The importance of the feet
By Nicolás Bottega
Being on your feet is not the same as standing properly. The difference between the quality of movement that is achieved when standing up correctly is what makes the difference between a professional tango dancer and an amateur one. This difference lies mainly in the use of the feet. We generally assume that we are using our feet in our movements, but dancing tango requires everything they have to give, and that is why it is important to understand what it really means to use them. I’m going to elaborate about the importance of the feet and try to address what I consider to be the most important, leaving some things for another time.
Water Pump
Standing properly requires that we use our feet to "push" down into the floor, and to grow from that push. I like to think about the following analogy to understand this push:
To press the handle of a manual water pump draws the water up from the well. In the same way, “pushing” the ground with the feet should feel as if the water went up trough the body to reach our head and arms.
Organizing the posture of the body from the water pump
That "water" that passes through our body is what allows us to align our body and build the embrace. In contrast, when that push is not clear enough, tension and misalignments appear.
All tension is compensation for something that is not working as it should elsewhere, and most of the time, it is due to misuse of the feet. For example, if the head is tense and too far forward, it is probably because the “water" did not arrive with enough "pressure" to lift and align it. The same happens with the arms in the embrace.
In addition, to be able to "pump" the water, it is necessary that we place the feet in the most suitable place to be able to push the floor. This is a key tool to know at all times where to place the feet for both roles.
“Pumping water” with the edge of the feet
To take a step in any direction, the foot work as a rolling pin that “kneads” the floor by pushing it, and by doing so it “pumps the water” up. In this “rolling”, it is important to take advantage of the foot’s entire surface, which can give us more control over the movement and thus increase the quality of it.
For example, if we walk forwards, it is very important that the toes are used until the last moment. But the same applies to a side step or a back step: it is essential to feel that you push with your entire foot, even with the edges.
It is also important to push the floor not only to “go” to the step, but also to “arrive”. The edge of the foot is the first thing that makes contact with the floor when you “arrive” to the step. To have control and to not to collapse the energy when we arrive to the step, we must use the edge of the foot to push into the floor as soon as it is possible. Of course, it is also very important to respect the natural timing of the arrival and not reach the point of stepping "outside of our body."
It is not always necessary to use the entire foot to arrive to the step. Sometimes you should be using only the edges of the feet, and that should be enough to be able to push the floor and “pump the water” in the process. Thinking about the edge of the feet may seem like a minor detail, but it can significantly change the quality of the dance.
The water pump and the lead
Just as this flow of "water" organizes the posture of our body, it is also very important to make any type of lead. The clearest example can be found in pivots. The leader must understand how to move around the follower to generate a pivot, but to give quality to the movement, he must be able to lead it from the push of the floor. In any martial art or boxing, a hit doesn’t come from the arm; it is built from pushing off the floor and it ends in the arm. In the same way, in the lead of a pivot (or any other movement), the most important thing is what happens in the push of the feet down from the floor, which then connects to the torso and arms.
The heels
Continuing with the analogy of the water pump, the push of the heels is what corrects the position of the sit bones, "irrigates" the line of the back through the spine giving presence to our backs, and aligns the head. Correct use of this push throughout the whole movement is vital for the correct functioning of the body in both roles.
Heels and the walk
In the walk is where it is easier to visualize good use of the heels. When the leader walks forward, the entire bottom of the foot must be in charge of pushing the floor, as the motor of movement, but the heel must especially be involved in this push, since this push is what connects us internally and allows us to transmit confidence and presence.
On the other hand, on her way backwards, the follower must be very aware of the activity of her heels. The heel of her base foot is in charge of channeling the leader's energy into her own step.
But the role of the heel of the free leg is also important for both the projection of the free leg, and for control in the arrival of the step. Unlike classical dance, where the energy to stretch the legs is projected towards the tip of the toes, in tango, the energy must be projected towards the heel, leaving the toes relaxed to find a position natural to them. This is not exclusive of the walk, but it applies to any tango movement, from a side step to a boleo.
To control the arrival of the backstep, it is very important to feel the connection of the heel of the free leg with the earth. The feeling is that you can “pump water” with the heel even before you feel the physical contact with the floor. The connection of the heel to the ground and the push of the edge of the foot (in this case, the toes) is what gives control to the step. To arrive into the step, is also to push into the earth.
Therefore, is important to think that you push with your feet and your heels both to "go" as well as "to arrive”
The heels and the pivot
The heels should be able to “pump the water” even when they are not touching the floor. This concept is vital to maintain the organization of the body when we are doing a pivot, a situation where the heel of the base foot should not touch the floor. This applies to both roles
“The water pressure” that rises from the push of the heel aligns the axis in the same way that it would stretch a hose, aligning all body parts in its path. This “pressure” as it fixes the position of the hip, also determines the position of the free leg that depends on the hip.
In the same way, any other movement that takes place on one leg should focus on the force of the push of the base foot and heel, and not on how the free leg moves, which rather is only a consequence of what happens in the standing leg. The most obvious example of this is a boleo, where the temptation is to focus on lifting the leg, but the quality lies in focusing on pushing into the floor.
The quality of our balance depends to a large extent of the alignment of the axis and the connection of the standing leg to the floor. Both are achieved by a correct “water pump”
The collapse of the heels
Collapsing the heel means losing presence and the necessary push to "draw the water up.” The sensation is precisely that – a collapse of energy – which generates a crisis of internal connection in the body, since the "water" that goes up thanks to the push is what organizes and connects our body as a whole. A body not connected internally can’t connect to another body effectively, so the connection between dancers suffers greatly. To collapse the heels is to collapse the quality of movement and connection.
An example of heel collapse and internal disconnection can be seen when we stretch our free leg beyond the limit that a strong heel would allow us. The sensation is as if we were stretching outside the limits of our body, precisely because this extra stretching produces an internal disconnection of the body, breaking its unity as if the free leg is "dislocated" from the rest of the body.
High heeled shoes
High heeled shoes have mainly a historical-cultural reason to be, which, as I say in the essay "Tango, a down to earth dance", helped to shape the evolution of the dance.
But their practical role is to force the heel of the foot to be used correctly; otherwise, if the energy of the heels collapses as explained above, it becomes really difficult to stand. Their other function is to place the weight of the body in the ball of the foot, slightly tilting the axis forwards.
It’s a mistake to consider that the high heels force you to dance on tiptoes, for many reasons, but especially because tango is a dance "to the earth," so pushing into the floor with the feet is part of its historical-cultural essence, and therefore, its technical evolution. It is impossible to push the floor on your tiptoes.
Heels and aesthetics
Lastly, this push creates a much higher aesthetical quality.
Just by observing the way a professional dancer stands, one can observe the aesthetic difference between them and a beginner. But this aesthetical difference is based on a very important functional difference, and the aesthetic is only the indicator that allows us to recognize this difference from the outside. (See essay: “Aesthetics in Tango”)
Dance with your feet
Our musical expressiveness depends mostly on "how" we move, and not on "what" we do. Thanks to the changes of qualities that we can give to our movement, in a "simple" walk you can express an infinity of different emotions, and this is what makes tango magical. In this sense, the work of the feet can give us alternatives that allow us to give different qualities to our movement and gain different tools of expression.
“Creating impulse”
I take the expression “tomar impulso” from spanish and translate it to “create impulse” as in “the charge of energy from contracting the body like a spring”, like when we jump.
In order to create impulse, we must push into the floor, as if it the floor had a spring that we contract. To understand this push, imagine if you were to jump from the mud. At the moment of creating the impulse to jump, you would sink a few centimeters in the mud, leaving a big footprint. Different impulses can make us "sink in the mud" to a greater or lesser extent.
In the same way, we can think of different ways to "sink" into the floor to take a tango step. I believe that this moment of preparation for the step in which we create impulse is really important. How our partner "sinks" on the floor with their feet when they create an impulse is a great source of information that will allow us to connect with the quality of movement of our partner.
Muscular tone
Being able to change our muscle tone is a very important tool to increase the expressive capacity and the quality of movement in our dance. This change in muscle tone is generated by changing the way that we push into the floor with our feet, and from there it radiates to the whole body. To change muscle tone, is to change “the water pressure” that rises from pushing into the floor.
Seeing the dancer as a spring that contracts and expands to create impulses, muscle tone could be compared to the tension level of that spring.
With a high muscle tone, we achieve the same effect as with a spring in high tension: more force is needed to activate it, but the reaction is much greater. Increasing muscle tone, movements with much more reaction and strength can be performed. On the opposite, making it lighter, greater subtlety and sweetness can be achieved.
By connecting both analogies, the “tension of the spring” is the same thing as the "water pressure". This pressure/tension may be lighter or stronger, but it must always be present and radiating through the whole body.
It’s important to make clear that we understand the word “tension” here, in a different way that the tension that blocks movement, the one we refer earlier in the document as a compensation of something not working as it should. Here we refer to “tension” as a necessary minimum of activation that allows the energy not to collapse, being able to circulate trough the body.
Conclusions
The use of the feet is much more complex and important than it seems at first sight, and most likely we are not using them as much as we should. Actively standing by pushing down into the floor, feeling that the "water" goes through our bodies, more actively using the heels and the edges of the foot – all of these allow us to increase the quality of our movement. On the other hand, muscle tone and impulses are controlled by the feet, and they are tools that enrich our expressiveness. Tango dance is born in the feet, that is why they are so important. We must be more attentive to what happens with our own feet as well as those of our partner.
