Embrace

Argentine Tango Posture

Lady

• Lady's position: 

  • Lady's L side to Man's R side.

  • Man's RF is in between Lady's feet.

• Body:

  • Keep spine straight from base of spine to tip of head, Lady's body is more liner rather than arched back (not like in ballroom).

  • Shift weight slightly forward to have weight on ball of foot (appears leaning forward a bit) and form a slight pyramid with Man, but not leaning too much forward either.

  • Do not flatten hip and stick out hip forward, instead, there is a gap with Man at hip area.  Keep that gap.

  • Feel pressure in upper body, take energy from Man and wait for signal to move (and not step on your own).

• Hip:

  • Lady opens her hip, not square to Man.  Hips are in slight "V" position, which also naturally put Lady's RF in "T" position to wait.

  • Lady is always in front of Man. Not like ballroom tango Promenade position (where Lady's L hip is behind Man), in Argentine Tango, Lady's hip does not go behind Man. Lady's hip sometime is perpendicular to Man's R side torso  (like in ochos)

• Shoulder and arms:

  • Lady's shoulders rolled down back and keep them down. Both shoulders. Do not raise the shoulders. Just like ballroom, 

    •  To practice getting into the position, roll the whole arm back from shoulder joint, elbow and wrist till the whole arm can't roll back anymore, then wrist and lower arm roll to normal position from elbow joint without changing shoulder joint

  • Lady's upper L arm connects with Man's R upper arm near elbow area. Don't put it too high. Lady's arm rests on Man's arm, there is some pressure down to feel the lead/connection (but not too hard, which becomes heavy).  

    • Do not leave gap in an attempt to keep L arm/elbow parallel to ground (this is not like ballroom dance posture). 

    • L lower arm and L hand, toward center of Man's back, another point of connection feeling the lead.

    • Typically, Lady's L hand should be at same or slightly higher than her L elbow. Left hand shouldn't be pointing down or up too much.

  • Lady feels very up and rib cage lifted.  Shoulder is "V" shape with Man.

  • The important feeling is: 

    • lifting ribcage (but keep shoulders rolled down),  

    • "expand", and "stretch"  both upward and sideways.  Grow taller. Elastic feeling.

    • upper body feeling lifted, not tensed up, should be able to relax down and breathe and keeping expanded lifted body. 

    • Never contract and hold stomach, rigid, stiff. 

Argentine Tango Embrace

In social dance, dancers often switch between Open Embrace and Closed Embrace, depending on the figures. Reverse Embrace is used in performances.

Closed Embrace

• Lady's left upper arm connects on top of Man's R upper arm, not too high, closer to his elbow joint.

• Lady's LH is on behind Man's shoulder. Lady's left fingers in relaxed closed position., can articulate a bit. 

• Lady's L forearm is fairly horizontal to floor, about her own shoulder height, on Man's back shoulder blade. 

  • Do not angle forearm up too much, do not rest LH on Man's neck/shoulder (too high). 

  • Very close embrace, be careful with Lady's L arm, more horizontal or downward, to maintain nice shoulder arm line.

• Man's R arm should be at a height to make sure Lady is comfortable, not making her raise her left shoulder joint.

• Lady waits till Man's put up his LH (Man's arm is a little more than 90 degrees out.). Man rotate his LH with palm facing her face. Lady puts her right hand a little higher and then moves down to close her RH with Man's LH.  

  • The hands should not be above her chin, which will tilt her weight and cover her face.

  • Lady's RH, wrist and arm in a flat line, not twisted/broken at wrist. Man does not put his little finger onto Lady's wrist.

  • Hands in middle of the two bodies, about shoulder level.

• Lady's left side is connected with Man's R side, lifted, not pushing. Shoulder pulled back (open shoulder blade), do not put a lot of weight on Man.

• Man feels his chest goes under a bit and then lift up.

• Lady's forehead may be touching Man's face, but do not put a lot of pressure. But do not "look for connection" with the head.

• Depending on how partner fits together, Man's R arm may wrap about behind Lady's back, R hand is under Lady's R shoulder blade.

• Lady and Man is in a slightly V shape.

• Do not:

  • Do not close/collapse ribs

  • Do not put shoulder in front.

  • Do not collapse onto partner, which makes Lady heavy to Man. 

  • Do not push Lady's hand down.

• "Milonguero style" (which is close-embrace tango dancing) is not "hanging on" each other. 

• Lady always feels lifted, not collapsed. shoulder back, open.  

  • Do not put weight on your right hand, pushing down Man's LH. Do not dig your nails into Man's LH.

  • Do not put her hand in front of Man's arm, or on top of shoulder, or behind his neck. 

  • Do not dig fingers into leader.

• 3 Lady's head positions (looking slightly downward, but do not break the neck to make face go down). Do not flipping head back and forth, to left and to right.

  • Straight forward: 12 o'clock. Make sure Lady does not close her R shoulder. R shoulder still down and back.

  • Slightly to R.

  • A little more to R: 3 o'clock.

Open Embrace

• Man' R arm is under Lady's shoulder blade, not too high.

• There is open space between Man and lady.

Changing between Closed Embrace and Open Embrace:

• Keep the left arm shape, Lady slides the L arm up and down Man's R arm to change between Open and Closed Embrace.

• To change from Closed to Open Embrace:

  • Man rotates to his left first (move torso/body, do not just move L arm, keep arm/hand in middle of two bodies). This sends Lady's L shoulder blade back.

  • Then, Man moves his R shoulder blade back. Lady let go of her L arm, allowing L arm to slide.

• To change from Open Embrace to Closed Embrace:

  • Man moves his RH around Lady's back. Lady closes her left side to Man. Lady's R side stays.

Reverse Embrace

• Mostly used in choreography and stage performance.

• Shadow position, where Lady's is right side in front of Man.

• Lady's LH connects to Man's LH. Man's center/chest is on Lady's shoulder blade. Lady pulls back L shoulder blade, giving Man connection. 

• Man's R arm is under Lady's R arm, Man's RH is under Lady's chest. Lady's RH rest on top of Man's RH.

• Lady elongates the neck.