Embrace and Feeling

Tangospeak has an interesting post about feeling in tango. Incidently, maestro told us something last night about a student whom came to him for a private lesson. A well to do married woman, who was going to have her first tango lesson. When maestro tried to embrace her, she froze as being attacked: "Oh,NO! I can't do that, I am married!" We couldn't stop but laugh.

Here is a excerpt from Javier's workshop in Hong Kong. Just so you know, in Chinese culture, not until recent twenty years, any physical contact between man and woman who are not spouses was deemed inappropriate.

" .. To feel in tango, there's nothing about sex, or whatever beyond the dance, tango is a very pure form of love, to care about one person, just in one dance, and after that, it's your own life, there's nothing to be afraid of ... "

"... when i dance, or perform, i try to feel, because i know if i don't feel anything, my partner won't be able to feel anything and the audience just won't feel anything at all ..."

When I dance with some women, even in close embrace, I feel the distance and reluctance of being close and slight resistance into the embrace. It was like the women were avoiding contacts to their breasts. For me, as a leader, it becomes a distraction in the dance when I have to constantly think about the embrace.

I guess it is probably the main reason so many young people prefer nuevo style. In open embrace, without the physical contact, they don't have to commit or share or open up to a stranger.

Maybe just the people who have experienced of love, loss of love and the ups and downs in life can fully understand tango and the feeling in close embrace.