Steps, Musicality and Choreography

Novice dancers often fixate on steps, overlooking the equally important aspects of musicality and choreography. Yet, the artistry of tango lie more on musicality and choreography than steps. To understand this, let’s first look at how the milongueros dance tango.

What truly stands out in the dance of the milongueros is not the complexity of their steps, but their exceptional musicality and choreography, characterized by the following qualities:

(1) They dance at a slower pace, allowing the woman to follow in a restful and elegant manner. (2) Each step is thoughtfully crafted and clearly led, focusing on expressing the music and feelings, not on impression. (3) They pause after each musical phrase or sequence, much like punctuation marks structure a sentence. (4) The pause is not static but filled with subtle motion, offering the woman space for personal expression and embellishment. (5) Their steps are pulsating—resembling surging waves rather than a steady stream—facilitating cadencia in the dance. (6) Transitions between steps are smooth, often involving slight pivots to prepare for the next surge in a different direction. (7) Surging step, pause, soft transition, and another surge constitute the intrinsic rhythm of their dance. This arrangement can better reflect the music, sentiment and feelings that feature social tango.

This approach stands in stark contrast to how many of us dance today. Our tango is often characterized by hurried, beat-chasing steps that prioritize movement over musicality and choreography. If their tango is an art, ours more closely resembles gymnastics—precise, constant, and driven by action rather than emotion. We tend to step on every beat, maintaining a relentless pace that leaves little room for expressive depth. What’s missing is the pause, the slow motion, the softness, the subtlety—those quiet spaces where emotional connection can emerge. The following is an example.

As you may note, these are fairly experienced dancers. In fact, their technical skills surpass the average found online. I chose this example to demonstrate that dance techniques, musicality, and choreography are distinct skills. What most dancers lack is the latter two.

Of course, like any skill, learning to add pauses, slow motion, subtlety and depth of expression to choreography takes time. But this is exactly what we need to learn from the milongueros. The dancers in the next clip have made noticeable progress.

Many of them have begun to adopt the style of the milongueros. A standout example is the man in the hat who appears between 3:10 and 3:50. By incorporating more pauses and slow motions into his choreography, he has achieved a dance that feels deeper, more flavorful, and less gymnastic. Pauses and slow motion in tango are like punctuation in writing—they make the dance more musical, meaningful, expressive, and captivating (see Floorcraft, Choreography and Hastiness). The following is another such example.