Prácticas – learning through the body

People with little knowledge of the history of Tango tend to assume that to learn to dance the Tango (or any other dance), the thing to do is to go to a beginners’ class. At that beginners’ class they assume that they will learn a step, which they will try to do with another beginner who has just learned the step, and that then they will go to a dance and try and repeat that step with someone else who already knows it. Learning technique is not something many novices give much thought to, unless they are told that it is what they need to do.

At a beginners’ class, and probably at a dance that follows it, they will be surrounded by other beginners. They rely on the teacher, and perhaps a small group of more advanced students, to give them the information they need about the dance, and put their faith in the assumption that the teacher must know what they are talking about, or they would not be teaching a class.

One of fundamental differences between a class and a práctica as a way of passing on the dance is that in a group class the student generally receives the bulk of their information through the eyes and ears, and processes that information mentally in an attempt to communicate it to the body, while in a práctica the person learning receives information through the body, directly from the body of the more experienced dancer. In a class the student relies on the teacher having two skills – skill in the dance itself, plus the ability to communicate that skill in a way the student can comprehend. It was rare to find people who learned to dance in the prácticas of the Golden Age who had the ability to articulate and explain the highly developed skills in the dance they possessed. Conversely, sometimes people who were skilled communicators, able to teach a class with conviction and confidence, did not have been recognized by the dancers of the Golden Age – the dancers who represented the continuous, living tradition of Tango – as being Tango at all. It is a very fortunate student who finds a teacher who has true knowledge and understanding of the dance, as well as the skills to communicate that knowledge.

(from “The Meaning of Tango: The Story of the Argentinian Dance” by Christine Denniston)

7 things to remember

1. Dance for her – The man dances for the woman, not the reverse.   Everything that you do at milongas, you do for her pleasure. Your reward is her pleasure; her smile; her wanting to dance with you. Es tango.

2. Embrace is measure - Think of her embrace as a measure of your dancing. When she embraces you, she gives you something precious, she gives herself to you – it’s up to you to decide what to do with it. If you fail her, you will lose her trust - and her embrace.  If you feel that she is disconnecting, that she is tense, distant, that she is not comfortable in your arms, you’re probably doing something wrong. That is her way of telling you that you are dancing badly, that you are not dancing for her.

In my experience, there are women who are not able to give themselves to the partner, who are not able to connect completely. In my opinion, that is mostly because they learned to dance only with bad dancers, so their default embrace is distant and cold. They dance only with their bodies, not with their heart.

3. Connect – Usually, during tango, the woman spends the whole time thinking or feeling the communication. That is the most important thing to her – not your ability to make acrobatic figures, not your ability to make fast movements with you legs.  She will close her eyes, and she will dance only according to the information that you are sending her.  Your ability to connect with her is one of the most important elements of good dancing.

4. Choose carefully – Before dancing you should take a good look. Look at the dance floor – in my experience the best dancers are those with the most passionate embrace, those who have connection points with their partners in their chest (close to their hearts), those who hold their arms around the neck of their partners, leaning on them. Choosing carefully saves you a lot of energy and time dancing with bad dancers, looking for the right one.

5. Follow her – Forget about “leader/follower” thing, that is not tango. In tango there is only a man and a woman, not leader and follower.  The emotional drive of the couple is the woman.  So you will have to follow her in every step. The choreography and interpreting the music is still your job, but you do that with her emotions in mind all the time. If you feel that she is tense, you will want to make simpler steps, to relax her, to give her freedom, to take a breath.  Learn to read her emotions, follow her emotion-leading.

6. Follow her, again – Sometimes, even the experienced dancers make mistakes.  Don’t ever allow to the woman to think that she is responsible for the mistake. First, you try to follow her movement, so she will never notice that she is not making the steps that you are leading her to. As one old milonguero said – If she makes a mistake, I will make a mistake too.   If that doesn’t help, if she starts to apologize while dancing, you stop her and apologize yourself.

7. Dancing is precious – So, don’t waste it. Dance only with women you enjoy dancing. Normally, you should, in all milongas, dance a few tandas with beginners or with women that you have never danced before. Think of that as your social responsibility. However, never dance too many. First, you will get tired, and when people are tired they dance badly. Second, they get all sweaty. So, when there is a chance to dance with the perfect partner, you may be all messed up – therefore you ruin the beautiful moments.