1. Heels on the Floor
This is the most important among all, just because the heels can cause serious injuries. A stiletto high heel “steps” in your shoe or on your toes is already dangerous and can be quite painful, I don’t even talk about someone “steps” her stiletto heel on the upper part of your feet and hurts those small and sensitive nerves inside your feet, this kind of injury can stop you dancing for weeks. And I believe this kind of accident is almost 100% the responsibility of the followers. Ladies, you can blame your partner making you bump into somebody. You can also blame him when someone steps on you, but you can never blame him when you step on someone’s feet – it happens only because YOU LIFT YOUR HEEL UP when you dance, otherwise it would just be another bump. And for me, if a follower cannot even feel the difference between stepping on the floor and stepping on someone’s feet, she is NOT a good dancer. When a good follower feels her heel steps on something strange – in most cases that strange thing is someone’s feet, she would hold her step by NOT putting any weight on her heel. We cannot learn it in a tango class, but we have to learn how to do so because it is the only way to avoid hurting others on the dance floor. So ladies, when you are in a crowded milonga, to be friendly to your tango fellows, please keep your heels on the floor. If all the ladies do the same, everybody can have a much pleasant dancing time and can avoid from bleeding and having bruises.

2. Dancing Small
Yes, we ladies have to dance small too. Leader can lead small movements, but if a follower determines to make everything big and expressive, there’s no way he can stop her. So even though it sounds a bit strange, to make “dancing small” possible, the intention of dancing small from the follower is extremely important. Sometimes I heard complaints from Jean-Michel about ladies who like to do big movement and do big steps. He said navigating properly on the dance floor with these ladies is difficult. Thus if the follower has the mutual consensus with the leader to dance small together, and she makes her movement small and compact, it would make leader’s navigation job much easier.

Follower loves voleo and adornment. However, she has to make it very small and low (close to the dance floor) in a crowded milonga. Of course leader has the responsibility to make sure that there’s enough space for a voleo to be safely executed. But to avoid any accident like flying her leg to a table, or having her heel stretches someone’s dress or leaving a bruise on other’s leg, she better keeps her voleo on the floor and make it as compact as possible. I don’t remember many tango teachers tell me how to do small voleo that delivers as good feeling as a big one (it’s absolutely possible to deliver a voleo feeling to the leader without flying your leg). But hey ladies, that’s something we have to learn to make it on our own. As for the adornment, there’re many options besides kicking out and lifting the leg/feet up. The more we dance in a crowded milonga and the more you observe the seasoned milonguera’s dance (in a milonga or by watching video), you will have more ideas of how to make small, delicate and beautiful embellishment.

3. No Elbow Out
Have you ever being knocked by someone with his/her elbow in a milonga? I did, two times here in Buenos Aires, both hit on my head. Luckily, they were not big hits and not so painful (imagine they could be on my eye!). But my friend Rosana was not as lucky as I did. Someone knocked her head with his elbow in a milonga and she spent 2 days in the hospital and suffered from headache for days (thank god she recovered now! ) The advice of keeping our elbow IN is for BOTH follower and leader. I’m a small lady so definitely it matters more to me than to those who are big and tall. And I really hope that everybody (especially tall and big dancers) be more considerate in this matter. A thoughtless hit on someone’s head can cause injuries but not just simply pain and bruises. Leader should make sure his left elbow is pointing down to the dance floor; same applies to follower’s right elbow. Then follower should keep her left elbow close to the man’s body as much as possible. She can either put her arm on or around the man’s shoulder; or if she prefers to leave her arm next to the man’s right arm, she should make her elbow pointing down, not sticking it out.

Last but not the least, dance with someone who takes care of you well. This is very simple. If you see a man dancing with a lady, he doesn’t pay attention to the traffic and makes her bump into everybody. Ladies, do you think this person can take care of you well on the dance floor?

So to “milonguear”, how small we are talking about? Just to give you an idea. Last week I danced 2 valses with a milonguero. It was during the peak hour of the milonga, the floor was very packed. We finished 1 vals in 2 meters. So after 2 vals, we progressed only 4 meters on the dance floor. Like many dancers, he liked to use giros (turns) in his vals. Even in such a small space, he could still execute his giros, without bumping into anybody. For me, he was and definitely can “dance small”.

Of course, “milonguear” is not only about dancing small. But dancing small is definitely one of the most important techniques to “milonguear”. It is not only a technique; it’s also an art. Many dancers don’t like to dance small (even if they can do so); because they feel it limits their expression and possibilities (step-wise), and thus destroys or minimizes their pleasure of dancing. My point of view is, to be able to dance small with your partner, and be able to do pretty much everything you want to in a small space is a matter of technique; but to be able to ENJOY what you do and EXPRESS yourself in a compact and small manner is an art.

- She is ready to follow things she doesn’t know, and sometimes even a mistake.
- She is ready to make mistakes, and she doesn’t feel bad about it.
- When she dances, she doesn’t think. She doesn’t think about how she dances, how she looks, or whether this is a right or wrong step.
- She follows with her full heart, but at the same time expressing herself by the way she walks, the way she moves etc.
- She is inspired by the music, her embellishment and the way she moves are what she hears.
- She completely surrenders herself to the dance and the music, she lets her mind and spirit go so that nothing will bother her when she dances.
- She never thinks she’s subordinate to the leader. She knows that in tango, a dance is 50:50.
- She is confident about herself, so much so that she doesn’t worry about how other people think about her dance.

In conclusion, it’s all about free of prejudges, having self-confidence and having sense of musicality.

“Milonga, we dance on the rhythm; valse, we dance on the melody.”

“Milonga, we dance with the beat; valse, we dance with the distance – the distance between 2 steps.”

Dancing Milonga

“You’re (follower) like the water in the glass, I’m (leader) the glass.”

About Walking

“Make the follower walks on the beat, your (leader) step is just the consequence of that move.”

Walking in Vals

“Enjoy the axis! As if you step on one spot and you don’t want to go away.”

Notes of a Vals workshop and a private lesson with Julio y Corina in Hong Kong, October 2005

I spent my 1st three months to make myself feel comfortable about walking backward (Come on, how many times you walk backward on the street in your life!?);

Spent 1 year to walk “ok” – was able to balance and other people can dance with me without big difficulties;

Then spent 1 year to make myself walk properly (push with the supporting leg) and I didn’t need to consciously thinking about that;

After that, I spent another 1 year to achieve the minium requirement of footwork – always keep my knees & ankles close together;

Then I moved to a second stage – to improve and perfect my walk.

First target was to have my free leg really extended and straight, it took me few months to achieve that;

Second target was to make myself always landing on the inner side of the feet, that took me around half year;

Third thing I did was to explore how I could deal with the heels. That took me more than a year to study different styles and to try them out myself.

This year in Buenos Aires, I learnt from Cacho Dante and Rosana Devesa a new way (for me) of walking, I’m still practicing and experimenting it.

Last month in Hong Kong, Julio Balmaceda and Corina de la Rosa taught me how to stretch my body and relax my joints when I’m walking. Took me 2 weeks to do that and feel how good it can be. Now I’m trying to make it as a habit.

So what’s next? I don’t know, but I’m sure there’re always rooms for improvements!