The “Tango Leg Sweep” Dangerous on Social Salsa Floors

The newest dance craze of combining Salsa on1 or Mambo on2 with Tango styling elements has caused a girl to fracture her wrist, because of another female dancer not seeing that her victim is moving in her direction. She starts to execute her Tango Leg Sweep and inadvertadly causes a bad accident to happen.

Tango Styling vs. a Crowded Social Dance Floor

Both Argentine and Modern Tango (or Tango Paris Style) are dance forms with the ladies dancing fast and fancy footwork. Many Tango 'show dance' moves are becoming semi-standardized dance techniques  international Salsa styling & partnering classes. Accidents happen mainly because:

• many instructors will not tell their students the safety measures they have to take whilst dancing on a crowded social Salsa dance floor. 
• the Salsa students and/or their instructors do not care and/or do not even think about other people's safety whilst dancing on a crowded dance floor.

The partnering dance technique called “The Copa” started as a “Non Leadable” dance move and became a semi-standard in Salsa. This process of a dance style incorporating styling elements or dance techniques from other dance forms and standardizing them can also be seen in the semi standardization of the “Ochos” in Bachatango and in the growing influence of Brazilian Zouk in Kizomba dancing. An anonymous Latin dance instructor said, “ A growing number of international American Latin Dance competitors are now adding Salsa dance techniques and Styling elements to their Samba routines.”

The Copa can be executed dangerously, but most of the time it is safe to dance it on a crowded dance floor. It is a safe dance technique because a lady stays close to the man while she executes it.

Here are some basic Guidelines for Maintaining the Safety of Others on the social dance floor:

• Danger grows with the amount of distance couples take to execute their styling or dance techniques.
• The limbs of the dancers can turned into dangerous weapons on the dance floor.

The “Tango Leg Sweep”

The “Ronde”or “Hook Turn” dance technique also involves drawing part of an imaginary circle with your big toe pointing on the floor. You can do it with your knee bent, or by stretching your leg. The “Tango Leg Sweep” is sometimes executed by the followers in the following manner:

• They bend through their left knees.
• They usually stretch their right legs backwards or sideways whilst trying to draw a great part of the imaginary circle with their big toe pressed on the floor before they come up again. 

Just think of your leg as The Grim Reaper's Scythe the next time you are dancing Salsa on a crowded social Salsa floor and planning to do a large Tango Leg Sweep. Chances are you will see one or more social Salsa dancers falling down like fresh cut corn or bowling pins.

Watch this instructional clip in which the instructors of Latin Villange explain several dance elements for Tango show dancing. Have you seen it?  Now,  try to remember seeing these same techniques being danced on the Salsa, Mambo & Bachata social dance floor.