[Tango-L] variable embrace

Tue Jul 24 16:26:00 EDT 2007

Hmmm.. The embrace in tango can be variable or not. In the Apilado style, it 
is not variable at all. The dancers are connected at the chest and and the 
woman's left arm is draped over the man's shoulder. Their other arm is held 
loosely and the hand connection is also without tension or energy. I have 
experienced this first hand from such Apilado teachers as Susana Miller (I 
dance with her every time I see her at a milonga). I've also danced with 
other women who teach and dance that style exclusively and they all dance 
that way.

Another thing I've noticed is that some women who've learned that style tend 
to lean or even hang on the man. I don't know why this happens because the 
teachers (such as Susana Miller) quit teaching that stuff years ago. A close 
embrace is what all tango dancing requires. One can relax the embrace and 
make it variable in order to dance some figures. With skilled partners I 
find it very easy to dance a good variety of movements while maintaining a 
very close embrace. However, if the women hang on me or lean on me, the 
dance becomes quite limited.

Also, I enjoy dancing with partners who can dance more interesting steps or 
moves. Some movements require a lot more flexibility in the embrace as it's 
impossible to perform them if the dancers are glued at the chest. For 
instance, any turn requiring more than 3 steps to either direction is much 
easier to perform if the embrace is loosened. Centrifugal force is very much 
in evidence for many tango steps. This requires that the dancers actually 
lean away from each other. Try sometimes  taking hands with another person 
and turning circles around one another. You'll see how easy it is if you 
lean away from each other. If you lean towards each other, it's impossible 
to do.

Things like sacadas, barridas, ganchos and boleos are movements that 
originate from places in the turn (molinete, giro, etc.). All these moves 
are generated from changes of direction in the turn. All these movements are 
more easily performed with a relaxed, open embrace. Before I get flamed, let 
me hasten to ad that small boleos, sacadas and even displacements can be 
successfully done in close embrace (I do them all the time). However, no 
gancho, barrida or back sacada can be done during a close, apilado position.

Obviously, some people enjoy dancing a variety of dance moves and steps and 
enjoy the freedom of interpreting the music with more variety. OTOH, some 
people hate anything that is not their style of dance. Usually, those who 
can, enjoy dancing a variety of styles. Even some people who are not so 
skilled enjoy trying out fancy moves they see others do. Unfortunately, when 
unskilled dancers attempt more advanced moves, they usually look less than 
elegant and can interfere with other dancers on the floor. Still, this is no 
reason to rail against different styles of tango or to question their 
authenticity, validiity, etc. A variable embrace is indeed a very fine thing 
to use if needed. A close embrace is also just fine and quite pleasant to 
use.

Enjoy your own dance!!

Manuel

visit our webpage
www.tango-rio.com

>From: steve pastor <tang0man2005 at yahoo.com>
>To: shepherd at arborlaw.com
>CC: tango-l at mit.edu
>Subject: Re: [Tango-L] variable embrace
>Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:44:56 -0700 (PDT)
>
>I have come to believe that, since the term "close embrace" can mean
>   several different things, it leads to a lot of confusion.
>   The more erect you and your partner are when you are in your embrace,
>   the closer your feet are together. The more forward "lean" there is to
>   both of your postures, the more distance there is between your feet,
>   plenty enough for the woman to bring her unweighted foot across and
>   in front of herself.
>   Note, too, that when the two upper bodies are parallel to each other, it 
>is
>   possible, by rotating the upper body/bodies appropriately, and changing 
>the
>   amount of forward pressure, for the woman to feel the desire to let her 
>leg
>   go in the indicated direction, across the front of her body.
>   My experience tells me, though, that the actual physical connection that
>   I get from most partners is so weak (ie close embrace means standing
>   really close to your partner) that the woman can't feel this sort of 
>lead. Then,
>   too, there is the challenge of being able to rotate the torso more or 
>less
>   independently of the hips, and vice versa, so that the leg can move 
>freely
>   in the direction of the woman's new balance point...
>   It takes both partners being on the same page to make this work. No 
>opening
>   of the embrace is required.
>   On the other hand, if you want to open the embrace, go right ahead.
>
>
>
>
>
>Carol Shepherd <arborlaw at comcast.net> wrote:
>   In terms of following experience, close embrace to me pretty much means
>variable embrace. I was in a class at CITA with Naveira and he was
>coming around to each of the pairs and corrected my partner of the
>moment, who was a pretty new beginner. We were dancing more-or-less
>close embrace (having learned as a beginner in open embrace it was
>extremely close embrace to me) and my partner was trying to dance me
>into a space that my body simply couldn't occupy, for front ochos and
>for giro. Naveira told him "you have to change and make the space for
>the woman, and then you change and go back." Obviously ochos and giros
>can be made bigger and smaller (hence the stage and salon style
>discussions) but at some point the space inside of the right arm for a
>front ocho is either big enough for the follow, or it's not. Depending
>on the amount of COD moves the lead chooses to lead, there will be a lot
>of transitions in the embrace. I applaud the men with whom I have
>danced who have made this a seamless experience! :) The reality,
>however, is that this adjustment is a pretty difficult challenge for
>beginning dancers who lead, and it is not an issue in open embrace. I
>am not "advocating" open embrace over close embrace...just acknowledging
>that it is really important to teach leads the space transition for COD
>dance vocabulary and it is a lot for a beginner to handle.
>
>--
>Carol Ruth Shepherd
>Arborlaw PLC
>Ann Arbor MI USA
>734 668 4646 v 734 786 1241 f
>http://arborlaw.com
>
>"legal solutions for 21st century businesses"
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