Tango in the Desert | The nose knows North

3~ Navigations: Feeling "true north" in the line of dance, magnetic north in partnership, maintaining orientation, navigation and our internal compass.

No word for right leg…

Perspective and intuition, bearings and navigation are very important to hone early on when learning Tango. Many years ago I read a fascinating article about a First Nation (Aboriginal) people, Guugu Yimithirr, of North Queensland, Australia. Their language uses cardinal directions and maintains a constant awareness of orientation. It is wildly interesting to me to have this cognizant awareness at all times of the cardinal directions to such a degree that it infuses the language. The idea of right and left is very limited.  I no longer have the article to cite, but my memory recalls a scenario that I’ll just make up to keep the narrative going…

“Oy Bruce, there’s a badjahr¹ off your South leg!” 

“Bloody’ell bugger… where!?  I don’t see a bleemin’ badger!” Bruce cries out while jumping about and spinning around all directions while Waru watches him like a boxing commentator:

“On your North… uh East… back round South… West… Notheast, Southwest… she’s dead under ya now, man.”

Bruce picks up the dead snake.  “This is a danger noodle, mate!”

Waru shrugs, “Tha’s wha’ I said.”

This level of directional awareness, constant orientation to the point it is the language, is beyond fascinating to me.  So why not also in the dance, I thought… constant awareness of where we are and where the true tango north is. 

 It changed the way I survived the chaotic (“que quilombo²”) dance floors (pistas) in the early 2000s in Philly and NYC. They were great arenas to gain trial by fire skills to hone how to dance defensively small, keeping my partners safe and unaware of the dangers. The more I learned how to maintain awareness of where I was – orientation – and sensing the motions of others around me, the more I could carve out slivers of hope that one day I might really enjoy this dance.  Dancing defensively helped me feel the floor³, stay in the moment learning how to maneuver, improvise and adapt to the amusical⁴ actions of others. However, I didn’t feel much like making any “leader” friends, and even today I struggle to encounter kinship in rondas that are rife with showboating dancers and others lacking the awareness.  All floorcraft really is is showing mindfulness and good manners.  Poor floorcraft can ruin a Tango community. Full stop. 

True Tango North is the line of dance

Being always aware of “true north,” in the line of dance, I find I am more relaxed and in control even in the most hectic of rondas. True north is the line of dance. At every corner it turns westerly (left) and north then becomes the line that keeps us in our lanes safely navigating to the next corner, staying in the current of our particular lane. By practicing this awareness it helped me to slow down, hear the music, relax and the knowledge of orientation improved my abilities to safely guide giros (turns) and evasive maneuvers while keeping sure-footed bearings. This idea of a true tango north I use to navigate the two bodies in the current of the line-of-dance to do our part in keeping the ronda mindful and flowing counter-clockwise.

Magnetic North is what the partner feels 

It is fun to turn, change directions, pivot and do giros in Tango. We cannot solely walk in a straight line from corner to corner traveling for true north. So, while we have fun turning in little eddies when the current is blocked or obstructed for a moment, similar to a river but on the opposite side of the couple blocking traffic.    A river eddy is a current created behind a rock or other obstruction that flows in a circular upstream direction. opposite to the direction of the main laminar flow.  So I do recommend making easterly (right-handed) turns when in a “traffic eddy” in the line of dance.  Ideally we want to keep the ronda moving; however, the music may demand we pause, rest, turn in place. Orchestras like Osvaldo Pugliese, Miguel Caló, Lucio Demare and Carlos Di Sarli especially give plenty melodic phrasing to express against the current meaningful circular moments and then move onwards in the line of dance for the benefit of the whole.  

The compass needle and the eye in the spine

The two “eddied” dancers can rely on magnetic north to navigate and communicate very fun and clear movements in small spaces while remaining with the music. Magnetic north for me is  the feeling in the spine just above the navel that faces directly forward where my true center is facing. I like to think of this spot as either a navigating eye that knows how to feel the invited course heading. In navigation ‘course heading’ means the direction where the nautical keel / bow (dancer’s axis / center) or an aircraft's “nose” is pointed.

This little eye in the spine has no mouth that will tell us nonsense like “you can’t go there, there’s no room, you’ll step on them, you’re doing it wrong, don’t go there!” This voice is unremittingly wrong;  but, the eye is unfailingly accurate in feeling the current and looking out for us. If allowed to survey and observe with curiosity over the level floor it will feed our instincts more precise information, senses we can rely on. Imagine the navel is a little window for this observing “third eye” to sense. It is merely attached to our nervous system which is connected to our epidermal system which is sensing everything that is being transferred energetically. It can read and decipher without words where we are and where we need to go, without relying on our vision.. So let it!

1. Know where you are (see 2~ “Bending a truer knee”) 

2. Know how you are (see 3~ “Why less is more”)

3. Trust the eye in the spine. 

It feels calming and thrilling when both dancers are allowing this eye to observe with curiosity. Let it look in the direction your partner is inviting it to gaze upon and then trust that direction for sending your body in a traveling direction (forward, back, side/lateral or a pivot)!

The body knows more than our minds.

The nose is the rudder.

Wherever our nose points is where our partner will think we are going, too. If our own nose is in relaxed line with the front of our spine (both physical reference to our center line and our axis) then both dancers will move in clear navigation and communication without the arms driving the movement. If we are seeking harmonious Tango between equals, then the arms and hands should not have any part of communicating “where to go.” No. Hands off, mate. No one wants to feel like they’re a truck driver’s steering wheel. The hands and arms have no part in navigating other than being relaxed and associating with the overall body.  “Dogs in hammocks⁵” will be the following Sunday’s publication of how to allow the arms to aid us in associating movement, flow and receiving clearer navigation. 

Concentration brings tension.  I’ve observed when a dancer is concentrating and thinking too much their noses get locked onto a target… usually dead center on their partner and sometimes far off causing the neck to twist and thus restrict movement on the opposite side of the body.  This restricts natural movement and the ability to allow the torso to spiral as it should (without effort). It’s nearly impossible to walk outside partner3 when we concentrate too much. If one dancer is “locking in” (nose aimed at the other dancer’s sternum, for example), it is very difficult to walk outside partner in either systems: parallel system (sistema paralelo)⁶ or crossed system (sistema cruzado).⁷

We want the ability to walk outside partner in tango!

It is quite unique to tango, as is the walk (la caminata) in a closed embrace. Walking outside partner is when half of our torso lines up with half of our partner’s and we still walk in harmony. In parallel system we start off full torso to full torso (or a line from belly button to sternum lined up with our partner’s belly button to sternum).  In parallel this alignment is often referred to as en espejo (mirrored) because when I’m on my left my partner is on their right. In Crossed System (sistema cruzado) we are on the same feet… right & right or left & left.  Walking outside partner to both open (abierto) and closed/blind (cerrado/ciego) sides of the embrace feels awesome. Open side is the side where the hands are connected. Closed/blind side is the side where the arms are hugging or wrapping around our partner.

Wherever our noses are pointed, that is where our partner will feel the energy flowing… that’s where they will be invited to move by either push or pull energy (not actually pushing or pulling with the arms).  Push and pull energy I like to think of the bandoneon playing music with different notes depending on the direction.  The pull energy is my favorite to explore creating a vacuum/a void for my partner to have room to fill with expression. It’s like the ebb of the waves as they pull back from the shore.  Push energy is soft and seeks to flow both dancers in a harmonized direction.   Even if your eyes are looking forward when walking outside partner… if your nose is locked in on your partner’s center you cannot rotate freely and thus walking outside partner will feel cramped, twisted, of axis ultimately resulting in both dancers veering off course even if only one of the dancers is off navigation with tension.

Cultural noses

In various cultures, the nose and lips point in the direction, instead of a finger, of the subject being communicated. Body language is very much a part of Tango, especially in the art of mirada-cabeceo (the look - the nod of agreement). The nose was not on my radar until I started guiding classes and really had to challenge what I had been taught and find new ways to explore and convey how to navigate and why it opens so many doors of possibilities and collaborations for both dancers without patterns or sequences to remember. I find the nose aligned with the eyeThis article was very interesting, especially on the concept of time and how other cultures view time and communication without words: National Geographic science article “The Point of Pointing”

Thank you for reading this week’s Navigations! Monthly I’ll share a Reckonings story of a more personal nature as last Sunday’s: Rejection, projection and letting go.

Thank you to Jutta Lehmer for proofreading, editing and all the great feedback and guidance!

Comments welcome! Please check out the footnotes below pertaining to this article. See bottom of this page.

How to hone “Tango North” with an eye in the spine.

Line them up and let them be relaxed and free to move with the rest of you.

In wilderness survival one should first know how they are (state of mind and physical state), then where they are (bearings & surroundings) and then be in a as relaxed and ready state of being before moving from an understood spot. Same with Tango.

1. I use the skills in article 1~ Navigations to prepare myself physically and mentally.

2. I use the skills and tips in 2~ Navigations to know where my partner is and what landscape is open and safe (space in the line of dance).

3. Then, I let the nose be the rudder for the energy propelling us from under the floor.

Drowning in too much information? ¿Agobiados con tanto información?

It is a challenge to distill the vast potential of Tango into its simplistic beauty. We cannot water the garden in one sitting for the entire year. We’ll be coming back through these nucleotides of the DNA of tango on a regular rotation. We work in classes the same way, just take enough water to thrive on any given day and rest assured we will keep coming back around to strengthen awareness and corporeal understanding. We are not meant to get Tango in a short period of time. I like to let it, Tango, show me a little more about itself with time. It happens for me always when I am just observing and being present and not forcing comprehension. 

I was drowning in Ttango steps for the first 7-8 years in tango because that is all I was exposed to in classes. I hardly use anything that was presented as Tango from those years. I remember standing in the middle of Monica Paz’s studio off Calle Riobamba in Buenos Aires after a couple of weeks of starting over from the beginning. It had been an intensive study of only how to move, quality of movement, without sequences.

I remember the sensation of the lid and sides of a shoebox falling down and I was suddenly standing in a vast landscape that was Tango. There was no possible way to see all of it, but I had my bearings, a compass and a feeling that there was so much to see and no hurry. So, I just enjoyed where I was for a long while and studied, observed and experienced its depths.

Thank you for reading this publication!

If you like what is being explored, please consider giving us a like (❤️) and also supporting this effort with becoming a supporting member. Footnotes, comments and share buttons are at the end.

Next week:

4~ Navigations: Ipsilateral is fun to say and do and yet in the first 19 years I never heard of the word... Navigating with our noses contra-laterally and ipsilaterally.

Or 4~ will be… “Dogs in hammocks” and how the arms need only swing relaxed like hammocks with sleeping dogs in them…

1. "badjahr"is the word for a brown snake in the Bundjalung region of Australia.

2. “Qué quilombo” is a common phrase in Argentina to describe a situation or scenario that is a chaotic mess. Usually said in good humor, but also quite poignant that it was “a hot mess.” This “ruckus” can also carry a negative connotation.

3. “Feel for the floor” is a phrase I heard a lot in Buenos Aires. The floor is the one physical thing all dancers share. It is tangible and constant and supports us. Often I would hear “the floor is your best friend” (the first person I heard say this was Monica Paz). Instead of stepping on your best friend, the idea is to connect with, rely on, and share this common ground.

4.  The music tells us when to turn and when to walk... not that we all must abide without "freewill" but the point of community is to harmonize. So, if we allow the music to drive our choices and we are spatially considerate and aware of others, then everyone wins, the ronda flows and folk feel a camaraderie instead of notions of annoyance for the selfish and/or oblivious interruptions of others.

5. “Dogs in hammocks” - arms relaxed with only the swaying tension a hammock would have with a big sleeping dog snoozing in it.

6. Parallel system (Sistema paralelo) - Simplistic explanation is when one dancer’s active grounding leg is their left, then the other dancer’s actively grounding leg will be their right. When shifting weight the axes will travel parallel to each other from one ball of foot to another.

7. Crossed system (Sistema cruzado) - The basic concept, for a solar-system of interesting exploration of movement, is that both dancers are on the same actively grounding leg. If I am actively grounding on my right leg, so is my partner and our navigation is no longer true north but rather trending more so to Northwest and Northeast which as we travel and look to travel due north the pleasing serpentine feeling of echos occurs. Ochos are not crossed-system! Ochoa are possibilities within crossed-system which also has inside partner (back echos) and outside partner walking (which will feel similar to parallel system walking.