How Much Is Enough?

[AndaBien]

...I tend to see the dance as an alternate-reality, the embrace being the portal...

Nicely put. I like that.

 

[bastet]

Nicely put. I like that.

I agree, that's why nice embrace is just about my number one preference,right up there with musicality (which can be applied to the "simplest" of steps) and courtesy to the partner. (I know we've covered this extensively before.)

Embrace is a tricky thing, and I always say have the best embrace you can of the style you are dancing, and most people you dance with will be fine with it.

I also think as someone else mentioned it's best learned from someone who knows what they are doing. My suggestion is to take a few lessons on the embrace specifically when you can and I'd say the ideal would be at least some of it from women, since they are on the receiving end of what you will be doing as opposed to learning from a man would not be.

 

[Angel HI]

Embrace is a tricky thing, and I always say have the best embrace you can of the style you are dancing, and most people you dance with will be fine with it....

and I'd say the ideal would be at least some of it from women, since they are on the receiving end of what you will be doing as opposed to learning from a man would not be.

Though I agree w/ the 1e part of the post, I understand, but might not agree totally w/ the second part. Embrace, discussed/debated/argued/dissected/preferenced ad nauseum, is a very tricky thing. The simple trick is that it is not just one thing or another, but a constantly evolving thing as the movements change. Now this is not to say that it moves/changes all over the place... ah, the trick. I use the phrase, "It breathes.", meaning that it, not only provides security for the lady, but direction, and 'allows', w/o interference, the movement to happen.

Re taking it from a woman, certainly (she can tell you what she needs to feel). However, she can not tell you how to internalize the movement in order to do it. Each has its advantages, but I would not say that bas' point of "...ideal..." really applies.

 

[bastet]

all of it no, but some of it, yes...i do think is ideal to get from a person who's on the receiving end. And if the lady teacher in question is also a leader, then she should also be able to tell a person how to internalize the movement.

 

[newbie]

what they think are the key skills and range of actions/moves (not choreographed figures - I'm not interested in those) that are the minimum to be able to get up and not feel that it is an impertinence to expect a follower to accept an invitation to dance?

It's when you feel comfortable with the navigation issues. The vocabulary (number of known elements, steps or sequences), the technique or the musicality are less important.
I once saw a guy whose interest was more in the tango followers than in the tango music. Tanned (we were in November), sunglasses in the hair (we were in November). His posture was quite unacademic (right hand very low in the back of the girl, head bent down right to cleavage). He was not really stepping with the rythm but from the outside it was almost unnoticeable because his lead was very loose and the followers were left walking in the rythm on their own. He kept inviting all the chicks one after the other and he knew only one sequence of four steps, that he was repeating endlessly, with a few walk steps in between. He was perfectly comfortable with his sequence and was able to adapt it (speed, directions, step size) to the available space he had at any moment, while keeping his dance easy-going and fluid. He was also able to do all this while smart-talking the chick with whom he was dancing.

 

[bordertangoman]

I agree, that's why nice embrace is just about my number one preference,right up there with musicality (which can be applied to the "simplest" of steps) and courtesy to the partner. (I know we've covered this extensively before.)

Embrace is a tricky thing, and I always say have the best embrace you can of the style you are dancing, and most people you dance with will be fine with it.

I also think as someone else mentioned it's best learned from someone who knows what they are doing. My suggestion is to take a few lessons on the embrace specifically when you can and I'd say the ideal would be at least some of it from women, since they are on the receiving end of what you will be doing as opposed to learning from a man would not be.

ah but embrace without balance & good posture is like a car with no clutch ; damn clunky!