There is no agreement as to the etymology of this word. When it comes to the pre-history of tango everything is shrouded in a dense fog.

The word tango appeared much earlier than the dance. It first appeared outside Argentina, in one of the Canary Islands (Isla de Hierro) and in other parts of America with the meaning of "gathering of blacks to dance to drum music; also the name the Africans gave the drum itself". The dictionary of the Spanish Royal Academy of Letters, 1899 edition, defines Tango as "Fiesta and dance of Negroes or "gente del pueblo" (those that belong to lower socio-economical class) in America"; also a second meaning: "Music for that dance". Here one has to remember that to the Spanish world, America is the whole continent - not just the USA; in this case it refers to the Spanish part of America, excluding USA and Canada.

Here the dictionary gives the doubtful etymology of Latin 'tangir' (to play instruments). Latin ergo tango = I play. It is only natural to try to find a Latin origin to the word, although this etymological line obviously is not related to the Argentinean meaning. The 1914 edition gives the etymology tangir or tangere "to play or to touch". Later editions removed that etymological reference.

The music historian Carlos Vega explains that in Mexico, a dance called tango existed in the 18th century. This dance was done individually or apart, not as a couple. Archives of the Holy Inquisition in Mexico make reference to the "ancient tango" - a mexican song - in 1803.

The Dictionary of the Spanish Royal Academy, edition 1925 defines Tango as before, but without the latin etymology and added: "Dance of high society imported from America at the beginning of this century". Once more Tango traveled all the way from "low-class" to "high-class." It includes two more meaning: "music for this dance" and also "Drum of Honduras". It is only in the 1984 edition that tango is defined as an Argentinean dance.

*It seems that the African origin of the word Tango is accepted by they largest number of erudite investigators. Ricardo Rodriguez reviewed the languages spoken by the slaves brought to Argentina ... tribes from the Congo, the Gulf of Guinea and Southern Sudan. Tango means "closed space," "circle," "any private space to which one must ask permission to enter". The slave traders called Tango the places where black slaves where kept, in Africa as well as in America. The place where slaves where sold also received that name. We could discuss this in more detail but ... I am afraid to bore you with so much detail.

In summary, the most probable origin of the word tango is: closed space where negroes gather to dance; later on the dance itself.

Milonga

Milonga, according to Jose Gobelo (founder of Academia del lunfardo, considered to be an authority when it comes to Tango subjects), states that it is a word of the African Language "Quimbunda", plural of 'Mulonga'. Mulonga in that language means, "word"; Milonga means words, the words of the Payadores. In 1872 when Jose Hernandez published his most famous book "Martin Fierro" (describes in verse the life of a gaucho); the word Milonga had already acquired the meaning of gathering where one can dance. A decade later, 1883, Ventura Lynch wrote: "In the periphery of the city the Milonga is so generalized that is danced in all the gatherings, it can be heard played by guitars, accordions, comb and paper, or played by street musicians with flute, harp and violin". It is also danced in the low-class casinos around the markets of 11 de Septiembre and Constitución, other dances and funerals".

Lunfardo

The same way as lawyers, doctors, physicists, chemists, etc. have their peculiar language and terminology, thieves needed a language that was cryptic, secretive enough to speak among themselves and at the same time was unintelligible for the police or the possible victim of their actions. A language to be used in prison that could not be understood by the guards.

This originated terms and expressions that formed a new language, that of thieves and jail inmates. The secret tongue of "lunfardos", term used by thieves to refer to themselves. In this way watch became "bobo" (dumb-stupid) due to two characteristics, it is very easy to steal and it works all day long non-stop. Lunfardo is rich in Italian dialectal terms and also French words.

The first manifestations of this language appeared in Buenos Aires around 1880 ( police and newspapers archives).

This new terminology invaded the familiar language of the conventillos dwellers and very slowly the language of men (it was not used at home or by women), finally became something characteristic of being Porteño and Argentine. It was spread by theater in its "Sainetes", a peculiar genre that depicts life in conventillos; it was used by poets; but the greatest means of diffusion was not literature but its use in Tango Lyrics.

Some spanish Tango words

abrazo: embrace (as in dance hold).
amague: from amagar. To make a threatening motions. An amague is used as an embellishment either led or done on one's own and may be used before taking a step. An example of an amague may be a beat (frappe) before taking a step.
barrida: sweep. A sweeping motion. One partner's foot sweeps the other's foot. Also called llevada.
barrio: a district, neighborhood.
boleo: from bolear. To throw. A boleo may be executed either high or low. Keeping knees together, with one leg in back, swivel on the supporting leg.
caminar: to walk. The walk is similar to a natural walking step but the ball of the foot touches before the heel. The body and leg must move as a unit so that the body is in balance. Walks should be practiced for balance and fluidity.
corte: cut. In tango corte means cutting the music either by syncopating or holding several beats.
cruzada: cross. A cruzada occurs anytime a foot is crossed in front or in back of the other.
desplazamiento: displacement. Displacing the partner's foot or leg using one's leg or foot.
dibujo: drawing, sketch. A dibujo is done by drawing circles or other small movements on the floor with one's toe.
enganche: hooking, coupling. Occurs when partner wraps leg around the other's leg.
enrosque: from enroscar. To coil, twist. While woman executes a molinete, man spins on one foot, hooking other foot behind the spinning foot.
giro: turn. While woman does molinete, man turns on one foot placing the toe of the foot in front and executing a sharp turn.
llevada: from llevar. To transport (see barrida).
media vuelta: half turn. Usually done when man's right foot and woman's left foot are free. Man steps forward with his right leading woman to take a back step with her left and then leads he to take two steps while turning a half turn.
milonga: may refer to music or the dance which preceded the tango, written in 2/4 time; or may refer to the dance salon or event where people go to dance tango (see below).
milongueros: refers to those frequenting the milongas and considered tango fanatics.
molinete: fan. Molinetes are forward and back ochos (figure 8's) done in a circle.
ocho: eight. Figure eights usually executed with feet together (ankles touching) instead of one foot extended.
ocho atras: ochos backward
pista: dance floor.
salida: Exit, or start. It's interesting that the word for the basic step (a place to start) should be a way to get out of a figure as well.
salida cruzada:the beginning of a pattern with a cross; i.e. side left crossing right foot behind left, or side right crossing left foot behind right.
sandwichito: One partner's foot is sandwiched between the other partner's feet.
sentada: a sitting action.
sacada: see desplazamiento (don't you love glossaries that do that?).
trabada: fastened. It is a lock step - the step that the woman takes when man steps outside with his right foot and then straight forward left, together right. At this point the woman crosses and this cross is referred to as trabada.

Tango Styles

Styles of Argentine Tango
by Stephen Brown

In Buenos Aires and other parts of Argentina, tango is danced in a spectrum of individualistic or personal styles, and many tango dancers who are Argentine do not accept a categorization of their own dancing by any broad stylistic name.  They simply say they are dancing tango, their own style, or the style of their neighborhood or city.  A few confuse the issue further by identifying their own style by a name that other dancers associate with a different style.  Consequently, parsing the commonalities and differences that can be found across the continuum of individual styles to clearly describe the characteristics of various styles is challenging, potentially controversial, and possibly misleading.  Nonetheless, if we regard style to mean an approach to dancing that creates incompatibilities with other approaches and has a sufficient number of adherents who stick firmly to the listed elements, I think it is possible to create rough definitions for a number of distinguishable styles of Argentine tango: salon, milonguero, club, orillero, canyengue, nuevo and fantasia.

Salon-Style Tango
Milonguero-Style Tango
Club-Style Tango
Orillero-Style Tango
Canyengue
Nuevo Tango / Tango Nuevo / Neo Tango
Fantasia
Liquid Tango
Nuevo Milonguero
 
Salon-Style Tango
Salon-style tango is typically danced with an upright body posture with the two dancers maintaining separate axes.  The embrace can be close or open, but it is typically offset (with each dancer's center slightly to the right of their partner's center) and in a V (with the woman's left shoulder closer to the man’s right shoulder than her right shoulder is to his left shoulder).  When salon-style is danced in a close embrace, which is common in Buenos Aires, the couple typically loosens their embrace slightly to accomodate the turns and allow the woman to rotate more freely.  When salon-style is danced in an open embrace, which is uncommon in Buenos Aires, the distance between the partners allows the woman to execute her turns more freely and pivot without requiring much independent movement between her hips and torso.  If the woman rotates her hips through the turns independently of her upper torso, the embrace need not be loosened as much.  Salon-style tango is typically danced to the most strongly accented beat of tango music played in 4x4 time, such as DiSarli.  Those who dance salon-style tango to Juan D'Arienzo or Rodolfo Biagi typically ignore the strong ric-tic-tic rhythm that characterizes the music.  Salon-style tango requires that dancers exercise respect for the line of dance.
 

Milonguero-Style Tango
Milonguero-style tango is typically danced with a slightly leaning posture that typically joins the torsos of the two dancers from the tummy through the solar plexus (in an embrace that Argentine's call apilado) to create a merged axis while allowing a little bit of distance between the couple's feet.  The embrace is also typically closed with the woman’s right shoulder as close to her partner's left shoulder as her left shoulder is to his right, and the woman's left arm is often draped behind the man's neck.  Some practitioners of this style suggest that each dancer lean against their partner.  Others say that the lean is more of an illusion in which each partner maintains their own balance, but leans forward just enough to complete the embrace.  The couple maintains a constant upper body contact and does not loosen their embrace to accommodate turns or ochos, which can limit the couple to walking steps and simple ochos until both partners develop the skills for the woman to execute her turns by stepping at an angle rather than pivoting.  Milonguero-style dancers typically respond to the ric-tic-tic rhythm that is prominent in the music of Juan D'Arienzo and Rodolfo Biagi and also found in the playing of many other tango orchestras.  The milonguero style allows for a more elastic approach to the rhythm when dancing to music that has a less insistent ric-tic-tic rhythm, such as that recorded by Di Sarli or Pugliese.  The ocho cortado is one the characteristic figures of milonguero-style tango because it integrates the embrace with rhythmic sensibilities of the style.

Milonguero-style

tango can also be identified as apilado-, cafe-, and confiteria-style tango.  One of the better-known dancers of the style, Tete, refers to his own style of tango as salon.
 

Club-Style Tango
Club-style tango has the rhythmic sensibilities of milonguero-style tango, but it uses the posture, separate axes and embrace of close salon-style tango.  Club-style tango is danced with an upright posture with the two dancers maintaining separate axes while embracing closely in an offset V.  The couple loosens their embrace slightly on their turns to allow the woman to rotate more freely and pivot without requiring much independent movement between her hips and torso.  If the woman rotates her hips through the turns independently of her upper torso, the embrace need not be loosened as much.  Club-style tango is typically danced to the ric-tic-tic rhythm that is prominent in the music of Juan D'Arienzo and Rodolfo Biagi and also is found in the playing of many other tango orchestras.  Club-style tango uses the ocho cortado and other rhythmic figures that are found in milonguero-style tango.  Possibly a rhythmic variation of the salon-style tango, some people regard club-style tango as a mish mash of the salon and milonguero styles rather than a separate style.
 

Orillero-Style Tango
Orillero-style tango is an older style of tango whose name suggests that it may have had its origins in the streets of poor outlying tenements in Buenos Aires.  Later it came to refer to the man dancing around the edge of the woman.  In either case, orillero-style tango was not considered acceptable in the refined salons of central Buenos Aires during the golden age of tango.  To the extent that orillero-style tango is still danced it has become more like salon-style tango.  It is danced with upright body posture with the dancers maintaining separate axes, and the embrace is typically offset in a V and can be either close or open.  In the turns, the woman is allowed to move freely and pivot without requiring much independent movement between her hips and torso.  When orillero-style tango is danced in a close embrace, the couple loosens the embrace slightly to accommodate the turns.  If the woman rotates her hips through the turns independently of her upper torso, the embrace need not be loosened as much.  Orillero-style tango differs from salon-style tango because it adds playful, space-consuming embellishments and figures that do not always respect the line of dance.  Many of the playful elements are executed to the ric-tic-tic rhythm that characterizes the music of Juan D'Arienzo and Rodolfo Biagi.
 

Canyengue
Canyengue is a historical form of tango that was danced in the 1920s and early 30s that may or may not be accurately captured by its current practitioners.  The embrace is close and in an offset V, the dancers typically have bent knees as they move, and the woman does not execute a cross.  At the time canyengue was popular, dresses were long and tight.  Consequently, the steps were short and frequently executed in the ric-tic-tic rhythm that is characteristic of the tango music played by the old guard which included Francisco Lomuto, Francisco Canaro (early in his career), Roberto Firpo, and Juan de Dios Filiberto.  (The modern-era orchestra Los Tubatango plays in the same style.)  Some dancers of canyengue use exaggerated body movements to accent their steps.
 

Nuevo Tango
Nuevo tango is largely a pedagogic approach to tango that emphasizes a structural analysis of the dance in which previously unexplored combinations of steps and new figures can be found.  As as it is frequently danced in an open, loose embrace with a very upright posture with the dancers maintaining their own axes.  Although the advocates of tango nuevo emphasize a new structural analysis over specific figures, some of its most identifiable figures are overturn ochos and change of directions in turns, which are most easily accomplished in a loose, elastic embrace.
 

Fantasia (Show Tango)
Fantasia is danced in tango stage shows.  It originally drew from the idioms of the salon- and orillero-styles of  tango but today also includes elements of nuevo-tango.  Fantasia is danced in an open embrace with exaggerated movements and additional elements (often taken from ballet) that are not part of the social tango vocabulary.  These balletic elements integrate well with salon-style tango because the way a couple relates to each other's space in salon-style tango is very balletic in nature, even though tango movement is more grounded like modern dance.
 

Liquid Tango
Liquid tango is an emerging approach to dancing Argentine tango that is danced with an embrace that shifts between close and open to allow the integration of various styles of tango, particularly the nuevo and club styles.  It is probably premature to consider this a separate style of dancing because the approach is largely compatible with nuevo and doesn't have an identfiably separate group of adherents.
 

Nuevo Milonguero
Nuevo milonguero is a relatively new approach to Argentine tango that adds some nuevo movements such as change of direction in turns, cadenas, and volcadas to milonguero-style tango.  It would probably be a stretch to regard nuevo milonguero a separate style of dancing because the approach is fully compatible with milonguero-style tango and doesn't have an identifiably separate group of adherents.

Some Additional Comments about Style

Which Style is Authentic?
All of these styles have some degree of authenticity because they draw from the practices, idioms, and historical precedents of Argentine tango as it is and was danced in Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and other cities in Argentina and Uruguay.  Some styles are more popular in a particular city or in venues within a city, but popularity should not be confused with authenticity.  Fantasia is authentic for stage dancing, but not for social dancing.

Some of the confusion about authencity may be the result of different styles serving different social purposes during the golden age of tango.  Salon-style tango was danced in very nice clubs, where one was expected to get dressed up and dance very slow.  Milonguero-style tango was danced in less formal venues, where dancers got together for the purpose of meeting each other.  Orillero was considered a lower class or street style of tango.  In many cases, the same individual would dance somewhat different styles in different venues or to different music.

Which Styles Have an Open Embrace and Which Have a Close Embrace?
All of the styles except fantasia can be danced in a close embrace.  Although salon- and orillero-style tango can be danced in a open embrace, they are more typically danced in a close embrace in Buenos Aires and other parts of Argentina.  Milonguero- and club-style tango are only danced in a close embrace.  The milonguero-style embrace is also typically closed with the woman's right shoulder as close to her partner's left shoulder as her left shoulder is to his right.  The nuevo embrace is loose and elastic, but many of the movements that are emphasized in tango nuevo can be danced in either the apilado or the close offset V embraces.

Embrace and Frame
Some people distinguish between milonguero and other styles of tango by claiming that the frame in milonguero-style tango is in the woman, and in other styles the frame is created in the arms of the embrace.  Whether the frame is inside the woman or in the arms of the embrace depends largely upon the closeness and softness of the embrace.  A firm, distant embrace places the frame in the arms of the embrace.  As the embrace becomes closer and softer, the frame is moved into the woman's body in all styles.

Which Styles Are Improvisational and Which Are Choreographed?
All of the styles are potentially improvisational including fantasia.  Many instructors of salon-style tango and fantasia emphasize memorized figures in their teaching.  Performance tango is often choreographed.

Which Styles Are Feeling and Which Are Analytical?
Some people look upon improvisation in salon, orillero, fantasia, and nuveo tango as puzzle pieces that are assembled as you dance, and those who teach the structure of tango within these styles can emphasize the analytical nature of the dance.  If these styles are held in the intellectual domain and not moved into the intuitive and emotional domains, they can remain a dry, analytical puzzle.  Dancers and instructors of the milonguero-style tango often emphasize the intuitive and feeling aspects of the style, but it can be approached in an equally analytical manner to the other styles.

Aren't Salon Tango and Fantasia Really the Same?
Salon-style tango and fantasia are distinct styles, but fantasia is an extension of salon-style tango and relies heavily upon salon-style tango for its basic set of movements.  Fantasia adds balletic elements and showy figures and embellishments that are inappropriate for social dancing.  Some tango instructors confuse the two styles for their students by teaching an indistinguishable blend of social and stage figures.

How Are the Milonguero and Club Styles Related?
As described above, the styles are very similar.  Club-style tango was danced in some of the clubs de barrios during the 1950s, while milongueros were dancing somewhat different styles in central Buenos Aires.  These facts suggest that milonguero- and club-style tango may have developed at about the same time.  Edaurado Arquimbau, a leading dancer of club-style tango, claims that several of the better-known milonguero-style dancers took lessons in club-style tango from him during the 1950s.  His claim has led some to raise the possibility that club-style tango may have played an important role in the development of milonguero-style tango.  More likely both milonguero- and club-style tango took their rhythmic elements from the older orillero style tango.

Ric-Tic-Tic Rhythm
Ric-tic-tic is onomatopoeia for the staccato rhythms that are prominent in the music of Juan D'Arienzo, Rodolfo Biagi, and some other golden-era orchestras.  With Biagi on the piano, D'Arienzo's orchestra debuted in the 1930s with the ric-tic-tic rhythm.  Although some describe music with the ric-tic-tic rhythm as 2x4, the characteristic rhythm of this music is actually created through a variation in accented beats that yields an alternation of single-time and double-time rhythms.  For example, the music might be played one and two and, one and two and, one and two and, one and two and (where boldface represents the accented beats), and the dancers might respond slow, slow; quick, quick, slow; slow, slow; quick, quick, slow.  One might express the chararacteristic stacatto rhythm of this music as one, two; ric, tic, tic; one, two; ric, tic, tic.

Some tangos contain more complex rhythms and longer phrases of double-time staccato accents.  Juan D'Arienzo's "El Flete" contains a rhythmic figure of one and two and one and two and, one and two and one and two and, one and two and one and two and, one and two and one and two and.  For the dancer adhering strictly to the accents, that rhythmic figure becomes the demanding and rapid fire slow, pause, slow, pause; quick, quick, quick, quick, slow, pause; slow, slow, slow, slow; quick, quick, quick, quick, slow, pause.  For a dancer taking the music at half speed, the rhythmic figure becomes the familiar slow, pause, slow, pause; quick, quick, quick, quick, slow, pause; slow, slow, slow, slow; quick, quick, quick, quick, slow, pause (where boldface represents the beats used for dancing). 

Article two:

1. The Axis 2
2. The Chakras 3
3. The Posture 4
4. The Ground 4
5. The Centred Axis 5
6. The Feet 7
7. The Legs 11
8. The Walk 13
9. The Embrace 17
10. The Torso 20
11. The Lead 22
12. The Following 25
13. The Dance 28
14. The Teaching 29
The proposition of this paper is that tango can be taught very quickly and effectively from within the theoretical framework of a centred and grounded axis. By presenting and explaining everything that is taught within the terms of this framework, the pupil can understand the how and the why of dancing tango in a way that is far easier and clearer than the painfully confused learning experience that is typical of most of our histories in tango.
The paper describes a theoretical perspective of how to dance ‘good’ tango. There are of course many styles of tango, but the criteria of ‘good’ tango in the context of this paper are that tango is a dance between two people, both of whom are in centred axes with a free leg, and with leading ‘in the moment’ by energetically connected intentionality, without any physical coercion, pushing or pulling, muscle, aids, nudges, signals, ‘leads’ or learned sequences. There are styles of tango which are physically lead and have little or no engagement with the free leg, and that is fine. What this paper describes is sectarian and prescriptive, and this definition of ‘good’ tango has been no doubt unfairly co-opted and will offend many, but it is directed only at those dancers who are committed to a style of tango that is danced within those clear parameters of centred axis, free leg and an exclusively energetic connected lead, and for whom that does comprise ‘good’ tango. It’s addressing no-one else. And what it hopes to offer those for
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whom it is intended is a description of how the dance operates in terms of the centred and connected axes. Many of the details will no doubt be disagreed with, but its guiding principle is that most faults in tango can be resolved through reference to the axis. Axes and connections are subjects that are of course already taught, but usually only piecemeal in very small (albeit very important) doses, and usually alongside and incidentally as part of walking, steps, figures and musicality. This paper offers an explicit singular theoretical framework for dancing tango from the axis, in one (relatively) easy lesson.
The proposed framework is intended for use by teachers but not really for teaching classes. It was designed for teaching tango from scratch on a one-to-one basis, with the teacher experientially demonstrating to the pupil the processes and techniques of both leader and follower. It can therefore only be taught by a teacher who already dances and profoundly understands this style of ‘good’ tango, and for whom none of the contents of this paper will be essentially new. There may, however, be descriptions or insights that might usefully translate into the classroom. What is probably new is putting it all into words within one coherent package. The hope is that by clarifying the principles of tango within one framework this might help lead to a higher standard of dancing. Tango taught by class almost inevitably results in a muscular style of dancing, which once learned is difficult to transform into a style of tango such as described in this paper. Tango taught from within this framework of the centred axis can produce good tango remarkably quickly. And if pupils also read this and are inspired to raise their own expectations and ambitions, so much the better. So, here’s hoping.
This paper only just ventures into descriptions of the dance itself. Tango is in essence a walking dance, involving taking directional steps plus pivoting, and actually pretty much nothing else. Certainly ‘the walk’ is crucial. If one can walk in a connected centred axis with a free leg it is possible to learn to dance good tango far quicker than the usual span of endless years of lessons, practice and humiliation. So this paper is not so much about dancing tango as about describing the principles of the connected centred axis and the free leg that are fundamental if one is to engage fully with the dance. If those principles are taught well then dancing can follow naturally. Tango is a process by which two bodies move naturally and harmoniously together once they have both learned how to inhabit those bodies ‘well’. This paper is an attempt to help us all teach how to do that better.
1 THE AXIS
1.1 ‘El eje’ is Spanish for ‘the axis’. If there is one key to tango it is the axis. We all have an axis at all times, by definition. One’s axis is that vertical line through our body that would hold it in balance if we were suspended by that line. Whatever shape we manoeuvre or contract our body into, there will be an axis. Tango needs an axis that is constantly centred. A centred axis is the axis that traces from the top of the head straight down the spine and through the crutch, and down into the ground through the foot. The reason for the necessity of this centredness is twofold, firstly it keeps the body vertically erect and powerful, which is essential both for good posture, stepping and pivoting, and secondly it actually identifies and aligns with the chakras, the seven energy centres of the human body.
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1.2 It is the constantly centred axis that distinguishes tango from all other dance forms. The purpose of this paper is to present a singular theoretical framework for tango based on the proposition that almost all problems in the dance are ultimately dependent on the constantly centred axis aligned with our seven chakras.
2 THE CHAKRAS
2.1 ‘Chakra’ is a Sanskrit word that translates as wheel or disc. It is a concept in Indian medicine that refers to wheel-like vortices within the etheric body, which is the energetic field inhabiting, surrounding and reflecting the physical body. There are seven primary chakras, energetically rotating and located principally along the spinal column like a series of targets stuck down one’s back.
2.2 The first chakra is the base or root chakra, centred between the legs between the rectum and the sexual organs, and which ‘points’ downwards towards the ground.
The second chakra is the sacral chakra, associated with the ovaries and the prostate and located at the lower end of the sacrum at the base of the spine.
The third chakra is the solar plexus chakra, which is located on the spine a couple of inches above the navel.
The fourth chakra is the heart chakra, and is located centrally between the shoulder blades at the same level as the heart.
The fifth chakra is the throat chakra, located midway up the neck.
The sixth chakra is the head chakra, located centrally in the head at the same level as the eyebrows.
The seventh chakra is the crown chakra, situated on the crown of the head and ‘pointing’ upwards.
2.3 The second to fifth chakras can be visualised as circles drawn on the skin down the spinal column, with the centre of the circles ‘pointing’ inwards towards the body (the sixth chakra is ‘within’ the head), but their energy can be visualised as situated both just inside and just outside the body. One can become aware of them, and progressively enhance that awareness, simply by directing one’s consciousness towards these localities and visualising their energetic force and dynamic. Although conscious awareness of the chakras can help one’s tango it is not necessary, nor is a belief in their existence (although the chakra principle is recognised throughout most oriental philosophies, religions and medical systems, and there is a vast empirical experience of their potency). It can, however, be helpful to visualise them, real or not, if only as handy reference points that help us to line up a correctly erect posture and, particularly, our grounding and connection.
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3 THE POSTURE
3.1 So what does ‘lining up’ our chakras and our posture mean? In the West our postures are generally very poor, as we have become ever more cerebral, sedentary and disconnected from our relationship with the earth. Rectifying our bad postures involves learning how to stand and walk with our chakras in a strict vertical line. This is not just for tango, it is increasingly being taught in sport and dance schools, and is a key part of processes such as Pilates and Alexander Technique, and it has always been fundamental to martial arts.
3.2 Actually lining up the chakras is a difficult, at times uncomfortable, and usually drawn out process. It usually involves re-aligning our spines, not something to be undertaken casually, but unless one succeeds it is unlikely that your tango can progress beyond a certain level. The reason is that without a constantly aligned posture the free leg will probably be inaccessible – the free leg is actually part and parcel of an aligned posture with a centred axis.
3.3 To ‘build’ one’s posture requires that we start with the feet. The feet are not only what physically support the axis, they energetically support it through grounding. And without grounding it will be very difficult to ever dance good tango.
4 THE GROUND
4.1 Grounding is a wholly energetic process that projects the etheric energy of the body into the etheric energy of the earth. It is the means by which one connects deeply with the earth, and through that connection with the etheric energy and chakras of one’s dance partner. One may find it difficult to provide experiential evidence for the existence and operation of chakras, but grounding is one activity that can be undeniably demonstrated.
4.2 Start with the feet flat on the ground about nine inches apart and ask the pupil to stand opposite you. The first stage of the exercise is for you to lock your knees, and then to ask the pupil to press gently against your sternum until you overbalance, while remembering the degree of force that is required to cause that overbalancing. The second stage of the exercise is to soften or ‘break’ the knees, and to repeat the process of pushing the sternum. The pupil will notice that considerably more force is required, even through your position and posture has not altered except for the softened knees. The third stage of the exercise is to then consciously ground through the feet, and to again repeat the process of pushing the sternum. The difference is remarkable and almost shocking, usually requiring very considerable force to overbalance you, all without shifting any part of your body for the second stage of the exercise with the softened knee.
4.3 So how does one ground through the feet? Stand with the feet about nine inches apart, flat on the ground and with toes stretched out flat, and with knees softened. The eyes look slightly downwards (looking or breathing upwards tends to immediately unground one). Breathe out through the mouth, and then breathe in steadily and deeply through the nose, but consciously ‘breathing’ the air through the soles of the feet and up through the legs and into the buttocks. The air is then exhaled strongly through
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the mouth towards the ground. Breathe in again through the soles of the feet, as if the air is coming from twelve inches or so beneath the surface of the ground. The breathing in of the air, sucked up from below ground, has the effect of energetically sucking the feet (and the body above the feet) down into the earth. Practise this regularly until one can forgo breathing in through the soles of the feet, and just be continually conscious of one’s feet and body energetically sinking, or rather drawn down, nine inches or more into the ground with every step.
5 THE CENTRED AXIS
5.1 Being properly grounded means that not only is there a powerful solidity and stability within the body, but also the correctly aligned body can function fluently and in balance, and in energetic connection not only with the earth but with the partner also. Just as the chakras represent centres of the etheric body that comprises the field of energy surrounding and immanent within the physical body, grounding connects the etheric body of the dancer to the etheric body of the earth, and through that with the etheric body of the partner. Tango is danced almost wholly within the etheric field. It is a dance driven consciously from within the etheric of the individual and connecting to the wider etheric, hence its extraordinarily seductive power – it is literally ‘attractive’ and ‘uniting’.
5.2 The point is that if one does not dance from within the etheric field of the chakras, around and within which the whole physical body ‘hangs’, then one is usually dancing from within only the physical body. More extremely, one is dancing from within the ‘outside’ of one’s physical body, with the dancer’s consciousness focused on outer physicality rather than inner energy. Dancing from the outside of one’s body is probably how all of us bop at a party, but unfortunately it is also how too many people also dance tango. Most tango dancers are dancing with a mix of internal/axis etheric and external/body physicality. ‘Good’ tango is danced wholly from a consciousness focused totally within the centred axis, and the physical body then just follows the axis, ‘drawn’ by its etheric energy and without conscious physical direction or control. It is the failure to focus on the internal etheric that results in the physical shoving and barging that is characteristic of so much tango dancing. This paper is an attempt to re-focus tango dancers’ consciousness on the internal etheric, showing them how to dance from within their centred axis, not outside it.
5.3 So, given that the feet are grounded (although still not walking), the axis stands above those feet. When the feet are together and the body vertically straight, then the axis is more or less centred. To be centred properly, however, the axis needs to be centred not only in the vertical when facing the dancer, that is, going from the crown of the head straight down the spine and through the root chakra and into the earth through the ground. It also needs to be centred in the vertical when looking at the dancer side-on. This is where most postural problems arise, with sagging hips, tense back, hunched shoulders and drooping heads. The constantly centred axis of good posture is vertical in both dimensions, indeed it is like a rigid steel rod, always perfectly vertical.
5.4 It needs to be pointed out that our postures are as they are for a reason. That reason may just be ignorance or sloppiness, but it may also spring from more deeply
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emotional issues. Many Northern European men in particular suffer from ‘locked hearts’ – their heart chakras are often locked solid in self-defence, and this emotional blocking usually has a disastrous impact on posture. Being nervous, overly fearful, withdrawn or aggressive will also all show themselves in poor posture. Before embarking on the journey to correct posture, therefore, it is wise to be respectful of the reasons for one’s poor posture, and to carefully consider whether it is safe to change it. Changing one’s posture will almost always release, either voluntarily or involuntarily, all sorts of energies, tensions, feelings and dynamics, along with all those physical changes that are implicit in the process of re-alignment. This is not a small issue. Most serious tango dancers have changed within themselves significantly as their posture has improved, physically and energetically, and indeed for many the promise of such developmental changes is often one of their principal reasons for continuing with tango.
5.5 At present we are looking at a static posture. Let’s go back to the grounding exercise, breathing up through the soles of our feet and taking the air up into our buttocks, while at the same time sinking deep into the earth. As one sinks into the earth, energy is flowing downwards through one’s legs and into the ground, in a steady and regular stream. But now, just before the point of exhalation, there is a conscious anchoring of the legs as a solid framework or platform. The upper body is supported by everything below the pelvis (within which of course are the hip bones), which is solid and static, grounded in the earth. As air is exhaled energetically downwards through the mouth, that downward ‘rush’ of air serves to propel the upper body upwards, somewhat like a jet. It uses the grounded platform of the legs as the base from which the body ‘takes off’ towards the sky. The body will actually extend another inch or so in height in this process.
5.6 The mid-point of all this is the pelvis, which serves as a kind of fulcrum for the body. More precisely, although everything below the pelvis heads downwards into the earth, what is above operates in a kind of graduated upwards continuum. There is an upward dynamic in the torso that culminates in the neck and head going exclusively for the stars (yet still dynamically a part of the body), but there is also, paradoxically, a constant flow of energy from the shoulders downwards (and generally down the back of the torso) that goes right through the pelvis and connects through the legs with its grounding into the earth. Crudely, the lower half projects exclusively down into the earth, the torso heads upwards yet also grounds, while the neck and head flow upwards, all these various dynamics functioning simultaneously and in harmony.
5.7 What happens is that the upwards movement is propelled by the downwards exhalation through the mouth (try exhaling upwards and experience the difference). The downwards exhalation is important in that it propels the upwards movement from the head, which then draws up the torso after it. Firstly the head is propelled slightly backwards (but vertically, with chin inwards and not tilted), and then upwards, and it is that upwards movement that then partially draws up the torso. (If one takes hold of the hair right at the back part of the head and pull it upwards, this has the same physical effect in that the chin drops inwards as the head goes up, the neck is stretched, and the torso follows. The difference is that the upwards movement we are looking for is driven energetically, not physically.)
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5.8 The shoulders need to be down, back and relaxed. To find their right position hunch the shoulders up as far as possible behind the ears and then shrug them downwards vigorously as far as they can go. The arms hang downwards, and the shoulders feel as if heavy weights have been attached by large hooks impaling one’s shoulder blades, which are consequently pulled downwards behind one. The effect is of the head dynamically (and consequently physically) rising upwards, the torso is dynamically both up and down (but physically stable), while the legs dynamically (and physically) flow right down into the earth.
5.9 So to revert to our crude descriptions, everything below the pelvis drives downwards, the head drives upwards, and everything in between is a mixture of the two. So overall there is a huge focus on the whole body being grounded but with an upward pull of the head which in a sense ‘pulls’ the axis straight, stretching the chakras into the vertical line that is such an integral part of a centred axis.
5.10 So to recap, the first stage of building a grounded good posture involves grounding the feet and legs, and then while remaining connected to that groundedness the back of the head is drawn backwards and upwards, drawing the chin inwards. The torso relaxes and dynamically projects downwards while at the same time also being drawn up physically by the head, resulting in a kind of ‘balance of opposing forces’. And the outcome should be a somewhat more truly vertically centred axis, stable and firmly rooted in the ground – the beginnings of a good tango posture.
6 THE FEET
6.1 It is one thing to stand upright on feet side by side with a centred axis, but it is a very much more difficult thing to walk with a constantly centred axis, centred at all moments and in all positions and throughout all movements.
6.2 The purpose of the constantly centred axis is twofold. When the follower is in axis the leader can, firstly, invite her in any direction. If she accepts the invitation (which of course she will), she will immediately drive her axis in the precise direction with the exactly invited distance, speed, texture, dynamic and phrasing. And secondly, the leader can pivot the follower with virtually no effort from either party as it will then be a true and balanced pivot. If you are perfectly centred in the axis a pivot really requires only what energy is necessary to pivot the sole of the shoe. Essentially tango is a matter of the two dancers taking steps and pivoting, with minimal effort and with maximal elegance, flow and feeling, and that is achieved by both dancers staying constantly in centred axis.
6.3 The difficulty with the centred axis is that the leader invites the follower to take a step, yet also asks that both dancers remain constantly in their respectively centred axes throughout the movement. To do this well one has to master walking, and that is notoriously difficult. Milongueros well into their seventies will often still spend a couple of hours a day practising walking.
6.4 Walking entails two key processes – maintaining the true verticality of the constantly centred axis, and managing the relationship of the foot to the floor. The first process is dependent on the second.
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6.5 The question of how the foot (or more correctly, the shoe) meets the floor is one of those problems on which one can expend a lifetime. The techniques for leading extend all the way from definitely toe first to definitely heel first. Many milongueros walk toe first, and they walk sublimely. The difficulty is that learning to do that is said to take at least a decade. So let’s go with the heel. (This is addressed to leaders, but exactly the same principal applies to followers, it’s just the other way round – if you are walking backwards it is toe first.)
6.6 The first point to remember is that both feet are constantly grounding, indeed both at the same time, even the free leg. (Because it is through the axis that one primarily grounds, however, as one walks the axis will of course shift very slightly as one moves from foot to foot, and the grounded foot will in that process always be grounding more heavily than the free leg.) The feet are slightly turned out, and they must never ever become pigeon-toed, ever. And the feet move forwards on parallel tracks, they don’t cross over or sashay. So as the axis moves forwards it will shift slightly (but always vertically) from foot to foot, as there will be a conscious grounding within the respectively grounded foot. If tracked this would reveal over distance a very slightly sinuous line, indeed like a sine wave across the floor.
6.7 One of the most important roles of the foot is that the grounded foot is the driver. The vertically centred axis is moved entirely from the grounded foot – in fact one could even say that it is actually moved entirely from within the ground. The physical engine of tango is the foot in deep-level relationship with the ground. In taking a step forwards, for example, the free leg never ever sends itself forward (if it did it would no longer be a free leg), it is propelled there as a consequence of the grounded foot propelling the axis forwards. Being free, hanging from the hip, the leg follows the axis by gravity. The strength of the initial impulse determines how far and how fast the free leg travels, and that impulse is of course determined by the power generated in the grounded foot. (We are still talking of walking as an individual, and not yet as leading the follower, but even then the same principle will apply.)
6.8 Walking is therefore a constant process of driving forwards (or backwards in the case of the follower) from the grounded foot, and never using the free leg in the pro-active way that we usually do when we walk in our everyday life (and indeed in every other dance, too). In ‘normal’ walking we in effect deliberately over-balance ourselves and then we ‘place’ the free leg where we want it to go. In every other dance form the skilful dancer ‘places’ his or her feet with great accuracy. A professional dancer coming to tango can often seemingly dance well because of being good at placement (particularly in a choreographed dance in which they have no need to lead or follow in the normal improvisational way), but their dance will ultimately be limited precisely because a placed foot is different to the foot of a free leg. The free foot will, if it is truly free and genuinely following the axis, arrive perfectly in place and time in a way that can never be replicated by a consciously placed foot.
6.9 The smooth fluidity of tango derives from this intrinsic perfection of the perfectly free leg. The fact is that a perfectly centred axis can only exist in relation to a perfectly free leg. The moment that the leg is not free it is, by definition being used to balance the dancer. An unfree leg will always indicate an axis that is not perfectly centred – muscular tensions will be established that cannot remain just in the leg, they will
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extend also to other parts of the body, which will in turn affect the centred axis. The free leg is probably the hardest thing to learn in tango, and some professional dancers never get the hang of it, so deeply trained are they in precision of control and placement, and even though they are familiar with finding and maintaining axis. And it can take most dancers years before they begin to understand both the free leg’s significance and how to find it.
6.10 A ballet dancer, for example, even though maybe in perfect balance and control throughout a movement, will manage her transition from A to B in a way that will take her, in balance, from one balanced axis to another balanced axis, but those axes will rarely be centred with her standing totally vertically with feet side by side. That is simply not how ballet works, and it actually has very little need for a constantly centred axis. So a ballet dancer’s superbly balanced placement between and through different axes has to be surrendered to the constantly centred axis. A balanced axis is not good enough, and more than one axis is a disaster – what is required is one axis that is constantly centred within the body and that is therefore permanently within its own balance.
6.11 Back to walking. To take a step the dancer engages the foot with the earth, physically and energetically and groundedly, and propels his or her centred axis in the required direction. The free leg moves in response to the impulse of the moving axis as driven by the grounded foot. The free leg always follows the axis. If the free leg leads the axis the dancer is usually guilty either of some kind of placement or of anticipation, which is the curse of leaders’ lives. So the leader has to apply the same rule to himself. He does not project the foot and leg, he instead allows it to follow the impulse of his axis, which is in turn driven by his grounded foot.
6.12 If the leg is not free for any reason, the axis will almost certainly no longer be centred, and that will inevitably interfere with the dynamic of ‘good’ tango. The reason for that is that the effort required to balance or accommodate the unfree leg will itself take the axis off-centre. Some signs of an unfree leg and therefore of a flawed centred axis, are a held bent knee, a foot held at an angle, a tight ankle, a placed foot, a posed foot, a leg held up, a leg moving when held at rest, a foot or leg moving without a lead, a foot full of intention, a leg ‘trying out’ possible follows, a ‘reaching’ leg, a foot held off the floor (a free foot rests very lightly on the surface of the floor), a stiff leg or a locked knee. And all of the above applies equally to leaders and followers.
6.13 When the foot lands, we have chosen the style by which we land with the heel rather than the toe. The heel (at the ‘end’ of the free leg) has landed as a (gravitational) consequence of the impetus from the axis driven from the ground. It can help (at least as an exercise) if we land it at a slightly exaggerated angle, say with the foot at about 30° to the floor. This is not how one’s foot normally lands, but doing it in this way makes a particular point, which is that the foot needs to come down on the back edge of the heel crisply (but softly). And the reason for this is because the imminently driving foot needs to take over (from the imminently free foot) the engine-power that is driving the dance, and that driving foot needs to power the walk from the very beginning of each step. And this means that the forward grounding foot starts to actually pull (from within its deeply grounded power source in the earth) the axis forwards, until the point at which the axis is vertically overhead, and then of course the driving foot starts to push the axis forwards. In the dance proper the shoe will land at
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maybe 5° to the floor, but the principle is the same, the heel digs in so as to be able to pull the axis forwards.
6.14 Let’s continue with the 5° angle. The heel hits the ground and starts pulling the axis forwards. What usually happens in most ‘normal’ walking is that the heel goes down and the shoe tends to have a forwards dynamic, almost sliding forwards as the somewhat imbalanced axis lurches forwards, bringing the other leg behind it ready for the next step. In tango, however, the heel pulling the axis forwards creates almost a backwards dynamic in the shoe precisely because the foot is pulling (and not pushing) the axis forwards.
6.15 Back to the heel. As the heel hits the ground and begins to take some of the weight of the (rapidly approaching) body, all of the grounding energy in that body begins to pour through that heel and into the earth (although not totally vacating the other foot – remember both legs need to be in a state of grounding throughout the dance). The dancer needs to focus that grounding very consciously, deliberately and precisely so that the foot feels (to both dancers) as if it is sinking deep into the earth. (This process of conscious grounding, grounding with real intentionality, is difficult and needs frequent practice.) As the axis is pulled forwards towards a position vertically above the foot, the grounding goes deeper. It then begins to travel through the length of the foot, from heel right through to toes (toes to heel for followers).
6.16 This tracking of the axis through the foot is very important. It maintains the dancer’s deep-level grounding, it maintains a smooth and uninterrupted seamless flow of movement, and it maintains the verticality of the axis. Remember that the purpose of the axis in tango is to be constantly centred, and it moves forwards as if it is a rigid steel rod, ploughing effortlessly but remorselessly, constantly vertically through the earth. And if the axis fails to move smoothly through the foot what happens is that the axis will either jerk slightly, or it will create a slight vacuum between the two dancers, in both cases interrupting the flow of continuity and connection. An important part of this process is that the toes must be extended forwards, flat on the floor. Many of us scrunch our toes up as we walk. They must be stretched out in front of us, almost prehensile as they spread out flat, as if gripping the floor. And the axis must duly travel right through to the end of the toes, and at the point it leaves the toes it of course duly shifts to the heel of the other foot.
6.17 The travelling axis only works properly when the grounding is correct and conscious and when the posture is correct (and that means the walking posture, not just a static standing posture). If that posture is incorrect then at best the walking will not be that good, but at worst one can hurt oneself by pulling a muscle. Somebody once worked out that the Masai peoples walked better and with a better posture than all others, throughout the world. They identified this process of travelling the axis through the foot (which is necessary if one is carrying a heavy load balanced on the head) and designed a shoe, known as the MBT (Masai Barefoot Technology), and which mimics the way that the Masai walk. The key aspect of this shoe is that the sole is convexly shaped like a rocker on a rocking chair, so that wearing it one can rock the shoe forwards and backwards on its curved sole. The idea is that you train yourself to walk on this rocking sole, in theory ending up walking like the Masai as they travel the axis through the foot. Given that rolling forwards on a rocking shoe will generate all sorts of strange
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and unnatural tensions throughout the body, it would seem safer and more logical to learn to travel the axis through the foot consciously and not artificially.
6.18 In keeping with a centred axis, the feet end up flat on the ground, laid down evenly and straight (although always slightly turned outwards, totally avoiding pigeon-toes). In walking, the heels gently brush as they pass one another, the heels collect between steps whenever at all possible, and the sole of the free foot passes as close to the ground as possible, brushing it even, but without noise, dragging or scuffing. Walking excessively on either the inside or outside of the foot is to be avoided – it gives less traction, it fails to accommodate the true centredness of the axis, it doesn’t look good, and it involves all sorts of tiny muscles that actually interfere with the natural laying down of a straight foot. At rest on the grounded foot the heel hovers, very slightly in touch with the ground, and the axis is centred through the ball of the foot as the point of balance.
7 THE LEGS
7.1 Looking next to the legs, the one thing they should not do is to lock at the knee. Locking shifts the axis, removes any flexibility of movement and seriously ungrounds the dancer. In terms of walking, therefore, the knees should be soft, slightly ‘broken’. As the (free) leg ‘takes’ a step (propelled by the axis which is driven by the grounded foot) the knee bends slightly, as befits a free leg. A straight leg stepping out cannot be free. Meanwhile back with the grounded leg, it is slightly bent as the grounding heel pulls the axis forwards, but as the free leg passes over the now fully grounded heel, at the axis’ most vertically centred point, the grounded leg straightens (but doesn’t lock). It then softens and bends again slightly before the other heel meets the ground. If that grounded leg fails to straighten at the centred point it will mean that the dancer is dancing with permanently bent knees, which both looks awful, feels awful to the follower, and almost certainly indicates that the dancer is without a properly grounded axis.
7.2 One might imagine that a soft bent knee moving forwards and a straight leg as one travels over the heel might produce a bobbing effect, the head rising and falling. The reason that bobbing does not happen is that as the axis goes over the heel, at the most vertically centred point, the grounding is so intense that the height of the body contracts slightly, and then expands slightly as the step is taken, resulting in a seamlessly smooth and level movement of the body and head. It is as if all of the joints in the body momentarily compress and then expand again.
7.3 Knees are themselves mysterious energy centres, and are alleged to have their own significant chakras. Some spiritual perspectives credit them with intelligence and with the gift of sight – knee caps are indeed sometimes referred to as skulls holding brains. One can indeed consciously connect through the knees, although with