Close Embrace Tango Teachers

[itwillhappen]

The only reason i would dance the whole tanda at a distance is if the leader is a beginner and we cannot find a comfortable way to move together in close embrace. Open embrace is more forgiving.

I still remember a tanda a few years ago in which the lady's hand slowly slipped onto my upper arm.

This, too, is asymmetrical between follower and leader.
I recently had private dancing with a relative beginner who was missing some moments of bliss. She wanted to dance with me because she is quite tall. It took some work to convince her that this was not due to the moderate size difference to her less tall substitute teacher, her only option in these pandemic times, but rather to learning figures in an open hold. When I stabilized her in close embrace and gave a clear lead for simple steps, she quickly found her bliss.

 

[Rabbit]

Of course, but it is very much a matter of your personal preference. But I also see the music in terms of the time in which it was created and what style the target group danced. Guardia vieja requires canyengue. Tango in salón style would not suit d‘Arienzo's music. Apilado would feel strange to Pugliese. And the crowd that danced to Narcotango of course followed Chicho's first style.

Fair enough. I personally don't care about the historical associations, only in how the music speaks to us in the present.

 

[TTanguero]

Apilado would feel strange to Pugliese

Anything else would feel strange!

 

[Cabbit]

You dance it as you feel it, anything else would be strange.

 

[Tangogal]

I still remember a tanda a few years ago in which the lady's hand slowly slipped onto my upper arm.

This, too, is asymmetrical between follower and leader.
I recently had private dancing with a relative beginner who was missing some moments of bliss. She wanted to dance with me because she is quite tall. It took some work to convince her that this was not due to the moderate size difference to her less tall substitute teacher, her only option in these pandemic times, but rather to learning figures in an open hold. When I stabilized her in close embrace and gave a clear lead for simple steps, she quickly found her bliss.

Many times the leaders upper arm is a more comfortable point for me to hold. This is a matter of anatomy as I am short with proportionally short arms. I find the option to loop around the leader’s arm to place my hand on his/her back less pleasant. Many leaders have sweaty backs for example. Some are wriggly and some are ticklish and don’t like my hand there.

 

[Tangogal]

Of course, but it is very much a matter of your personal preference. But I also see the music in terms of the time in which it was created and what style the target group danced. Guardia vieja requires canyengue. Tango in salón style would not suit d‘Arienzo's music. Apilado would feel strange to Pugliese. And the crowd that danced to Narcotango of course followed Chicho's first style.

I miss Narcotango! It always felt like a “quarter to two” dance. That sleepy tanda near the end of the night when you should really be in your bed but can’t bring yourself to leave.

 

[itwillhappen]

Many times the leaders upper arm is a more comfortable point for me to hold. This is a matter of anatomy as I am short with proportionally short arms. I find the option to loop around the leader’s arm to place my hand on his/her back less pleasant. Many leaders have sweaty backs for example. Some are wriggly and some are ticklish and don’t like my hand there.

Of course, I don't want to keep you from adopting an ergonomic posture. I think I can feel it when the hand on the upper arm is supposed to create distance. Sometimes it is unconscious or the habit of ballroom dance. The relative beginner described above was the same size as me and had to move her hand from my right to my left shoulder so that we could have a good embrace.

 

[Mr. Moustachio]

I'd like to know what this forum's consensus is on the meaning of "close embrace." To me, it means chest-to-chest contact, but I've seen teachers demonstrate "close embrace" with an obvious gap between their torsos. Is "close embrace" different from apilado or milonguero style?

 

[Cabbit]

The forum's consensus sounds like a contradiction in terms.

 

[TTanguero]

I'd like to know what this forum's consensus is on the meaning of "close embrace." To me, it means chest-to-chest contact

Juan Martin Carrara says the moment there is a millimetre of distance between your chests, it is no longer close embrace.

 

[Rabbit]

but I've seen teachers demonstrate "close embrace" with an obvious gap between their torsos.

i think "teachers" should be in quotation marks too, there

 

[Fanny-K]

I've seen teachers demonstrate "close embrace" with an obvious gap between their torsos.

There are teachers and "teachers". Few are actually authentic teachers of the Argentine tango traditions.

Is "close embrace" different from apilado or milonguero style?

I would note a difference between close (near-by) and closed (locked). Apilado is a leaning axis, and it impedes most even simple choreographies. In my modest opinion both closed embrace and apilado, qualify for milonguero style. However some exaggerated apilado is also used for escenario.

 

[Brummbaer]

Juan Martin Carrara says the moment there is a millimetre of distance between your chests, it is no longer close embrace.

Absolutely true - but I also recollect him saying that there were certain moves that you couldn't do easily in close embrace.

I'm all for dancing in close embrace (where the follower is happy with that), but I'm not going to be puritanical about maintaining it for every move.

 

[Steve Pastor]

... learned from people here in Portland: Alex Krebs, Bill Alsup, Megan Pingree, Steven Payne.... and a whole bunch of traveling AT teachers who came through Portland back in the mid and late 00s. Alex taught what he called "close emrace," which functionally meant that you were close to each other while you danced. Steven Payne never used the word "apilado," or milonguero, but he emphasized the "weight sharing" aspect of the dance.
There is some discussion in a video I shared recently that talks about the "close embrace" style that is used in the Swing dance Balboa.
Apilado can, of course be merely an illusion. You can construct several "imaginary" diagonal lines when looking at a human body that is "leaning" forward. So, it's possible to dance in a "forward posture" and not rely on your partner for balance.
My functional definition of apilado is that you cannot mantain your own balance without your partner when dancing that style.
There is a drawing in Physics and the Art of Dance that, I think, illustrates this. Might post when I get it together.
The word apilado itself translates to "piled up," stacking, heaping.

 

[Mr. Moustachio]

I would note a difference between close (near-by) and closed (locked).

I'd like to add that a nice hug is irrelevant in "near-by" embrace but essential in chest-to-chest contact.