[Tango-L] chicho - sorry

[Myk Dowling]

Noughts wrote:
> Myk
> 
> Chicho is definitely NOT using his arms in this clip.  It is often
> misconstrued when people use arms and when they don't.  Keeping ones
> frame is different to using the arms independent of the frame which
> would then be 'using the arms'.
> 
The frame changes shape far more radically in Chicho's 'nuevo' dancing 
than in traditional tango. There are times when the lady is more beside 
him than in front of him. I'm not saying that it's bad or evil, just 
that it is a quite different style of dance. Wherever you fall in the 
debate about whether nuevo dancing belongs in the same milongas as 
traditional dancing, you have to agree that they are different styles.

> Whilst visually different and feeling different, I can't stress this
> enough, but the leading is the same.  Very hard for most salon/close
> embrace dancers to understand as they rarely get enough time/skill to
> lead correctly when open.  Like anything, it takes practice.
>
Sorry, Damian, but I disagree. The leading is not "the same". Chicho is 
leading with his frame (using the arms to adjust the shape of the 
frame), more like ballroom dancing. Traditional tango leads from the 
chest, and your chest is always facing your partner. That's a different 
way of leading, and dancing. Chicho abandons the chest connection in 
order to make a more visually interesting and varied dance.

> Watch Chicho when he is doing close embrace or salon as well which he
> regularly performs.  Note that the hand in both close/salon and then
> in open stays roughly the same distance in front and to the side,
> hence, NOT pushing or pulling.

Did I say pushing or pulling? No. I said "using". When the person you're 
dancing with is beside your chest, then in front of your chest, then 
beside your chest again, you are not leading with your chest, you are 
leading with your arms.

Myk,
in Canberra