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The point is that in Argentine Tango the
expectation is to dance the t
anda. In ballroom, the
expectation is for only
ONE dance. When I ask for a second woman, the woman is usually surprised because it rarely happens.
Michael
Washington, DC
Yes, but I admit I am with Joe on this.
What is the big deal?
It isn't a big deal, to us, because this is the norm, here. We dance one dance, or two, and move on.
I believe some of the social norms that have been transplanted from Argentina are done so in the spirit of authenticity, but because they are not our own norms, they are observed outside of the context. We then have people observing rules for no real reason, or out of "tango superstition". (I know this is a general statement, but I will say that I know it does not apply to all milongas or tango dancers outside of Argentina. There are exceptions.) One example of what I mean is when a dancer attends ballroom socials regularly, where the norm is to have one dance and move on, and then attends a milonga and feels offended when somebody leaves them after one dance.
If we're at a milonga (in the U.S.) and the ladies outnumber the men 4 to 1, I don't want to occupy one gentlemen for 3-4 dances while the ladies hug the walls. Also, it is ideal in my book to "get" a tango + something else. I like it when I can catch a tango, and then get a vals (or two) with the same dancer. I will intentionally break it off before the vals set is done so that he can hopefuly find another lady to enjoy a vals with and then catch a tango as well. I don't want to "take" all of his vals. If he is a great vals dancer, I'd like for somebody else to have a great time, too.
But, I digress from your original thought
I noticed that the ballroom custom is to dance ONE dance and change partners. Even if the dance was fantastic, dancers don't seem to consider dancing a second dance with the same partner....
The principle is that it takes a few dances to find out if the man can lead and the woman can follow. It takes a few dances to get acclimated to each other.
But in ballroom, you only have ONE dance to acclimate. Would it be so bad to play 2 consecutive foxtrots, 2 consecutive waltzs, etc?
Michael
I danced Argentine Tango- - with the Argentines
No it would not be a bad thing, not at all. I think it is a great idea. I do this a lot myself, actually, and have noticed some gentlemen seem surprised when I ask them to dance again. Though, generally I will ask them, "I want to dance again.
You haven't promised this dance to somebody else, have you?"
I think one reason why people cut out after one dance is because there is a broad range of dances. Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, V Waltz, Rumba, Bolero, Cha, EC Swing, WC Swing *pauses to take another breath* Quickstep, Samba, Argentine Tango, Country Two-Step...
etc. Oftentimes people are familiar with the venue and know that there will be one precious Samba for the entire evening. So they come there sometimes promising each other at the door to grab each other for the Samba. Which also brings on another point - Because there are so many different dances, you have different dancers with different strengths. When a tango of any kind comes on, I am always on the floor. When a C2step comes on I am... generally, not.
I have my eye on particular WC dancers and will make sure to get in one dance with them, but won't "hog" them for the entire evening so that others may have fun, too. If I dance a WC with them and a Cha follows, I'll also dance the Cha with them. But, if I danced WC with the good WC dancer earlier that evening and we've just completed a Cha, if another WC comes on I'll break it off.
Another reason why I think people cut out after one dance is because oftentimes there will an uneven number of ladies and gentlemen. Sometimes we have many ladies, and othertimes we have many gentlemen. It is on these evenings dancers make a special point to circulate.
Every other social at our studio played the music as you asked intentionally. One week we would have rotating sngle dances. The following week we would play 2 of everything excluding such as Paso and Vienesse, etc. This allowed dancers to remain w/ a partcualr partner if they wushed, or to enjoy a chosen rhythm w/ more than one partner.
This idea sounds do-able. I'm going to discuss further with you.
But can think of a couple partners in particualr that I'm always happy to grab more than one dance with, and do whenever I have an excuse. 
