Tango Notes

Tango Dance Notes

About

These web pages have been created by combining notes I’ve made over the years, lesson plans, flow diagrams, a spreadsheet of moves, scraps of paper, videos, etc. There’s a lot here, but decent organization and proofreading is far from completed. Sometimes they were used in teaching at the Traverse City Tango Club. There are several categories of material in these notes:

  • Videos. There are numerous useful links to instructional and demo videos. A most useful feature of the Chrome browser to watch YouTube is the ability to watch in slow motion by clicking on the gear icon at the lower right of the video.
  • Lesson plans.
  • Move descriptions. The moves are usually described using my own system of notation for moves. As with all text notation systems, it takes a bit of learning and isn’t nearly as useful as a good video. See Compact Tango Notation .
  • Flow diagrams. Diagrams to show typical moves which precede or follow other moves.
  • Other. This includes notation explanation, general discussions, introductory materials, external tango sites, etc.

Contact: Fred.Swartz@gmail.com

Moves

  • Americana – A promenade step with inside feet forward.
  • Back Ocho – Backward Ocho, Ocho Atrás. A back step with a pivot 180.
  • Baldosa – A simple box figure without the Cross (Cruzada).
  • Barrida (Sweep) / Arrastre (Drag) – Moving the partner’s foot with your foot.
  • Basic Eight and Alternative Steps – Eight-step basic with the Cross (Cruzada).
  • Boleo – Leg fling front or back.
  • Calecita (Carrousel) – Leader goes around follower.
  • Colgada – Leaning out and turning on a single, shared axis.
  • Cruzada (Cross) – Position with follower’s weighted left foot locked in front of the right.
  • Embellishment – TBD. Optional flourishes for appearance.
  • Embrace – Importance and close vs open.
  • Facing Positions – Facing with weight on various foot combinations.
  • Front Ocho – Forward Ocho, Ocho Adelante. A forward step with a pivot 180.
  • Gancho (Hook) – The follower’s leg hits the leader’s leg and rebounds.
  • Giro / Molinete / Media Luna – A rich move where follower circulates around leader.
  • Ocho Cortado Starts like a front ocho and finishes with a cruzada..
  • Parada (Stop) – Leader stops the follower with the embrace and a foot signal.
  • Pasada (Stepover) – Follower steps over the leader’s foot.
  • Poses to end the dance.
  • Sacada – The apparent or actual taking out of a partner’s foot.
  • Sailor – Promenade in the cross system with overlapping feet.
  • Sandwich / Sanguchito – Foot sandwiched by partner’s two feet.
  • Turns – Turns not covered elsewhere, both in-place and traveling.
  • Volcada – Leaning in then out with the follower’s leg extended.
  • Walking – Both parallel and cross systems.
  • Wraps and Enganches – The partners’ legs are intertwined.
  • Vaiven – TBD. Moves going forward and backward, zig-zagging, etc.

Misc