1938-03-11 — Page 3

THE CHINA MAIL, MARCH 11, 1938.

LEARN DANCING WITH ME:

By Santos

Casani

(Famous Teacher of Dancing)

THE NEW TANGO OF 1937

This will disappear whenever the- Right foot is forward.

Dao also to this rather sideways position, you will notice, if you are walking correctly, that you are pro gressing for straight forward, bat round the circumference of an imaginary large circle. Make your

Count 1

Page

Allow the Left Thee relax until it is nearly level with the Right

lee.

Count and

ick the Left foot forward and stand on it

Count 2 Allow the Right knee to relax. Count and

Why is it the average English dancer has an inferiority com- stride on your Right foot a com plex concerning the Tango? I have noticed in many ball-rooms in-fortable length and step on to heel Step forward on the Right foot stead of taking the floor when the Tango music is being played This applies to both man and girl and repeat the whole movement. many couples just sit it out and make no attempt to dance. When for every forward and every-side- Practice this carefully. Settle I question them they all tell me they do not "feel" they can dance ways step always on the heel Pick down on the floor and feel really the Tango gracefully enough. But I tell them they will never your feet up just clear of the floor confortable. Don't forget that a learn by sitting it out. Then comes the obvious retort that the This is a peculiarity of the Tango as good Walk is fifty per cent of Tan- Tango is of Latin origin, and that the Latin races possess a myopposed to our own dances, and is go sterious something called "temperament", and, therefore, know how made possible by our slow rate of If you are in doubt on any point, to dance it rhythmically

progress Do this Walk again please write to me care of the Editor Let me assure dancers that across yourself. You will then, counting One and Two and of this Journal enclosing a Stamped though they may have what you call whenever the Left foot is forward, for each bar of music-Thus-

Addressed Envelope. temperament" the Latins cannot feel a small lock about midthigh. Step forward on to the Right foot

dance the Tango may better than the! English. The average Frenchman, for instance, instead of danc- ing the Tango, steps what I should describe as a very bad Fox- trot when Tango music is being played. With superb confidence they take the floor, every-one of them, and thoroughly enjoy themselves. It is a matter of getting on with the dance to them: they do not bot her about the accuracy of any steps and if they did, it would be matter of having to re-learn the correct Tango steps, anyway.

Tango music, possessing a very marked rythm, makes dancing easy. Let shy dancers realise this! The Tango is really a much easier dance than any of our English dances: Practical reasons for: this state- ment are:-in our dances we cover a lot of ground, travelling at a fair speed, demanding perfect control over our bodies and the ability to transfer our weight smoothly and evenly. Additional to this we use a lot of bodily movement, rising, falling, and swaying movements. In the Tango none of these things are apparent. A simple and somewhat crude way of describing the Tango is that we walk very slowly round the floor on flat feet. Whilst this is quite true the explanation does not convey the rhythm and grace of our slow walk on fat' feet. But I do wish to emphasise that Tango is a very easy-dance.

the

POSITIONS FOR TANGO Face your Line of Dance, pat your feet together and turn both your toes one inch to your Left. The Right side of out body will now be slightly in advance of the Left side. Your partner is held a little to your Right side, and is guided to a large extent by your Right hip. Her toes, are also an inch to Her left. Take the Left foot back a little and get well balanced be. tween the two feet Now relax the knees gently.

THE WALK

This is the most difficult part of the dance. You will listen to the music, and will bear two decided beats coming into each bar. Each of these beats is equivalent to a slow step, a walk in fact. Your quick steps will take just half that amount of music.

A feature of the Walk is that it is not continuous as in other dan- ces. Having taken a step forward on your Right foot from the position outlined above, making sure that it comes to the ground simultaneously with one of the strong beats of music, you must leave the Left foot. behind you for about half a beat, and then flick it forward quickly on the next strong beat

Repeat this right round the ro Don't stop till the last possible minute. Make sure that your feet are going straight in front of each other. As your Right side is al ways slightly in advance of your Left side, you will find that, in or der to get the Left foot straight in front of the Eight foot, you must feel that are stepping a little

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