Online Courses

ELEGANCE & AESTHETICS IN ARGENTINE TANGO – Making the dance beautiful for both roles with Veronica Toumanova, Silvia Bivolaru and Winston Veerender.

Note: The workshops are now available online for you on demand. Please look for the email with instructions on how to access the videos after you have signed up. The email will include instructions for how to get one-on-one feedback from the teachers too.

Argentine Tango is a dance that is strongly focused on the communication in the couple and the sensations resulting from that communication. However, it is also a dance that we call elegant, sensual and strikingly beautiful. But what does it mean to dance beautifully? Where does tango aesthetics come from and how can we improve the visual and sensed quality of our movement in tango, alone and together with a partner? Is beauty something we only require of the followers or does the leader’s role have an aesthetic component?

Before answering these questions we have to remind ourselves that aesthetics are a skill in itself, quite different from training leading and following or improving your technique. It is, however, intrinsically related to the technique and as a skill aesthetics can be developed both in solo and in partner practice. This course will give you an overview of parameters involved in dancing elegantly, starting from the very basics such as posture, and finishing with more complex figures like voleos.

This course is for followers, leaders and couples alike, including exercises both for solo technique and partner communication. We have worked hard as a team – Veronica Toumanova, Silvia Bivolaru & Winston Veerender to create a well structured course that will give you the foundation for Tango technique and build upon it to create elegance in your Tango. If you are an experienced dancer, you will get a new perspective with finer details to improve your Tango. If you are in the early stages of Tango, the material covered will set you up very well for the rest of your Tango journey.

Important Notes:

• You will get a copy of the presentation to keep for yourself and also a full recording of the workshops.
• If you are booking for the workshop internationally from outside the UK, please choose credit/debit card as the option rather than bank transfer. If you face any issues, please send an email to tango.amistoso@gmail.com.

Workshop 1 : Elegant Posture

In this module we will discuss what we really mean when we call someone elegant and more specifically how we can develop an elegant posture. We will look into postural alignment from the point of view of tango but also yoga. We will identify the dynamics of maintaining a beautiful posture in movement and see how to create an aesthetically pleasing embrace for followers and leaders.

Cost: £15 (or £45 for the whole course)

Workshop 2 : Beautiful Walk

In this module we will analyse what makes a walk beautiful, inspired by the particular aesthetics of walking in the style of “tango salon”. We will discuss the workings of the standing leg and the lines of the free leg, as well as posture and connection to the partner. We will answer questions such as “when do I bend the knee”, as well as how to walk with large steps. In partner work you will be able to improve your walk both in open and in close embrace.

Cost: £15 (or £45 for the whole course)

Workshop 3: Aesthetics of Pivoting, Paradas & Embellishments

In this module we will work on pivoting from the point of view of aesthetics. Pivots are often the very element which we like to embellish. However, the aesthetics are not only present in the adornos, but in the entire movement. We will look at the correct pivoting posture, the function of each leg and then connect it to the music by interpreting PARADAS and PASADAS. In paradas we often want to make a pause and give the follower time and space to create beautiful shapes with her free leg. This will allow us to understand how aesthetics are inseparably connected to musical interpretation and how we can improve the quality of our movement by improving our musicality.

Cost: £15 (or £45 for the whole course)

Workshop 4: Elegant Complexity: Voleos Front & Back

In this module we will work on some complex figures, such as front voleos and a low plus middle-high back voleo. Complex figures are more challenging both in technique and in couple communication, so often we feel particularly clumsy and helpless dancing complex moves. Also, leaders often feel that while the follower is doing her beautiful voleo, the leader’s position is far from elegant. We will therefore analyse the correct voleo technique for the follower but also the moves of the leader, creating aesthetically pleasing lines for both roles.

Cost: £15 (or £45 for the whole course)