Apapachar

There is one word that perhaps capture the warm, tenderness, and care of a perfect embrace.

That word is apapachar.

It is ancestral. Rooted in the Nahuatl pāpa, and echoed in Quechua p’apa, it speaks of something simple and rare: to caress with quiet tenderness.

There is no single-word equivalent in English.

Imagine you are sick with a cold, feverish, and ready to sleep for the rest of the day.

Then someone comes and makes you soup. They bring it to you in bed with loving expressions: “Here it is, dear one, this will do you good.”

That is apapachar.

And if we are dancing, the verb can be translated as to hug with all your soul. That is how the tango teacher Silas Adriazola defined it in the last week Tango Sensaciones circle, dedicated to the embrace.

That is how he teaches the embrace to his students in Chile.

Of course, he includes technique, posture, balance, but when he wants his students to really get it and relax into it, he simply say: it is about apapachar.

In English, we could try and say ‘cuddling’ or ‘pampering’, but that feels somewhat insufficient.

When Silas offered his definition, we all felt it. We got it.

The embrace needs “an internal disposition”, Silas said. “Is that disposition when you really want to embrace someone”. When it’s not there, some tandas can still be pleasant, even fun, yet something essential remains untouched.

In that Tango Sensaciones circle, Alla Petcheniouk shared how in very few occasions in our lives an embrace is so emotionally intense that feels like falling in love. Perhaps that is the level of connection we crave. Perhaps that is the bliss we long for, and why we keep coming back to tango.

Like waiting for something that almost never happens, yet feels worth it every time.

Stay attuned
Jesus Acosta

What does apapachar mean?

An extract from our latest Tango Sensaciones circle, with Silas Adriazola.

Visit our website: https://www.tangosensaciones.com/