[Tango-L] Tall Tango Dancers

Thu Jun 7 17:50:27 EDT 2007

Hi Mash,

Here are a couple of tips concerning close-embrace tango
that I haven't heard mentioned.  It's been useful to one of
our 4'11" student who dances with 6' Sean and taller guys.

GETTING LONGER STEPS FROM YOUR PARTNER
- It's much easier for women to take longer steps when they
allow the man to carry their weight as they transfer their
weight.  As long as the woman keeps her core and the man
shares his weight with her, she will still feel weightless
to the leader.  This shared weight will occur if you're
apilado, which can be acheived if you're in a neutral
position by keeping your chest (or point of contact on the
torso) still while repositioning your standing leg slightly
back.  Then you will just make sure to soften her knee so
she can bend it as needed to take a longer step backwards
while leaning against you.  For example, if you want to
step forward with your left foot, reposition your right
foot without changing her position, and then step forward
with your left.  You'll both be in a lean and should feel a
stronger pressure during the initial part of the step.

The shared weight is also helpful for her taking long steps
forward.  I don't know of anyway to trick her into sharing
weight going forwards though if she doesn't already know
that technique.

REACHING HIGHER IN THE EMBRACE
- The trick to the woman lifting her left arm higher for a
tall man is for her to rotate her upper arm and then lift. 
The bone of the upper arm is shaped with a knob at the top.
 If she just lifts her arm, that knob will push up the
collar bone, which will limit her mobility and may cause
her arm to feel heavy.  However, if she rotates her upper
arm counterclockwise, the knobby part of the bone will be
out of the way of the collar bone.  She can then lift her
arm much higher without forcing up her shoulder.  

You can try it by placing your right arm on your left
shoulder and lifting your arm both ways.  It should be a
noticeable difference.  I usually teach the movement with
the right arm first, with the palm side of the hand as the
head of a snake that is slithering up a tree.  Then it's
easier to transfer the movement to the left arm.

Hope that helps.

Trini de Pittsburgh

--- 'Mash <mashdot at toshine.net> wrote:

> Thanks to everyone who has emailed me on and off the
> list.
> 
> It's been good to see Krebs in action and where I think I
> could focus on
> improving, and polishing up. (Dare I say, even on Krebs.)
> I am very much in the agreement that the hand should be
> lowered to the
> shoulder level of the follower, unless they are
> comfortable otherwise.
> 
> If anything I have a determination now to use my height
> and focus on not
> trying to be smaller, but to work on fluidity.
> Being taller overall should lend to the grace of the
> dance rather then
> hinder it.
> 
> 'Mash
> London, UK
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, Jun 06, 2007 at 11:07:16PM +0000,
> rockies at comcast.net wrote:
> > 
> >  -------------- Original message ----------------------
> > From: Stephen.P.Brown at dal.frb.org
> > > Mash:
> > > 
> > > I'm not 6'5", but I am taller than many tango
> dancers.
> > > 
> > > Knowing Alex Krebs and having seen him dance with
> numerous partners that 
> > > are quite a bit shorter than he is, I don't agree
> with the assessment that 
> > > he alters his posture.  Look at Alex dancing with
> Luciana Valle on 
> > > YouTube.
> > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKm_fScjyWc
> > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJcuRuAj9W0
> > 
> > I know Alex reasonably well also,  he was one of my
> greatest influences as a teacher. You can disagree if you
> want. Alex rarely changes his posture, and was only
> relating what he told me personally, that for very short
> partners (whose chests only come up to his navel for
> example), he alters his stance. He only does it only in
> *close* embrace (milongeuero if you want to call it that)
> , also, and not for every follower. It was subtle, but
> there.  Your example videos are a flawed support for your
> argument. The first example video only showed open, and
> the second is a v type - salon style.  They have a few
> inches seperating them - obviously there is no need to
> alter his stance for this type of dance. Second,  there
> would be no need for him to change his stance for Luciana
> Valle - she is a superb follower, capable of making
> someone 7'4" look good. Her chest falls between Alex's
> navel and his chest, so she is not tremendously shorter.
> Luciana is most likely taking cues from othe!
>  r p
> >  laces 
> > on Alex than some followers would (off his arm -at one
> point you can see her shift the embrace there- or his
> back). Inexperienced followers would likely not be able
> to follow the alternate cues. Plus, she has danced with
> Alex as his teaching partner, previously (a LOT). They
> know each other's style well.
> > > 
> > > My suggestions for tall leaders are as follows:  Keep
> your posture at your 
> > > own height; don't bend down to lower dancers.  Lower
> your left hand to her 
> > > shoulder height.  Lead with the belly and chest as
> normal and recognize 
> > > that much shorter dancers may be less able to take
> big steps backward. Let 
> > > yourself get familiar and comfortable with each
> follower before asking 
> > > much of her and yourself.
> > 
> > Well, I agree with you on most of those points anyway.
> For a really short follower in close embrace, I
> personally find that it's most important to keep the body
> core firm when leading a very short follower off the
> stomach.
> > 
> > Cheers,
> > Randy 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Tango-L at mit.edu
> > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
> > 
> 
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