RHEA PARSONS has all the right moves as she learns the art of the tango.

The tango class at the Morris Hall in Bellstone, Shrewsbury

Walking the dog along the River Severn I begin taking large steps left to right, right to left, bringing my feet together and turning my body.

I haven’t gone mad, I am in full tango mode practising my ochos.

The name for the tango step “ocho” comes from the early days of tango, and when women danced this step they would trace figures of eight into the dirt floor they danced on.

Today, the ocho is one of the main tango dance steps for women and we took it on at our second lesson at the Morris Hall in Shrewsbury.

Instructor Guy Williams shows us all of the steps with his dance partner Jan before we give it a go. Of course they make it look easy, and often it is when you are practising alone – with a partner however it becomes a different matter.

I started with Becci as my partner, and after a few mistakes and a bit of treading on each other’s toes, we began moving along the floor in rhythm.

As the leader when I am partnered with Becci, traditionally a role taken on by the man, I had to decide which direction I wanted her to pivot in the ocho and be aware of which foot her weight was on. 

Pivot

If her weight is on her right foot, I can pivot her towards my left for a forward ocho or away from my left for a backward ocho.

I hope after that explanation you can understand why sometimes we just ended up standing still, staring at each other with no idea where to go next or what to do.

We did seem to have it almost in hand at one point and when Jan pointed out I was on the wrong foot we began to finally get it.

And, the more we practised, the more it became clear exactly how it worked and what we needed to do.

After one song we swapped partners and whereas I played the lead role while dancing with Becci, I then became the woman – and had to do it backwards . . .

The strange thing for me about tango is that it is not a set dance, it does not have a beginning a middle and an end, there is just a leader and a follower.

The woman follows her male lead by working out what he is going to do next, feeling which way his body is going to turn and understanding when he is leaning forward or backwards, to get your direction right.

For anyone who has watched tango dancers in action you will see how close together they dance, this is because you need to be close in order to feel where your partner is moving to.

It is actually very, very clever and watching experienced tango dancers brings on a sense of awe at how well they understand the movements and the rythym of the music they are dancing to – another way of discovering when you should stop and go.

Taking on the ocho move was a good experience because you actually feel like you are doing the tango, but when we went back to simple walking along the floor together, which we had practised the previous week, I ended up in a twist of legs and feet again.

I took on the tango after seeing the celebs dancing in Strictly Come Dancing – they again make it look all too easy.

I think it is a hard dance to learn, and although I have faith I am learning bit by bit, whether I will ever be able to dance the Argentine tango as it should be danced is still unknown.