The Definitions of Tango
Definition: Tango Baggage
The community you dance in regularly where you see the same people, dance with the same people, once or twice a week at minimum, and more if you’re studying with the same teachers they study with. You see them so much that Cabeceo as an art form has been reduced to “Hey!”, and off you go! This is what some might call ‘Familiarity’.
Definition: Applied Disassociation
However, we want to release that torsion at a time and place of our choosing. That release is the a completion of sorts, the lower half of the body (hips, thighs, knees, ankles, and feet) catches up to the upper half.
Definition: Connection
Usage. In the case of Tango Connection we use this word in a very different way than as intended of its 5 possible definitions. We use it in 1 of 6 common ways (listed here) of the 8 possible meanings that it has been used over the years. 1.) It is meant as a way to talk about a way or method of communication between the dancers….
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: Salida
Usage. Argentine Tango defines this word to mean a host of practices that can and do happen at the beginning and sometimes the ending of a song and tanda. Historically the word is defined, again from a Tango perspective, to mean a specific step that is done to indicate that we are dancing now.
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: 7 Basic Moves
7 Basic Moves. There are seven basic moves to Argentine Tango from which the dance is derived. In order, and sequence, they are 1.) Forward Steps. 2.) Side Steps. 3.) Back Steps. 4.) Forward/Back Ochos (all 8 varieties included). 5.) Follower’s Giro/Lead Giro (all 8 varieties included)….
Definition: Resistance
Tango Resistance or Resistance in Tango refers to the using the arms, hand, forearm, bicep, and scapula to create a state of matching tensile strength from the Follower’s Right arm, and the Lead’s Left arm of the Embrace. This is done from Open, Close, Closed, ‘V’, Open-V, Closed-V, the Berlin Embrace, or any of the standard embrace formats.
Definition: Opposition
Usage. In the case of Argentine Tango, the concept and activity of Opposition does not come anywhere close to it’s dictionary counterpart. And that’s because it’s derivative of the completed phrase, “Walking-In-Opposition”.
Definition: Pushing
Pushing. According to Webster’s Dictionary the word ‘Push’ is a verb that means “to exert force on (someone or something), typically with one’s hand, in order to move them away from oneself or the origin of the force”. It comes from the middle english word (1250 – 1300) ‘pushen’. Pushing is the adjective form, and generally means the same thing. Generally. 😉
Definition: Compression
Tango Compression can best be defined in one of three ways. 1.) A constriction of the muscles of the knee, (or elbow) to build up ‘energy’ to be used to sustain a position, stance, and/or movement. 2.) A constriction of the muscles around the elbow, or hand (and wrist) which is used as an indicator to either start or stop motion. Typically this is used as a way to communicate clear intent from Lead/er to Follow. 3.) Laying one’s head onto the head of the partner, employing (unconsciously) the weight of their head onto their partners.
Definition: Passive Follower
Typically this phrase is used to describe a less than desirable Follower, when in reality the Passive Follower is a way of describing a noble state of Following and really what happens most of the time in the role of the Follower.