Learning as a Group

Unlike dance styles that are based around choreography or known sequences of moves and steps, tango is what is known as an improvised dance style. This means that every time a leader and follower take to the dance floor, the result is likely to be slightly different to anything they have done previously. This can be tricky to get used to at first, and new dancers often find that the best way to learn is to start by repeating a sequence of steps until they get it right. But if you do that often enough with the same partner you will both find that you are predicting what the other one will be doing and simply going through the motions until the end of the song.

This works... right up to the moment where you try dancing with anyone else and you find that they do things completely differently. You then realise that you were not leading or following but just repeating a sequence in synchronisation with your partner. What you were doing may have been dance, but it was not really tango.

In a group class you regularly get the chance to swap partners, and every new partner gives you a new way of thinking about the move or technique being learned. Everyone leads or follows slightly differently so what works with one person may not work quite the same with another, and that variety helps us to understand much better what is going on. The differences enable us to find what works and what does not, and to adjust our lead or follow until the technique works with everyone.