The Improvised Dance of Argentine Tango

Video Transcript

"my name is Evan Griffiths and I'm Rebecca Shulman. We're at Dance Manhattan in New York City and we're going to teach you a little something about the Argentine Tango. The tango that we love is an improvised dance. That means that as a follower, I have no idea what Evan is going to lead me in next. I have to pay full attention to what he's doing. The idea is I'm going to stay right in front of him and I'm going to keep the same distance away from him all the time. If he comes forward, I go back the same amount. When he pauses and takes steps on the spot, I also pause right away. You have to be watching carefully and feeling everything he's doing. For him to walk forward, I need to reach my legs back out of the way. I need to reach my foot way back while my body stays close to him. I practice this movement of just reaching and extending one leg back while I keep my balance over on the other leg. My leg that I'm standing on is slightly bent. My heel is down and I'm trying to be as stable as possible on this leg. Then I transfer to the next leg and reach out of his way each time."