5 tips to improve your tango without spending a penny!

All these hours crouching in front of a computer might start to show…

If you have a computer hunch or have somehow developed a bad posture, it will of course show in your tango. You might find it quite tricky to correct something you might be doing everyday, all day long, simply by going to a couple of tango classes a week.

So, to improve your tango dancing, start at home! You can try identifying the bad habits you might have developed in your daily life and gradually work on them. For example, if you’re slouching, try pulling your shoulders back, and if you’re always looking down at the floor, try lift your gaze up.

Watching videos is another great way to improve your dancing. There are zillions of videos of performances on Youtube – at least!

What you’re looking for is simple, tango salón performances, that are not too flashy and stage-like.

Once you’ve identified dancers that you like, you can follow them and let them inspire you.

We all have good intentions, but let’s face it: when exactly are we going to find 45 minutes to practice our ochos, giros, lapices or adornos in front of the miror? Once a year? It simply is hard to find time to practice, so your best shot is to grab whatever time you have and make the best use of it.

Waiting for the bus, the elevator, the tube? Why not practice this stubborn adornment that you love so much? Or your dissociation?

There are lots of idle times in a normal day, which you can use to your benefit. What do you do whilst brushing your teeth? See, that’s 4 minutes of practice a day. 🙂 Of course, some people might give you a strange look, but ignore them or give them a strange look back and they’ll probably back away! It’s in the name of art, after all!

Visualisation is a powerful tool. We often see that students who rehearse routines or repeat moves in their head improve faster than others, even if they don’t have time to actually practice. This is because, it looks like your mind can’t really tell the difference between visualisation and action.

So, if there’s a move that you struggle with, try and spend some time visualising yourself doing it perfectly. Soon enough, you should see massive improvements.

When dancing tango, we’re improvising, so deciding in the moment what move to do. Improvising is quite an art, and improvising on music you’ve never heard before is really difficult, so the more comfortable you are with tango music, the better dancer you’ll become.

To listen to tango music, there are quite a few free online tango radios you can tune in to. Todo Tango lists some and so does Very Tango.