The Tango Fundamentals - Volume 1: Basic Elements

Rating:
Summary: Why Tango?
Review: Argentine tango is unique when it comes to couple dancing. It is more intimate, sensual, meditative, and relaxed, yes relaxed, than any other comparable dance. What instantly identifies Argentine Tango is its music - heartbreakingly beautiful, especially when compared to the ballroom dancing music. To teach this art form - Argentine Tango - requires a lot more skill and experience than what one might get from a teacher at an average ballroom studio. In this case, the teachers are famous around the world, not just as dancers, but as professors of this dance. I've been lucky enough to attend several workshops with Fabian Salas. His classes are so much fun, thanks to his great personality (lots of humor). His skills as a teacher are absolutely superb. Yes, it can be hard to translate all the intangibles of being on the same dance floor with this great instructor into a 60 minutes video, but if one can't get a class with this teacher, then this DVD is the next best thing. As far as getting one's mate into this dance, all it takes is one embrace, as taught in this video, and a few simple steps to the incredible music of Argentine Tango, and you'll be hooked for life.

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Summary: Effective and fun
Review: Effective exercises in each of the 10 lessons in this video make learning tango easy and fun. The instruction is clear and to the point. Demonstrations are excellent. Fabian Salas is clearly a very talented teacher and fantastic dancer. Finally, there is a high-quality instructional video, in English, from an authentic professional Argentine Tango maestro. Can't wait for the next videos from Tango Dynamics.

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Summary: Beware of other kinds of Tango
Review: Evidently, for those of you, like me, who didn't the difference - there is more than one kind of Tango... this is Argentine Tango and not the Ballroom Tango I was learning - no "slow, slow, Tango closed" but something entirely different and not at all useful for the style I was expecting.

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Summary: Authentic and real
Review: How is Argentine Tango different from the Ballroom Tangos (American, International, Hollywood)? It is different from the Ballroom tangos in everything: music, rhythm, embrace, steps, improvisation, shoes, feeling, ..., everything. If your background is in ballroom tangos, but you want to learn the real thing, you must forget the imposters and just think of Argentine Tango as a completely new dance. For a ballroom dancer, the Argentine Tango may seem like a puzzle - all those turns and spins and stops. It can be very surprising, exciting and unpredictable. This DVD series creates the building blocks of this dance. How else would you know what the real Tango is? If it is addictive, then it's from Argentina. And that's where this video is from.

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Summary: A bit dissapointed -
Review: I am a very capable dancer, but purchased this video for my non-dancing fiancé as a foray into uncharted dance territory. Having participated and taught in multiple dance classes over the years (clearly not tango), I was surprised by how stoic and cold the instruction was. Not terrible, just poorly articulated and difficult to understand at moments. I do find myself stopping and backing up to say "what did he say there?" - I think this is mostly due to the fact that the instruction is coming from off camera (making it impossible to visually identify by watching the speaker) with a somewhat thick (though most often understandable) accent, and sometimes feels distant from the action at hand. Although they are qualified and capable dancers, the video is... well.. a bit dull at moments. In short, if you are a somewhat experienced dancer and you are able to quickly pick up demonstrated steps with little audio support, you should have no trouble with the video. Someone like my fiancé will not be well engaged, and will likely get bored. I still think it a very worthy buy, but not the God-send to Tango beginners that most reviewers make it out to be.

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Summary: Logical and enjoyable
Review: I am just a beginner, but I find this instructional series (all three volumes) to be very logical and well prepared. It allows me to progress very fast and not forget what I've learned in previous lessons. It is also very enjoyable, as I am having lots of fun with my partner.

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Summary: By far the best
Review: I have purchased a bunch of other instructional Tango videos, but this one is by far the best. Maybe it's simply a personal connection with the instructor's style, but the introduction dances as shown in this DVD by Fabian and his partner are exactly what I feel the Argentine Tango is about. This DVD's image quality is excellent. The instruction is easy to follow and leads you into the dance steps fluidly. It also gives you the inspiration to improvise, which I believe is the real Tango. Certainly, one can learn the steps in sequence and just keep repeating them, but you are shown each item as a separate building block, which leaves you with specific steps that you can build into your own dance. Most other instructional Tango videos just show you a routine. This DVD course is a terrific and I recomend that people get the whole set.


Rating:
Summary: Ideal start
Review: Ideal start to the tango is what this video is. Everything is simple, straightforward, and most importantly correct in the sense of authentic argentine tango. Once I mastered this volume 1, I was ready and not afraid to go out and ask any woman to dance with me. The proper technique, posture, and simple basic steps, gave me confidence that I needed. I am currently on volume 2, which expands the world of argentine tango walk - which immediately identifies and differentiates this dance from anything else out there. I just can't stop walking - the argentine way.

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Summary: Master level instruction
Review: Tango can be one of the hardest dances to learn by video but this video makes it very easy.
After following the detailed instruction in this dvd you will be able to Tango with style for a complete Tango song.
Each of the steps flows beautifully into the next step so the flow you learn is great.
Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Best in class
Review: This instructional video is the best in its class. Lessons are simple and fun, progression is quick and easy, yet the tango being taught here is the authentic Argentine tango. What more can one ask? Well, maybe a DVD edition ... In any case, this is the best way to start learning the most intimate dance of all time - the Tango!