The Beijing papers


III-the twelve most common mistakes in Argentine Tango


(listed increasingly by order of importance)

12-Moving on each and every beat.

11-Going faster than the music.

10-Taking diagonal steps.

9-Go around step i.e. leader wants follower to take a front step and
follower in fear of a collision tries to avoid him by going around
leader.
Same with leader who walks around follower for fear of hitting her.

8-Trying to lead more than one step at a time, followers adding (not
led) steps of their own,
shifting weight unexpectedly etc. Leaders thinking that the follower
should know the
sequence, lead first step and wait for her to complete it.

7-Fall on each step by inclining the axis instead of pressing the
ground with conviction.

6-Using the arm on the open side to lead or, for the follower, to
keep balance.

5-False pivots: pivots that are not led (no spiral), forced on, or
self induced by the follower (example: instead of spiralling, follower
swings her shoulders or hips back, or both of them to trigger a pivot.

4-Attacking the axis of partner. Leaders: hovering over her, pushing
with the upper part of torso. Followers: Arching your back, bending at
the waist, shoulders, in a word not keeping your axis.
Arching your back has terrible consequences, makes both leader and
follower to fall in their steps.

3-Leading a step and not listening to the response of your follower.
You end up dancing faster than her. Danger to hit her or spoil her
dance.

2-Dance Alone: Narcissism/ Onanism:
For him: not connecting with her, using her as a prop, a trophy or a
tool at hand for showing
off.
For her: not connecting, using him to get into a state of self
induced trance, while being oblivious to her partner, oblivious to the
moment, trying too look pretty and /or showing off.

1-Allow tension to build in/ contaminate your dance. Tension= self
destruction.




Next week, the title of the article of The Beijing papers will be:

IV- how to correct the twelve most common mistakes in Argentine Tango.


See you on the dance floor!

Richard S.