[Tango-L] Close all the time vs all ranges debate ==> BS

[Christopher L. Everett]

Sergio,

It's really pretty simple. No well regarded teacher of
close embrace says that close is the only acceptable
form of social tango, not even Mr. Close Embrace himself,
Robert Hauk.  In fact, what he in fact says is that in
Buenos Aires, many old milongueros who came up in the
40's and 50's have mastered several styles, therefore
any debate about "authentic tango"  in terms of style
is altogether senseless.

Again, anyone one claiming close-embrace-all-the-time
folk dislike other styles is full of crap.  What we
refuse to tolerate is bad tango.

I'm not much given to absolute statements, but for me
the First Law of Tango is "Thou shalt connect"; every
tango disease at the individual or community level can
be diagnosed as a failure to connect at one level or
another.

I believe this debate is really about authentic tango
in terms of connection or the lack thereof.  Close
embrace, comes with more connection right out of the
box.  This makes it far more accessible to persons
of ordinary physical talent.  My personal experience
tells me so, and quite a few others will agree: people
who begin as close embrace dancers have earlier and
more profound chances to experience deep states of
connection.

This is not a knock on open embrace.  There isn't one
close-embrace-all-the-time person who doesn't admire
the accomplishment of great open frame salon dancers,
who isn't absolutely ravished and blown away by the
great ones, either on stage or among us on the social
floor: profound connection at 6 or 8 inches is a
beautiful thing to see.

By the same token, people going the open embrace route
and giving it a token effort, show a commitment to bad
tango via disconnection, and all the vices that follow.
I'm quite OK with raw beginners that can't dance, but
if you've danced in open frame for several years and
still don't have beginner level skills like stepping
on the beat, get the wax out of your ears: the voice
of God is telling you to get lots more practice and
private lessons. In the meantime, stop running into
us.  And please, our eyeballs need a rest from crappy
ganchos, dips, lead-by-yank and other obscene sights.

In other words, our cry is, "do it right or do something
else."

Christopher