Hi Tango Friends!

I’ve been busy teaching tango in Montana, and thought I’d share some of the highlights with you here.

On September 24th, I taught a fun workshop with Jeff Blend, on Tango Transitions, at TangoHelena! Check out more Helena tango events here: https://tangohelena.com/

The purpose of this class was avoiding “traffic jams” on the dance floor. Sometimes these occur, due to poor floor craft, and we wanted to give some methods on dealing with the situation.

But first, you don’t want to cause the traffic jam! For that, here are some etiquette guidelines, or ‘codigos’:

When entering the dance floor, the leader entering should nod towards the leader he/she is cutting in front of
Only pass on the left! Like in real traffic
Don’t be the one stuck in the middle doing something flashy. Respect the other dances, and flow of dance

Move 1 - Vaivens!

Vaivens are a fun move, with a lilting quality, that fits in great with waltz’s 3 time.
The benefit is that you can progress slightly forward, but also do a larger step diagonally, so you don’t run into the person in front of you.
The musical benefit is that the larger step is on the stronger beat of the waltz (vals)
The term comes from the Spanish, ‘to go and to come’
A great move for the followers to practice in a workshop too, since they can practice their listening skills: how big of a step is the leader taking, on each part of the sequence?
Leaders increease their skills by experimenting with different energy levels, step sizes, etc.

Move 2 - Ocho Cortado and Media Vuelta

This sequence is perfect for traffic jams, because its fun and intricate, while moving around each other, more than moving a great distance

Move 3 - Walking to Close the Gap

Now sometimes, instead of a jam in front of you, you will suddenly have a large distance to cover
This is a great time for some large, dramatic tango steps
A great skill to practice in a workshop; the partners both have to have good listening skills, and match each others’ bodies and energies, to not step on each others’ toes or get separated

I hope these ideas will help for your next tango traffic jam! Feel free to use these ideas for your next workshop.