Cobbler, stick to your Tango!

[opendoor]

I'm interested in the question of whether the tango represents the end of your dance journey for you. I know, technically we can dedicate ourselves to tango the whole life. There is always something to improve, to deepen, and perfect. But does that also satisfy a tango dancer? Maybe more variety is needed on the dance floor? Ballroomers learn ten or more dances at the same time. Tango dancers usually focus on tango, sometimes they also excel in vals, milonga or chacarera.
Those of you who came to tango from salsa, ballroom, ballet, flamenco, or whatever, have you broken with your previous dances? Or are you still dancing with your first love every now and then? Those of you who first got on the dance floor through tango, are you getting tired of tango by chance? You might be starting to get annoyed by the rather limited corpus of canonical music. Or do you feel a strong desire to break out of the ronda, or do you no longer fit in with the community? What paths do you have in mind? Maybe through contact improvisation to modern dance? There are also ways of professionalization beyond tango, such as dance education, dance therapy, shoe sales or digitizing old records.
Is tango a final destination? Is it perhaps also the starting point to go on a journey of discovery again? To tell about myself, after 17 years of studying tango, I was increasingly dissatisfied. Tango was starting to bore me. I was realistic enough to realize that I lacked the physical presence to pursue the tango teacher path. I reduced my working hours and applied for general dance education. Unfortunately, an accident prevented me from completing this training. For many years I couldn't dance at all. So I can't say where my journey would have taken me. But maybe you can tell us about yourself?

 

[Miradamiranda]

As a follower, I find there is so much variety that it’s almost like a completely different dance type from one leader to another. I can imagine leaders who fall into their own autopilot-moves all the time could get bored.
Tango was my first choice of dance but I got sidetracked with salsa for many years. The last 5-6 years I’ve danced salsa at most a handful of times. But that has more to do with lack of exciting potential partners.

I see plenty of growth opportunity and challenges ahead in tango for me. It’s a never ending journey of refining and discovery. Also, I like stylistic variety as a challenge. I don’t want to be pigeonholed as a specific style of dancer either.

I think it would be boring to aim for a particular goal post and stop there.

 

[Brummbaer]

I'm interested in the question of whether the tango represents the end of your dance journey for you.

It depends when, in life's journey, tango found you.

With other dance, been there; tried it, at least; even enjoyed it and stayed there for years; others, tried it, but it wasn't a good fit. Eventually tango found us. Stayed with some of the previous for a while; even revisited. AT won out.

But, it depends when in life's journey. Unlikely to launch into break dancing, or limbo. I guess some dances are, let's say, a better fit to a physical age. It's attainable. And I've zero, or less, competitive ambitions.

Goethe said that you never know your own language until you know another, so I guess, since AT wasn't our first dance experience, it gave another perspective on dance.

I suppose we've obtained the original objective in AT, but still unsatisfied with our ability in some areas. It hasn't lost its fascination yet.

 

[TTanguero]

I can't say for sure, as I've never danced anything else. I keep being tempted to try blues (I really liked a style I saw once), but have never gotten around to it.

As Miranda says, I think it is possible for a leader to get bored with their own dance, and personally I've come close to that a few times before finding a new challenge/direction. Long-term, I suspect I will always dance tango, but who can say!

 

[Brummbaer]

I keep being tempted to try blues (I really liked a style I saw once), but have never gotten around to it.

Been there. Learnt a bit. People were more interested in AT. There's an alternative tango scene around 'blues' - at least up here. Many dance 'tango' to alternative music, although strict blues is more than that simplistic view.

I found it was my problems with the music. AT music is, on the whole, intended for dancing (ignore Piazzolla); alternative 'blues' wasn't intended for dance, but you can dance to it, or adapt it to dance. I find now that it doesn't really inspire me to dance, but, if pressed, I can do a dance to it.

 

[Brummbaer]

I can imagine leaders who fall into their own autopilot-moves all the time could get bored.

I think it is possible for a leader to get bored with their own dance

That was certainly true once with a limited vocabulary. But it doesn't have to be boring even if it is kept simple.

I'm not thinking that I've absolutely got to dance this tanda (ok, Pugliese certainly, and other dance inspiring pieces) just for the sake of dancing.

 

[Rabbit]

Those of you who came to tango from salsa, ballroom, ballet, flamenco, or whatever, have you broken with your previous dances? Or are you still dancing with your first love every now and then?

I will dance pretty much anything but in an improvisatory style.

Those of you who first got on the dance floor through tango, are you getting tired of tango by chance? You might be starting to get annoyed by the rather limited corpus of canonical music. Or do you feel a strong desire to break out of the ronda, or do you no longer fit in with the community?

I'm not tired of tango nor bored with my own dance, but I am bored with a lot of the existing dancers. Most of what is being currently done in terms of social dynamics, dance styles, music selection and performances could be massively improved. Then we could attract and retain more people to the dance. Let's leave it at that.

 

[TTanguero]

But it doesn't have to be boring even if it is kept simple.

No, indeed – that was what I found, especially when exploring just how much you can express the music with the tiniest of things, like breath.

 

[Greybeard]

I'm mostly a ballroom type. Most weeks I go to dance parties Monday and Friday. I've been to one milonga this year.

We usually have about 20 milongas a year here, and one or two practicas a week.

I have better opportunity for continuing my ballroom than AT.

 

[daisy_r]

I started tango at the same time as a couple of other social dances. Overall I've tried Salsa, Bachata, Kizomba, Lindy Hop, and some folk dances, but in the last couple of years tango has taken over.

Recently a few more local milongas started up, so I've been able to dance tango more often. Another change is that the new milongas and most visiting teachers and DJs play traditional music, maybe mixing in some modern tango orchestras once in a while. Back when I started learning there was a lot more electrotango and nuevo around, but now I've come to love the traditional music.

There seem to be just enough tango lessons, practicas and milongas to keep me busy here and I have some good friends in tango. I think the main reason why I may be tempted to go to the other dances or hobbies would be to mix with more people my age - in terms of the music and the dance I prefer tango but most tango people around these parts are older.

When I was finding it hard to progress further in tango as a follower I started leading, I think that will keep me busy for a long while.

 

[ArbeeNYC]

Those of you who first got on the dance floor through tango, are you getting tired of tango by chance?

No, not really. Love the music and the dance. Often frustrated by the social dynamics at the milonga, however.

 

[opendoor]

..frustrated by the social dynamics at the milonga..

What do you mean by that specifically? My milongas are becoming more and more sociologically homogeneous and boring, and the average age is dramatically increasing: No more cliquyness, no more fights, and no more boleos.

 

[Bailango]

What do you mean by that specifically? My milongas are becoming more and more sociologically homogeneous and boring, and the average age is dramatically increasing: No more cliquyness, no more fights, and no more boleos.

I share @ArbeeNYC’s frustration. For me it is mainly bad floor craft by the leaders, going and asking verbally, women talking to each other or looking down at the phone when the tanda starts, not seeking or inability to cabaceo (which then makes man walk to right upto their nose), cliqueness and overall non-improvement in the dancers (both leaders causing floorcraft issues and followers).

Last weekend I had three successful long distance cabaceo through a crowd of people in between. But when I was positioned close enough to cabaceo from five feet or less, I got cut off 4 or 5 times by someone walking right up to the lady. Other times two or three asked before cortina ended. Three of the worst offenders are actually Argentinian BsAs natives who either been living here for the past decade or go back and forth. Every single time they will walk up and ask verbally.

Rather than social, I find milonga vibes (outside of dancing) to be more anti-social.

 

[Rabbit]

Well aren't the last few posts illuminating, people who view the history of the dance as relevant experiencing similar annoyances with the scene as someone like myself who wants to throw everything out of the window and see what survives.

When we start a bunch of things seem weird and then we get used to them as "normal" and rationalize why they are normal. I've come full circle on this and the more I look at things the more I realize that actually they don't make sense

 

[itwillhappen]

I currently don't see a "business case" for learning more dances. I would rather make an effort to improve at tango. But if a good opportunity arises... who knows?