Tango Elements

What are the building blocks of tango? There are several ways to approach that question. I am sure it is what teachers get asked all the time.

To me there are three parts.

The what? The How? The When?

The What?
This is a bit like asking how long a piece of string is. Your asking how many things there are. Can you write the names of all the steps? In one sense yes, there are only 3 steps plus a couple of components.

Step forward, side and back.
Step to close feet together from open.
Change weight - This is a side step of zero length, well the distance between one foot and the other (shoulder width).
Pivot on the ball of the foot to give direction change.
Rock from foot to foot without the full weight change.

All moves are built from the above components. Even a volcada could be described as a step foward, pivot and step closed. The missing aspect is in the 'how' part. That is the taking out of axis (of balance) toward the lead and returning to the axis.

There are several step concepts built from those parts above, here is a list of some.

barrida, colgada, enganche, gancho, giro, montesinos, mordida, ocho, parada, sacada, soltada, volcada

I put the enrosques in the How. It is a pivot with added qualites from just pivoting or shuffling round.

The How?
This is the real quality aspect of the dance. This is all the variations of how to move your weight from point A to B. Move quickly like a dart then pause. Move slow and let one step move into the next. Aspects of posture, presence, balance are in the How and effect all parts of the dance irrespective of the patterns danced. The same basic 8 can be done to look and feel differently even though the step (What) is the same.

The When?
To me this is governed by the music. When should you step to a new location. The music also governs the how. The more staccato the music the more darting the movement. Perhaps a waltz means being more fluid with less complete stops. The when can be constrained by the current dance conditions though. You may want to do a long step to match a long note or chain a lot of little steps with a musical trill. If they take more room than you current have, you have to bend it or omit it. Bending the move in a circle to do in a tight space can be rewarding or frustrating depending on your outlook.

TJ