coordination Archives

The embrace is where Tango lives… In all practical ways the Tango is created within and through the embrace.

There is a lot Do(s) and Don’t(s) out there on the embrace, so I was hoping to create more of an opportunity for everyone to explore the different body parts that form the embrace, and bring forward more experiential knowledge than Tango-specific advice

Relationship of the Individual Fingers with the Shoulder Girdle and Ribs

Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen of Body Mind Centering

In this video Bonnie, founder of Body Mind Centering (https://www.bodymindcentering.com) talks about the process of creation and specifically how are hands are created from the pinky to the thumb while at the same time our ribs are formed from top to bottom. She then goes on to explore that relationship.

When I first came across the video, I found it fascinating! It completely changed my understanding of my body in space and my relationships with others.
Everyday we reach and touch with our hands, almost everything around us; multiple times a day we are making a choice whether this touch may or may not be reflected in our posture, our movement, our mood.

Leading and following is what we call these very choices in Tango. In the following video using the exercise Bonnie shared above and adding walks and ochos I am inviting you explore the movement chain through the embrace

This was a…bad…experience

Bad experiences… moments we have sworn never to dance with THAT person again… pain, discomfort, frustration… Yes, I know…some memories can be haunting! We now though have a chance to fix it; or some of it

First, we need to understand where the pain and the discomfort we experience in the embrace comes from; and then hopefully though this video you will know how to avoid putting yourself in unsafe positions and how to mitigate the impact of an improper action coming from your partner

Seeing the big picture of the hug

So the videos above will help you immensely in acknowledging dangerous positions and finding healthier ones for the joints. Also, it will help you recover faster if you are experiencing pain or discomfort after a milonga

What though doesn’t recover as fast as the body–and we know that can be rather slow–is our psychology.
I as many other followers have fallen in the trap of avoiding to dance with anyone new because I didn’t want to risk another sore shoulder or back.
it took a long time before I could trust what my eyes could see, in terms of who is a partner who will “listen” to subtle body cues and adjust his/her position.
So, the issue here is not to simply find the right embrace for you BUT to find the way to be flexible and adjust your position to help yourself and/or your partner. Usually the necessary adjustment is very subtle but it seems huge
The feeling of relief though when you find that sweet spot where your embrace is genuine and your movement is free it is even greater!

Trust your body to find it!

Chrisa

P.S: For more videos such as this, on weekly subscribe to bautanz.com and if you want to organize your own practice at home at your own time maybe you would like to take a look at this: https://bautanz.com/intelligent-tango-programs-and-courses/

Enrosques..!
One word… Many many many sighs! haha

So many leaders have written and asked for ways to practice enrosques. They love the way they look, so powerful and yet so elegant BUT they get stuck when trying to do them…

If that is YOU… here is a video that can lead you to smooth, elegant, successful enrosques

As you can see you will get 3 exercises that follow a natural progression to enrosques, but before you get started, I want to encourage you take a few moments to consider which of the 3 elements that make enrosques tough–alignment, coordination and timing–you experience the most difficulty with.

Of course they are all related BUT try to detect which is the primary source of your trouble. This way you will have a:

point to focus on
metric to track your progress. Meaning, if your timing is off for example, you can compare from practice to practice how your timing has improved

But don’t stop there… Take things further

There are 2 very important concepts that can be revealed and explored through enrosques. Concepts that are vital forTango!

Coordination Vs Disassociation
I think I have said this before…I hate disassociation as a word, because it transmits a very distorted message about how the body was built to move.For EFFICIENT, EFFORTLESS movement you need the different parts of the body to move supporting each other, in relation to one another and NOT as separate blocks!So making this practice about the communication between the upper and lower body, will be vital for your Tango. And enrosques are a great opportunity because they make it obvious
Yielding.
There is a power game being played in Tango that sometimes is needed BUT most of the times is useless and even dangerous as it creates a lot of tension in the body.I am sure you have heard of the cue: “Don’t collapse. Push into the floor”
Try to do that with enrosques and you WILL feel stuck!Rigidity, hardness, pushing- pulling is NOT always the answer. Yielding, on the other hand, through the standing side, releasing tension, without collapsing towards the floor. Responding to gravity, by building a relationship of give and take, of understanding YOUR weight and how it reaches the earth, THAT can help you feel balanced, aligned and FREE to move.

This is the 2nd vital element for Tango, but enrosques really bring it to light!

Have fun! Send me your questions and Tango trouble and remember Bautanz subscribers enjoy so much more weekly… What are you waiting for..? haha
😉
Chrisa

More on ochos, pivots etc, check out this page: https://bautanz.com/argentine-tango-technique/argentine-tango-technique-ochos/

Constructing Dance

BauTanz

Tag Archives: coordination

Embrace-Go beyond the push and pull