A great practice for tango grounding and power: walking in a swimming pool.

We learned about this pool practice from friends Carlos and Maureen Urrego, who used it as part of their Grounded practice to help win first place in Tango de Pista at the 2018 ATUSA Championship in San Francisco.

Simply walk in a swimming pool. Buoyancy tends to float us off the bottom surface of the pool. To counteract this, we must drive each leg stride down, “into” the bottom.

Plus, the water resistance impedes movement. We gain strength and fine motor control by making the movement of each body part purposeful and well-controlled.

The bottom of most pools slopes downward toward the deep end. Walk backward downslope, toward the deep end. Walk forward upslope toward the shallow end, as for the Incline walk.

Submerged to the waist or even shoulders, we can practice other movements: side steps, boleos, pivots.

Practice with a partner. The water-resistance and the need to work against buoyancy will force us to make our movements slow and deliberate. This can help us learn how we want to move, as well as where we want to move with respect to our partner.

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