Miradamiranda
Well-Known Member
As a consequence of this thread, I purposely observed and took note last night of all my dances at my regular milonga.
Of the 16 or 17 tandas I danced last night with 10 different partners:
Two of the partners danced fairly large technical moves rather Nuevo-ish but mostly in closed embrace with occasional shifts between contact between chests, right cheek or left cheek with occasional opening - my arm was almost always at least past their spine, though, and the shifts in embrace were just enough to have fleeting eye contact and observe the guy smiling. (One guy has this thing to pull his head back to see if I’m smiling after each time he does a 360° subtle colgada.)
Two other guys I danced mostly parallel and traditional with, but not closed embrace - heads only touching maybe 1/3 of the time and with a fairly vertical posture.
The remaining 6 partners were closed embrace, encuentro style. 2 of these guys were new to me. They both invited me immediately following a tanda where I danced rather open and active but their dances were very closed. So I guess they hadn’t blacklisted me as someone not able to dance milonguero style just because they saw me dance more open. I had not observed them before I accepted their invitations, so I didn’t know what to expect. Besides, I don’t judge a dancer from watching them. (One of the new guys visiting had a very subtle delicious musicality thing going on, invisible from outside the embrace.)
So, the first few moments are spent adjusting to each other and whatever develops from there in terms of embrace just happens naturally. Not just the new-to-me guys, but some of the others, depending on the music, the energy, and the space, dance different styles with me from one time to another.
Nobody gave any hints of their preferences with arm gestures, like what @opendoor suggests. I’ve never heard of that outside of this forum. If it had been standardized across international scenes, I can see the utility of it, though. But it could also lock people into a certain way instead of letting the moment evolve naturally.
I had this topic fresh in mind and had planned to observe both my partners and when others start out dancing.
For reference, all of the above partners have danced between 10 and 30 years, I gather. One exception slightly less and a bit rusty after a break.
Of the 16 or 17 tandas I danced last night with 10 different partners:
Two of the partners danced fairly large technical moves rather Nuevo-ish but mostly in closed embrace with occasional shifts between contact between chests, right cheek or left cheek with occasional opening - my arm was almost always at least past their spine, though, and the shifts in embrace were just enough to have fleeting eye contact and observe the guy smiling. (One guy has this thing to pull his head back to see if I’m smiling after each time he does a 360° subtle colgada.)
Two other guys I danced mostly parallel and traditional with, but not closed embrace - heads only touching maybe 1/3 of the time and with a fairly vertical posture.
The remaining 6 partners were closed embrace, encuentro style. 2 of these guys were new to me. They both invited me immediately following a tanda where I danced rather open and active but their dances were very closed. So I guess they hadn’t blacklisted me as someone not able to dance milonguero style just because they saw me dance more open. I had not observed them before I accepted their invitations, so I didn’t know what to expect. Besides, I don’t judge a dancer from watching them. (One of the new guys visiting had a very subtle delicious musicality thing going on, invisible from outside the embrace.)
So, the first few moments are spent adjusting to each other and whatever develops from there in terms of embrace just happens naturally. Not just the new-to-me guys, but some of the others, depending on the music, the energy, and the space, dance different styles with me from one time to another.
Nobody gave any hints of their preferences with arm gestures, like what @opendoor suggests. I’ve never heard of that outside of this forum. If it had been standardized across international scenes, I can see the utility of it, though. But it could also lock people into a certain way instead of letting the moment evolve naturally.
I had this topic fresh in mind and had planned to observe both my partners and when others start out dancing.
For reference, all of the above partners have danced between 10 and 30 years, I gather. One exception slightly less and a bit rusty after a break.
and was going to ask what’s that!