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Argentine Tango School

About training by yourself Argentine Tango

About training by yourself

Marcelo Solis performing with Yanina 1994.

I have a personal story to share with you, in which you may find some similarities with your own, regarding the place that Tango has in our lives.

In the early 1990s, I decided to go full-time into my professional Tango dancing career. I had a busy job in the hotel industry, but I did not feel it was what I wanted to do. However, it was very convenient because I earned a good salary, and the flexible schedule allowed me to study in college and dedicate much of my time and energy to Tango.
 

I worked for a year and a half with a great partner. She was a skillful dancer, a great person, and a dependable friend who loved Tango like me. We won competitions, trained hard, took classes with the best Maestros, and performed at festivals, conventions, corporate parties, restaurants, and schools. We got so busy that our schedule started to conflict even with my convenient and flexible work hours.

I worked for a year and a half with a great partner. She was a skillful dancer, a great person, and a dependable friend who loved Tango as much as me. We won competitions, trained hard, took classes with the best Maestros, and performed at festivals, conventions, corporate parties, restaurants, and schools. We got so busy that our schedule started to conflict even with my convenient and flexible work hours.

Not only that. At that point, our gigs were providing me with more income than what I earned with my salary.

You guessed it… I decided to quit my job and dedicate all my time to Tango.

Within less than a week after that decision, I received a call: my partner had been in a car accident.
Long story short, she was fine but would not dance the way a performer should for at least three months.
 
Life often presents us with these kinds of challenges.

I took it as a test of my commitment to my decisions and Tango.

Argentine Tango dancing by Marcelo Solis and Mimi at Water Pulgas Temple in San Francisco California

I did not have my partner to train with, although our partnership strengthened. I did not have money to go to milongas. However, I danced daily, training, studying, watching videos, and remembering what I had learned.
I always remember that time as one of those moments in which my Tango improved exponentially.
I didn’t know it at the time, but as soon as we were able to start dancing together again, my partner noticed it.

Wouldn’t it be a wonderful treat to surprise yourself and those who await us at the milongas when you go next time?

Long live Tango!

Here, I would like to share with you some exercises you can practice by yourself:



More Argentine Tango tutorials

More Argentine Tango for you:

How to practice and improve your Tango: Lesson 5

How to practice and improve your Tango: Lesson 5

In this lesson we focus on systems

Practice every day and you’ll become a great dancer.

1- Walk

Here we offer you an explanation of the technique of walking in Tango.

2- Walking and systems

Details regarding systems, side of the walk, torso orientation and leg of the steps.





3- Change of direction in parallel system.


4- Backward ocho and chair exercise.


5- Examples of combinations:

We have lots of videos for you to learn, practice and improve and Virtual classes online!!!

See more Argentine Tango lessons:

Learn to dance Argentine Tango

Argentine Tango dance classes online.

Virtual classes

Online

See schedule:

Marcelo Solis answers what is Argentine Tango. He is an expert.

How to dance Argentine Tango

An introduction to the most important details

Find the answer

Anibal Troilo and his orchestra | Argentine Tango music to learn to dance

Argentine Tango music

Music to learn to dance

Listen and dance!

History of Argentine Tango: El Cachafaz and Carmencita Calderon at Tango (Movie 1933)

History of Argentine Tango

Tango is a culture

Learn more about Tango

How to practice and improve your Tango: Lesson 4

How to practice and improve your Tango: Lesson 4

Continue exercising and your Tango will be better.

There are so many excuses not to improve.

1- Walk:

Circles exercise. For leaders and followers.

Practice this if you have a partner:

2- Ochos:

Leaders and followers.

With partner, basic forward ocho:

More elaboration.

4- Turns:

Chair exercise.

Leaders: one, two, three exercise.

5- Examples of combinations:


We have lots of videos for you to learn, practice and improve and Virtual classes online!!!

See more Argentine Tango lessons:

Learn to dance Argentine Tango

Argentine Tango dance classes online.

Virtual classes

Online

See schedule:

Marcelo Solis answers what is Argentine Tango. He is an expert.

How to dance Argentine Tango

An introduction to the most important details

Find the answer

Anibal Troilo and his orchestra | Argentine Tango music to learn to dance

Argentine Tango music

Music to learn to dance

Listen and dance!

History of Argentine Tango: El Cachafaz and Carmencita Calderon at Tango (Movie 1933)

History of Argentine Tango

Tango is a culture

Learn more about Tango

How to practice and improve your Tango: Lesson 3

How to practice and improve your Tango: Lesson 3

In order to dance Argentine Tango you need discipline to practice.

Through learning and practice you will achieve your goal of being a great dancer.

1- Walk:

Pendulum motion of leg:

For followers:

With partner:

2- Change of system & foot-change:

Basic foot change:

More elaborated foot changes:

3- Crossed system walk and backward ocho:

Try this first:

And then try this:

4- Change of direction.

These are very useful elements to dance at milongas.

 

5- Chair exercise:

Master this exercise and you’ll master every move in Tango!!!

Learn to dance Argentine Tango

6- Let’s see how they work together:

We have lots of videos for you to learn, practice and improve!

Watch our video lessons

See more Argentine Tango lessons:

Learn to dance Argentine Tango

Argentine Tango dance classes online.

Online classes

See schedule

New!!!

Join!!!

Marcelo Solis answers what is Argentine Tango. He is an expert.

How to dance Argentine Tango

An introduction to the most important details

Find the answer

Anibal Troilo and his orchestra | Argentine Tango music to learn to dance

Argentine Tango music

Music to learn to dance

Listen and dance!

History of Argentine Tango: El Cachafaz and Carmencita Calderon at Tango (Movie 1933)

History of Argentine Tango

Tango is a culture

Learn more about Tango

How to practice and improve your Tango: Lesson 2

How to practice and improve your Tango: Lesson 2

Did you miss our first lesson…?

Here you will find more exercises and guidance to learn, practice and improve your Tango.

You must always start with the most important move in Tango: walking.

1- Walk (forward and backward):

For followers:

With partner:

Also with partner:

Here you can watch how walking becomes the dance of Tango:

Some words about the meaning of walking in Tango:

Walking, in Tango, is more than basic: it is what we are.

For some time now we have stopped walking, instead sitting all day long in front of screens, steering wheels, and other people.

That’s why we feel so at home dancing Tango, in good company, creating something with our body that is real and objective, something that ceases to exist immediately after dancing, leaving us in a state of relaxed pleasure and untranslatable wisdom.

Learn to dance Argentine Tango

2- Forward/Backward move

For followers:

With partner

4- Backward ochos exercises:




5- Basic backward ocho

Here you can see how to integrate the backward ocho making it become part of your walking:

We have lots of videos for you to learn, practice and improve!

Watch our video lessons

See more Argentine Tango lessons:

Learn to dance Argentine Tango

Marcelo Solis answers what is Argentine Tango. He is an expert.

How to dance Argentine Tango

An introduction to the most important details

Find the answer

Anibal Troilo and his orchestra | Argentine Tango music to learn to dance

Argentine Tango music

Music to learn to dance

Listen and dance!

History of Argentine Tango: El Cachafaz and Carmencita Calderon at Tango (Movie 1933)

History of Argentine Tango

Tango is a culture

Learn more about Tango