777  Dancing with many partners

Date: Fri, 4 Oct 2002 01:54:28 -0700
From: Sergio <cachafaz@ADELPHIA.NET>
Subject: Dancing with many partners

"Can anyone elaborate on what Zotto meant by that last
remark about the meaning of tango in the context of
dancing with many different partners? And also the
part about teaching foreigners the milonga."

My interpretation of Miguel Zotto's comments is that music and dance are
reflections of life itself.

Afro-Americans have a cadence: the way they talk, the way they walk, the
way they feel is reflected in their music and their dance and the mix of all
this is a reflection of their lives.

Similarly tango, milonga and Argentine vals, reflect the way Porten~os feel
and live.
I think that the tango walk, for instance implies an evolution of the way
the "compadritos" walked at the beginning of the century.

Popular dance is a corporal expression of life itself. It is a language
where words are replaced by movements done in a certain way.

A foreigner may learn to speak English with a teacher at home. It will be
very unlikely that he will ever speak like a native.
His expression in English will be greatly improved by traveling to the USA,
staying there for a while listening and talking to the natives . This in a
much lesser degree happens with tango. The foreign look of the dance can be
greatly decreased by going to Buenos Aires and dancing with as many native
dancers as possible.

Argentineans learn by dancing at the milongas more than by taking lessons.

Milonga has something that is learnt in the street. A special "street
smart" feeling. That "something" is difficult to teach.
Not all the Argentineans have it either. It is a very special way of being
porten~o. A combination of elegance, joy, skill, arrogance, machismo, savoir
faire. Elements that are admired and respected and sometimes misinterpreted
by foreigners.

The meaning of tango in the context of "dancing with many partners" has
other connotations.

Perhaps this should be discussed after the next cortina. >).

Date: Fri, 4 Oct 2002 02:40:43 -0700
From: Sergio <cachafaz@ADELPHIA.NET>
Subject: Dancing with many partners II

"How are you
going to let Milena dance with that one?" And I'd
reply, "Don't worry Viru, she's not going to be
unfaithful to me, we're doing it so that we learn
properly what the tango is about." The good thing is
that nowadays this old attitude has gone."

If the lady is at the milonga in the company of a man, the general attitude
is that the other men will not ask her to dance.

This is an expression of deep respect for any relationship between a man and
a woman, and also an exhibition of respect of a man to another man.

The lady partners of good milongueros can sometimes be invited to dance by
other men but after showing great respect.
The inviting man may know the lady as a friend. He has to go to the table
and ask permission from her partner and after the dance he must escorts the
lady back to her table and thanks both she and her companion. A different
behavior could be interpreted as a provocation.

Men and women (singles) try to dance with partners of similar dancing
skills. A lady will not dance with a partner worse than her but neither will
she with one much better.

The man keeps a status in part by the ladies he dances with. A good
milonguero will dance only with excellent dancers.

Nobody wishes to be embarrassed on the dancing floor so they do not dance
with people unless they see them dancing first.

Men have the option when they feel attracted to a lady whose dancing skills
they ignore, to wait till the last tango of the tanda to invite her to the
dancing floor. This way if she is a bad dancer the distress can only last
one tango rather than the whole tanda.

I think that the attitude is changing but not gone at all.

So ladies that wish to dance with different partners come alone to the
milonga and sit alone or in company of groups of ladies or a mixed group
where the men are known not to have any liaison or romantic interest in
them.

This is frequently ignored by visitors to Buenos Aires and then they wonder
why is that nobody asks them to dance.
By the time they discover the reason it is almost time to return home. Many
change their airplane tickets and stay longer, "now that they start to have
fun". The good thing is that they return the following year to grace the
floor with their beauty and dancing skills...but now they sit by themselves
and only accept invitations of the men they wish to dance with.

Till the next tanda.