Close Embrace Tango Teachers

Desert Diva said:
I'd like to ask out of all the teachers you mentioned - who do you like in terms of teaching style the best and would recommend? ...

That means I'm going to have to travel to find a "proper" instructor. This involves some driving time, motel costs, and of course the cost of the lessons. I've talked to a few people, and Eva and Pablo come highly recommended - albeit pricey at $90.00/hour.
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I also recommend Eva & Pablo. They are among the visiting teachers that teach & dance in the "close embrace" style vs. the 'in an embrace" style that I described earlier.

 
$90 is expensive for a private lesson with two outstanding instructors?? In our neck of the wood it would be super cheap. In fact, it doesn't exist. :)
I highly recommend Eva and Pablo, by the way.
Also, Alicia Pons, she spends some significant shanks of time in New Mexico and Arizona nowadays, check her schedule.
If you ever in San Francisco Bay Area, feel free to contact me for recommendations or any tango related assistance.
 
Lilly_of_the_valley said:
$90 is expensive for a private lesson with two outstanding instructors?? In our neck of the wood it would be super cheap. In fact, it doesn't exist. :)
I highly recommend Eva and Pablo, by the way.
Also, Alicia Pons, she spends some significant shanks of time in New Mexico and Arizona nowadays, check her schedule.
If you ever in San Francisco Bay Area, feel free to contact me for recommendations or any tango related assistance.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, what I "meant" to say it's expensive for me at the moment. I have a 15 year-old dog that just had a recent hospitalization for pancreatitis and was diagnosed with stage 2 kidney disease. If I took lessons, I would also have to "figure in" driving 450 miles round trip and a motel stay. It's just not feasible at the moment. Sorry for any misunderstanding.
 
tangobro said:
I also recommend Eva & Pablo. They are among the visiting teachers that teach & dance in the "close embrace" style vs. the 'in an embrace" style that I described earlier.

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Good heavens! So this is what some of you in the US
thinks is close embrace tango. It's certainly not what
Argentines in general dance socially in milongas.
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised anymore at what damage
people are prepared to do to their own bodies in an effort
to attract attention. The result in this case, to my eyes
at least, is a grotesque and stressed exaggeration.

Normally that is their own business but they (who should know
better) are trying to make it the dance of others and
ultimately that is my objection.
 
Lilly_of_the_valley said:
Eva and Pablo were both trained by old milongueros, and are respected in BA traditional milongas as great dancers. So, there.
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They may have been trained by the old milongueros,
whatever that means since they were mainly not teachers
at all, but they don't dance as them. If you want to dance
such an exaggerated style, that's your choice (although I know
you didn't) but do tell me how my my criticism is unjustified.

I went to an out of central Buenos Aires milonga today, the porteños
were dancing in many ways but the notable style that was missing
was anything like Eva and Pablo, not even the demonstration which
wasn't particularly polished but was pleasant to see.
 
For starters, I don't see anything exaggerated in their dancing. All the steps he did would be the same as let's say, just from the top of my head, and old milonguero Carlos Biccai would lead on me when we dance in a milonga, including the sacadas and off the axis lean. The size of the movements and the amount of the floor covered may be much smaller, of course, but essentially the same kind of dance. And most old milongueras embellish and play with their feet much more than she does in the video.
I believe your attention might be drawn to insignificant stylistic details here, and not to the essential.
 
Lilly_of_the_valley said:
For starters, I don't see anything exaggerated in their dancing. All the steps he did would be the same as let's say, just from the top of my head, and old milonguero Carlos Biccai would lead on me when we dance in a milonga, including the sacadas and off the axis lean. The size of the movements and the amount of the floor covered may be much smaller, of course, but essentially the same kind of dance. And most old milongueras embellish and play with their feet much more than she does in the video.
I believe your attention might be drawn to insignificant stylistic details here, and not to the essential.
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Where do I start here?!

You may compare them to Carlos Biccai but they aren't dancing like this:

Their feet are much further apart than Carlos and his partner
and both Eva and Pablo lean much more. It is an exaggeration
and my objection is how they achieve that.

Eva is not on her own axis, her pelvis is tilted back and her internal
connection from floor to torso is broken. These are not insignificant
stylistic details but fundamentals affecting how you dance and the
health of your bodily structure.

Your dances (at least with me) were not an exaggeration like this,
more portena if with a little more forward presence as I recall.

You might say she wouldn't teach this but I suspect strongly
that she does. Here is a video about which, if posted, I would not have
felt the need to object so strongly:
It's from 2009 and dancing to Fresedo's Buscandote.

Here is how they had changed by 2014:
Watch her tilt her pelvis back as she embraces,
she does the same thing at the start of the video posted by Tangobro.
She looks like she does it on purpose which means that she lets
her pelvic floor go since her normal stance appears to be
by no means as exaggerated. She really should know better.

I'm not looking at the actual steps but how she steps and uses
her feet is educational - but not in a good way. I'll leave it at that.
Meanwhile, thanks for responding.
 
Ok, perhaps you see something I do not. I have danced with Pablo, and did not feel anything weird or different. Eva during the classes explicitly demonstrated several times how she is on her axis and on the floor. I have not danced with her though.
 
Lilly_of_the_valley said:
Eva and Pablo were both trained by old milongueros, and are respected in BA traditional milongas as great dancers. So, there.
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So to recap, they are Argentine and were trained by Argentines, but apparently they don't meet JohnEm's standards for how Argentines are supposed to dance. Oh I almost forgot, this also reflects poorly on the US. Have I missed anything?
 
dchester said:
So to recap, they are Argentine and were trained by Argentines, but apparently they don't meet JohnEm's standards for how Argentines are supposed to dance. Oh I almost forgot, this also reflects poorly on the US. Have I missed anything?
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I think sarcasm is very inappropriately immoderate for a "Moderator".
I dance 4 months of the year in Buenos Aires,
mainly and preferably with Portenas rather than tourists.

People, including dancers taught by Argentines, change
for commercial gain, taught by Argentines or not.
I have demonstrated that by video.

Your comment is hardly constructive, ascribes to me words
and views unwritten while ignoring the explanation for my criticism.
I prefer to return to the sensible conversation with Lilly_of_the_valley.
 
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