My Tango Diaries

The Antidote - it's what keeps us coming back . . . I'd had too many rough experiences in one night. Actually, I'd had too many a night, for months. I was at the end of what I could take and thought, maybe it's a sign. Maybe I need a break for awhile. I'm becoming the person I didn't want to be. Tired. Frustrated. Cynical.  I've talked other people out of this place and back into tango - but I couldn't get the pep-talk to work on myself. What do I want so badly? My eyes wandered from my shoe bag to the door and as I turned my head, you caught my eyes. I smiled before I knew what I was doing. One more tanda. I'll dance one more tanda, I thought, then go home. You were patient, waiting for me to relax and finally, half way through the first song, I did. I settled against your chest and breathed deeply for probably the first time that night. I listened to the music and our breathing and let everything else slip away. As we dance...

(Courtesy www.morguefile.com ) We all have milonga pet peeves and, from the comments I hear at the milongas and read in blogs, tango dancers have a lot of the same pet peeves. (Which makes me wonder why they happen with such regularity?) They range from small annoyances to behavior that can be physically harmful. Left unchecked it can make dancers decide to avoid certain people at the milonga of course, but also to avoid the milongas/venues where inappropriate or uncomfortable behavior is tolerated - or worse, where it is encouraged.  I know the U.S. isn't Buenos Aires and I truly don't have that expectation. However, I would think many of these things would be common sense in most social situations - not just dancing. For some reason, they are not.  (In no particular order - as always, your mileage may vary.) 1.  Intrusive behavior.  One example is when someone (particularly a stranger to that dancer) without any kind of welcome acknowledgment, approac...