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Metatarsals

Your foot has 5 metatarsals. Where are they ? And why are they important ? First, they’re just behind the toes. Looking at your foot, you’ll see your toes, and if you feel just where the toe connects to the ‘meat’ of your foot, that connector is where the metatarsal starts. These bones believe or not take the bulk of your weight when you’re walking, running, and yes…dancing, not your toes! The toes act like microbalancing tools, but the metatarsals are taking most of the punishment of your foot impacting the floor or the surface that it’s on. There are 2 very important metatarsals in Tango Topics way of seeing the Tango world. Those 2 important Metatarsals are the first and the fifth.

The first metatarsal is one that you use all day long. This one is also the easiest of the 5 to find, it’s also the biggest. This one is the just behind the ball of your big toe, and the first phalanges, or 1st toe joint. We’re looking for the bone just behind that toe joint. This bone above all others is taking most, if not, all of your weight. The rest of your foot is actually being used as a stabilizer and to distribute the weight transfers out over a larger surface area!

The fifth metatarsal is the one where unfortunately several nasty things can and do occur! This is the bone just behind your baby toe joint. Of all the bones in your foot, this is the most fragile and the most flexible one. It’s also the one that is going to snap under the right conditions. And those conditions happen for tango dancers, especially Followers, a lot. It’s where the Follower will quite literally land their weight on the fifth metatarsal itself. This is not ideal and can result in what’s called a Dancer’s Break, quite literally, anywhere along the 5th metatarsal bone itself. It happens because the foot rolls under itself thereby ‘crushing’ and breaking the 5th metatarsal bone, instead of the weight being distributed on the first and then metered out over the remaining metatarsals. 

MORE REMINDERS

The Row of Men That Stand

February 7, 2017 No Comments

There’s that row of men that stand at every milonga. They hover. They waver from side to side. They stand with their arms crossed. All by themselves. They never sit, and they seemingly never dance. There’s usually a row of them, more than 3 or 4. And no matter what happens, you almost never see them dance. There’s a reason for that. It’s because a good portion of the better Followers in the room has had a less than desirable experience with them.

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Private Lessons (Part 1)

October 30, 2016 No Comments

Private Lessons, or ‘Privates’ as they’re called sometimes, can really help you, can change you. Sometimes. And sometimes not. There are several reasons why private lessons won’t help or change you. 1.) Is the teacher you’ve chosen isn’t really a didactic teacher. What’s that ? It’s a teacher that is focused on dancing with you for an hour and pointing out all your flaws with very little actual correction instead of focusing on your foundation and fundamentals, like walking, stability, balance (which are not the same things by the way), your embrace, your body position and body placement, your understanding of the beat and engaging the musical pauses, just to name a few. A didactic teacher can really change you, and up your game. 2.) You. And the thinking that private lessons can the magical fix all. They’re not. You actually have to, god forbid, work! And then here’s the hard part: Practice!

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Low Heels

December 11, 2016 No Comments

This isn’t rocket science. It’s pure fact. Lower heels for the Follower aren’t exactly the sexiest things in the world. All the attention is on the High Heel and the shape of the foot, calf, and thigh that the high heel generates as a result. The Low heel ? Not so much with that. It’s like the poor cousin, ne’er do-well that comes close but not quite. Uuuugh. 

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Discipline

October 24, 2016 No Comments

Ballet dancers know all too well that a good dance teacher is strict, hard as a nails, and won’t let you get away with anything. While it may be hard on the body, and hard on the ego, the fact is that dance teachers like that are a godsend. However, the teacher is only one component to the educational process.

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The Taxi Dancer Paradox

March 5, 2017 No Comments

The Taxi Dancer Paradox is that hiring or being one creates an undesirable social stigma and yet at the same time is actually a very practical, if not entirely reasonable resource to have available to solve the ‘waiting’ for a dance problem.

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Rejection

April 5, 2017 No Comments

What follows relates to the verbal ask for a dance and the rejection, this thought does not talk about the reject from a failed cabeceo or mirada. Let’s lay out some facts before we get to the heart of this stuff. Fact: The ask, no matter how ‘sly’ you think you’re being, is going to be awkward.

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Variation

November 6, 2016 No Comments

Repetition is only good in horseshoes and hand grenades. Which is to say, that no one, absolutely no one, likes being led to the same thing over and over and over again. Variation is the key to success! Small variation, large variations that open doors to other ideas, other thoughts. But in the end, variation. Taking an idea and then reversing it, or slowing it down, speeding it up, speeding up a part of it (musically), slowing down a piece of it, taking off the beginning or the end and reversing their positions. This is variation.

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The Birthday Song

May 22, 2018 No Comments

The Benefits of a Birthday Song. There are a few, but important, benefits to having a Birthday Song for one or more people at the Milonga. 1.) From an organizational position, the Milonga Organizer can use this as a way to advertise the weekly Milonga. "It’s Miles’ Birthday, Come and Dance with him into the wee hours!". That sort of thing. 2.) It’s a way for the Community to come together and support one of their own.

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You could watch Tango YouTube videos and thereby spend your time, trying to infer, and figure out how things may work in that particular situation. Bend your body this way or that, twist and force this position or that. Place your foot here or there and figure it out. This is known as Tango Twister.  Which can be a lot of fun, but more than likely it won’t help you, because you’re missing something: The explanation from an experienced teacher showing you how to properly excute this stuff from a Leading Perspective as well as from a Following Perspective!

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