So let me put it like this. Tango is not like other dances you might learn. It's not about learning steps or sequences. Really. Seriously. It is not about learning steps or sequences. All those people who turn up to classes and workshops wanting to learn steps and sequences let me tell you as simply as I can - you've missed the point totally. I wish some of the teachers would do more to combat this myth but I guess they're worried about their incomes.
"Tango is not about steps or sequences."
It's not a dance. It's a language, a human language. Tango is for communicating between two people. It has some vocabulary, sure. But it is much more important to get a feel for the structure, the grammar, that ties the vocabulary building blocks together. Some vocabulary bits don't fit together, some do.
"Tango is a human language with its own vocabulary and grammar."
If you learn steps and sequences, or go on the floor determined to do something from memory then you've seriously failed. Imagine speaking to your friends or partner using only a language phrase book. Horrible. It is totally unnatural and unconnected. Sure you may get from A to D but it's not nice. It's not flowing, it's not improvised, and it certainly is not interactive in response to listening to your partner. Totally disrespectful - don't do it!
If you can't see how horrible it is, imagine if someone did it to you: "Hello John, let's go to the park", "not really I'm a little tired", "Great! I love parks!", "no really I'm a little under the weather", "Great! We will have a great time. I love parks too! We will be great friends!"
"Doing sequences is like communicating from a language phrase book - it's is not improvising, it is not listening and responding to your partner, it is not communicating."
This is why you can meet someone from the other side of the planet, with whom you don't share a verbal language, and yet you can speak meaninginfully in tango.
And while I'm at it - let me explain another illusion. Good art has two characteristics; an evocation of a history, memory, an acknowledgement of what went before; and a discipline on the part of the artist to limit himself to certain elements. Using all the colours in your crayon set doesn't make for effective art. So in tango, and contrary to what many teachers teach, just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should.
"Just because you can do it - doesn't mean you should."