Walking Again

30th June 2010

"It takes seven years to learn how to walk in tango"
~ ~ perceived wisdom

Introduction

So if you're planning on learning tango for seven years, then yes, it's worth learning to walk. But what about the majority of men who stop learning after 2-3 years? For them, their tango walk really just highlights all the technical errors in the dancing. So why do it at all?

First of all it's worth asking, can you physically walk in your local venues?

Take a look at this clip.

- it's more a kind of musical shuffling.

Now look at this video:

In a much quieter venue you could probably do this. But there's simply no way you could do a lot of this in the first venue.

Here's a middle ground example:

It's interesting that although there's space to do walking, no-one's really doing it.

Some meaning

"Do something, Hawke! Not that!" ~ Archangel

So what does this mean?

To me, at the moment, it means that there's a faster payback if you focus on learning to dance one or two steps at a time and combine it with musical shuffling, rather than actual walking.

I think walking is a worthwhile thing to practice in its own right as it will indirectly help to improve your tango. But sadly for the vast majority of tango dancers, leading walking will tend to hinder your social dancing rather than help it.

~ Christopher O'Shea, 30th June 2010

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