Limerick Tango

I sware I never saw his chest move.

A derogatory term referring to instructors that teach nothing but sequences.

I shall prefix this post by stating that it is written from the perspective of someone who is six foot three and therefore taller than the majority of followers I have danced with.

You will see tango monsters just before the embrace is engaged. It is where the follower reaches up to the embrace of the taller leader. But she doesn’t just lift her arms. For some bizzare reason she lifts her arms by raising her shoulders to her ears and adding for effect splayed reaching fingers. From the leaders perspective it looks like he’s being attacked by a lurching zombie. Hence tango monsters.

Its a word with many connotations in tango.

To be heavy: The way the majority of Argentine teachers describe having connection with the floor. Where ballroom dancing seeks to glide above the floor tango dancers seek purchase and make the floor their friend. In this way the partners communicate the presence of their feet.

Heavy: Sometimes used to describe someone’s embrace indicating their ability to communicate the heaviness of their lower half through their embrace.

Heavy: Literally being heavy and pulling or leaning down on your partner. Extremely incorrect technique.

Heavy: Being sluggish and unresponsive to the lead. A mistaken interpretation of the notion of resistance in the embrace.

I tend to speak of “the hold” and “the embrace”. “The hold” refers to to the holding of the hands, his left, her right. “The embrace” refers to the embrace of the body, how and where he places his arm around her and vice versa.