- Try not to swing during the dance. Don't lift that shoulder, nor any hip. Your movement should be smooth and should not unbalance your leader. Normally, the leader shouldn't swing either, but if he does, you try to keep your balance and help his.
- The order of things is: leader's intention -> follower's step -> leader's step. Your duty as follower is to try and feel the intention and then go with it. You will wait only if the leader wants you to wait.
- When you make your step forward, make sure that your head, your chest and the tip of your foot align on the same vertical front. Also, when you make your step back your head, your back and you the tip of your foot should be on the same vertical line. If by any chance any of them aren't in an alignment, you will most probably break the embrace, alter your posture or simply look funny - bad funny that is!
- Think of half tempo level. When you will get accustomed to the tango beat, it may seem too slow for you and that will only get you to think at half tempo. Doing that will allow you to make any adornos you like, tap at half time and make your dance that more interesting.
- Think at double tempo level. When your partner leads your steps on a very slow tempo (step on 2 beats), it's a perfect opportunity for you to improve your technique. Make sure you make your steps in the right assigned place on the floor, that you don't hesitate in moving your weight, that you have a perfect posture, that you continuously maintain the embrace and so on. The slow dance is the best way to test a lot of your skills.
- Ocho is a very useful trick that many leaders use to enter some other cool trick or a sequence of steps. Still, when it is used abundantly (that means more than 3 consecutive ochos let's say), you have all the right to be annoyed, since it's not the most comfortable step. Anyway, if you are trapped in that kind of a situation, try to work on your pivot and also, any adorno will do.
- There will be times when your leader will simply stand still in the middle of a song. Enjoy that time and take the opportunity to better adapt your embrace and prepare the next step.
- The leader will not always make the same steps he leads. He may also lead some steps to you while standing completely still. try to feel his intention and not his steps.
- Try to always maintain the embrace. Don't give more space than required and don't cover more space than needed.
- Tango music is usually composed of 8 tempo phrases. A leader should dance to the phrase and stop at the end of a song. However, if he isn't a very good listener, if you feel the song is ending and your leader is still preparing some steps, you can try to slow him down until non-movement by putting more weight into your steps. The feeling for the leader will be that you have suddenly become heavier and that will slow him down.
- Argentine tango draws its beauty from the liberty of improvising. There is no choreography and therefore, do not expect a certain sequence of steps. Every dance will be different with every leader and with every song.
For followers (II)
The second installment in our series of beginner's tips for followers. Here goes:
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