Re: [TANGO-L] Thank you for the new picture of Andres Amarilla...Look closely. It proves my point

[astrid <astrid@RUBY.PLALA.OR.JP>]

> If either Andres or Meredith let go of each other,
> they would both still be standing on their own
> balance.  In the picture of Susana, her center of
> gravity is so far away from her feet, that she would
> fall flat on her face.
>
> These two pictures illustrate exactly what I am
> talking about.
>
> Derik

I will say something, even though I doubt it is any use explaining this (yet
again) on the list.
Derik, a woman's "lean" is only uncomfortable if the man does not lean back
(or actually, forward) against her, which needds to be done in order to
achieve an even contribution of weight, so that the axis can be shared 50-50
(there are some moves where the woman leans more against the man,but this is
more often part of "open embrace" and fantasia).
This only works if both dancers have developed the muscles around the inner
axis of their bodies (Pilates exercises, anyone?), you don't want a woman
slumping against a man, with her middle sagging towards the floor
uncontrolled. Nor do you want a man, who sort of crumbles or tenses under
the weight and hesitatingly moves backwards when the woman puts some weight
against him. Rather the woman needs the man to put his chest forwards, to
give his body to her as she gives hers over to him. In order to increase the
angle, the man can then take two short steps backwards while leaving his
chest where it is, touching the woman's. The shared weight will then
distrube itself down your backbone, and the muscles in the small of the back
need to be strong to hold against this and keep the body from curving in
under it. It is also a matter of anatomy. It helps a lot if the man is
somewhat taller than the woman, and at least 10% heavier than her, IMO (I
dance with Japanese a lot, who are often slightly built, short, flat
chested, and feel a bit featherweight and delicate, so I would not want to
entrust my body to them unless they have developed a strong axis.)
Once you can maintain our axis well, and you know how to share it with your
partner, it does not feel heavy at all, but rather like a sufficient
condition to give yourself up to oblivion. You still have to navigate
though.

Astrid's two cents on shared axis