u/PanterMix_Rabbit

I have danced one year and at intermediate level. Sometimes I find myself with effortless talent and have gotten reassurance from my dance partners and teachers like ”you really don’t have any previous dancing experience??” ”Just a year??? I haven’t seen many people learned tango so fast” and i have gotten a lot of practise partner requests. OK but that’s about praises, I really love tango and have put a lot of work to it and understanding my body.

I feel like my biggest challenge at the moment is mental. Maybe it has something to do with being intermediate, which means you got something crystal clear, but the next week you feel like you have lost it. Integrating things takes time. Maybe because sometimes I dance so well, I have kind of pressure and dissapointment when things don’t work the same.

But anyways, I have suffered a lot from bad tango days recently, sometimes there is a good in between. I would like to learn some mental tools to turn even some of these days better. That is a skill too.

On bad days it is harder to access the technique, meaning floor connection, core and relaxed shoulders. Also it’s harder to connect to the music and to my partner. I often feel nervous and trying harder doesn’t help. Like I know what my body should feel, but I cant reach it. I should just not dance on those days? If someone can relate and feel like they have moved pass this, i would appreciate the help.

So now in the summer i have noticed that my hair gets sweaty where the head contact is. The sweat is sometimes mostly from a leader but sometimes both of us. How to prevent and what kind of hairstyles to wear?

Hello, i get a lot of compliments about my close embrace and feel like I understand the mechanics there, but open embrace what the heck.

Also there is differences with teachers, some say that open embrace should have on the closed side the followers thumb in front of the leaders shoulder muscle. The reason is that you can push and pull.

Then some teach that even in the open embrace the hand is on the leaders back or shouder blade. But then some teachers strongly advice against that.

But I think my problem is in the sliding of the embrace(slides well in close), it feels clumsy with the thumb technique, if it’s not a step like americana where the sliding is obvious. I prefer the thumb situation because i kinda understand the reason for it and teachers i respect teach the open embrace like so.

So any thoughts?

EDIT! Thank you all for your contributings to the topic! One more question:

So the reason for the thumb to be on the bicep is to work as one contact point to feel the leader coming towards. When I was more beginner, my teachers back then didn’t use the thumb at all but always started the dance with hand on the shoulder blade.

But then two separate teachers have adviced that that is not the open embrace and the thumb should be there, and that ”some teach differently but this is the right way”. And there was a lot of feeling in the sentence and it felt that they were almost loathing the other way, and that there was something important to the topic.

Why is that? And how do you start your dance in an open, if you are just walking and not doing large spirals.

I have danced about a year mostly as a follower, sometimes in low 5cm stiletto heels, sometimes in flat shoes.

I have now found myself dancing in flats with my heels up almost the whole dance, which is hard for the calves. I have looked a lot of dancing videos from milongas and noticed that most followers dance like that, like they were in heels even when in flats. So it’s common but I have heard that it’s better for your foot to use every part of it when dancing. And I actually find using heel and not tip toeing more elegant in when in flats.

But I feel that once i’m in a close embrace, I even ”can’t” put my heel down as that would be such a drop down. So would like to hear more experienced dancer sharing thoughts on this!

Hello you who have experimented with different mp shoe styles. Do they differ a lot by their feel? I have only danced in Cheries.

Is it normal to have blisters from heels? I get ones to the bottoms of my big toes, i think they are caused by the floor pressure. I also get one on the top of my right big toe where the shoe rubs.

Hey! I would love to hear about the vibe, milongas, teachers and social life in tango scene in Athens. Also other parts of Greek if travelling. I might be next spring season there, so curious about that. Do you think it’s easy to integrate?

Hello! I would like to have some outfit inspiration from tangueras with personal styles. I tried to post previously and mentioned one name as an example but it seems you can’t name names even if it’s a famous teacher?

So maybe you can post pics from your favorite tangostyles, your own or from the internet! :)

I have lately started getting dances with more high level leads. I feel this change in my own presence when dancing with some of them and also with visiting teachers.

Often it’s related to that those dancers seem more selective and don’t use their energy to chatting(it’s ok that they are not), but with goofier leads i’m more relaxed and that’s where I know I can do better at my best.

The feeling in my body is something like that: kinda listening too much to the lead and not fully trust my step, feeling wobblier as i’m quite stable normally.

How to overcome this? Thank you in advance. :)