Hi everybody, Fran here with your Tango Tip of the Week. What do you think about, when you dance Tango? For many followers the answer is "I hope I don't make a mistake." For many leaders, it's "What step am I going to do." Both answers are quite predictable, I think; but both are misguided, and can ultimately create problems for the dancers.

Let's talk about the follower's point of view first, because I believe it's somewhat more direct than that of the leader. As a follower, your primary focus is on your response to a good lead, and the quality of your movement during any given step.

To be more specific: Lead/follow, as you've heard me say many times before, is a very precise communication between leader and follower. A skilled follower always knows exactly what a skilled leader is asking her to do, and acts accordingly. Once the follower has initiated her movement based on the lead, she knows that her job is to execute a single step, and bring herself into accurate balance at the conclusion of the movement. She then repeats this cycle -- response to the lead, execution of the step, and balance -- with every movement she makes.

If the follower is dancing with a skilled leader, the thought of "making a mistake" never occurs to her -- because she knows that her leader is consistently and intensely focused on her and the success of her movements rather than on himself. Conversely, if she constantly fears that she's going to "make a mistake," this may mean that the leader isn't doing his job properly, or that she herself just doesn't yet have experience she needs to be confident enough to respond appropriately to a credible lead.

This brings us to the leader's mindset during the dance. As I suggested earlier, many leaders are busy thinking about what they themselves are about to do -- what figure they're going to attempt to execute -- rather than what they want their follower to do. A skilled leader, on the other hand, is focused on both his own movements and those of his follower at the same time. In the first place, he, too, is well aware of maintaining the cycle of individual movement -- response to the lead, execution of the step, and balance -- with every movement he makes. When he decides that he wants to execute a sequence of specific steps, he has a mental "picture" of the elements of the sequence in his mind. But he also knows exactly what he wants his follower to do by way of executing the figure.

To put it another way, the leader's responsibility is to be thinking about what he wants to do himself, what he wants his follower to do, and how he's going to go about inviting her to do it. His focus, therefore, is on many individual aspects of movement in the same moment.

Beyond all this, of course, the leader also needs to concentrate on moving appropriately within the context of the music. Furthermore, he has to construct his dance in a way that keeps his partner and himself from encroaching on the space of other dancers. His total focus during the dance, therefore, is far more varied and complex than that of the follower. A singular concentration on "what do I want to do," would not only be inappropriate, it would border on being dangerous.

Learning to be a skilled leader and/or a skilled follower should be the focus of your study of social Tango. Amassing an "impressive" vocabulary of figures -- while certainly tempting to the unskilled dancer -- is at best a waste of time and energy. Please try to stay focused on the prize; i.e., becoming a good dancer. That is the goal. As your skill level increases, figures will be surprisingly easy.

I absolutely guarantee it.

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

• Tsypoyra Sartan
• ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Nina 
• Steve Turi
•  Lynn Gross
• Herb Kahn
• Jesse Barton
• ​​​​​​​Steve Maisch