I believe the term "close embrace" as it relates to tango was coined by a native English speaker to distinguish it from the "hold" of ballroom. An embrace is an embrace. Do you "embrace" someone at arm's length in normal life?
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. The embrace is the position for dancing tango--it's the base for all of the emotions and feelings that arise from the music and feeling connected, not only to your partner, but to the universe. There is no such thing as an "open embrace." If you can stampede a herd of elephants between the couple, there is no embrace. Tango is danced heart to heart. The beating of two hearts united together is the rhythm of tango. And men wearing hats when they dance? Well that's fine on stage during the historical bits, especially in the comedy milonga that is always part of the show. Wearing a costume in a milonga while dancing socially? Ridiculously affected. And one other thing, if that hat is worn a lot for dancing, it usually smells really bad. cherie http://tangocherir.blogspot.com _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
