The Tango Checklist
Getting Better in Tango Consistently
Bookmark this page, new items are added often.
Practise creativity
Nobody likes boring dances. There are many ways to become more creative. Two effective ways are:
- Remove one element and dance the whole song without that element. Dance a full song without doing a right side step, or a left pivot, or a straight-back step, or two consequent forward steps, or…
- Learn simple sequences and use them in different rhythmic structures.
Read real 3-minute tango stories
Stories that your friends at the milonga will love listening to.
For followers that want more and better dances in the milongas
If you are a shy follower, learn how to master the cabeceo.
If you are not satisfied with the ammount and quality of dances you get, request the 5 emails that almost 1000 women have read to dance more.
Musicality.
Use these websites to understand musicality through images.
Balance vs stability.
A ballet dancer needs balance. A tango dancer needs stability. You can practise your ocho 1000 times alone and make it perfectly balanced, but not stable. Same for the walk and everything else. Find someone who knows the difference and learn from them, or contact me to give you recommendations of teachers who can help you.
If you plan to visit (or you are currently in) Buenos Aires
Check out The Tango & Life in BA guide with a lot of information on navigating Tango in BA, including recommended milongas, and info about BsAs.
Accelerate and simplify your learning
First, join over 2000 other social tango dancers who receive weekly, free, tango tips in their inbox: Discover the The Curious Tanguero newsletter.
Before spending hundreds of dollars left and right, buy the book Tango Tips by the Maestros. 250 pages of tango advice to broaden your tango horizons right there.
Follow these tango podcasts.
Fix your tango
99% of your problems in tango will be fixed if you fix your posture, understand your geometry (where you step in respect to your partner), and understand how leading and following works. Posture, Geometry, Leading & Following. You might be very pleasantly surprised when you realize how much you can actually lead and follow simply by incorporating the right posture and geometry. And if you add to that some principles of Leading & Following… Your tango will skyrocket.
If you are a follower visiting often festivals, marathons or encuentros
Make your life easier with these.
Read a tango novel
When the Embrace Whispers is probably the most celebrated tango novel out there. Take a look.
Great books about movement and dance
Discover them here.
🔍 Understand the bigger picture and deepen your connection
Get yourself the book Tangofulness (in 12 languages). Begginers, intermediate and advanced dancers love it. Just read the reviews and you’ll understand why.
Bla-bla-car/carpooling/share a ride for tango
Join the Facebook group to share a ride with someone on your way to your favourite tango events.
Find a tango retreat
Although certainly not for everyone, tango retreats are intimate events where you can develop your tango and enjoy the company of other tango dancers in an environment that allows you to forget everything else. Here you can find Argentine Tango Retreats.
Leaders: Don’t settle
If you are a leader that wants to understand better what would make followers love dancing with you, check this.
Connect with the global tango community and find hundreds of festivals, encuentros, marathons
Download the free Tango Partner app.
Don’t accept bad conditions in milongas
Help the local milonga organizers know what they need to do to give you a better experience by sharing with them this.
If you are a leader sweating too much (or a follower who might have danced with some of those leaders)
Enjoy life with these.
Go deep into one element
Learn how to articulate your ankle when walking. It is probably the most important technical element in your dance, and will solve more problems in your dance than you can imagine. Few teachers know how to teach this, look for them and your partners will thank you. Contact me if you want some recommendations.
Get some friendly guidance
Many social dancers dance for over 10-20 years now. They have done all the mistakes in the book and wasted money in the wrong classes or events. Those dancers can help you understand where you are in your progress, and what to do next. Find them or email me, I’ll be happy to help.
If you can’t listen to it, you can’t dance it.
Get musicality classes early on. Ask your teachers to help you identify the following elements: Rhythmic Base (Marcato in 4, Marcato in 2, Syncopation, 3-3-2, Drag), Main and counter melody (distinction between melodic melody and rhythmic melody, tutti, variation, phrasing phrase, drag, and triplet), Bridges.
Select your teachers
Nope, your first teacher is most probably not the best. It is not a betrayal to try other teachers. Find the ones that make sense to you. Who is a great teacher? If you enjoy the classes, know what you know and what you don’t know, and are getting better every month, you are probably in good hands. Want more? Look at each teacher’s students. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Ask your partners
Use the classes and practicas as your feedback machine. Ask your partners what felt clear, good, or awkward. Then tell your teachers about the feedback and ask them for help.
Practice error correction
Ask your partners to intentionally make 10 mistakes per song during your practice time. See how smoothly you can recover from it. Smooth recovery is a highly underrated tango skill.
Ask other dancers
Ask people in the milongas who their favourite partners are and why. Then observe those partners. What do they do differently?
Combine private classes with group classes
Practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect. Take a private class every couple of months, preferably on the topic ‘What’s wrong with me?’. Make it clear that the goal of the class is to identify what’s wrong with you, get a clear understanding on what you need to improve, and get exercises for you to practise during classes and practicas.
Leverage online learning
Chances are, the best teachers in the world are not in your city. There are great teachers that offer private online classes. Find dancers you really like and send them a message to ask for their prices. On a budget? Look for teachers in countries with low salaries. They’ll be grateful and you’ll get to help someone while getting a good deal. Also, explore options for available online courses.
Understand the three elements:
The walk.
The ocho.
The giro.
Especially for the giro, make sure you know when it’s beneficial to consider it as a hexagonal, when as a square, and when as a triangle (or any other shape). The giro’s timing is crucial too. Also, if you treat both your side steps in the same way, you are making your life hard. Ask your teachers.
Focus on communication and what works
At the end of the day, what’s important is to be able to communicate with your partner. Open or close embrace, elastic or stiff, leading with your hands, back, or shoulder blades, traditional or nuevo, these are all themes of a single question: are you able to communicate to your partner in a way that is enjoyable, clear and creates a wonderful embrace? Explore the limits of your communication so that you can choose the right tools for each dance. If you can only dance in a certain way then this is not your style, it is your necessity. Aim to create choice instead.
Take one simple action
Bookmark this webpage so that you can check it everytime you feel stuck. I’ll keep updating it.
Be the change you want to see
Is something important missing from this list? Tell me.
Share this checklist with your friends
If it helped you, it can help others. Click here to share this with your friends.
This Checklist was prepared by Dimitris Bronowski, a professional student of tango. If you are confused on what this means… It means I do my best to improve, but wouldn’t watch me perform.
If you have any questions on how to do any of the above email me at tango@thecurioustanguero.com and I’ll tell you what I would do if I was you. And join The Curious Tanguero newsletter, you’ll receive tips for most of those stuff.