[Tango-L] Connection, how do you teach it?

[Trini y Sean (PATangoS)]

Before one learns to connect, one must learn how to listen.

In one of the first workshops I took with Jaimes Friedgen
in Ann Arbor, he did an interesting class in which he
instructed the women to think of a step.  The men would try
to interpret the step.  So when the woman thought of a
step, her body would unconsciously move in a certain way. 
The man’s job was to pick up on those cues.  No, it isn’t
easy.  

It reminded me of the Alexander Technique mind-body
connection:  The body moves in the way the mind thinks, and
vice versa.  My most memorable dance was just that way.  I
would just think of something (as a follower) and my
partner would just lead it.

Jaimes is one of the extremely few dancers I know of that
have a great connection in open, one that can be as deep as
a close embrace connection.  But he also invites the
connection from the woman.  In the dances I have had with
him, it was if he was asking me "what would you like to do
next?"  It was this connection that brought me back to
open-embrace.

Trini de Pittsburgh

--- Igor Polk <ipolk at virtuar.com> wrote:

> Connection, how do you teach it?
> 
> Since many dancers agree that connection is the most
> important for open as
> well as close embrace, I guess it is a useful topic. Can
> you give me some
> reference to a useful material? It does not have to be an
> argentine tango
> dance.
> 
> How do you teach connection, especially in open embrace?
> 
> Igor.
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Tango-L mailing list
> Tango-L at mit.edu
> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
> 


PATangoS - Pittsburgh Argentine Tango Society 
Our Mission: To make Argentine Tango Pittsburgh's most popular social dance. 
http://www.pitt.edu/~mcph/PATangoWeb.htm


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com