[Tango-L] Torso (hips)

[Jake Spatz]

Tango For Her wrote:
> --- Dubravko Kakarigi <dubravko_2005 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>   
>> When I teach and demonstrate something, either with
>> a group or individually, I insist on folks paying
>> attention to my torso [...] and my hipwork
> That is SO true.
Come on... this is soccer lesson #1. Don't watch the ball, watch the 
guy's navel. He can fake you out with everything except that.
> Watching her hips allowed me to experience some really cool musicality.
Not sure how you could see her hips while you're dancing with her, TFH, 
but... well, let's just hope it wasn't salsa musicality.

Many a month ago, a very helpful woman posted a comment about how women 
need to develop a "cintura" for tango-- i.e., a waist. I.e., one that 
dissociates horizontally (like the lid of a jar), rather than vertically 
as in salsa (like a jacob's ladder toy). That cintura, I would argue, is 
definitive of tango style; and if this were impressed on more women, I 
think it would allow them to dance more comfortably, more effectively, 
and more creatively. They can depart from it later and add other 
elements as they please-- this should go without saying. But without 
that stylistic element in place first, and its centrality understood, a 
woman (unless she's Argentine-- perhaps) is likely to be dancing tango 
with "salsa hips" for a very long time.

As someone else mentioned recently, tango is primarily a manner-- which 
I take to mean a certain style, a certain character. The woman's waist 
(and therefore her level hip movement) is, I believe, as fundamental to 
that character as the embrace is. I don't think it takes years to 
develop it (as was suggested by the woman I mention above), so long as 
someone just comes out and defines it from the start.

(Note to Chris: This is not necessarily fault-finding. It is, for better 
or worse, the imposition of a style, the definition of an aesthetic.)

As with any teaching in the arts, I'm sure people will disagree with 
this; but one is always free to reject or adapt anything. Whether that 
gets you anywhere is the question.

Jake