2930 V-frame and followers' comfort
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 14:55:25 -0600
From: Brian Dunn <brian@DANCEOFTHEHEART.COM>
Subject: V-frame and followers' comfort
Lois wrote:
>>>
A follower responds:
I have danced with leaders who do both, and don't find one better than
the other. What is a problem is that when a leader allows "drift" by
the follower because his left arm is not solidly communicating to her
where he wants her. Then she's confused, and tries to make her own
adjustments.
Some leaders put a follower far to their right because of their
anatomy (large stomachs!)
I prefer to be more in front, though.
Lois, Mpls
<<<
Lois's comments remind me of an aspect of the V-frame that is often given
short shrift on the list - namely, what feels comfortable for the woman?
In working with Gustavo Naveira and Giselle Anne earlier this year at their
BsAs seminar, GyG pointed out a common occurrence in the walk:
- The leader ends up leading a walk with his shoulders and hips square to
the direction of travel.
- The follower, because of the leader's V-frame, thus has her shoulders
slightly angled to the direction of travel, depending on the degree of the
V, pushing her arm and right shoulder back, resulting in a
less-than-optimally-comfortable frame. The leader is, of course, quite
comfortable ;>
- As a way of minimizing this discomfort, followers then often end up off to
the leader's right, as Lois notes, because the leader opens their right arm
outward at the shoulder, rotating the V off to the right in order to keep
their own shoulders and hips square to the direction of travel. Now the
poor follower has to walk backward at an angle too. This imbalance also
makes the leaders tend to emphasize only vocabulary that takes advantage of
the large "open-side" space in the embrace. Over time, these leaders ignore
(and/or cannot execute) material on the other side of the embrace that would
work better with a more balanced frame.
According to Gustavo, the primary "fix" for this is to hold the leader's
RIGHT arm so that the UPPER arm is aimed in the direction of travel while
the leader's right forearm wraps around the follower's back. (I am
describing "close-embrace salon", for those of us tracking these things).
(Luciana Valle has often mentioned this in her fundamentals classes,
cautioning the leaders to keep their right upper arms directed forward, and
not to let their followers "get away" to the right: "Don't give her that
space! If you a-give her the space, she-a gonna take it! Just like-a da
life...")
This upper-arm position keeps the follower "corralled" directly in front of
the leader, avoiding the problem that Lois describes. The V-Frame, to be
comfortable, then will require the leader to rotate HIS shoulders at an
angle to the direction of travel - his left arm will trail behind the point
of contact of the embrace, and the follower suddenly finds that HER right
arm and shoulder are no longer being bent backward!...but can (perhaps for
the first time) relax forward into a more natural posture as she walks
backward.
I heard audible sighs of pleasure in the seminar as experienced followers
who for YEARS had held this right-arm-and-shoulder-twisting-back pose (or
its alternate off-to-the-right orientation) finally experienced the
alternative. It is the willingness of the leader to bring his own left
shoulder and arm back at an angle that provides this pleasure for the
follower.
We tell our male students that a woman will likely prefer dancing with them
if she feels more able to relax with them than with someone else. So, isn't
it worth testing out this theory with your favorite follower, even if it
does (for some people) reduce the amount of full-frontal "nipple-to-nipple"
contact in the embrace? (Rotating your left arm/shoulder back even more in
the walk will restore much of the coveted NtN contact, guys.) And doesn't it
make sense that the most common tango dance frame in Buenos Aires (the V) is
what most easily provides this relaxing possibility for the follower?
(PS: Like TimmyTango, Deb and I are heading down to Buenos Aires, and will
be there from November 8 through December 3. Please let us know by private
mail if you'll be there - we'll be actively e-mailing while there, and it
would be fun to meet at the milongas!)
All the best,
Brian Dunn
Dance of the Heart
Boulder, Colorado USA
www.danceoftheheart.com
