This demo is provided as a reminder to our students about the material we covered in class. In the actual class, we discuss both women and men's technique, musicality, and navigation.

Milonguero Dip with Playful Rebotes (Rebounds)
The "Milonguero Dip" is an embellishment (adorno) to the woman's forward cross.
Whenever a woman is taking a forward cross with her left foot, the man dips down onto his left foot and leads her to a quick counter-clockwise pivot. He then steps back with his right and she steps forward into the close side of the embrace with her right. He then leads her to pivot again to take a forward cross in front of him and leads her playfully to rebotes back and forth. This step can be seen at the very beginning of the video at 0:06

Origins of this Step
When I first went to Buenos Aires, I saw many of the older dancers doing this step and loved it. Years later, I took a class with Murat and Michelle Erdemesal and heard the term "milonguero dip" for the first time. The term was originally coined by Jennifer Bratt and Ney Melo, two great tango dancers and teachers. On that same trip, I took several lessons with Osvaldo and Coca Cartery and picked up this cute rebound (rebote) step from them.

Tip for Men: Wait until her left foot has her weight, before you lead the dip and pivot. To lead the pivot, send an impulse through the embrace down and around her left hip. Imagine a big circle around your embrace around your arms and backs, then imagine a smaller circle inside the embrace around her hips. Just like with any other pivot or boleo we want to send our impulse around the inner circle or "inside the embrace" instead of the outer circle.

Tip for Women: At the moment of the Dip, the man lowers his vertical axis and the woman should match him. The couple should return to a normal height with the next step.

Tip for Women: As the woman dips and pivots, she should unhook her feet so that she is ready for the next step. Don't leave your right foot hooked behind your left. During the dip and pivot, the woman should not try to stay glued to his chest, she should relax her embrace and role on his chest letting her right shoulder come closer to him than her left shoulder.

Tips for Rebotes: In the first one, the man is leading with his upper body while keeping his legs apart in an open side step. This is very important, the rebotes are not points. They should have some weight transfer and feel like real rebounds using the whole body not just the legs. To be even more specific, we begin to switch weight, but rebound before we get 100% to our new leg. So our shifts happen in the middle of our steps.

Musicality
We looked at executing the step with a smooth, elegant musicality (DiSarli, Fresedo) and with a sharper, more staccato musicality (Donato, D'Arienzo). For the rebotes, women should always be listening to the music, but they really really have to for the rebounds to work. She needs to be hitting the beat with her feet going back and forth. She can also do embellishments to play with the music.

Variations
Milonguero Dip with simple exit (0:20)
Simple back and Forth Rebotes (0:38)
Rebotes in Salida Americana (0:40)
Milonguero Dip from Giro (1:32)
Milonguero Dip from Ocho Cortado (2:07) 

"Milonga de Mis Amores" by Francisco Canaro (1937)

One great thing to notice about this milonga is the use of a musical saw. At 2:20, it is the instrument making a wavering type of sound in the background.

This is a class demo on Ochitos (Tiny Ochos) in Milonga. We looked at how to lead and follow tiny ochos, moving both linearly and circularly. 

Serpentina means snake like, because it looks like two snakes intertwined. This video is for our students to review what we covered in class.

As you can see from the slow motion, I am starting the step from back ochos. I follow her right leg around my right leg, ultimately wrapping my right leg around her left. The important thing is that I need to get her weight shifted to her right before I shift my weight to my right, thus displacing her left. 

This is from our second week of "Single Axis Turns." This week we looked at initiating single axis turns from a colgada, barrida and boleo.

This class also had another theme which was leading through the creation of space. We believe that a large part of leading and following is that the leader creates a space and the woman then fills that space. This allows for a very comfortable dance which does not require force or pushing or pulling or lifting. If the leader clearly creates space and the follower is perceptive and willing to enter the space created then a lot of unnecessary actions can be avoided.

Tip: Women should not let their free leg fly out and up. Women should keep their free leg relaxed, but weighted into the floor.

Tip: Women should notice that Shelley lifts her knee at the beginning of the colgada to the side, but then lowers it as we start turning in the other direction.

Tip: Don't try to hard. Both men and women should practice pivoting 180 degrees and then 360 degrees without throwing themselves around. They should just take their upper bodies around in the direction they want to turn and then let their hips and feet fall in underneath.

Tip: Single axis turns can be thought of as mini-colgadas. We should have some opposing force in order for a single axis turn to feel stable. 

This class was originally focused on Vals, but these steps also work very well with rhythmic tango music.

 This class is focused on Vals, but these steps also work very well with rhythmic tango music.