Do you feel ashamed for some reason, or is that just for advertising purposes with different partner types?
Mixed tandas
- Thread starter ArbeeNYC
- Start date
Do you feel ashamed for some reason, or is that just for advertising purposes with different partner types?
opendoor
Forum Master
I think it's a tactical consideration. You get more dances if you don't appear to be too specialized.
Miradamiranda
Well-Known Member
I like practically all styles of tango except gratuitous show-off stuff or anything with big lifts and dips, and I know a lot of people have a very narrow preference, so I’m sure some potential partner would take one glance of what I’d be doing in the category of the above description and strike me off their list. A good milonga for me is often one where I have my two first tandas with completely different styles so people see I don’t box myself in. That’s when I get both quantity and quality dances the rest of the evening. I also make sure that any partner I know who likes big moves, I wait till late to dance with them, when there’s plenty of space.
Last summer I was at an outdoor very traditional event with a tiny dance floor when that showy guy showed up. I don’t see him too often and my thought was ohhh this is not the best place for a dance with him, how can I avoid him. I couldn’t. He invited me before we even knew what the music was, and purely by luck, it was a dramatic Pugliese AND just when the music started, a major fireworks display started on the other side of the lake. A lot of people turned their backs to the dance floor to watch the fireworks instead. What a lucky coincidence we both agreed.
Last summer I was at an outdoor very traditional event with a tiny dance floor when that showy guy showed up. I don’t see him too often and my thought was ohhh this is not the best place for a dance with him, how can I avoid him. I couldn’t. He invited me before we even knew what the music was, and purely by luck, it was a dramatic Pugliese AND just when the music started, a major fireworks display started on the other side of the lake. A lot of people turned their backs to the dance floor to watch the fireworks instead. What a lucky coincidence we both agreed.
That's fair. Personally I avoid the people with a narrow preference anyway, so I don't care if anyone judges me.
itwillhappen
Forum Master
Side note: a couple can truly dance escenario steps as unmusically as a cement mixer while not bumping into other couples.
Whether I personally respect them or prefer to dance somewhere else in a proper ronda is another matter entirely.
opendoor
Forum Master
Those who dance on the spot, in a slot or in a zigzag pattern belong in the center of the dance floor.
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TTanguero
Forum Master
Or about 100 metres outside it. ...
pianistamediano
Forum Master
You're being way too English about this — you definitely meant a continent or two away!
opendoor
Forum Master
Didn't Great Britain actually outsource criminals to other continents?
I think PM actually went a continent or two away to avoid the bad floorcraft
TTanguero
Forum Master
We did, and we also used to be quite fond of stealing chunks of other continents.
opendoor
Forum Master
Except Greenland.
ArbeeNYC
Forum Master
Well, yes, this is also very important. Technical skill is good to have, important, critical in some cases, but secondary to how we get along.
Agree, but the better, 'advanced', dancers who can manage the variations of the ronda, and any lack of space (e.g. salida de la cuarenta), can dance in the outer lanes. Move forward to fill space. The centre is where the not-so-advanced 'hotshots' are pushed.
Hmmm I follow a few fb/ig pages of tango in asian cities and yeah most of their dance does seem a bit on the sterile side from the vids ive seen, good technique but boring. My theory on why is probably because status is weighed heavily in asian cultures (cue the jokes about asian moms comparing their sons achievements against one another), so at the top is mundial and they view that as the ultimate form to aspire to (and they may not know even that a lot of argentine dancers disagree with the mundial and that it’s been rigged in the past etc, just that you get a trophy and international status from it).On the other hand, if you consider just how conservative tango is in this part of the world... It's a big dose of star power and other factors.
I could hardly give a bat's fart about people telling me what to wear at a milonga. I've danced long enough that I know I'm at my best when I'm most comfortable. A friend just got back from an event in Shanghai, for example, and he told me explicitly that the moment he walked in to the first milonga of that event, he felt uncomfortable. Everything was too stiff, formal, ritualised even, and the people were overwhelmingly into the Mundial style. So he spent the rest of his time having more fun in the local milongas instead.
Insanity! What is this ridiculous habit of isolating and elevating tango that happens so much here in Asia? How the hell do you even dance milonga properly then? It's not milonga if it's not grounded and dirty! Right now, in many, many places, tango is a dance primarily for an affluent middle class, and it shows. Oh, it shows. Their affectations and pretensions to high society reveal their true colours.
South Korea isn't so bad, because I've personally danced with dancers from Seoul who felt amazing and stayed in the embrace the whole time.
From my own experience, the american born asians followers do add personality to the dance, whereas the expats don’t as much, but also it’s a small sample size.