Learn to Tango

Argentine Tango Lessons : Stokeinteignhead
Term 2: Lesson 1

 

Aim of the lesson:
To encourage followers’ awareness of where and how they use their body weight.
To encourage leaders to develop the rhythm of their movement in relation to the music.

Warm up exercises
· Walking forward and backwards
· Forward and backwards ochos
· Lapis: quarter, half and full turn

All dancers to practice moving their body weight from one foot to the other – particularly sideways and on to a bent back leg – remember to keep your body upright and don’t lean backwards.

The cross
All dancers to practice getting in and out of the cross.

Followers remember to leave the weight on your front foot as you are drawn upwards by your partners and only change the weight from foot to foot when you close in the cross.

Leaders, remember to move your partners weight upwards when you lead them into a cross and release that upwards pressure when you want them to move on to the next step.

Everyone – remember this is a slow movement which enables you to show off the quality of your movement.

Working with rhythm
The aim of this part of the lesson is to encourage you to vary the speed at which you move and the timing of your steps. Variation will add interest to you and your partner (and to anyone watching you!). You want to try to break away from the regular

You can practice this at home by listening to any piece of music and trying to identify the rhythm created either by the melody (the bit you sing along with) or the underlying pulse/beat.

Select a section of the music that you’re listening to and clap the rhythm a couple of times.

Once you’ve clearly established the rhythm in your head, try putting steps to it so that you are varying your movements to coincide with the rhythm that you’ve picked out from the music.

Try this with other pieces of music (it doesn’t have to be tango). When you feel confident with this exercise, vary your movements so that you move alternately with the rhythm of the melody and the pulse.

 

 

Term 2 Lessons

Argentine Tango Lesson 1

Argentine Tango Lesson 4

Argentine Tango Lesson 4 (Part2)