Abby Green . . . on the Tango

Ask and you shall receive, right?

Yesterday I said here that I'd love to have Presents author Abby Green come visit and write a "guest blog." This afternoon what do I get in my email? Abby's guest blog!

So, without further ado, here's Abby -- teaching you all about the tango.


Thanks to Anne McAllister who is letting me leech off her blog! I’m going to talk about tango…tango dancing. To me, it embodies the very essence of what Presents books are all about, the intense passion, aching melancholy and the subtle, eye wateringly sensuous steps as the man and woman do more than just dance together. They communicate on a level that seems so private and
personal that watching two dancers sometimes seems indecent, or voyeuristic.

In the words of a Tanguero here in Dublin who wrote a little booklet on
Tango etiquette: Tango is a dance, the music a melancholy, the embrace a hope…how beautiful and evocative is that?!

I’ve been learning how to dance Tango for about two years and as yet am nowhere near the level of being able to evoke those emotions in onlookers. It’s enough to try and remember the steps, to avoid going arse over tit!

And, to make it even more challenging, it’s not choreographed. You learn the
steps and then learn how to follow where the man leads. The only Tango that is choreographed is the dance you might see at a show Tango event.

The beauty of the dance is in learning how to be led. Which can be very
difficult for headstrong independent women! I know one woman who had to give
up simply because she felt as if she was giving all her control away. But..if you persevere, you discover that while it’s about being led, it’s also about the way the woman entices her partner to follow her.

Speaking as a woman, as you learn more, and get better, you learn more and more complicated steps, and embellishments. The man can lead you to do a certain move, but you can in turn block his moves, make him go another way.
Assert
your own power and dominance.

The start of a Tango dance is like the start of an intense Presents romance,
the man appears dominant, strong, unyielding. He leads the woman to perform exactly as he wants her to, to follow his steps without question. But, as the dance progresses, each step he makes is followed by a counter move from her. He blocks her foot, so she slides her own up his leg in a provocative display of dissent, before allowing him to lead her on. When he crooks his thigh under hers, she delivers a quick flick of her leg under his, as if to say, not so fast…!

One of my Argentinian teachers describes the man as the stem and the woman as the flower. The man is there to make the woman bloom, to make her look beautiful. And if you’ve ever watched Argentinian Tango being danced, you can’t help but agree.

There are moments during a Tango, even for a relative learner like me, when the music, the embrace sweeps you into another place, where with your eyes closed you simply follow the steps without even knowing what you’re doing. And when you stand apart at the end, if feels like something monumental has happened. And it has, this dance teaches a level of intimacy not encountered every day.

In the salons of Buenos Aires when a man wants to dance with a woman, he will look across the room and merely communicate his desire with his eyes. If she acknowledges him, then he will come over and ask her to dance, if she turns away, he won’t.

Within one three minute dance, you can witness a whole aching love story being played out. Enjoy!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=b#A6139

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Check out Abby's first Harlequin Presents, Chosen As The Frenchman's Bride, an April 2007 release. Imagine the relationship between Xavier and Jane as a tango. It sizzles!

Thanks, Abby!