General Notes:- Do not slide foot on floor. Lift and Place Foot.
- Lady posture:
- More out to left, fill in Man's arm. Lift left side up to Man. But don't pull left shoulder back. Left shoulder needs to be more forward.
- Left arm: Left elbow down (do not point up), left thumb lift up from underneath Man's upper arm. Other four fingers together, perpendicular to floor, tip of fingers is at about Man's armpit.
- Left hand styling: use slightly upward curve at wrist below Man's arm.
- Do not pull Man in. If anything, it should be an outward feeling.
- 'Normal' position need more extension.
- Open Promenade: when finishing in open position, keep hips toward Man.
- Weight is on heels in Tango, hips forward, head back to balance - always use counter balance.
- Tango is very flat, use rotation, no side extension as in other swing dances.
- Practice: stop at each count, drop hands to make sure you are balanced on your own - dancing without hands is a good way to uncover problems in the mechanics.
- Corte finish: stronger drive through Man, do not veer to side, anticipating turns.
Start with Man facing DW near end of long side:
- Walk (S)
- Walk (S) At the end of this Walk, Man faces LOD
- Progressive Link (QQ) ending traveling DC (long wall)
- Lady:
- Strong CBM. Stay behind in Man's R arm. Do slide forward.
- Head turns to right, right shoulder needs to stay with Man, try to get shoulder square to Man (a little bit V is ok).
- Extend - from 7th vertebra bend back. Connection with Man moves lower to hip/leg, it's ok for upper body to peel off to show off the extension.
- Do not turn shoulder out, otherwise, it cancels the effect of extension.
- Depending on the direction Man wants to go, 2nd 'Q' could be either almost in place, or side/slightly back step
- Need solid, sharp feeling, not soft.
- Man:
- keep shoulder flat, do not pop.
- Outside edge of left eyebrow points to where Man is going in PP.
- In Promenade position, rib and hip should rotate 1/8 relative to each other.
- Natural Promenade Turn (S QQS) across corner, end PP, traveling DC new LOD.
- Lady: LF should point to the right direction - parallel with RF, the line of the the 2 feet is the direction to travel. Lift left side up to Man during turn.
- step 1 'S': Hip more "up" with Man
- step 2 'Q': really follow/track Man's leg in time (if it's off time, it'll gap.). "Sit". Left leg should extend first (lower leg) - it has a moment of straight leg, before heel touches floor.
- step 3 'Q': important to return head to left. Big Step.
- step 4 'S': Big step, stay behind Man.
- Depending on how much Man rotates, where he puts his foot, Lady will put down foot just a bit late. Swivel on LF to Promenade finishing position.
- Man:
- First 3 steps are pretty much in straight line, do not cross over to lady's space. step 3 is stepping back slightly side to leave room for lady to step in between, fully commit the weight so the foot doesn't slip when moving into the 4th step.
- step 4 should be strong forward step, as Man is on outside of turn, inside R knee shuld track the inside of Lady's R knee.
- Open Promenade (SQQS) ending facing about LOD (short wall)
- Lady:
- step 1 'S': instead of walking RF straight in line in traveling direction, step it slightly to side a little bit to give it enough room for inside legs to pass through.
- 2nd 'Q':
- Close head on 2nd 'Q', really important to keep left. Head should keep the same distance with Man's head at all times.
- Lady's RF needs to turn in to clear space for Man, otherwise, feet may clunk and Man won't have clearance to step.
- There is the tendency that Lady's head goes too far forward on 2nd 'Q' and getting weight on to her RF (this shorten the distance with Man, cut in his space), then the head comes back to left - which is too late.
- Finishing: Keep left shoulder quite forward, body is twisted, hip forward.
- Progressive Side Step (QQS) turning corner.
- Walk (S) turning corner, ending ~ DW (or LOD) new LOD
- Open Reverse Turn, Lady Outside (QQS QQS)
- Outside partner: Left shoulder quite forward, body twisted. Keep left.
- When finishing: step 4 :
- Lady: step through Man, LF straight forward, but keeping left. RF big step forward (depending on Man's step size).
- Man: make sure to step straight back.
- Step 5:
- Man: commit weight completely to LF. Man is on inside turn, smaller step.
- Man can do open finish and directly go into LF Rock.
- Lady: last 'S': extend back.
- Rock Turn (QQS QQS)
- The first QQS: no funny shoulder movement, keep shoulder flat.
- Do not square off with Man on 1st rock. Rotate, but be very aware to stay left o Man, do not level off the spine, do not get into Man's space.
- head flick: to right and then to left again (finishing to left).
- Corte: keep center to Man, leave head behind, bigger step, rotate shoulder, left shoulder is quite forward, center forward (upper body can peel off a bit for extension).
- Lady: Finishing Corte: go through Man, do not turn shoulder too quick to left. Step onto LF with shoulder square to feet and then use left side as axis. L shoulder do not rotate left past middle too fast. Stay with Man.
- Progressive Side Step Reverse Turn (QQSS QQS QQS)
- Stuffer step, cut it out if wall is shorter.
- 2nd 'S': Lady LF back, extend.before starting the rock step.
- Progressive Link (QQ) traveling toward corner DW on long wall
- Natural Twist Turn (S QQS QQ) Around corner
- Lady:
- Keep head very left
- First 3 steps, strong. 2nd step LF go straight fwd strong.
- Then, curving steps not as big. Keep tangent of circle.
- Do not drop left side/shoulder (especially on 2nd Q when head turns to left.)
- Stay behind Man. Do not turn head to right too early. Turn head at very end of last 'Q'.
- Open Promenade (SQQS) Last step should be DW against LOD, new LOD
- Lady:
- Hip up/fwd toward Man (do not sit), extend back, head left and extend.
- Walk (S)
- Feet are staccato, but body/spine should be moving across the floor smoothly.
- Walk (S)
- LF Rock (QQS)
- Lady: right side is very "up" against man. Give center to Man and leave head behind.
- RF Rock (QQS)
- Styling: look at each other. More neutral position, so you have more to "give" in the next Corte.
- Back Corte (S QQS) end facing LOD at corner
- Head flick on first "S". Extend. Give center to Man and leave head behind.
- On the 1st 'Q': do not slip to the right which will look small, stay left and go through Man.
- Progressive Side Step (QQS)
- Walk (S) strong curve, end facing new LOD
- Open Reverse Turn, Lady In Line (QQS QQS)
- The inline finish use Corte action. After heel turn, Lady is going forward (upper body drive forward, not just belly button), Lady really has to drive on the Corte and LF fwd step.
- Keep shoulder flat, do not rise/pop up.
- Lady: After stepping RF fwd into Corte, connect R shoulder to RF as axis, whole left side going forward to extend, do not draw R shoulder back. Axis is not center of body, axis is the right side.
- Finishing: Lady LF fwd, and then left side is the axis. L shoulder needs to stay with Man and not pull back which will restrict what Man can do. (Man is doing RF back and needs to transfer weight to his RF and not being pulled fwd.)
- Progressive Link (QQ)
- Natural Promenade Turn (S QQS)
- Strong first 3 steps.
- Continuing with Rock Turn, do not turn head.
- Last "S": extend back before getting to Rock Turn.
- Rock Turn (QQS QQS)
- Progressive Link (QQ) [Stuffer step, cut if wall is short. Add Walk before Progressive Link, if wall is long.]
- Closed Promenade (SQQS) [Stuffer step, cut if wall is short]
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