Like a lot of these moves, pretzels, tunnels, whatever, the overriding factor is the skill of the dancers.
So, yes, they can look elegant. Seen them done well in WCS as well.
Unfort, personally speaking, I am not that good at tunnels, so they are simply not in my repertoire.
Also, I think you have to have some kind of empathy regarding possible consequences of accidental hair displacement
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