tangopilgrim.com

Today’s lesson started with dancing with Javier while Andrea was making mate. One song after, we sat down and had a priest’s ball and mate. Then Andrea translated what my problem was in the dance. All my linear movement was fine, but the circular ones I was tension and not smooth. And I was still trying to control the woman. Woman has her own responsibility in the dance. I don’t have to take her responsibility (well, not every day I got to dance with Javier or Andrea.).

Then Javier asked me to dance with him without right arm embrace. At first I was nervous, he had to stop me in the middle of the song. The next one he was very satisfied. Then I danced with Andrea the same way without right arm embrace. It was fine except when I did giro she felt a bit uncomfortable.

Then we talked about the right amount of energy in the right arm embrace. The woman should feel the heat from my arm. The embrace should be relaxed, firm yet not forcefully controlled. At times, it should make the woman want to embrace me more. I knew what she talked about making the woman wanting to embrace more. I had that experience with other followers.

Then Javier talked to me about the precision of the energy. How to visualize woman’s feet, where they are, what they are doing. How to place them in the exact spot. “Your technical is fine. Now you have to understand this secret.” he told me.

In the end he showed me the way the giro that I often do should be executed. Three simply movement. I tried it. One take, BAM, wrap it up. Tango is simple in its essence. To reach that simplicity requires a lot of preparation and work. When you get it, it is like “OH, is that simple?”

Be the first to like.

Like

Unlike

Today we continued working on small stuffs. First thing was to work on leading woman front ocho and walking out of it. We spend about ten fifteen minutes on different variations of it, adding different color.

I danced with Javier a few times. Javier said Andrea was too good at adapting to the leader. He was wearing boat shoes with flat bottom. So any fault on my movement he felt it. Well, he is no Andrea but certainly better than most of the women I have danced with. After a few adjustment, he actually loved my embrace. Andrea got a kick out of it by watching us dancing. ” muy lindo” because we both wore blue jeans and white t-shirt.

What I learned was to slow down more and not to rush the woman. I knew that it was my problem as I had been feeling it in the dance. Not natural as Javier would say. As I got more comfortable, the tension was getting less. Most of the things that they mentioned I fixed it the next song.

The only thing I needed time to digest was what Javier said and I read it from Issac’s blog before: follow the mind of the woman. How not to lead all the time. He mentioned that I was always going after the woman.

“Are you married.” He asked.
“Nope”
“Solo, an individual. Then why you listen to the woman all the time. Do you have plant at home?…” “What do you do?”
“computer” I answered, didn’t get into detail.
“Now I understand, your computer is your wife. Entiendo todo.” We all laughed.
“Don’t make me quit my job.” I told him and Andrea translated.

But seriously I understood what he meant. It was not being sexist nor macho. It was about liberating my dance, so that I could express myself and dance my own style. I had put too much into trying to lead every step. I was still at the stage on leading and following.

Now I should go to the next level: have a conversation, not just listening or speaking. It will take time for me to be able to do it naturally. It will take a equal partner to understand that. At least I know what the goal is, so I can go after it.

Be the first to like.

Like

Unlike

I was bit anxious before the class. Took the bus from the apartment all the way to Javier’s place, costs: $2 pesos. I’ve been saving quite a few pesos since gotten used to take the buses. Besides, I feel like getting to know the city more.

I felt more comfortable with them this time. We chatted a little. Andrea asked me how things are. I told her that it was hard for me to dance well in New York. Few has the embrace. She laughed: “move here.” Don’t tempt me!

We started with a Di Sarli. I felt that I was a bit tense, but overall OK. Correction time:

Walk: I had it last time. After dancing in NY for a few months, my walk got weak.

Embrace: I tended to embrace the woman. Nope, let the woman find her embrace first, then finish my embrace with her.

Attitude: Grounded and relax. Open up the elbow, expand the chest.

Giros: Let the woman go first, then follow.

There were other techniques that will free myself from leading but dancing. The second song, I had fixed the walk, the embrace and the attitude. I was still not sure the mechanics of the giros.

Then Javier continued stressing the concept of feeling nature in the dance, how to resolve problem with solution. It will take me some time to digest what he and Andrea said. I know if I understand it, my dance will go up another level.

Tina arrived around 8:00pm for her private. Since we started late, she was waiting on the balcony.

I got more comfortable with Andrea and was playing with the music at some point. She was actually playing along and seemed to enjoy it. There were some information to be digested. But I was glad that there was no major issue to work on. And at a point, Javier actually was happy with the way I handled pauses and the flow of the dance.

Time flied, I felt exhausted at the end of the class. Went back to the apartment and had dinner. Took a nap before heading out to a milonga.

Be the first to like.

Like

Unlike

“You want to put woman into sleep in the music with you.” Javier said and Andrea translated. Hence the adjustment on the embrace, the posture and the walk; get rid of the little nuisance that disturbs the tranquility and learn to respect her space and her balance.

Use the body to lead, use the mind to dance, listen to the music, listen to her body. Keep these in mind, then one would not fixate on leading the steps but the quality of each step. It may sound abstract and it is difficult to do. One’s body has to develop the muscle and strength to move smoothly.

If you watch old milongueros dancing, their upper body maintain at even level regardless what they are doing with their feet. Upper body movement is smooth, circular and calm even though D’Arienzo is playing. Less is more: less movement, deeper connection.

“Let her dream in your embrace and in the dance. Don’t wake her up…”
—Javier Rodriguez

This is what I am working on…

Be the first to like.

Like

Unlike

A lot of people say and teach close embrace as two persons hugging each other, like friends, lovers and family. That is probably the biggest misconception. Granted, there are many different ways to embrace in tango, and the embrace is changing and readjusting throughout the dance. If you watch a lot of youtube clips and pay attention to the best (or ex best) dancers’ embraces, you will find similar characteristics.

This is the embrace that is taught by Javier and Andrea. Man, the leader, opens his chest, feels it expand grande but not to stick out his sternum; left palm faces his left ears, relaxes his shoulders and chest; tucks his navel in, tightens his abs and rib cage (requires works on your core); and breathe in your chest. Then he invites the woman to come to his embrace, by holding her right hand up and over without any tension of pulling, embrace her at the level of the bottom of her breasts line, as if he places her breast over his chest and lift/support them by natural expanding his chest.

The woman, the follower, comes to the man, places her chest over his, as if she hangs herself on his chest with hers; and her left arm places naturally over the man’s shoulder or upper arm, sometimes her left palm presses in and upward to allow better connection with the man without weighing on him.

In this embrace, the contact and connection is on the chest and no other parts of the body. I find more freedom for both to move. And the woman gets much better sensation which I will talk about in “Don’t wake her up”. This is just the technical aspect of the embrace. It is just half of embrace.

A perfect embrace starts with the cabeceo, through the eyes, which also called windows of the hearts, of two persons. The man takes her right hand and invites her to the embrace. At this moment, he should show his confidence that he is the best of the floor and he could take care of her in the crowded pista and give her two wonderful minutes. The confidence is so strong that the others on the floor feel it too, so they will respect his space when he dances around.

It is when the woman feels the confidence in the man, she takes the last step towards him and allows him to embrace her. Then she completely surrenders into the embrace and waits for him to show her two blissful minutes.

“I can teach you how to dance, but I can’t teach you embrace.” Maestro Carlos told me once.”…I am glad that you’ve found your own.”

Shy, intimidated of dancing with one of the best, and nervous of making mistake or causing injury to her. Not until I put away those emotions and started envisioning myself as the best, did Andrea Misse tell Javier and me that the embrace was “Perfecto”.

” keep this embrace. Don’t lose it.” Javier nodded at me.

———————————————————————————————————————-

Afterword:

A man does not automatically embrace the woman. Instead, he takes her hand; invites her and waits for her acceptance. The woman takes the last step to allow the man to embrace her.

Be the first to like.

Like

Unlike