Dear Friends, Hooray it's finally spring in New York City!! Welcome to the Close-Embrace.com Newsletter.
Contents: 1. April Cycle of Tango Classes Starts Tomorrow 4/7/05 2. ASK MALEVA Tango Advice Column - "I am not ready to dance close, but leaders keep pulling me in" ---- 1. The 4-week April Cycle for Robin and Jennifer's group classes in NYC starts tomorrow (Empire Dance - 127 W. 25th Street - between 6th/7th aves - 11th floor - buzzer 17 - www.empiredance.com - 212.645.2441). 6-7 PM: Beginner 7-8 PM: Intermediate 8-9 PM: Advanced 9-11 PM: El Abrazo Practica ($6; free to students) - BYOB and snacks!! This month in the advanced class we will be teaching 'FOLLOWER'S SACADAS IN CLOSE EMBRACE'. These are unusual; come see what they're all about... ---- 2. ASK MALEVA TANGO ADVICE COLUMN: If you have a question, write to [email protected] and see past columns at http://www.close-embrace.com/askmaleva.html *** Dear Maleva, I am a 3-month old tango beginner. My friends have been dancing for a while, but I never dared to start taking lessons, until now. It is surprising, how addictive tango is ;) Thank you for creating a very informational website, especially your advice column - it is great! It is likely a naive question, but seems there is a discrepancy between what you hear in class and real-life situation, re woman choice of open or close embrace. Because on inexperience, I definitely prefer an open embrace. So when I am asked to dance - I politely mention my beginner status and put my left arm on the tricep area of the leader's right arm, barely reaching the shoulder, hoping that signals an open embrace, but it is almost always ignored. Do you think this is because leaders find it easier to lead an inexperienced follower, especiall a tall one (I am 5'10"), in a close embrace? Or they just prefer to dance, the way they prefer to dance? Thanks again, Reeled In ** Dear Reeled In, Welcome to the tango world! And congratulations for starting to go out to the milongas so soon. The more you go out, the quicker you will improve. I think that you will find that 'in general', at the milongas, tango is danced in a close embrace so it would be wise to become comfortable dancing that way. (Often people dance in a more open embrace or practice hold in classes when they are trying to figure things out. It is easier to watch their feet this way and to see what is going on.) Most leaders who ask you to dance will probably invite you to come in close to them. Sometimes they may open up depending on the music and space, but probably 85% of your dances will be chest-to-chest. I don't believe one embrace is easier or harder than the other. I think whatever you learn first is more familiar and thus 'easier'. My students, who all learn a close embrace from the first class, sometimes comment that it is harder to feel the lead in an open embrace. People who learned an open embrace first sometimes say it is harder to find their balance and not to bump legs when they try to dance close embrace. However, no matter what embrace they were used to, I don't know anyone whose transition from warm and friendly pond of the class environment to the big, deep ocean of the milongas was completely smooth. What feels good in classes will suddenly not work as well when you are actually dancing in the 'real world'. It's always a little rocky. When I started going to milongas, first, I sat all night and was lucky to get maybe 2-3 dances. As my face became familiar to the leaders, I started to get more dances but I would make lots of mistakes, lose my balance, and feel awkward. I would always warn leaders of my beginner status at this point and apologized a lot. Sometimes I would count the number of mistakes I made during a dance! Eventually after some months, I noticed that I was beginning to survive whole songs without any major mistakes. Then, I completely forgot about my personal bubble, started to get used to dancing pressed up against another person, and began to feel more relaxed walking and pivoting. Things like the cross and the rhythm of turns began to feel like second nature. Eventually, open or close embrace didn't really matter, it all felt good. BUT, all that said, there is etiquette in tango and I think one of the rules is that if you put your hand on a guy's bicep to indicate the distance you want to dance, he should absolutely respect that. Probably the guys who ask you just have a preferred embrace they are used to dancing in and because of your inexperience find it easy to manipulate you into that. If you are not comfortable, then be more firm with your left arm to show the man you don't want to come in. Or you could just say "Is is ok if we dance more open?" I think most guys will not have a problem with that; perhaps you are just not being clear enough about the distance you prefer for now. (PS - I doubt your height is really a factor on the embrace they are choosing.) Have fun at the milongas! xo Maleva * * * * * * * * * Jennifer Bratt Maleva & Co. www.close-embrace.com [email protected] 718.753.0521
