The walk

When I first started tango less than two years ago, I did a lot of scraping on the web. Tried to get the idea of what is good tango. Tango and Chao has given me a good sense of the physics of walking. Yet I had been struggled to develop a consistent walking style.

In fact, one third of my privates with Javier and Andrea was spending on getting my walk straight. And in NYC, when I work with my partner and Maestro Carlos De Chey, we spend most of the time on walking as well. Carlos has stressed a lot on cadencia, less on the mechanics of the walk itself. Javier taught me how to concentrate on the foot that is on the ground and how to walk naturally without bending the knee intentionally.

Towards to the end of the my private sessions, I got the feeling of walking naturally and straight. Then again, it has a lot to do with the follower’s embrace and walk as well. I feel that I am losing my new gained smooth walk fast after I came back and danced in the milongas. Fortunately my partner had private session with Maxi Copello and readjusted her embrace. Thee few practicas that we had together was stressful, but for a few moment we both felt that our walk was smooth and very comfortable. Then again, to have the walk perfect, it will probably take another six months to 1 year if not longer.

There are many different styles or way to walk. But the fundamental is the same. Tango and Chaos has detail analysis on walks of different milongueros. Great reading. Highly recommended. This is my favourite one by J&A (of course):