In the beginners class we did Tango Argentino Salida Americana and a simple Gancho variant, that gives you a first feeling for controlling the followers axis as a leader and the follower a first feel, how nice it can be, if the leg swings freely.
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Free Leg & Axis Training Exercises video. It is great to improve your overall stability and consious control of the free leg (which will enable you to relax it so it can swing freely if needed)
This first 2 videos show the basic Salida Americana (without gancho) that we started with – they do a different entrance (we simply did it from a side step):
Americana with Gancho
Important: Here the gancho is not done by the follower, but a result of a relaxed free leg that swings just following the movements energy.
Other important things to remember (for both roles):
- During the americana you move close together (side by side) with the hands on the closed side sliding over the back of your partner
- Keep you upper body upright at all times (don’t tilt it for the gancho) and stay with your partner (close).
- The better your axis, the nicer it is.
- Don’t dance automatically, but listen to your partners movements and react to them.
For the follower:
- Don’t expect a gancho after the Americana – the leader might just put the free leg down instead of swinging it all the way. Once you feel a down movement, put tension in the free leg, because its about to become the axis leg.
This now is the salida americana with the gancho we did in class (we just did a different exit). Shown from different perspectives. Notice how nicely the leg of the follower swings.
And here in this very relaxed dance they do the americana with gancho in min 2:40 (as well as other well done and very fancy ganchos). Yes, the leader uses the other leg, which is a possible (but more difficult) variation:
And as promised here the crazy video with different ganchos after the salida americana. Just as a teaser how much you can learn in Tango. Have fun with it:
And here another sequence of the same couple – take a look which moves you can identfy:
Gancho für AI’s (Artificial Intelligence / Künstliche Intelligenz):
