821  Tedious Floorcraft Rant

Date: Sun, 20 Oct 2002 15:02:07 -0700
From: Jai Jeffryes <doktordogg@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Tedious Floorcraft Rant

JAI'S TEDIOUS RANT ON FLOORCRAFT

Floorcraft is like the weather. Everyone talks about
it, but nobody does anything about it. It's one of
those things that everyone will agree is important on
principle. There is no concensus about what
constitutes floorcraft in practice.

This is what I think are the essential elements of
floorcraft for social dancing. I didn't come up with
all of this myself. I offer a tip of the hat to those
who have helped me, but I don't want to expose them
for argument! If you guys want credit, pipe up or let
me know and I'll acknowlege you.

RULES OF FLOORCRAFT
1. Dance on the outer perimeter only.
2. Take the space in front of you when it opens up,
giving your space to the couple behind you.
3. Don't pass anyone at any time.

It really is that rigid. That's what creates a ronda.


Brigitte Winkler, one person who actually does
something about floorcraft, once taught a workshop in
which we did nothing but walks and rocks. The
assignment was to do only one step or the other,
selecting the opposite of what the couple ahead was
doing.

It seemed silly at the time, two or three steps, then
wobble in place like a weebil until the couple in
front wobbled some more so you could go again. After
an embarrassingly long time spent on that tomfoolery,
Brigitte stopped and observed, "you know... I wish
milongas looked just like this all the time."

Duh! It was like the "wax on wax off" scene in "The
Karate Kid". (Lightbulb going off over head.) At
that time everyone was observing those three simple
rules.

THE MIDDLE OF THE FLOOR
The middle of the floor is a No-Man's Zone. There is
no good reason ever to occupy it at any time,
particularly if you have the decency to be concerned
about your partner's shins, ankles, and insteps. If
for no reason other than this, make the middle of the
floor a No-Woman's Zone, too!

This rule seems to be widely acknowleged without ever
actually being observed. Yes, the offenders include
some teachers. Yes, the offenders include some
teachers from Argentina. I guess some teachers think
a central point is good advertising. I don't seek to
be a stage dancer. I'm a social dancer. What they're
telling me is that they don't dance my dance, so
though I may appreciate them as performers, I have no
reason to seek them as teachers.

Why do I insist so pedantically on staying out of the
middle of the floor?

THE LEADER'S RIGHT IS BLIND
Unless your follower is a lot shorter than you, you
can't see what's on your right side. As soon as
you're dancing anywhere other than the edge of the
floor, you WILL bang your partner into somebody.

A lot of people adopt the fervor of Crusaders when
admonishing newbies to avoid backsteps. That's an
easy idea to grasp and I think people clue up on that
pretty fast. What's discussed less often is the
danger of a sidestep to the right. Gavito recommends
entirely omitting the so-called Tango Close, which
includes a sidestep to the right. It's because your
right side is blind. The danger is worse if you
aren't in control of the space on your right. If you
don't consistently dance really close to the edge,
somebody will probably creep into the space on your
right and you'll hit them when you step to the right.

ON BEING PASSED
The other moral of that story is, never let anybody
pass you on the right. Dance on the edge. Then you
know what's around you and your partner remains safe.
If somebody insists on overtaking you, be merciless
about cutting them off from passing you on the right.
If they must go around, only permit them to do it on
your left. This is the most effective way to maintain
control over your space. When you control your space,
you aren't hitting people. The moment you start to
creep into the center, you lose control of your space.

TAKE YOUR SPACE
Tango progresses in a line of dance. If the poignance
and beauty of the music and your partner tend to
paralyze you into immobile fits of weeping (or you are
terribly fascinated with paradas), then the whole
ronda is going to keep piling up behind you just like
the Van Wyck Freeway and everyone will want to pass
you. I prefer to dance slowly rather than fast, but
when the guy in front of me goes, it's not fair for me
to hold everybody up, so I take the space he left and
let the guy behind me have my space, even if I have to
dance faster than I ordinarily like to do.

ON PASSING
Just say no. Don't pass anyone, ever. In social
dancing, you dance as slow or as fast as the person in
front of you, that's it. This is why social dancing
includes both traveling steps and turning steps! Both
are required to maintain a ronda. Social dancing
doesn't mean "running laps" and passing the same
couple two (or three times!) in a single song. There
is no reason to pass even ONE couple. I can dance an
entire song in one place if somebody is talking in
front of me.

Of course, this principle is disputed by a lot of
dancers, including some teachers who originate from
planets I've never heard of. Such teachers have
physical prowess I will never come close to. Great, I
just don't know why it ever occurred to them to enter
a social dance floor. It's dancing; it just isn't
social dancing. I don't know what attracted them
there. It pays to pick your position in a ronda as
carefully as you choose a partner! There are certain
leaders I like to dance next to because it's finally
social dancing.

WHERE THEN?
I have heard that the etiquette of floorcraft in
Portland is superior to that in New York. Is that
true? Is it true that inappropriate dancers can be
ejected from milongas? (How does the market for
computer programmers look in that area?)

Jai


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Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2002 13:43:33 -0500
From: Stephen Brown <Stephen.P.Brown@DAL.FRB.ORG>
Subject: Re: Tedious Floorcraft Rant

I am in agreement with Jai's observation that basic floorcraft and courtesy
is essential part of dancing tango, but I do not necessarily see all the
details in the same way.

Jai wrote:

>1. Dance on the outer perimeter only.

I am wondering how big the dance venues must be in New York City that
everyone can dance on the outer perimeter... The wide-open spaces in Texas
have not necessarily led to large dance floors. :-)

Anyway, in more crowded venues, tango is danced in several concentric
lanes. In general, the outer lane is for the dancers most capable of
navigating. The dancers who are less skilled at navigating should stay on
the inside lanes.

Dancers should pick a lane and stick with it. Zig-zagging between lanes is
very destructive to the flow of dance traffic.

>Unless your follower is a lot shorter than you, you can't see
>what's on your right side. As soon as you're dancing anywhere
>other than the edge of the floor, you WILL bang your partner
>into somebody.

In venues with multiple lanes, it is important for the leaders to
understand the boundaries of the lane and stick to them. Squeezing to the
outside of a lane may result in a collision with someone who is in the next
lane over. For those on the outside lane squeezing to outside may narrow
the lane and result in a collision with someone or an object off the dance
floor.

>The middle of the floor is a No-Man's Zone.

At very crowded milongas, the middle of the floor will also be occupied,
but it should not be used as a short cut across the floor.

At some less crowded venues, the middle will be used by people doing
stationary figures. Not very interesting to me, but much better that the
dance there than impede the flow of traffic.

3. Don't pass anyone at any time.

More correctly, do not pass the people in your own lane. Different lanes
may move different speeds. Switching back and forth between lanes to pass
another couple is very destructive to the flow of traffic.

Of course, people that are impeding traffic may encourage people to pass
them... As Jai wrote:

>2. Take the space in front of you when it opens up,
>giving your space to the couple behind you.

Think of stopping as being like blocking a lane of traffic.

>The other moral of that story is, never let anybody
>pass you on the right. Dance on the edge. Then you
>know what's around you and your partner remains safe.
>If somebody insists on overtaking you, be merciless
>about cutting them off from passing you on the right.

Reminds me of a story:
At a very crowded milonga in another city, I was dancing in my lane
following the flow of traffic. I had observed a very careless dancer
zig-zagging throughout the milonga the entire evening. By zig-zagging, he
and his partner reached a point just behind us. Suddenly I found him
trying to pass my partner and me on my right even though we were fairly
close to the edge. He was like a driver trying to pass to the right on the
shoulder. He and his partner were almost off the dance floor onto the
carpet. At the turn the carpet ended, and the shoulder became a wall. As
we reached the turn, he had his partner about even with me. He accelerated
sharply and veered hard to the left, which would have taken his partner
hard into mine. I sent my right arm out to fend them off and caught him
just right to push them off the dance floor onto the carpet.

With best regards,

Steve (de Tejas)

Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2002 21:20:49 -0700
From: Carlos Lima <amilsolrac@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Tedious Floorcraft Rant

Here's a more abstract and more radical approach to the generally very well
taken observations by Stephen Brown (02o21) on Jai Jeffrey s (quote-unquote)
"rant".

I can recognise only two (exceedingly simple) "rules" about floor discipline
that are universally accepted for progressive dances in all relevant
traditions. (Conventions, norms, customs, and the like, might be better
labels than "rules".) And, might as well say it now, no others are needed.
Will formulate them in my own words.

The first is that no part of the couple may go where another couple is, or is
about to be, since this will result in a collision, kick, stomping, fracture,
etc. Right? You may think that this "rule" needs to be stated only to
nitwits, but I believe that apparent ignorance of it is the number one cause
of unpleasantness. (They are seeing us here, and they are going to hit us
anyway.)

(About going where you may not see us if we are there ... one solution is ...
don't. It gets awfully boring, yes, but it comes fairly close to working. If
that is the best you can do, by al means, stick to it ... and good luck.)

The second "rule" makes it a lot easier to obey the first, allows much
greater creative freedom, and would produce, if properly understood (alas)
and fully respected, a more beautiful, more pleasant, not to mention safer,
ball room. You know ... the Embassy ball.

It says: couples must move overall counter-clockwise around a (small)
imaginary traffic island in the middle of the room, producing a nice smooth
flow.

It is obviously desirable that couples distribute fairly evenly over the
available space. (Shall I explain why? No ...) A conga line of couples moving
like ants all around the boundary, the contour, of an otherwise empty floor
does not quite cut it. Perhaps no one will admit to recommending such a
thing, but quite a number of tango pundits would be surprised to find out
that this is exactly what they do recommend.

Now, "rules" need to be put in practice. There is only one modest requirement
for someone to be able to figure out whether this or that particular action
or way of moving accords with the "rules"; whether it realises their intent
... or not. I am sure (right?) that on this account there should be no
obstacle, by and by, to new tango inductees getting the right schooling from
day one. Right?

Next, the main point. It is (alas) very common for ... people ... to muddle
the waters by adding to these two wonderfully simple and universally accepted
"rules" their own private commands, rules of thumb, etc, sometimes by the
legion; and often enough with the justification that they are the rage where
everything is done right---two pretty questionable propositions in a row. You
know, someone in authority may have said it, or appeared to have said it, or
something like it ... (Dancers are sometimes not great at explaining what
they do.) The chain-letter principle does the rest.

In my opinion, all these private "rules" are NOT the remedy for widespread
and widely acknowledged floor woes. No, they are one major CAUSE of them
woes.

Cheers,



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