In between the songs, We remained embraced. Magnetically.

The frantic circus of festival milonga disappeared. Magically.

The only awareness I had was the softness of her embrace, as if I were in the cotton field.

…

She is now gone for a tango tour in other countries.

Several days after…

The warmth of her embrace, however, is still lingering in my dreams.

Here is an excerpt from the interview that I like to share:

Q. You dance with pauses, whereas many kids of your age don’t do that.
S.

It has to do with what we were saying before about introspection. It’s when you know that what you’re doing has an expressive purpose and comes from a feeling, you pause to seek that feeling and from that feeling comes the movement. But when one believes that it’s only movement, then one isn’t bothered about seeking what it is that it provokes, lo hace de manera intelectual. Yo no les creo a los phibes hoy!

He is touring in the US this month: this week in San Francisco. Next week in Baltimore.

Here is a recent performance of him and Mariana that I like very much, to a song that I love: Fresedo con Ricardo Ruiz “Buscándote” 1941

I had a conversation with an acquaintance right after I got back from Baires. We discussed the different attitudes about tango from different cultures: western European, eastern European, Russian, Asian, Northern American…. He made an interesting comment:

All these people (from this city where he lives) go to BsAs and they embrace differently. They embrace like everyone embracing down there (more or less).  But once they return home, they go back to the old way: distant, courteous and even cold. And that is pretty F%^&ed up.

I had to admit that he had his point.

… I remember we were talking, then we embraced each other and in that moment I felt 40 years of tango. In the embrace, do you understand? We hadn’t taken a single step! It was simply from the way in which you held me. For me that was the most powerful moment of the tanda. The we danced for a long time. It was great, we did all sort of things. I enjoyed myself. But the moment of that embrace, like the one of my first class and some others, have marked me in regards to my relationship with the dance. I’m talking about the intimacy of the embrace. With very few people have I been able to feel the same way, much has been lost. My wish for the dance of tango, then, is that the shared intensity returns, in the soul. Not to stay in the surface, but to feel it inside. That the genre evolves from that intimacy. The essence of tango is in the embrace and the person you are dancing with.

Coincidentally, I wrote a post not long ago about my own similar discovery. Tango is internal. As the subtitle of this blog, in my mind as always, tango is a feeling in the embrace, the music and the sound of breaths. Simple.

I am not saying that one should adorn every single song by different orchestras. I doubt that any one who is capable of doing adornment will embellish much in the De Caro’s music. But in the music like D’Arienzo, adornment is almost a must to fully interpret the energy in the music. Often I’ve seen such lifeless scene on the floor while D’Arienzo is played. As Javier would say: “sleepy”.

To embellish in 4 inch high heels to the music requires very good technical skill, great balance and strong foot. And sometimes I suspect it is another natural born Argentine thing, like the hips, that women are not inhibited to express themselves. In my opinion, adornment is the woman’s own right to express her musicality, celebrate her own individuality and show her personality in the dance. A woman has her own say in the dance.

At Sunderland, I watched a little girl age of six or seven dancing with her father, whom in my opinion was a lousy lead. She was toe tapping while led pausing, little kicks here and there while doing ochos and sometimes high kicks to kneel level. It put smile on my face, watching her.

I had spent a lot of time observing in the milongas and noticed that young portenas who dance well love embellishment. Case in point, the often criticized Samantha Dispari. I watched her dancing (not performing) in the milonga at Canning. She was adorned with great speed, accuracy and full of energy. I didn’t remember the music, but I remembered her hip was vibrating and foot was about drilling holes in the floor while tapping. I was feeling the music and the joy by just watching her dancing a few feet away.

More often now I feel the urge to express the music with embellishment; and I give time, allow space and expect the woman embellish. Nothing makes me smile and enjoy the dance more than a response from the woman with her adornment to the music. I admire her musicality and creativity. It is like having an intelligent conversation, and now I have found my match.

Tango is no longer a passive leading and following in 21st century. Men, give the lady the space and time to tell her story and feeling; Ladies, let me feel those pianos and violins through our connected chests with your leg and feet.

I adore those who adorn.

(And now I can get back to file my income tax.)

Disclaimer: The above opinion applies to established and advanced dancers only. For those who haven’t been able to walk straight back and forth ten feet on an even level, those who couldn’t balance herself/himself with one standing foot, without having to lean onto and effect the balance of their partners and those who couldn’t tell the violin from the piano or bandoneon nor the difference between music of Di Sarli and D’Arienzo….Disregard the above post and KEEP WALKING.