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(a) Axis
Stand on your right leg, and put 100% of your body weight. Draw an imaginary straight line inside right side of your body. That is your right axis.
Stand on your left leg, and put 100% of your body weight. Draw an imaginary straight line inside left side of your body. That is your left axis.
Be very stable on each axis.
Notice you can freely lift and use the other (non-axis) leg when you are balanced on your axis.
(b) Use of axis
You use your axis leg to support your own body weight.
You can pivot around the axis, so the direction your body is facing can change.
To pivot freely, you need shoes with leather or suede sole (or socks). No sneakers.
(c) Use of non-axis leg
You can use your non-axis leg for mainly four ways;
(1) Extra balance support
(2) Embellishment (tap, boleo, etc)
(3) Interaction (stop, sweep, entanglement, wrap, sandwich, etc)
(4) Moving (to gain or control momentum by swinging, twisting, flicking or kicking)
They are not mutually exclusive but somewhat intertwined usage.
(d) Walking
Walking is shifting your axis
(e) "Ankle magnet" rule for followers ("collect your feet" rule)
Imagine you have magnets in your ankles. After taking a step (changing your axis), your ankles come together (you collect your feet).
If you think your Tango somehow looks sloppy, be very conscious about collecting feet, and do it religiously after every step. In many case, your dance starts looking much cleaner just by collecting feet after every step and also take your time to pivot.
It's leader's fault if he does not give you balance support or time to pivot cleanly. But sometimes you cannot choose your lead.
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We talked about many more things. These are some reminders and extra explanations.
