Recent report card

Observations of some subtle changes appearing in my Tango recently.

Embrace:

Lately I am beginning to notice a preference for a more flexible embrace – that is, a slight V-hold with, from time to time, about a finger’s gap between myself and my partner. I suspect this may be similar to the salon-style embrace often discussed on Tango-L, as I had mentioned before. While most of a lead is still done with the impetus from the chest, the arms (or more specifically, the bend in the elbow) are also useful (and critical in some situations) for the purposes of leading. There seems – and without any conscious effort on my part – to be a shift from a strict adherence to the close embrace I mysteriously picked up while in Berlin and subsequently adopted for social dancing for most of the past two years, to a more fluid approach, which Esteban/Evelyn seem to advocate these days.

Improvement?

Hard to say at this point, but this definitely allows more possibilities. Perhaps due to the fact that I am dancing with a larger diversity of people these days, and at various levels of dancing. this is the start of an evolution in my style!? In one sense, the issue of embrace has gone one full circle – I started learning using the open embrace – but I am now approaching a outwardly similar embrace with a better understanding of the general principles and mechanics of movement.

Speed (or lack-of):

As a result of a quick workshop with Royce & Jean Michel I think I can appreciate better the necessity for pauses while dancing, both for musicality and establishing better connection. In the past, I have often felt the anxiety to be “doing something” constantly, invariably driven by the melody or the rhythm in the music. By observing their particular interpretation of the music, I am beginning to see alternatives when given the same piece of music, and can at least can experiment with more pauses and some subtle variations. To be sure, the pauses I mention are those other than the very obvious “lulls” in the dramatic pieces by Pugliese/Piazolla, but in the not-so-obvious ones like the rhythmic tunes of D’Arienzo/Biagi.