I agree with all of Michaels tips except this one:
"5) Maintain good posture by keeping the hips back so the chest comes forward. (This is NOT the same thing as bending forward from the waist.)" Rather than emphasize the hips back, which might lead to a sway back and bad curvature of the spine, I think its better to think of bringing the navel back toward the spine, and elongating and straightening the spine by slightly rotating the pelvis down, definitely not "up" or "back". Once thats done, feel your posture as if you took a deep chest breath, or as if a string is pulling up and out from your sternum at a 45 degree angle to the ceiling. Chin back and down a bit so the head and neck are directly stacked over the spine. Now slightly tilt forward from your ankles up so you feel the weight more over the ball of the foot than over the heel. That's pretty much it, the embrace has its own set of preferences, some people think of shoulders down and engaging the muscles under the shoulder blades, others think of arms out and around, but avoid round shouldered look. Keep shoulders on same plane as chest, even when your arms are out in a huge colgada. Actually, many of these tips were already posted a while back by Keith of Hong Kong, who did a lot better job than me of explaining it. I had his tips confirmed recently in a private with Lorena Ermocida. The only premier tanguero I know who has his hips somewhat back is Javier Rodriguez, not sure if its due to his anatomy or style preference, I hope he doesn't develop lower back pain as he ages. _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
