A back sacada (displacement) is when one dancer steps backwards into the space that their partner just vacated. This class video covers 3 weeks of back sacadas.

Basic Sacada Technique
A sacada is a displacement, meaning that we are taking the place of our partner. We are entering the space that our partner has just vacated. To accomplish this, the leader leads the follower to take a step and as she is taking weight onto her new supporting leg, he steps in to the space she is leaving. He should step just inside of her free leg just after the moment that it becomes 100% free of weight. To resolve the step, he should take weight on the leg he executed the sacada with and both partners should return to face one another.

Tips for Good Sacadas:

• Slow and Low - Don't rush back performing or receiving back sacadas. Also, stay low to the ground when performing them and that will help with your balance and will cause your partner to take a nice long step giving you a larger window for the sacada.
• Keep the heel down - As you execute a back sacada, attempt to keep your heel as low as possible to avoid any inuries.
• Don't fall backwards - As you execute a back sacada, do not lean back. Extend your leg while bending the knee of your supporting leg. Once the free leg is extended, push off the supporting leg sending your hips and upper body together. Often, leaders send their upper bodies and then their hips and this creates a falling feeling. Also, keep your balance towards the forward part of your foot and don't fall back onto your heels, especially when completing your step. As you complete a step, stop just shy of putting weight onto your heels.
• Relax your embrace - If either partner has a stiff embrace, they can easily pull themselves or their partner off axis (balance). The embrace should be relaxed and should slide, adjust so that each person is only responsible for their own balance.
• Practice pivoting - Good pivoting and balance is essential for back sacadas. You should practice pivoting 180 degress with your legs together. Think about pushing your thighs together as you practice your pivots.
• Respect her axis - Do not step in the middle of her step or towards her new supporting leg, as this will disrupt her vertical axis and cause her to loose balance. When performing a sacada step behind the other persons hips, if the hips touch then one of you will probably be knocked off their axis.
• Don't kick her - Step inside of her step but not on her toes and do not worry about making contact with her leg. There should be little to no contact between the leader's and follower's legs. You are not pushing her leg out of the way, you are taking the space as it is leaves.
• Complete the step - Leaders, finish your step by taking weight on the foot that you performed the sacada with. Don't just stick the foot out and then pull it back. Finish the step by taking the space that she just left.

Figure 1: Close Embrace Sacada (.11 of video)
In this first sacada, the leader performs a back sacada while maintaining a close embrace. After leading a cruzada, he steps outside partner to the open side of the embrace with his right leg while collapsing his right arm, allowing the follower to shift to his right side. This creates room for him to perform a back sacada with his left leg to her open step.

Figure 2: Her Back Sacada (.28 of video)
We start this sacada from back ochos. When leading her to a back ocho to the close side of the embrace, the leader sends an impulse around her, causing her to quickly pivot with her feet collected.  He leaves his left leg free to recieve the sacada which he leads by inviting her to step back. In this figure, after the leader receives the back sacada he keeps leading her around in the molinete while crossing his left leg behind his right and performing a forward sacada to her forward cross step.

Figure 3: His Back Sacada to her Open Step (.36 of video)
We start this step from an arrepentida (a repent). As the leader leads the follower to an open step, he pivots on his right foot and performs a sacada with his left to her open step. He could then continue leading the molinete and execute another back sacada to her back cross.

Figure 4: His Back Sacada to her Back Cross to a Calesita. (.45 of video)

Figure 5: His Double Back Sacada (1.03 of video)
In this step, the leader performs a back sacada to her back cross, but does not complete his step. He pauses there and then performs another (higher) sacada with his right leg.

Figure 6: His Back Sacadas to Both Sides of the Embrace (1.14 of video)

FIgure 7: Altering the Speed of the Back Sacada (1.22 of video)
We should constantly be adjusting our steps to the music. If the music slows down, then we can slow down and move almost in slow motion. If we are moving together then this can be a lot of fun.

Figure 8: Interrupted Cruzada to Back Sacada (1.59 of video)
The leader leads a cruzada but does not give her time to settle. As she is crossing, he pivots her and they both step forward and he then performs a back sacada to her forward cross.

Figure 9: Double Back Sacadas (4.13 of video)
Here the leader performs a back sacada to her forward cross and then leads her to collect and to then perform a back sacada to him.

Women's Musicality
This has nothing to do with sacadas, but watch the leg wrap at 1.47 and see how Shelley completes the wrap and flicks her foot right on the accent in the music. I CAN'T LEAD THAT. That is her paying attention to the music and trying to accent the step.

Video Demonstration:

This video demo covers two classes.

The first was on finding the middle part of each step and being able to shift her weight back and forth between her legs without resolving the step, until we are ready.

We talked about the fact that each step has 4 parts.

1. We send our free leg

2. We transfer our weight 50/50 in the middle of our step

3. We completely transfer our weight to our new supporting leg (finding our balance)

4. We collect our new free leg.

Many times we skip these moments in our steps and just jump from 1 to 4, falling into steps rather than transferring our weight all the way through a step.

In the second class, we look at forward & back sacadas for the leaders and forward sacadas for the followers. At 2.30 of the video, we also looked at getting a back sacada while staying "primarily" in a close embrace.

Video Demonstration:

In tango, each step has a beginning, middle, and end. There is a moment in the middle when our weight is evenly distributed between both legs. We can use that moment to create some very interesting possibilities.

We cover lots of information in our classes, but here are some of the major tips.

Tips:

• We started by practicing finding the moment where are weight is split during a step and rocking our weight back and forth between our feet.
• We explained that if the leaders stay slightly down and don't collect their feet themselves, then it will help the women stay down and not collect.
• Followers are following the upper body of the leaders, not their feet, so leaders need to be very clear and stop their upper body at the moment her weight is split.
• We also talked about our crucial pivoting is to tango and that followers should not "make" the leader pivot them, but rather when they feel his invitation to pivot they should pivot themselves. We also discussed that good pivots happen on the forward part of the foot and not with the whole foot on the floor.

Video Demonstration:

This move is part of our Popular Steps for the Social Dance Floor series.

The interesting thing about this step is that while walking (caminata) the followers keep switching sides and switching systems (parallel vs cross) during the step. They start out on the leader's right side, switches to the left and then back to the right. So, this requires a flexibility or elasticity in the embrace to allow her to travel within my embrace.

The second thing is that we have the followers take two steps to our one step twice in the move. We like to call this “dancing the woman” or “the invisible lead,” when I ask her to take steps that I am not doing myself.

Step Breakdown (the numbers below correlate to the numbers in the slow-motion part of the video):

1. We start by leading her to a Salida Americana. The leaders take weight on their right leg and as she takes weight on her left leg she comes back to neutral in front of us. At this point we are in parallel system. Now the leader stays on his right leg, while leaving his left behind, and leads her to take a side step with her right leg. Now we are in cross system and she is on our left side. We must relax our embrace during this move to allow her to travel to our left side, if we hold her too tightly then she will either not go or will pull us off balance.
2. Now we step forward with our left and she steps back with her left. We stay on our left, leaving our right behind, as we lead her to take a back cross step across our path to our right side. We are back in parallel system.
3. We collect and step forward (outside partner) with our right. She steps back with her left.
4. We step back in front of her with our left as she steps back with her right and we are done.

At parts 1 and 2 above we take one step while leading her to take two steps. This takes us from parallel sytem, into cross system and then back into parallel system. We can maintain a close embrace during this whole step, but must relax the embrace enough to allow her to move slightly in the embrace.

Additons to the move:

• At 1.26 in the video, we look at an alternative entrance to the step. Instead of starting with a Salida Americana we simply started by walking outside partner and then leading her to a side step.
• At the beginning of step 2, when the leader steps forward with his left, he could perform a forward sacada to her left as she steps back with her right.
• Also, at step 2, we could lead her back cross with or without pivoting her first and then changes the feeling of the move.

Video demonstration:

This series of classes focuses on popular steps for use on the social dance floor. We have compiled a list of popular moves that we have seen used by some of the very best Argentine Tango Dancers. If you travel to Argentina and visit some of the milongas, you will see these moves being used by the Milongueros. Here are some of the criteria we used for putting together these steps:

• They keep you moving in the line of dance without disrupting others.
• They are musical and express the rhythm of Argentine Tango.
• They are full of expression without being flashy or dangerous to others.
• They feel great to the leaders and the followers.

While these moves are great for tight spaces and crowded dance floors, they also require a high degree of skill, balance and communication between partners.

The Structure of Tango
Part I: Cross Steps and Open Steps

Click Here to Download PDF of Full Class Notes

Introduction: At the end of this class, you will find that no matter which foot you are on or what system (Parallel or Cross) you are in that you will always have at least  8 steps that you can execute.

In Tango classes, teachers often teach figures or patterns. These can be fun and give students something to do when dancing. I think of figures as words or sentences and all the figures that we do during a song as paragraphs or chapters. In this class, we are taking a step back and looking at the alphabet or ABCs of Tango. Our goal is to look at the technique of every step and to make every step that we take in tango count.

In this class we look at the 5 basic steps of tango: Forward Open Step, Side Open Step, Back Open Step, Forward Cross Step and Back Cross Step.

See the table below for the 6 steps used in this class. The man and the woman both  have 3 possible steps a Forward Cross, an Open Step (forward, side or back) or a Back Cross. When you combine these possibilities in both Parallel and Cross Systems you end up with 38 possible steps.

A Sacada (displacement) is when one dancer steps into the space that their partner just vacated. In this class, we will look at Internal and External Forward Sacadas for both men and women. We will also look at the difference between Low and High Sacadas.

4 Parts of a Step
Each step that we take in tango consists of 4 seperate parts. Imagine that your supporting leg is your right leg, meaning that your weight is completely on your right leg:

1. We send our free leg (left) to find the floor where we are about to step
2. We begin to transfer our weight to our new supporting leg (left)
3. We finish transfering our weight to our new supporting leg (left)
4. We collect our new free leg (right) next to our supporting leg (left).

Practice finding and feeling all 4 parts of a step by taking slow, deliberate side steps. Feel every moment of the step.

8 Parts of a Step
Now let's imagine that for leaders there are actually 8 parts to every step. Why? Because leaders must also lead the follower in all 4 parts of her step, while he is executing his step. This concept comes into play with many moves such as sacadas.

Practice with your partner, leading her to take a side step around you without you taking a step. Then lead her to take a side step while you take a side step with her, but stop in the middle of your step and then practice leading her in one direction while you go in another direction.

3 Basic Forward Sacadas
In the video, you will see that we show three basic forward sacadas. We can perform a forward sacada with either the right or left feet to the follower's side open step, forward cross step or back cross step.

Basic Sacada Technique
A sacada is a displacement, meaning that we are taking the place of our partner. We are entering the space that our partner has just vacated. To accomplish this, the leader leads the follower to take a step and as she is taking weight onto her new supporting leg, he steps in to the space she is leaving. He should step just inside of her free leg just after the moment that it becomes 100% free of weight. To resolve the step, he should take weight on the leg he executed the sacada with and both partners should return to face one another.

Tips for Good Sacadas:

• Respect her axis - Do not step in the middle of her step or towards her new supporting leg, as this will disrupt her vertical axis and cause her to loose balance.
• Don't kick her - Step inside of her step but not on her toes and do not worry about making contact with her leg. There should be little to no contact between the leader's and follower's legs. You are not pushing her leg out of the way, you are taking the space as it is leaves.
• Hips - The hips should go straight in the direction that you are stepping. The upper body should turn towards her but the hips should go straight and then pivot after the step is complete. Also, when executing a forward sacada to her forward cross or back cross, get your hips positioned behind her hips to give yourself room to step around her. See picture below.
• Protect the toes - For the women, take a look at the picture below and see how Shelley has the toe of her right foot pointed. She does not leave it on the floor flat to be possibly stepped on. When watching the video, watch how she lifts her toe the moment her leg becomes free.
• Complete the step - Leaders, finish your step by taking weight on the foot that you performed the sacada with. Don't just stick the foot out and then pull it back. Finish the step by taking the space that she just left.

Figure 1:
Simple Sacada

1. We start out with the weight on the leader's right and follower's left. We take a side open step for him and a side open step for her. The leader double times this step and switches weight to his right as she completes her side step. Now we are in cross system.
2. He steps forward with his left as she steps back with her left.
3. He steps forward with his right inside partner as she takes a back open step with her right. He then leads an arrepentida by bouncing her off her right foot as he rocks back to his left and leads her to take a side open step to the open side of the embrace (leader’s left).
4. He returns to his right creating the sacada to her open side step. He pivots on his right foot approximately 180 degrees to come back in front of her. He is on his right and she is on her right.
5. Steps 5 - 8 use our basic turn (giro) to the left to get back to line of dance.

Synopsis: This class focuses on a Simple Turn to the Open Side of the Embrace with Man's Sacada.

Teachers: Clint Rauscher & Shelley Brooks

Video Demonstration:

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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