[Tango-L] Your milonga secrets

[Trini y Sean (PATangoS)]

--- On Wed, 12/17/08, Jay Rabe <jayrabe at hotmail.com> wrote:

The problem is that I
> may "hear," and focus on and dance to, something
> different in the music than what my partner hears. In the
> slower tango and valz, this is not a problem, but in
> milonga, everything is going so fast that if she is not
> hearing and dancing to the same theme in the music, we can
> misstep. In my own dancing I notice this happens most in the
> transitions between dancing on the beat vs. dancing
> double-time, or dancing on the beat vs. pausing. 


I have the same problem, too, when I lead.  The secret for the women is that they need to keep their legs very relaxed, what I call the "the rag doll".  It's as if the man is moving around like a rag doll.  The tendency for women is to tense up when things get a little hectic and they should be doing exactly the opposite.

In watching the three videos presented, what strikes me is the different flavors of the couples based largely on how the women were moving.  The men were moving with similar character, but the women presented themselves quite differently.  Mariana as very upright, Javier's partner was earthy and showed off her hips, and Elina was elegant and played with her feet.  To me, Elina seemed the most connected and expressive with her partner.  She looked quite natural and unstylized.

Trini de Pittsburgh