Why you should NOT study tango technique

[UPDATE] There’s a follow-up over here, inspired by one of your comments on social networks about this article.

Today we’ll talk a litlle about why the traditional way of explaining tango technique is broken, and how we can fix it. In order to do that, we’ll review how technique is studied in a traditional context, what premises it’s based on, and what other alternatives there can be. Lastly, we’ll discuss a series of advantages that come with rethinking technique a bit. This does not mean that it’s impossible to dance properly following the classic ideas, it’s just much harder than it should.

A review of traditional thinking

Traditional tango chooses to establish two big axes to explain itself, the steps or patterns and their technique. The first axis deals with where you should be moving in order to be dancing tango, and with repeating some prepared sequences of typical tango movements. The second axis is tasked with how those movements should be done, exactly. Using this definition, technique encompasses standing and walking, embracing, and also the angle of the foot in the second movement of the basic step.

And right here one of the big problems of technique is revealed: oftentimes it depends directly on which series of movements we’re going through. Which means we should not only pay attention to some general instructions on how to take a step, stand or embrace, but you should also always be paying very close attention to which movements we’re doing or just about to do, in order to comply with their own specific set of requirements.

The process of technique ends up being a very big list of rules you need to be paying attention to, and the internal process turns into a never ending journey through that list on an infinite loop. This, in turn, leaves us on the brink of cognitive saturation, which we usually solve by paying attention to technique just for short little periods of time, intermittently. The result is poor and inconsistent technique.

Normally the solution presents itself spontaneously, albeit slowly. As time passes, we develop some automations of these processes which allows us to cross some things off that big list of technique and to begin to concentrate more strongly on others, if we want.

A technique for creativity and sensitivity

The problem with the traditional approach starts with its most basic premise, that tango is a set of movements that need to be executed correctly. Neither dances in general nor tango in particular are sets of movements, but of sensations. Wait, what? Look, here it goes again, in block quotes:

Neither dance nor tango are sets of movements, but sets of sensations.

This can look like a merely semantic difference without further usefulness, but it’s actually huge.

The first real difference is that sensations are very complex and comprehensive things. Evoking a sensation can make the whole body change in very visible and subtle ways at the same time. This means we can swap that gigantic list of details for a handful of ideas.

The second big difference is that evoking sensations is not an intellectual process. This frees the mind and lets it look into more urgent things, like navigating the dance floor, or more important things, like enjoying our time together.

The third one is that a  technique based on sensations leads always to greater expressiveness, simply because to express yourself you have to be sensitive to what’s happening to you. In this context, the idea of technique and expression being opposites is false. Not only they’re not opposite, but they are actually the same thing.

That’s why this idea of technique leads to improvisation, creativity and expression. This does not mean that practice is suddenly not necessary anymore, this is not a magic pill, but it does mean that practice will be a different road, and that integrating the exercises to the actual dance will be easier and more enjoyable. After all, isn’t the idea to have an amazing time when dancing?

To understand by doing

The idea then is to derive our understanding from our actions, and to minimize the disconnect between what we can say about technique and what our bodies are able to produce.

Since it would be a shame to leave this just as theoretical musings, and in order to understand by doing, I also wrote a post in the exercises section of the site. It’s not translated yet, but in the mean time if you read Spanish you can begin to revise your technique using sensations by following these instructions on improving your balance and posture.

I’d love to read your comments on the subject, and remember that you can always subscribe by using the miniform on the sidebar to receive more information on lessons, seminars and site updates.

[UPDATE] There’s a follow-up over here, inspired by one of your comments on social networks about this article.