Lesson Five
Style Warmup
As always you should begin your work session with a warmup where you practice tango style.
Side Steps
In Lesson One you learned the Cadence, Stroll, Chase, and Rock basic step patterns. The last three move forward along the line of dance (the Rock reversing course in the middle). There are similar patterns that move to the side, toward the center of the dance floor when you and your partner are oriented along the LOD. These are the Side Chase, the Side Rock, and not one but several patterns similar to the Stroll. The Stroll variants you'll learn about in the next lesson; the other two should be obvious since you already know their forward versions.
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If a woman, step sideways to the right, bring your left foot beside the right and put your weight on it. If a man, step sideways to the left, bring your right foot beside the left and put your weight on it. |
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If a woman, step side right and bring your left foot beside the right with no weight on it, step side left and follow through with your right to the neutral position. If a man step, side left and bring your right foot beside the left with no weight on it, step side right and follow through with your left to the neutral position. |
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Practice
These two new patterns may be seem simple but you must practice them with other steps to make their use automatic and easy. First do the Side Rock, pivoting to the left (or right) till you turn 360 degrees. This is the "Slow Dancing" pattern that almost everyone learns. Like its near-twin Las Cunitas it can be used when it's impossible to move along the line of dance. And like its twin it can be used to express tenderness.
Here is another sequence you should try.
- Backward Single Step, Side Chase, Tango Close
Notice that in effect you've just modified the Salida by substituting the Side Chase for the L-Shaped Walk. This modified Salida is identical to the second half of the Box Step used in dances such as the foxtrot and waltz. Since the Tango Close is identical to the first half, what you've done is almost but not quite a ballroom Box Step. The difference is that in the Argentine tango Box Step the Salida part of the Box is done first. And, unlike other ballroom dances, you may often go to the Right Foot Outside position at the end of the modified Salida. Also, any number and kind of Two-Step Walks can be (and usually are) inserted between the two halves of this Box Step.
Here are three more practice sequences. We will use all four again later in this lesson.
- Forward Single Step (man right forward, woman left back), Side Chase, Tango Close (the tango Box Step opened up into a forward-moving pattern like the Zigzag)
- Modified Salida, Stroll, Tango Close (the tango Box Step with a Stroll in the middle)
- Stroll, Stroll, Side Rock
Adornos: Intrusiones
Intrusiones (Intrusions) are Adornos where you put your foot or leg between your partner's legs. Sometimes this is just a brief kick. Sometimes you'll use your foot or leg to push against one of your partner's feet or legs. When beginning tango the man does the intrusions but as dancers become more advanced women may do them too. Here is an easy example that you can use.
If you're a man, step to your left to begin a Side Rock. Quickly move your right foot near your left and move it forward between your partner's legs to touch the inside of her right foot or ankle with the inside of your right foot or ankle. If she follows good tango style she will bring her other foot near her supporting foot and you will feel her sandwich your intruding right foot with her feet. You can then finish the Side Rock by stepping side right back to your beginning location.
If you're a woman, step to your right to begin a Side Rock. You'll feel your partner place a foot between your legs, touching the inside of your right foot or ankle. Follow good tango style by bringing your left foot near your supporting foot and sandwich his intruding foot. After a brief pause he and you will finish the Side Rock.
This action is called an Entrada (Entrance). It could have been done as a brief kick between the woman's legs, but that is more dangerous and you should wait till you become much more expert before trying kicking Entradas.
Or you could change the Entrada to a Sacada -- a push against a free foot, calf, or thigh. If you're a man, do the Side Rock as just described. However, before you do the second step push with your right foot against the inside of her free foot before removing your foot to finish the step. If you're a woman, after sandwiching your partner's foot or ankle, you may feel him push against the inside of your left foot with his foot. Just finish the Side Rock as you normally would. (Do Sacadas only foot-to-foot, calf-to-calf, or thigh-to-thigh. Never use your ankle or knee; they can easily hurt your partner.)
Practice
You should now practice this example of an Entrada and Sacada. Do so very slowly at first. Look down to understand what's happening only the first time or two that you try this. It's very important that you not develop the bad habit of letting your shoulders slump and your head droop forward; it'll be very hard to unlearn.
Another important point: tango is not just an athletic activity. You can use Intrusions to express emotions and to play. The man may, for instance, be tender or sexy or mischievous or even angry in the way he intrudes. The woman can reply with her body language in many ways: imperturbable, playful, annoyed, tender, shy, brazen, and so on. When you practice, and when you dance, experiment with such possibilities. Just don't get confused and mistake a play emotion for a real one -- or a real one for a play emotion!
Adornos: Caresses
Caricias (Caresses) are yet another kind of Adorno: rubs with your leg or shoe against some part of your partner's body. They can be subtle or extravagant. (The fancier ones you'll usually only see in a show.) Here are a few examples of each kind, and you can probably think of more. Just be cautious how you do the showier ones; a Caress that becomes a fall will not have the effect you desire. Neither will a Caress that is intimate enough to get you shunned or slapped!
When you do the Entrada described above either (or both) man and woman can do a Caress. If you're a man, press your right shoe against her right shoe, gently but still strong enough to make it clear you intended a caress. Or push your right leg further between her legs and hook it behind her left leg at the knee, then slide the back of your calf down the back of her calf.
If you're a woman, when you sandwich the man's foot you can press it between your feet strongly enough to make it clear you intended a caress. Or (if he gives you time) instead of doing the sandwich lift your free (left) leg and hook the back of your knee behind the back of his right knee, then slide the back of your calf down the back of his calf. Or if you want to do something even showier, lift your free leg above your waist, wrap it behind his upper leg, and slowly let it slide down his leg, caressing the back of his leg with the inside and back of your lower leg.
If you're a man, read the previous paragraph. If you'd like to give the woman a better chance to do the showy Caresses, stop in the middle of a side step, straighten your body and lift your right shoulder a few inches. Leave your right leg extended. This gives your partner a cue that she's free to do a leg caress and gives her a more obvious target.
A woman can do a Lustrada (Shoe Shine) Caress in several situations. One is when she's doing an Ocho beside a man with a foot extended, as in the example at the end of Lesson Four. She may touch or rub his lower leg with her instep or her shoe top before lifting her foot over his foot and stepping forward to do an Ocho.
Side Steps and Ochos
Side steps give you another way to do Ochos. Here's an example with intermediate-level difficulty.
Till now both men and women did steps in an almost mirror-like way: when one stepped forward the other stepped back, when one stepped side left the other stepped side right in the same direction. Your matching legs were always parallel with each other, so this is called parallel walking. Now, however, in the middle of this example the man will take more steps than the woman and in a different rhythm; from the side it would look as if your matching legs cross each other, so this is called crossed walking.
If you're a woman, do four steps in a SLOW SLOW rhythm. Step side right and turn a bit to your right, then cross your left foot in front of your right and turn left to face your partner. (This Two-Step Walk -- called a Side Cross Front -- is covered in depth in the next lesson.) Do a Forward Ocho: 90-plus degree left pivot on your left foot, step forward right and pivot 180-plus degrees right, step forward left and pivot 90-plus degrees left.
If you're a man, do a Side Chase in a QUICK QUICK rhythm, a Side Rock in SLOW SLOW rhythm, then another Side Chase in a QUICK QUICK rhythm. The first two quick steps add a step so the two of you are doing crossed walking, the second two quick steps adds another step and brings you back to parallel walking.
Lead/Follow and Practice
The lead and follow for this pattern is similar to that for any Ocho.
If you're a man, read and do the woman's part in the previous section to understand her part. Here's how to lead it. Turn your upper body right a bit as you begin your first Side Chase step. (Don't turn your lower body during any part of this pattern. Keep it square to the line of dance.) This turns your partner so that she begins to do a Side Cross Front (a Two-Step Walk covered in depth in the next lesson).
Finish your Side Chase. Do your Side Rock; as you finish the first step of it, turn your upper body left a bit. This leads the first part of the woman's Ocho. After your Side Rock step turn right a bit to lead the 180-degree turn of her Ocho. To finish, do your second Side Chase step and turn your body to face straight along the LOD.
If you're a woman, you will feel your partner turn his and your upper body right a bit as you begin your first side-right step, leading you to do your second step across in front of your right (the Side Cross Front ). He'll then turn you left a bit to begin your Forward Ocho. After your Ocho you'll feel him turn his upper body directly forward. This signals the end of your Ocho.
Do this pattern several times. Do one, two, and three Ochos in the middle.
Side Steps and Backward Ochos
The woman can also do Backward Ochos, by beginning the pattern with a leftward upper-body pivot so that the woman begins the pattern with a Side Cross Behind (step side right, cross your left foot behind your right). She can then smoothly transition into Backward Ochos.
Music and Quick Steps
In Argentine tango you can move with any tempo on any step. Besides slow steps you can do very slow or even very very slow steps; you can even stop totally for a short period of time. A previous lesson covered how to dance in that way. When the music suggests it, you can also do quick steps on any step (and very quick or very very quick steps, but that's an advanced topic).
Side steps are especially easy to lead and follow as quick steps. Try the following sequences (which you should have practiced near the beginning this lesson).
- tango Box Step - SLOW, QUICK QUICK, SLOW, QUICK QUICK
- tango Box Step opened up - same as the above rhythm
- tango Box Step with a Stroll in the middle - same as the above rhythm but do the Stroll SLOW SLOW
- Stroll, Stroll, Side Rock - SLOW SLOW, SLOW SLOW, QUICK QUICK
You will find it easier to do quick side steps if you shorten them. Try this with the previous sequences.
Now shorten your side steps so much that they become steps in place, and try the previous sequences again. Notice that this turns your Side Rocks into Cadencias and your tango Box Steps into straight-line patterns.
Style
If some of these sequences and rhythmic variations seem identical to figures you know from other ballroom dances, don't be surprised. All walking dances use some of the same patterns. What makes each dance unique is not its step patterns but how the patterns are done -- which is why you should begin each practice session with a style warmup.
Lesson 4
Lesson 6
