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If you can walk you can Tango

From the very beginning of learning this dance, back, back, way back to the fundamentals of walking backward (in flipflops no less), I've heard it said again and again and having espoused it myself, that if you can walk, you can Tango.

Makes it sound so easy until you're grappling with music, space, embrace, another person, arms, legs, timing, tangled. ARGH.

But it's true isn't it? Lead comes from the top. I've been having trouble describing the difference between Tango and Salsa to people who don't really know either dance. Calling Salsa showy and loud soon begged to be re-assessed when you think of the pained and contorted expressions that often end up on our face in Tango (sometimes...sometimes it's really an uninhibited expression of what we were feeling at that time).

But I think I've found it. You dance Salsa with your legs, you dance Tango with your chest.

That's it really, that's how it's so different. You learn Salsa with steps, with styling, with the basic 8 step that is fundamental to it. What is Tango? Tango is a million permutations rolled into one, with the only map being your lead, your fundamental lead-specifically coming from your chest. Every little twitch means something different, and it can be anything, a rotation, a weight change, an ocho, a gancho, a boleo. It's reading each other without words, without styling gestures, with nothing more than an indication that is often unnoticeable-which can be interpreted in any way- maybe that's why we fall in love with this dance. Because when you find someone you connect with to that extent...well, sparks fly, the dance takes flight, full potential unleashed.

It's only a walk. That's all.
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