itwillhappen
Forum Master
For real? I feel that the tango weekend starts today. Like the last four weekends. Better shaved on the right than on the left, no garlic in the food, shower in the evening. For distancing?
How to teach floor craft ?
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itwillhappen
Forum Master
I think a lack of floorcraft is a lack of communication.
If a leader enters the room and no other leader looks him in the eyes, why should he do that when he steps onto the dance floor?
If no one, including the host, can have a relaxed conversation with a leader, how should the topic be addressed?
If good communication in the couple is not really in the foreground, why should a leader forego his highly complex figures?
And you also have to be careful that you don't try to use codigos as a means to finally reprimand others who you actually don't like anyway for completely different reasons.
No, I think you don't really get any further with training sessions in which lines are taped on the floor and humiliating situations are drawn through.
If a leader enters the room and no other leader looks him in the eyes, why should he do that when he steps onto the dance floor?
If no one, including the host, can have a relaxed conversation with a leader, how should the topic be addressed?
If good communication in the couple is not really in the foreground, why should a leader forego his highly complex figures?
And you also have to be careful that you don't try to use codigos as a means to finally reprimand others who you actually don't like anyway for completely different reasons.
No, I think you don't really get any further with training sessions in which lines are taped on the floor and humiliating situations are drawn through.
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I mean it in the sense that floorcraft can be reduced to the a simple concept that one just occupies (on average) a spot as far away from other people on the dance floor as possible just like one would on a train. Since there are always some people who like to walk forward the ronda then automatically moves itself.
From videos I've seen of local milongas, that's certainly true. Not enough attendees to even make the room look crowded. It does always seem to be the same set who have appeared out of the woodwork, and overdosing on their 'freedom', so I guess we'll leave it a bit longer until things settle down.
Of the group who have appeared, some have good floorcraft based on years of experience, and the others consider themselves beyond lessons and being taught. So I guess the lesson on floorcraft is to get that in early when learning and rather than try to reform - unless it's really bad.
That's certainly true. Last year in 'group' lessons we got allocated a 2m marked out square in which to dance. Some could; some couldn't. We had a few goes at spacing within a ronda, which almost worked apart from the less experienced tailgating; or because some couple (usual culprits) decided on too-many on-the-spot moves.
I'm reminded of a guy long ago at work who had no concept of personal space. Any group in conversation with him ended up gradually moving away backwards.
On the apilado thread, @LadyLeader asked:
Isn't tango an advancing dance and should have some kind of organized movement forward?
I'd say that it depends on the situation. We seem to be talking about floorcraft in a milonga in a relatively sparsely populated dance hall situation. That must be a fairly modern situation. Back in the day it must have been a small-ish bar or much more crowded hall, although we've danced in both. Not forgetting street performers and staged shows. AT is adaptable to most, if not all spaces. There's movement forward in the crowded space because someone moved to fill the gap, and the ronda moves. We tend to complain about the less crowded space where, essentially someone stops their car in the fast lane to check something, or someone cuts in from across the lanes, ignoring other traffic.
So, I guess it's about the differing situations and when the rules are appropriate - but those are best learned early.
I think the tailgating happens because some people take the "rule" about not moving backwards too literally. It's nice to walk a few steps forward to the music, but when that finishes very close to the couple in front (who may not have room to move forwards themselves) and there is lots of space behind, it's correct to back up.
ArbeeNYC
Forum Master
Perhaps they should focus on being performers then. The whole point of floor craft in tango, the codigos (which involve more than just the floorcraft), and the nature of the dance all work toward developing coexistence in a group. You're dancing with a bunch of other couples after all. This focus on choreography simply confused the issue and also points dancers in the wrong direction.
ArbeeNYC
Forum Master
And some people push because they like to race around the room and don't really listen to the music. I've had guys actually rush past me and then simply get stuck because the couple in front (who was formerly preventing me from moving forward) is now blocking them. That's the kind of sloppy move that risks collisions, ignores the music, and serves absolutely no purpose. If they want to run, they should take up track.
Waltzing I couldn’t find a tango version of what I wanted. The clip is really long but just watching the first few minutes you can see how entering the dance floor works. People pair up, wait by the side and enter when there’s a space. The floor continues to move and the steps of the couples become smaller and more contained as the space becomes more limited. You can see that the couples are just ordinary people out enjoying a social dance. This is how I imagine a perfect milonga to work!
It's a good example of how a milonga can work, but not the only option. There's some group/community buy-in in your example. Perhaps as forgiving as some practicalonga following some group lesson, or a tango flashmob, or dancing in the open air on a nice day with a great environment with people out just enjoying themselves.
People come to other styles of milonga (afternoon tea, festival, monthly, post-lockdown, Saturday night, dark winter evening, etc., etc.) with a variety of other motivations beyond just dancing. It's unusual to have a group buy-in, but not impossible.
LadyLeader
Forum Master
As you said some of the codigos are telling us how to behave at pista together with other dancers. Those codigos have an impact on our personal dance organizing it for the whole group during a tanda.
I would like to call that impact choreographic element. It is also telling us how to behave at pista together with others but with different words.
II think that in tango a choreography can include one couple (or several!) having a performance or a whole pista with a number of couples sharing a tanda and applying codigos/ choreography elements.
There is one guy who sometimes turns up to milongas who goes round the pista about 3x as fast as everyone else. I suspect because he only knows one or two figures and all of them face outside and advance to the left. At least, because he is so predictable, it's easy to deal with, since he will squeeze past round the outside but never step backwards (towards the centre of the dance floor) out of his line.
itwillhappen
Forum Master
I think if you are sturdy, wear sturdy shoes and keep your feet on the ground while swaying, then floorcraft isn't such a big issue. A nice, low-threshold offer to dance, I think a collective memory of a time is used when people danced like that at festivals usually. Even I could somehow dock with an imagination of medieval festivals or hobbit films from a standing start.
Something like that is missing in tango - the expectations are higher - and with three years of experience (talented) or ten years of experience (untalented) it can be fulfilled pretty well ... by leaders.
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ArbeeNYC
Forum Master
If it is anything, it is behavioral, not choreographic.
itwillhappen
Forum Master
The backward step is far too difficult for beginners to perform. But a great opening later. This preparatory slight turn out of the dance direction, the tiny twisted step, the leveling off in a micro-volcada before we start more or less sideways in the line of dance.For us there was way too much 9countBasic!
Step backward
Collision with another couple
Sidestep
.... contiues as ordinary 8CB
I think if you need floocraft then it's better to practice that while dancing as a focus for a time than attending a workshop. But actually the problem seems to me to be that most leaders avoid looking at each other on the dance floor and while dancing anyway. A non-attack behavior that makes sense in an elevator, but not in tango.