[Tango-L] open and close embrace

[Nina Pesochinsky]

There is only one embrace.  It becomes closer or more open depending 
on the crowd, the music, the partner, the movement, etc.  The embrace 
accommodates the dance and the dancers.

The separation of styles in terms of "close" and "open" embrace came 
from the foreigners that began trying to make sense of tango in the 
early 1980s.  People noticed a clear difference between the social 
embrace and the stage embrace when the show Tango Argentino roared 
through the world in the 1980s.  The open thing to which Neil 
accurately refers to as a "frame" came from that 
interpretation.  Frame does exist in ballroom dances and is a part of 
the vocabulary that was used by the foreigners in regard to Argentine tango.

In a real sense, what is called "open" social embrace now, began 
outside of Argentina and is a result of a misunderstanding that stage 
tango is not social tango.  That distance between partners is much 
needed on stage, just like the dreaded back step.  Without the space 
between partners, the dancers are invisible to the audience.  On 
stage, everything has to be made bigger.  Without the back step, 
dancers would eventually fall off the stage.  So both of these 
elements, dreaded by many social dancers, are much needed on 
stage.  But on a social dance floor,  they are silly - they do not 
serve the purpose of an intimate exchange that social tango calls 
for.  What goes on between partners in a dance is a secret.  It is 
private and is contained by the embrace.  What goes on on stage is 
entertainment and is meant for public to see.

So, open=stage, close=social.  Artistic license is allowed on stage only.

There is another extreme called "milonguero" style.  The word was 
coined by Susana Miller in the early 90's to describe the classes 
that she was offering, which were meant to give people a quick 
ability to attend milongas.  Since milongas are very crowded, many 
were satisfied learning just a few movements and not much technique 
and still be able to do something on a crowded dance floor.  I know 
this from a person who was there when the term was first 
used.  Milongueros never used that term.  Each one had developed his 
own style and was very proud of it.  And each one was very different 
from the others.

Argentines always knew that there is only one tango embrace.  This 
embrace is danced very differently when they dance to D'Agostino than 
when they dance to Pugliese.  Many of the older dancers (milongueros, 
if you wish) change the embrace ever so slightly to accommodate the 
bigger music of Pugliese and they do change the movements of the 
dance.  But it is subtle.

Argentine dancers take great pride in their embrace.  Each one takes 
incredible care of how to embrace his/her partner.  People have 
mannerisms that are uniquely their own.  Embrace is precious to 
them.  It is at the core of the dance.  It is the soul of the dance 
between the two partners.  The "frame" configurations where a man is 
holding a woman with his hands instead of arms hits at the pride of 
Argentine male dancers because no self-respecting man would hold a 
woman that way.

Embrace...  tango embrace...  Amaury, what have you done?!  This 
thing goes back to the culture, cultural values, men and women in a 
culture and other powerful things.  How men relate to women and women 
to men determines whether they dance in a frame or in an embrace.

When beginner male AT students approach me with a question "Do you 
think I can learn to dance this?", I don't tell them yes, if you can 
walk, you can dance.  Instead, I tell them that if they know how to 
hold a woman in their arms, they might be able to learn this dance.

My very best regards to everyone,

Nina