[Tango-L] Shocking "close embrace"

[Astrid]

I live in Tokyo where summer is basically like a cross between a green 
house and a sauna, and all the milongas are air conditioned.
Still, I know exactly who tends to sweat in the milongas and who 
doesn't. I know that after dancing close embrace with a certain man all 
the hair in and near my face will be dripping with the sweat that ran 
from his hair into mine. Do I mind?
Obviously, it is a matter of personal sympathy or not, and,very 
important, smell. Fortunately, Japanese do not usually smell, their 
sweat glands are smaller and they eat differently and bathe and shower 
all the time too.
I have a friend and colleague who does not even sweat much, but he likes 
to dress up in shirts, ties and suits, and more often than not those 
shirts are made of polyester and he obviously does not wear deodorant 
and is from the West,  which means, the polyester makes him disaster 
prone in this way. So, even though dancing with him can be fun, I 
usually try to wriggle out of it after 2 or 3 songs, as I cannot take it 
any longer than that, I cannot dance and hold my breath half of the time.
I know another guy who likes to burn a huge amount of energy on the 
dance floor, rushing around the room in huge steps, quick turns, spins 
and so on and he is a little chubby too and soon sweats profusely while 
he does it. He does not smell, he is Japanese, he is fun to dane with, 
but you end up getting wet too while dancing with him. Fortunately he 
has the good sense of wearing cotton, t shirts, mostly, and he always 
comes to the milongas with a Boston bag in which he carries all his 
extra shirts, and he changes them in the bathroom every time he got 
drenched again which I much appreciate. And he does not embrace you too 
closely when he is dripping.

Now, I very much doubt that posture or core muscles have anything to do 
with this problem, I do believe that keeping a proper diet with more 
vegetables and less red meat, less beer and trying to maintain a healthy 
or at least healthier weight would make a lot of difference.
Dressing up in suits and ties can be counter productive as they make you 
feel hot, do not ever wear anything knitted to a milonga (it feels awful 
to the partner even if you do not sweat), do bring a change of clothes, 
and the hosts should make sure that a reasonably cool, fresh climate is 
maintained in the room by using air conditioning, opening the windows or 
whatever is possible.
Yes, and if you go dancing while being hugely overweight and retaining 
plenty of water in your body, well...food for thought. Skinny people do 
not really sweat much, so maybe this is one more reason I am so lucky 
living in Japan where people live mainly on fish, rice, shredded raw 
cabbage, tofu and water.

And Greg, I suggest, you try powder instead of oil, oil might just make 
you slippery in addition to being wet.

Astrid


Endzone 102 wrote:
> I can't wear a suit and tie.  I overheat very badly if I wear long sleeves.
> (Yes, I know I'm a border case, and not typical in this at all).  I usually
> have to change my a-shirt after a milonga tanda.  I'll look in to coconut
> oil.  That sounds interesting.
>
> -Greg G
>
>