I agree, but that ship's sailed in many locales, and for many reasons. The problem is to get an appropriate part of that culture back when it is seen as of little value to many dancers.
Cabeceo and Other "Rules"
- Thread starter Gssh
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JournalInTime
Forum Master
How I was taught:
- Here's tango, a genre of music, and its instruments and structures.
- Here are the steps that went with tango then, go with it now socially and on stage, and could be adapted from other dances (notably ballet . . . yes, I know).
- Here's how to structure the steps in #2 (all of them, old, new, and weird) to the music in #1.
- Here's how to dance around other people – i.e., floorcraft.
You'll note that "the culture of tango" wasn't a separate thing. Cabeceo, the ways of the milongueros, and all that was strictly lip service from a few teachers who'd been to BsAs. It wasn't presented as central to tango, the dance – more like quaint old customs to discuss while holding a glass of Malbec to signal, "I'm a tanguero."
So, that explains my iconoclastic viewpoints, and why I'm not gung ho about the mystique but get super-technical and annoying about the physical mechanics of the steps and the structure of the music.
I think each person has the right, indeed the obligation, to decide for themselves, "What is part of the dance itself?" I try not get too annoying about it. But as an iconoclast, I definitely have a hair trigger for becoming annoying when I run into One True Way-ism . . . I believe that pastimes and leisure activities shouldn't be top-down things, but always bottom-up.
I'll go for When in Rome... Observe the customs of the place first if you don't know, but some people either won't observe, don't notice, or don't care - especially if the appropriated codigos aren't published or consistent. It's unsurprising if a visitor doesn't conform.
Cabeceo, and many of the other codigos I've come across, aimed to make it nicer, but given the current state and understanding, it's going to be difficult to put the genie back in the bottle, even if it has merit.
My plan is to start local. Tango classes are beginning again here.
One all-level (but really a beginners for people who dance other styles) has already begun. However the teacher is currently on a "here are the steps" buzz and adding a little Kizomba fusion. All in aid of promoting a live Latin night which is due to re-open next week. I find the Latin Night is not to my taste. The music is loud, it starts late (10pm mid-week), the dance-floor is sticky and crowded, there are a lot of non-dancers/drinkers etc etc. The only "rule" is to show up! There is no chance of Cabeceo as any unknown person is assumed to be a non-dancer. Even with people who are "known" it's assumed that they only dance a particular style.
The second set of classes are due to start on the 14th with a practica afterwards. That particular practica has always been a damp squib. If I go I will let you know if Cabeceo or any other codigas have survived the pandemic.
My local scene is tiny. Some changes are expected again in March. I'll look at travel in the Summer but my real-life partner isn't interested in tango so that limits me a little.
One all-level (but really a beginners for people who dance other styles) has already begun. However the teacher is currently on a "here are the steps" buzz and adding a little Kizomba fusion. All in aid of promoting a live Latin night which is due to re-open next week. I find the Latin Night is not to my taste. The music is loud, it starts late (10pm mid-week), the dance-floor is sticky and crowded, there are a lot of non-dancers/drinkers etc etc. The only "rule" is to show up! There is no chance of Cabeceo as any unknown person is assumed to be a non-dancer. Even with people who are "known" it's assumed that they only dance a particular style.
The second set of classes are due to start on the 14th with a practica afterwards. That particular practica has always been a damp squib. If I go I will let you know if Cabeceo or any other codigas have survived the pandemic.
My local scene is tiny. Some changes are expected again in March. I'll look at travel in the Summer but my real-life partner isn't interested in tango so that limits me a little.
Practica AND cabeceo? Or Practilonga?
We've been at practilongas where we've increased the numbers from 8 to 10 (and at practicas from 2 to 4). Interestingly cabeceo sort-of used if someone looked alone across the room, but mostly direct invite.
The more formal milonga with any setting resembling that described for BsAs is rare.
I don't know anymore! It was a milonga-lite (free casual get together separate from classes but on the same night for convenience) then a practilonga (taken over by the teachers of the classes with a small extra charge) then a practica that had tandas, cortinas and cabeceo but was run in the hall after the classes and was a nominal fee for people not attending classes. They also experimented with a between classes 30min practica - it wasn't popular.
Some people have been to Buenos Aires and have decided that even practicas should have cabeceo and 3 dance sets - I won't call them tandas as there is no cortina. So I'm not sure what the new system will be. Maybe a fun experiment with lots of brand new dancers.
JournalInTime
Forum Master
Definitely.
Were I at a BsAs milonga, I'd follow their social rules and limit my dance vocabulary to what's acceptable there . . . It isn't as if I don't know that stuff, because I do. It's that this stuff wouldn't be my first choice or even my third for "What do I like about tango?", so I don't see the value in caring about it outside of its original context.
I'm not a fan of importing pastimes from Place X and trying to import Place X in the process. I enjoy all manner of food, drink, music, art, etc. from places whose social or political values I cannot stomach. I can do the same with tango. I don't buy into "Like my art, like me!" or its inverse; that's silliness for places and people alike.
Where I live, tango has gone so far down the road of being "specific music that invites specific steps" – and has brought the answers to "Who leads, man or woman?" and "Who invites, leader or follower?" so close to "Who cares?" – that I think it'll reboot as just another dance post-pandemic. After two years of severe lockdowns and restrictions, organizers will be thankful if they get full rooms of people who even know what a "Pugliese" or an "ocho" is. Worrying about how they dance is going to be seen as a way to make money on lessons, while worrying about how they invite others to dance is going to go by the boards.
That sounds familiar.
This is for sure a situation where size matters. My local scene was huge . . . It remains to be seen whether it comes back huge, or fizzles.
Before, at least, it could be all things to all people. At least one event was big on "the feeling of Buenos Aires," though I never really liked it much. However, I suppose that one school, studio, or roving milonga might manage to fight the trend away from traditionalism and capture all the reactionaries who want to come back to tango.
Rare enough here that one place does it and nobody else bothers to try. It isn't a selling point.
Even non-travelers here want their prácticas to operate more like milongas. And despite my indifference to traditionalism, I'm all for it!
Learning about invitations, tandas, the line of dance and its entry points, etc. is a valid use of a práctica, and being "forced" to hear and dance to tango-vals and milonga music every few tandas is also important practice. I see little value in "Now let's practice our steps!" prácticas; that's what studios with barres and mirrors are for. If people are going to dance around others at an event with a DJ, they should be learning to dance with and around others, to music they're actually likely to hear.
It's not an option for me to start one at the moment 1. no venue - my home doesn't have space or privacy 2. no partner - I would need someone to dance with even starting off slowly! 3. Still no partner but I can't commit to running something regularly so would need a minimum of 1 but preferably 4 or 5 co-chairs.
JournalInTime
Forum Master
I wish we lived in the same area. I've run a práctica before and would do it again if I had a few others who were interested . . . we even have a big studio in the area that could be rented for the purpose. But while my partner is happy to dance, she doesn't want to run anything.
This seems to be the perpetual problem with tango: Lots of people globally who want many of the same things, but spread out too sparsely to make those things happen.
Me too! From your posts I think we have many shared ideals and would get along quite well. I've been running our swing scene for the last 8 years or so but am taking an extended break - some of the same issues, some different.
I ran a tango practica for a few months but the studio wanted more money and most people really wanted me to teach a class with a small social dance afterwards - too big a commitment for me at the time.
And that sums it up. We're searching for the appropriate word. It's an evolution in social AT.
Aargh! The 'silent' (non-existent) cortina. The tango room at the local jive group uses sets of 2, but they're 'traditional' and then 'modern'.
JournalInTime
Forum Master
That would be nice. Though I managed to run a práctica with my ex when we didn't get a long at all, and it worked fine until . . .
Yeah. It's always about the money in the end, however idealistic people get.
I can firewall the worst differences in outlook – even people hating me at the "I'll see you in court!" level. But I can't make money appear out of a vacuum, and I'm too poor to install myself as a wealthy patron willing to lose money in order to ensure that the arts survive. One of my tango dreams is to find somebody like that and become their eyes and hands . . . though my partner claims they exist, and are all retired cougars whose interests don't stop at eyes and hands.
We had a live duo at one social advertised as practica and there was a pause for a clap at the end of every song. Tandas of two songs were the average with some couples opting to dance the entire live set (8 songs? then a DJ set then Second live set) together and some people not dancing during the live sets at all.
The non-dancers - the floor was too crowded for them. They prefer to dance to songs they know. Their favourite partners were already dancing. There was an excess of solo followers.
Both verbal and non-verbal invitations from dancers of either role were observed (I wasn't well so I did a lot of sitting out).
The floor was small and crowded so the line of dance was observed but mostly because there were no other options. - inconclusive.
Conclusion 1. : without external guidance or "codigas" the default number of songs to dance, back to back, with the same partner is two.
Conclusion 2. : without external guidance nobody, in my local group, on this night, cared about cabeceo.
JournalInTime
Forum Master
Live is always challenging.
Non-tango groups often play tango just as skillfully as devoted tango orquestas, but rarely understand the etiquette. Some play sets with no breaks for 30-40 minutes, an hour, or longer. Some pause expectantly for applause after every tune. Some even have a front person who pauses the number to verbally encourage the crowd, who invites dancers onto the stage, or who roams around among or interacts with the dancers. The organizer can make a list of what not to do, but I know musicians . . . few are going to remember, and many won't care.
Tango groups are better. They tend to understand tandas and cortinas, and stay out of the dancers' way. But unless they're dancers themselves, they sometimes get so crazy with the tempo changes and spontaneous variations that nobody can follow the music.
I had high hopes for this duo. The guitarist is very talented and frequently plays for dancers. His gypsy jazz gig was one of the best dance nights in town. His collaborator was an Argentine musician so I'd assumed she'd organise the sets for tango dancing especially since she took the role of front-person. The teacher and DJ is also Argentine and usually very professional so perhaps he didn't speak to them before the gig.
I downloaded their album the week before so I could familiarize myself with their music - most people have Spotify but even if they didn't there were links on their professional facebook pages and on their webpage. Any of the non-dancers could have done the same.
I downloaded their album the week before so I could familiarize myself with their music - most people have Spotify but even if they didn't there were links on their professional facebook pages and on their webpage. Any of the non-dancers could have done the same.