[Tango-L] Embrace (Huck)

[Andreas Wichter]

Hello Huck,

I think you and Deby are talking about 2 different things, but no 
matter.
The problem you have with the embrace seen in the 9 puntos video is one 
that is not due to the embrace or the woman´s arm position per se, but 
to bad technique, often bad balance on the woman´s part. And I believe 
that women are fully strong enough to hold their own arms up. You 
wouldn´t carry their right arm for them, would you? Or maybe you´re 
more of a gentleman than I am ;-)
The thing is that the embrace Melina uses here requires more skill on 
the woman´s part than one where her arm is draped over the man´s 
shoulder. One reason for this is that if she leans on you using her arm 
the point where her weight meets you is closer to your center if her 
arm reaches high. In the "9 puntos embrace" any weight she gives you, 
be it from leaning or from plain bad balance (leaning to her left often 
happens) will have a strong leverage by being far off-center, so it is 
bothersome for your own balance.
Another problem is the squeeze that I think you refer to: in looking 
for a good connection, some women tend to rely on their left arm or 
elbow to "pull" themselves in, which results in squeezing the man´s arm 
with theirs, thus restricting the man´s movement.
The long-term solution is for the woman to practice more (but who´s 
gonna tell her?). The short-term solution I use in such a case is to 
gently move her arm over my shoulder.
And btw: Melina knows how to do it well.

Cheers,
Andreas


>       7. Re: Embrace (Huck Kennedy)
> Message: 7
> Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 16:56:02 -0700 (MST)
> From: Huck Kennedy <huck at eninet.eas.asu.edu>
> Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Embrace
> To: tango-l at mit.edu
> Message-ID: <200704192356.QAA11019 at eninet.eas.asu.edu>
>
> Deby Novitz <dnovitz at lavidacondeby.com> writes:
>>
>> The embrace you are referring to with the left arm hanging down was
>> danced here for the last 2 years.  It is now on the way out. You don't
>> see it that much.
>
>      That sounds like a good thing to me that it is
> going away, based upon my experience with it.  We're
> talking about "9 Puntos" on tangodesalon.de/en/evideo.htm,
> right?  For those who haven't seen the video and want
> to, notice how her left arm cuts across his right upper
> arm during most of the video.  I guess this must work for
> them or they wouldn't do it, but it seems to me that for
> many couples, unless she is somehow miraculously using
> a lot of arm strength (which many women don't exactly
> have in abundance) to keep the weight of her arm from
> cutting into his upper arm, he is probably going to feel
> a lot of pressure as the tanda wears on.
>
>      I've actually had my right arm start to go to sleep
> and get first very painful, and then numb, from this kind
> of continued pressure.  It can be extremely annoying, to
> the point where I finally cannot go on dancing without
> asking my partner to please move her arm to someplace
> else, a rather awkward request to have to make at best.  :(
>
> Huck
>