Tango walking should have a fluid, elastic quality. When you use your body the way it is designed, your dance will look almost effortless. How can you nudge your dance towards this goal?
The elastic quality of fascia
The connective tissue in your body has many qualities. The important one here is elasticity. Take a moment and fling your arm as vigorously as you can away from your body. Do you feel it snap back towards you? If you do a quick movement (no holding it out there like a beautiful ballet arm, admiring it!), the body’s fascia works like an elastic band, returning you to your regular shape. The good news: it’s all attached!
I want you to use your feet and ankles in a more elastic fashion. Most of us do not use our full range of motion in our feet and ankles. Explore: how far can you roll through your toes? How far can your ankles flex? If this feels strange to you, you have not been dancing to your full potential! Using the feet and ankles as a stretchy band both helps you maintain balance throughout each step and gets you to your next step with more ease.
Front steps
When you walk forward, feel how each bone and muscle in your foot works together to roll or articulate until you run out toe connection to the floor. Like a cat sneaking up on a mouse, use your entire foot as your support leg/foot leave the floor. Feel how your foot releases and snaps back under you!
Side steps
The side steps remind me of swimming in fins. As you articulate through your foot (I hesitate to use the phrase “push off”), can you feel how the last little bit of your big toe and inner arch give one last little lick to the floor, like a fish tail flicking to move the fish faster? Now, feel what happens to your foot once it 100% finishes this move: it snaps back into its regular shape, and the elastic connection all the way up your inner thigh to your pelvic floor brings your leg in under you. Collecting is not a step of landing; it is what your body does naturally if you use your support leg fully in your (ack!) push off.
Back step
Here is where we cheat the most. Almost no one uses the full flexion of the ankle. I see people push off their toes and pick their foot up. I see small ankle flexion followed by locked knees or by hips slumping towards the support leg. It’s much easier if you keep your knees relaxed, your hips aligned, and FULLY articulate through your ankle. You will feel a lot more work in your calf muscles and running all the way up your leg (fascia connect all the way up to your skull, remember!). Then, feel how that band of muscles, tendons, ligaments, and other connective tissue recoils and brings your leg under your new position!
Broccoli bands as inspiration
One audiovisual aid that has helped many of my students, has been the thick elastic bands that come with broccoli. Stick both of your thumbs into a broccoli band and stretch it! Feel how much that band wants to return to its original shape! Let go with one thumb, and SNAP! The broccoli band is back in place.
If you imagine the lines of fascia that run from your feet up your body as broccoli bands, you can see how working your foot and ankle affect your thigh and hip. You can also envision how, if you articulate fully through your feet and ankles, that your entire leg will arrive under your new position in a step without “collecting” or “pulling in” or making any other effort. Your fascia WILL return to the original shape because of its elastic quality! Just keep your pelvic floor and core engaged, and the errant leg will SNAP! back under your axis!
OK, go out there and be elastic! Come to class and get some help with building your elasticity and the beauty of your dance! See you on the dance floor.