Wonderful video with Sharna Fabiano and her partner Isaac Oboka about the roles of leading and following. I really dislike the terms leader and follower, but agree very much with everything that they say in the video.

My feeling is that the term follower is much to passive. Tango should be a conversation with two voices not just one person 'telling' the other person what to do. Women need to be active in the dance. Of course, there are limits where she can become too active and starts to interfere with the dance. As with everything in Tango, there is a delicate balance to be found.

To be clear, I am not saying that the word follower is a negative word.. we all lead and follow in life.. we can't all be leading all the time... I would agree that the man is leading in Tango... I just feel that the woman is doing something slightly different than just following.. it is more active than that.

I prefer the terms Man and Woman, because I think that a unique attribute of Tango is that it allows a Man to be a Man and a Woman to be a Woman on equal terms. I feel the term leader makes it sound like I am making her do something and as I often say in class, "In Tango, just as in real life, we can't MAKE women do anything.. we invite them and see what the response is and go from there."

I think it can be very beneficial for leaders to learn to follow and followers to learn how to lead. Exposure to the other role is good for learning what the other person might expect from you. I think both come away with more of a respect for the other role. I don't think one role is necessarily easier or harder.. they both have unique challenges to them.

There are many differences between beginner, intermediate and advanced dancers, but one is musicality.

Beginner's step on the beat and maybe throw in some double times here and there.

Intermediate dancers change their rhythm, cadence, tiempo, energy, etc tanda to tanda depending on the orchestra being played. For example, you would not dance the same way to D'Arienzo that you would dance to Fresedo or Di Sarli. Very few dancers get to this level. I see so many people dancing exactly the same regardless of which orchestra is playing.

Advanced dancers change their rhythm, cadence, tiempo, energy, etc within the same song. There are clear shifts in most Tango songs and to be able to hear them coming and adapt your dance to them is what makes a dancer great to me.

Watch this video of Chicho and watch where he changes in energy... 22sec with the violins he goes from very energetic to much more calm and his steps get smaller and more controlled. You might even see some changes before this, but a big change again at 1.16 his energy really picks up again and he starts doing bigger and bolder moves. Around 1.57 he shifts again. Last major shift at 2.08.

BTW... To me there are two Pure Genius moments in this dance as far as musicality are concerned: The short runs at 1.10 and the foot stomps at 1.43.

Alternative Tanda of the Week 2012-05-14

Tanda of the Week 2012-05-14

Alternative Tanda of the Week 2012-05-08

Tanda of the Week 2012-05-07

Alternative Tanda of the Week 2012-05-02

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