Friday, August 03, 2007

El abrazo

BTW – what is it with the abrazo? I mean, I can´t make it out, it seems that you simply either have it, or you don´t. But surely something can be done about that?! Imagine milongas full of leaders with that wonderful, warm, firm yet tender, comfortable embrace... Paradise, isn´it? In reality, I know, such an embrace is rather rare. And you have its opposite, an embrace which either just isn´t there (you know what I mean?) or, worse, the forceful, stiff version, extremely uncomfortable to the point of impeding your dancing. I hate that. Which is why I got into this rant...

I went to a local practica two days ago; like I said, it´s a small town, one teacher of tango only, so the community isn´t numerous. They are, however, very nice and open, and I had a very pleasant evening, where in turn I got to dance with practically all the local leaders present. Two of them were fairly good, one horrible and one wonderful.

Now, the horrible one, apart from a muddy lead and scarce musicality, had that particular unpleasant embrace; it was so unpleasant I had to ditch him after the third dance (didn´t want to seem rude and haughty since it was my first tango evening here and like I said, the community is very small... also, I thought he might improve... but he didn´t, seemed actually rather pleased with himself, and when he invited me again later that evening I turned him down with a polite but decided ´no´. I had even asked him how long he danced, ready to make allowances for his inexperience, but when he said four years, I gave up all hope).

The wonderful leader, on the other hand, was an elderly man who was clearly a born dancer. He had obviously danced tango for a very long time, and was very subtly musical into the bargain. But what made the dances so great (I couldn´t stop dancing with him, it was so nice I had that wide smile of total bliss on my face) was not so much what we did with our legs and feet (which wasn´t bad either), but the embrace. It was The Embrace. And it´s funny how you can tell from the very start that a man who holds you like that simply cannot be a bad dancer. I mean, maybe it´s just a coincidence, but have you ever danced with a leader with a great embrace who was a bad, non-musical dancer?

And so I wonder – shouldn´t the tango teachers devote more time to the technique of the abrazo? Shouldn´t they make sure their students understand how important, even essential, it is for good tango? Some people have this gift and don´t need to learn it – some men just know how to hold women better than others – but I am sure that those who do not have this gift could greatly improve their embrace, if they only tried hard enough. Because to me, the biggest problem seems to be that those people are entirely ignorant of their faults... Will somebody tell them, please....!




I don´t know, this seems like a really nice embrace, doesn´it?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's an interesting post.
However you didn't really explain what makes the bad embrace bad and the wonderfull one wonderfull...?

one2tango said...

Dear patadura,
I see your point - if leaders are to improve their embrace, they must know how to go about it, right? Well, it is very difficult to describe that something which makes the difference, it´s a mixture of several elements. I´ll try to describe what I feel as un/pleasant:
The embrace should be firm (you know that ´protected´ feeling?), but natural and relaxed, not stiff, and not too tight - I think in practice this means the main support should be provided by the forearm and by no means by the palm of the hand, let alone fingers - that tends to be unpleasant and doesn´t provide a strong lead.
Of course, the embrace should adapt throughout the dance, which may sound obvious, but often isn´t so in practice.
Also, the follower needs to feel the leader (I think that this is similar the other way around, leaders always speak about followers´ ´presence´ - so you probably know what I mean).
It often boils down to leading with your chest, and not your arms - I personally find that the dynamic impulse necessary for ganchos and boleos ought to come from the leaders´ chest - it is the kind of impulse that automatically sends a relaxed leg into a boleo or a gancho; whereas if it is only led with the arms, I understand it, but have to provide the energy myself, which is wrong.
Of course, this is about leading, but I find that a good or a bad embrace often coincides with a good or a bad lead... Maybe it is about people´s ability to physically connect with other individuals? In any case, the key word to describe a wonderful embrace is ´natural´. Relaxed...
I remember my teacher used to tell me, when my embrace got stiff as I was concentrating too hard on my moves, to change it into a light caress - it works wonders, it immediately relaxes grasp and your whole torso! Though, I admit, it might not be the kind of thing to try with a complete stranger at a milonga;)

Anonymous said...

Nice article and nice tips you give, one2tango. I will add one (I don't know how to write correctly in english): That your chest be concave and not convex. Of course, in a subtle way. Your partner will feel a lot more comfortable if feels your chest clearly. And is easier for her to feel your lead.
Well, one2tango, the embrace is indeed one elusive thing to describe and specially to master.
Besos!

one2tango said...

Thanks, Tanguillo. I totally agree with the chest thing (I think you meant to say it SHOULD be convex, right?) Besides, men ALWAYS look better with a convex, rather then concave, chest - don´t they? ;)

Anonymous said...

Yes, that's what I meant. You can correct it in my comment if you want :)