Thursday, July 12 - Saying goodbye to Rafael and Hilda

See above

Thursdays, July 19 and 26

No special celebrations.  Just great dancing and socializing with the friendliest crowd around.

Hi everybody, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. One of the fears people have when they move together in partnership is that the person moving forward may accidentally step on his/her partner’s feet. For this reason the person stepping forward will often take small, shuffling steps in an effort to avoid this potential danger. This, of course, is unacceptable in dancing Tango — but it’s quite difficult to convince people that they can move forward into their partner’s space without creating problems.

With this in mind, I often conduct the following demonstration with my students: I call out the tallest leader in the class, and ask him to lead me in a close practice embrace, moving aggressively forward as he invites me to move backward. I tell him that his challenge is going to be to step on my feet. I say that no matter how hard he tries, he won’t be able to do it.

Usually, the student starts by taking tentative, small steps. “Come one, you can do better than that,” I dare him. “Really try to step on my feet. I guarantee that you won’t succeed.” Eventually, he throws caution to the winds, and tries his best to step on my feet. But no matter how long a step he takes, my feet elude his attempts.

How is this possible? What’s the secret? It’s the special way I move backward as I move. In fact, I use the special technique we’ve been talking about for the last several Tango Tips. That’s right, folks — “step-and-slide.”

Here’s how it works. We’ve already discussed how to move forward and backward, using the technique by yourself. (Read the previous two Tango Tips, if you want to review.) In moving with a partner, the way in which the person going backward can assure that he/she won’t get stepped on is simply to keep the body straight (rather than falling back), and continue to slide the end of the backward movement until his/her partner has committed their weight to the floor.

Essentially, that’s the secret. If you’re not falling backward, and you’re still moving when your partner commits his/her weight, there’s just no way you’re going to get stepped on. I don’t care how tall your partner is. I don’t care how long his/her legs are. If you control your backward movement in this way, you’ll find that getting stepped on is a thing of the past. It’s not the size of your steps that counts — it’s a question of timing your weight commitment so that your partner lands first.

Of course, it goes without saying that making this work isn’t easy. You have to actually feel your partner committing his/her weight as he/she moves into your space. With practice (lots of practice!), this will become possible through your dance connection. Eventually, you’ll find that once you reach full natural extension, you’ll be able to continue sliding backward until your partner hits the floor, and only then will you allow yourself to complete your step by committing your own weight.

Next week, we’ll wrap up this rather lengthy thread by talking about how large or small the follower’s steps should be, when executing forward and backward ochos. In the meantime, remember: Practice makes perfect. Yes, that means at least 500 times, please.

More, if you can handle it.

Recognizing that people have lots of things they want to do during the summer, we’ve responded to your needs with our special Summer Schedule! We’ve now combined our two Tango classes into one for Mondays, and the same for our American Social Dance classes, which will now move to Monday as well.

Bottom line: Monday is now your night to enjoy a fun-filled evening of dance with us at our New York teaching location, Studios 353, 353 West 48th Street (between 8^th and Ninth Avenues), 2^nd floor, in Manhattan. Tango starts at 7:30 p.m., followed immediately by American Social Dance at 8:30 pm. There’s always plenty of room for parking during these early evening hours, so come join us, and get ready to have a ball!

We started in 1996, and we're still going strong!

· Still The Friendliest!

· Still The Best Music!

· Still The Longest-Running Practica in New York City!

Fran and Pat are on hand to answer any questions you have, and help you with material you’re working on. 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

Join us this Saturday, July 14^th. You'll have a ball!

Would you like a private lesson? Visit our website at www.franchesleigh.com, call us directly at 212-662-7692, or email us at franchesleigh@mac.com Join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/franchesleighllc

 I want to point out that Terri Lopez is more than a helper who I call Wonder Woman and who takes my place when I am out.  Terri is our CEO and has as much, if not more, responsibility and authority than I do. 

Let me make it clear: Firehouse Tango would not exist without her.

• ​​​​​​Barbara Lombardi - Popcorn
• Eva Roth - Stuffed Cabbage and cake