[Tango-L] Type A Tango

[Sergey Kazachenko]

>  I guess dancing isn't supposed to be fun when one is in training for 'dancing
> with the stars'.
[...]
>  I think that 'Salon' is simply the new catch word for covert 'performance' tango.

I just don't see what is so performance-y in her dancing. She is
keeping her feet on the floor, doing mostly walking, ochos, molinetes
and cruzadas. The only times she lifts the feet off the floor are a
couple paradas and amagues. This is all very beginner moves, for
example, Dario's Tango Guide shows them all in lessons 1-10. There is
absolutely nothing performance-y about it. The leader does stick
several more advanced moves on his part, such as lapizes, back
sacadas, etc.; it is very clear that he is doing them to show off so
that the student will come back - I've seen teachers like this before,
they loved to show off doing advanced figures to their beginner
followers' simple molinetes. If she danced like this at any tango
event here in Boston, no one would ever think "performance" or "DWTS".

Now about the teacher - can someone explain his left hand position?
His elbow makes a 90 degree (or even smaller)  angle. In my opinion,
this requires the biceps to be engaged all the time, and eventually
tires them out. I much prefer the more relaxed elbow such as in
another video she posted: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVY0KTQp3kc
Is there anything the leader can do with the straight-angled elbow
that he can't do with the relaxed one? If not, why bother? At least,
he is not raising the left hand up, statue-of-liberty style...

Sergey