Thursday, March 6, 2008

Day 14. Private 3. Secrete of Tango

Today's lesson started with dancing with Javier while Andrea was making mate. One song after, we sat down and had a priest's ball and mate. Then Andrea translated what my problem was in the dance. All my linear movement was fine, but the circular ones I was tension and not smooth. And I was still trying to control the woman. Woman has her own responsibility in the dance. I don't have to take her responsibility (well, not every day I got to dance with Javier or Andrea.).

Then Javier asked me to dance with him without right arm embrace. At first I was nervous, he had to stop me in the middle of the song. The next one he was very satisfied. Then I danced with Andrea the same way without right arm embrace. It was fine except when I did giro she felt a bit uncomfortable.

Then we talked about the right amount of energy in the right arm embrace. The woman should feel the heat from my arm. The embrace should be relaxed, firm yet not forcefully controlled. At times, it should make the woman want to embrace me more. I knew what she talked about making the woman wanting to embrace more. I had that experience with other followers.

Then Javier talked to me about the precision of the energy. How to visualize woman's feet, where they are, what they are doing. How to place them in the exact spot. "Your technical is fine. Now you have to understand this secret." he told me.

In the end he showed me the way the giro that I often do should be executed. Three simply movement. I tried it. One take, BAM, wrap it up. Tango is simple in its essence. To reach that simplicity requires a lot of preparation and work. When you get it, it is like "OH, is that simple?"

3 comments:

  1. Hi, did Javier actually recommend visualizing the woman's feet while looking straight ahead..like on a little screen in the mind???

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  2. M7,

    Visualization varies on different person. For me, because of 7 years of Hapkido training, I could feel the body well as long as there is contact. Don't over think about that.

    Javier teaches various ways depending on the level and background of the individuals. Natural is the keyword.

    Happy tango!

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  3. oh yes, i'm eating up these ideas about the embrace....feel the heat!...my favorite partner was shifting her hand on my back to press me closer last night and i was thinking that maybe i wasn't providing enough pressure, but this will make me think about it in a different way.

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