Published by The Curious Tanguero
After 17 years of studying and dancing argentine tango, I discovered a few helpful tips. In this podcast, I simply share what worked for me with you. Argentine tango only.
Listen on Apple PodcastsIs the embrace in tango something we learn or something we simply feel? In this episode, we explore two very different ways of understanding one of tango's defining features: the embrace. One perspective sees it as a technical tool that must communicate direction, timing, and movement with clarity. The other sees it as the emotional heart of the dance, a genuine human connection that matters more than technical perfection. We discuss why dancers in Buenos Aires rarely debated the embrace, how tango changed as it spread to cultures where physical closeness is less common, and why many people discover tango not just for the dance itself, but for the experience of meaningful human contact. Along the way, we examine an intriguing paradox: does better technique free the embrace to become more authentic, or can too much focus on technique distract us from the very feeling we're trying to create? Whether you think of the embrace as a finely tuned communication system or as the soul of tango itself, this episode invites you to reflect on what you're really looking for every time you step onto the dance floor. For more tango resources for social tango dancers, check https://thecurioustanguero.com/argentinetango
In this episode, we read a chapter by Edwin Olarte from the Tango Tips by the Maestros Tango book, exploring three essential pillars of great Argentine Tango: body awareness, musicality, and the embrace. Learn how better posture, balance, and foot placement can protect your body while improving your Tango, why listening deeply to different orchestras transforms your musical interpretation, and how a warm, connected embrace creates a more enjoyable dance for both partners. Edwin also shares practical exercises to develop trust, connection, and confidence on the dance floor, reminding us that the true essence of Tango is found not in complex figures but in the relationship between two dancers and the music. This episode was inspired by the book Tango Tips by the Maestros. The book is available in English, Spanish, Italian, German, French, and Portuguese on Amazon. You can find out more on https://tangotipsbythemaestros.com/ For more tango resources for social tango dancers, check https://thecurioustanguero.com/argentinetango
Is musicality the soul of tango, or is great technique the foundation that makes true musical expression possible? In this episode, we explore one of tango's most enduring debates: whether dancers should prioritize listening to and expressing the music or focus first on developing the technical skills that allow those musical ideas to come alive. We look at the argument that tango begins with the music and that even simple movements can become deeply expressive when dancers are truly listening. We also examine the opposing view—that musicality is ultimately about having choices, and those choices only exist when technique provides the vocabulary to express them. Along the way, we reflect on how tango was learned during the Golden Age, why today's dancers often approach musicality differently, and how both partners contribute to creating a musical conversation on the dance floor. Whether you believe music should lead technique or technique should unlock musicality, this episode offers a thoughtful exploration of how the two work together to create meaningful social tango. For more tango resources for social tango dancers, check https://thecurioustanguero.com/argentinetango
Is tango a dance where one person leads and the other follows—or is it a conversation where both partners create the experience together? In this episode, we explore two influential philosophies of partner dancing. On one side is the traditional lead-and-follow model, where the leader provides the structure of the dance and the follower responds with trust, sensitivity, and presence. On the other is the concept of mutual creation, where both dancers actively contribute through communication, musical interpretation, and shared responsibility. We examine what each approach offers, the skills each one demands, and how different views of leadership, following, freedom, and ownership shape the experience on the dance floor. Rather than framing the discussion as right versus wrong, this episode asks what kind of relationship each model creates between two people sharing a tango. Whether you prefer the clarity of traditional roles or the collaborative dialogue of mutual creation, this conversation will deepen the way you think about connection, communication, and partnership in Argentine tango. For more tango resources for social tango dancers, check https://thecurioustanguero.com/argentinetango
This is Part 1 of 4 of the Tango Road Trip Quiz, a series of fun and thought-provoking questions inspired by the ideas explored in the book The Black and White of Argentine Tango: Both Sides of Tango's Greatest Debates. Whether you're going to a tango festival, heading home from a milonga, or simply love debating tango, pause after each question and compare your answers with your friends or partner. 📚 Inspired by the book: The Black and White of Argentine Tango: Both Sides of Tango's Greatest Debates https://thecurioustanguero.com/thebla... by Dimitris Bronowski If you enjoyed this quiz, don't forget to like, subscribe, and check out Parts 1–4 of the series! #ArgentineTango #Tango #Milonga #SocialDance #DanceDiscussion #TangoCommunity #TangoQuiz #RoadTrip #TangoDebates #TangoLife #Cabeceo #DanceConnection
In this episode, we read the chapter by Chloe Theodoropoulou and Dionisis Theodoropoulos from the Tango Tips by the Maestros Tango book, exploring why great Argentine Tango begins long before the first step. Discover how posture, balance, your spine, the embrace, communication, pauses, and emotional presence all contribute to a more natural, comfortable, and connected Tango experience. Whether you are a leader or follower, these practical insights will help you dance with greater confidence, musicality, and awareness while strengthening your connection with your partner. The authors remind us that Tango is not about collecting figures but about creating a genuine dialogue through the embrace. They also encourage readers to continue exploring these ideas through the book at https://tangotipsbythemaestros.com/. This episode was inspired by the book Tango Tips by the Maestros. The book is available in English, Spanish, Italian, German, French, and Portuguese on Amazon. You can find out more on https://tangotipsbythemaestros.com/ For more tango resources for social tango dancers, check https://thecurioustanguero.com/argentinetango
Few topics in Argentine tango inspire as much passion as the embrace. Should dancers remain chest-to-chest in close embrace, or does open embrace offer a richer range of expression? In this episode, we explore both perspectives. You'll hear why many dancers consider close embrace the emotional heart of tango, a place where connection, musicality, and shared presence take priority over complex movement. We also examine the case for open embrace, looking at its historical roots, its expanded movement possibilities, and the creative freedom it offers through a more flexible, elastic connection. Along the way, we challenge some common assumptions about tango's history and ask a deeper question: Is the embrace simply a technique, or is it an expression of what each dancer is seeking from the experience? Whether you feel most at home dancing chest-to-chest or enjoy the expressive possibilities of an open embrace, this episode offers a balanced look at two approaches that continue to shape the evolution of social tango. For more tango resources for social tango dancers, check https://thecurioustanguero.com/argentinetango
Why does tango have so many traditions and are they still serving the dancers of today? In this episode, we explore one of the most nuanced conversations in Argentine tango: whether tradition is a source of empowerment or a form of unnecessary restriction. We look at the history behind familiar practices like the cabeceo, tanda, cortina, and ronda, revealing how they emerged as thoughtful solutions to real social challenges rather than arbitrary rules. We also examine the opposing perspective: what happens when traditions are separated from the context that created them? Can customs designed for Buenos Aires nearly a century ago become barriers in today's global tango communities? And how do we distinguish between preserving the spirit of a tradition and enforcing its outward form without understanding its purpose? Ultimately, this episode invites you to look beyond the rules themselves and ask a deeper question: Are our traditions still creating the kindness, dignity, and connection they were originally meant to protect? For more tango resources for social tango dancers, check https://thecurioustanguero.com/argentinetango
In this episode, Dimitris Bronowski shares insightful excerpts from Tango Tips by the Maestros, focusing on how true tango lives in the transitions between steps rather than the steps themselves. Drawing on the teachings of Juliano Andrade and Paula Emerick, the episode explores movement quality, musical interpretation, the power of contrast, and the subtle art of dancing pauses. It’s a thoughtful invitation to deepen your connection, refine your technique, and rediscover tango as a continuous, expressive conversation. Tango Tips by the Maestros, in Spanish, English, and Italian: https://tangotipsbythemaestros.com/ More Tango Resources: https://thecurioustanguero.com/argentinetango/ The Curious Tanguero newsletter: https://thecurioustanguero.com/ The Argentine Tango Family Community, thousands of tango dancers, helping each other: https://thecurioustanguero.com/community/
This episode explores the essence of tango connection, starting from the embrace and expanding into movement, grounding, and trust between partners. Through simple yet powerful ideas, like walking hand in hand or slowing a single step to five minutes, it reveals how natural instincts and awareness can transform your dance. Blending philosophy, technique, and personal stories, the conversation uncovers what truly elevates a dancer from good to great: authenticity, presence, and deep human connection. More Tango Resources: https://thecurioustanguero.com/argentinetango/ The Curious Tanguero newsletter: https://thecurioustanguero.com/ The Argentine Tango Family Community, thousands of tango dancers, helping each other: https://thecurioustanguero.com/community/
In this episode, Dimitris Bronowski shares insightful excerpts from Tango Tips by the Maestros, focusing on practical ways to refine your tango technique and connection. Through guidance from Sophia Luisa Paul, listeners explore how arm spirals can transform the embrace, how understanding turning axes improves giros, and how the “third dimension” enhances musicality and communication. This episode blends technical clarity with artistic awareness, helping dancers free their minds and deepen their emotional expression on the dance floor. More Tango Resources: https://thecurioustanguero.com/argentinetango/ The Curious Tanguero newsletter: https://thecurioustanguero.com/ The Argentine Tango Family Community, thousands of tango dancers, helping each other: https://thecurioustanguero.com/community/
Learning technique in tango is not about perfection, but about respect: developing body awareness and control to connect deeply and responsibly with a partner. This episode explores how technique becomes the foundation for freedom, expression, and true connection, allowing dancers to move beyond steps into a shared, improvisational experience. Through the philosophy behind the Bonaventura Method, we dive into tango as an art of generosity, musical embodiment, and human connection. More Tango Resources: https://thecurioustanguero.com/argentinetango/ The Curious Tanguero newsletter: https://thecurioustanguero.com/ The Argentine Tango Family Community, thousands of tango dancers, helping each other: https://thecurioustanguero.com/community/
What is “tango bliss,” and can every dancer reach it? Author Aleksey joins us to discuss how Argentine tango can awaken presence, healing, and joy, and how breath, attention, and connection shape every embrace. You can find the book at https://blissfultango.com You can join the Curious Tanguero newsletter at http://thecurioustanguero.com Hug and let go. The first will bring you happiness, the second peace.
Advanced tips: Your foot is NOT a point For more tango tips, resources, books, retreats, and much more: thecurioustanguero.com/argentinetango
How to improve your tango by observing others For more tango tips, resources, books, retreats, and much more: thecurioustanguero.com/argentinetango Some of my suggestions: Watch videos of Jonathan Saavedra & Clarisa Aragón dancing D’Arienzo. Watch videos of Chicho dancing Di Sarli. Watch videos of Vanesa Villalba and Facundo Pinero dancing Pugliese. Watch videos of Sebastian Achaval dancing to Miguel Calo. Watch videos of Ariadna Naveira and Fernando Sanchez dancing milonga.
How to easily recognize the beginning of a musical phrase in tango Hear the Beat, Feel the Music: Link For more tango tips: thecurioustanguero.com/argentinetango
👉This episode is about three realisations that helped me understand: 1) how we communicate our free-leg position, 2) how elegant lines are created and 3) how we connect different body parts so that our partner can get ‘access’ to them during the dance. For more tango, check this: thecurioustanguero.com/argentinetango 👉A huge 'Thank you' to Sara Grdan and Ivan Terrazas for teaching me most of the things you are about to read or hear. They deserve all credit for whatever makes sense. Everything that doesn't make sense, comes from my own misunderstanding. Transcription: Many times, when in classes, I heard the following phrases from teachers: ‘You have to communicate to your partner where your free leg is.’ ‘You have to stop controlling your free leg, and let your partner control it.’ ‘Straighten your back leg, you let it always relax and pointing in the wrong direction.’ ‘I can’t feel where your body is.’ And many more, around similar topics. When I hear statements like these that sound like instructions, I try to understand if they are actually instructions or they just ask for a final result without providing a way to get there. Well, for me, all the above are NOT instructions on what to do, but on what result they expect. This email is about three realisations that helped me understand: 1) how we communicate our free-leg position, 2) how elegant lines are created and 3) how we connect different body parts so that our partner can get ‘access’ to them during the dance. Let’s start with the third one: Connecting different parts of our body to allow our partner to either understand or control them. Most people believe that dissociation is the tool we use to stay in front of our partners. We rotate our chest so that we can continue looking at our partner during a giro, even though our feet might move toward different directions for example. But for me, this is not the most important function of dissociation. When you rotate your upper body in respect to the lower body, a set of muscles and tendons are engaged. This engagement creates a stronger connection between two different parts of your body. This muscle tension, where two different parts of your body seem to be pushing toward a different direction is a tool to connect those two parts. And once that connection is achieved, you partner can use one part of your body to communicate to the other. If you start thinking of dissociation not only in terms of ‘opposite rotation’ but in terms of ‘opposite direction that creates tension’ you might start noticing that it exists everywhere: When your teachers tell you that the bottom part of the body needs to push toward the earth while the upper part goes to the sky? …You are creating this tension that connects the two parts of the body. When your teachers tell you to push down your shoulderblades while you elongate your neck toward the sky? …You are creating this tension that connects the two parts of the body. ‘Opposite’ tension creates connection. I have come to perceive all these ways to create tension by expanding toward opposite directions as ‘dissociation’. Whenever I want to create a clear connection between two parts of my body, a create that tension. To sum up: Dissociation is a way to create tension, and that tension connects two parts of your body. Starting considering using dissociation not in a limited way (communicating a pivot, staying in front of my partner) but as a connector of different body parts. Alright, second point: Communicating where the free leg is With some followers (or leaders) it is incredibly easy to understand where their free leg is and how to control it. Let’s call the ‘A’ dancers. And that allows advanced dancers to stop a movement in the middle, to create elegant shapes and adornos, to control the size of a step, etc. But with some other dancers this seems simply impossible. For me, the main difference is this: The ‘A’ dancers create the motion of the free leg by pushing from the base leg. If you don’t know how to do that in side, back, forward, side rotated, back rotated, and forward rotated steps, I highly advise you to find someone who can teach you. To give you a simple example, try to take a side step to the left. If you start the movement of the left free leg by engaging the left leg’s muscles, then you are not pushing from the base leg. A functional push from the right leg would work something like this: Move your weight on the outside part of the right foot (your base) having clear contact on the whole surface of the foot, from toes to heel. That moves your axis to the opposite direction than the one you want to step towards. Transfer your weight to the inside part of the right foot and start pushing the floor toward the right. This will move your axis toward the left. Your free left leg will move relaxed under your axis to step on the left, right under your axis, so that you arrive in a position of balance. Now, there are a lot of things that need to be explained for such a movement, but we won’t get into that here. What’s important is to understand this: The action of pushing with the base leg the floor has the goal to move your axis. The free leg only moves as a natural consequence of it being under your axis. If you are able to do that, then your partner will know exactly where your free leg is, because they can feel where your axis is moving. Now they know where your free leg is. The above analysis will give you a clear understanding on why some times it is easy to understand where a follower’s leg is and sometimes not: It’s because of their ability to create movement from their base leg. If you have a practice buddy, I highly recommend practising pushing with the base leg and seeing how that affects your communication. And since we are at the topic of pushing with the base leg: The origin of elegant lines. When you start focusing on pushing with your base leg, you are forced to articulate your ankle. If you have a mirror try this: Do the side step and focus on pushing with your base leg for as much as possible, till the very last moment. You might notice that your base leg creates a beautiful line and looks longer. This is why most of the professional dancers look elegant: NOT because they try to do nice long steps. But because they focus on pushing with the base leg, articulating the ankle. Summary: To create a connection between two different body parts, create a dissociation, an opposition. To create clarity on where your free leg is, push your axis with your base leg, and let the free leg’s movement be a consequence of the axis movement. To create elegant lines, focus on pushing with your base leg. If you enjoyed what you learned in this episode, don’t keep it to yourself. The best thing you can do is to share it with your friends. That’s what social media and messaging apps are for. You’ll be helping them and me. The second best thing you can do is to visit thecurioustanguero.com/argentinetango There you’ll find a list of free and paid resources to help you improve and enjoy your tango. I am updating that webpage often with new stuff so make sure to re-visit it every once in a while. thecurioustanguero.com/argentinetango
✨ New Tango Podcast Episode Alert! ✨ Today on the Tango Tips Podcast, I’m diving into the wisdom of Nacho Mora & Celia Rodríguez with selected excerpts from their chapter in Tango Tips by the Maestros. Ready to boost your balance, body awareness, and partner connection? You can discover the complete book Tango Tips by the Maestros here: https://tangotipsbythemaestros.com/ You can find more tango resources, tips, stories, videos etc here: https://thecurioustanguero.com/argentinetango
Let's discover Carlos and Mirella's advice to: Uncover how true grounding in dance starts from the floor up, Learn the art of a seamless embrace with steady pressure points, relaxed shoulders, and crystal-clear open vs. close positions. Elevate your elegance and musicality with bite-sized exercises, from 20-second posture checks to deep dives into musical phrasing and tango escenario. For the complete chapter, and many more, check the book Tango Tips by the Maestros on Amazon in English, Spanish or Italian: tangotipsbythemaestros.com Join the Curious Tanguero newsletter here: https://thecurioustanguero.com/
A tango tip on double beat - argentine tango. How to dance the double beat in argentine tango. For more tango tips, resources, and the occasional dad jokes: https://thecurioustanguero.com/argentinetango Join the Curious Tanguero Newsletter so you don't miss the next tips: https://thecurioustanguero.com