Enhance the Embrace
We have established a relaxed and comfortable embrace. We are attentive and open to our partner. We are balanced on our axis, and our weight is over our legs. We await the lead calmly without anticipation.
Now, what can we add to spice things up a bit? How about a sense of adventure? A dash of mystery? Joy and playfulness? Passion and romance?
A good actress changes her mood and intensity from scene to scene as the story unfolds. A good dancer can do the same.
Manage The Mood
An embrace can be neutral, and that's perfectly acceptable. If you're dancing with someone whom you don't know well, you might want to maintain a polite and respectful detachment.
But when we're comfortable with a partner, we can use the embrace to communicate a variety of emotions and moods: playfulness, adventure, mystery, passion.
When an actor performs, they imagine an emotion or an emotional situation so realistically that it makes changes in their body. Muscles relax and engage in different patterns. Posture and breathing transform radically.
Your willingness to venture into new emotional territory during a song or a tanda will give the leader confidence to respond in kind.
Dial up some playfulness and watch him smile. His steps will become lighter and quicker with the change in the mood. Or telegraph a dash of passion in his direction, and watch his reserved detachment will melt like ice cubes on a summer afternoon.
Increase the Intensity
I learned this idea in a class with Rebecca Schulman, and I've shared it with a few of my favorite followers over the years. It's one of those things that's so simple and effective that you'll wonder why everyone doesn't do it.
The follower increases the intensity and tone of the muscles in their arms and the core, not by pressing or pushing, but isometrically. The leader feels this, and his intensity engages as well.
When a follower does this to me, I find myself putting more energy into my movements and dancing more dynamically. It's as though the follower has invited me to increase my own intensity. "It's okay," her embrace assures me. "I can handle some more. Please share your energy."
The Very Ecstasy Of Tango
Some followers are comfortable engaging in a passionate embrace with strangers. But typically, when we dance with someone new, the embrace is neutral.
In my experience, I find that somewhere within the first song or two, things change. The follower realizes that she can trust me, and her embrace relaxes and takes on a different form. It becomes cozy, for lack of a better word.
To me, that is the moment where dancing becomes tango, and where individuality is elevated to partnership.
This Quintessence of Movement
Most people develop one embrace and stick with it. Enhance yours dynamically and see if it changes the experience for your partners.
I didn't even realize that these techniques existed. But from the moment that I first experienced the power that the follower can yield with their embrace, I have been in awe of those who know how to wield that power tastefully.
Leaders make decisions about choreography (which steps to perform), navigation (how to avoid the other couples), and musicality, including the speed and sharpness of the couple's movements.
Followers have a tremendous influence on the mood and tone of the dance. By communicating subtle changes within the embrace, the follower can change the experience of any tanda dramatically.
¡Buena suerte, amigos, y muchas gracias!
Daniel
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