[Tango-L] the fear of close embrace

[Lois Donnay]

What's going on here? I don't understand. Why are people with "boundary 
issues", or those who want to perform or compete, dancing Argentine tango 
anyway? Aren't there other dances they would prefer?  Didn't they find out 
that tango was not for them at the first lesson?

I think much of the blame here lies with the teachers. Teachers need to 
teach close embrace from the beginning. Not only does it turn out better 
dancers more quickly, it lets people know what tango is about in the 
beginning, not 6 months in when they have more of an incentive to force 
their idea of tango on the community, rather than adopting tango as it is. 
Tango classes should weed out people who are really not interested in tango, 
don't you think?

Oh, yes - in my very biased opinion, it would help if all teachers knew what 
they were doing before they started to teach. I hear too many stories of 
teachers who only know fancy figures, and can't comfortably dance close, and 
don't visit Buenos Aires.  Those that don't even play tango music in class. 
Of course that's how they are going to teach. Of course they, and their 
students, could potentially change a community adversely.

Prominent members of the community can help, though. As a teacher who has 
been teaching for over 10 years, I get frustrated when I see students going 
to teachers who have 2 or 3 years of experience, because they are "new", or 
dance fancy figures.  It's human nature to run to the latest or fanciest 
thing, but learning to teach tango takes some time. Understanding the music 
takes time. So I selfishly ask - support those teachers who turn out good 
dancers! Go to their classes, and recommend them to others!  Bring in 
traveling teachers who insistently teach solid, clean basics!

And who teach tango.

Loisa Donnay
Minneapolis, MN


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sandhill Crane" <grus.canadensis at yahoo.com>


I agree that boundaries, wherever you set them, are a
serious issue, and it's true that close embrace is just
too close for some people. I don't have any problem
with dancing in an open embrace. Maybe I usually prefer
a close embrace but I don't have anything to gain by
imposing on my partner. As long as we have good
communication in the embrace, which is possible with
open or close embrace, we have a good dance, from my
point of view.

I have to take issue with your suggestions about bigger
figures, though. One can approach the essence of tango
through figures, but that's definitely the slow way to
do it. If you start out doing figures, you might never
get beyond that, and I do believe there is much more to
tango than just the steps.