The 10 Big Mistakes People Make When They Learn To Tango

A short and punchy companion volume to the best-selling 'A Passion for Tango' by the same author. It seeks, in an amusing and forthright way, to help beginners who are learning Argentine Tango to avoid the many of the pitfalls set for the unwary. For those more experienced, it will provide insights and different angles on familiar aspects of this, the most passionate and addictive dance.

Here is a short section from the book, Mistake Number 5:

“5. Learning advanced stage moves before the basics

This follows from the 4th mistake. You see a teacher perform in a show, doing athletic and amazing things. You want to be able to do those things. They look fun. Forget it! If you are a similarly toned lithe athlete, you’ll manage that just by watching. If you are an ordinary Joe or Joanne, at the best you’ll look ridiculous and at the worst, hurt yourself or others. I am appalled to see the sorts of stagey nonsense some people get up to at Milongas. I once saw a man lead his woman to throw a boleo against the line of dance causing her to kick another woman high on the thigh. What bad manners!

For those for whom the word ‘boleo’ has no meaning, it derives from those balls on ropes, the ‘boleodoras’ that gauchos used to flail about their heads before letting them go in the hope that they would wrap themselves around the legs of a fleeing cow on the pampas. We have a movement of the woman’s lower leg at speed which conjures up that image. It’s fun to lead and fun for the woman to perform but it turns a couple on a crowded dancefloor into a modern day version of Boudicca’s scythe chariot. Nasty.

Tango is only about showing off when it is carefully choreographed..........."