[Tango-L] Smooth Tango :: Two tone wingtips do not a leader make

[Alex]

Hola Richard,

No I didn't write that document...will have to read it later...running out
the door...

That may be my bad as far as equating salon to open and milonguero to
close... that's what I've been taught by the multitude of teachers I've
studied with...and gleaned from the research I've done...

That salon and close embrace are danced to different tempos - this is the
first time I have ever heard this...

A better way to say it may be that close embrace almost never compromises
the embrace...and salon almost always compromises the embrace...am I wrong
about this?

I think part of the difficulty in communicating about tango is that we all
have different perceptions and understandings about the various terminology
and pedagogy....

I've been dancing for 4-1/2 years, but still consider myself a
beginner...and will for another 8 years or so... 10,000 hours or 12 years,
whichever comes first, seems to be the cusp...

Take care,

Alex
www.alextangofuego.blogspot.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Richard 
Sent: Friday, February 06, 2009 9:37 AM
To: Alex
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Smooth Tango :: Two tone wingtips do not a leader
make

Friday, February 6, 2009, 9:33:59 AM, you wrote:

A> But then again, he is dancing open embrace/salon style, and only
momentarily
A> coming into close embrace from the few seconds of each video I watched. I
A> aspire to close embrace, milonguero style.

Alex -

One of the things that continues to astonish me is that many beginning
dancers -- and for all I know many experienced dancers -- think that
if you are holding your partner close to you, then you are dancing
close embrace. In fact, in salon tango you are pressed against your
partner until you need to do a figure (front ochos spring to mind)
where the embrace needs to breathe. Close embrace itself doesn't open
up, uses a subset of the figures of salon tango, and is danced at a
slightly different tempo than salon tango.

Regards/Richard

PS - I have attached the latest version of a document I received.
Which, for all I know, you wrote.