On 09/17/2010 08:38 AM, [email protected] wrote: > > The tango embrace is the same as the embrace of someone you love, even > though you may not know or care about the person. It is the dance > position. In my experience as a tango dancer and teacher, many > "foreign" dancers, especially those from Anglo-Saxon traditions, are > indeed afraid of the embrace. They are not used to being that close to > someone who is not their sweetheart or close relative, and sometimes > their emotions get all confused after a tanda of moving together as > one hugged so close by a stranger.
Ok, I'll play Devil's Advocate. In many cultures -- including Anglo-Saxon ones -- respecting personal space is the most basic way to show you acknowledge that the other person is indeed a person. Crossing into somebody's personal space without their permission is one of the easiest ways to register contempt for them. In many cultures (including the US) invading someone's personal space is exactly how to pick a fight. So yes, in other countries it might not been seen in the same way, but the fact of the matter is that this is strongly ingrained for a good reason and if the dancers are having a hard time overcoming it, it is most likely due to the fact they are showing very polite and respectful treatment of their partner, which is a good thing. Your assessment that they are "afraid of the embrace" strikes me as fatuous and culturally grievously insensitive. I'm all for understanding and embracing other cultures, but it should work both ways, shouldn't it? What's more, women should be allowed to set the distance for the dance so they are in their own comfort zone. If I am dancing with a woman for the first time and she starts in open embrace, the last thing I will ever do is force the issue, even though I really have no idea how to do open embrace. Women should never feel compelled to have any male at close quarters if they don't want to. What would you do? Later, when she feels more comfortable (which might be all of 1 minute) the embrace can be adjusted to where it needs to be. I do not disagree that close embrace makes for a better dance, easier body mechanics, etc, but I do dispute strongly that it's all due to people being uptight or weird. Several of my favorite partners are much more relaxed around me than other dancers since, I think, they realized that I was not trying to force the issue. So to get them to do the embrace close means finding partners who are comfortable with each other at that distance. If they are able to do it in that context but not in others there is probably a lot more going on than just the embrace and telling them to dance closer will probably never really work. Jeff _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
