Ballroom Tango is the most passionate of the Ballroom dances…

And if you can master these tips- you’ll be able to feel and create the distinctive Tango look and staccato rhythm required to look accomplished.

1. Ballroom Tango is danced below normal height.  This means you need to flex gently into your knees throughout the dance.  I like to feel that I place my knees under my parter.  Make sure though, that you keep your tummy tucked in so that as your knees bend your pelvis remains straight.  You don’t want you tail to go backwards, but rather fall gently underneath your torso.
2. As you are flexed into your knees throughout the Ballroom Tango, every step forward is taken heel first – just like normal walking really!  Practice striking the heel into position with confidence and pizazz!
3. When taking up the Ballroom Tango embrace, make sure you turn you body slightly more to the left than normal, therefore your right side is more forward towards your partner.  Let your head turn naturally left also.
4. As you take each Ballroom Tango step, pick up you foot from the floor slightly and place it into position.  Delay the weight change.  This again is actually the way we normally work (we don’t slide our feet) so apart from the flexing of our knees, this should come quite naturally!
5. Feel the rhythm of slows and quicks in your feet as you dance.  As much as possible you want to differentiate the two rhythms, a slow feeling like a cat stalking, and a quick like a rattle snake strike!

Monica Fincham is a Australian Dancesport champion and former competitive dancer and the owner of Dancesport Kingdom in Lilydale, Melbourne, Australia.  

” There is a good reason that Ballroom Tango is the most popular of the Ballroom dances. It’s the music…  it’s sultry, its fiery, it gets your heart pumping and blood flowing.  It compels you to dance!”

Click here to find out how you can learn the Tango