2589  Drunken milongueras

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 14:16:18 -0400
From: Jennifer Bratt <gwynhefaire@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Drunken milongueras

I think I can help:
This comes from the very common misconception that to dance close you have
to lean on your partner and be off your axis. I'd lead a drunken woman
dancing close-embrace properly over a sober woman who purposely leans on me
any day!! I guarantee the drunken woman will be easier to dance with.

Bored at work today,
Jennifer

>From: LGMoseley@AOL.COM
>Reply-To: LGMoseley@AOL.COM
>To: TANGO-L@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
>Subject: Re: [TANGO-L] Embrace and Style
>Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 14:06:29 EDT
>
>Here in the UK, the Apilado/Close Embrace/etc style is sometimes known as
>the
>Drunken Woman style. I do not know the origin of this phrase. Can anyone
>help?
>
>Laurie
>

Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 15:15:02 +0100
From: Bruce Stephens <bruce@CENDERIS.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: Drunken milongueras

Jennifer Bratt <gwynhefaire@HOTMAIL.COM> writes:

> I think I can help:
> This comes from the very common misconception that to dance close
> you have to lean on your partner and be off your axis. I'd lead a
> drunken woman dancing close-embrace properly over a sober woman who
> purposely leans on me any day!! I guarantee the drunken woman will
> be easier to dance with.

You don't *have* to lean (and you certainly shouldn't lean *on* your
partner---you should lean *against* them).

But surely some people do dance close and lean against their partner,
to such an extent that they're off their respective axes? It's surely
not entirely an illusion? It certainly doesn't *feel* to me like an
illusion.

I must admit, on the whole I prefer to dance with women who (if
they're dancing close) lean. I've had one or two not very pleasant
dances with women who tried to dance close without leaning, with the
result that it was difficult to move my legs---leaning (that is,
allowing the body to be in front of the feet, while keeping the body
itself vertical, of course) gives some space to move.

I suspect this is just a terminology thing, with "lean" meaning
different things to different people.

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