Hi,

In the 'Learn the dances' section, the 'man's part' etc lists the steps to be followed... However, it does not mention the most important part ie. How will the man SIGNAL the woman that the step will change

eg. simply put, how will man signal the change of step from basic to promenade in Tango

Thanks,

"In the 'Learn the dances' section, the 'man's part' etc lists the steps to be followed... However, it does not mention the most important part ie. How will the man SIGNAL the woman that the step will change

eg. simply put, how will man signal the change of step from basic to promenade in Tango"

Mostly by dancing his own part correctly. When the couple is closely coordinated, there's enough information implied in the man's actions to make the lady's complementary actions fairly evident.

It can be usefull to identify which specific component of the man's action triggers which response from the lady. Unfortunatley, the most common american style promenade opening employs a fairly subtle rotation of the hip to the right which requires great skill. In contrast, the most common international style opening (link) is quite clear and simple - the man places his left foot diagonally so it is in front of his right (will feel like it's behind the lady but actually is not) and then neutralizes his body to that - this puts the couple in promenade.

To be more specfiic, the quite subtle/requires great skill of the american promenade opening in practice means that many look for an artifical trick to leading the step, such as shoving with the arms. It would be better to substitute a figure such as the link whose correct mechanism is more obvious until the dancers have built skill to pick up the more advanced methods such as used in "basic" american style. Or simply not to use promenade at all - which is really the wiser choice for the first few years.

Well, it IS a subtle movement. But it is not impossible. Stand with your partner in a close hold (tango hold should be closer and your bodies should be lower to the ground than waltz or foxtrot). Move forward, then backward. Pause. Now prepare to move toward your left. Maybe your hip shifts a little, perhaps not; does it? But when you start to take that step to promenade, does your partner say she cannot sense what is going on?

Do it a few times, and see what the two of you can work out.

Jerry

"Pause. Now prepare to move toward your left. Maybe your hip shifts a little, perhaps not; does it? But when you start to take that step to promenade, does your partner say she cannot sense what is going on?"

The lead for the promenade is part of / in place of the previous drag close - by the time the man is dancing his first step of the promenade its is already to late to lead the lady to promenade position.

Unfortunately if you check the video of the basic ending in promenade position, the most obvious element is a totally mistaken dip of the hands, which should not be there. If you look very closely you can see something going on in the hips, but it just goes to show how hard it is to identify the mechansim in this step, and even once you've identified it how hard it is to do that and not couple it with additional mistakes. (There can be movement of the hands, but only as a consequence of movement of the upper body - they shouldn't be dipping on their own)

It's too bad the international style link isn't up there for comparison. There the promenade opening is implicit in the placement of the foot - figuring that out is so much easier than figuring out a body action.