Every week, you’ll find on our blog class notes and a summary video from our Wednesday and Sunday tango group classes.

These video and notes are meant to help our students remember what they’ve done in class.

Theme: Walking giros and giros with sacada

In this class, we worked on a type of giro that is suitable for rhythmic parts of the music and rhythmic tangos: giros where both partners walk together. In this kind of giro, both partners are turning around an imaginary axis, located between them.

Summary video

 

Beginners & Improvers: The walking giro

Leaders

  • First lead a side step for the follower; that will be the entry point into the giro.
  • To start with, don’t try and do sacadas, just focus on the footwork. You’ll need to start walking with the left leg, then right, and last the left leg again. Between each step, you need to pivot, to continue facing your partner as she does the giro around you.
  • To lead the giro, you need to dissociate to the right and keep your torso constantly dissociated. You need to be slightly ahead of your partner to make sure she understands the lead for her giro.

Followers

  • For all giros, you need to work on your technique. The feet should draw a square around your partner. In this particular giro, we go forward – side – back and then close. The torso however should draw a circle, which means you need to constantly face your partner and not move your torso away from him as you pivot.
  • Try and work on the precision of the footwork so that the giro looks more or less like a square. Try and complete your pivots otherwise you’ll end up walking away from your partner and maybe even pull him out of axis.
  • Try and do steps that are long enough: your partner needs to be positioned in the middle of your step. If at the end of your step, you are next to him, it means your step is too small. Also, try and do steps that are all of equal size.
  • Try and not merge the steps and the pivots, they are both independent steps. For this, you need to be in your axis when you are doing the pivots, otherwise you might lose your balance.

 

Intermediates: Giro with sacada

Leaders

  • If you’re not sure about how sacadas work, you can first practice the “walking giro”, with no contact with your partner’s legs.
  • To lead the sacada properly, you need to enter frankly and not stay with your weight at the back. A sacada is a normal step. In the sacada, position your foot closer to her free leg.

Followers

  • There is not much difference for followers between the walking giro and the giro with sacada.

See you soon on the dancefloor,

Nati y Bruno