Tango Tijera
The 'scissors' — a leg-crossing embellishment (firulete) in Argentine tango
Tango argentinoLevel: Intermediate2 min read1 citations
The tijera — Spanish for "scissors" — is a decorative leg-crossing figure in Argentine tango, one of the catalogued partner dances whose listed entries may describe either a single style or a whole family of related forms.[1] In its characteristic shape the dancer settles full weight onto one standing leg and sweeps the free leg across it, so that the two limbs briefly open and shut like the blades of a scissor before collecting back to a neutral stance. The figure takes its name directly from that image: in the Rioplatense tradition of Buenos Aires and Montevideo it is called tijera (plural tijeras), the Spanish word for scissors, after the crossing legs.
As an ornament the tijera belongs to the vocabulary of firuletes — the small adornos threaded into the dance rather than figures that carry the couple across the floor. Most often the leader places a tijera on his own free leg inside a held pause, but the same cross can be led onto the follower or interlaced between both partners' legs. Because it rests on a single stable axis instead of on travel, the figure is timed to the music's pauses and cadences rather than to a fixed numbered beat, which lets it sit naturally with the lyrical, sustained orchestras and read awkwardly against fast, staccato playing. As with most tango embellishments, its exact shape and emphasis vary from teacher to teacher and across dancing lineages.
How it's danced
Lead and follow cues
CountNot counted in fixed numbered beats; placed within the phrase, typically inside a held pause (la pausa), against the 2/4–4/4 tango pulse rather than on a numbered count.
Lead
Collect onto one standing leg and bring the partner to a stable shared axis inside a pause, keeping the embrace quiet. Then either cross the free leg over the standing leg as a personal firulete, or, through a small dissociation and a clear weight settle, indicate the follower's free leg to cross over hers — the working foot passing across so the legs trace a scissor — before collecting back to neutral and resuming the walk.
Follow
Stay tall over the standing leg and keep the embrace; do not anticipate. If the cross is the leader's own adornment, remain grounded and still on the shared axis through the pause. If it is led onto her, allow the free leg to cross over the standing leg on the settle — the working foot passing across to form the scissor — then collect back to neutral and continue, matching the moment the leader places it.
Song timingBest suited to lyrical, cadenced tangos with clear pauses — orchestras in the vein of Pugliese, Di Sarli, or Troilo at moderate social walking tempos, where the cross can be suspended in the music. Because it is held in the pause rather than driven on the beat, it sits awkwardly in fast, staccato D'Arienzo-style tangos and in milonga, which leave little room to hold the scissor.
Learn first
Prerequisites
- La caminata — a grounded, balanced tango walk
- La cruzada — comfort with the follower's cross
- Single-axis balance held on one standing leg
- Disociación — torso/hip dissociation
- Free-leg control and the ability to dance and hold a musical pause
Watch out
Common mistakes
- Leaning or sitting into the cross instead of staying tall over the standing leg, so the axis collapses and the embrace is pulled off-balance
- Anticipating or self-leading the cross (follower) rather than waiting for the settle that places it
- Forcing the working leg with a tense, lifted hip instead of letting it cross from a relaxed dissociation
- Turning a contained decorative cross into a large traveling step that disturbs the partner's axis
- Hitting the cross hard on a beat rather than suspending it within the pause, which flattens its musicality
Don't confuse with
Easily confused moves
- Cruzada / la cruz — the structural cross of the feet in the salida and basic, a led collecting cross rather than this decorative scissor
- Gancho — a leg hooking around the partner's leg; a catch, not a crossing-over
- Sacada — a displacement stepping into the partner's vacated space, not a leg cross
- Boleo / voleo — a whipped free-leg movement off a change of direction; a different dynamic, not a held cross
- Sentada — a 'seat' figure in which one partner sits on the other's leg
- 'Scissor' footwork in other dances (e.g. salsa or line-dance scissor steps) — unrelated movements that share only the name
Around the world
Other names
Buenos Aires (Rioplatense, canonical)
tijera
also pluralized 'tijeras'; Spanish for 'scissors', after the crossing legs
Montevideo, Uruguay
tijera
same Rioplatense term shared across the Río de la Plata tango tradition
English-language classes
the scissors
occasional descriptive gloss; the Spanish 'tijera' remains the operative term
References
- 1.List of dances — Wikipedia contributors, Wikipedia, Lead section
How to cite this article
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Bailar Editorial Team. (2026). Tango Tijera. Bailar Biblioteca. Retrieved June 29, 2026, from https://bailar.site/biblioteca/move/tango-tijera
Bailar Editorial Team. “Tango Tijera.” Bailar Biblioteca, 2026, bailar.site/biblioteca/move/tango-tijera. Accessed 29 June 2026.
Bailar Editorial Team. “Tango Tijera.” Bailar Biblioteca. Accessed June 29, 2026. https://bailar.site/biblioteca/move/tango-tijera.
@misc{bailar-move-tango-tijera, author = {{Bailar Editorial Team}}, title = {{Tango Tijera}}, year = {2026}, howpublished = {Bailar Biblioteca}, url = {https://bailar.site/biblioteca/move/tango-tijera}, note = {Accessed: 2026-06-29} }
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