My Tango Diaries

A story from one of my readers (from an undisclosed location): Four dancers sitting at a table on the edge of the milonga floor. Three of the dancers have been dancing more than 2 years, the fourth has been dancing about six months. All four dancers watch the couple in the middle of the floor as the leader leads a triple traveling volcada, followed by a waist high leg wrap and ending in a lightening fast gancho. Beginner dancer : Wow! Now that's real tango!! The other three dancers at the table: ::blink-blink:: . . . :: triple facepalm :: Advice from my friend: Just a reminder, be sure to set a good example for the young'uns. *PSA - Public Service Announcement

The floor at Friday night's milonga was enormous. All of the dancers I asked agreed we could have fit a couple of hundred dancers on that floor. Instead we had a few dozen. A nice crowd - but we still had what seemed like acres of room. With all that room you would think there would be no need for any leader to overtake another couple on the pista. (That's what I thought, anyway.) And yet a couple of tangueros not only tailgated and overtook another couple on the right side (the other leader's blind side, which is why you don't do it) - but they overtook many, many couples - practically "lapping"(1) the other dancers on the floor. I couldn't keep the "Are you *&%$# serious?" look off my face when a leader repeatedly got within a few inches of my partner and me (leaving a full 6+ feet between him and the couple behind him), and then passed us. Twice. It's not like we were holding up the line of dance either. We were maintaining the same fe...

(Tango at a nightclub in Buenos Aires, 1924. Source: www.esnips.com ) A Scenario for Leaders: Your favorite orquestra begins to play and the follower you enjoy most for that music is looking for your cabeceo at just the right moment. You meet at the edge of the dance floor, look for the nod from the leader behind you, and as the first few bars play, you find the most blissful embrace in each other's arms. Just as you take your first step, another leader suddenly enters the line of dance, butt first, backing into your surprised partner. Oblivious to the run in, he takes off down the line of dance. The spell is broken and now you and your partner have to wonder if this tanda is going to be spent in "defensive driving" mode. This scenario, or a similar one, happens at almost every milonga I attend. This is after we had a very well attended workshop discussing, in detail, how to enter the line of dance. I've written about this before, and I've discussed it on forum...

I know I should post my complete notes on Murat and Michelle's class before diving into something specific (and ranty), but this can't wait. M&M spent a great deal of time and effort, not just talking about etiquette on floorcraft, but demonstrating it. The two concepts I was most happy to hear about were the "male cabeceo" and leaders forming "trains" on the pista. For people who have traveled to Denver and some of the larger tango festivals, this wasn't new information, but it's something that isn't taught very often in our local classes. The male cabeceo - making eye contact (essentially getting approval) from the leader that will be behind you as you enter the dance floor with your partner. More on that from Miles Tangos ( Barefootango.com ): "Leaders when entering the line of dance, make eye contact with the on coming traffic of leaders and acknowledge that you’d like to enter the line of dance and ONLY enter when you have consente...

(picture of Ney Melo and Jennifer Bratt from La Planchadora's LOLTango .) The Good News Another lovely weekend of dancing with beautiful music from Li and Fil - both at Esquina and at Tapestry practica last night. In fact last night's practica was very productive. I was able to work on a pretty full range of styles - from shared weight/apilado/carpa movements to very open nuevo moves (including soltadas (yes, even soltadas), shadow leading, volcadas great and small, boleos, ganchos and leg wraps.) I'm usually up for almost anything at practica and I really enjoy the practice. It is only at milongas that I get fairly conservative. So while you may see me doing series of boleos, ganchos and leg wraps all over the place at practica, don't be surprised if you get less enthusiasm for those from me at the milonga. Just saying... The Not-so-Good News "Ladies, you can blame your partner making you bump into somebody. You can also blame him when someone steps on you, but y...

*/rant/* Two tandas . . . Two bruised toes from getting stepped on. One abrasion and bruise on the side of right foot from a stiletto heel (ocho taps adornment). One bruise in right calf from stiletto heel (boleo). One bruise on my left Achilles tendon from a (not my) leader's kick (gancho). One silver-dollar sized bruise on the inside of knee (back sacada). Fairly ranty requests: Teachers: every single class you teach about any pattern/sequence/step whatever, should include floorcraft. Every one of these injuries could have been prevented by following the most basic rules of good floorcraft. When your students, leaders or followers, kick people, it's a reflection on you. Leaders: If you think the floor looks pretty tough and you may have trouble navigating it - you're probably right. Either dance small, and by small, I mean *small* - for example, two large steps to walk me to the cross is not small, or sit out until later in the milonga. If you're not sure you know the...

Something changed in me, in my dancing and in my goals, when I realized that the milonga experience was more important to me than my individual dance experience. When I decided that I was a part of a community, I couldn't just "take my ball and go home" if I didn't like something. I became committed, not just to tango, but to a group of people and experiences. I started looking for ways to have that "tango flow" milonga-bliss experience more consistently - paying more attention to the factors and actions (mine and others) that generated that feeling - and those factors that caused it to fall apart. It's more than just "being the tango you want to see in the world". Because, let's face it - some dancers are exactly the tango they want to see in the world, and they're the ones kicking folks on the pista. When the experience of the community took priority over everything else, I became more aware of my effect on other dancers on the floor ...