Hi everybody, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. Of all the social dance forms in our Western tradition, the majority of students in America seem to find Tango the most difficult. It’s not uncommon to hear the following: “Tango is the hardest dance I’ve ever tried to learn.” You may feel this way yourself. I know I did, when I first started. The question is, why? What is it about Tango that makes it so challenging? Over the next several Tango Tips, I’d like to offer a few possible reasons for this.

Today, we’ll talk about predisposition. We might call it bias, proclivity, attachment, or strong inclination. For our purposes, I’m referring to an overwhelmingly powerful notion, which the majority of us here in America accept without question — and which therefore makes it very difficult, if not impossible, for us to even consider any alternatives whatever. In this case, I’m talking about continuous movement through space.

In this country, social dancing means moving continuously around a dance floor with a partner. Historically, we maintain a long-standing tradition of traveling dances such as the One-Step, the Two-Step, the Foxtrot, the Peabody — and, of course, various forms of social dance, which we’ve inherited from Europe like Waltz, Viennese Waltz, and Polka. We literally define such dances as progressive. (I hasten to add that we also maintain a robust alternative tradition of in-place or “spot” dancing, including various forms of Swing and Hustle — as well as an entire lexicon of social dance, which we’ve borrowed from the Caribbean and South America. However, I would argue that here in America, we still tend to think of social dancing as moving continuously around a dance floor.)

The question is: What does this have to do with learning Tango? To find the answer, all one need do is observe the behavior of the vast majority of American dancers as they “do what comes naturally” during any Tango. They walk, trot, run, gallop, or otherwise lurch around the floor. Unhesitatingly, unconsciously, and unfortunately. Tango becomes just another variation of non-stop race walking.

Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do? Keep moving until the music stops?

Well, no.

As I find myself constantly telling my students, Tango is a dance of movement — and stillness, Sometimes, we move; sometimes, we don’t. One of the very first things we have to do in learning Tango is to figure this out. Our predisposition for continuous movement has to be recognized, acknowledged, and then held in respectful abeyance until our next Foxtrot. Tango is completely different.

By its unique nature, Tango consists of self-contained individual elements (steps, if you will), each of which has a beginning, middle, and end. These elements may be connected through what I would call “limited progressive movement” — or they may be treated as singular gestures, which have a total lifespan of one step.

The next time you get up on the dance floor, try to remember that continuous movement just isn’t an acceptable way to approach Tango. Tango is a dance of movement and stillness. Try to take control of each step you initiate, deciding in the moment whether you’ll continue into the next movement, or come to a complete stop. (We’ll talk about this in greater detail next week.) If you can learn to do this over time, your Tango will change. It will begin to more appropriately reflect the very specific tradition of movement that Argentine dancers take for granted.

If you have any questions about this radical difference between our American tradition and that of Argentina, please feel free to ask Pat or me about it. We’ll be very happy to help.

In a recent interview appearing on YouTube, the renowned milonguero Flaco Dani said he strongly believed that passing down the music and dance tradition of one’s country from one generation to the next was a necessary mandate for those who had the power to do so. Pat and I agree, and to this end we’ve begun what we call the American Social Dance Project, an all-new initiative designed to preserve and nurture real American social dancing – the way it was meant to be.

We’ve kicked off our project with what we call “Class One” – a weekly exploration of three important American Social Dances: Foxtrot, Triple Swing, and Salsa. (Yes, we know Salsa is from the Caribbean – but here in America, we’ve adopted this and many other social dance forms as our own since the 1920s.)

We hope you like the idea of keeping American social dance alive, not competitive or performance dancing, but real social dance the way it was traditionally done. To that end, we invite you to join us every Monday evening at 8:00 p.m. for a fun-filled social dance fix. We guarantee that you’ll have a ball!

Here are the details:

Class One

Concentrating on authentic American Foxtrot, Triple Swing and Salsa

Mondays, 8:00 p.m.

Studios 353

353 West 48^th Street, Second floor (between 8^th and 9^th

Avenues)

New York City

This Monday: Our final Holiday Treat Performance – Foxtrot in the classic social style -- by Fran and Pat!

The longest-running and friendliest practica in NYC! Come join our happy group of social tango dancers, whose sole purpose is to enjoy dancing and to practice what they’re learning. Everyone dances! Essential Tango Therapy! Pat and I will be on hand to answer any questions you may have, and help you with material you’re working on. Plus you get a new “must-have” move each week! No partner required, all levels. Dardo Galletto Studios, 151 West 46^th Street, 11^th floor, (bet. 6^th & 7^th Aves) www.franchesleigh.com

If you’d like a private lesson, you can visit our website at www.franchesleigh.com, call Fran directly at 212-662-7692, or email him at franchesleigh@mac.com Join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/franchesleighllc

The following folks helped set up, break down and clean up before and after the milonga. Without them, there would be no Firehouse Tango.

Last week, Rudy helped clean up, and I forgot to add him to the thank you list.  Sorry, Rudy.  We really appreciate your help.

• Steve Turi
• Tsipoyra Sartan
• ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Steve Maisch
• ​​​​​​​Hilda and Rafael
• and thanks to all the other folks who helped.  It really makes our job much easier, and we certainly appreciate it.