Warmup every day

Let's do a light, general warm-up daily to prepare for tango exploration and play.

What and why

A warm-up before practicing, learning, or performing prepares the body for work. It lubricates the joints and fascia as it wakes up the muscles. It also helps the mind turn away from day-to-day concerns, so it can tune into the body.

This everyday warm-up helps with postural alignment in the whole body. It makes a good start for any other warm-up session or challenge.

Video and transcript

English transcript

- Hola, friends! Let's explore our everyday warm up. It's a routine that we like to do before every tango exploration that we do because it loosens up the joints, activates the muscles, and focuses the mind. Plus, it's so simple that we can do it just about any time or anywhere.

Now, there is one consideration; at some points we do leg swivels and if your shoe or your socks and the floor don't allow that to be very easy, then we can just eliminate it or we can substitute heel raises. So join us on the floor and let's get started as we dance move to the music of “Charamusca” by Canaro.

And we'll start with heel raises. You continue the heel raises while I describe. We can make that a little easier by unweighting a leg and doing them one at a time, or we can do 'em one at a time with the shoes together and one leg raising the whole body, make it a little harder. Continue with one of those as I turn sideways so you can see. Now I'm gonna keep a constant height, absorbing the heel raise in my joints because when we're dancing we like to have a smooth, elegant flow across the floor.

All right, let's come back to the front, give the feet some room, and do some legs swivels with the hips still and facing straight ahead. Bring the feet together.

This time, we're gonna rotate just the hips and it often helps to know what's doing what is to place hands on different parts so that we know that one part is still while the other part is moving. In regard, keep everything below quiet as we rotate only the upper body.

And now the hands away from each other. And what we're doing here is connecting the arms to the body and to the big muscles in the back.

And let's go down to the feet again and we'll do leg extensions on alternating legs. Forward, side. And I'll turn so you can see, to the back.

And let's change those extensions into a lunge. And we can use this swivel to test our balance and also work our hip rotator muscles. Again, if that's not easy, simply eliminate it. Notice how I'm keeping my body as a straight cylinder.

Good work! Great, we're all warmed up now and ready for our next exploration, and we will see you there whenever you're ready. Abrazos!

Transcripción en español

- 01. Fundamentos Calentamiento diario

- Hola amigos. Vamos a explorar nuestro calentamiento diario. Es una rutina que nos gusta hacer antes de cada exploración de tango porque afloja las articulaciones, activa los músculos y concentra la mente. Además, es tan sencilla que podemos hacerla en cualquier momento y lugar. Ahora, hay algo que debemos considerar, en algún punto hacemos deslizamos los pies y si tu zapato o calceta y el piso no permiten hacerlo con facilidad, lo podemos eliminar o podemos sustituirlo con levantamiento de talón. Vamos al piso para comenzar a bailar al ritmo de “Charamusca” de Canaro. Comenzamos con elevación de talón. Sigue elevando el talón mientras explico. Podemos hacerlo más fácil quitando el peso de una pierna y haciéndolo una a la vez, o podemos hacerlo una a la vez con los zapatos juntos levantando el cuerpo en una pierna, para hacerlo más difícil. Sigue haciendo uno de esos mientras giro de lado para que puedas ver. Ahora voy a mantener una altura constante, absorbiendo la elevación de talón con mi articulación, porque cuando estamos bailando nos gusta tener un flujo suave y elegante por la pista. Bien, regresemos al frente. Dale espacio a los pies, y haz deslizamiento de pies con las caderas firmes y viendo al frente. Junta los pies. Esta vez, vamos a rotar solo las caderas y a veces es de ayuda para saber qué hace qué poner las manos en diferentes partes para saber que parte se queda quieta y cuál otra parte se está moviendo. De esta manera, mantén todo firme abajo, mientras rotamos solo el cuerpo superior. Ahora las manos separadas. Con esto estamos conectando los brazos al cuerpo y a los grandes músculos de la espalda. Y volvemos a los pies otra vez y hacemos extensiones de pierna alternadas. Al frente, de lado. Voy a girar para que puedas ver, atrás. Vamos a cambiar las extensiones a pasos grandes. Y usamos el giro para probar nuestro equilibrio y hacer trabajar el músculo rotor de cadera. Si eso te cuesta trabajo, puedes eliminarlo. Mira como mantengo mi cuerpo como todo derecho. ¡Buen trabajo! Grandioso, ya estamos calientes y listos para la siguiente exploración, te veré cuando estés listo. ¡Abrazos!

How

We live with our connection to the earth by gravity more than any other force, so we like to start from the ground up.

Heel raises
- Unweighted option easier
- Single-leg option harder
Heel raises without changing height
Shoulder-width heel swivels
Feet together, hips-only twists
Torso and head-only twists
Arm abductions
Leg extensions, front, side, back
Lunges, checking single-leg heel swivels

Are you aware of adjacent parts moving together as one instead of isolated movement? We can build our awareness by placing a hand on each adjacent part. Do the movement, and feel what has to happen in our body so that only one hand moves.

Something we can do every day, whether or not dancing, with or without music.
Something we can easily do while waiting on coffee, brushing our teeth, etc.

Music

Charamusca, conductor Francisco Canaro, 1934. Spotify YouTube

the Game of Argentine Tango

Everything is a range of possibilities

Warmup every day

What and why

Video and transcript

How

Music