Tango 4 Step

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Tangois a walking dance, meaning that all the steps are based on walking.

When you start learning it, you must first master some basic movements. Don't worry, basic steps are not that difficult to learn. Beginners usually start with 8-Count Basic or simply Tango Basic.

Tango Basic is made of five steps taken to 8 counts of music. The rhythm is slow, slow, quick, quick, slow. The slow steps consume two beats of music and the quick steps one. Tango music is usually written in 4/4 time (but also in 2/4 time) and played at a tempo of 30-33 measures per minute.

Tango is danced in a closed position, usually closer than in other dances. The man's left hand is holding the lady's right hand. His right hand is placed on her back, along the bottom of her ribcage. The lady's left hand is placed on his right shoulder. You always bent your knees. Remember, this dance is the most bent of all the ballroom dances.

The lead and follow mirror each others steps. The lead begins with the left foot, the follow with the right. Walks usually curve gradually to the left.

This article was co-authored by Andrey Stanev and by wikiHow staff writer, Hannah Madden. Andrey Stanev is a Professional Dance Instructor specializing in ballroom, Latin and wedding dance. With over 25 years of instruction and dancing experience, Andrey is also the Owner of Ballroom Dance in NYC, a studio based in Manhattan, New York and in Hawthorne, New York. He was born and raised in Bulgaria and won the Bulgarian National Championship for Ballroom and Latin Dance in 2000-2001. He has also worked at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio where he received the Award for Outstanding Performance in the advanced department of teaching.

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Learning to tango is not easy and requires the right skills and teacher. But the basics can be learned on your own, and you can start learning by yourself. With a little practice, you can master this elegant and romantic dance. Once you've got it down, you could even teach it to others as well!

Private lessons or group classes can be cancelled (or rescheduled) up to 24 hours before the lesson time. For workshops taught by visiting teachers, the policy will depend on that person's policy; usually, cancellations can be accepted a week before the workshop.

I call them rebound steps because focusing on the elasticity of this step, rather than the speed of the step, makes for a much more efficient (and thus quick) execution of this kind of movement. Because milonga is faster than tango (and most valses), learning to do the rebound step is especially pertinent.

I was not taught this method when I first learned tango, but my main teachers, Oscar Mandagaran and Georgina Vargas proved to me that it worked better. After arguing about it for a while, they simply led me (and had me lead) their style of rebound and HOLY COW! it was a lot easier. Twelve years into fifteen years of tango, and I completely changed my approach and can easily lead most followers, even beginners, in milonga. And you can, too! (and Oscar and Georgina will be back in Portland and Eugene in August and November, lucky us!)

A rebound step is any step that moves away from a given point and then returns to that initial location. For example, the first two steps of an ocho cortado for the leader are forward on the left, and then back on the right. Another example: a "traspie" step to the side before moving forward line-of-dance sends the leader to the side and then back to the original location.

Think of each two-piece rebound step as one unit: rather than "rock, rock" or "quick, quick" imagine that the movement in your foot and body is more like bouncing a ball: it hits the ground and rebounds up to your hand as one motion.

Nothing on YouTube was exactly what I wanted to show you, but this is close. See how the ball flattens into the ground and then rebounds in one smooth motion? That is what the arch of your foot is doing when you do a rebound step. If you do this while leading the follower to execute the same step, you can easily change directions at any speed.

It's one thing to understand how and why a rebound step works better when done this way. It's a much more time-intensive activity to relearn the step, which is why I've begun teaching this as one of the first steps in tango, milonga and vals classes.

Until the new neural pathway is established in your brain, you will need to methodically and slowly repattern your body to access the new pathway first (this is why the new motion feels "weird" or "strange"--it is not the one that feels "right" to the body until the new pathway has been established). I've looked online for a good, short version of explaining how the body builds neural pathways, but most are either too simplistic, or too long. If you are interested in this information, go play on Google, and let me know if YOU find a good article! Thanks!

This step starts with the promenade position. It uses the same basic timing: slow, slow, quick, quick, slow. On the second slow the follower will rotate left and resume closed dance position with the leader.

With this step instead of the follower turning left like they did with the previous turn the follower will continue to step forward while the leader will step across creating a right turning action. The timing for this step is slow, slow, quick, quick, slow.

The rock turn is a fundamental step that you see throughout the smooth dances. This step makes it easy to change directions, which is important when navigating around the dance floor. The timing for this step is slow, slow, quick, quick, slow.Back CorteThe corte is the only type of picture line that is allowed at a bronze level. As the lead steps back is allows the follower to create a nice shape. The timing for this step is slow, slow, quick, quick, slow.Open FanThe open fan is the first step that leads the follower into an open position. It is a more complex step, but is a great tango step to learn. Outside swivels/FansYou will see this step with different names including: right side fan, outside swivels or La Puerta. This step has the follower swivel from outside partner position to promenade and then step swivel to closed dance position. This is usually done in a series of two.Left Turning RocksThis step starts in promenade position. Instead of finishing the basic promenade left turn the lead will lead a series of rocks. The timing for this step is slow, slow, quick, quick, quick, quick, quick, quick, slow.

This step is performed starting in the promenade position. It is a progression step from the basic promenade right turn. Instead of leading the right turn the follower is lead into a pivoting action and returns to promenade position to then finish out a left turning basic from promenade. When doing pivots at the Bronze level only one pivot at a time is allowed.

With the open fan position there are many variations that can be danced from this position. One variation is leading the lady into an underarm turn to the right. In the video below you will also notice that you can also be lead into the open fan position from closed dance position instead of promenade.Double CorteIn an earlier step we introduced the single back corte. With the double corte you will perform a series of cortes. The Timing of this step is slow, slow, quick, quick, slow, slow, quick, quick, slow, slow, quick, quick, slow.Progressive RocksThe progressive rocks is another step that utilizes the rocking action. With this step pattern you will perform a series of 2 rocking actions. This step is performed in closed dance position. The timing for this step is slow, slow, quick, quick, slow, quick, quick, slow, quick, quick, slow.Shadow RocksThe shadow rocks is a variation of the progressive rocks. This is performed in the shadow position. Tango is the only American Smooth dance that introduces the shadow position for a Bronze level step. This is performed from the open fan position and the follower is than rolled into shadow position.Learn how to dance the other American Smooth dances:How to dance WaltzHow to dance Foxtrot Site Links

This video explains two types of the sandwich step: the sanguchito simple and sanguchito traspie. The only difference between the two is that the second version adds an extra side step before the backward ocho. Unfortunately the voice and image are not in line on the english version, however, the spanish dub is perfect, check it out here

Why is that? With these 8 simple steps we can prepare and lead the cross, closing down the sequence.

This is all nice and simple but as a teacher I beg you NOT to practice or teach 8 step basic starting with a back step!!!

Disregarding the backward steps, the following videos nicely demonstrate different methods to leading the cross. The videos use mainly the parallel system to teach the 8 step basic although it is possible to use both parallel and cross systems.

The following video is not exactly here for teaching purposes but to demonstrate the different variations for the cross by a world famous couple. Nito & Elba Garcia use both parallel and cross systems so pay attention to when and where the leader shifts from one system to the other, the rhythm & speed of the steps, etc.

All the above videos are useful but can not substitute the advice and observations of a teacher. There are dozens of other videos on leading the cross but there is no need to see them all as it would get confusing. My advice to all learners is to pay attention to your dance tutors and use these videos as an extra support.

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