[Tango-L] Where is the follower?

[Michael]

Anton:
Your teachers are correct. The woman is directly in front of you. Think of this way. Look at a door. The door has a hinge. The wall has a hinge. The hinges are interwoven. A pin drops through the hinges to keep them together so no matter how far the door swings, it's still attached to the wall.

Feel the indentation in your chest. The follower has a similar indentation. The two indentations are to line up directly in front of each other. There is an imaginary pin between the partners. No matter how far the woman rotates, the indentations have to face each other. This is why it's critical that the man has to keep his chest facing the woman. The lead comes from the chest. When the man takes the woman to the cross, he steps outside  her on his left, BUT his chest rotates to the right. This is called contrabody motion where the top half and bottom halves of the body aren't facing the same direction. It took years of yoga before I could do this.

As an experiment, practice with yourself. Hold your fingers in your right hand together and vertically place them in your indentation, which is the sternum. Put on music in the privacy of your home and just dance. The sensation of your fingers in your sternum will help you become aware of the follower when dancing. If possible, if people don't laugh at you at a practica, ask a woman to put her right hand, fingers closed, upright, in your sternum. Just dance. You'll have a better understanding of why the woman has to be directly in front of you. There is an alignment and it's difficult to dance when the alignment is destroyed. Women who push outward on their right arm throw me off the center. Your frame should be firm, not stiff. Firm and stiff don't mean the same thing.

Hope this helped. I have to return to packing for my trip to NY. The bus leaves @ 7:20 AM. Hopefully, there will be tickets available for purchase at City Center for Zotto's tango show.

Michael
I'd rather be dancing Argentine Tango

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Anton Stanley" <antonst at alidas.com.au>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Two of My Teaching Pet Peeves


In response to the below posts, could someone put me straight on the
trend to hold the follower to the right side of the leader. from my very
first lesson in Tango, it was insisted upon that I keep the follower in
front of me. I found that difficult after years of Ballroom. Even today,
my teachers insist that the correct position to hold the follower is in
front. Any comments please?

Anton