Stay closed at the hips. Turn the head into Promenade for the lady

Repeat....... the hips do NOT touch in Tango

Terence2. When you say The hips do not touch in the Tango. To clear the air we are talking about two pair of hips one for each partner. I don't know about you but on a Progressive Link the lady stays on the man's right hip opening slightly like a hinge.There is contact of the hips. I would say that Alex Moore page 228 The Photo of Bill and Bobbie Irvine have contact on the man's right hip. A trip to Learn the Dances on this site will also also confirm the about. Now the Argentine Tango. That is a different story.

Scriv. would dis agree with that techn. if a Prom is danced to its correct position, then the mans R and ladies L should NOT make contact.. if it does, it is caused by the lady opening too " wide " and also the man not taking his right side sufficiently away..
Thats scrivs theory... think I will stay with the "masters " concept .

Terence2. You are now talking about two hips on each person when you wrote the man's R and the L should not make contact if the Promenade is danced correctly.
Its years since I read Len's book, which was compiled from his notes after he had passed away. Surely he wrote The man's L and the ladies R hip. And not the man's R and the ladies L hip.
That is at the end of the Progressive Link.
If we stand in the normal Tango Hold our set up for the man is both feet, offset, pointing diagonal to the wall with the body turned 1/8 of a turn anti clockwise. Normal opposite for the lady.

"Its years since I read Len's book, which was compiled from his notes after he had passed away. Surely he wrote The man's L and the ladies R hip. And not the man's R and the ladies L hip."

As it would be essentially impossible for the man's L hip to contact the lady's R in either promenade or close position, we can obviously conclude that his warning was as stated, against the thing that a sloppy couple easily could allow to happen, which would be his Right hip contacting her left.

Promenade is a subject that confuses many, but it can actually be easily understood if you simply consider for a minute that having the foot positions "open" means that the feeling in the body will not be one of being opened out, but rather one of being stretched very "closed" to the partner. The body is stretched in opposition to the opened out foot positions.

i am following this discussion with interest. but the writers' definition of terms such as "closed", "close", and "open" is not clear to me. could you clarify please.

what are the exact points of contact specified in scrivener's promenade position and are they different from guy howard's promenade position.

What needs to be considered is this...

Techn. is the advancement of a theory,and as Len stated, there is no absolutes, as circumstance may warrant change.. so.. you may have 2 or 3 coaches describing a specific action with opposing or different views...As len would say, do what works for you.

And..... he did say HIPS.. if you had attended his lectures, Or taken lessons with him, he would have made that implicitly clear .

And... please dont quote me what current Champs are doing.. thats only their " take " on the matter .

Majority have strayed so far from the concept ( as Irvine also noted ) that it has started to resemble F/t with its " swing " action and absence of " stillness ".

Trence. I always remember being in a class run by Len Scrivener and Nellie.In Two Walks in the Tango which are Slow Slow. To stop people swinging the steps Foxtrot style they called the two Walks Stop. Stop. Thats how I have done ever since. The Link they called it Quick. Stop which is still only two beats. But thats the action they wanted.

Remember it well !!.. he also use to say " step, catch ".
That dynamic ( among many others ) is missing in todays dancing