses and slow motions. As you can see, by adopting the choreography of the milongueros, the dance becomes deeper, tastier, more musical and less gymnastic.

Pause and slow motion are to dance what punctuation is to writing, making it more expressive, artistic and meaningful. The following is another good example.