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Once upon a time (although it was just over a year ago, I feel like ages), I took a private with a famous tango star who was the leading role in a famous tango show. At that moment, I was lost, didn’t know how to move on. Despite all my skepticism of learning social tango from a stage star, he was highly recommended by a few women whom I had danced with. “He made me feel like a woman.” according to one. That was always my goal of dancing tango.

I was never interested in being a good dancer, who could execute perfect sacada and lead beautiful beleos, or dance fluidly and brilliantly. I was never interested in the physical aspect of the dance.  I have been practicing and studying martial arts for many years. Complex movement and sequences don’t interest me. Forms is just means to a more profound finding: the internal chi and harmony…  That’s why all these moves: Colgada, volcada, whatever they are, generally it took me less than half an hour to be able to learn to execute it nicely. What interests me, at this point, is to discover the connection and find that magical moment between the two.

Well, I digress (maybe not). This amazing dancer taught me something at that class : you need to dance one step ahead, you need to always know where to put the woman next… an advice I had heard it before. He was right. It was a man’s responsibility.

Back to present time, at festivals and the milongas in Buenos Aires, I sit and watch: so many dancers, majority of them are trying to dance the next step, create the next movement, so busy, so impatient. I feel tired just watching them. And bored. Even with the few who could dance beautifully to the music. Something is missing from the dance.

I met a young German girl from another town at Berlin festival. I spot her dancing on the floor the first night out. The milonga was held at the Berlin City Hall: Rotes Rathause. A grand venue for milonga. A dream place to dance in. Apparently over six hundred dancer thought the same… the place was packed with frenzied dancers. She stood out, so unusually calm for a young dancer. So collected. I tried to cabeceo her the whole night. Three hours later we danced. Then every night after we looked for each other for a tanda. The third night, her last night, after we danced a tanda of D’Arienzo con Maure in a jam packed room, one of the famous performers and teachers at the festival stopped her and asked for her name. Later he asked her for a tanda. I took a look and turned away. Not interesting… disappointed actually.

The after hour milonga continued after 4:30am, I was so tired and  almost skipped it. I went out and  came back. There was a woman I would  love to have a tanda  with. I put on my shoes, then disappointingly saw her taking  off hers. Oh well, the music was good. I sat and  watched others dance.

They caught me eyes: this same young girl and a young guy. They stood out from the rest of the crowd. Smooth, flowing on the floor. Not rushed, not hurried. One body, four  feet, painting the floor. My eyes had been following them, for four tandas (one Biagi, one D’agostino con Vargas, one OTV and one Canaro milonga). I was jealous. She had  not danced with anyone more than one tanda. At the same time, I was happy watching them. It was such a rare joy to watch the music coming from the bodies, the feet.  ( Have I mentioned that I rarely watch and even avoid watching live performances at the milongas? ) Never a moment during that four tandas I felt disinterested.

They were dancing in the moment, every moment, for each other, without the sign of wanting to go to the next step. They just moved when they were both ready. The in between steps were filled with music, energy…

A wise and dear friend of mine, a successful writer, once told me: silence in tango is very pleasant. It is like sitting here with someone you know very well, your spouse, your very good friend, without feeling the need to entertain each other, to make an effort to talk to each other. Just sitting here comfortably, enjoy the presence of each other. Enjoy the moment…

A while ago, a friend asked me in a practica: So what are you working now?

Try not to dance. I answered.

Lately, I’ve been enjoying more and more just embracing my partner, listening to the music and not worrying about what to dance next. Just being in the moment and dance in the moment.

It is such a joy!

I have various drafts but no time to finish them. But this, I would like to share with you: Olga Besio talked about embellishment. That should probably clear up some of the criticisms to certain well known dancers and young ones, especially from non Argentine, that I have encountered throughout the years. Or not. In any case, it is interesting to hear from one of the great maestras:

Prof. Olga Besio (2007)

Translation: Maria Celia Arias

In order to speak about embellishments, and to give support to all that comes along with them, it would be important to mention some of the origins of the essence and existence of Tango and it’s dance.

It is necessary to clarify that the word “dance” does not only refer to the practice of a technique. On the contrary, its more general use and meaning refers to all forms of dance. And this reference alludes to that which occurs naturally, primitively, remotely, that which is visceral and even animal like in the human experience. In this sense we are talking about an experience that comes from an earlier time historically, chronologically and ontologically than this concept of technique we speak of today.

If we understand the dance as a profoundly natural act, which is born from the human experience, then as we speak of popular and social dance (where perhaps the tango dance is our most intrinsic example) we immediately discard all that would seem redundant or obvious.

So then: What is the Tango? What we already know: a dance for two, a deep communication with the other, and with the music, and then we can even say we begin to “discover” this idea of dialog. The dialog between the dancing couple, the dialog with the music, the dialog that happens between the feet when they draw famous figures on the floor such as the “ochos” and so many others. We can even take this idea further, and mention the dialog that happens between the feet, the legs and the air, when drawing “boleos” with precision and fine clarity, creating and recreating the same, yet new shape, with each occurrence.

But, then what is the embellishment, which has also been called at times, the decoration or the dancer’s expressiveness? The embellishment consists of the precise expression of the essence of the tango. There is no purpose in embellishments stemming from mere technique alone, if one does not understand “what they really mean and stand for.” The legs of the dancers create and form a dancing couple as one. They embrace, they join, dialog together, they caress… and this all technically happens due to a game of rotation in their joints and articulations. But this game of rotation should not be understood as something cold and technical; on the contrary, it is something absolutely natural and as logical as any kind of language. The legs “express”, and are “expressive”, when they have and know the language; not merely because they move or know how to move.

Therefore, we have just destroyed various myths about embellishments.

· One being that embellishments are ‘moves that must be learned or copied from another’. In no way is this ever the case. The technical study and training is of utmost importance, but it is by far not enough. There are excellent dancers who perform embellishments with true emotion, but we also often times see, unfortunately, the mere repetition of movements or copies of those excellent dancers performed by others who did not understand the true essence of the movement. Generally, in these cases, the original dancer is excellent, and the copycats result as irrelevant, and sometimes even unpleasant or grotesque interpreters.

· Another myth is that which state that the embellishment belongs to the woman. In no case is this true. The embellishment is everything that the man or woman does without interfering in the mark of the dance, the steps, figures and sequences, and etc. This includes being able to stay in exact union with the music without producing any awkward pulls or tugs off rhythm. For this to happen, it is absolutely necessary to first know how to lead and follow, and to have a very well developed ear for the music. I always say to my students that they should only realize their partner was doing embellishments when they watch the video. This actually happened to a famous dancer who, when he watched the video of his performance he saw for the first time what his partner was doing, and then understood why she always received so many complements and comments.

· Still another myth is that for the woman to be able to add embellishments, the man needs to give her time. This may be the case when we are speaking about choreography, where these moments can be planned and elaborated in agreement between the partners, or even a third party. But in the improvised tango dance, the embellishments come from one’s intelligence, ability, the “Tanguerismo” of the woman, in the ability to decide whether it would be appropriate or not, and to know when and what type of embellishment is more appropriate for the current circumstance. Of course, if the dancer has little experience, it is not recommended that she try this in the milonga: that is what classes and practices are for.

The last myth I will mention is that of the ear and musicality, and that some dancers consider it enough just to be able to hear the rhythm. Other more advanced dancers speak about dancing the phrase. I must clarify again, that this is not enough; it is necessary to understand the melody and the particular expressivity of each musical piece, of each orchestras arrangement, of each version… and in this same vein, understand the musicality needed by the dancers is much more than rhythm, the compass, the down beats, the silent beats, the double-time beats, and all of those elements that are so often spoken about (and often times confused with one and the other). The musicality, which is required here, is the kind that can translate, create and recreate time and time again the sentiments, compositional structure, and the essence of the particular piece, which the couple has the said opportunity to dance and express.

Last but not least, it is necessary to mention that the embellishment is not limited to movement, and is not limited to the feet and the legs. It is true that this may be the most visible in many cases, but the embellishment exists in the whole body, in one’s attitude, in the silence, in the closing of the eyes, in the pauses, in the changes of speed and in the thousands of variables that can occur and need to be practiced technically, and methodically. The embellishments purpose is to definitively show the love and passion for the dance, that each individual and each couple is capable of feeling and expressing.

When I first read MIM’s post , I laughed out so hard that my colleague thought I just hit the jackpot. Too bad the comment was off. Although it is a misguiding and provoking title, what they described in the post was roughly the same experience that I have had. A subject has been long in my mind yet never put into words. I am glad that they’ve taken the heat first.

Their second post explains one of the important technique: pulling your hips back. Another technique, that was not mentioned in their posts, is “Show off your breast” for the woman. Bring the chest up proudly. Together with pulling the hip back slightly, the culo will naturally “stick out”. Most of the female dancers have tight and round behind, firm legs due to the exercise they have been doing for years. I might be called sexist by saying this: the posture is the sexiest and most beautiful thing to watch.

And nobody, at least nobody whom I have learned from, has taught or being heard teaching anyone to “stick her butt out”. The visual is the consequence of the techniques. In some cultures, women are inhibited to show their feminine characters. Naturally, they are less inclined to accept this aesthetic aspect of the posture.

How this posture, despite different views on its aesthetic merit, actually feel on my side of embrace? When it is right, the moment I embrace the woman, I could feel that it is the beginning of a blissful journey. The connection from the moment the embrace completes is far stronger than the connections that I have experienced with other postures. (And I can’t tell you how much I dislike embracing a woman who stand straight and connect from waist up, which is probably the reason that I stop going out here.)

There are more techniques and benefits of this posture, which deserve another post or two to explore. But let me tell you this: I was in heaven almost every time I danced with certain women who have learned this way. I just wish there were more of them this part of the world.

Here is an example:

A few examples of the postures from different dancers:

Last but not the least

Technique is not important.

Three years ago, when I took my first privates with Javier and Andrea, Javier said to me ” Technique is not important*…. your feeling in tango will one day make you great.” Three year after, in the only two privates that I had the chance to take with them this time, we worked on technique: walking, how to use the arm…

I had assisted Andrea in a couple of her privates, dancing with the ladies. And I had learned so much about woman’s technique and experienced the huge differences before and after the ladies made adjustments in their embraces, walking, and embellishment (for advanced dancer). The sensation of the right embrace, the slight delayed timing of walking, and the little technique of cross was so sensuous, musical and pleasurable.

And I am not talking about the technique of Volcada, Giro, sacada… I am referring to the basic and fundamental technique: walking and embrace. You might be surprised how many people can’t walk two steps straight, and walk long or short evenly. Very often I dance with women who either press their chest with most of their body weight against mine, or try so much to avoid putting any weight that they are escaping from the embrace. Neither way gives me a pleasant feeling. I can’t tell you how much more pleasant a fellow student felt after she made a small adjustment in embrace, after she did what Andrea had taught her. How a strong and powerful short walk without the music made me feel out of this world, after I got the technique of walking.

Technique is very important. It is the catalyst to building and maintaining feeling throughout the dance. It is the essential tool to communicate with each other on a different level. One’s tango experience won’t go very far without proper and sound technique. If you long for the elusive tango bliss, then you should be obsessed with perfecting the technique.

*Technique is not important: when one dances, one should focus on anything but technique. One works on the technique so it becomes natural. Part of the reason that many technique classes aren’t useful is that they teach the technique of leading and following. Instead of that, I was taught and learned the technique that made both feel perfect and free in the dance; that made the woman look and feel beautiful, and the man appreciate the beauty of the woman.

Who with a sane mind wouldn’t want to work on that?

While browsing some beautiful photos of a workshop from a tango festival in Moscow, in which students were learning to embrace each other,  I couldn’t recognize the maestra in the photo. Olga Besio, says the photo tag. The only Olga I could think of, who is a great maestra, is the former partner of Gustavo Naveira, the mother of two young tango dancers/teachers: Ariadna and Federico Naveira.  Thanks to Google, I came across this article : The first tango lesson: Where should I begin?

Excerpt:

what is, essentially and at its deepest meaning, the Tango Dance ? It certainly is NOT a succession of steps, figures, structures, and movements. There is something much profound sustaining all that. And this “something” so deep is not precisely “technical” by nature, but something more basic and fundamental.

…

So this is what I believe should be tought and learned during the first lesson:

• The dialogue with the other person. The absolute certainty that everything that happens during the dance is because of the actions and responsibility of both parts in the sense that, in reality, the dance couple is built up between the two (each one on his/her own role), developing each one’s part and helping your partner in every possible way. Within this dialogue, the embrace is only one of its components.
• The dialogue with the music. Within this dialogue we find the walk as one of its possibilities.
• In definive, the “trialogue”, the deep communication amongst these fundamental elements, two persons and the music, with all the incredible significance, deepness and complexity in details that it entails. Within this trialogue we walk, embraced, acording to the music.
• Finally, understanding without doubts that all this aspects constitute one unit that nests presicely, and fundamentally in the escence of tango.

“So this would be, in my opinion, the first tango lesson. But how long should it last ? One hour and a half ? Two ? One month ? Maybe the whole lifetime …” – Olga Besio