Inventive ways of using the known vocabulary to interpret the music is judged to be superior dancing. Efficiency in movement, doing more with less, and the most subtle changes in the displacements of feet are what bring the murmurs of appreciation from an educated audience. The finishing touch is the endless variety of tiny movements of the feet, called chiches, which embellish a step and can fill a moment of stillness with a musical flutter of controlled passion. In teaching tango outside of Buenos Aires I try to provide a cultural perspective by presenting a visual display of photos and prints that I have collected in my travels in Argentina. I also show video of salon and fantasy dancing so that people can see the difference.
Class begins with a review of the ladies basic technique and everyone learns it.
Men who can dance the ladies technique have a chance to then lead in an elegant and courteous manner. Everyone learns to lead the basic walks around the salon. When dancers are comfortable navigating the salon then they can begin to learn turning figures without being rude to each other as they share the floor. This way the development of figure work and embellishments is never separated from the floorcraft that underlies it. The dance progresses as a smooth walk around the floor and dancers have the possibility to listen to and interpret the music.