Avoiding floor traffic

[Zoopsia59]

Gssh... I agree with you in cases where an experienced leader is making a conscious choice about what to do. However, I've seen too many (especially beginner/advanced beginner) leaders who simply have NO IDEA that they are a problem, and even if they do, they have no idea WHY or what they are supposed to do about it.

It's also quite a big transition to go from the class mindset of thinking primarily about what you are doing, to the milonga mindset of thinking primarily about what is happening around you. Unless the classes are crowded, it simply doesn't come up in most classes. Teachers can force it to be a factor, but too many don't. Everything about the way most classes are structured encourages leaders to focus on what they are trying to do above all else.

So leaders have all of their focus going to what they are doing, where their partner's feet are, and remembering all the complicated stuff the teacher told them (but probably shouldn't have). I've seen more classes where the teacher doesn't talk at all about possible variations on the pattern, than where they teach good overall technique and break things down into the smaller components.

YMMV, but there are a LOT of classes where doing the pattern is so paramount, that it simply doesn't occur to newbie leaders that it won't ever be usable that way. Who would intuitively realize that what they are taught in the expensive class from the supposedly qualified instructor is almost a complete waste of time to learn? "I learned it in tango class.. it MUST be something I could do when I go out to dance tango otherwise why would they have taught it?" That thinking is actually quite logical. Expecting beginners to realize that they are supposed to take away some knowledge from the proper execution of each component rather than from completing the pattern is expecting a lot. They need to be TOLD that, and then told WHAT the relevance (or potential usage) of each component is.

For a leader taught without that to suddenly start dancing with "expanded awareness" instead of "focused awareness" is asking a lot. The ones who do suddenly experience expanded awareness are often so overwhelmed by all that's happening around them, that they are scared to get out on the dance floor at all.

IME, most classes do not prepare leaders for social dancing.

 

[Gssh]

Gssh, you must be well mannered!

not really - i run into somebody at least once a milonga (and usually more often ); getting distracted and not noticing that the couple in front has stopped while i am doing a turn and consequently using space that i expected to be there, but no longer is, misjudging how big a followers swoop would be and so on, and so on. I feel guilty, though

As a beginner, I had problems with people literally running into me, even some local teachers who should have known better and certainly should have had the skill to not run into me. It would happen even if I was standing still, and I've was certainly not doing large energetic movements. (When I started I had lots of experience with other dances. I just coudln't get the "not lead with my arms" thing, as they say.)

In my experience this happens especially when one is standing still. I have made the odd observation that i get bumped in _more_ when i am dancing small than when i am going crazy on the dancefloor. When i dance with a follower who adorns and kicks in the best industrial blender fashion (put your hand in at your own risk) people actually give us plenty of space, when we are barely moving people run into us, boleo into us, and crowd us more, even though we use less space. It has led to odd dissonance for me - if there is room i on the one hand am happy because of the extra vocabulary and dynamic options, but on the other hand i am wondering if i have been tagged as "danger zone" by the other leaders, whereas when i am all squeezed in i think it is in some ways a compliment - they are not afraid that i am going to hurt them, on the other hand i really would prefer if polite and considerately shuffling couples got as much space to dance in as the whirling stillettos of death.

I just don't understand why some people go to milongas - i enjoy dancing all out,too, but i do it when i rent a studio and the only thing i am going to run into are the walls and the ballet barre. Part of the milonga experience is exactly the inclusion of other people into my tango zone, so there is "our shared tango zone". For me this almost never happens, it is even more difficult to find than the tango bliss, but it is one of the reasons i go the milongas -it is as much above tango bliss as tango bliss is above a normal dance.

Gssh

 

[Gssh]

IME, most classes do not prepare leaders for social dancing.

And that is the big problem - and one of the reasons that i am ranting here: If i told a beginner at a milonga what i am writing here I would feel impolite and discouraging, and with an intermediate or advanced dancer i would feel like i am picking a fight. I know that it is not my role to play tango police. Teachers should mention it. Advanced followers who dance with them should mention it. I do similar things with beginning followers - sayign things like "it is really busy tonight, i guess we can't do any boleos today. Oh well, lets do our best buenos aires impression" and smiling a lot.

Thank you for the concept of "extended" vs. "focused" awareness - this is exactly what homer was trying to teach, and what is usually neglected when talking about floorcraft. It is as easy to crowd people when dancing in a sqare foot as it is when using half the floor, just as using half the floor can be perfectly safe and considerate. The basic rule of floorcaft is really simple: stay equidistant between the couple in front of you and the couple behind you, and you are allowed about 1/2 of this space all for yourself, while the 1/4 in the back and 1/4 in the front are buffers that you can intrude into for short times or when there are sudden changes in the flow of the dancefloor. If other people feel the need to cut in between you and your two partner couples they become your new partners and you recenter. If the lanes and line of dance are sketchy you the same is true for the other directions.

Gssh

 

[pascal]

IME, most classes do not prepare leaders for social dancing.

I cannot remember one teacher of mines here who did not at least mention again and again the necessity to consider the situation on the dancefloor when doing the said sequence. Some of them went further, doing on a regular basis the exercize with the pupils surrounded by chairs coming closer and closer. Some of them made us dance with closed eyes (follower and leader).

Well yes I can remember one teacher for whom the sequence came first. A ballroom teacher teaching A.T, with the pupil lady doing a gancho on step #6, whatever happens.

 

[Zoopsia59]

I cannot remember one teacher of mines here who did not at least mention again and again the necessity to consider the situation on the dancefloor when doing the said sequence. Some of them went further, doing on a regular basis the exercize with the pupils surrounded by chairs coming closer and closer. Some of them made us dance with closed eyes (follower and leader).

Well yes I can remember one teacher for whom the sequence came first. A ballroom teacher teaching A.T, with the pupil lady doing a gancho on step #6, whatever happens.

My experience is almost the exact opposite of yours in every way, including the teacher who also knew ballroom being the one who emphasized floorcraft the most.

On the plus side, this trend does seem to be improving from what I experienced a few years ago, but not improving fast enough.

 

[jantango]

world class masters

...
However, the majority of tango social dancers aren't world class masters and I'd say almost every leader I've ever danced with could use the help here and there, and was grateful for it. I've given slight "don't make that move, someone's in the way" pressure to even my favorite leaders, some of whom I'd consider the best of our community. No matter how good a leader may be, someone who isn't very good at all might do something unexpected or inconsiderate that creates an unforeseeable hazard....

It takes a long time to become a true master. Many who are called masters in the tango world must be embarrassed by the label in private. They travel the world to work and are put on a pedestal by the organizers and those who attend their classes and exhibitions. These so-called masters prepare and practice their choreographies to impress dancers with their technical abilities. They're young and, for the most part, beautiful to watch, but they aren't doing anything to contribute to the future of social tango.

It's so true that the majority of social tango dancers aren't world class masters. We can only hope that the "master" category doesn't grow too rapidly to change this social dance to one of choreography clones who need the dance floor to themselves.

World class masters earn lots of money for something most of them can't handle -- improvised tango on a crowded milonga floor. It's unfortunate that so many social dancers end up in classes to improve their social dance skills and instead get choreography from performers who never set foot in a milonga.