Mario, Excellent idea. Anyone who loves Tango, and really wants to improve, will already know that the walk is the most important element of the dance. And, IMHO, it's what separates the Argentines from almost everybody else. Now, I'm sure many people will bring up the question of toe first or heel first, so let me give my opinion right away that I don't think it matters. The important thing is to develop an elegant walk. It's very easy to show videos of great tangueros dancing heel first, eg. Javier Rodriguez or others dancing toe first, eg. Osvaldo Zotto and others dancing on flat feet as many milongueros do. And, if you look at Gustavo Naveira, he often dances heel first on his left foot and toe first on his right foot. But if you look closely at all the great dancers, you'll actually find that, at some time or other, they all dance with toe first, heel first and onto a flat foot. It often depends on the step and the situation.
To me, the important thing is how you LEARN to walk and, IMO, the best way to learn to walk elegantly is to learn the sliding toe-first walk that is almost universally taught to beginners in Buenos Aires. Later, when you start to lengthen your walk, as happens with all good dancers, you'll find that, at last moment, it's necessary to raise the toe resulting in the heel landing first. In fact, if you look closely at good dancers who dance heel first, you'll find that, while making most of the step, they use the toe first technique and it's only at the last moment that they raise the toe to land heel first. Of course, I'm sure there are exceptions that will be pointed out. The other important element in walking, IMO, is that when walking outside partner, on either side, good dancers are almost always in crossed feet. The reason, very simply, is that it keeps you closer to your partner and makes it easier to maintain chest to chest contact in close embrace. Keith, HK On Mon Feb 11 1:36 , Mario sent: > I would like to start a thread that discusses walking and all of its many > variations > and challenges ... _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
