Fiesta Tango

A slow tango that starts in reversed Kilian and finishes in Kilian, with a change of edge held over six beats and a run of backward steps.

Also called Tango Fiesta. 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, 108 beats a minute. The hold is reversed Kilian, then Kilian from step 11. Both partners skate the same steps. 16 steps and 32 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. 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-16. Skate Canada's diagram of the same dance is drawn at a different size; allowing for that, its steps sit on average 1.0 m from these.

Step	Edge	Beats	How
1	LFO	2
2	RFO	2
3	LFO	1
4	RFI	1	progressive
5	LFO	2
6	RFO	2	cross roll
7	LFI	2	cross step behind
8	RFOI	4 + 2	swing
9	LFO	2
10	RFI	1
11	LBI	1	open C step
12	RBO	2
13	LBI	2
14	RBO	2
15	LBI	2	cross step in front
16	RFI	2

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, CR, XB, sw, opCSt and XF come from its key.

Both partners skate the same sixteen steps. They start in reversed Kilian hold and change to Kilian at step 11, where an open C step turns them backwards, and they keep that hold until the dance starts again. The tango here is slow, and US Figure Skating asks for upright carriage, soft knees and leg swings that match.

Step 8 is the one with room in it. It starts as an open stroke on the right forward outside edge, the free leg swings on the third count, and from then on the free leg is the skater’s to use, as long as the change to the inside edge comes exactly on its beat, four beats in.

British Ice Skating sets it at National 3 for pattern dance, beside the Festival Cha Cha. New Zealand’s KiwiSkate assesses it on the fourth dance badge. US Figure Skating calls it the Tango Fiesta.

Appears in

No test syllabus recorded yet.

Where it sits in one country's grades is on that country's copy of this page: UK, USA, Australia or New Zealand.