Re: [TANGO-L] Changing the embrace

[Evan Wallace <evan@TANGOING.COM>]

On April 13, Derik Rawson wrote:

"Blind people do have much better hearing than people
who can see, because they have to compensate for not
being able to see.  Given a choice, I would rather use
ALL MY SENSES.

"Ask Astor Piazzolla and his friends if his music would
be better with limitations.  Ask the young people who
dance nuevo if their dancing would be better with
limitations."

On April 13, Derik Rawson wrote:

"Susanna Miller has been "dead wrong" on too many dance
issues, so I really do not trust her...Apalido all the
time (leaning on your partner all the time)...nonsense!


Derek:

Just to be clear: YOU can do anything you want. You can dance in every
possible style, or just one. You can dance with all five senses, or with
your mouth taped shut (which, come to think of it, is perhaps not a bad
idea). You may also opine at any length on any of these topics, ad naseum.
Knock yourself out.

However, when you make a statement on a public forum such as this which is
patently absurd, it needs to be pointed out as such. When you say: "Close
embrace all the time doesn't work [because] it limits the possibilities", or
"Apilado all the time...nonsense!" you are making patently absurd statements
that are demonstrably false. We know they are false because one has only to
travel to the place of the origin of Tango to see hundreds of tremendously
skilled dancers, some of whom are of an age and stature to have figured
prominently in the development of Tango, dancing close in a way that
demonstrates expansive and virtually endless musical and mechanical
possibilities. And because your statements are demonstrably false, they
cannot even be offered as valid opinions, let alone valid statements of
fact. They are simply wrong, like saying, "Tango originated in the Bahamas."
Appending the words "In my opinion" doesn't even help. They are still wrong.

As to your other questions, would Nuevo dancers be better off if they
limited the possibilities? Funny you should ask. In my opinion, there are
lots of Nuevo dancers who would be much better off if they, at least
temporarily, put aside a few of the possibilities they avail themselves of
until they matured more as dancers. From this opinion, however, I will not
present as fact the statement "Open embrace doesn't work, because it allows
too many possibilities for most dancers to handle well." This is
demonstrably false, because I have seen hundreds of Nuevo dancers master the
possibilities of the dance in a way that is unbelievably musical, playful,
and connected.

So, especially to the beginners on this list, who are having a hard enough
time wrapping their hearts and minds around this thing called Tango, be
assured: dancing all the time in close embrace works great and is a valid
style in the Tango paradigm. Dancing open all the time works and is a valid
style. Dancing in a manner that opens or closes over the course of an
evening depending on music, floor conditions, and mood, works and is valid.
Dancing in a manner in which the embrace opens and closes within a given
song works (with some caveats) and is valid. Don't let anyone on this list
or anywhere else tell you differently.

Evan Wallace
Seattle, Wa
Evan@tangoing.com