Canasta Tango

The first tango: forward edges only, in reversed Kilian hold, with a chassé and two slide chassés.

Also called Tango Canasta. Other names.

dance

Not checked yet. The mechanics on this page are a first draft by a non-expert, and no coach has seen them yet. Read them as a starting point and check them with a coach. Corrections are very welcome.

The dance

Tango in 4/4, 104 beats a minute. The hold is reversed Kilian. Both partners skate the same steps. 14 steps and 28 beats to one pattern.

One sequence on a 60 x 30 metre rink, drawn upright as the rulebooks draw it, starting at the dot and travelling anticlockwise. The faint half is the same steps skated again. The dashed line is step 14 as a cross roll, which the rulebook allows. Rinks vary, and on a smaller one the pattern shrinks to fit. Measured from the diagram in U.S. Figure Skating 2026-27 Rulebook, page Dance-8. Skate Canada's diagram of the same dance is drawn at a different size; allowing for that, its steps sit on average 0.8 m from these.

Step	Edge	Beats	How
1	LFO	1
2	RFI	1	progressive
3	LFO	1
4	RFI	1	chassé
5	LFO	4	swing
6	RFO	2
7	LFI	2	slide chassé
8	RFO	4	swing
9	LFO	2
10	RFI	2	slide chassé
11	LFO	1
12	RFI	1	progressive
13	LFO	2
14	RFO	4	swing roll; may begin with a cross roll

Edges are written foot, direction, edge, and a change of edge carries both letters. The steps and beats are read off the dance diagram in US Figure Skating's 2026-27 rulebook, and the words for Pr, Ch, sw, SlCh and SwR come from its key.

Both partners skate the same fourteen steps in reversed Kilian hold, all of them forwards. It is the dance that introduces the tango rhythm, and US Figure Skating singles out three steps: the chassé at step 4 and the slide chassés at steps 7 and 10, where knee action is what carries the tango feel. Step 14 may start with a cross roll. The push for it comes from a stroke of the other foot, and a push off the toe is what the rulebook asks skaters to avoid.

British Ice Skating sets it at National 2 for pattern dance with the Dutch Waltz. New Zealand’s KiwiSkate assesses it on the second dance badge, with forward progressives in its timing. US Figure Skating calls it the Tango Canasta.

Appears in

In Australia's grades

None of the Australian level lists in this guide name it.