[Tango-L] How do you create a connection?

[Trini y Sean (PATangoS)]

--- On Tue, 9/8/09, Trystan Spangler <trystan.s at comcast.net> wrote:

> In another lesson before a milonga, a woman I was
> practicing with took a big breath right as the music swelled and we did a side step. Wow.  Did you know some followers can lead a step just by when
> they exhale?
> 
> So what tricks have you discovered to create connection?

Funny, usually inhaling has the opposite effect of suspending the movements.  I assume you were in close-embrace.  It's a trick you can use, too.  When the man inhales and makes himself taller, it has the same effect on the woman, essentially stretching out the knee of her standing leg so that she can't step far.  When the man exhales, her knee softens and she can step.  The same thing can occur when the roles are reversed.  I suggest revisiting your memory and break it down to smaller parts if you want to understand what happened.

As for your original query, creating suspended movements or small movements are a great way to get her attention.  Another is to dance to the sycopas and other musical accents (freezes, etc.).  Not necessarily her dancing the syncopas, but your dancing the syncopas while she's just hitting the strong beats or even waiting forces her to listen to your feet.  It makes me smile when I feel leaders doing that.  Simply dancing to the strong beats or the QQS rhythms merely gets one into automode.

Trini de Pittsburgh