5021 So, what is better, heel of toe?
Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 10:38:02 -0700
From: "Igor Polk" <ipolk@virtuar.com>
Subject: [Tango-L] So, what is better, heel of toe?
To: <Tango-L@MIT.EDU>
So what is better: heel first or ball first?
I have found out of the people's responses and watching some videos of
masters ( did not really paid much attention to it before), there are some
preferences, but they are rather personal. All great dancers are fluent in
both methods, and it is possible to dance in any style with any method. And
mixing the methods makes the performance much richer.
I myself dance on heels, on toes, on flat, in open and in close, with lean,
without lean, fast, slow, sharp, smooth. And I like everything equally.
Janis put it right: it does not matter much what goes first. Although at
advanced level it matters because all three have different feeling,
opportunities, and limitations. So the advanced dancer should know them all.
Landing on heel in tango is not a normal walk. It has special technique
connected to the way one leads and uses his leg. It is a vital way to know.
Sometimes one who is stepping on the balls is using exactly the same
technique, but it is hidden. With heel-first walk it is highlighted.
Imagine this: one lands on the heel: weight is not transferred yet ( this is
the way ). This is phase one. Then there is phase two when the weight is
brought to be projected above the heel. Than it could be the phase three
when one transfers weight from heel to the ball. This could be the whole
step by itself ! Each of the phases gives birth to a variety of feeling,
influences, responses, and rhythmical plays..
Landing on the ball can be done similarly. Reaching of the leg forward,
stretching the leg forward can be done during both ways. Or not. Stepping
backward, landing on the heel extends leg straighter, on the toe - we can
bend the leg in a different way.
Dancing on the heel is easier for a man dancing with a beginner woman - yes,
to stop her from running away which most of them do. A man is much more
stable to hold her from all this wobbling when he lands on the heel. Landing
on the ball - that is possible only with advanced women. It is much more
strain on the foot and should be used with caution, especially if one dances
20 hours a week. When I was a beginner, my feet hurt a lot until I have
mastered landing on the heel and on the flat foot technique. Now - I can
dance with ease for many hours - no pain ! I think this is the major reason
why the heel-first is better for beginners.
And it goes on and on..
Igor.
Igor Polk
ipolk@virtuar.com
510-582-8711
510-610-8711
www.virtuar.com/tango
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Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 11:17:44 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Trini y Sean (PATangoS)" <patangos@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] So, what is better, heel of toe?
To: Igor Polk <ipolk@virtuar.com>, Tango-L@MIT.EDU
--- Igor Polk <ipolk@virtuar.com> wrote:
> Or not. Stepping backward, landing on the heel extends
leg straighter, on the toe - we can
> bend the leg in a different way.
Landing on the heel first going backwards, Igor? Sounds
like a lot of clopping to me. Do you mean rolling back
onto the heel after landing with the ball of the foot?
Trini de Pittsburgh
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Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 11:45:33 -0700
From: "Igor Polk" <ipolk@virtuar.com>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] So, what is better, heel of toe?
To: "'Trini y Sean \(PATangoS\)'" <patangos@yahoo.com>, "'Igor Polk'"
<ipolk@virtuar.com>, <Tango-L@MIT.EDU>
I mean landing right on the heel.
I agree, it is rare ..
Move your toe to the side, and you can do it even for long steps. For short
steps it is so easy.
That is for men.
For women it is even easier.
If you have high heels on..
Igor.
-----Original Message-----
From: Trini y Sean (PATangoS) [mailto:patangos@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 11:18
To: Igor Polk; Tango-L@MIT.EDU
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] So, what is better, heel of toe?
--- Igor Polk <ipolk@virtuar.com> wrote:
> Or not. Stepping backward, landing on the heel extends
leg straighter, on the toe - we can
> bend the leg in a different way.
Landing on the heel first going backwards, Igor? Sounds
like a lot of clopping to me. Do you mean rolling back
onto the heel after landing with the ball of the foot?
Trini de Pittsburgh
________
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in the Yahoo! Answers Food & Drink Q&A.
Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 13:05:52 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Trini y Sean (PATangoS)" <patangos@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] So, what is better, heel of toe?
To: Tango-L@MIT.EDU
Interesting. I'll have to experiment with that.
We're heel-first teachers, but our invited guest for a
pre-milonga lesson last night is a toe-first teacher. So
he taught his way, which is fine because in earlier lessons
we've alway explained why we teach heel-first. People can
make up their own minds.
Anyway, it turns out that the teacher dances toe-first
because he has heel spurs, so toe-first is less painful for
him. One of my new beginning students has the same issue,
so I'll be working with him on toe-first.
For me it all goes back to dancing with the WHOLE body. I
teach heel-first because it makes it much easier for people
to develop their kinesthetic sense of themselves. I'd
rather that they focus on spinal movement and its
relationship to the standing leg and rest of the body.
I suspect that toe-first teachers may spend more time on
just walking straight with no turning than other teachers.
Perhaps they have an audience that is patience enough to
handle that or who will actually work on walking exercises
by themselves. If so, great. Personally, I prefer to get
people out to a milonga as fast as possible and have them
feel as if they can successfully navigate, even if the
milonga has a lot of "gas molecules".
Trini de Pittsburgh
--- Igor Polk <ipolk@virtuar.com> wrote:
> I mean landing right on the heel.
>
> I agree, it is rare ..
>
> Move your toe to the side, and you can do it even for
> long steps. For short
> steps it is so easy.
>
> That is for men.
>
> For women it is even easier.
>
> If you have high heels on..
>
> Igor.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Trini y Sean (PATangoS) [mailto:patangos@yahoo.com]
>
> Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 11:18
> To: Igor Polk; Tango-L@MIT.EDU
> Subject: Re: [Tango-L] So, what is better, heel of toe?
>
> --- Igor Polk <ipolk@virtuar.com> wrote:
>
> > Or not. Stepping backward, landing on the heel extends
> leg straighter, on the toe - we can
> > bend the leg in a different way.
>
>
> Landing on the heel first going backwards, Igor? Sounds
> like a lot of clopping to me. Do you mean rolling back
> onto the heel after landing with the ball of the foot?
>
> Trini de Pittsburgh
Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 21:35:38 +0100 (BST)
From: Eryk Wolski <darnockyre@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] So, what is better, heel of toe?
To: Tango-L@MIT.EDU
Hi,
Don't think how you arrive... Think were you start
your movement. Starting from the heel gives you earth
and strenght. But dont forget to use you whole foot
and the toes for stability while you transfer your
weight to the other leg. But finnaly arrive on your
heel. Feel the ground, and you feel it best with you
heel and than and not before start the next movement.
Where to place you weight? Place it on the heel as
soon as you can! Don't keep your weight on the toes
all the time. It might look elegent. But if you want
to look elegant use high heels and you can still place
your weight on the heel.
I have heard a story that there was a time where the
ladies in BA thought it is elegant to dance all the
time on their toes even wearing high heels. But if you
dance a lot and all the time on your toes it's quite a
strain to your metatarsal and the bones in the
metatarsal will break. And if they are once broken
they are week and they will break again... and
again... and you will never dance in your live again.
And there were a lot of Ladies at this time which
could not dance anymore. As soon as their danced the
bone was breaking again. They had a so called "tango
foot". So if you want to keep dancing use your heels!
Rest on them. If you want to look elegant wear high
heels. If you want to be comfortable wearing normal
shoos even more use your heels!
So if you want to dance a lot, and if you want to use
the ground and have a good connection with your
dancing partner keep your weight as much as you can on
the heels.
How you arrive? That's an embellishment... That's for
the public... for your ego... it's show ...
the least important thing when you dance with someone.
Cheers
Eryk
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Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 19:25:54 -0700 (MST)
From: Huck Kennedy <huck@eninet.eas.asu.edu>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] So, what is better, heel of toe?
To: tango-l@mit.edu
Igor writes:
> Imagine this: one lands on the heel: weight is not transferred yet ( this is
> the way ). This is phase one. Then there is phase two when the weight is
> brought to be projected above the heel. Than it could be the phase three
> when one transfers weight from heel to the ball. This could be the whole
> step by itself ! Each of the phases gives birth to a variety of feeling,
> influences, responses, and rhythmical plays..
Ah yes, Igor, now I remember why I prefer Argentine
tango to ballroom dancing: Some instructor isn't
constantly badgering you with all this sort of intricate
deconstructionist crap, and you get to just have fun
getting entranced with the music and embrace instead. :)
To tell you the truth, this is not something I think
about all that much. Sitting here at my desk typing,
I imagine I go ball-first more on slower and more dramatic
stuff and heel-first or flat-foot on faster stuff, but
I couldn't swear for sure. These days more and more of my
tango is right-brained instead of left-brained, thank God,
allowing me to simply enjoy the music, my partner, and my
sensory perceptions in general, instead of actively
plotting and scheming like a general in battle.
It's kind of like how when you first learn to drive,
you struggle thinking about every little thing you do,
but when you're older, you often arrive at your
destination before you've really even thought about
having left the driveway. But still, you're paying very
rapt attention (actually, some people never pay enough
attention while driving, but let's not go there)--but
it's right-brained, rather than left, ie. very sensitive
to perception, but reacting in the moment in the more
unconscious right-brained way of an animal instead of
the more usual for a human, highly self-aware, self-
conscious logically strategizing left-brain way.
It's like a spell--and if either your dancing partner
on the floor or your companion in the passenger seat in
the car starts babbling, the spell is broken.
This is why people who just casually babble away
about anything and everything while dancing don't have
the slightest idea what tango is about, by the way. It's
not because if you break the no-talking-in-tango codigo
then haaaaa haaaaaa, you're not being authentic like
a porteno, nyah, nyah, nyah--it's because it distracts
>from the right-brained trance and breaks the spell much
like a bubble bursting, bringing you back from your magic
unthinking tango escape and unceremoniously dumping you
with a thud right smack back into the mundane earthly
plane, DUH.
Huck
Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 19:31:18 -0700 (MST)
From: Huck Kennedy <huck@eninet.eas.asu.edu>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] So, what is better, heel of toe?
To: tango-l@mit.edu
Eryk Wolski <darnockyre@yahoo.co.uk> writes:
>
> Where to place you weight? Place it on the heel as
> soon as you can! Don't keep your weight on the toes
> all the time. It might look elegent. But if you want
> to look elegant use high heels and you can still place
> your weight on the heel.
>
> I have heard a story that there was a time where the
> ladies in BA thought it is elegant to dance all the
> time on their toes even wearing high heels. But if you
> dance a lot and all the time on your toes it's quite a
> strain to your metatarsal and the bones in the
> metatarsal will break.
I agree with this. Regardless of whether you first
land on the ball or the heel, for the sake of your feet,
you should try to rest them as much as possible by
putting weight on your heels when you can.
Corina talked about this in a lecture once.
Someone asked her if she liked dancing in high heels
or dance sneakers more, and she said high heels, by far,
that way she's got something to put her weight on.
I absolutely cringe when I see women dancing in
dance sneakers staying up on the balls of their feet
the whole time. And they wonder why their feet fall
apart.
Often during a milonga women will complain to
me about how their feet are hurting. I suggest that
they try putting weight on their heels as much as they
can while dancing when they have the opportunity to do
so to take the stress off their feet, and more often
than not, they just go *blink* *blink* and look at me
curiously like I'm from Mars, or have a tinfoil hat on
my head.
Huck
