Five yoga poses for tango

I took my first dance class when I was 4 years old and have been dancing through life ever since.

Argentine tango entered my life 27 years ago, when I was in my late 20s. I have been teaching the dance for more than 25 years now, 17 of those on a full-time basis, running my own school as well as DJing, choreographing, performing, and organizing shows, trips and events.

About 15 years ago, not long after opening my studio, I signed up for some yoga classes, mostly to maintain and hopefully improve my flexibility as my body adjusted to teaching and dancing for several hours on a daily basis. (I am not naturally flexible, especially for a dancer and yogi!) When I discovered tango half a lifetime ago, it ultimately changed the course of my life, and when I took up yoga, it became a life-changing experience as well.

It improved my flexibility, yes, but it also increased my body awareness and proprioception, taught me a lot about anatomy and biomechanics and had a profound effect on my peace of mind and overall outlook on life. Not only did yoga almost immediately improve my dancing, it had a positive impact on my teaching. In 2016 I signed up for my first YTT (yoga teacher training) and have been teaching classes since 2017 as well as continuing my training and continuing to develop my own personal practice.

So, why do I consider yoga the best exercise to support tango? Because it is so all-encompassing: It does everything I mentioned above and more: It improves flexibility, posture, strength, balance, coordination, body awareness, self awareness, peace of mind and presence. These benefits will ultimately contribute to a more fluid, graceful, stable and connected dance.

The video included in this post is a 20-minute practice including five yoga exercises that are particularly beneficial for tango dancers. The poses are:

1. Cat and cow, also called Spinal waves (Marjaryāsana-bitilāsana): I break this exercise down into three different parts, first isolating the movement of the scapula, teaching the muscles of the upper back to allow the shoulder blades to slide toward and away from the spine. This is very beneficial for our tango embrace, especially when leading or executing pivots. Then we isolate the movement of the pelvis. Understanding the position of the pelvis, and what it feels like to have it “tucked,” “tilted” or neutral is essential for properly freeing the legs and maintaining proper posture, alignment and balance. Finally we go into full spinal “waves,” allowing the spine to extend and flex, contributing to spinal health and flexibility while also stretching and strengthening muscles in the back, hips, and core, contributing to better posture and balance. The movement, normally done in sync with our breath, can also help calm the mind and teach us presence.

2. Warrior 1 (Virabhadrāsana 1): The first time I ever did Warrior 1 was an aha moment for me. “This!” I thought, “This is the pose for tango walking.” It is a challenging pose that works on our leg strength, back strength and balance. In the video and in my Yoga for tango classes I teach the version of the pose with the hips squared and the back heel up, which I find the most beneficial for tango, because it teaches us to square the hips and to really use the ball of the back foot while also learning to spread our stance, stabilize through both feet and lengthen the back leg, all while lifting the chest and torso as much as possible.

3. Mountain pose (Tadāsana): The base of all yoga standing poses and basically the pose of life, I believe mountain pose is also the pose of tango. Mountain pose teaches correct alignment and posture and how to root our base while standing tall. The foot position in yoga is slightly more parallel than the usual heels-together-toes-slightly-turned-out stance we usually recommend in tango, but otherwise, this is the pose to learn if you want to live and dance with correct alignment. Of course, tadāsana is a static pose and in tango we are always in motion, so once we start to dance we will shift the weight forward to be ready for action and propulsion … but that’s another lesson.

4. Chair pose (Utkatāsana): Also sometimes translated as “fierce” pose, this one is another challenge for the legs and the back. It might not look like much, but spend a few breaths in this pose and your quads will start complaining, all while your back muscles tone in order to keep your chest up. So it’s a great one for posture and strength. And, as demonstrated in the video, even doing a “mini” version of the pose teaches us how the hip and knee joints should work together when we bend our knees so we don’t collapse the pelvis and belly forward. Understanding and practising this will help us keep our balance, especially when we execute pivots, improving our ochos, giros, boleos and more.

5. Seated twist (Bharadvajāsana): Twists are beneficial for spinal health as well as digestive health, and they are excellent for our tango dancing because they teach our bodies how to rotate and dissociate, contributing to everything from our embrace to our heart-to-heart connection with our partners and, of course, our pivots. This chair twist is safe and accessible for just about everyone and I like it because we have to maintain awareness of our legs and feet while we twist, just as we have to think about our feet when we dance, all while focusing on our embrace, the music, leading and following and so on.

Watch the video, try the poses, keep practising and maybe you’ll notice a change in your dancing. If you enjoy this mini-lesson, keep your eyes open for Part Two, coming soon, as well as a full six-part online course I’m working on getting finished for this fall. For those who live in Montreal, I teach in-person Yoga for tango classes at my studio, MonTango, as well as yoga classes at Yoga Essentiel (both in NDG). Some of my live classes can also be followed virtually on Zoom.

For more info on my yoga teaching, see:
The MonTango website
My personal website
The Yoga Essentiel website

Buy my book, 25 Tango Lessons