Dancing Tango - TC Dance Club Kansas City, Gil Maldonado

AMERICAN TANGO

Tango is one of two so called "walking" ballroom dances that we do. An important key to doing Tango correctly is to use the correct heel or toe leads when doing the dance. We see this in our basic Tango step.

Tango Basic Dance Step - Gentleman
Beginning with the left foot, take 3 steps forward, first step with your left, second step with your right foot, third with your left. Then take a side step to your right with your right foot. Close your left foot to your right foot for the last step of your Tango basic.

The first three steps of the basic are what we call "heel" leads. This means the heel of the foot arrives on the floor first -- just like in a regular walking step.

Any forward step in Tango dancing is a heel lead, any side or backward step is a "toe lead" -- meaning you step with the ball of the foot first. So in the man's basic step, his fourth and fifth steps, where he steps to the side and closes his feet together, are toe leads.

Tango Basic Dance Step - Lady
Beginning with her right foot, the lady takes 3 steps backward, first step with her right foot, second step with her left foot and steps backward again with her right for her third step. She then takes a side step to her left with her left foot, and closes her right foot to her left for the last step of her Tango basic. For the lady toe leads are important because she is always moving backward in her basic step. She is reaching back with her toe on her first 3 steps of the basic and then she is stepping to the side and closing, all toe leads.

Timing -- In Tango we use staccato action -- abrupt, crisp movements. The count for Tango is "slow, slow, quick, quick, slow." Breaking that timing down even further, there are 2 beats for the "slows", one beat for the "quicks." So our count becomes "slow(1,2), slow(3,4), quick(5), quick(6), slow(7,8)." To help with the staccato action, your step must arrive on the "1"(slow)beat, hold for the "2" beat, the next step arrives on the "3"(slow), holds for the "4", step on the "5"(quick), step on the "6"(quick), step on the "7"(slow) and hold for "8". See our Instructional Video on Tango.

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