1462  On tango music, teaching/talking on the dance floor

Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2003 23:12:38 -0700
From: Judy Stockinger <judytango@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: On tango music, teaching/talking on the dance floor

For what it's worth, my two cents on tango music, teaching/talking on the dance floor.

I' m a woman who has been been dancing tango as a follower for about six years. I do other types of dance: modern, improv, free-style to contemporary music (did ballroom and disco in the 70's), and am a current student of flamenco.

When I first came to tango. I thought Hugo Diaz was fabulous and could not understand why all the Argentines I knew were so opposed to dancing to his music at milongas. I knew as a dancer that it is possible to dance to anything and I had no problem dancing to Hugo Diaz, in fact it was his "Milonga Trieste" from "The Tango Lesson" that hauntingly drove me to my own first tango lessons. However, a curious change occurred as I matured in my tango exposure and now, I find when that I am dancing to Hugo Diaz, I finally understand the Argentines' protest and amazingly (!), I agree with them.

As for playing non-tango music at milongas, sometimes it is a welcome break as long as it does not last beyond a tanda or two, well-spaced and later in the evening. My main objection to non-tango music at milongas is that you can hear and dance to this music almost anywhere and everywhere. You can dance tango steps to non-tango music at all kinds of venues every day of the week. How many places are there where you can hear and dance to tango music?

As far as teaching and talking while dancing, it robs the dancers of being totally in the moment with the music and the movement and nothing else, that "tango trance" or "tango nirvana"or "bliss" or whatever you want to call it. You and your partner are transported by the music and the moment and the rest of the world has fallen away. You are not aware of anything else but the music and the movement and if you are a follower you can close your eyes and get completely lost in the moment.
Of course, sometimes I will chat during a dance with someone I haven't seen in awhile, but I often will say at some point, "no more talking, let's dance!" and it's completely understood and no offense is taken.

Now as for "teaching on the dance floor" at a milonga, please, do not do it! That is what practicas are for. Leaders, men and women alike, if you don't get the response you wanted when you led it, don't verbalize it! Either learn to lead it properly or try something else. Surprisingly, some of the biggest offenders of teaching on the dance floor I've known have been women leaders (some of whom who had previously complained bitterly when men did it to them and who seem to think it's somehow ok when it's two women dancing!). As a follower, I do not criticize the fellow or woman who is leading, I try to be as emotionally supportive and as attentive a follower as I can be and if I don't like dancing with them for whatever reason, I simply avoid dancing with them in the future or limit the number of dances I do with them. If they ask for my advice regarding their leading, I will offer it hesitantly and as gently as I can.