[Tango-L] On Axis, Off Axis

[Neeraj Korde]

I am no nuevo expert but anyways I like discussions about tango technique...
One instructor said this,( and I found it convincing) - if you are dancing
in 'strict' close embrace, i.e. the chests are in close contact and both are
turning around a common axis then the front and back steps of both will be
actually front cross and back cross respectively.

Here cross refers to the act of just placing the foot in front/back of the
other without any or minimal rotation of hips. (In fact the rotation of hips
is limited by the fixed relation between the two upper bodies.) The axis of
the foot which makes the cross is roughly the line through the toe of the
supporting foot thru the person's head.

Also note that if the woman is leaning she has to move the body/free leg
about a tilted axis which is little more limiting as far as taking steps is
concerned.

Now if the man is just standing and turning around inplace with the woman
orbiting him **maintaining the strict close-embrace**, then its still the
same - the woman's front and back steps will actually be front cross and
back cross respectively. Now if the strict embrace loosens a bit where the
woman's chest can *roll over* the man's chest thewoman can take bigger Front
and back steps since the body has already turned a little bit and the
dissociation of hips from the upper body can add a little bit more. Again
the woman can choose to be tilted or straight. I think a vast majority of
close embrace dancers will have this kind of loosened embrace with the
womans axis tilted in a little bit. A vast majority of nuevo followers will
choose this loosened embrace but with a vertical axis. The reason being
tilted axis is more limiting than vertical axis when it comes to taking
front and back steps of the molinette. It is this ability to make cleaner
front and back steps that allows for all the fancy stuff that follows.

Not to imply the one form is superior since they both have different appeals
which are beyond the scope of a strictly technical discussion like this.

Hope that helps.
Neeraj

PS
0. Actually the tilted axes of the pair referred to above are a little askew
because the heads can't blend together making the embrace a little
'one-sided' which explains why turns on one side are more popular than
others.

1. For men with huge bellies the follower has kind of a huge sphere or
beachball to rollover. Also the distance between the legs will be more. It
can almost be argued that a rotund man's close embrace is a thin man's open
embrace.

2. Since evan brings out the topic of vague exressions in tango teaching,
can someone explain me what does 'Grabbing the floor' mean ?

On 5/7/06, Igor Polk <ipolk at virtuar.com> wrote:
>
> It seems to me that many open embrace teachers pay very special attention
> to
> verticality of the axis ( of possible and real rotation, Evan ),
> especially
> women's. I am dancing mostly in close, I like lean, so can someone
> experienced, someone from Tango Nuevo give good explanation why you
> consider
> verticality of the axis very important?
>
> It is possible to dance molinete when individual axis is not vertical (
> tilted toward the center ), so why verticality is important?
>
> Igor Polk
>
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--
Groucho Marx - "Anyone who says he can see through women is missing a lot."