Learning from a Talented Tango Girl

I was impressed by the skills, grace, musicality and control this little girl displayed in her dance, and believe adult dancers can learn something from her.

Here are few highlights from this dance.

Salida with forward step (0:07-0:14)
In a normal salida, the two partners step in parallel to the same side. But in this case the man alone took a side step to the left, while the girl swiveled her hips and took a forward rather than side step with her right leg, enabling her left leg to take another forward step and pivot, and her right leg to do a slow and beautiful planeo.

Split-leg turn and sandwich (0:26-0:31)
Most adult dancers do not spread their legs like a compass when turning, but this girl does that a lot, and she does it often in a reduced speed, adding grace to the movement. In this example, her split-leg turn is followed by a pause as the man sandwithed her, she then collected her leg and did a delicious curtsy, all executed flawlessly.

Barrida (0:33-0:36, 1:32-1:37)
The girl stepped forward with her right leg (or in the second case stepped back with her left leg) to allow the man to do a barrida—sweeping her right leg to the right with his right leg. She followed by collecting her left leg until her foot touched his foot, then crossing over to land on the other side of his foot. Barrida is generally an unobtrusive move, but her execution left an impression on me, mainly due to her control over the speed of the movement.

Ocho in slow motion (0:36-0:41)
Here the girl did an ocho at a deliberately slower pace. She knows how to dance fast, but she chooses to do some moves in slow motion, showing very good judgment. Most adult dancers don't care if they actually draw an 8 on the floor when they dance ocho, but this girl did just that carefully, making her ocho particularly beautiful.

Planeo (0:43-0:45)
This is another elegant planeo, also executed in slow motion. Adult dancers tend to exaggerate their movements, such as lowering the knee to create a larger planeo that is closer to the ground. But this girl's movements all look natural, without exaggeration, and the result is better, in my opinion, with innocent beauty.

Moving backwards with front ocho (1:40-1:45)
Another example of ocho at slower pace. This time she used greater hip rotation to move backward with a front ocho. Most adult dancers turn too hastily, so their ocho lacks the beauty it deserves. This girl, however, is particularly good at using slow motion to show the grace of her movements, espcially when involving rotation, demonstrating excellent musicality, control, and aesthetic sense.

Sandwich (2:10-2:19)
Another sandwich in slow motion with a captivating deep knee flexion.

Overall, I was very impressed by this little girl's sophistication, or rather, talent. I hope that adult dancers can learn the ease with which she dances, in particular, learn to slow down the pace when doing turns, pivots, ochos, and planeos, because, as this little girl demonstrated, that will add grace to the dance. This means that leaders also need to slow down the pace to allow women to infuse elegance to their performance.