Many tango moons ago, Steph and friends commented on ‘men who gancho,’ their less than complimentary term for sleazy men who lead a lot of ganchos and whose motivation does not appear to be to express the music.

They didn’t seem overly fond of the movement anyway, so I decided that was something I needn’t bother learning (though I have accidentally led them). But two things changed …

There’s a limit to how much I can take in at one time. With Fede and Julia, 90 minutes is usually about right: an hour can feel a bit rushed, while two hours causes my brain to melt.

But having that private on the Saturday, and another with David on the Monday, meant that we were able to work further on the colgada – and figure out the difference between getting the outward tension 50% of the time and most of the time …

With Fede and Julia now back from Greece, I was able to resume my privates with them. Thankfully they could see progress rather than deterioration in my dance!

I know I said I wasn’t looking to learn new figures, but I am looking to expand my understanding of the building blocks of tango movements, and having been introduced to one off-axis movement in the form of the volcada, it made sense to me to understand its converse, the colgada …