TANGO TIPS – 9 November 2025
The following is a copy of the notes provided to participants at a “Tango Tips” musicality interlude at the Toca Tango Practilonga in Auckland.
Milonga dancing to “dum da dum dum” mini-phrases.
Dancing milonga is different than dancing tango – It’s different to lead, and it’s different to follow.
The tango I have chosen is the 1936 Francisco Canaro / Roberto Maida version of “Silueta Porteña”, chosen as a good example of a slow-ish popular milonga with a consistent structure and clear milonga rhythm and beat.
Milonga music is typically identifiable by its continuous pairs of “dum da dum dum” mini-phrases.
MY GENERAL TIPS are:
1. Be more grounded than for tango, with more knee bend when stepping (a bit Groucho Marx-ish).
2. Land each step with a flat foot step, not a rolling “heel-to-metatarsal” step.
3. Land precisely on beat one and other chosen beats, which requires initiation on the previous beat.
4. Repeat chosen sets of steps to match the repeats of musical phrases (of 2, 4, or 8 “dum da dum dums” ).
5. Build a repertoire including today’s two fundamental sets of steps.
TWO FUNDAMENTAL STEP SETS
Both are single time milonga steps with a right foot forward first step for leaders:
1. Walk forward outside – close – sidestep – close
Walk forward for 2, 4 or 8 steps then sidestep for the same number of steps.
2. Step outside R – tap L – step back L – tap R.
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My best milonga teachers:
Grant Fromont and Kasha
Guillermo Garcia (Argentinian milonguero and Trio Garufa guitarist)
Gabriela Elias (Escuela Mundial de Tango)
Stu 9 November 2025
