[Tango-L] Close Embrace in ?

[Trini y Sean (PATangoS)]

--- On Wed, 12/10/08, Mario <sopelote at yahoo.com> wrote:
 
> The above quote has me wondering...since all Tango embraces
> are asymmetrical:
> ("..the asymmetrical nature of the embrace, closed on
> one side, more open on the other.") I was originaly taught chest to chest when in my first close embrace class.  You know
> the exercise where the couple fold their arms behind them
> and only make contact with their chests?..well, Im currently questioning the utility of such an exercise. 

Personally, I now prefer using a different technique that I learned from Alicia Pons.  The woman folds her forearms over each other (as if she's Jeannie from I Dream of Jeannie) and they rest on the man's chest.  This gets the lean and the connection and allows more room for feet for beginner's mistakes.

But anyway, "close-embrace" is the term used for straight on connection (buttonhole to bra) with very little V in the frame.  The exercise you described is quite useful because many people often do not have a sense of what being in front of someone actually means.  It's quite common for beginners to move aside their partner while thinking that they are in front.  Taking the arms away helps bring the focus on the chest and not the problems the arms can bring into play.


> The best close embrace experience I've had was when the
> woman placed her left breast between my two. I don't know if this is the legendary "V" embrace but we danced a Milonga song to die for..perfect communication coming up from our lower torsos thru the chest
> connection. .. 

This sounds like an odd connection to me, but this might just be due to body types.  In close-embrace the chests can sometimes roll open, as if they are gears in a pair of wheels, to create or close room as needed.  If you stop the rolling so that you get an asymmetric embrace that is shaped like a V, you've created the V-frame.  It's the left side of the woman connecting with the right side of the man.  The asymmetry allows for more movement and ornamentation.  The woman's head position can face the man more comfortably.  You can check out Daniel Lapadula's videos for more on the V-frame.  

There are different things to be wary of, such as the asymmetry of backward ochos and the greater likelihood of the woman taking a forward step in a turn instead of back step, among other things.  There are also things you lose, as well, with the V-frame.  The body parts that are no longer in contact cannot share in the dance.

Trini de Pittsburgh