2548  The Tango Walk

Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2004 01:38:47 +0000
From: Sergio Vandekier <sergiovandekier990@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: The Tango Walk

The Tango Walk : You may walk as you prefer, toe lead, heel lead, with or
without external rotation of the foot . It is a question of preference and
style.

The tango walk is taught by most instructors as follows:

The axis is forward, this means that the weight is placed on the ball of the
foot. When walking forward the nipples and the knees are on the same frontal
plane, so the chest moves with the feet. The feet caress the floor, we do
not raise the foot from the floor. There is brushing of the heels as the
feet pass one another.
We walk on one line. From the front we only see one foot, which hides the
other one.

There is an external rotation of about 30 degrees of the foot. The foot
lands on the toes and the lateral aspect of the foot.

The length of the step is adjusted to the music and style.

The two main aspects to consider are elegance and equilibrium.

If one observes from the front the sole of the shoe is not seen as the foot
lands on its toes.

The external rotation increases control of the equilibrium, waking on a line
decreases such control but it is done to achieve elegance.

This way of walking may be a reproduction of the way Compadritos walked at
the beginning of the 20th century.

The result of this instruction is that most dancers are going to end up
landing on their toes *not always. Frequently they will use a heel lead
mixed with toe lead.

This is seen in most dancers. There are some that will always have a toe
lead such as Pablo Pugliese.

It is important to notice that even when the dancer uses a heel lead he
keeps the toes close to the floor so that the sole of the shoe is not seen .

In summary the instruction as described has for objective to teach an
elegant walk which allows perfect control of the equilibrium. This does not
mean that every dancer is to land on his toes 100% of the time. The more
this walk is practiced (it should be practiced every day) the higher the
proportion of steps landing on the toes.

There are tango schools that teach Walking "Flat footed" with the feet
somewhat apart such as Susana Miller. This is proper for the style that she
teaches.

Others teach to heel lead (landing on the heel of the shoe) such as the late
Lampazo and his disciples at Sin Rumbo and Sunderland in Villa Urquiza. This
way of walking is very elegant, the soles of the shoes are not obvious and
there is no external rotation od the foot.
I am from Villa Urquiza and I learnt at one time from Lampazo himself. He
normally put his beginner students to walk for about one week. We had to
walk up and down the Sin Rumbo Salon looking at ourselves at the mirror on
the wall, nothing else, for about one week. Lampazo also taught at
Sunderland.

In summary: you may walk as you prefer, toe lead, heel lead, flat footed,
with or without external rotation of the foot, or with some mixture of toe
and heel lead . It is a question of preference, skill and style.