Avoiding floor traffic

One could certainly be taught about floorcraft in class, (and should be), and they could practice it in class or at a practica. Hopefully no one would be learning it at a milonga, although they would probably be improving on it.
 
Avoiding collisions is only the barest minimum requirement for dancing in a milonga, in my opinion. Other elements of navigation (e.g. cooperation) are also necessary to create a suitable atmosphere for tango.

On another note, hiring a bouncer to boot that kid out would've worked just as well!
 
Mario,

It's probably easy avoiding road traffic in San Miguel Allende, but it's impossible once you get to Mexico City.

Floor traffic is unavoidable in social dancing. A class or practica doesn't prepare anyone for traffic they'll encounter on the milonga floor. That's where you are forced to learn to dance small or suffer collisions. Teachers can't prepare you in classes for what you will experience at a crowded milonga.

Your trip to BsAs is long overdue.
 
One drill that I think is helpful, is to make a 3' x 3' square with masking tape on the floor (approx, 1 square meter for the rest of the world), and then dance in that square with your partner and see what you can do. Generally, the instructions I give (to the leader), is to keep one of the feet for each partner inside the square (which most of the time results in all the feet being inside the square).

I usually will demonstrate that quite a bit can be done in that square (rock steps, ochos, mollinetes, pauses, small low boleos, etc).

Granted, this drill is more about not causing a problem than it is about dodging people, but it's a very useful skill.
 
One thing i've begun to notice, and let me caveat this by saying that it's likely the exception and not the rule, is a lot of ladies leading who pay no attention to floorcraft. I would think that a lady leader, who is also a follower, would be very cognizant of where she is sending her follower, because she's been in that followers shoes.

Maybe it's just my bad luck but multiple times in the past couple weeks, i've had to pay super close attention and pull my follow out of her anchor because she is about to get run over by a wreckless female leader barreling towards us with no regards for safety.
 
Caravaggio said:
One thing i've begun to notice, and let me caveat this by saying that it's likely the exception and not the rule, is a lot of ladies leading who pay no attention to floorcraft. I would think that a lady leader, who is also a follower, would be very cognizant of where she is sending her follower, because she's been in that followers shoes.
Click to expand...
When one is not a full time leader, she (or he) lacks precisely what is needed to obtain floorcraft skills: experience. Real_milonga_dance_floor experience in a leader's role. Practicing in class may help somewhat, but there is no way around. One needs to dance a leader's part in a milonga. Regularly. A lot.
 
In my opinion floorcraft has relatively little to do with skill and experience, and a lot with attitude. If a leader sees the other leaders as part of the same team, where we all together create a dancefloor they will have good floorcraft. If they think of other couples as obstacles they wont.
It is the same as in traffic: It is crowded, and chaotic, but it is like a school of fish where the goal is to contribute to the whole dancefloor moving in harmony, not a chariot race where the goal is to block the people behind, defend ones position against the people at ones side, and attack and overtake the people in front. Less Ben Hur, more Nemo :)

The best exercise to develop that positive awareness of the other dancers is to consciously try to see and make eye contact with all the leaders around oneself. Think "how generous of them to let me dance", smile, and be generous to them in turn.

Gssh
 
Gssh said:
In my opinion floorcraft has relatively little to do with skill and experience, and a lot with attitude. If a leader sees the other leaders as part of the same team, where we all together create a dancefloor they will have good floorcraft. If they think of other couples as obstacles they wont.
It is the same as in traffic: It is crowded, and chaotic, but it is like a school of fish where the goal is to contribute to the whole dancefloor moving in harmony, not a chariot race where the goal is to block the people behind, defend ones position against the people at ones side, and attack and overtake the people in front. Less Ben Hur, more Nemo :)

The best exercise to develop that positive awareness of the other dancers is to consciously try to see and make eye contact with all the leaders around oneself. Think "how generous of them to let me dance", smile, and be generous to them in turn.

Gssh
Click to expand...

Attitude is a big part of it, agree, but skills and experience, as well as the right kind of instruction, matter. We all have seen those inconsiderate and aggressive ones... but I also know way too many leaders who are super nice people but cannot navigate s***t.
 
Gssh said:
In my opinion floorcraft has relatively little to do with skill and experience, and a lot with attitude.
Click to expand...

Once you are somewhat skilled in it (which of course depends on attitude, but also on experience and even on the willingness of your teachers to stress the importance of it. I know friendly people who were unconsciously behaving as elephants in a china shop who picked up floorcraft skills eagerly once they did become aware of what they were causing).

Even not enough skill at the steps you're trying to use will cripple your floorcraft skills because your mind will be too occupied with interpreting and leading (it does mean that you should not engage in sequences you don't master on a crowded dance floor).
 
sixela said:
Once you are somewhat skilled in it (which of course depends on attitude, but also on experience and even on the willingness of your teachers to stress the importance of it. I know friendly people who were unconsciously behaving as elephants in a china shop who picked up floorcraft skills eagerly once they did become aware of what they were causing).

Even not enough skill at the steps you're trying to use will cripple your floorcraft skills because your mind will be too occupied with interpreting and leading (it does mean that you should not engage in sequences you don't master on a crowded dance floor).
Click to expand...
This is a very good post.
:cheers:
 
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