The Definitions of Tango
Definition: Mordida
Usage. In the case of Argentine Tango, we use, and define, the word Mordida in a very specific way. We mean to define what one dancer can do to another dancer’s feet, to ‘sandwich’ one feet between two others. Typically this is done to the Follower by the lead in one of 4 pieces of Tango vocabulary: Volcada, Colgada, Parada, or Barrida. However, a good portion of Leads, employ this idea every time they come to a stop, which is an error.
Definition: Tango Rigidity
Rigidity. (pron: rij-id-it-ee) According to Webster’s Dictionary the word ‘Rigidity’ is an adjective that means to be ‘stiff’ or ‘unyielding’, ‘not pliant’, ‘inflexible’, ‘strict’, ‘firmly fixed’, and or ‘set’. It comes from the latin word ‘rigidus’ meaning to be “stiff” or in its conjugated form to “stiffen”.
Definition: Encuentro
What is an Encuentro? The answer is multifaceted, and multilayered. The definition covers several areas: Frequency of dance. Style of dance. Códigos of dance. Floorcraft. Music and the Tango DJ. As well as the environment itself.
The Leading Mantra
What is a "Leading" Mantra ? It’s a phrase that we want to use when we’re dancing to remind of us a long laundry list of things. The mantra is > ‘My mind, in her feet, on the beat, to the pauses, within the phrases’.
Definition: Floorcraft
‘Floorcraft’ is, but is not limited to: The active choice of, and execution of tango vocabulary (lead or follow) in time to the music (beat/pause/and phrasing), within the line and lane of dance, that does not impede the ronda, or the couples around the initiating couple (as a lead or follow), nor does it impact or endanger other couples. Instead, floorcraft as a practice works harmoniously within the embrace of the initiating couple, and then the couples around them, and co-exists peacefully within the ronda….
The Lead Cabeceo
What is a Lead Cabeceo ? This is where a Lead Cabeceos another Lead. They’re not asking another Lead for a dance, they’re asking to enter into the line of dance!
Definition: Apilado
Apilado (pron: Ahh-Pee-Lah-Do), this word is the past participle of the verb ‘Apilar’ which means ‘to pile up’ or ‘to put in a pile’. From a Tango perspective it means to put one’s body onto another, or to place your body onto another persons body. This style is the ‘iconic’ look of tango, the leaning bodies that form an "A" frame between the partners.
Definition: Tension
Usage. With regards to Argentine Tango almost no one talks about Physiological Tension in any way, shape, or form that exists within the Embrace (all forms of the Embrace). Most people use a good deal of Tension in their embrace whether they’re conscious of it or not. (See Tango Haptics, Level 4)
Definition: Pulling
Tango Pulling or Pulling in Tango occurs when we use both our arms as either a Lead or a Follow. In the case of the Lead, they may pull with their Left arm and hand, and/or at the same time with their Right hand, forearm, bicep. The Follower usually only pulls with their Right hand and arm.
Definition: Pivot
Usage. A Pivot from a Tango Perspective is very similar to its literal dictionary cognate with a minor difference. The difference in this case is where that turn or oscillation happens. Typically when we’re talking about a Tango Pivot, we’re referring to the entire body rotating over a singular axial point.
Definition: Disassociation
Usage. Disassociation from a Tango Perspective isn’t that far from it’s dictionary cognate, because there is a break from the whole, as in the whole body. Typically when we talk about Tango Disassociation we are referring to the top half of the body (head, torso, arms, shoulders) rotating to the left or to the right, as one unit, around the spinal column of the dancer, independently of the lower half of the body (hips, thighs, knees, ankles, and feet).
Definition: Códigos
the word Códigos in a very specific manner. We mean it as an all encompassing umbrella term for a set of actions that create the social context of how we engage and comport ourselves at, and within, the Milonga experience. Códigos can be, but is not limited to: How we enter a room, Who we talk to (or don’t), Where we sit and who we sit with,