Learn By Looking: The Embrace

What is more important in tango than the embrace? Yes, the music is first but the embrace is an all-powerful close second. It's not only how it makes us feel, and our partner, and helps us dance better, but it has curative powers! The magical, mystical, wonderful embrace--almost holy.

Sometimes this amazing action is taken too casually, especially tango dancers from other cultures. Ok, grab each other, and get dancing as quickly as possible. Tango time is a-wastin'! In Argentina, couples in the milonga know there is all the time in the world to dance, to enjoy their tango, to embrace heart to heart; there is no rush. The embrace is the first connection of the couple, and from the very first touch, they know if the dance will be a good one or not. The embrace is foreplay, as it were, to the main event.

But do you know that how we embrace our partner can completely change how we look on the dance floor?

Here is an example of a tall lady who thought her long arm was better low on the man's back, and it's a popular style these days. But look at the difference: the photo below shows her holding down the man's arm and preventing him from using his upper arm to lead. On the right it is a more natural embrace--as one would embrace a loved one--her posture is better, and both have freedom to move within the embrace.



















Here is a petite lady who thought her arm couldn't comfortably wrap around the man's shoulders, but look! She even appears taller!































This lady is clutching her partner for dear life, but has turned her head aside as if he smells bad. (I blurred her face.) You can't see her elbow in the photo, but it's lethally pointed at the couple dancing next to them. This embrace does not appear as if they "love" each other, or even if they like each other.













This pretty lady is hiding her face and perhaps even leaning on her partner. She looks like she's enjoying herself though, but has forgotten good posture. Heads up, folks!




Whew, this grip with spread fingers makes this tanguera look like she wishes she were leading--and maybe she is! See how she is forcing her partner's right arm down? He can't have his arm up high enough around her back to lead her properly, and God forbid she's leaning on him. I've seen worse, though, with the lady's left arm almost in the man's back pocket; looking for his wallet, maybe, like the early Canyengue days?






...it is the touching of one with another that we become most fully ourselves. --Marilyn Sewell, b. 1941, American minister

Learning By Looking: Suavecito Por Favor!

Alex Long wrote after my two previous posts on Learning By Looking,

Hola Cheri...when I was at the 1 yr mark, I set up my camera on a tripod and set it to take about 8 frames per second (video is 30 frames per second) and then I started dancing with my partner. After looking at the photos, there were some very glaring things I needed to seriously work on and rein in. I remember saying to myself "what is my foot doing way out there!?"...photography can be a very helpful tool...


Alex's photo series for auto-correction sounds fabulous. Unfortunately we all don't have that kind of equipment. Maybe video in slo-mo?

So let's see some more pictures and what we can learn from them.


What the heck is happening here? Both people have equal weight between two bent knees--is it tango? Looks more like the lambada. But it also looks like they are stuck. I wonder how they got out of this?



Another guy firmly planted on two bent legs. What's he trying to get her to do? And why is her foot so far into him?



Ooh, don't twist my back like that, you're hurting me!


Don't you know you're supposed to do an ocho here?

Learning By Looking II

Here are some more examples of how we can learn by looking at photos, in our goal to become self-correcting.




The guy above has got that right leg far outside the "couple," making him vulnerable to losing his balance and/or tripping someone beside him on the floor. But just look at how he's torquing his body, using way too much force on his poor partner.



No comment here, and not any elegance either.




Another guy stepping far outside of his partner. Legs wide apart can work vertically, in long steps, for example, but can be disastrous when horizontally out to the side.





Weight on only one leg: check.
One straight leg and one bent knee: check.
But this type of pose looks affected and fake. And somebody could trip on that toe pointed so nicely outside of the couple's space.

Tango isn't hard, but it's not simple either. No es dificil, pero tampoco no es facil.

Learning By Looking--First in a Series

One of the goals of Ruben's and my classes is to help students become self-correcting. Once they have a basic technique and a knowledge of what to do and how to do it, then they will know when they make a mistake and can work on it. For this reason we usually video the class for them for personal study. This approach also helps them become better dancers faster, and so need fewer classes. One might say, good for them but bad for us. We don't agree, as the more self-aware, good dancers out there who learned from us, the better for us and for Tango in general: a win-win situation.

When Ruben and I are filmed dancing, I always critique our performance and think how it could have been better. Believe me, I am my own worse critic! In the same way, I study still photos of tango dancers, and it's amazing how obvious technique shows up in snapshots (I'm referring to candid shots, not posed photographs.) You can learn a great deal by paying attention to these captured moments--surprisingly more than by watching YouTube videos.

I love watching the parade of dancers passing by my table in the milongas. Time spent not dancing can be used well by observing and listening. That's also part of the tango process--immersion of all the senses. And it's lovely to know that there is not only one correct way to dance tango, that there is room for who you are.

Gavito used to say, "In a milonga, don't watch the good dancers, but the bad ones so you can see what not to do!"

Take this photo below: (I've smudged out the faces because I don't want to embarrass anybody. I'm sure there are awkward pictures of Ruben and me out there too, as ungraceful moments can happen to anybody. And if you see any like that of us, I hope you learn something.)

Look at the couple on the left. He has planted himself firmly with his weight between his two feet, his right knee super-bent, his posture and his hyper-extended back as sturdy and unmoving as a tree trunk, while trying to lead his partner into a gancho. He's not so much dancing as growing roots. The poor lady has no space for her left foot and the right one is sickled, so she's pigeon-toed trying to keep her balance. There is little connection between them. (However I do like her left arm and his right.)





The couple on the right, however, have a relaxed posture, are connected, each has their weight on one side and they are prepared to continue with the next step of the dance using their free feet. The lady's left arm could be higher, the embrace less wimpy, but they look like they are moving and dancing together, not growing branches and leaves.

There is always something to be learned. What do you look for in tango photographs?

For more on photo study for self-correction go here.