How to Work on Tango Solo
Because tango is a social partner dance, it isn't always intuitive how to study and practice by yourself. However, some methodologies and techniques can help build your dance skills that do not solely rely on a social event or having a practice partner.
The Breakdown
In solo work for tango, there are a few different layers that can be parsed out: intellectual theorizing, physical conditioning, and application. These are the general categories I would place nearly everything into, and these concepts overlap in practice. I'll detail what is working for me and what I feel is beneficial.
These are my thoughts on what I have learned and how I apply it to my solo practice and practical application on the floor. I highly recommend private lessons with well-acclaimed teachers or those that work well with your learning style to learn more and collect a variety of methodologies to apply to yourself.
One of the biggest influences on my enjoyment and skill in dancing comes from thinking about tango. It helps me organize my thoughts in a way that can be understood relatively clearly and backed up with evidence. My dance partner bears the largest brunt of this process, and vice versa, in an ongoing process. Everyone's way of this is a little different, and it can be hard to find another to discuss the way that might benefit you in a way that pushes your thinking process. However, solo work and general improvement are a cumulative process of which discussion is a part, so here are a few ideas to mull over:
Dance Style - technique, structure, musicality
Cultural/Community Immersion - the origin(history and culture of Buenos Aires) and your local culture(continent, country, local)
Personal Goals - identifying current goals in pursuing tango
Dance Style
Having a fundamental understanding of the big three (musicality, technique, and structure) and how they apply in common forms is crucial to discussing and theorizing in tango. For example, the giro is a sequence that features the front cross, outside open, back cross, and inside open steps. From there, the applications of where and when these types of steps occur and how that can be used to break down the most likely movements when leading into a certain step. For example, a front cross to an outside open step is likely to result in a locked front cross or a short-trajectory front boleo. This doesn't mean other outcomes are not possible to lead or follow, but they are simply the most likely outcomes. Leaders note that when leading the example movement on a follower, keep in mind what outcomes are the most likely so that if the desired follow-up movement is not danced, there is more time for adjustment. This structural concept can be applied in theorizing sequences and frameworks as well as applying it practically during a tanda.
Exercises:
Taking a sequence you know and applying it in as many variations as you can think of.
Watching videos of dancers you love and seeing what they do that appeals to you. Some of them have their own YouTube channel or website like Yanina Quiñones and Neri Piliu.
Try analyzing videos of great dancers or ones you admire and try to pick out structural elements and patterns that each couple often uses. They often have unique identifiers in their style (in some combination of structure, musicality, and technique).
When dancing at a practica, think about what your body defaults to and think of small ways to change it up. Focus on one small change at a time. Trying to fix everything someone mentions or observes about your dancing is a fast track to burning out. Try writing down or voice recording advice you receive and self-reflections on your dancing. It is a good way to consolidate advice without becoming overwhelmed.
The above example of the molinete applies to technique work as well. Some things that can be worked on there are step size and collection through the ankle, to bring more control and consistency to your movement.
Exercises:
Take solo privates and ask for their advice on what to work on. Recently, my personal experience doing privates has been teachers working on small changes in technique.
Work on the basics. It is not often done and not the most interesting aspect of improvement, but it will impact you a lot. Take free or buy online tango lessons (like on YouTube or websites like dancershape.com, tangomeet.com, and 030tango.com), practice walking across the floor and ochos, focusing on making every element technically perfect and consistent, and ask for feedback from teachers and others during the appropriate times.
Apply technique advice to practicas and milongas. Keep them in mind internally and try not to let your technical skill drop when dancing with others. The whole point of working on technique is to have it work with the widest range of dancers possible...then dancing a certain way or a particular preference becomes a choice, not a necessity.
For musicality, the molinete has a baseline pattern of 1 2 3 & 4. Many other sequences have a common pattern of music as well and often go well with specific parts of the music. For example, big downbeats and musical accents can often be accented with an embellishment. Choosing to stylize your dancing to the musical patterns in the song is a great way to improve your dance. For example, try dancing musically to an intense song like Pugliese's "Gallo Ciego" using a bar or countertop as a reference point. Meaning dance with the style the song embodies like taking heavier steps or pausing for dramatic moments. As a follower, you will be dancing within the framework the lead gives; however, this exercise can help you understand the "feel" of the song and where to accent your movements. For leads, this can help you understand where the follower might accent their movements and create a framework that emphasizes the musicality of the song.
Exercises:
Listen to tango music with a focus on the "Golden Era" - if you want to work on your musicality, check out the blog post "Rhyme and Reason to Tango Music."
Focus on differentiating different musical styles and eras.
Understand how you pick up rhythm and beat, then observe how others do so.
Practice stepping with character and intention to the music. This ties into technique and structural elements.
Cultural and Community Immersion
Learning about how your local tango community operates, its customs, cultures, habits, hierarchy, teaching methodology, and such is a great way to gain a gentle introduction to the customs present in social Argentine tango (typically based on the codes, culture, and conduct of Buenos Aires) and to make yourself comfortable in your local community. This can serve as a baseline for your interactions and observations in tango if you choose to attend tango events when traveling or specifically for tango. This helps in understanding when an event outside your local community is more or less traditional and to better identify what codes are more or less important to create a smoother and hopefully more enjoyable evening out. For example, in many first-world milongas, especially in the US, milongas not specifically labeled "encuentros" (milongas or tango social events that adhere strictly to traditional Buenos Aires codes of conduct and the main style of dance promoted seems to be tango salon. For more information, check out this website: https://www.siempremilonguero.org/what-are-encuentros/) feature elements of tango nuevo. However, when attending a milonga in a different state or country, it is appropriate to observe the typical movements and style of dancing and adhere to this style of dancing as much as possible. Err on the side of caution to avoid risking injury to other couples in the ronda.
Subsequently, learning about the codes of conduct (código) and all of the above-mentioned subjects for their origin will give you a base to relate to other tango communities as well as understand the origins of tango from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Montevideo, Uruguay. The "Golden Era" of tango, which you may hear referenced a lot, was generally the period between 1935 and 1955. This is where Juan D'Arienzo came onto the tango stage and emphasized beats that encouraged dancers to get on the floor rather than for listening (source and source). This period also gave rise to many variations and evolutions of "tango" and different ideologies.
Learning and analyzing what tango is and its history relevant to your area of the world (the way it is taught, the style, how it is perceived relative to the origin of the dance, and the whys) is great to have a baseline to compare and contrast your personal experience with future experiences. Then expand your research to other popular areas of tango and understand tango in its original and native environment of Buenos Aires. In the end, exploring as many perspectives on tango as possible and keeping it in mind can also help address cultural aspects in different areas and clashes that arise by providing a relatively balanced mindset (although biases are always present), to prevent being unduly influenced by echo chambers, and create educated arguments/opinions in case of disagreements and when teaching others. Some helpful resources that I've come across that provide varied and interesting reading are below:
Personal Goals
All of the discussion above relates to having personal goals and how to achieve them while preventing burnout and exhaustion. Having personal goals can help drive your determination and direct your passion in a slightly more defined way than "getting good." For example, if your goal is to become the top tango social dancer in the world, break that down into what you admire the most about others: technique, musicality, structure, and then break it down into specifics, like if they tend to step with greater weight or they have an emphasis on above the knee embellishments. If your goal is to be the best stage performer, take stage/choreography classes, find opportunities to perform, and watch and analyze what makes stage dancers different from social dancers. If you want to be good enough to have fun dances and have an excellent time, decide what that means to you. A way to help with creating your goals is to watch tango to see what appeals to you. Watch people dancing on YouTube, paid videos, end-of-class summaries, local performances, festivals, and milongas. Once you have an idea of what you want to improve upon (stage tango, social tango in your local community, social tango in BA, pushing the bounds of nuevo tango), watch with a focus on those elements. Many top performers are capable of tango variations and the appropriate location to use them in. If you are having trouble identifying social and stage tango or different elements that you admire, ask others in your local community and your teachers. Your goals can always change and evolve, but having an idea can help find satisfaction in your dancing.
Do keep in mind that what you see performers doing in performances is not always an accurate reflection of their social dance or vice versa.
Here is a list of solo work ideas that can help you learn more, prevent burnout, and clarify your goals.
Research:
Listen to tango music and podcasts.
Read tango blogs, articles, and books, and ask around your local community.
Watch tango videos, movies, interviews, and documentaries.
Watch videos of other dancers in your community of all levels, performances, milongas, and festivals.
Reflect on your tango process and take notes - how you feel about your dancing, mental state, and physical progress.
Physical:
Exercise for overall health and strength - butterfly machine, squats, weights, and cardio to emphasize balance and tone.
Tango Drills - ochos, molinete, giros and such. Discover what works for you by finding solo drills by watching videos, asking for drills during private lessons, and reaching out to teachers through their websites or Facebook, as many have paid drills and concept videos available for purchase.
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