[Tango-L] open and close embrace

[Ecsedy Áron]

Dear Keith and Nina,

I tend to agree with both of you... 

The thing is, that the tango world is not just Buenos Aires. As this is an English language mailing list, it is quite obvious that most of the readers are also not focused on Buenos Aires either. This means that both as dancers and teachers we are the products of different cultures which may have a different path or concept for our dancing (using "dancing" instead of "tango" was intentional). 

Most beginner dancers will be utterly unable to grasp most concepts that are obvious for "insiders"...like the embrace. 

Europeans I know have a difficulty with this. Hungarians are less shy or distance-keeping than many citizens of other European nations (cultures), but still when I show women how I imagine an embrace to feel like, they are usually blushing or telling me that it is maybe too intimate for them. They do not feel comfortable when embracing someone like that. To be honest, even general close embrace causes issues for many (of course, they do not realize this, just make "panic" related mistakes that are the direct results of having a partner in front of them). While women are having problems to accept the closeness and enjoy it, men have a problems as well. It is usually that they are either paralyzed having women in their path within a step or so, or they are unable to "feel" the presence of her and take notice of her position, movements, comfort level etc.

These are all psychological issues and people are more willing to learn STEPS than to participate in a quasi-therapy session (even if it is disguised as tango). Because of this many will seek out those teachers who do not make them face their intimacy issues and just teach steps, technique and no emotional stuff. Of course, with time many will discover the emotional part for themselves, but they'll never learn how far (how strong) that may go. Of course, it helps if the teaching couple has a really strong connection (both in-dance and in life) which may be a model for their dancing.

I do not say that it can't be taught in the beginning though. Once I had a student from the US who had a really, really sweet embrace. She was a beginner with less than 6 months of experience. She was also a student of a religious school and was living in a monastery (with nuns) here in Hungary. She had very little technical knowledge in tango, but she was dancing with great enthusiasm. My kudos to her teachers in Colorado! :) 

BTW: she was very fond of modern/alternative tango, tango fusion dancing (tango + swing and/or salsa) and was obviously not trained with authenticity in mind. She was a living proof that it is possible to teach someone the love of dancing, an intimate embrace (I believe her religious background would not entirely prepared her for that), the love of music without even mentioning authentic cultural habits, forcing technique or sets of steps.

Nevertheless, teaching the (quality) embrace is an issue and I would be very happy if any of you could share some methods/exercises to make people aware of the right embrace.

Cheers,
Aron


Sunday, July 22, 2007, 7:21:50 AM, you wrote:

Keith> When my female students are preparing for their first milonga,
Keith> I always tell them one thing - while most men
Keith> are there to dance, there are a few who will be there to
Keith> cuddle. Igor is definitely there to dance - not sure about
Keith> Ron. And, for you flamers out there, I don't mean that close
Keith> embrace dancers are all cuddlers. Open embrace is easier 
Keith> to learn for Asian beginners but close embrace should always
Keith> be the final goal. And, by then, they can dance both.

Keith> I hesitate to call it the 'Real Tango' but close embrace is
Keith> what they do in BsAs and that's always the determining factor 
Keith> for me. Also, it just feels so damn good - the dancing I mean, not the cuddling :-).

Keith> Keith, HK


Keith>  On Sun Jul 22  7:54 , "Igor Polk"  sent:

>>Ron wrote:

>>Imagine this. You're at a milonga. The club is crowded and the temperature
>>is warm. … You spot a women with warm smile. She responds to your invitation
>>to dance. As you embrace, she extends her arm over your shoulder
>>affectionately, drawing you closer to her gently. She places her cheek
>>firmly in contact with yours. As you dance, the emotion of the music
>>overcomes both of you. Your breathing becomes heavier, also more
>>synchronous. The two of you move and breathe as one. The heat of the club
>>and the passion of the dance releases sweat on your face. …
>>-----


>>Ron, are you dancing or just standing hugging each other?  

>>Of course, if you are stand standing or are doing clumsy 8-count by 8-count
>>it is hard to make open embrace as intimate as stand standing in close
>>embrace.

>>Igor.





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-- 
Cheers,
 Ecsedy                            mailto:aron at milonga.hu