[Tango-L] Open Embrace Connection

[Megan Pingree]

On Mar 12, 2008, at 9:56 AM, David Thorn wrote:

>  ...I was mainly wondering how common it is for follows in open to  
> insist on "leaning".  I really have no better word since they would  
> most definitely fall over if I didn't hold them up.  And they do  
> tend to pull me off of my balance...

Are they leaning away from you? (I missed the beginning of the  
thread, so maybe this is a dumb question.)  But it's much easier for  
a leader to get pulled off balance if followers lean away than if  
they lean towards -- in which case, I imagine you would have said  
that they push you off balance.)

  If away from you, maybe they are anticipating colgadas.  but it  
doesn't really sound as tho that's what you are describing.

Or are they leaning towards you?   (in which case, it would restrict  
the vocabulary, and exhaust and injure you,  but you could match  
their pressure towards you).  Gee, sounds fun. :-\

If they are leaning towards you, I suspect it is due to one or more  
of these reasons:

**  they are mistaking "lean" for "connection" and "intention towards  
your partner".  Fabian caught me once in a workshop for doing that.   
It felt rather strange at first to really set my weight farther back,  
including some on my heels if not in a pivot moment.  But I certainly  
would not have fallen over without my partner holding me up, so I  
guess it's not exactly what you are asking about.
** they use a lot of lean in close embrace and heard somewhere that  
the connection is the same in both embraces.
** they literally can't stand up straight  and dance anymore, having  
practiced a milonguera lean for some time.
** they are tired, romantic or lazy.  I know women who say it's too  
much work to dance in open, to have to completely take care of their  
own axis, when they just want a dream dance.

my thoughts, Megan