108  beginners at the milonga

Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 11:58:34 EDT
From: Sarah La Rocca <Danzisima@AOL.COM>
Subject: beginners at the milonga

I am in agreement with Mark Sussex who hit the milongas from day one of
dancing tango. You are not ready to navigate the traffic at this point, but
nothing can teach you to dance like actually dancing. Plus, in the milonga
you have a variety of role models of what to do and what not to do. Beginners
aren't idiots-they can see the difference. The studio is a very static
theoretical environment. You need the miles on the pista to become a dancer.

Old jaded folks like myself find beginners charming. Last week I danced with
a man who started 10 days ago. It made me smile to remember how excited I was
when I began, 400 years ago. If we are not welcoming to the beginners, we
won't have a community left in 3 years. We need a constant supply of fresh
blood to keep the species alive.

So beginners march forth as brave tango soldiers!

Sarah la Rocca
NYC