I would like to share with you today the Golden Rule or Technique. This doesn't apply only to tango technique or dance technique but rather to any human endeavor.
The Golden Rule of Technique is:
Technique Can Always Be Improved
Can.
Always.
Be.
Improved.
It doesn't matter how simple the action or skill is, how long ago you learned it, or even whether you consider yourself to be a master of your chosen field.
Your Technique Can Be Improved!
NBA basketball players practice free throws every day, at every practice, and before every game. These are the best basketball players in the world, experts in their field, who make millions of dollars to play basketball. Some of them have been shooting baskets since they were little boys.
Yet in every practice and before every game, these million-dollar basketball legends walk over to the free throw line and shoot the ball again and again and again. Every single day, even in the off season.
Usain Bolt is the greatest sprinter in the history of track and field. In the months leading up to the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, Bolt lost a couple of races. These were his first losses in many years of international competition.
Usain Bolt didn't say, "It's okay, I am the best, I'm going to win when I get to London." He practiced harder than ever, and his Olympic performances made history.
Pilots train regularly in flight simulators. Police officers shoot targets at the firing range. Surgeons attend seminars to make them better surgeons. Performers in the worlds greatest orchestras practice scales and arpeggios, the same techniques that they learned when they were children.
Technique can be improved. It can always be improved.
Tango Technique
Consider a common technique in Argentine tango - forward ochos, for instance.
How much practice time do you dedicate to forward ochos? How many times have you taken a class or a workshop to improve your forward ochos?
I doubt that you have ever taken a workshop in forward ochos. No one would attend. Most people would think, "Forward ochos? I learned that as a beginner! I don't need to take a workshop in forward ochos!"
And so, no one bother to hold workshops in forward ochos. The only place that you'll see forward ochos being taught is in a class for beginners.
But wait a minute. If it's true that technique can always be improved, where should people go to improve their forward ochos?
And let me tell you something candidly. Over the years, I have met a LOT of people whose forward ochos STINK! This is a symptom of technical problems that undermine every aspect of their dancing. But if they took time to work diligently on their ochos, they would improve their dancing as a whole because this exercise would target the unlderlying technical issues that hold them back.
So, where does one go to improve forward ochos? The practice room. At home on your kitchen floor. In a private lesson with a supportive instructor.
Heck, you could even swallow your pride and take a Beginners' class as long as you agree to keep an open mind and work hard.
Technique can always be improved. What steps are you taking to improve your technique? And how are those ochos doing, anyway?
¡Buena suerte amigos, y muchas gracias!
Daniel
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