Dear Maleva,
Occasionally I find myself with a partner who likes to move
her
shoulders or arm in time with the music. I am not sure what
to do about
that. It feels odd not to respond with similar movement, but
it's not
natural for me. On the one hand, I am not sure if I should
let a
follower lead me like that and on the other not following
the follower
inhibits making a nice connection.
Signed,
What to do?
Dear What to Do --
Sometimes when a person is dancing (either
leader or follower) and is really
into the music, they let the rhythm vibrate throughout their
whole body and
you can feel it no mater where you are touching them. When
you dance, you
should dance with your whole body, not just your feet and
legs; tango
doesn't have to be and shouldn't be stiff. These movements
should be done
in a way that adds to the musicality of the dance, but not
overdone so they
become distracting. Hopefully this is what you feel in the
followers. They
should not be moving so much that they are jerking you around,
or making the
dance uncomfortable, or interfering with connection. You don't
need to
respond or try to do the same thing that they are doing. That
would be like
2 people talking at once and nobody listening to the other.
The follower is
not leading you; you are still leading. She is just expressing
what she
feels in the music.
There is a common arm movement that I've
felt a lot of men do, especially
the older dancers. The guy will lightly pulse his left arm
to the rhythm as
he leads something Quick-Quick-Slow. Ladies can do this too.
It should be
subtle and not really visible. Although I've seen Julio Balmaceda
performances on video where he does this arm bounce and you
can see it.
Probably there are other examples as well.
So, you could let the follower's movement
inspire you to try a similar
movement when you hear something in the music you want to
express.
Experiment with it! It can be very subtle...or if it's not
natural for you,
don't worry about it, just let the follower do her thing.
(Also see the past column on the "shoulder
embellishment" here:
http://www.close-embrace.com/malevaarchive/december2004.html
)
