Pet Peeve: Pushing Off With the Followers Standing Leg

[@ladyhawk55]

I have been teaching how to move with connection through the step and I LOVE that you made a video about this concept. Can't wait to share it.

[@DavidPhillipsAustin]

Hm... May I respectfully disagree. At 2:36 I see your partner pushing with the old leg onto the new leg. Actually, not quite "onto" the new leg, rather, sliding the new leg into position, as much as the leader's intention has requested, and then using the *pull* of the new leg to bring the axis fully over it. It is a matter of modulation, of matching energy. Yes, if the partner pushes too early or too much there will be a pull away and disconnect. If they push too late or not enough then there's going to be "bumping" pressure. Since our partner is not on wheels, and since we are not pushing them, the energy must come from them. I feel the situation is rather more complex than saying, "Don't push." I feel that modulation tuning can come from a combination of strength training of the pushing and pulling leg muscles, and constant-pressure awareness drills. Two ideas for pressure awareness drills. First, one partner calls out on an ongoing basis the pressure they are feeling, say from 1 (minimal, none) to 5 (high). The other partner checks their level of agreement. Then reverse who is calling out. Second, either partner can call out "agh" or maybe use a hand squeeze to signal when they feel a loss or increase of pressure. Changing subjects for a moment, where you refer to the "front" leg. I have been finding it beneficial with students to use absolute references they can more easily and immediately see/recognize, rather than relative terms. For example, where some refer to the "Closed" and "Open" side of the embrace, which has people asking what that means, and even when they know the meaning, they have to mentally "look up" what it means with each reference. So instead I refer to the unambiguous, something they can immediately see/feel: hand-side or arm-side of the embrace. Then for legs, where "standing" gives a stationary connotation, I've found that students resonate with the use of "old leg," the one we're leaving, and "new leg," the one we're going to. Thank you for these videos and for inviting us to comment.

[@TangoWithAdam]

David, yes of course you can disagree but I will tell you that your suggestion is incorrect about what Marina did in the video. She did not push off from her front leg. If she had you would have seen her push off from her toes and not roll off of her heel as she did. Also you would have seen a difference in distance most likely occur between us. It is very awkward to walk backward and push off of your heel in an 8.5cm heel. Followers, when they push off using their front leg, do so by pushing off with their toes, not their heels. She did not pull herself onto her axis by using her back leg as this would be extremely difficult to do at that speed. I think that you are trying to see your method in what we did. I am indeed pushing my partner onto her new axis. Here's the process: 1. I move forward and she resists 2. She sends her free leg backward without moving her axis in order to create a space for me to move into with my free leg. 3. I then move both of our axes as far as I want by pushing with my standing leg. We then move as far as I move us and her back leg hits the ground at (relatively) the same time as my heel hits. 4. I have established where her new axis will be because I have established where my axis will be. I push myself onto my axis and by consequence I move her onto her axis because she resists my movement. This resistance maintains the distance between us (no matter if open or close embrace). Go back, watch the step at 25% speed. You will see that the four part process I laid out is there. You will see that after we stop in the middle of our step, once I start moving us, we move cm by cm together, not separate. That is because she is resisting me, not because she is matching my energy. The idea of "matching energy" is foreign to most people. When you suggest to someone to simply resist me or "engage" me they will do exactly that. When we talk about "energy" to people it creates a mystical element about that dance which isn't necessary. So many people want this dance to be hard and talking about matching energy makes it nearly unobtainable for many.

[@DavidPhillipsAustin]

​@@TangoWithAdam, thank you for that further analysis. How interesting and challenging language can be in describing physical actions. Over years I've heard many tango maestros vehemently resist the idea of using the term "resist", instead insisting that dancers be individual, albeit connected units powering themselves. The "truth" lies somewhere in the middle. I am having the impression from your further description that you would understand walking with a partner as different from walking by oneself? When walking solo, whether forwards or backwards, in flats or heels, am I not using my muscles to pull my axis onto and past my new leg, at which point it becomes the old leg and we begin pushing. What would be the point of solo work if it did not carry over into partner work? A rather unique aspect of Argentine tango is its push-pull walking cycle, whereas in smooth ballroom dances we primarily use all push to get us all the way onto and through our new axis, and in Latin where we primarily pull ourselves onto our new axis. Thank you for the 25% playback speed suggestion. At 2:38 I see Marina's toes lifting off first from the old leg. This tells me that even if not pushing through the heel per se, she was certainly pushing with the whole foot. When I practice or dance in heels I roll through the entire foot, from toes to heel, with most of the push pressure coming from the heel. "Matching energy" seems quite easy to demonstrate and intuitively understand. Indeed, I think I saw one method demonstrated in one of your workshops. First method, partners a foot apart and with a hand-to-hand hold. With both keeping their hands fixed in space, and one person leading, they lean in towards each other, or away from each other, slow or fast. Now change which one leads. Second method, in a handshake grip, one partner has a relaxed hand while the other starts squeezing. It can be quite uncomfortable for the relaxed hand person. Now start over, and one person counts up. At each higher number they *both* increase the intensity of their squeeze. They discover that by matching the intensity, energy, resistance, pressure, or whatever we want to call it, they can handle a squeeze with quite high tension with no discomfort. When we talk about *matching energy* it is not merely about constant pressure/resistance in the walk. At a standstill while changing weight we may feel only as much energy as needed to organize our bodies and hold our arms up, but in a dramatic pause about to explode into new movement we may be holding considerable energy. Much higher energy for the sharp, quick movements of a milonga (I would hesitate to talk about resisting my partner in milonga steps, even though I recognize that there is an equal and opposite energy, or resistance if you prefer.) And who cannot recall the unpleasant feeling of dancing with someone whose overall energy was greatly different (higher or lower) than ours?

[@TangoWithAdam]

@@DavidPhillipsAustin Yes, many teachers are afraid of using the term resistance. I, obviously, am not. There was a period, especially in the US, where people really taught that you should be your own dancer and move yourself always. I have never subscribed to that. I have many students who have become teachers. I have many students who are very popular dancers to dance with (even by those that teach the "no resistance" methodology.) If you think about milonguero style, they lean on each other (resistance exists there). If you consider canyengue (a tango precursor dance), the follower is learning on the leaders hip. In Salon style we are on our own axes but dance can not happen without resistance and we use it in Salon style too. To ignore using the term only makes the learning process harder. I have personally helped create high level US dancers in very short amounts of time. I have taught thousands of dancers and my methods actually get people dancing this dance quickly. Yes, Marina's toes roll off. How slowly would I need to make that step to prove to you that she did not push off? Marina has been dancing for 24 months. She has been studying with me for the last half of those. I can tell you with 100% certainty that she did not push off with her front foot. Watch how her free foot moves at the exact same pace as my chest moves up to my axis. Her free leg motion is timed with my chest motion because she is resisting me. If she had pushed off those two wouldn't line up. Matching pressure is different than matching energy. I don't use the term energy, I use the term pressure and resistance. Energy is an ambiguous term. I don't use the term energy because people use it in so many different ways. If you took my class about matching the pressure in the hands, then I used the term pressure. What actually happens though in a step is not matching. What happens is that the leader decides to move. The leader is connected to the follower through some sort of frame. The follower has weight to them. The leader moves through that weight (think about your article about moving a fridge) and relocates the two to a new place on the floor. The follower does use their muscles but they do not use it to push off the floor when dancing in a line. When moving in a circle (going around a center axis or around the leaders axis) they will use more of their own legs to move them. David, I have heard teachers teach tango by mind reading. I have heard people tell followers that when they are started in a direction they continue in that direction until stopped. I don't believe in follower perpetual motion and I don't believe in mind reading. Many teachers have a hard time describing how tango happens and that's why we have many dancers struggle how to dance this dance (i.e. using their arms to move followers, followers moving themselves and not staying connected with leaders, etc.) I have not been one of those teachers. I have created many dancers and I find it very easy to create dancers. I believe that only after a teacher has cut their teeth by teaching hundreds of non dancers to dance this dance will they be good teachers. You might be surprised at how many "maestros" and "champions" have not gone through this process.