Square Embrace. Sometimes referred to as being ‘Buttons-to-Buttons‘ with your partner, refers to the partner’s torsos facing each other at all times during the course of a dance, where the torsos align in a ‘squared’ up fashion. If both partners were wearing buttoned shirts, that the ‘gig-line’ of those buttoned shirts, should be facing each other and the gig-line aligns with the partner’s gig-line at all times, or their natural body longitudinal axial lines align with each other. Armpit dancing ? Not so much with that. Arm compression or compression with the arms to hold the partnership in place may be applied however it is not necessary or required.
This format of the embrace can be used in Open or any of the Close Embrace variations with the exception of the Vee Embrace. In Open or Close Embrace it’s employment when kept, allows for the Lead and Follower to stay ‘with’ each other, and creates for the sensation that the partnership is ‘together’, and that the Follower is not being rushed through vocabulary choices. The Follower’s Molinete, the Argentine Cross (and Rotating, Linear, & Floating Crosses), as well as Milonguero Ochos (sometimes referred to as “Lazy” Ocho), the Milonguero Turn, and Traveling Ochos become much easier for the Follower to execute simply because of their body placement in relationship to their lead (the action, not the person).
