Friday 15 May 2015

More chest!

At the end of a tanda I asked the Very Experienced Partner about the need for a lead to be decisive without being in the least rough. 'More chest!' was her immediate, clear and memorable reply, without hesitation. 'More chest is never rough!' she added.

She made it sound so straightforward, and yet... It's easy enough for leads to remember, at the start of a tango, to straighten the back and shoulders, breath in and hold the chest forwards, but imperceptibly it all slumps, the initial good contact with the partner deteriorates, and leading can become more awkward. Tango developed among people whose posture was naturally good, who weren't slumped at terminals all day, who walked a lot more than we usually do. Most of us don't have good posture, we tend to be round-shouldered, our heads habitually inclined forwards, our lower backs curved out, as they are when we sit at desks and tables. It can be a submissive, despairing posture.

Good yoga, Pilates or Alexander teachers can help correct this, and get the back straight and the head stacked on top of the vertebrae. It's essentially the body's natural posture, the position in which it works best and is least prone to injury (lower back injury in particular), and it's really the only good starting posture for tango. Or any other kind of dance: if you go to the stage door cafe at London's dance theatre, Sadler's Wells, you'll start to notice two species of human, those who have straight backs with their heads in line, and... well, sadly, the rest of us

2 comments:

AlanJonesj said...

Coincidentally,one of our dancers told me that Ricardo(her favourite partner) used a lot of 'chest',even suggesting too much. No,never enough chest,:-).

Tangocommuter said...

Thanks, Alan. Coincidentally, the Very Experienced Partner who made the remark used to dance with Ricardo. I think his use of chest is visible in any of the videos, but it's also evident that he had excellent natural posture, very upright and square-shouldered. With posture like that the chest is inevitably forward. That's why I think work on posture can help dancing.

I found a comment (was it TangoGeoff?): he posted a link to my post on his blog, with a note saying that I didn't mention that it takes two: women also have to be willing to push the chest forwards. It's true. A lot, perhaps most, London close embrace is a sham. It looks like close embrace if you're watching, but that last centimetre or two, the real contact, is missing. Yes, it's close, but not 'apilado', stacked together. You can have a nice dance like this, but maybe few people realise how much better it can be!