[Tango-L] Bruno Alfonso post re Chicho's embrace

[Nussbaum, Martin]

Bruno, the embrace used in the Chicho Poema clip is known as a "V"
embrace.  It is actually used quite a lot by traditional salon dancers,
as well as more "modern" masters, such as Gustavo.     It is much more
versatile than the flat-on, chest on chest embrace, in that transitions
and turns that might require a slight loosening of the embrace- to what
I call a "semi-open" embrace,  result in an effect similar to the
breathing of the bandoneon,  bellows opening and closing. From the
square on apilado embrace, such changes are more rare, if they occur at
all,  because they would be far more abrupt and noticeable, also because
those who dance it really want to keep the apilado throughout the piece.
The v embrace also allows the woman to maintain her separate axis more,
especially if it is opened a little further in a giro.  I am sure we
will see a lot of posts disagreeing with this, but I think the v embrace
sued by chicho lets the follower rotate her hips more in a turn, and
take bigger steps which allow for things like sacadas, whereas follower
in apilado tend to turn with hips kept facing more toward leader, which
causes turn steps to look like short back crosses.  I may not be
explaining this very well, but you should experiment with different
types of embraces, you may find that you prefer a particular embrace for
some partners but not others, and for some music but not others.   
 
" I very much enjoyed these Chicho's interpretations. Very lyrical and
sensitive to me. I have a naive question regarding his embrace. It is
not a very traditional apilado or at least what I kind of conceive as
a more traditional one, where the partners face each other more
"straight forward". I can see how this one looks more confortable for
certain moves and interpretations. '