We will start with the practice of posture and axis , further we will discuss weight changing and the open step. The basic conditioning for tango milonguero.
Welcome to my first class for couples. Enjoy the exercises given , one week every day for 15 minutes before you progress to the next class.
Tango Estilo Milonguero – 1 posture and axis.
Posture and Axis
1.Posture and Axis in Tango Milonguero
This exercise is to be aware of your own body, specially your posture.
Stand straight with closed feet in zero position, consequently all chacras in line to guaranty a free energy flow.
Never bend forwards trying to recover connection, neither bend backwards avoiding close contact.
Now we put our weight in our toes, in the center and in the heel, then we move our weight forward again. We repeat several times.
Practice this posture and feel each position mindfully .
2.Weight changing in zero position.
Weight changing is the term in tango, when we switch weight from one leg to the other. We use this technic to change axis from one side to the other .
As a result the leader can change the weight of the follower with this method.
In this practice we change weight from right leg to the center and to the left leg and reverse.
Feel each position clearly. Relax the hip over the free leg, while your axis is on the standing leg.
Your axis (spine) keeps the 90 degree angle to the floor.
3. The relaxed hip.
This is an important detail for the quality of the weight changing and your dance in general.
Many advanced dancers with lots of variation in their pocket, dance with a “frozen” hip.
As a result their movemnets appear stiff from the outside but as well from the inside.
In case your hip is not relaxed, unfortunate consequences causes from this mistake:
- the weight changing is not clearly to sense from the follower/follower.
- nessesary groundness in the movement is missing.
- you may easily loose balance
In the center your weight is evenly distributed on both legs. Ohter term for this position is “in axis” or “centered”.
Learn to feel and act with conciousness, how, where and when you put your weight.
Weight changing is an important tool for the leader:
- to define the followers axis and free leg.
- it serves as a pause filler, sometime the leader need extra time to manage the dance floor and with weight changing he can smoothen any ” traffic jam ” .
- it is a direction changer, with weight changes he can easily manover directions
- as a rhytmical element it serves to accentuate and interprete the music
4.The Open Step
Finally we have learned all about posture and axis, therefore we will now continue from weight change into an open step and back.
Glide your left toe over the floor and switch weight into the other leg by pushing into the standing leg. You have arrived on your left leg , which has now 100% of your weight. In addition you collect now your right leg to zero position.
Practice :
- 1 open step to the left and right with out changing weight in between.
- followed by 1 open step to the right with 1 weight change , ontother open step to the same direction and so on.
- next exercise is 1 open step and 2 x weightchanging and 1 open step back.
In Tango Estilo Milonguero we always dance in close embrace. Therefore follow to the next lesson, which is about the embrace and connection.
Visit also relevant articles about tango dancing :
- appreciated attributes in Tango dancers:here
- 3 things you need for your first class: here
- learning without stress: here
Have a closer look to all my coaching program here
